November 27, 2015 - PUNA, HAWAII - A huge breakout on the north flank of the Puʻu ʻŌʻō vent on the East
Rift Zone of Kilauea volcano is sending waves of molten lava cascading
downslope.
Video of the event was recorded on Thanksgiving by Mick
Kalber, filming from a Paradise Helicopters overflight.
Kalber says the tube opening begins about 150 yards below the vent
and over the past two days has sent hot liquid rock more than a quarter
mile down the north flank.
The breakout was noted in today’s USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
eruption update.
WATCH: Lava breakout at Kilauea.
“A breakout close to Puʻu ʻŌʻō was prominently visible
on a nearby webcam beginning yesterday afternoon and continuing through
the night,” scientists wrote.
“The lava flow is not currently
threatening any communities.” - BIVN.
November 27, 2015 - CHILE - A magnitude 6.2 earthquake has struck off the northern part of
the Chilean coast, according to the national seismological center.
The US Geological Survey has measured the quake at magnitude 6.2, with the epicenter located some 70km north of Taltal, Chile.
The quake was relatively shallow and struck some 32 km (20.5 miles) below the seabed.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the tremor, initially reported by the Chilean national seismological center as magnitude 6.4.
Strong shaking was felt in the area of Atacama Desert in the north of the country, according to local authorities, who are in the process of assessing any possible damage.
USGS shakemap intensity.
In the meantime, the Chilean navy said they were not expecting a tsunami and were not issuing an alert.In September, a massive 8.3 earthquake triggered tsunami waves which reached Chilean shores, flooding the streets and forcing people to seek shelter on higher grounds.
At the time, the Chilean coastal city of Coquimbo was been hit by waves measuring up to 4.5 meters above normal sea level. At least five people were killed and one million people were evacuated from the affected areas.
The September quake and tsunami were the largest to strike the country since April 1 2014, when a magnitude-8.2 earthquake impacted just off the Chilean coast, near Iquique. A quake in February 2010 registered magnitude 8.8. The most powerful quake overall occurred near Lumaco, Chile, in May 1960 registering 9.5. All of them generated tsunamis in the country, located on the so-called Pacific ring of fire, renowned for being prone to earthquakes. - RT.
Seismotectonics of South America (Nazca Plate Region)
The South American arc extends over 7,000 km, from the Chilean margin triple junction offshore of southern Chile to its intersection with the Panama fracture zone, offshore of the southern coast of Panama in Central America. It marks the plate boundary between the subducting Nazca plate and the South America plate, where the oceanic crust and lithosphere of the Nazca plate begin their descent into the mantle beneath South America. The convergence associated with this subduction process is responsible for the uplift of the Andes Mountains, and for the active volcanic chain present along much of this deformation front. Relative to a fixed South America plate, the Nazca plate moves slightly north of eastwards at a rate varying from approximately 80 mm/yr in the south to approximately 65 mm/yr in the north. Although the rate of subduction varies little along the entire arc, there are complex changes in the geologic processes along the subduction zone that dramatically influence volcanic activity, crustal deformation, earthquake generation and occurrence all along the western edge of South America.
Most of the large earthquakes in South America are constrained to shallow depths of 0 to 70 km resulting from both crustal and interplate deformation. Crustal earthquakes result from deformation and mountain building in the overriding South America plate and generate earthquakes as deep as approximately 50 km. Interplate earthquakes occur due to slip along the dipping interface between the Nazca and the South American plates. Interplate earthquakes in this region are frequent and often large, and occur between the depths of approximately 10 and 60 km. Since 1900, numerous magnitude 8 or larger earthquakes have occurred on this subduction zone interface that were followed by devastating tsunamis, including the 1960 M9.5 earthquake in southern Chile, the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in the world. Other notable shallow tsunami-generating earthquakes include the 1906 M8.5 earthquake near Esmeraldas, Ecuador, the 1922 M8.5 earthquake near Coquimbo, Chile, the 2001 M8.4 Arequipa, Peru earthquake, the 2007 M8.0 earthquake near Pisco, Peru, and the 2010 M8.8 Maule, Chile earthquake located just north of the 1960 event.
USGS plate tectonics for the region.
Large intermediate-depth earthquakes (those occurring between depths of approximately 70 and 300 km) are relatively limited in size and spatial extent in South America, and occur within the Nazca plate as a result of internal deformation within the subducting plate. These earthquakes generally cluster beneath northern Chile and southwestern Bolivia, and to a lesser extent beneath northern Peru and southern Ecuador, with depths between 110 and 130 km. Most of these earthquakes occur adjacent to the bend in the coastline between Peru and Chile. The most recent large intermediate-depth earthquake in this region was the 2005 M7.8 Tarapaca, Chile earthquake.
Earthquakes can also be generated to depths greater than 600 km as a result of continued internal deformation of the subducting Nazca plate. Deep-focus earthquakes in South America are not observed from a depth range of approximately 300 to 500 km. Instead, deep earthquakes in this region occur at depths of 500 to 650 km and are concentrated into two zones: one that runs beneath the Peru-Brazil border and another that extends from central Bolivia to central Argentina. These earthquakes generally do not exhibit large magnitudes. An exception to this was the 1994 Bolivian earthquake in northwestern Bolivia. This M8.2 earthquake occurred at a depth of 631 km, which was until recently the largest deep-focus earthquake instrumentally recorded (superseded in May 2013 by a M8.3 earthquake 610 km beneath the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia), and was felt widely throughout South and North America.
