February 28, 2016 - ANTARCTICA - A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 has struck the Indian Ocean between Antarctica and Australia, seismologists say.
No tsunami warnings have been issued.
The earthquake, which struck at about 21:29:43 UTC on Sunday, and was centered about 1106 kilometers (687 miles) southwest of Geeveston, Australia.
USGS shakemap intensity.
The earthquake struck at a depth of about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) below the seabed, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported.
The earthquake was not strong enough to generate a tsunami, and no alerts were issued by the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre.
No damage or casualties were expected from the temblor.
February 26, 2016 - ANTARCTIC CIRCLE - A crew of 68 people remain stranded on board a polar research ship more
than a day after it broke from its moorings and ran aground near
Australia's oldest harbor in the Antarctic Circle.
The Aurora Australis, a 94-meter long ice-breaking ship, was
ripped from its anchoring as a raging blizzard hit Mawson Station, East
Antarctica, on Wednesday morning.
Efforts are being made to bring the crew back to base. However, the blizzard conditions are hampering the operation.
WATCH: Footage of icebreaker as storm moves in.
Footage recorded from inside the stricken vessel shows strong gusts of ice and snow battering the upper deck.
The incident happened as 130mph winds were recorded in the area.
While the ship remains trapped in the Horseshoe Harbour, authorities
say there is no immediate danger of oil seeping into the ocean.
"Sixty-eight expeditioners and crew remain on board the Aurora Australis, which remains aground... All continue to be safe and well," a government statement said Thursday.
The spokesperson for the Australian Antarctic Division added that a
breach in the ship's hull has been discovered "in an area of the ship
that poses no risk to the stability of the vessel or of fuel leaking
into the environment".
"The crew continue to monitor the hull," they added.
The ship is capable of remaining at sea for approximately 90 days and
has an average speed of 30kph. It's reinforced bow is designed to cut
through pack ice up to 1.2-meters thick, which is quite rudimentary when compared with larger icebreakers.
The Aurora Australis had been carrying out marine science close
to the Kerguelen Plateau region when it stopped to restock supplies at
Mawson Station.
P&O Maritime Services are the registered owners of the vessel, which
has been used to transport cargo and expedition teams to the Australian
government's bases on the icy continent.
The company has said it could take up to three days to assess the full damage. - RT.
February 23, 2016 - ANTARCTICA - A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.9 has struck the
Indian Ocean between Antarctica and Australia, seismologists say.
No
tsunami warnings have been issued.
The earthquake, which struck at about 5:08 a.m. Sydney time on
Wednesday, was centered about 454 kilometers (282 miles) northeast of
the French scientific station Dumont d'Urville in Antarctica, or about
2,261 kilometers (1,405 miles) south of Hobart on Tasmania.
USGS shakemap intensity.
The earthquake struck at a depth of about 7.7 kilometers (4.8 miles)
below the seabed, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported.
The earthquake was not strong enough to generate a tsunami, and no
alerts were issued by the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre.
No damage or casualties were expected from Wednesday's earthquake. - BNO News.
February 13, 2016 - ANTARCTICA - An estimated 150,000 Adelie penguins living in Antarctica have died
after a huge iceberg the size of Luxemburg became lodged near their
colony. The grounding of the colossal iceberg in Cape Denison in
Commonwealth Bay left the colony effectively landlocked.
This meant the mid-sized penguins, that range from 46cm-71 cm
(18in-28in), had to trek 60km to the sea to feed on their favoured
krill. Their habitat used to sit on the edge of a large expanse of open
water but in 2010 a massive iceberg measuring 2,900km sq became lodged
in the bay, rendering the colony of Penguins landlocked.
In the last five years the colony was dwindled in size,
as the perilous journey has claimed the lives of 150,000 of the
penguins, according to research carried out by the Climate Change
Research Centre at Australia's University of New South Wales. And
scientists warned that the colony is set to disappear in just 20 years
unless the sea ice breaks up or the iceberg, named B09B, becomes
dislodged.
"The Cape Denison population
could be extirpated within 20 years unless B09B relocates or the now
perennial fast ice within the bay breaks out. This has provided a
natural experiment to investigate the impact of iceberg stranding events
and sea ice expansion along the East Antarctic coast."
WATCH: 150k penguins die due to iceberg.
But all is not lost, a study of another colony
of Adelie penguins located just 8km from the coast of Commonwealth Bay
is thriving, the researchers said. And new findings from other studies
suggest that between the last ice age through to 1,000 years ago, some
species of penguins have benefited from climate warming and retreating
ice.
Professor Chris Turney, who led the expedition, told the Morning Herald that penguin numbers had been recorded for 100 years at Cape Denison.
"It's
eerily silent now," he said. "The ones that we saw at Cape Denison were
incredibly docile, lethargic, almost unaware of your existence. The
ones that are surviving are clearly struggling. "They can barely survive
themselves, let alone hatch the next generation. We saw lots of dead
birds on the ground it's just heartbreaking to see."
