Discovery News: Earth Impacts News

Suspicious Katrina Pictures

I'm a natural born skeptic. That's why when a friend forwarded me these images, I did not instantly believe the accompanying breathless text, also forwarded:

"Whoever took these pictures did an awesome job. Whoever said, 'awesome and terrifying' is telling the truth. Wow, take a look at this ... Worth passing on!!! The dance with Katrina, part of her beauty as she left destruction on her exit. They are remarkably dramatic.
These pictures were made by a man in Magee, MS where the eye of the storm passed thru - what an experience.  Magee is 150 miles North of Waveland, Mississippi where the Hurricane made landfall."

These are, indeed, awesome images, but whenever I get poorly sourced materials, I get suspicious. Anyone have any more info on these? Are they even from Mississippi? They look like they could be from anywhere in Tornado Alley. (The answer is now available in comments section -- LarryO', 5/6)

Reno's Swarming Quakes

One minute all is peaceful and serene and the next quakes are swarming like angry bees. That is, after all, why they call them earthquake "swarms." Just such a swarm is now underway west of Reno, Nevada. I hear there have been scores of tremors felt in the city, including a M4.2 trembler on April 24 followed by a M4.7 shaker on April 25. The USGS has put out the word that because of the shallow 1 to 3-mile depth of the quake ruptures there is little chance that they are being caused by roiling hot magma preparing to unleash God's wrath on Las Vegas' sinful northern sister. Nope. Just a little subterranean stress relief going on is all. Please calmly proceed back to your favorite blackjack table.

For a little local color on this, my father wrote me to tell me that my two older siblings are right now visiting Reno and my sister Molly abandoned her 8th floor hotel room as a result of the nerve wracking rattling. Mind you, my sis is no sissy. Like the rest of us, she was born and raised within view of the San Andreas Fault (when the smog allowed us to see that far). No one except maybe an earthquake engineer really wants to be in a large building during an earthquake. Give me a flexible "stick-built" home any day over all that steel, concrete and glass.

Another Ring...

Okay. Here's another Earthly ring. This one is in Africa. Any guesses? (See comments section for the answer)

What's this Ring?

The moment I saw this satellite image I thought "particle accelerator." But I was wrong. Can you guess what this man made ring is? The answer is on the comments section.

(Hint: It's in Italy and does, indeed, involve acceleration.)

Tale of Two Quakes

The U.S. Geological Survey has wasted no time warning folks that Friday's Illinois earthquake was a "wake-up call." In a press release and podcast they reminded folks that no place is quake-free. They also pointed out something a tad more subtle that is often lost in the news coverage: That quakes in the Midwest are felt far more widely than in places like California.

These two shake maps  demonstrate this. The on left shows how the shaking was felt last Friday in Illinois. On the Right is a comparable quake in California. I've deliberately shrunk the California map to make it appear at a similar scale to the Illinois map (click on them to view at full original size -- and very different scales). Notice how far the shaking is felt in Illinois compared to the white zones of no shaking felt in California.

What did Midwesterners do to deserve this more jittery ground? They simply settled on geological Jello. It turns out that all those sands, silts and other river, lake and glacier sediments that span such huge areas of the Midwest are very easily jiggled by earthquakes and they transmit that energy far and wide. Now throw into that Jello a few mountain ranges and major faults to deflect, reflect and otherwise mess with the seismic energy -- as is the case in California -- and the shaking doesn't reach nearly as far. Something to think about before labeling any place "earthquake country."

Why Illinois Quakes

I was going to blog today about some neat stuff from the Seismological Society of America meeting now underway in Santa Fe, but a real seismological event this morning in southern Illinois has pushed that back a day or two. Folks are always surprised by quakes in this part of the country, but as this USGS hazard map shows, there is a long history of tremors in this part of the U.S.

The question you will not hear often asked is "Why?" I wrote up a news feature on this for Discovery News a while back and heard some of the experts' ideas on the matter. The one that sticks out in my mind regards ancient faults. Seems that the crust under the Midwest retains a lot of faults from a more tumultuous geological time there. The faults are hard to see because they are often buried under lots of river sediments. What might be causing them to jerk every few centuries is that they are still reacting to the Ice Age. Yep, you read that correctly. It's possible that the crust under the Midwest is very slowly still adjusting upwards -- like a raft  that loses it's cargo -- to loss of all the heavy ice that once covered the northern Midwest. The old faults are merely handy surfaces for the crust to adjust along.

