Mother Nature can be destructive but one weather forecast that recently appeared on YouTube called for conditions approaching Armageddon. The video, recorded by a WTVR Richmond meteorologist, calls for everything from a volcano causing temperatures of 400 degrees to an attack by Godzilla. Read more about this apocalyptic forecast on Examiner.com and check out the video!
Nearly 8,000 miles away the power of the tsunami caused by the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake was felt in a resounding fashion. New satellite imagery released by NASA shows 50 square miles of ice from the Sulzberger Ice Shelf on the coast of Antarctica being broken off due to the waves.
Scientists have speculated that a tsunami could cause flexing of ice and result in pieces breaking off. The quake and resultant tsunami in Japan have now proven that theory.
NASA researchers utilized imagery from the European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite. The before and after pictures clearly show numerous icebergs having been calved from the shelf.
18 hours after the quake, the tsunami reached Antarctica. Imagery taken just prior to the waves reaching the Sulzberger Ice Shelf show it complete intact. Five days later, imagery shows massive icebergs floating away from the shelf.
The tsunami is estimated to have been only one foot high when it reached the Earth’s southernmost continent. However the stress was enough to break apart the 260 foot thick shelf and calve an area of ice equal to the size of Manhattan Island in New York.
Douglas MacAyeal of the University of Chicago and one of the researchers who made the discovery said the event shows how connected the planet’s systems are.
“This is an example not only of the way in which events are connected across great ranges of oceanic distance, but also how events in one kind of Earth system, i.e., the plate tectonic system, can connect with another kind of seemingly unrelated event: the calving of icebergs from Antarctica’s ice sheet,” MacAyeal said in a statement.
Satellite imagery from governments and private industry has been useful to scientists and the public in analyzing the disaster. NASA has trained its eyes in the sky on the disaster struck region and Google has released stunning imagery from its partners.
This story was originally posted on Examiner.com for the Natural Disasters Examiner. Be sure to check there for the latest natural disasters news.
Japan is continuing to recover from the devastating magnitude 9.0 earthquake and the resultant tsunami that struck the nation in March. This past week Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) released new images of its Fukushima power plant as the massive waves struck the facility.
Damage at the power plant was extensive and in seeing the new photos one can understand why the nuclear facility was unable to withstand the blow. Waves are seen in the photos sweeping over a sea wall and soon enveloping the interior of the plant.
Waves of more than 30 feet resulted from the earthquake, the fourth largest since 1900, and were responsible for extensive damage and a staggering death toll. More than 91,000 structures were totally destroyed by the waves that swept away entire towns.
According to the National Police Agency, 15,129 lives were claimed. The toll however is expected to continue to climb as another 9,034 people are reported missing. As it stands now the quake ranks as Japan’s fifth deadliest in history but will likely hit the number four spot when the final death toll is calculated.
Related: Extensive damage from within Japan’s stricken nuclear power plant (Examiner.com)
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The situation brought on by last week’s earthquake and tsunami continues to worsen in Japan. Aftershocks continue at an astounding rate, the humanitarian disaster is growing and the threat of a nuclear disaster has prompted the United States to begin evacuations of military families.
As reported by the Natural Disasters Examiner, the Department of Defense announced this morning that the State Department was planning voluntary evacuations of military families and the families of government employees from Japan. The U.S. will also work to evacuate civilians that live within a 50 mile radius of the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The power facility sustained significant damage in the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan last Friday. Critical cooling systems at the plant continue to fail, and Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the plant, has struggled to regain control of the reactors.
Col. Otto Feather, 374th Airlift Wing commander at Yokota Air Base, told his command in a radio address, “I know there are a lot of people trying to figure out how to get out of here, and I’m not surprised that there are people that want to get on the road.”
The international community has joined with Japan’s own resources in aiding with the recovery. More than 100,000 Japanese Self-Defense Force personnel have been deployed, and tens of thousands of agencies from across the globe, including the United States military, are on scene or rushing to provide assistance. The U.S. Navy had aircrews contaminated with radiation and has since repositioned its ships in the area.
The disasters have led to an unfolding humanitarian crisis as more than one million are without power and supplies such as food and water are becoming scarce. The catastrophe the nation faces has been called the worst crisis for Japan since World War II.
On Tuesday, March 9th, a sizeable magnitude 7.2 quake struck off the east coast of Japan. It triggered a small tsunami and was considered a minor event. Several smaller quakes followed but they were only the opening act.
On Friday, March 11th the earth let loose with what was the fourth largest earthquake to strike the globe since 1900. The massive 9.0 temblor shook the Japanese island of Honshu and triggered a tsunami 23 feet high that struck the coastline. The waves traveled across the Pacific causing damage as far away as California.