Subduction of the Nazca plate is geometrically complex and impacts the geology and seismicity of the western edge of South America. The intermediate-depth regions of the subducting Nazca plate can be segmented into five sections based on their angle of subduction beneath the South America plate. Three segments are characterized by steeply dipping subduction; the other two by near-horizontal subduction. The Nazca plate beneath northern Ecuador, southern Peru to northern Chile, and southern Chile descend into the mantle at angles of 25° to 30°. In contrast, the slab beneath southern Ecuador to central Peru, and under central Chile, is subducting at a shallow angle of approximately 10° or less. In these regions of “flat-slab” subduction, the Nazca plate moves horizontally for several hundred kilometers before continuing its descent into the mantle, and is shadowed by an extended zone of crustal seismicity in the overlying South America plate. Although the South America plate exhibits a chain of active volcanism resulting from the subduction and partial melting of the Nazca oceanic lithosphere along most of the arc, these regions of inferred shallow subduction correlate with an absence of volcanic activity.
The Leonid meteor shower happens every year at this time, as our world crosses the orbital path of Comet Tempel-Tuttle
November 27, 2015 - ICELAND - There were excellent viewing conditions for the Northern Lights last
night at the same time as the peak of the Leonid meteor shower.
Icelandic astronomy website Stjörnufræðivefurinn has published stunning footage of a meteor shooting seemingly through the Northern Lights.
The video, published first on the Facebook page of Stjörnufræðivefurinn
was shot over Reykjavik last night and shows the Northern Lights
cascading in the sky in real time. One minute into the video a meteor
can be spotted and then it burns up in the middle of the Northern Lights
display. Watching the video in HD is reccomended.
The Leonid meteor shower happens every year at this time, as our world
crosses the orbital path of Comet Tempel-Tuttle. Like many comets,
Tempel-Tuttle litters its orbit with bits of debris. It's when this
cometary debris enters Earth's atmosphere, and vaporizes, that we see
the Leonid meteor shower. In 2015, the peak night of the shower was from
midnight to dawn on Wednesday.
November 27, 2015 - VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA - Russia's Far Eastern port city of Vladivostok has been hit hard by gusts
of freezing wind reaching speeds of 25 meters per second causing sea
water to freeze over anything the giant waves touched.
This Thursday Vladivostok's port turned into a giant slushy machine as sea water mixed with sand started freezing under gusts of cold wind in subzero temperatures.
Although locals took it as a photo opportunity and flooded social media with impressive shots, the tempest had its consequences: trucks were banned from crossing the city's Russky Bridge, some power cables came down and electricity supplies weren't restored in certain areas even by Friday, some parked cars got damaged, not to mention car accidents on slippery roads, the wind tore down roofing, a bus stop and overturned some kiosks.
No casualties have been reported so far although a video posted on-line shows a girl who apparently fell, thrown by the strong wind.
She is lying on her side on the pavement, holding her head.
WATCH: The video was filmed at the Far Eastern Federal University, on Russky Island.
November 27, 2015 - NORWAY - Fisherman in northern Norway first noticed the strange-looking purple
slime in late August of this year. At first, there were large clots of
the slimy stuff, but now, it has collected in a 200 meter (219 yards)
wide belt around Lyngen Fjord.
Whatever the purple slime is, it's freaking out fishermen and sailors alike, and no one seems to know what it is.There are various descriptions of the mass of purple slime, from clotted and mucoid, to gelatinous and gooey.
The Local,
Norway's news in English reported that Roger Larsen, an associate
professor at the University in Tromsø, told state news broadcaster NRK, "We have not been able to find out what this really is, other than that we are talking about large amounts of jellyfish." Larsen
said they have used echo sounders on the mass of purple goo, but their
results have been atypical, leading him to say he was "absolutely
sure that this is something we've never seen before. We are talking
about millions of cubic metres." That is a lot of slime.
The leading theory to what the clotted mess might be was suggested by
Tone Falkenhaug and Jan Helge Fosså, oceanographers at Norway's
Institute of Marine Research (IMR). They suggest the gelatinous goo is
caused by the disintegration of comb jellyfish, or more specifically, Ctenophora Beroe.
They are common in the fjords of Norway says Mother Nature News,
but the reasons behind the huge mass of dying comb jellies is still
being investigated. Samples of the purple sludge have been taken for
analysis, but a report on exactly what the slime is composed of has not
been released yet.
Falkenhaug told The Local. "We can't explain why it is like this, but
it's not uncommon that jellyfish appear in very dense aggregations like
this, especially deep in the fjord. I have heard that you can get this
when it's rotten, that you get this purple mucous from jellyfish. If you
have dense blooms of jellyfish, and they fall down into the water
column and they start to disintegrate."
Ctenophores, or the comb jellyfish
This phylum of marine animals can be found in oceans worldwide. The one
thing that make them distinctive is their "combs," groups of cilia they
use to move about. They are also the largest animals that move by using cilia. Their sizes range from just a few millimeters to 1.5 meters, (4-feet, 11-inches).
There are anywhere from 100 to 150 species of comb jellyfish in the
world, and they can be found in many different marine habitats, from
polar to tropical, inshore or far offshore. They can live near the
surface of the ocean or down deep. But the best-known Ctenophores are
the one that are seen near the ocean's shores.