February 4, 2016 - AUSTRALIA - Australia's only two active volcanoes have both erupted - and
scientists on board a ship conducting research nearby caught the rare
event on film. The Big Ben volcano
on remote Heard Island in sub-Antarctica, almost 1800 kilometres north
of Australia's Antarctic base at Davis Station, erupted a combination of
poisonous gases and red-hot lava.
It was the first time it had done so in decades.
We witnessed the lava descending Big Ben interacting dramatically with the snow and ice cover of the mountain.
Richard Arculus, ANU volcanologist
The other volcano, on the neighbouring McDonald islands, erupted gas only. Scientists on board the CSIRO's RV Investigator were visiting the islands to conduct research into the concentration of iron in Antarctic waters.
"We witnessed the lava descending Big Ben as it interacted dramatically
with the snow and ice cover of the mountain," said ANU volcanologist
Professor Richard Arculus, who witnessed the eruption first hand.
"It is possible that a quenched carapace of glass is formed over
the lava allowing the flow to descend considerable distances downhill,
forming lava tubes."
Big Ben volcano is one of the most active in the world. Changes in
appearance of the lava flows on the summit of Big Ben during successive
days indicate active eruptions have been taking place over the past
week, Professor Arculus said.
Volcanoes erupt when the Earth's magma, which is lighter than
surrounding rock, rises and collects in subterranean chambers.
Eventually some of the magma pushes through vents and fissures and
erupts as lava on the surface.
"The lava types erupting from Big Ben are the end-products of extensive
processes of selective crystal withdrawal from alkali-rich basalts
within crustal magma chambers," he explained.
The end-product of this process is a lava type characteristic of other
hot-spot volcanoes like Mt Erebus, Kilimanjaro and Gran Canaria.
"The eruptions were once-in-a-lifetime events for scientists on board," said Monash University geologist Associate Professor Steven Micklethwaite.
"Although it was difficult to do much more than watch and observe, the
insights gained into the eruption behaviour of such a furiously remote
volcano are important.
"Monitoring these types of eruptions tells us about how lava interacts
with ice, which can be quite spectacular," Associate Professor
Micklethwaite said.
WATCH: Big Ben erupts.
Expeditioner Jodi Fox, whose doctoral thesis is on Heard Island
volcanism, said observing lava flowing down the flank of Big Ben over a
glacier was incredible.
"Given persistent cloud cover and generally foul weather, I didn't think
we'd observe much of the volcano on this voyage," she said.
The team spotted the eruption while circling the islands to map the sea
floor to identify hydrothermal systems driven by underwater volcanoes.
Scientists believe these are driving the Southern Ocean ecosystem from the bottom-up.
They are testing the hypothesis that hydrothermal systems release iron, a
fertiliser for planktonic blooms, which create half of the planet's
oxygen.
The research sheds light on global fluctuations in nutrients. It will
also help determine the merits of artificially seeding the oceans with
iron in order to increase the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the
main driver of climate change. - Brisbane Times.
February 1, 2016 - HEARD ISLAND - Australian scientists have witnessed the rare eruption of an Antarctic volcano off the coast of the frozen continent.
The scientists, from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organisation (CSIRO), filmed the volcanic event by chance while
aboard research vessel "Investigator" studying the fringe of Antarctica's Heard Island.
The crew, working in conjunction with the University of Tasmania's
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), were actually looking
to study underwater volcanoes before the land-based variety caught
their attention.
Heard Island, a remote sub-Antarctic region, is home to Big Ben, an active volcano which is believed to have only erupted three times since the turn of the century.
Given the island's isolation, viewing Big Ben - which is mostly covered
in ice throughout the year - during an eruption is considered a
geoscientific rarity. Often, satellite images provide the only evidence
that an eruption has occurred.
WATCH: Heard Island volcano erupting.
Chief scientist aboard The Investigator, IMAS professor and
geophysicist Mike Coffin, said on Monday it was a great thrill to film
the 2,745-meter volcano in action, becoming one of the few people in
human history to have witnessed it erupting.
"We have 10 excited geoscientists aboard Investigator, and our
enthusiasm has spread to our 50 shipmates," Coffin said in a CSIRO press
release on Monday.
The crew, based 4,100 km southwest of the Western Australian city of
Perth, are only three weeks into their 58-day research voyage.
Despite the trip barely getting underway,the researchers claim to have already uncovered "50 potential underwater hydrothermal plumes,"
which may help establish whether active underwater volcanoes - which
create these plumes - form the foundation for life in the Southern
Ocean. - Shanghai Daily.
January 31, 2016 - BALLENY ISLANDS REGION - An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale jolted Balleny Islands region at on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to
be at 63.2868 degrees south latitude and 169.1522 degrees east
longitude.
The Balleny Islands
(66°55′S 163°45′E) are a series of uninhabited islands in the Southern
Ocean extending from 66°15' to 67°35'S and 162°30' to 165°00'E.
The
group extends for about 160 km (99 mi) in a northwest-southeast
direction. The islands are heavily glaciated and are of volcanic origin.
The islands were formed by the so-called Balleny hotspot. It is also
the first land on Earth to have sunrise each day.The group includes
three main islands: Young, Buckle and Sturge, which lie in a line from
northwest to southeast, and several smaller islets and rocks.
USGS shakemap intensity.