One more note about this map: It's incomplete. It is largely based on what's known to have happened in the past. But because there can be centuries between slips on some of these very old faults, we don't really know where all the dangers zones are. Folks just haven't been keeping track long enough. My advice, do like the Californians do: Strap your water heater and bookshelves to the wall where ever you live.

What's Shaking? Everything!

Tomorrow I'm off to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to see what's new in the world of vibes. I'm talking major vibes dude. You know, like, seismic vibes. These vibes can reveal everything from clandestine nuclear ka-booms and climate change to the structure of the Earth's core. And you know that kid with the mega-woofers who thump-cruises down the street every day? Yep, he's been tracked by these vibe spies too.

I know, I know. You're thinking WHOA! Who the heck can do that? I'll tell you who: Seismologists. For the next few days the Seismological Society of America will be meeting in Santa Fe (a.k.a., "The City Different" as it is known here in New Mexico). I'll be filing a few stories, so keep your eyes peeled and your browser tuned to Discovery Channel News. And whatever doesn't fit on the news page will probably land here. Image from the Maryland Geological Survey

New World Record Wave

In case you didn't tune in Friday for all the  surfing awards (top honors shown at left), here's the news on the largest wave now ridden by man, straight from folks at BillabongXXL.com:

San Clemente big wave legend Mike Parsons, 43, has officially surfed into the record books for riding a wave judged to be 70ft+  (24m+) to win the Billabong XXL Biggest Wave Award.  The feat was performed at Cortes Bank off the Californian coast on January 5th 2008.  Judges measured the wave at 70ft but due to the photo cutting off the bottom of the wave they were unable to accurately pin point the exact base of the ride, meaning it is actually somewhat larger.  It is the second time Parsons has secured the prestigious Biggest Wave Award after taking out the inaugural title in 2001 for a 66ft wave ridden at the same location.   

“I didn't think a session like that could ever happen twice, I mean that day in 2001 where I rode the first winner at Cortes was incredible,” said Parsons.  “It feels surreal to say that I rode a 70ft wave, I can't believe it.”

“There have been so many big waves ridden throughout time and when I sit at home I can't believe that I may have ridden the biggest one ever,” he said.  “The amazing thing about big wave surfing now is how global it is going.”

Think about it for a moment: This was a wave more than seven stories high (see picture in the previous posting, below). Next time you are next to a multi-story building count the floors and give yourself an idea how high that is. A mighty frightening wall of water. Then consider the fact that Parsons is not only flesh and blood, but 43-years-old. That's adds up to a pretty darned heroic figure, in my book.

Biggest Waves Ever?

We'll find out tomorrow if humans have set a new record for giant waves ridden. You don't have to be a surfer to appreciate this, of course. You just be willing to be awed by the images of humongous waves and the tiny human forms tearing down the faces. Or maybe I should rewrite that: Humongous waves with tiny humans with terror on their faces.

Anyway, these are some true athletes doing some amazing feats on Earth's largest surf. You can see the story of one contender and his photographer Robert Brown (his photo below) here. Tune in and be prepared to be impressed. The live webcast of the Billabong XXL giant wave contest begins at 7 pm PDT and can be seen here.

Reality Check

A few years back a global warming nay-sayer warned me to never trust any climate models -- ever. He was particularly suspicious of those models backed by federal funds (in other words, any model large and sophisticated enough to require a supercomputer). In fact it was this statement that made me realize I was dealing with a nut.

Now it turns out that global climate models are improving in big ways and some are now close to duplicating the behavior of Earth's real atmosphere, say researchers who have studied the changes in models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 1995 to 2007. The reported this in a paper in the March issue of Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS)

One of the key tests of these models is their ability to reproduce the past. This has always seemed like a pretty darned sensible test to me. If a model can't even come close to reproducing climates we have seen over the last 100 years, it's unlikely to be any good at predicting the next century. No model works perfectly, and so that's why many models are used and their results are considered together. Again, it's a sensible approach.