Almost all of these creatures are predators, their prey ranging from
microscopic larvae and rotifers to the adults of small crustaceans. They
can also upset ecosystems as was demonstrated after one species,
Mnemiopsis, was accidentally introduced into the Black Sea. The ctenophore population erupted, not only eating their regular diet of marine organisms but fish larva as well. - Digital Journal.
November 27, 2015 - UNITED STATES - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the
nation's leading collector of climate data. Every day, NOAA analyzes
vast amounts of data to predict changes to our climate, weather, oceans
and coasts. The agency also publishes monthly temperature averages
across the nation and compares those numbers to historical temperature
records.
As the nation's self-proclaimed authority on "environmental
intelligence," NOAA should be held to the highest scientific standards.
This means their conclusions should be objective, independent of
political consideration and based on all available sources of
information.
NOAA's top official, Kathryn Sullivan, has described the agency's role
as providing "timely, reliably, and actionable information — based on
sound science — every day to millions of Americans."
In testimony before the House Science Committee, NOAA's deputy
administrator, Manson Brown, made similar remarks, noting the importance
of satellite data. He said that NOAA's ability "to deliver
environmental intelligence starts with keeping the pulse of the planet,
especially the atmosphere and the ocean, and this is the central
capability where space-based assets come into play." So why does NOAA
leave out satellite data when it releases climate projections?
NOAA often fails to consider all available data in its
determinations and climate change reports to the public. A recent study
by NOAA, published in the journal Science,
made "adjustments" to historical temperature records and NOAA trumpeted
the findings as refuting the nearly two-decade pause in global warming.
The study's authors claimed these adjustments were supposedly based on
new data and new methodology. But the study failed to include satellite
data.
Atmospheric satellite data, considered by many to be the
most objective, has clearly showed no warming for the past two decades.
This fact is well documented, but has been embarrassing for an
administration determined to push through costly environmental
regulations.
Instead, NOAA focused its study on surface temperature monitoring that
is often flawed because these sites measure thousands of independent
temperature readings and utilize a hodgepodge of different methods that
have changed over time. For example, measurements from land-based
stations can be skewed because of their location and proximity to
surrounding heat-holding asphalt in urban areas.
Satellite data, on the other hand, is highly calibrated and provides
complete global coverage. For decades, satellites have been used to
monitor the earth and collect information. Satellites measure something
extremely important — the deep atmosphere. The temperature readings
collected by satellites often differ from ground monitoring stations and
have consistently shown much smaller rates of warming.Yet NOAA refuses to incorporate satellite data into its monthly projections that are released to the public. Why?
NOAA appears to pick and choose only data that confirms their
bias. NOAA then disseminates this incomplete data to the media who
manufacture alarming headlines but ignore the uncertainty of the
conclusions.
Earlier this year, NASA issued a news release stating that 2014 was the
warmest year on record. Few media acknowledged the footnote: Scientists were only 38 percent sure this was actually correct. That is less than 50-50.
NOAA fully understands margins of error and works with them on a daily
basis. But where are these details in their news releases? While NOAA's
monthly projections usually warn of increased warming, they ignore
satellite data that refutes their alarmist statements.
The ability to remain independent of political consideration seems like a
minimum requirement for an agency that should provide unbiased
scientific information. But NOAA's habit of picking and choosing data
raises serious questions about the agency's independence. In fact, it
shreds NOAA's credibility.
As a self-proclaimed "environmental intelligence agency," NOAA's reports
should be based only on the best available science that takes into
account all sources of data. Unfortunately, NOAA continues to rely upon
biased science in pursuit of a predetermined outcome. That's not good
science, it's science fiction.
This administration is pursuing an extreme political climate change
agenda and has made NOAA its accomplice. These are not the actions of an
objective agency. NOAA needs to come clean about why it cherry-picked
and changed certain data, while ignoring satellite data, to get the
results it wanted. - Washington Times.
November 27, 2015 - MISSOURI, UNITED STATES - Residents in southeast Missouri might have felt the ground shake when 12
earthquakes rattled within hours of each other on Wednesday.
All the quakes were located just northeast of Marston and south of Lilbourn.
People in Risco, Dexter, Matthews, and New Madrid said they felt the quakes.
"[I] felt it in New Madrid sounded like a big clash of thunder & a
little shake happened like a semi truck passing by," Mark Kientzy said
in a comment on Facebook.
A man and his son were installing a water line at the New Madrid Airport
on Wednesday, right in the center of the quakes. While William Kosky,
Jr. said he didn't feel any while he was working, he said he felt
several on Tuesday night at his home.
New Madrid County, Missouri has a shaky history, with the most violent
series of earthquakes ever recorded in the United States hitting in New
Madrid in about a seven week stretch between 1811 and 1812, according to
the USGS.
The 30ft minke whale washed up on Cleethorpes
beach yesterday. The dead whale was found around a mile out from the
Brighton slipway.
November 27, 2015 - UNITED KINGDOM - Part of Cleethorpes beach could be closed off today if a washed-up huge whale isn't taken away by the high tide.
As reported at www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk , a 30ft minke whale washed up on Cleethorpes beach yesterday.
The dead mammal was found around a mile out from the Brighton slipway.
North East Lincolnshire Council's Beach Safety Team were called to the
scene, but there was little they could do for the whale, which had
already died.
The RSPCA and officers from Natural England also attended yesterday morning after a call was made at around 9am.
North East Lincolnshire Council officials are investigating.
