Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Japanese superquake moved ocean floor 79 feet sideways and 10 feet up
The ocean floor shifted sideways by 79 feet in the Japanese earthquake in March - much further than scientists originally predicted.
And researchers are warning that immense amounts of seismic stress remain stored in the area, putting it at risk of further devastating earthquakes.
The journal Science has published three new papers about the effects and causes of Japan's March 11 mega-quake, which paints a picture of an earthquake hot spot much more complex and potentially dangerous than scientists had ever anticipated.
n one paper, the Japanese Coast Guard has released data from five geodetic instruments that in 2000-04 they had placed underwater along the fault line responsible for the colossal quake.
One of the instruments had actually been placed almost on top of the epicentre of the Magnitude 9.0 quake, at a station called MYGI.
Measurements taken in the week following the earthquake showed that at the MYGI site, the sea floor had moved about 79 feet to the east-southeast since the previous measurement in February. It had also risen about 10 feet.
Dr Mariko Sato, a geodesist with the Japan Coast Guard in Tokyo, believes almost all this movement happened during the quake.
The scale is almost double that estimated only from the terrestrial data,' Dr Sato told BBC News.
Under the seabed, the movement may have been even greater - perhaps 160 to 200 feet, by some estimates.
In another study sure to raise alarm in Japan, scientists from the California Institute of Technology have reconstructed how the Tohuku-Oki earthquake unfolded using GPS data recorded at more than 1,200 sites.
Their data showed that - contrary to previous opinion - the area had built up massive amounts of strain prior to the earthquake.
Earlier, there had been general agreement among researchers that the 'Miyagi segment' of the fault line was not under the stress of other segments along the Japan plate boundary, where large earthquakes occur at a regular basis. But Professor Mark Simons' team showed that this assumption was deeply flawed.
This raises questions about other sections of the fault line that had previously been considered low risk - including areas further south, closer to Tokyo.
This 'Ibaraki segment' of the plate boundary has been thought to behave in similar fashion to that of the Miyagi segment, and Professor Simons says it may likewise hold large amounts of seismic stress.
In recorded history, this southern area has experienced only one set of quakes larger than magnitude 8 - which means the region could be ripe for its own rupture.
The quake may also have destablised nearby areas of fault line, making them even more vulnerable to a catastrophic rupture.
'We have to entertain the possibility this area can produce a large quake,' Simons said. 'This area will warrant a lot of attention in the near future.'
The earthquake and subsequent tsunami left more than 24,000 people dead or missing, and wiped out entire towns.
Daily Mail
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1389247/Japan-earthquake-Ocean-floor-moved-79-feet-sideways.html#ixzz1NCnuu9NI
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Historic Severe Outbreak to Affect 80 Million in Metros
If you tried to draw a severe weather threat map over most of the population of the Eastern U.S., you couldn't do much better than this government forecast. One worry everyone seems to have this year (and for good reason in a Spring with record tornado deaths) is: Will my city be hit by a tornado? (It seems to be happening a lot lately).
As you can see from the map above, which shows cities in black, nearly every major metropolitan area in the heart (and east coast) of the country is under a severe thunderstorm threat today. I tabulated the major metropolitan centers only, and came up with a number of 70 million city folks who are in the Slight Risk area, with 11.5 million in the Moderate or High Risk areas (where tornadoes are most likely to occur).
Accuweather
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Kirk split looms as members vote to back gay ministers
Matthew 7:22-24 (New King James Version)
THE Church of Scotland made the historic move last night of breaking away from hundreds of years of tradition by voting to consider allowing openly gay people to become ministers.
The vote came at the end of a long and passionate debate at the General Assembly in Edinburgh.
Members also moved to allow ministers and deacons who were in same-sex relationships before 2009 to remain in the church and move parishes if they so wished.
The vote followed six-and-a-half hours of discussion on the Same-Sex Relationships and Ministry report that was delivered by a special commission set up in 2009, in the wake of a debate over whether the openly gay minister Scott Rennie should be allowed to be appointed to Queen's Cross Church in Aberdeen.
In the end, the Assembly voted by 351 to 294 to "consider further the lifting of the moratorium on acceptance for training and ordination of persons in a same-sex relationship".
A theological commission was also instructed to prepare a report on the theological and practical applications of taking such a move and report back to the Assembly in 2013.
The result throws up the prospect of a schism within the Church as traditionalists could abandon the Kirk for moving away from what they believe is "scriptural truth".
The commission's report set out the potential repercussions of a move in the direction of a progressive stance.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
THE Church of Scotland made the historic move last night of breaking away from hundreds of years of tradition by voting to consider allowing openly gay people to become ministers.
The vote came at the end of a long and passionate debate at the General Assembly in Edinburgh.
Members also moved to allow ministers and deacons who were in same-sex relationships before 2009 to remain in the church and move parishes if they so wished.
The vote followed six-and-a-half hours of discussion on the Same-Sex Relationships and Ministry report that was delivered by a special commission set up in 2009, in the wake of a debate over whether the openly gay minister Scott Rennie should be allowed to be appointed to Queen's Cross Church in Aberdeen.
In the end, the Assembly voted by 351 to 294 to "consider further the lifting of the moratorium on acceptance for training and ordination of persons in a same-sex relationship".
A theological commission was also instructed to prepare a report on the theological and practical applications of taking such a move and report back to the Assembly in 2013.
The result throws up the prospect of a schism within the Church as traditionalists could abandon the Kirk for moving away from what they believe is "scriptural truth".
The commission's report set out the potential repercussions of a move in the direction of a progressive stance.
The scotsman
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Meltdowns also at No.2, No.3 reactors
THEY USE TO DENY IT.....ANOTHER LIE AGAIN
The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant says findings
show that fuel meltdowns may have occurred at the No.2 and No.3 reactors within days of the March 11th earthquake. But it says both reactors are now stable at relatively low temperatures.
Tokyo Electric Power Company said earlier this month that fuel rods at the plant's No.1 reactor had melted.
The utility says a cooling system failure at the No.2 reactor 3 days after the quake led to a sharp drop in its water level.
Workers tried pumping in water from a fire engine, but the injection wasn't enough and the fuel rods likely became exposed.
Most of the fuel is thought to have melted down and collected at the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel by 8 PM on March 15th. That's about 101 hours, or 4 days, after the earthquake.
At the No.3 reactor, TEPCO says the fuel could have reached a state of meltdown at around 3 AM on March 14th, about 60 hours after the quake.
However, TEPCO says there is still a chance the damage to the fuel rods is limited.
It says if the water gauges inside the 2 reactors are accurate, their readings show there were sufficient levels of water in the pressure vessels to prevent a total meltdown.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 11:38 +0900 (JST)
NHK
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011
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