Scary sand storm hits riyadh city in Saudi Arbia. This video shows the moment it hits my home at 4:00 PM and turns day to night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYWyIu-gJk4

The cameras are obviously glitching out, but you still get several great shots of a few sizable eruptions from Sakurajima Volcano in south Japan.

This volcano produces large eruptions on a daily or multiple times per day basis.

The eruptions of lava are visually impressive --- and eruptions of ash like this are beginning to show the power this volcano actually has .

The threat of a VERY LARGE eruption from this volcano still exists. Half way through last year (2011) the japanese agency which monitors this volcano raised the alert level for a possible large eruption with large damaging pyroclastic flows of ash/debris (up to multiple miles around the mountain).

Imagine these ash eruptions (as seen in the video above).. on a larger scale... you can see how quickly the current clouds spread / travel --- so IF there was a HUGE eruption from Sakurajima --- it would literally be a matter of minutes before the cloud reached the cameras.. and only a few more minutes before the cloud were to reach population centers around the area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMTQCUw8qCA

[attachment=95389,490]

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/costa-ricas-rincon-de-la-vieja-volcano-awakens-with-new-activity/

ICELAND – A photographer from Britain, James Appleton, has captured breath-taking pictures from Iceland, reports The Huffington Post. He captured both magma and northern lights in one shot. He stood just a few yards from an erupting volcano in order to take the pictures and they just might be one of nature’s most amazing sights. James was willing to go within a few hundred feet of an erupting volcano after working alongside vulcanologists in Iceland, and found out about Fimmvörðuháls who from his Icelandic friend. “She informed me of the eruption, and I knew immediately I had to try and get out to see it.” Not only did James have to deal with the harsh flames of the volcano, but he also had to face the frozen temperatures of a harsh Icelandic winter in order to take his remarkable pictures. “The closest I got was probably only a few hundred meters away,” said James. -Long Island Press

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/02/23/fimmvorduhals-eruption-in-iceland-coincides-with-display-of-northern-lights/

[attachment=94695,430]

48 small quakes and counting on the Big Island as of Wednesday morning

HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK, Hawaii: Scientists at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory are keeping an eye on a swarm of small earthquakes around the active Kilauea volcano.

In its morning status report, HVO wrote that there “is an ongoing seismic swarm just northwest of the summit.”

From the Wednesday status report, updated at 7:29 HST:

A swarm of shallow earthquakes started after midnight last night about 5 km (3 mi) northwest of Halemaumau Crater that was ongoing as of this posting. Forty-eight earthquakes were strong enough to be located beneath Kilauea: 39 quakes within the swarm so far at a maximum rate of 6/hr (including a preliminary magnitude-3.4 quake at 6:56 am), two deep quakes beneath the southwest rift zone, two beneath the southeast summit caldera, one within the upper east rift zone, four on south flank faults. Seismic tremor levels were low and dropped slightly during deflation.

Most of the quakes have been in the magnitude 2.0 vicinity, but a few reached over 3.0.

Seismic activity on the rift zone is not rare, however this number of small earthquakes is high for the present eruptive activity.

UPDATE (4:00 pm Feb. 22nd) Media release from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory:

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) recorded an earthquake swarm that began around 1:17 a.m., HST, on Wednesday, February 22, 2012. The earthquakes are located about 5 km (3 mi) north-northwest of Kilauea volcano’s summit, near Namakanipaio in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, at depths of 2–5 km (1–3 mi).

The seismic swarm, which continues as of 3:00 p.m., has included more than 60 earthquakes, 14 of which were greater than magnitude-2. The largest was a magnitude-3.2 earthquake at 6:55 a.m.

These small earthquakes have not been widely felt on the Island of Hawai‘i. The USGS “Did you feel it?” Web site received less than 10 felt reports in the first12 hours following the onset of the swarm.

The earthquakes are located along the Ka‘oiki Pali, a southeast-dipping normal fault near the boundary between Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes. This area has experienced episodic seismicity since the magnitude-6.6 Ka‘oiki earthquake that occurred in November 1983.

Previous earthquake swarms have occurred along the Ka‘oiki seismic zone in 1990, 1993, 1997, and, most recently, in February-March 2006. These swarms lasted from 1 day to several weeks, with earthquakes rarely exceeding magnitude-4.