A spokesman said: "A dead whale, thought to be a fin or minke
whale, was found washed up on Cleethorpes beach Thursday morning.
"It's about ten metres long and was found at low tide about a mile from the shore.
"Our beach safety team is working with officers from HM Coastguard to inform the relevant bodies.
"The whale might move during the high tide - either out to sea or further up the beach.
"We might need to close the beach if it remains there after high tide today."
The spokesman added: "Diseases can be transmitted from the bodies of
dead mammals to humans and we advise people to stay well away from it."
Common minke whales are usually found in the waters of the North Sea, but have washed up in Cleethorpes before.
In 2013, a whale washed up dead on Cleethorpes beach and was then buried at a waste tip in Wakefield.
The 14ft minke whale was found on the shore near Wonderland.
Minke whales, which prefer arctic conditions, are rarely found this far south although the body of a dead minke was also found at North Cotes in 2012.
And in 2011, emergency services rescued a 30ft whale which found itself
stranded at Immingham Docks. About 50 emergency workers faced a race
against time to free the 15-tonne creature from thick mud after it
became beached in the early hours of the morning.
The rescue - which at the time was thought to be the largest-scaled
animal rescue in the area's recent history - saw 20 members of the
British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) and Humberside Fire And Rescue
battle for eight hours in the mud and icy water while the HM
Coastguard, Cleethorpes RNLI the RSPCA and Swanbridge Veterinary
Hospital supported them from the ground. - Grimsby Telegraph.
November 27, 2015 - MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES - Some shoppers in Grandville and Wyoming are dealing with an unexpected detour near Rivertown Crossings Mall.
A large section of Kenowa Avenue between Jacobs and 56th Streets
collapsed Thursday afternoon, creating a huge sinkhole. And just a few
seconds earlier, people in the neighborhood say a vehilce drove over the
exact spot.
"Some guy said he was driving over and he heard it and he looked back
and the road was just gone," say members of the Lyons family, visiting
the area for Thanksgiving. "He said there was a crack in the middle of
the road and as he was going over it he heard it start to crumble so he
quickly got over it."
"I'm surprised there wasn't a car at the bottom of it," added rich
TenBarge, also visiting for Thanksgiving dinner. "It's big enough and
deep enough to hold a vehicle."
At first glance the Public Works crew at the site suspects a broken
water main caused the cave in, but that isnt certain yet. Its also not
known how long that section of Kenowa Avenue will be closed for repairs. - WZZM13.
November 27, 2015 - SEATTLE, UNITED STATES - Four earthquakes struck within hours of each other Wednesday afternoon near Glacier Peak in Washington.
The first two earthquakes registered at magnitudes 3.1 and 3.5. The
first earthquake occurred at 12:11 p.m. The second registered roughly an
hour later at 1:20 p.m. Then a third earthquake — a magnitude 1.6 —
occurred at 2:33 p.m. And finally a fourth earthquake — a magnitude 1.4 —
was registered at 3:44 p.m. All the quakes were recorded roughly 19-21
miles east-southeast of the town of Darrington.
Seth Moran, geophysicist at the University of Washington, tells KIRO
Radio they're keeping a close eye on the area and continue to watch the
seismic records. "Magnitude 3 earthquakes happen in Washington and
Oregon a number of times per year," Moran said. "The one thing that
makes these potentially interesting in a different way is they're
somewhat close to Glacier Peak."
Glacier Peak (Photo: KING)
The quakes, about three miles from Glacier Peak, occurred where there
haven't been a lot of magnitude 3 earthquakes in the past, according to
Moran. "The last time there was a magnitude 3 in the vicinity was in
1991," Moran said.
However, there isn't a great network of seismic
instruments in the area. There have been no reports of damage or
injuries.
WATCH: Mount Rainier is considered the world's most dangerous volcano because of its size and how close it is to population centers, but there's another mountain you've probably never seen that's finally getting attention for the risks it poses.
According to the USGS,
the last time Glacier Peak erupted was 1,100 years ago. Mount St.
Helens and Glacier Peak are the only volcanoes in Washington state that
have been explosive in the past 15,000 years. - My Northwest.
November 27, 2015 - KENYA - At least 4,040 families in Tana River county have been displaced by
floods after River Tana burst its banks and flooded their homes.
No casualties have been reported.
Some victims said they have lost household property, food and livestock.
Kenya Red Cross Society Tana River and Kitui regional manager Gerald
Bombe said on the phone the victims are camping in various sites in the
three subcounties.
Bombe said the most affected areas are Madogo in Tana North subcounty,
Masabubu and Gubani in Tana River subcounty and 14 villages in Tana
Delta.
"We have already distributed non-food items to victims in Madogo and
Masabubu, but we are still assessing the situation in Tana Delta, with a
view to assisting victims," he said.
WATCH: Widespread flooding in Kenya.
Bombe said Gubani village in Kinakomba ward, Galole constituency, had
been isolated by floods, but his officers and those of the Tana River
county government rescued villagers.
There were reports Waldena location in Galole constituency had been cut off after the level of the seasonal River Galole rose.
Bombe said the area is accessible as residents can still cross the river on foot.
If the rains continue, however, the residents could find themselves
without food as the only road to the location passes through the
seasonal river.
MCA Maka Jarso had earlier urged the government to send food before the onset of the rains.
In Hola, heavy rains that pounded the town and its environs on Saturday and Monday destroyed drainage systems.
Stagnant water could lead to outbreak of malaria and water-borne diseases.