Since that time, earthquakes continue to roil under the ocean and on the Japanese mainland. The US Geological Survey (USGS) has recorded more than 500 earthquakes over magnitude 4.0 in the past seven days in the area. Several of these were substantial quakes of magnitude 6.0 or higher.
An animation, seen below, show the tremendous level of activity has been released and is absolutely astounding to watch. Two foreshocks are seen before the massive quake on Friday and then the swarm of aftershocks begins with startling frequency and intensity.
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The massive magnitude earthquake that struck Japan on Friday has brought incredible devastation to the nation. The death toll continues to climb and there are reports of thousands of people missing even as a nuclear power plant threatens to release dangerous radiation.
Commercial buildings and homes were reduced to rubble in the magnitude 8.9 earthquake – the fifth largest seen globally since 1900. Along the cost of Japan’s main island of Honshu, a monstrous tsunami 23 feet high pushed ashore wiping away everything in its path. The devastation was so massive it was easily spotted by NASA satellites.
The death toll has now climbed over 600 people with at least 1,000 missing. The Kyodo News Service is reporting that according to city officials, 9,500 people in the town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi Prefecture are missing. The town normally has a population of 17,000.
An explosion at a damaged nuclear power facility increased concerns that a deadly radiation leak may be imminent. The blast at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant sent smoke billowing into the air and is reported to have injured four workers.
Government officials insist no dangerous levels of radiation have been released. Nevertheless, they have increased the evacuation radius around the damaged plant from 6 miles (10 km) to 12 miles (20km). A 6 mile (10 km) evacuation zone around the Fukushima No. 2 plant to the south remains in place. As many as 300,000 will be evacuated due to the danger.
With the concern of a nuclear disaster possibly being in the offing, rescuers continued to comb through the rubble in search of possible survivors. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said more than 3,000 people had been rescued but an untold number likely remain buried.
International aid began streaming into the nation including search and rescue teams and supplies from dozens of nations.
The U.S. military in Japan leapt into action and immediately began delivering relief supplies to stricken areas. The Marine Corps and the Navy will have extensive resources in the area, particularly once the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its strike group arrives tomorrow.
Aftershocks continue to rumble in the ocean near the epicenter of yesterday’s quake. More than 100 significant temblors have occurred, some onshore on the island of Honshu.
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One major natural disaster is bad enough but the nation of Indonesia is struggling to recover from two that struck in the past week. A major earthquake caused a tsunami late Monday and Tuesday the nation’s most active volcano erupted.
Off the nation’s western coast, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake triggered a tsunami with 10 foot waves on Monday. Villages on the islands of Pagai and Silabu were destroyed and the death toll from that event stands at more than 400 with nearly 200 still missing.
Mount Merapi, located on the main island of Java, erupted on Tuesday and has since had two more eruptions. The latest, which occurred today, claimed one life bringing the total death toll from that disaster to 36.
Evacuations had been issued prior to the first eruption however many ignored the warnings. Further, after the initial blast, many residents returned home only to find themselves in danger from subsequent eruptions.
View the slideshow below for images from the erupting volcano and the aftermath. For complete coverage of the tsunami and volcano -and all forms of natural disasters – please visit the Natural Disasters Examiner.
More on Mount Merapi from the Global Volcanism Project:
Merapi, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, lies in one of the world’s most densely populated areas and dominates the landscape immediately north of the major city of Yogyakarta. Merapi is the youngest and southernmost of a volcanic chain extending NNW to Ungaran volcano.
Growth of Old Merapi volcano beginning during the Pleistocene ended with major edifice collapse perhaps about 2000 years ago, leaving a large arcuate scarp cutting the eroded older Batulawang volcano. Subsequently growth of the steep-sided Young Merapi edifice, its upper part unvegetated due to frequent eruptive activity, began SW of the earlier collapse scarp.
Pyroclastic flows and lahars accompanying growth and collapse of the steep-sided active summit lava dome have devastated cultivated lands on the volcano’s western-to-southern flanks and caused many fatalities during historical time. The volcano is the object of extensive monitoring efforts by the Merapi Volcano Observatory.
One of the largest earthquakes since 1900 struck off the coast of Chile early Saturday morning prompting tsunami warnings, collapsing buildings and claiming an unknown number of lives. The magnitude 8.8 temblor struck at 3:34am local time (06:34 UTC) and has been followed by more than 50 significant aftershocks.
At the current time, many eyes are focused on Hawaii. A tsunami has been generated by the quake and is expected to arrive in Hawaii at 2:05 MST.
The Natural Disasters Examiner is providing complete coverage of this breaking news event. Please follow the links below or visit the Natural Disasters Examiner’s main page for the latest news as stories are added.
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