Seismic swarms in the Ka‘oiki area have sometimes heralded changes in Kilauea’s ongoing east rift zone eruption, but as of this writing, HVO monitoring networks have not detected any apparent changes in Kilauea’s summit or east rift zone eruptions or on Mauna Loa resulting from today’s swarm.

http://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2012/02/22/hawaii-scientists-monitor-earthquake-swarm-near-kilauea-volcano/

February 22, 2012 – EARTHQUAKES IN THE NEW MADRID SEISMIC ZONE: Yesterday’s 4.0 magnitude earthquake, in southeastern Missouri, could be a precursor to a rerun of the largest earthquakes every to strike the U.S – the 1811 to 1812 New Madrid earthquakes that made the Mississippi run “backwards.”

The New Madrid seismic zone of southeast Missouri and adjacent States is the most seismically active in North America east of the Rockies. During the winter of 1811-1812 three very large earthquakes devastated the area and were felt throughout most of the Nation. They occurred a few weeks apart on December 16, 1911; January 23, 1812 and February 7, 1812. [Note: February 7th is your editors birthday - no wonder I love earthquakes so much!]Hundreds of aftershocks, some severely damaging by themselves, continued for years. Prehistoric earthquakes similar in size to those of 1811-1812 occurred in the middle 1400′s and around 900 A.D. Strong, damaging earthquakes struck the southwestern end of the seismic zone near Marked Tree, Arkansas in 1843 (magnitude 6.3), and the northeastern end near Charleston, Missouri in 1895 (magnitude 6.6). Since 1900, moderately damaging earthquakes have struck the seismic zone every few decades. About twice a year people feel still smaller earthquakes that do not cause damage.

Earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. are typically felt over a much broader region than in the western U.S. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 miles) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 miles) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 km (25 miles). [Note: East of the Mississippi, the ground tends to be more solid than west, which tends to be like a cracked egg shell. Earthquake seismic waves are, therefore, dissipated more rapidly in the west than in the east.]

FAULTS: Earthquakes everywhere occur on faults within bedrock, usually miles deep. The earthquakes of the New Madrid seismic zone occur within a large network of faults called the Reelfoot rift. The rift formed about 500 million years ago, when this region was stretched in the northwest-southeast direction. Along a northeast-southwest zone at least 70 km (40 mi) wide and 500 km (300 mi) long, the rocks in the rift were slowly dropped down about 1-2 km (1 mile) along some of the faults. Now the region is undergoing east-west shortening, and the ancient faults of the Reelfoot rift are being reactivated to generate earthquakes. Today the Reelfoot rift and the New Madrid seismic zone are 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from the nearest plate boundary, which is in the Caribbean Sea.

The network of faults in the seismic zone is buried beneath hundreds to thousands of feet of sand and mud. Four of the largest faults are recognized as alignments of abundant small earthquakes, and movements along two of these faults dammed rivers and created lakes during the earthquakes of 1811-1812. A few more deeply buried faults were detected during oil and gas exploration, and a few small faults are known from geologic mapping. However, many earthquakes occur away from the few known faults, so there must be additional, unknown faults that can generate earthquakes in the seismic zone. Accordingly, the best overall guide to seismic hazard in the New Madrid seismic zone is the earthquakes themselves. (Credits: Narrative – USGS, Brought to my attention by the Retorgue blog: http://iamretorque.com/)

The Master of Disaster

http://wfoster2011.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/its-small-but-could-lead-to-a-large-problem-ala-1811-1812-mega-quakes/
 

February 21, 2012 - Earthquakes by Time of Day: I downloaded all earthquakes >= to 6.0 magnitude, from 1973 to 2012, from the USGS website. I then categorized them by time of day. The results are presented in the graph above. The axis at the bottom (X) reflects the time of day, e.g., ’0AM is between Midnight and 59 minutes and 59 seconds, ’1AM is between 1:00AM and 1:59AM, etc. The left axes (Y) are the number of earthquakes. The gold line running through the data is a linear best fit line.

What struck me as odd was the significant variance between hours of the day and earthquakes given that the sample size was so large (N = 5,329). The lows at 9AM (203), 4PM (202) and 10PM (201) are almost two standard deviations away from the average, which means that they are 95% outside a normal curve and very unusual. The highs at 2PM (246), 6PM (242) and 11PM (240) are also statistically significant, because they are greater than two standard deviations away from the mean.

The number of earthquakes between 1AM and 3AM are fairly high and fall off to a low at 9AM. The quantity then increases from 9AM and peaks at 2PM. From 2PM, it plunges and then forms a rather chaotic pattern of highs and lows.