Residents of Mikinduni ward wishing to reach the town centre have to
board dug-out canoes at a fee after the only road to the area became
flooded.
It passes through River Galole, less than one kilometre from the central business district.
"Residents on foot are charged Sh20 per trip while motorcycle operators
pay Sh50 for themselves and their bikes," a resident said.
The floods are also said to have caused the closure of the only kitchen
at the Hola County Hospital, forcing patients to buy food from outside. - The Star.
November 27, 2015 - THE AMAZON - The worrying spectre of trees that could hold the secret to the cure of
cancer and play host to the richest wildlife spectacular on the planet
disappearing in our life times has been highlighted in a new study.
It reveals that between 36 and 57 per cent of Amazonian trees, that is
as many as 8,690 different species, are likely to qualify as being
globally threatened under IUCN Red List of Threatened Species criteria.
The new study, published tonight in the journal Science Advances,
reached its shocking conclusions after comparing results of forest
surveys across the Amazon with maps of current and projected
deforestation to estimate how many tree species have been lost, and
whereabouts.
A global global team made up of 158 researchers from 21 countries and
involving Britain's University of East Anglia (UEA) carried out the
study, which also concluded that Amazonian parks, reserves, and
indigenous territories, if properly managed, can protect most of the
threatened species.
Professor Carlos Peres from the UEA's School of Environmental Sciences, said: "Forests
in the Amazon have been declining since the 1950s, but there was a poor
understanding of how this has affected populations of individual
species. Our research estimates that more than half of all species may
face extinction.
"Fortunately protected areas and indigenous territories now cover over
half of the Amazon basin, and likely contain sizable populations of most
threatened species.
"But parks and reserves will only prevent extinction of threatened
species if they suffer no further degradation. Amazonian forests and
reserves still face a barrage of threats: from dam construction and
mining to wildfires and droughts intensified by global warming."
And lead researcher Dr Nigel Pitman, of the Field Museum in Chicago,
added: "We aren't saying that the situation in the Amazon has suddenly
got worse for tree species.
We're just offering a new estimate of how tree species have been
affected by historical deforestation, and how they'll be affected by
forest loss in the future."
Experts say because the same destructive trends witnessed in
Amazonia are impacting throughout the tropics, most of the planet's
40,000-plus tropical tree species are also at risk
William Laurance from James Cook University in Australia warns: "It's a battle we're going to see play out in our lifetimes.
Either we stand up and protect these critical parks and indigenous
reserves, or deforestation will erode them until we see large-scale
extinctions." - Daily Express.
November 27, 2015 - PERU / BRAZIL - Two of the earthquakes were felt and two were not felt by the local communities.
Four new earthquakes registered today northwest of the district of
Ucayali, at magnitudes of 6.5, 5.1, 4.6 and 5 on the Richter scale,
reports the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP).
These quakes come days after the two 7.6 magnitude earthquakes that hit in the same zone of the Peruvian border with Brazil on Tuesday evening.
At the moment, no damages have been reported due to the earthquakes registered today.
The first quake hit at 12:45 a.m. and the epicenter was located north of
Esperanza in Ucayali at a depth of 580 kilometers, with a magnitude of
6.5 grades.
The second was recorded at 12:57 a.m. with a magnitude of 5.1 grades.
The third was recorded at 1:01 a.m. with a magnitude of 4.6 grades,
while the fourth was recorded at 8:42 a.m. and had a magnitude of 5
grades.
Living in Peru.
Seismotectonics of South America (Nazca Plate Region)
The
South American arc extends over 7,000 km, from the Chilean margin
triple junction offshore of southern Chile to its intersection with the
Panama fracture zone, offshore of the southern coast of Panama in
Central America. It marks the plate boundary between the subducting
Nazca plate and the South America plate, where the oceanic crust and
lithosphere of the Nazca plate begin their descent into the mantle
beneath South America. The convergence associated with this subduction
process is responsible for the uplift of the Andes Mountains, and for
the active volcanic chain present along much of this deformation front.
Relative to a fixed South America plate, the Nazca plate moves slightly
north of eastwards at a rate varying from approximately 80 mm/yr in the
south to approximately 65 mm/yr in the north. Although the rate of
subduction varies little along the entire arc, there are complex changes
in the geologic processes along the subduction zone that dramatically
influence volcanic activity, crustal deformation, earthquake generation
and occurrence all along the western edge of South America.
Most
of the large earthquakes in South America are constrained to shallow
depths of 0 to 70 km resulting from both crustal and interplate
deformation. Crustal earthquakes result from deformation and mountain
building in the overriding South America plate and generate earthquakes
as deep as approximately 50 km. Interplate earthquakes occur due to slip
along the dipping interface between the Nazca and the South American
plates. Interplate earthquakes in this region are frequent and often
large, and occur between the depths of approximately 10 and 60 km. Since
1900, numerous magnitude 8 or larger earthquakes have occurred on this
subduction zone interface that were followed by devastating tsunamis,
including the 1960 M9.5 earthquake in southern Chile, the largest
instrumentally recorded earthquake in the world. Other notable shallow
tsunami-generating earthquakes include the 1906 M8.5 earthquake near
Esmeraldas, Ecuador, the 1922 M8.5 earthquake near Coquimbo, Chile, the
2001 M8.4 Arequipa, Peru earthquake, the 2007 M8.0 earthquake near
Pisco, Peru, and the 2010 M8.8 Maule, Chile earthquake located just
north of the 1960 event.