The Buckle, Sturge and Young Islands are examples of
stratovolcanoes. Strong earthquakes very close to the islands are rare,
but tremors of moderate strength do occur over the Pacific–Antarctic
Ridge, Macquarie Triple Junction and Pacific Rim between the Balleny
Islands and Macquarie Island.
Other earthquakes occur near the Southeast Indian Ridge and Balleny
Fracture Zone, including a magnitude 8.1 earthquake in 1998 that struck
just over 700 km (430 mi) west-northwest of the Islands.
Seismotectonics of the Eastern Margin of the Australia Plate
The eastern margin of the Australia plate is one of the most sesimically active areas of the world due to high rates of convergence between the Australia and Pacific plates. In the region of New Zealand, the 3000 km long Australia-Pacific plate boundary extends from south of Macquarie Island to the southern Kermadec Island chain. It includes an oceanic transform (the Macquarie Ridge), two oppositely verging subduction zones (Puysegur and Hikurangi), and a transpressive continental transform, the Alpine Fault through South Island, New Zealand.
Since 1900 there have been 15 M7.5+ earthquakes recorded near New Zealand. Nine of these, and the four largest, occurred along or near the Macquarie Ridge, including the 1989 M8.2 event on the ridge itself, and the 2004 M8.1 event 200 km to the west of the plate boundary, reflecting intraplate deformation. The largest recorded earthquake in New Zealand itself was the 1931 M7.8 Hawke's Bay earthquake, which killed 256 people. The last M7.5+ earthquake along the Alpine Fault was 170 years ago; studies of the faults' strain accumulation suggest that similar events are likely to occur again.
USGS plate tectonics for the region.
North of New Zealand, the Australia-Pacific boundary stretches east of Tonga and Fiji to 250 km south of Samoa. For 2,200 km the trench is approximately linear, and includes two segments where old (greater than 120 Myr) Pacific oceanic lithosphere rapidly subducts westward (Kermadec and Tonga). At the northern end of the Tonga trench, the boundary curves sharply westward and changes along a 700 km-long segment from trench-normal subduction, to oblique subduction, to a left lateral transform-like structure.
Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 60 mm/yr at the southern Kermadec trench to 90 mm/yr at the northern Tonga trench; however, significant back arc extension (or equivalently, slab rollback) causes the consumption rate of subducting Pacific lithosphere to be much faster. The spreading rate in the Havre trough, west of the Kermadec trench, increases northward from 8 to 20 mm/yr. The southern tip of this spreading center is propagating into the North Island of New Zealand, rifting it apart. In the southern Lau Basin, west of the Tonga trench, the spreading rate increases northward from 60 to 90 mm/yr, and in the northern Lau Basin, multiple spreading centers result in an extension rate as high as 160 mm/yr. The overall subduction velocity of the Pacific plate is the vector sum of Australia-Pacific velocity and back arc spreading velocity: thus it increases northward along the Kermadec trench from 70 to 100 mm/yr, and along the Tonga trench from 150 to 240 mm/yr.
The Kermadec-Tonga subduction zone generates many large earthquakes on the interface between the descending Pacific and overriding Australia plates, within the two plates themselves and, less frequently, near the outer rise of the Pacific plate east of the trench. Since 1900, 40 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded, mostly north of 30°S. However, it is unclear whether any of the few historic M8+ events that have occurred close to the plate boundary were underthrusting events on the plate interface, or were intraplate earthquakes. On September 29, 2009, one of the largest normal fault (outer rise) earthquakes ever recorded (M8.1) occurred south of Samoa, 40 km east of the Tonga trench, generating a tsunami that killed at least 180 people.
Across the North Fiji Basin and to the west of the Vanuatu Islands, the Australia plate again subducts eastwards beneath the Pacific, at the North New Hebrides trench. At the southern end of this trench, east of the Loyalty Islands, the plate boundary curves east into an oceanic transform-like structure analogous to the one north of Tonga.
Australia-Pacific convergence rates increase northward from 80 to 90 mm/yr along the North New Hebrides trench, but the Australia plate consumption rate is increased by extension in the back arc and in the North Fiji Basin. Back arc spreading occurs at a rate of 50 mm/yr along most of the subduction zone, except near ~15°S, where the D'Entrecasteaux ridge intersects the trench and causes localized compression of 50 mm/yr in the back arc. Therefore, the Australia plate subduction velocity ranges from 120 mm/yr at the southern end of the North New Hebrides trench, to 40 mm/yr at the D'Entrecasteaux ridge-trench intersection, to 170 mm/yr at the northern end of the trench.
Large earthquakes are common along the North New Hebrides trench and have mechanisms associated with subduction tectonics, though occasional strike slip earthquakes occur near the subduction of the D'Entrecasteaux ridge. Within the subduction zone 34 M7.5+ earthquakes have been recorded since 1900. On October 7, 2009, a large interplate thrust fault earthquake (M7.6) in the northern North New Hebrides subduction zone was followed 15 minutes later by an even larger interplate event (M7.8) 60 km to the north. It is likely that the first event triggered the second of the so-called earthquake "doublet".