Heating and cooling of the outer crust of the earth changes from the night to the day. Cold tends to contract and heat expands. On average, if around 6AM is sunrise then about 2PM would represent the higher heat of mid-day and perhaps explain the high of 246 quakes at 2PM? Then there is a drop-off to 4PM and another peak around sunset at 6PM.

However, the large variability during the night or day time is not explained and I am perplexed as to why this occurs. With a sample this large, I would expect a normal distribution! (Credit: Data – USGS, Narrative – W. G. Foster)

The Master of Disaster

http://wfoster2011.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/5329-global-earhtquakes-by-hour-of-the-day/ 

February 21, 2012 – Mount Katla is Rousing Back to Life: Iceland’s huge volcano Katla is stirring into life after tell-tale signs of the potential for an eruption were monitored by observers. A harmonic tremor has been recorded for two days and small earthquakes have been confirmed at the volcano by the Icelandic Met Office this morning. It is highly unusual for an eruption in Iceland to occur in the middle of winter but the early indications show Katla is building up power. Experts are unclear as to whether it is water or magma that is causing this week’s sudden increase in activity and the seismic recordings are currently lower than when the volcano first showed signs of a minor eruption last July. In September, Katla again stirred into life with a harmonic tremor and earthquakes in the volcano’s caldera – its magma chamber. Katla, which has not experienced a significant eruption for 93 years, is the second largest volcano on Iceland and the consequences of a major eruption will be felt across Europe.

In 2010, the country’s president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (pictured below), warned “the time for Katla to erupt is coming close, Iceland has prepared and it is high time for European governments and airline authorities all over Europe and the world to start planning for the eventual Katla eruption.”

It is believed Katla, named after a vindictive troll of Viking folklore, has the potential to be much stronger and disruptive than the last two Icelandic volcanic eruptions that caused chaos across Europe’s air space, grounding flights and closing airports. Katla is much larger than its neighboring Eyjafjallajokull; which erupted in 2010 – with a magma chamber about 10 times the size. Volcanologists warn that if Katla does erupt, the combination of the magma and the large ice sheet covering the volcano could lead to explosive activity and an ash plume for weeks, if not months. (Credits: Top – Getty Images, Middle – USGS, Bottom – Bing Images, Narrative – RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service)

The Master of Disaster

http://wfoster2011.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/icelands-mount-katla-volcano-comes-back-to-life/

February 20, 2012 – ALASKA - The remote Kanaga stratovolcano in the Aleutian Islands might have begun erupting, the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) reports. A possible ash cloud about 39 km (24 mi) NE of the volcano, likely from weak explosive activity, was detected on satellite imagery, and volcanic tremor was detected under the volcano from 15:23-15:27 UTC (6:23 AM AKST) on 18 February, followed by numerous small events for about an hour at Kanaga Volcano. AVO has placed the volcano at Aviation Color Code YELLOW. “This new unrest indicates a possibility for sudden explosions of ash to occur at any time, and ash clouds exceeding 20,000 feet above sea level may develop. If a large, explosive, ash-producing event occurs, the local seismic network, satellite ash alarms, infrasound, and volcanic lightning will alert AVO to the new activity.” Kanaga Volcano occupies the northern corner of Kanaga Island, one of the most southerly members of the central Aleutian chain. It is a symmetric composite cone 1307 m high and 4.8 km in diameter at sea level, built of interbedded basaltic and andesitic lava flows, scoria layers, and pyroclastic rocks. Kanaga Volcano last erupted 1994-1995 when observed eruptive plumes were relatively dilute, rising to altitudes of less than 3 km (9,840 ft) and dropping ash onto the flanks of the volcano. At least two significant ash plumes were recorded over the course of this eruption: the first, to ~7.5 km (24,600 ft) occurred on February 21, 1995 and the second on August 18, 1995, when an eruption cloud reached ~4.5 km (14,760 ft). A light dusting of ash fell on the community of Adak and air traffic was disrupted due to continuing low-level activity and cloudy conditions which prevented visual approaches to the Adak air field. –Volcano Discovery

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/aleutian-islands-kanaga-volcano-awakens-first-eruption-in-17-years/ 

February 19, 2012 – Mount Kanaga Volcano Exhibiting Explosive Activity: A view looking west, at the 1,312 meter (4,304 feet) high Kanaga Volcano in eruption. Kanaga is located about 25 km (16 mi) west of the U.S. Navy installation and port on Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands. The volcano erupted intermittently through much of 1994, dusting the community of Adak at least once with fine ash.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory has raised the alert level for the Kanaga volcano, in the remote Aleutian Islands. Scientists on Saturday said possible explosive activity and a likely ash cloud indicate new unrest at Kanaga Volcano, leading it to raise the volcano alert level from normal to advisory. The observatory says volcanic tremor was detected at about 6:23AM Saturday. The unrest indicates the possibility of sudden explosions of ash to occur at any time, and ash clouds exceeding 20,000 feet above sea level may develop. Ash clouds above 20,000 feet from Alaska volcanoes are a threat to trans-Pacific air carriers. Kanaga Volcano is located about 1,215 miles southwest of Anchorage in the western Aleutian Islands.