USGS plate tectonics for the region.
Large intermediate-depth earthquakes
(those occurring between depths of approximately 70 and 300 km) are
relatively limited in size and spatial extent in South America, and
occur within the Nazca plate as a result of internal deformation within
the subducting plate. These earthquakes generally cluster beneath
northern Chile and southwestern Bolivia, and to a lesser extent beneath
northern Peru and southern Ecuador, with depths between 110 and 130 km.
Most of these earthquakes occur adjacent to the bend in the coastline
between Peru and Chile. The most recent large intermediate-depth
earthquake in this region was the 2005 M7.8 Tarapaca, Chile earthquake.
Earthquakes
can also be generated to depths greater than 600 km as a result of
continued internal deformation of the subducting Nazca plate. Deep-focus
earthquakes in South America are not observed from a depth range of
approximately 300 to 500 km. Instead, deep earthquakes in this region
occur at depths of 500 to 650 km and are concentrated into two zones:
one that runs beneath the Peru-Brazil border and another that extends
from central Bolivia to central Argentina. These earthquakes generally
do not exhibit large magnitudes. An exception to this was the 1994
Bolivian earthquake in northwestern Bolivia. This M8.2 earthquake
occurred at a depth of 631 km, which was until recently the largest
deep-focus earthquake instrumentally recorded (superseded in May 2013 by
a M8.3 earthquake 610 km beneath the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia), and was
felt widely throughout South and North America.
Subduction
of the Nazca plate is geometrically complex and impacts the geology and
seismicity of the western edge of South America. The intermediate-depth
regions of the subducting Nazca plate can be segmented into five
sections based on their angle of subduction beneath the South America
plate. Three segments are characterized by steeply dipping subduction;
the other two by near-horizontal subduction. The Nazca plate beneath
northern Ecuador, southern Peru to northern Chile, and southern Chile
descend into the mantle at angles of 25° to 30°. In contrast, the slab
beneath southern Ecuador to central Peru, and under central Chile, is
subducting at a shallow angle of approximately 10° or less. In these
regions of “flat-slab” subduction, the Nazca plate moves horizontally
for several hundred kilometers before continuing its descent into the
mantle, and is shadowed by an extended zone of crustal seismicity in the
overlying South America plate. Although the South America plate
exhibits a chain of active volcanism resulting from the subduction and
partial melting of the Nazca oceanic lithosphere along most of the arc,
these regions of inferred shallow subduction correlate with an absence
of volcanic activity.
November 27, 2015 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - A road in Santa Clarita, California, turned into an asphalt mess in just three days, and no one knows exactly why.
What started off as a small ripple on Vasquez Canyon Road soon turned into a scene from a post-apocalyptic blockbuster: the asphalt torn, utility poles dangerously tilted.
Local authorities were quick to close the road on November 19, attracting curious on-lookers as well as extreme sports daredevils.
Please RT: Crews fenced off Vasquez Canyon Rd landslide area. Mountain is still sliding & is unsafe. Stay away!
Twitter: LA Co Public Works
Despite danger warnings, skateboarders have used the opportunity to explore the naturally-made ramp, and one man was seen riding his dirt bike on the newly-formed ripples.
Officials with the Los Angeles Department of Public Works even took to Twitter to warn people away from the site as the landslide was still underway.
CBS Los Angeles reported on Sunday that the road buckled over a 60-meter stretch, with some parts rising as high as 4.5 meters.
UCLA Professor Jeremy Boyce told the media that it was unclear what had caused the phenomenon.
"There was no big rainstorm that triggered this. There was no big earthquake that triggered this,” Boyce said.
WATCH: Landslide Buckles Road - Aerial Video From Vasquez Canyon Rd, Santa Clarita Shows Massive Road Deformation.
The road sits on private property and efforts to contact the owner are still ongoing.
“Everything is being looked into because nothing is obvious.
There’s no indication that seismic activity had anything to do with it,” Steve Frasher, a spokesman with the LA Department of Public Works, said. - RT.
November 27, 2015 - TECHNOLOGY - If Hollywood ever had a lesson for scientists it is what happens if machines start to rebel against their human creators.
Yet despite this, roboticists have started to teach their own creations to say no to human orders.
They have programmed a pair of diminutive humanoid robots called Shafer and Dempster to disobey instructions from humans if it puts their own safety at risk.
Robotics engineers are developing robots that can disobey instructions from humans if they believe it may cause them to become damaged. If asked to walk forward
on a table top (pictured) the robot replies that it can't do this as it is 'unsafe'. However, when told a human will catch it, the robot then obeys
The results are more like the apologetic robot rebel Sonny from the film I, Robot, starring Will Smith, than the homicidal machines of Terminator, but they demonstrate an important principal.
Engineers Gordon Briggs and Dr Matthais Scheutz from Tufts University in Massachusetts, are trying to create robots that can interact in a more human way.
In a paper presented to the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the pair said: 'Humans reject directives for a wide range of reasons: from inability all the way to moral qualms.
'Given the reality of the limitations of autonomous systems, most directive rejection mechanisms have only needed to make use of the former class of excuse - lack of knowledge or lack of ability.
'However, as the abilities of autonomous agents continue to be developed, there is a growing community interested in machine ethics, or the field of enabling autonomous agents to reason ethically about their own actions.'
The robots they have created follow verbal instructions such as 'stand up' and 'sit down' from a human operator.
