The Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark has announced a number of events marking Earth Science Week 2014, including a fieldtrip for university students examining climate change in the rocks of the Burren.
Showing posts with label Geology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geology. Show all posts
Monday, October 13, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
Orange Alert issued regarding Bárðarbunga volcano in Iceland
The Bárðarbunga volcano in Iceland shows heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption, according to Icelandic authorities.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
VIDEO 6.1 Magnitude earthquake strikes Taiwan
A strong earthquake struck rural central
Taiwan on Wednesday, swaying buildings, sending school children to seek
cover. The quake killed one person and injured at least 20 people. The magnitude-6.1 earthquake was
felt throughout the island. (March 27)
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Unusual seismic activity detected at Iceland's Hekla volcano
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| Hekla, pictured today. |
The National Commissioner, and the chief of the police at Hvolsvollur town, in South Iceland, have declared a Civil Protection State of Uncertainty because of seismic activity in the volcano Hekla.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Florida Man Missing After Sinkhole Opens Under Bedroom
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| A giant sinkhole caused by the rains of tropical storm Agatha is seen in Guatemala City in June 2010. |
A 36-year-old man disappeared last night when a sinkhole opened
up under his bedroom in the U.S. State of Florida, swallowing him as his brother tried to
rescue him.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The Burren Region and plate tectonics, volcanic activity and earthquakes
An introductory course examining how plate tectonics, volcanic activity and earthquakes have shaped the landscape of the Burren Region will take place during March and April.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Irish Seismometers Record North Korea Nuclear Test
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| <!--[if gte mso 9]> The energy from today's (Tuesday, 12 February 2013) underground nuclear test in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) was felt as far away as Ireland and recorded on seismometers in Dublin and Donegal, according to the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN). The seismometers picked up the "explosion-like" event approximately 11 minutes after North Korea detonated what it called a “miniaturised” nuclear device. Tom Blake, INSN Director explained that the explosion from the nuclear test propagated through the ground measuring 4.9 magnitude on the Richter Scale. Mr. Blake, who is also Head of the National Data Centre, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation at the School of Cosmic Physics in the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS), explained: “The energy wave generated by North Korea’s nuclear test was clearly picked up by seismometers in north Donegal and the Dublin Mountains approximately 11 minutes after it occurred at 2:58 AM (GMT) on Tuesday. It was located roughly in the region of the previous North Korean nuclear tests of 2006 and 2009. The South Korean defence ministry has provided preliminary yield estimates for the test of between 6 to 7 kilotons. Our data suggests the test was a more powerful blast than North Korea's two previous tests.”
Mr. Blake said that seismometers are so sensitive that they can easily pick up strong seismic activity on the other side of the world. “The Earth is a dynamic planet and susceptible to behaving in a more elastic fashion that one might think. An earthquake has the same effect on the Earth as a pebble does when dropped into a pool. The ripple effect of last week’s earthquakes in The Solomon Islands were also felt in Ireland, for example,” added Mr. Blake The DIAS began modern seismic recordings in 1978. The Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) now features six permanent stations in Dublin, Kerry, Galway, Donegal and Wexford. 2013 marks 20 years since the beginning of digital seismic recording of the INSN. For more see www.dias.ie. |
Friday, February 8, 2013
2.3 Magnitude Earthquake Recorded In Irish Sea
A 2.3 magnitude earth tremor was recorded in the Irish sea off North Wales last night.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Magnitude 8 Earthquake Hits The Solomon Islands
Today's M 8.0 earthquake in the Solomon Islands occurred as a result of shallow thrust faulting on or near the
plate boundary interface between the Australia and Pacific plates. In
the region of this earthquake, the Australia plate converges with and
subducts beneath the Pacific plate, moving towards the east-northeast at
a rate of approximately 94 mm/yr.
WORLD FROM SPACE Moving Rock at Puyehue-Cordón Caulle, Chile
Obsidian—sharp-edged,
translucent, and lustrous—is one of the most distinctive volcanic
rocks. Its unique glassy properties result from a disordered structure:
the atoms are irregular, like a liquid.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
WORLD FROM SPACE Four Erupting Volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula
Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula has the highest concentration of active volcanoes on Earth. Separated by only 180 kilometers (110 miles), Shiveluch, Bezymianny, Tolbachik, and Kizimen were all erupting simultaneously on January 11, 2013.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Snow Cover Extent Declines in the Arctic
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| Click to enlarge |
In the high latitudes of the Northern
Hemisphere, snow typically covers the land surface for nine months each
year. The snow serves as a reservoir of water, and a reflector of the
Sun’s energy, but recent decades have witnessed significant changes in
snow cover extent.
Studies of snow cover published in Geophysical Research Letters and the Arctic Report Card: Update for 2012
found that, between 1979 and 2012, June snow cover extent decreased by
17.6 percent per decade compared to the 1979–2000 average.
