Tsunami Waves Hit Hawaii Islands After Devastating Japan Coast

Hawaii was hit by a 1-meter (39-inch) wave, according to scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which wasn’t anticipating major damage.

The tsunami swept through Hawaii about seven hours after Japan was struck by its strongest earthquake on record. The 8.9- magnitude temblor shook buildings across Tokyo and unleashed a seven-meter-high tsunami that killed hundreds as it engulfed towns on the northern coast. Within hours of reaching Hawaii, waves were hitting the coast of Oregon, the Associated Press reported.








http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-11/hawaii-hit-by-1-meter-tsunami-spurring-coastal-evacuations-closing-ports.html

Earthquake Sound of the Mw9.0 Tohoku, Japan earthquake (Zhigang Peng)

The Japan earthquake was recorded by two of the world's densest strong motion seismic networks, namely the K-Net and the Kik-Net. The example showing here was recorded by the K-Net station MYG004, which has the highest peak ground acceleration (PGA) of up to 3 g. This near-field recording show clearly two groups of ground motion, suggesting at least two patches of high-frequency radiation from the mainshock rupture. The highest PGA occurred at around 90 s, and the frequency and sound is quite different than the rest group, indicating that the source of such high-frequency radiation is likely very close to this station.

http://geophysics.eas.gatech.edu/people/zpeng/Japan_20110311/index.html

Rains from Tropical Cyclone Carlos

Tropical Cyclone Carlos brought heavy rains to the coasts of Northern Territory and Western Australia in February 2011. In the Northern Territory city of Darwin, Carlos helped break rainfall records in what was already an unusually rainy month. The storm’s high winds and heavy rains also forced the suspension of petroleum and mining projects in Western Australia, according to news reports.










The U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that, as of 11:00 p.m. Western Australia time on February 22, Carlos was located roughly 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers) east-northeast of Learmonth, Western Australia. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 55 knots (100 kilometers per hour) and gusts up to 70 knots (130 kilometers per hour). Carlos was forecast to maintain its current strength over the next 12 hours then move west of Learmonth and intensify slightly. The storm was not expected to transition to an extra-tropical storm for about 96 hours.










http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=49404&src=nha

4.7 Magnitude Earthquake Near Guy, Arkansas

The small seismic zone that has been producing an earthquake swarm near Guy and Greenbrier, Arkansas has now produced a 4.7 magnitude earthquake – the strongest so far. The earthquake occurred on Sunday, February 27 at about 11:00 PM local time and at a depth of about 3 kilometers. 





http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/nm022811a.php

NZ quake sends 30 million tons of ice loose from glacier

The 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck New Zealand on Tuesday, killing at least 75 people in Christchurch, also shook loose 30 million tons of ice from the nation's longest glacier, sending boulders of ice into a nearby lake

Tour boat operators in the area said parts of the Tasman Glacier calved into the Tasman Lake immediately after the quake, breaking into smaller icebergs and causing 3.5 meter-high (11-foot) waves.

"It was approximately 30 million tons of ice, it's just a massive, massive, massive scale," said Denis Callesen, the General Manager of Tourism at Aoraki Mount Cook Alpine Village.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/25/us-newzealand-quake-glacier-idUSTRE71M0UX20110225

Twisters kill three in Minnesota

Deadly tornadoes touched down Thursday in Minnesota, killing at least three people, and injuring at least 17 more, officials said.Minnesota suffered widespread damage and power outages, said Doug Neville, a spokesman for the state's public safety department. He said Gov. Tim Pawlenty was on his way to survey the damage in affected areas.








The twisters hit the town of Wadena hard, ripping off roofs and damaging schools, buses and stores. Neville said 14 people had been taken to hospitals, 13 of them in critical condition.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/18/minnesota.tornado.deaths/index.html?hpt=Sbin

Discovering Giant Seamounts in the South Atlantic Ocean

In the latest evidence of the vastness remaining to be explored in the world's oceans, scientists aboard Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego's research vessel Melville are mapping a series of colossal and previously uncharted undersea mountains in remote areas of the South Atlantic Ocean
 

With the largest seamount rising more than 14,700 feet from the seafloor —- higher than California's Mount Whitney, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States -— the mountains had been known from satellite data but never before charted at sea. 









http://geology.com/press-release/south-atlantic-seamounts/