January 1, 2016 - INDIAN OCEAN - A magnitude-6.3 earthquake jolted Western Indian-Antarctic Ridge at 0200 GMT on Friday (10:00 Beijing time), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 50.5751 degrees south latitude and 139.4469 degrees east longitude.
USGS shakemap intensity.
There is no tsunami threat from this earthquake, according to NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and the Japan Meteorological Advisory.
According to the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS), the earthquake can have a no humanitarian impact based on the magnitude and the affected population and their vulnerability.
December 4, 2015 - INDIAN OCEAN - A powerful and shallow earthquake registered as magnitude 7.1 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) hit the Southeast Indian Ridge at 22:24 UTC on December 4, 2015.
The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is also reporting magnitude 7.1 at a depth of 10 km. Australia Geoscience is reporting M7.2 at a depth of 0 km.
According to the USGS, the epicenter was located 1,020 km (634 miles) northeast of Heard Island, Heard Island and McDonald Islands and 2,961 km (1 840 miles) southwest of Busselton, Australia.
USGS earthquake location.
There are no people living within 100 km (62 miles) radius.
USGS issued green alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.
USGS shakemap intensity.
According to NOAA's National Weather Service no tsunami warnings, advisories or watches are in effect.
Heimdal Glacier southern Greenland, from NASA's Falcon 20 aircraft at 33,000 feet above sea level.
November 29, 2015 - ANTARCTICA - An intensive scientific study of both Earth's poles has found that
from 2009 to 2016 overall temperature has dropped in the southern polar
region.
NASA’s Operation IceBridge is an airborne survey of polar ice and has finalised two overlapping research campaigns at both the poles.
Coupled with the latest announcement of slight cooling in the area, it has fuelled claims from climate change deniers that human industrialisation is not having the huge impact on global tenperature as often is claimed.
Map showing the extent of ice during the NASA studies
Christopher Shuman, a University of Maryland, Baltimore County glaciologist working at Goddard, said: "Field data suggests that there’s been a modest cooling in the area over the 2009–2015 time period, and images collected during that time by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on the Terra and Aqua satellites show more persistent fast ice (sea ice that is attached to the shore) in the Larsen A and Larsen B embayments”
However, Mr Shuman warned that in some areas of the Antarctic, glaciers continued to melt at significant levels, despite the slight temperature drop.
At the south pole, the mission observed a big drop in the height of two glaciers situated in the Antarctic Peninsula.
Mr Shuman added: "These IceBridge measurements show that once the ice shelves collapse, even some cooling and a good deal of persistent sea ice is not able to hold back these larger glaciers and they continue to lose mass overall.”
NASA has found that overall the amount of Antarctic ice has increased
During one flight in the Peninsula that mapped the drainage area of several glaciers, a drop of more than 490 feet (150 meters) in the height of two glaciers since IceBridge last plotted them, in 2009, was measured.
Both glaciers, called Green and Hektoria, were tributaries to the Larsen B ice shelf, which disintegrated in 2002.
After the ice shelf collapsed, it stopped buttressing the glaciers that fed it, and glacier elevations have fallen dramatically since then.
A study published in 2012 showed average elevation losses of up to 82 feet (25 meters) per year for the lower Green and Hektoria glaciers from 2006 to 2011.
Many scientists believe the climate is gradually heating up and we will be looking at droughts and w
A NASA spokesman said:"So IceBridge’s discovery that both are still losing ice fast many years after the loss of the adjacent ice shelf is “not all that surprising given what we have observed with other sensors,” said Mr Shuman.
So, confusingly, the new details of further glacial melt have fuelled those who believe we are causing global warming and polar ice melt.
At the Arctic north pole, the project collected much needed measurements of the status of land and sea ice at the end of the Arctic summer melt season.
The results of these have yet to be published, but the whole issue is set to be debated in full at a clime change conference in Paris later this month. - Express.
May 19, 2015 - PACIFIC OCEAN - The U.S. Geological Survey says a strong and shallow earthquake has
struck the Pacific-Antarctic ridge, but a tsunami is unlikely.
The USGS says the quake’s epicenter was located 1337 miles of Mount
Siple, Antarctica and 2,418 miles southwest of Puerto Natales, Chile at a
depth of 7.5 miles.
The quake hit at 8:25 a.m. PDT Tuesday.
USGS earthquake location map.
USGS shakemap intensity.
There is no tsunami threat from this earthquake, according to
NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and the Japan
Meteorological Advisory.
LIVE QUAKE MAP: Track Real-Time Hot Spots Strong earthquakes with an epicenter off the coast can trigger
tsunamis, depending on the size and type of the fault movement.
The
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center tracks earthquake data for the West
Coast.- CBS.
April 16, 2015 - NEW ZEALAND - An unseasonably early dump of snow on the North Island's ski fields has
excited skiers and snowboarders, prompting a few to hit the slopes for
some pre-winter fun.
A brutal southerly blast straight from Antarctica swept New Zealand on Monday and blanketed the country's ski fields in snow.
North Island's four fields - Whakapapa, Turoa and Tukino on Mt
Ruapehu, plus Manganui on Mt Taranaki - were all celebrating the
snowfall. "Everyone is excited about it," New Plymouth snowboarder Craig
Balks said.