This photo above shows the Kanaga Volcano, during its 1993-95 eruption. (Credit: USGS)

Map of 35 Aleutian Islands volcanoes from the USGS. Kanaga is shown with the red dot and is number 35. Number 32, Mount Cleveland; has also been showing signs of eruption. (Credits: Photo by E. Klett of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Narrative by RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service)

The Master of Disaster

http://wfoster2011.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/mount-kanaga-volcano-exhibiting-explosive-activity/ 

The Chilean city of San Pedro De Atacama is the driest place in the world. Well, that was the case before unusually heavy rain over the weekend saw rivers in the area burst their banks. Let's take a look.

The Chilean city of San Pedro De Atacama is located on a plateau in the world's driest desert.

But heavy rain over the weekend sent area rivers flooding over their banks and put the city on yellow alert for flooding.

Chile's Loa river cuts through the Atacama Desert as it makes its way from the Andes Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

In flood, it's quite a sight for visitors.

[Visitor]:
"It's impressive, not something you see every day."

Officials have warned residents of the small city of about 5 thousand that the water level in a number of area rivers continues to rise.

Already a number of homes are affected by flooding.

[Luis Garrido, Governor, Loa Province]:
"The Salado River is rising because of the intense rain we had yesterday and in the early morning hours today."

The city is expected to be on alert until at least Wednesday.

A number of roads and highways leading to the town have been closed due to flood and possible landslide concerns.

Many tourist activities have also been suspended and emergency crews are on the alert to keep them safe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0HuO0oTSc8

Sakurjima volcano in Japan erupts...BIG time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpE-2mCiz48
 

http://wfoster2011.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/indonesian-volcanic-activity-increases-mount-gamalama/ 

February 19, 2012 – Mount Gamalama Volcano Comes Back to Life in the South-West Pacific in Indonesia: A major eruption at Mount Gamalama in North Maluku on Sunday night spewed volcanic ash 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) into the air and forced the closure of the airport in Ternate, the provincial capital.

Aviation officials said that because of the threat to aircraft from the ash cloud, the Babullah Airport at the foot of the volcano, which makes up the entire island, would be closed on Monday and perhaps today.

Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for the Transportation Ministry, said the closure was a precautionary measure. “The volcanic ash may pose a risk to planes,” he said. “If there are no more eruptions, the airport may be opened [today].”

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), said that despite the magnitude of the eruption, which blanketed Ternate in a thick layer of ash, the threat of danger to residents was still low.

He added that the alert level for the volcano, currently at 3 out of the maximum 4, would not be raised and there would be no evacuation ordered.

Sutopo said that some people living higher up on the volcano’s slopes had sought refuge at the former governor’s office on Sunday night, but most had returned to their homes by Monday.

Authorities are maintaining a 3.5-kilometer (2.2 miles) exclusion radius around the crater of the 1,715 meter (5,625 feet) volcano.

Officials have also set up temporary shelters and soup kitchens at the governor’s office, the mayor’s office, the local football stadium and several schools.

Jemi de Brivieng, the head of the local disaster mitigation agency (BPBD), said about 800 people, mostly women and children were staying at the shelters, although not because of the direct threat from an eruption.

He said the evacuees were those whose homes were located on the banks of the various rivers running down Mount Gamalama, adding that it was feared that ongoing heavy rains would wash the volcanic ash down the waterways and flood the homes.

Darmo Lamane, the head of the volcano’s monitoring post, said there were at least six major eruptions between Sunday night and Monday morning.

“The situation has calmed and many residents have gone back home,” he said. “We will continue to monitor the volcanic activity.”