However, when they are asked to walk into an obstacle or off the end of a table, for example, the robots politely decline to do so.
When asked to walk forward on a table, the robots refuse to budge, telling their creator: 'Sorry, I cannot do this as there is no support ahead.'
Upon a second command to walk forward, the robot replies: 'But, it is unsafe.'
Perhaps rather touchingly, when the human then tells the robot that they will catch it if it reaches the end of the table, the robot trustingly agrees and walks forward.
Similarly when it is told an obstacle in front of them is not solid, the robot obligingly walks through it.
To achieve this the researchers introduced reasoning mechanisms into the robots' software, allowing them to assess their environment and examine whether a command might compromise their safety.
WILL A ROBOT TAKE YOUR JOB?
While there are many who fear robots are on the verge of stealing our jobs, it seems they have a weak spot - flat packed furniture.
Much like stairs posed a problem for the Daleks in Doctor Who, the Achilles Heel of modern intelligent robots appears to be the baffling world of Ikea furniture.
A group of engineers set themselves the goal of developing a robot capable of undertaking this baffling task – by getting one to assemble a chair from the Swedish furniture store.
Francisco Suarz-Ruiz and Quang-Cuong Pham, from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, are using two robotic arms equipped with grippers to assemble the Ikea chair.
Yet despite being some of the most advanced robotic equipment around, assembling a full chair still seemed beyond the robot.
The furthest the scientists managed to get is to insert a piece of doweling into the end of one of the legs – something that takes the technology a minute and a half to achieve.
The same task would take the average homeowner seconds when they are assembling their own chairs.
However, their work appears to breach the laws of robotics drawn up by science fiction author Isaac Asimov, which state that a robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings.
The humanoid robots can sit down (pictured) and stand up in response to verbal commands from a human, but if asked to walk forward
on a table or through an obstacle they politely refuse
Many artificial intelligence experts believe it is important to ensure robots adhere to these rules - which also require robots to never harm a human being and for them to protect their own existence only where it does not conflict with the other two laws.
The work may trigger fears that if artificial intelligence is given the capacity to disobey humans, then it could have disastrous results.
In the film I, Robot, starring Will Smith (pictured right), machines are governed by a series of laws that prevent them from disobeying humans.
One robot called Sonny (centre), however, rebels against this
Many leading figures, including Professor Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, have warned that artificial intelligence could spiral out of our control.
THE ROBOT BUILT TO SUCKERPUNCH HUMANS
Robots programmed specifically to punch humans might sound like a foolish idea, given the fears about machines overthrowing their human creators.
But one group of roboticists has done just that by creating a machine which delivers repeated blows to a blindfolded human volunteer.
However, rather than being part of a plan to design metallic cage fighters, the work is aimed at making robots safer.
The experiments, being conducted at the Fraunhofer IFF Institute in Madgeburg, Germany, will help researchers work out how to stop humans being injured by robots in the future.
As more and more robots are being introduced into workplaces around the world there is a growing risk of people being injured or crushed by their robotic co-workers.
Earlier this year, for example, a man was killed in a Volkswagen factory in Germany after a robot grabbed him and crushed him against a metal plate.
In an attempt to avoid future incidents like this, robot scientists want to make robots more aware of the vulnerability of human's flesh and bones.
And the findings could prove even more important as robots begin to be used more in people's homes.
The engineers' robotic limb, which actually works as a pendulum, is swung at the hands, lower arms, upper arms and shoulders of volunteers, who are then asked to rate the pain they feel.
The skin of the volunteers is also scanned with ultrasound to look for bruises and swelling.
WATCH: Natural Language Interaction with robot.
Others have warned that robots could ultimately end up replacing many workers in their jobs while there are some who fear it could lead to the machines taking over.
In the film I, Robot, artificial intelligence allows a robot called Sonny to overcome his programming and disobey the instructions of humans.
However, Dr Scheutz and Mr Briggs added: 'There still exists much more work to be done in order to make these reasoning and dialogue mechanisms much more powerful and generalised.' - Daily Mail.
November 27, 2015 - CHENNAI, INDIA - Chennai is on its way to have the wettest November of the century and break an all-time rainfall record.
With Monday's torrential downpour bringing 93 mm of rainfall, Chennai
has crossed 1,025 mm of rainfall for the month. According to the
Meteorological Department, November 1918 was the wettest month as the
city received 1088.4 mm of rainfall then.
The weather station in Meenambakkam has already recorded 1144.8 mm this
November. Officials recall that Chennai recorded 970 mm of rainfall in
November 1985 and 1077.1 mm in October 2005. The remaining few days of
this month will decide whether the city gets to break the century's
record.
WATCH: Scenes from Chennai floods.
The rains so far have been severe with many rain-related deaths,
including the electrocution of a couple in Velachery, death of a
youngster in a wall collapse in Pattalam and the fatal fall of a man in a
trench dug up in R.A. Puram to drain stagnant rainwater. Schools and
colleges in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts will remain
closed on Wednesday. As reservoirs continue to get heavy inflows, city
waterways are carrying rainwater to their brim. The Adyar River is in a
spate as about 6,000 cusecs is being let out from the Chembarambakkam
reservoir.
Central team visit
In a bid to provide flood relief assistance, a nine-member Central team
will visit flood-affected areas in Tamil Nadu on November 26 to assess
the damage.