The 27-year-old spent Tuesday morning on Mt Taranaki with girlfriend
Aleisha Tippett after the lure of early snow proved irresistible,
despite his taking a day off work because of a nasty cold.
The Chateau Tongariro Hotel at Mt Ruapehu looks spectacular on Tuesday morning after the first snow dump of the season.
About 6cm of snow covered Manganui Ski Area's top car park by early Tuesday morning, he said. "I definitely think this is the earliest snow for ages."
While it was unlikely the snow would last till the end of the week, and
was too little to snowboard on, he hoped it boded well for a "nice cold
winter".
Stratford Mountain Club spokesman Rob Needs said it was the most significant snow to fall at such low levels and so early in the winter season for several decades.
February 16, 2015 - SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION - A
very strong 6.7 magnitude earthquake has just struck 91 miles northwest
of Visokoi Island, in the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
The quake hit out in the sea, far from Argentina's and South Africa's coastline, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
The tremor erupted at 22:00:53 UTC and was located at 55.524°S 28.252°W with a shallow depth of 10 km.
The
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center confirm that no tsunami threat is in
place. Therefore, no destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based
on historical earthquake and tsunami data. No word of damage or expanded
threat has been issued at this time.
USGS earthquake shakemap intensity map.
USGS earthquake population exposure map.
However, earthquakes of
this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive
along coasts located within a hundred kilometers of the earthquake
epicenter. Authorities in the region of the epicenter should be aware of
this possibility and take appropriate action.
The South Sandwich region is bounded by the South American American Plate and the Antarctic Plate.
USGS historical seismicity for the region.
The
islands comprise 11 mostly volcanic islands (excluding tiny satellite
islands and offshore rocks), with some active volcanoes. They form an
island arc running north-south in the region 56°18′–59°27′S,
26°23′–28°08′W, between about 350 miles (560 km) and 500 miles (800 km)
southeast of South Georgia.
The northernmost of the South
Sandwich Islands form the Traversay Islands and Candlemas Islands
groups, while the southernmost make up Southern Thule. The three largest
islands – Saunders, Montagu and Bristol – lie between the two. The
Islands’ highest point is Mount Belinda (1,370 m/4,495 ft) on Montagu
Island.
January 13, 2015 - ANTARCTICA
- An enormous impact crater thought to have been created by a meteorite
the size of a house smashing into Earth has been discovered in the
Antarctic ice sheet.
Scientists conducting a routine aerial
research flight above East Antarctica noticed a strange ring-like
structure in the normally flat and featureless ice.
It appeared
to be a series of broken 'icebergs' surrounded by a 2km (1.24 miles)
wide circular scar, surrounded by a few other smaller circular scars in
the ice.
The researchers later found two separate studies reporting that a meteorite fell in the area in 2004.
One reported a series of infrasound - low frequency sound capable of
traveling huge distances below the limit of human hearing - detected on 2
September 2004.
They estimated that the falling object would have landed on the ice shelf.
The findings suggests that a house-sized meteorite broke up in the
atmosphere over Antarctica before the remains smashed into the ice
sheet.
Dr Christian Müller, a geophysicist from surveying company Fielax, was the scientist who first spotted the impact crater.
He said: 'We were on a routine measuring flight near to the coast and we were flying above a small ice bluff.
'I looked out of the window and saw some unusual structures in the
surface of the ice that were some broken ice looking like icebergs that
is very unusual on a very flat ice shelf surrounded by a large wing
shaped circular structure.
'I've never seen something like that
before. My first thoughts were that it might be an impact structure
from something from space like a meteorite.'
The researchers, who are part of the Alfred Wegener Institute
in Germany, had been flying on a Basler BT-67 aircraft called Polar 6
over an area that is known as the Princess Ragnhild Coast of Queen Maud
Land in Antarctica as part of a survey to study the rock beneath the
ice.
They were also using magnetometers to measure small disturbances in the
magnetic properties of the bedrock to help determine more about the
terrain.
As they flew over the Antarctic coast on 24 December
2014, Dr Müller spotted the large circular scar on the King Baudoin Ice
Shelf, which forms over the ocean.
The team then later returned
to the site on 26 December, taking photographs and video of the site as
well as using a laser to create a topographical map.
They also
used radar to help build up an image of the interior of the ice shelf
beneath the circular structure in the hope of seeing what lies beneath
it.
The
remains of the impact site was found on an ice shelf off the Princess
Ragnhild Coast of East Antarctica. The researchers had flown from
Princess Elisabeth Research Station while scientists at the Australian
Davis Research Station had spotted debris from a suspected meteorite
heading towards the area in 2004.
Six
infrasound stations (marked by black triangles, detected the noise
waves created by the meteor as travelled around the world, allowed
scientists to pinpoint the source above East Antarctica as can be seen
where the lines cross in the diagram above from a research paper in the
Journal Earth Moon Planet.
They
are still processing detail but Dr Graeme Eagles, a geophysicist and
leader of the Alfred Wegener Institute's geophysical survey team at
Princess Elisabeth Station, said that it appeared the ice and snow on
the top part of the ice shelf had been disturbed.