The maps on this page show June snow cover extent anomalies for every
third year from 1967 through 2012. Each June’s snow cover is compared
to the 1971–2000 mean. Above-average extent appears in shades of blue,
and below-average extent appears in shades of orange. Toward the
beginning of the series, above-average extents predominate. Toward the
end of the series, below-average extents predominate.
The graph shows June snow cover in millions of square kilometers from
1967 through 2012, and the overall decline in snow cover is consistent
with the changes shown in the maps. The graph and maps are based on data
from the Rutgers University Global Snow Lab.
The snow-cover study authors, Chris Derksen and Ross Brown, found an
overall decline in snow cover from 1967 through 2012, and also detected
an acceleration of snow loss after the year 2003. Between June 2008 and
June 2012, North America experienced three record-low snow cover
extents. In Eurasia, each successive June from 2008 to 2012 set a new
record for the lowest snow cover extent yet recorded for that month.
Previous research identified a link between rising air temperatures
and shrinking snow cover, so Derksen and Brown were not surprised to see
an overall loss of snow, “But we were surprised at the continued broken
records of June Arctic snow cover extent over the past five years,”
says Brown. “Arctic spring snow cover typically fluctuates over cycles
of about three to four years so you don’t expect to see sequences of
decreasing snow cover persisting through these natural cycles.”
As with sea ice, declining snow cover extent means decreasing albedo.
The overall “whiteness” of an object determines how much sunlight it
reflects back into space. Snow has very high albedo, reflecting up to 90
percent of the sunlight it receives. As snow cover declines, dark soils
and vegetation absorb more of the Sun’s energy. The Geophysical Research Letters study pointed out that declining snow cover raises ground temperatures and increases the thickness of the active layer—the
uppermost layer of permafrost that thaws each summer. When organic
material in thawing permafrost decomposes, it can release methane, a
potent greenhouse gas when released to the atmosphere.
Anticipating future changes in Arctic snow cover poses challenges for
researchers. “Changes in fall snow cover are complicated because the
longer open-water season provides additional moisture for increasing
snowfall,” Brown says. “As for future snow cover, climate is strongly
influenced by interannual variability over periods of five to ten years,
so that time range is hard to predict. But global climate models show
the rate of Arctic snow cover decline speeding up over the long term.”
Image by Robert Simmon, using data from the Rutgers University Global Snow Lab. Caption by Michon Scott. Instrument: NOAA-17 POES
Monday, January 7, 2013
Winter 2012-13 in Southern Greenland
As the year 2012 drew to a close, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua
satellite captured this scene of sea ice, land ice, and fresh snow in
southern Greenland.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
2.7 Magnitude Earthquake Recorded Off Irish Coast
A magnitude 2.7 earthquake was recorded off the northwest coast of Ireland this morning.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
WORLD FROM SPACE - Sutter Buttes, California, USA
Sometimes called the “smallest mountain range in the world,” the Sutter Buttes rise almost 610 meters (2,000 feet) above the flat agricultural fields of the Great Valley of central California.
Friday, September 7, 2012
Dozens Killed And 20,000 Homes Damaged In China Earthquakes
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| A damaged house is seen in Luozehe Town, Yiliang County, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Sept. 7, 2012. A 5.7 magnitude earthquake jolted the border area of Yiliang county of Yunnan and Weining county of Guizhou at 11:19 a.m. Friday. At least 50 people have been killed and more than 160 others injured so far. |
Beverly Hills, California, Hit By Second Quake In One Week
For the second time in a week, Beverly Hills was rattled by an earthquake.
Fresh Rumblings At Anak Krakatau, Indonesia
Although most of Krakatau disappeared in the gigantic eruption of 1883, the volcano lives on in Anak Krakatau, or “Child of Krakatau.” Anak Krakatau (also known as Krakatoa) emerged from the water of Indonesia’s Sunda Strait in 1927, and has erupted sporadically ever since. According to Antara News (the official news agency of Indonesia), a series of lava fountains and ash emissions began in early September 2012, accompanied by volcanic tremors.
This natural-color satellite image shows fresh lava flows descending the southeastern flank of Anak Krakatau. The flows have extended part of the shoreline by about 100 meters (330 feet). Tiny airborne liquid and solid particles (aerosols) emitted by the volcano likely helped form the clouds downwind of the summit.
The image was collected by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite on the morning of September 4, 2012. The Terra satellite captured an image of a larger ash plume erupted by Anak Krakatau on September 3.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data from the NASA EO-1 team. Instrument: EO-1 - ALI
Thursday, August 23, 2012
One Year On From The Virginia Earthquake
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| Damage is seen on the street outside a library at Euclid and 15th Street NW where part of the roof crumbled during a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that struck the East Coast of the US in Washington DC, USA, 23 August 2011. Image Corbis. |
On August 23, 2011, tens of millions of people in the eastern U.S. and southeastern Canada were startled by sudden ground shaking from a rare, magnitude 5.8 earthquake in central Virginia. Several small earthquakes occur every month in the eastern U.S., but this earthquake was among the largest to occur in this region in the last century.
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