The volcano last erupted in 2003, Darmo added, with no fatalities recorded. (Credits: Top Photo – EPA/NAPDI, Middle Photo – The Sun Daily, Narrative – the Jakarta Globe with Additional reporting from AFP and Antara)

The Master of Disaster

February 19, 2012 – JAPAN – Reports are appearing about unrest and signs of a possible awakening of Mt Fuji volcano in Japan. According to a report which includes an unclear photo of the area, a row of new craters, the largest 50 m in diameter, has appeared on the eastern flank of the volcano at 2200 m elevation. Steam was observed erupting from these vents. The observation joins other signs suggesting a gradual reawakening: A swarm of earthquakes including 4 of magnitude 5 have occurred northeast of Mt Fuji on and after 28 January. An earlier 6.4M quake occurred under the volcano on 15 March 2011. The report also mentions increased activity from a fumarole vent at 1500 m elevation and hot spring areas at the eastern flank observed since 2003. These locations seem to be aligned geographically, and are probably connected. Dr. Masaaki Kimura of Ryukyu University is quoted to admit that there is an increased risk of an eruption on the eastern flank and that the status of the volcano should be closely monitored. Mt. Fuji last erupted in 1707, some 305 years ago. –Volcano Discovery

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/japans-mt-fuji-volcano-awakens-after-300-years-increased-risk-of-an-eruption-warns-scientist/ 

By Jean Friedman-Rudovsky
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: 6:26 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012
The broad hill at the base of Uturuncu is unassuming. Its gentle arc fades naturally into Bolivia's Andean landscape.

But that rise along a 43-mile-long stretch of rocky soil has become object of international scientific fascination. Satellite measurements show that the hill has been growing higher by more than half an inch a year for almost 20 years, suggesting that the volcano, which last erupted more than 300,000 years ago, is steadily inflating.

"The size and longevity of the uplift is unprecedented," said Shanaka de Silva, an Oregon State University geologist who has been studying Uturuncu since 2006.

Along with other new evidence, he continued, the inflation means "we could be witnessing the development of a new supervolcano."

Such a volcano could produce an eruption of ash, rock and pumice 1,000 times the strength of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state, the worst volcanic event in modern U.S. history, and 10,000 times that of the Icelandic eruptions in 2010 that paralyzed global air traffic for weeks.

Luckily, while the planet has 30 to 40 supervolcanoes — 10 of them potentially active — supereruptions occur only every 100,000 years or so. The last one, that of the Toba Volcano in Sumatra about 74,000 years ago, is thought to have spewed enough ash to cause a six- to 10-year "volcanic winter," a 1,000-year global cooling period and a loss of life so vast that it might have changed the course of human evolution.

"We see no evidence for an imminent supervolcanic eruption anywhere on earth," said Jacob Lowenstern, a research geologist and geochemist with the U.S. Geological Survey, who specializes in one of the best-known of the world's supervolcanoes — the one that lies under Yellowstone, in Wyoming.

About Uturuncu, he said that while "its rise over 20 years is certainly significant," there wasn't enough evidence to call it a supervolcano in the making.

Other researchers agree. But they say Uturuncu's steady inflation makes it fertile ground for study.

"It's like a tumor growing within the earth," de Silva said, "and we have to understand whether it is benign or malignant."

In 2009, with funds from the United States' National Science Foundation, an international team of seismologists, geologists, geophysicists and other experts and students formed a project called Plutons to study Uturuncu and Lazufre, a volcano on the border of Chile and Argentina.

Uturuncu was already considered potentially active. Eighteen thousand feet up its slopes (it peaks at 19,711 feet above sea level), small holes in the ground called fumaroles leak scorching sulfur gases. These might date back 10,000 years and are evidence of a heat source close to the surface.

Also telling is the white soil near the summit (from a distance it looks deceptively like snow) that results from thermal changes below.

Martyn Unsworth, a geophysicist at the University of Alberta in Canada and a member of the Plutons team, studied data from 20 days of fieldwork in November using magnetotellurics, a remote radio-wave-sensing method similar to CT scanning in the human body.

The findings suggested a zone of low electrical resistance far below the surface "that is likely a magma chamber," he said.

University of Alaska geophysicists note a region where sound waves travel more slowly than normal, a characteristic of partly molten rock. And Noah Finnegan, a geomorphologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has concluded that the magma chamber is growing by about 35 cubic feet per second, though its total volume isn't known.

Uturuncu is nestled in one of the planet's largest supervolcanic regions, which has six supervolcanoes across Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Though it was long thought to be separate from those supervolcanoes, new findings reveal that magma from Uturuncu's last eruption is more similar to the other supervolcanoes' than to that of the region's more common volcanoes.

For Mayel Sunagua, a Bolivian government geologist and member of the Plutons team, this is an exciting time — "the first broad international effort dedicated to investigating our volcanoes." Bolivia has 198 recognized volcanoes; 18 are considered potentially active. The country's last volcanic eruption was 10,000 years ago.