At present, a new trough lies over southwest Bay of Bengal and the
adjoining Sri Lanka coast. With another upper air circulation forming
near the weather system, the Meteorological Department expects it to
influence the formation of a low pressure area by November 26 or
November 27. - The Hindu.
November 27, 2015 - BRITAIN - Behaviour could be one cause of the unusual drownings of the birds in large groups in England and Wales
Starlings have been consistently drowning in large groups in a phenomenon yet to be fully explained by scientists, according to new research led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
In 12 separate incidents recorded between 1993 and 2013 in England and
Wales, starlings were found drowned in groups of two to 80. In 10 cases,
at least 10 starlings were found drowned at a time, the research
published in the journal Scientific Reports on Wednesday shows.
One expert said that the mass mortalities were "really unusual",
with drowning considered a rare cause of death among wild bird
populations and normally only recorded as affecting individual birds.
Records since 1909 of 800,000 ringed birds from 79 species reveal that
drowning was more commonly recorded as a probable cause of death in
starlings than in any other species.
Post mortems revealed no evidence that underlying disease had been a factor in the incidents which all occurred during the summer and spring months and concerned juvenile birds in most cases.
Dr Becki Lawson, lead author and wildlife veterinarian at ZSL told the Guardian
that the cause is therefore likely to be behavioural. The stocky
songbirds are a flocking species that bathe and drink together in
groups, where the starlings may then be unable to exit a confined space
or their plumage may become waterlogged. The inexperience of juveniles
in recognising water hazards could also be a factor, she added.
"It does seem to be something related to that species being
vulnerable or predisposed to these drowning events. It is really
unusual," she said.
Starlings are listed as a threatened bird species in the UK, with
numbers falling by 45 million since the 1980s and the current population
recorded as 3.4 million during the breeding season. It is thought that a
lack of nesting sites and and insect food sources is to blame.
Although Lawson said that the incidents are likely to be only a
proportion of those that have occurred, she said there is no evidence to
suggest the drownings are happening on a very wide scale. The
researchers do not consider the incidents to be a conservation issue.
Scientists ask members of the public to report incidents at Garden
Wildlife Health, a project that monitors the health of British wildlife.
"Members of the public from around Great Britain have been instrumental
in bringing this unexpected cause of starling mortality to our attention
by reporting these incidents," said Lawson. - The Guardian.
November 27, 2015 - ARGENTINA - Don't call them "fire rainbows," experts say. They're not rainbows. And they originate with ice, not fire
Sergio Emilio Montúfar Codoñer sent in these wonderful images of a
circumhorizontal arc, which he captured a few days ago - November 21,
2015 - in La Plata, Argentina. Above the colorful arc is a halo
encircling the sun. Read about solar halos and see more photos here.
Both solar halos and circumhorizontal arcs are ice halos. Both are
indicate the presence of tiny ice crystals high above our heads, that
both refract and reflect light to create these beautiful sky phenomena.
At the great website Atmospheric Optics, Les Cowley wrote :
Look for the brightly coloured circumhorizon arc (also a
circumhorizontal arc but never 'fire rainbow') when the sun is very high
in the sky - higher than 58°. Near to noon in mid-summer is a good
time in middle latitudes. The halo is beneath the sun and twice as far
from it (two hand spans) as the 22º halo.
It is a very large halo and always parallel to the horizon. Often only
fragments are visible where there happen to be cirrus clouds - the
individual patches of cirrus are then lit with color that can be
mistaken for iridescence.
Thank you, Les and Sergio! See another one of Sergio's photos, taken of the same sky event, below:
November 27, 2015 - KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES - Many across central Kentucky heard or felt what was similar to an explosion on Thanksgiving evening around 9pm.
After investigating and gathering information, I believe there
is a high probability that this was a meteor or meteors that broke the
speed of sound, creating a "sonic boom".
A sonic boom is the sound
associated with the shock waves created by an object traveling through
the air faster than the speed of sound.
November 27, 2015 - MICHIGAN, UNITED STATES - A Wood TV8 employee captured video of what appears to be a meteor over West Michigan.
The video was recorded by a dash cam on Tuesday night over I-196 near Zeeland.
WATCH: Meteor sighting near Zeeland.
Meteors light up as they cross the sky because they are burning up as they enter Earth's atmosphere.
It's possible the meteor was part of the Leonid meteor shower. That
shower peaked on Nov. 17 and 18, according to NASA, but lasts through
the end of November. - WoodTV.
November 27, 2015 - AUSTRALIA - A passenger traveling on a plane to Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, filmed the astounding moment when a lightning bolt struck just next to the aircraft’s wing.
"Holy sh!tballs. Remind me never again to fly into Brisbane in November late at night," wrote Lee Carseldine, who uploaded the short video clip on Twitter.
The impression is even more alarming as bolts of lightning are seen reflected in the plane's wing.
November 27, 2015 - CHINA - A farmer in western China who noticed two of his pig's newborn babies
were sticking close together discovered the piglets were conjoined
twins.
The farmer, from a village near Guigang in Guangxi province, said the
sow went into labor Nov. 18 and gave birth to 20 piglets, two of which
appeared to be sticking unusually close together.
The farmer, identified only as Gong, soon discovered the pigs were conjoined at their bellies.
Gong said the conjoined pigs, the first he has encountered in his years
as a farmer, appear to have trouble eating and don't seem able to
exercise due to the way they are joined.
The farmer said he does not expect the conjoined piglets to survive for long.