He said that this data should help to confirm that it was a meteorite that had caused the crater.
He said: 'We can't say that with any confidence at this point. We can say we've found something very unusual.
WATCH: Have scientists discovered a new meteorite impact site in Antarctica?
'However,
there are two very promising prior results - the infrasound data and
the observed dust trail in 2004 - which support the hypothesis that this
structure could have been created by a meteorite impact and certainly
support the decision to collect more data for further analysis and
investigation.
'The Australian study estimates that the body
that left the debris they measured would have likely been about the size
of a house and that it may have broken up on its way though the
atmosphere.
'Interestingly enough, when we flew out to the
circular structure in the ice on December 26th, we also spotted a number
of smaller circular and sub-circular structures in the ice as well,
which is consistent with the conclusion of the Australian study.'
An
image from NASA’s Aqua satellite of the meteor’s dust trail one hour
after it is thought to have exploded above Antarctica in September 2004.
The dust was spotted by Australian researchers in Antarctica at the
time.
Research
by the Australian scientists after they saw the meteorite debris above
Antarctica in 2004 suggested that it was around seven to ten meters (23
to 33 feet) wide and weighted between 600 and 1,900 tonnes.
They estimated that it exploded in the sky above Antarctica with the
force of 12,000 tonnes of TNT and was traveling at a speed of 29,080
mph.
The debris created by the explosion would then have crashed to Earth, smashing into the ice.
Dr Eagles said that the team were now considering drilling down into
the ice beneath the crater to see if they can find out more about what
caused it.
Dr Eagles added: 'if this object did break up before
hitting the ice shelf, that perhaps some of the pieces were not
traveling with enough energy to penetrate the ice shelf, and may have
settled on or within it.
'We may find evidence of a dust layer
in the ice surrounding the crater beneath 10 years of snow accumulation.
I think that would be worth having a look at.' - Daily Mail.
December 6, 2014 - CHINA -The snow is up to 3 feet (90 cm) deep, leaving residents struggling to open doors. A blizzard lasting more than 60 hours hit Fuyuan County,a border town in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Thursday.
Local
communities banded together to clear snow from roads, and the county
government said a contingency plan is in place to relieve economic
stresses due to the snow.
WATCH: Heavy snow in northeast China forces closure of schools, hinder traffic.
Parts of China resemble Antarctica
According to a Greek website: Parts of China resemble Antarctica.
The
snow has exceeded one meter (39 inches) in Cheilongkziangk province in
northeast China, as the area was hit by the most severe snowstorm in
years.
"I started to shovel snow outside my door at 6 am and after
2-3 hours I arrived at the curb," says ekas local resident in camera of
Chinese television. The
last two 24-hour non-stop snowing so a dense veil of snow has covered
everything, paralyzing transportation and causing huge problems. Temperatures reached as low as minus 20 Celsius (-4 F). - Ice Age Now.
December 4, 2014 - SPACE - Here are several of the latest developments in space.
Strong Solar Flare Observed
A
noteworthy solar flare measuring M6.1 was observed around region 2222
peaking at 18:25 UTC. This resulted in a short lived R2 level radio
blackout on the sunlit side of Earth. The active region is still in a
decent position for Earth directed coronal mass ejections. More updates
later today should a CME be associated.
ALERT: X-Ray Flux exceeded M5
Threshold Reached: 2014 Dec 04 1821 UTC
NOAA Scale: R2 - Moderate
Potential
Impacts: Area of impact centered on sub-solar point on the sunlit side
of Earth. Extent of blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication
dependent upon current X-ray Flux intensity. For real-time information
on affected area and expected duration please see http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/drap.
Solar activity during the
past 24 hours reached moderate levels. Prior to the M6.1 flare, region
2222 produced an M1.3 solar flare at 08:10 UTC. The active region was
also responsible for a number of low to mid level C-Flares.
In
addition, minor C-Flares were observed around region 2226 and off the
southeast limb. All other visible numbered regions were either stable or
in a state of decay. Region 2222 will remain a threat for another
M-Flare during the next few days. The region has an unstable
"beta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors energy for moderately-strong
explosions. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of M-class flares on
December 4th. No Earth directed coronal mass ejections were detected
during the past 24 hours.
Watch Out For Moon Halos
This
week the Moon is waxing full, which means now is the time to watch out
for Moon halos. Bright moonlight shining through ice crystals in the air
can create a luminous network of arcs, pillars and 'dogs around the
lunar disk. James Helmericks photographed this example on Dec. 3rd from
the Colville River Delta in northern Alaska:
"At 3 o'clock in the
morning in northern Alaska, I went out to film the Moon," says
Helmericks. "At first, the Moon was surrounded by little more than a
slight corona. After a while, though, all the thicker clouds departed,
leaving behind a layer of high icy clouds, and we were also engulfed in
thin freezing mist. When this happened a whole new set of phenomena
appeared, and I snapped the picture above."