The flurry of activity here does lead some to wonder: Why focus on a potential hazard perhaps tens of thousands of years away, when other volcanic dangers are much more imminent?

"I ask myself that same question," Unsworth acknowledged. But he added that the research would broaden scientists' knowledge about volcanoes in general.

De Silva agrees. With its odd bulge and its other unusual signals, Uturuncu has an appealing air of mystery, he said — and besides, "it's kind of fun."

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/insight/bolivia-supervolcano-like-a-tumor-growing-within-the-2184822.html

February 18, 2012 - Global Map of Forest Height (above): Produced from NASA’s ICESAT/GLAS, MODIS and TRMM sensors. The map will advance scientists understanding of Earth’s forest habitats and their role in Earth’s carbon cycle.

A NASA-led science team has created an accurate, high-resolution map of the height of Earth’s forests. The map will help scientists better understand the role forests play in climate change and how their heights influence wildlife habitats within them, while also helping them quantify the carbon stored in Earth’s vegetation.

Scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; the University of Maryland, College Park; and Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, Mass., created the map using 2.5 million carefully screened, globally distributed laser pulse measurements from space. The light detection and ranging (lidar) data were by the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System instrument on NASA’s Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat).

“Knowing the height of Earth’s forests is critical to estimating their biomass, or the amount of carbon they contain,” said lead researcher Marc Simard of JPL. “Our map can be used to improve global efforts to monitor carbon. In addition, forest height is an integral characteristic of Earth’s habitats, yet is poorly measured globally, so our results will also benefit studies of the varieties of life that are found in particular parts of the forest or habitats.”

The map depicts the highest points in the forest canopy. Its spatial resolution is 0.6 miles (1 kilometer). The map was validated against data from a network of nearly 70 ground sites around the world.

The researchers found that, in general, forest heights decrease at higher elevations and are highest at low latitudes, decreasing in height the farther they are from the tropics. A major exception was found at around 40 degrees south latitude in southern tropical forests in Australia and New Zealand, where stands of eucalyptus, one of the world’s tallest flowering plants, tower much higher than 130 feet (40 meters).

The researchers augmented the ICESat data with other types of data to compensate for the sparse lidar data, the effects of topography and cloud cover. These included estimates of the percentage of global tree cover from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Terra satellite, elevation data from NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, and temperature and precipitation maps from NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission and the WorldClim database.

In general, estimates in the new map show forest heights were taller than in a previous ICESat-based map, particularly in the tropics and in boreal forests, and were shorter in mountainous regions. The accuracy of the new map varies across major ecological community types in the forests, and also depends on how much the forests have been disturbed by human activities and by variability in the forests’ natural height.

“Our map contains one of the best descriptions of the height of Earth’s forests currently available at regional and global scales,” Simard said. “This study demonstrates the tremendous potential that space borne lidar holds for revealing new information about Earth’s forests. However, to monitor the long-term health of Earth’s forests and other ecosystems, new Earth observing satellites will be needed.”

Results of the study were published recently in the Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences. JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech, et. al.)

http://wfoster2011.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/world-tree-map-for-the-first-time/ 

By CASEY GROVE

(02/17/12 19:05:38)
A lava dome is growing at Cleveland Volcano as its current slow eruption continues, a sign that the restless Aleutian volcano could pop at any moment, the Alaska Volcano Observatory says.

Satellite images show the lava dome has expanded from about 50 meters to 60 meters across in the past week. The hardening lava still only occupies a small part of the roughly 200-meter crater, the observatory says.

The 5,676-foot volcano makes up the western half of Chuginadak Island about 940 miles southwest of Anchorage. If Cleveland's eruption turns explosive -- perhaps blasting ash up thousands of feet, into trans-Pacific flight paths -- it could disable airplane engines that fly through it.

The explosiveness is characteristic for Alaska volcanos, scientists say.

Lava extruding inside Cleveland Volcano, is thick and pasty, "like peanut butter," volcanologist Steve McNutt said.

"The lava's so viscous, it doesn't flow like you're used to seeing in pictures of Hawaii, where it's fluid and runny," McNutt said. "So it piles up and makes a round, dome-like lava flow."

The molten rock flows out of vents inside the volcano's crater and piles up, McNutt said. When the dome grows so big that it covers those vents, gas builds up behind it, he said.

Then, when the pressure is high enough: ka-boom.

