Earth changes, 21 January 2013

NZ: Tourists warned of White Island eruption

Tourists are being warned of the risk on White Island as volcanic activity reaches its most vigorous in decades.

Yahoo,

22 January, 2013

The island, off the Bay of Plenty coast, had a small eruption late last year and after a lull afterwards, there is now more unrest.

GNS Science vulcanologist Brad Scott told NZ Newswire small scale hydrothermic eruptions were occurring through the island's lake every few seconds.

"The last time I saw stuff as strong as this was probably in the 1999-2000 period."

White Island had a significant eruption in mid-2000 following that activity increase but Mr Scott said there was no guarantee it would happen again.

"This could just curl up and go away, or it could lead to an increase in activity."

White Island is uninhabited but some tourists do visit the island; Mr Scott estimated there were about 100 on the island on Monday.

On Tuesday, Bay of Plenty Civil Defence Emergency Management Group said there was some risk to people visiting the island and travelling nearby.

They were advised that an eruption could occur at any time with little or no warning.

Civil Defence was keeping local tour operators and other parties informed of the situation.

.....

Volcanic tremor remains strong at White Island volcano (New Zealand). Still no word of any surface activity accompanying the dramatic increase in seismicity at the volcano this past week. Small local earthquakes, including a sequence of “chugging” earthquakes, are visible on seismic records from Tongariro volcano. Small local events are also apparent on records from nearby Ruapehu as well.

http://earthquake-report.com/2013/01/21/volcano-activity-of-january-21-2013/

PNG’s erupting Tavurvur volcano affects Tokua airport

Radio New Zealand,

22 January, 2013

Eruptions of Papua New Guinea’s Mt Tavurvur have forced some flights in and out of New Britain to be cancelled.

The ash and vapour blowing from the volcano affected flights to Tokua Airport.

Air Niugini says the flight suspension came into effect on Monday and will continue for an indefinite period.

Newspaper reports say low to loud roaring and rumbling noises were heard on Sunday night when the volcano erupted.

Eruptive activity on the rise at two sites on Big Island's Kilauea volcano

Eruptive activity at the Big Island’s Kilauea volcano is picking up at the Pu u Oo vent and Halemaumau Crater.

Hawaii Magazine,

21 January, 2013

At the Pu u Oo vent, situated in the volcano’s East Rift Zone, lava flows are sporadically spilling onto the east flank of the vent. The volume of lava streaming to ocean entry is increasing slightly, with small entry points now spread along the coastline near Kupapu Point (pictured, above), on both sides of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The current ocean-entry flow has been under way since mid-November.

This month marks the 30th anniversary of Kilauea volcano’s ongoing East Rift Zone eruption. During its first three years, spectacular lava fountains spewed from the Pu u Oo vent. Since then, nearly continuous flow has built a vast plain of slow-moving pahoehoe lava (pictured, below) stretching from the volcano’s rift zone to the Big Island’s shoreline.

Also, in recent months, at Kilauea volcano’s summit caldera, the lava lake swirling in Halemaumau Crater has been rising to record levels. Since March 19, 2008, when an explosive eruption formed the lava lake, its surface level has remained mostly below the inner ledge (about 100 feet below the floor of Halemaumau Crater). It has, however, risen above and flooded the ledge in October 2012 and this month. According to Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists, “the lake level responds to summit tilt changes, with the lake receding during deflation and rising during inflation.”

The best and closest place within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to catch a look at eruptive activity at Halemaumau is at the Jaggar Museum, which is near the summit. After sunset, the lava lake casts a vivid glow on the ever-present plume of volcanic gases rising from the site.

On-island viewing of the ocean-entry lava flow is now largely limited to the Kalapana viewing area, which is maintained by Hawaii County and located outside of the national park. Click here for more information about the viewing area.

Strong Quake Kills Girl, Ruins Homes in Indonesia

ABC News,

22 January, 2013

A strong, shallow earthquake rocked parts of western Indonesia early Tuesday, killing a 9-year-old girl, panicking residents and ruining homes. Several other people were injured.

Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency put the preliminary magnitude at 6.0 and said the inland quake caused no tsunami. It was centered southwest of the city of Banda Aceh and 10 miles (6 kilometers) beneath the earth's crust, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake hit about 5:22 a.m. (22:22 GMT Monday), rattling people awake in towns and villages across the Sumatra island's northern tip. A magnitude-4.7 aftershock quake followed a few minutes later.

Sarjani Abdullah, the district head of Pidie, said a 9-year-old girl was found dead in the ruins of her home. At least seven other people, including a 3-year-old, suffered cuts and broken bones.

Aceh province's disaster mitigation agency said at least 30 houses and a mosque were ruined in Pidie Jaya district and hundreds of people were moved to temporary shelters as authorities surveyed the extent of the damage.

Some electricity poles were knocked down in Tangse village, crashing into homes and causing blackouts.

"It's scared us. ... We are still traumatized by the earthquake. My wife was screaming, my children crying," said Masriadi, a Tangse resident.

Fearing aftershocks, many people refused to go back inside for hours.

Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast archipelago prone to volcanic and seismic activity.

A giant quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, more than half of them in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.

Strong 5.8 magnitude

earthquake strikes off east

coast of Brazil

the Extinction Protocol,

22 January, 2013

A rather shallow 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck the ocean floor just off the coast of Brazil, south of the popular tourist destination of Natal. The eastern coast of Brazil is relatively free from faults and is not located on the border of any major tectonic plates. So this earthquake is quite unusual. If we look at the seismic hazard map of Brazil (below), it’s clear to see that most of Brazil’s seismic hazards lie in the western part of the country. See local quake map of Brazil.

In 2010, Brazilian seismologist João Carlos Dourado, from Universidade Estadual Paulista, explained in an interview to G1 that Brazil is located at the center of the South American tectonic plate and therefore away from the stresses on the plate edges, which cause earthquakes of the magnitude that plague Chile and countries on the western coast of South America. Today’s earthquake struck at a depth of 15.1 km (9.4 miles) under the Atlantic Ocean floor. The epicenter of the earthquake was 93 km (57 miles) E of Itamaraca, Brazil. 1

Unusual: Is this quake from a previously unknown fault this close to the shoreline or might other factors be at work here…like the area of growing weakness of the planet’s magnetic field in the South Atlantic Anomaly? Natal is virtually near the epicenter of the SAA. The South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) is an area where the Earth’s inner Van Allen radiation belt comes closest to the Earth’s surface dipping down to an altitude of 200km (124mi). This leads to an increased flux of energetic particles in this region and exposes orbiting satellites to higher than usual levels of radiation. The effect is caused by the non-concentricity of the Earth and its magnetic dipole, and the SAA is the near-Earth region where the Earth’s magnetic field is weakest.  -The Extinction Protocol