The produce such a
complex display, the clouds and mist must have contained a variety of
ice crystals, with many shapes and orientations. Atmospheric optics
expert Les Cowley was also amazed by the brightness of the halos:
"This
ice halo display would stand out if made by the sun. Made by the very
much dimmer Moon 'as black as coal' it is truly remarkable," Cowley
says. "The parselenic circle crossing through the Moon (only the sun
makes parhelic circles) is hugely bright. Moondogs to the left and right
of the Moon are intense, too. Because everything is so bright, we can
see many halos that often go unnoticced. An upper tangent arc sits atop
the familiar 22 degree halo. There is an outer more rare 46 degree
halo. We know it is that rather than the more common supralateral arc
because it does not quite touch the circumzenithal arc at the picture's
top."
"The temperature was -7F with 10 knots of wind, so one
needed to be bundled up to enjoy the view," adds Helmericks. That's why
they call them "ice halos."
The Return of the Evening Star
For
the past two months Venus has been passing behind the sun. Now the
second planet is emerging from the glare, setting the stage for The
Return of the Evening Star. Yesterday in Spain, the astrophotography
group Project Nightflight spotted the silvery light of Venus beaming
through the Atlantic sunset:
"Venus is beginning a new evening
apparition," says Project Nightflight. "After sunset it is very low in
the sky and sets quickly. To catch a glimpse of the Evening Star, you
will need crisp skies and an unobstructed view of the western horizon. A
pair of binoculars will help spot it."
"Visibility will improve
during the weeks ahead," they add. "By the end of December, Venus should
be plainly visible even from mid northern latitudes."
A date of
particular interest is Dec. 22nd when a super-slender 2% crescent Moon
will pass Venus in the evening twilight. Astrophotographers, ready your
cameras!
Electric-Blue Clouds Spreading Over Antarctica
Noctilucent
clouds (NLCs) around the south pole are spreading and brightening. The
latest preliminary image from NASA's AIM spacecraft shows more than 4
times the coverage of just a few days ago:
The season for southern
hemisphere noctilucent clouds (NLCs) began on Nov. 22nd with just a few
puffy clouds over the frozen continent. Once NLCs first appear, AIM has
shown that they rapidly multiply. Indeed, this is happening now, and
much of Antarctica soon could be blanketed in electric blue.
Earlier
this year, AIM researchers announced a surprising teleconnection: The
apparition of NLCs in the southern hemisphere is linked to cold air
temperatures thousands of miles away in the northern hemisphere."For
example, we found that the winter air temperature in Indianapolis,
Indiana, is well correlated with the frequency of noctilucent clouds
over Antarctica," says Cora Randall, AIM science team member and Chair
of the Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of
Colorado. Other US cities were similarly correlated.
Data from
previous seasons show a 2-week time lag between cold outbreaks in the
north and changes to NLCs in the south. However, because the 2014-2015
season is less than two weeks old, the correlation is not yet obvious.
"I don't expect the northern hemisphere (NH) teleconnection signal to
have significant effects on the onset of the southern hemisphere (SH)
season for noctilucent clouds," says Randall. "But once planetary wave
activity in the SH stratosphere is quiet (should be soon), then I would
expect the connections with the NH winter to become more evident."
Randall
and a group of colleagues led by Laura Holt of NorthWest Research
Associates have just submitted a paper to the Geophysical Research
Letters detailing the link between northern winter and southern NLCs. If
you have a GRL subscription, keep an eye out for theirfuture article
entitled "Summertime polar mesospheric clouds linked to wintertime
surface cold air outbreaks."
Fireballs
Every
night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the
United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by
NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity,
penetration depth in Earth's atmosphere and many other characteristics.
Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.
On December 4, 2014, the network reported 7 fireballs.
In this
diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect
at a single point--Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from
slow (red) to fast (blue).
May 15, 2014 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - California Governor Jerry Brown, presenting his revised state budget to reporters in Los Angeles on Tuesday, warned that California my be underwater in the future--not because of his budget, but because glaciers in Antarctica will collapse and sea levels will rise four feet over the next 200 years.
Brown cautioned, "If that happens, the Los Angeles airport's going to
be underwater. So is the San Francisco airport." As for the San Onofre
nuclear power plant: "You’re going to have to move all that … That’s
billions, if not tens of billions. Luckily, we can take a few years."
Brown’s comments, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, were
triggered by two studies released on Monday which asserted that a
slow-motion collapse of glaciers in Antarctica has begun.
Brown dismissed critics of his costly high-speed rail project,
likening them to critics of Abraham Lincoln’s plan to build the
intercontinental railroad during the Civil War. He barked, "People would
say, 'How the hell are you going to do that?' Well, they did it." He
also brought up critics of the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge,
Bay Area Rapid Transit system, and the Panama and Suez canals.
Brown’s $156.2 billion spending proposal for the new fiscal year is
coming under fire from Democrats who feel he has cut too much social
service spending, and some resent him taking money from the state’s
greenhouse gas reduction program and channeling it toward his high-speed
rail project.
Brown also dismissed criticism of his new budget from his GOP
challengers, Assemblyman Tim Donnelly of Twin Peaks and former banker
Neel Kashkari of Laguna Beach.