A similar explosive event in December mostly cleared a lava dome that had been growing since October, according to the observatory. The brief explosion sent ash up to about 15,000 feet.

The difficulty of monitoring Cleveland Volcano comes from its remoteness. Unlike many other Alaska volcanos, Cleveland has no seismometers on its flanks, so scientists cannot hear its inner rumblings. Instead, they rely on seismometers farther away, satellites that can sometimes be blocked by clouds, and lightning detectors that sense lightning in volcanic ash plumes already high in the air.

There are plans in the works to maybe put sensors on Cleveland Volcano, but "that's just in the talking stage now," McNutt said.

Until then, the volcano could disrupt air travel with little warning.

"There's a half-dozen major flight paths that go from Asia to North America and Europe that fly over Alaska airspace," he said. "So it does depend on which way the wind is blowing, but there's a number of paths that are near it."

http://www.adn.com/2012/02/17/2323499/cleveland-volcanos-lava-dome-is.html

February 17, 2012 -- winter in the midwest United States -- most of us have noticed or heard people talking about this "warm winter" the United States is experiencing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmr7tb6X9Hk

February 17, 2012 – Remote South Pacific Volcano Comes Back to Life: Tinakula is a small volcanic island in the South Pacific that has been caught doing some huffing and puffing this week by NASA satellites.

Tinakula is a 2-mile-wide (3.5-kilometer) island that lies 1,400 miles (2,300 km) northwest of Brisbane, Australia. The island, which rises to a height of 2,792 feet (851 meters), is actually just the tip of a large volcano that rises some 2 to 2.5 miles (3 to 4 km) from the ocean floor. That is 10,560 to 13,200 feet; so it may look small but packs a big punch. In the middle image, taken by NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite, a plume of volcanic gas, possibly mixed with a little ash, can be seen rising above the volcano’s summit.

Here is a map of the major volcanoes of the Solomon Islands from the USGS:

This region in the South Pacific is a highly volatile area, in terms of volcanoes and earthquakes. (Credits: NASA, USGS)

The Master of Disaster 

http://wfoster2011.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/south-pacific-volcano-comes-back-to-life/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUxrTAxtFhc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c-gKKpr9qo

Posted on February 16, 2012
February 16, 2012 – LEBANON – The Beirut River mysteriously turned blood red Wednesday after a stream of unidentified red liquid began pouring from the southern bank of the river in Furn al-Shubbak. The source of the liquid had yet to be determined Wednesday evening, as the river continued to empty the red-colored water into the Mediterranean Sea. Government and local officials rushed to the scene at the Chevrolet crossing of Furn al-Shubbak Wednesday morning in an attempt to locate the sewage canal that was dumping the red-colored water but they were unable to locate the source. Accusations were traded among officials from the municipalities of Hadath, Hazmieh, Sin al-Fil, Furn al-Shubbak and Shiyah. Eyewitnesses working in the area told The Daily Star this was not the first time the river had turned a different color. Several business owners around the Chevrolet crossing said that colored water pours into the river roughly every two months but no one pays attention to it.It was the quantity and brightness of the red liquid that grabbed the attention of many passersby and commuters on different bridges in the city Wednesday. Environment Minister Nazem Khoury said the source of the water was likely from Hazmieh or Baabda. “I call on the municipalities of Hazmieh and Baabda to cooperate swiftly to find the source of the pollution and its type,” Khoury said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Khoury sent an environmental team to the area to examine the water. The team, headed by ministry official Bassam Sabbagh, took a sample of the water to determine its composition and whether it contained dangerous pollutants. The samples will be examined Thursday because state laboratories were already closed by the time the sample was taken. “The sample we took will be examined tomorrow [Thursday] morning … and we will know whether it is blood being mixed with water or if it is some sort of a color dumped in it,” said Sabbagh. A similar incident took place in the Chinese Jian River last December after a factory illegally dumped red dye into the river, which is located in the northern Chinese province of Henan. Some cities use non-toxic dyes to color rivers on special occasions. In Chicago, the river is dyed green every year in the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. According to Sabbagh, test results will help the ministry determine whether the substance is a chemical pollutant or blood from a nearby slaughterhouse. “First we thought it was blood, but it seems like it is a kind of coloring dumped by a factory,” said Sabbagh, who also said that the test to determine the type of the chemical would take a week. Sabbagh said the municipality and other ministries should help the Environment Ministry in its investigation. “We need the help of the local officials to have a clear idea of the sewage network in the region,” he said. According to Sabbagh, who heads the ministry’s Environmental Pollution Control Office, maps of the sewage network would help officials locate the source of the red-colored water. “After finding the source, it would be a matter of hours to get to the factory and the area where the [colored] water is originating,” said Sabbagh adding that swift action would be taken against those responsible for it. Saad Elias, an adviser to the environment minister, did not rule out the possibility that a slaughterhouse could be behind the red color. –Daily Star