Alluding to California’s two previous governors, Republican Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Democrat Gray Davis, he added, "Two governors left
town with those big red lines down there. I have to tell you, I’m going
to be very compassionate, but I'm going to do my best to leave town in
the black, not the red, and that then forces a number of tough
decisions," according to the Times.
Brown’s supposed surplus hides some hard facts: according to Forbes
in July 2013, unfunded pension and medical liability were not included
in Brown's last budget. That debt amounted to roughly $27 billion, and
was siphoned off to pay California’s Unemployment Insurance Fund. Forbes
reported:
Of course, California has far greater debts than that. One
study showed that California governments are over $1 trillion in debt.
Most of that is in the form of unfunded pension and medical liabilities
owed to state employees. California’s Legislative Analyst told Brown and
the Democrat-run legislature to increase the contributions to the
state’s teacher’s pension fund by a paltry $4.5 billion to address its
announced $73 billion short fall.
Update: An aide to the governor has corrected his claim that LAX will have to be moved, the Los Angeles Times reports:
“The governor misspoke about LAX,” said Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the Brown administration.
Environmental officials for Los Angeles World Airports, the operator
of LAX, said the airport has an elevation of more than 120 feet. “A
4-foot rise in sea level,” they said, “should have minimal impact on
airport operations.”
May 12, 2014 - SOUTH POLE - Winds in the wild Southern Ocean are blowing at their strongest in a millennia as climate change shifts weather patterns, leaving Antarctica colder and Australia facing more droughts, a study showed Monday.
Southern Ocean Wind Blows Hardest In 1,000 Years
Antarctica winds
Rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were strengthening the
winds, already dubbed the "Roaring Forties" for their ferocity, and
pushing them further south towards Antarctica, researchers from the
Australian National University (ANU) said.
"The Southern Ocean winds are now stronger than at any other time in the past 1,000 years,"
said the study's lead researcher Nerilie Abram of an ocean notorious
for having some of the fiercest winds and largest waves on the planet.
"Thestrengthening of these winds has been particularly prominent over the past 70 years, and by combining our observations with climate models we can clearly link this to rising greenhouse gas levels."
The new research, which was published in the Nature Climate Change
journal, explains why Antarctica is not warming as much as other
continents.
The westerly winds, which do not touch the eastern parts of Antarctica but circle in the ocean around it, were trapping more of the cold air over the area as they strengthened, with the world's southernmost continent "stealing more of Australia's rainfall", Abram said.
"This is why Antarctica has bucked the trend. Every other continent is
warming, and the Arctic is warming fastest of anywhere on earth," she
said.
Image: Earth.nullschool.ne
The study's authors analysed ice cores from Antarctica, along with data
from tree rings and lakes in South America, using the southern
hemisphere's most powerful supercomputer "Raijin", which is based at the
ANU.
The research helped to explain why the westerlies were further cooling
already cold parts of the continent even as they were also driving
"exceptionally quicker" warming in the Antarctic Peninsula, which juts
out into their path, Abram said.
The strengthening westerlies drive up the
temperature at the peninsula -- the only part of the Antarctica that is
hit by the wind -- through the warm, moist air they carry from the
Southern Ocean.
This has made the peninsula the fastest-warming place in the southern
hemisphere, with scientists concerned about the stability of the ice
sheets and sea level rises in the region.
The shift in the westerlies -- approximately 200 kilometres in the 20th
century -- was driven by human emissions of carbon dioxide, said
research fellow Steven Phipps of the University of New South Wales, who
worked on the climate modelling used in the study.
From the 1970s, the shift was exacerbated by the expanding ozone hole
caused by human emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), Phipps added.
"Even for a mid-range climate scenario, the trend is going to continue
in the 21st century," Phipps said, adding that southern Australia was
likely to experience more dry winters.
- AFP.
Antarctic Sea Ice At Record Levels For April And It Continues In May
National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
Antarctic sea ice has expanded to record levels for April, increasing by more than 110,000sq km a day last month to nine million square kilometres.
The National Snow and Ice Data Centre said the rapid expansion had
continued into May and the seasonal cover was now bigger than the record
"by a significant margin''.
"This exceeds the past record for the satellite era by about 320,000sq km, which was set in April 2008,'' the centre said.
Here are some current plots of Antarctic Sea Ice from the WUWT Sea Ice Page
Antarctic Sea Ice Extent – 15% or Greater. National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
Southern Hemisphere Sea Ice Extent With Anomaly
Southern Hemisphere Sea Ice Area Anomaly.
Cryosphere Today – Arctic Climate Research at the University of Illinois
Increased ice cover in Antarctic continues to be at
odds with falling Arctic ice levels, where the summer melt has again
pushed levels well below the average extent for 1981-2010. The centre
said while the rate of Arctic-wide retreat was rapid through the first
half of April, it had slowed.
The April Arctic minimum was 270,000sq km higher than the record April
low, which occurred in 2007. The Antarctic sea ice extent anomalies were
greatest in the eastern Weddell and along a long stretch of coastline
south of Australia and the southeastern Indian Ocean. The centre said
the increased ice extent in the Weddell Sea region appeared to be
associated with a broad area of persistent easterly winds in March and
April, and lower-than-average temperatures. - WUWT.