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/beirut-river-mysteriously-turns-blood-red/ 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDC8Fl9j4iM 

February 15, 2012 – NASA Captures El Hierro Islands Undersea Volcano: Four months after it began, the underwater volcanic eruption off El Hierro Island persists. This natural-color satellite image, collected on February 10, 2012, shows the site of the eruption, near the fishing village of La Restinga. Bright aquamarine water indicates high concentrations of volcanic material. Immediately above the vent is a patch of brown water that can resemble a turbulent hot tub when the eruption is strongest. Video of the eruption shows the activity in more detail.

This image was acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. The eruption is just off the southern coast of El Hierro, the youngest of the Canary Islands. El Hierro is about 460 kilometers (290 miles) west of the coast of Morocco and Western Sahara.

According to El Hierro Digital measurements of the sea floor by the Instituto Oceanográfico Español showed that the volcano’s summit is now only 120 meters (390 feet) beneath the ocean surface—10 meters (30 feet) higher than it was in mid-January. The height of the erupting cone is about 210 meters (690 feet) from the former ocean bottom, with a total volume over 145 million cubic meters (512 million cubic feet) of new material.

References:

El Hierro Digital. (2012, February 14). El IEO ha establecido la profundidad de la cima del cono principal de la erupción submarina en 120 metros Accessed February 14, 2012.

Instituto Oceanográfico Español. (2012, January 20). El cono volcánico de El Hierro se encuentra a unos 130 metros de profundidad. Accessed February 14, 2012.

Related Reading:

Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias

NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data. Caption by Robert Simmon.

Geomagnetic activity intensified even more on Feb. 15th when the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) near Earth tilted south, opening a crack in Earth's magnetic field. Solar wind poured in and fueled a G1-class geomagnetic storm, now subsiding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWUQ1ij20fg

February 14, 2012: Today’s Japan Earthquake close to May 20, 2012 Eclipse Totality Line: Yesterday it was a 5.6 magnitude earthquake in Northern California, which occurred very close to the totality eclipse line. Today it is where the eclipse totality starts, in Japan.

 The map above is from the USGS, noting the location of today’s 6.0 magnitude quake that occurred at 3:21PM near the epicenter at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). Notice the complex faulting systems that surround Japan. This is one reason Japan has more quakes than any other country in the world.

The map at the top reflects the path of totality for the May 20, 2012 eclipse and does not bode well for Tokyo and several other areas in Japan. I’ve noted several key items from the eclipse chart. The Uranus on the MC (Mid-Heaven) line, which crosses the totality line and is an extreme danger point, because Uranus is square (90 degrees) from Pluto in the eclipse chart (Uranus rules earthquakes). The zero degrees Taurus line from the eclipse chart, which is semi-sextile the eclipse point at zero degrees Gemini, squared natal Neptune (tsunamis) and afflicted to the North and South Node. Where the zero degrees Taurus line crosses the totality line is, also, an extreme danger point. I’ve also marked the 3/11/11 mega-quake location.

Where ever the May 20th eclipse line crosses a major fault line, as shown on the map in this narrative, should be considered a danger zone.

Today’s quake was 58 miles ESE of Mito, Honshū, Japan; 71 miles SSE of Iwaki, Honshu, Japan; and 103 miles ENE of Tokyo, Japan.

http://wfoster2011.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/todays-japan-earthquake-was-very-close-to-the-may-20-2012-eclipse-totality-line/

February 15, 2012 – OREGON - A 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Oregon at the shallow depth of 10 km (6.2 miles) and was about 256 km (159 miles) off the coast of Oregon’s closest point, which is Coos Bay, Oregon. The earthquake comes after a volley of moderate earthquakes rippled up the U.S. west coast radiating towards an area of seismic tension along the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate which we identified several days ago when tremors shook Washington State and the seafloor near Vancouver Island. The stress on the Pacific Plate continues and we should expect more stress eruptions along Nazca, in South America and in the South Pacific along the Ring of Fire. The U.S. Hawaii Pacific Naval observation center said no tsunami was expected from today’s earthquake based on the previous seismic history of the region. –The Extinction Protocol

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/6-0-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-off-the-coast-of-oregon/