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EVANSTON, Ill. --- Northwestern University seismologists have determined that the Dec. 26 Sumatra earthquake that set off a deadly tsunami throughout the Indian Ocean was three times larger than originally thought, making it the second largest earthquake ever instrumentally recorded and explaining why the tsunami was so destructive. By analyzing seismograms from the earthquake, Seth Stein and Emile Okal, both professors of geological sciences in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, calculated that the earthquake's magnitude measured 9.3, not 9.0, and thus was three times larger. These results have implications for why Sri Lanka suffered such a great impact...

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/avo4/cam/veni.jpg

New Activity: | Andaman Islands Volcanoes | Veniaminof, USA | Ongoing Activity: | Colima, México | Karymsky, Russia | Kilauea, USA | Manam, Papua New Guinea | Shiveluch, Russia | Soufrière Hills, Montserrat | Spurr, USA | St. Helens, USA | Suwanose-jima, Japan | Tungurahua, Ecuador New Activity/Unrest ANDAMAN ISLANDS VOLCANOES Reports of increased volcanic activity at Barren Island and Narcondam volcanoes during the week of 2 January were found to be false. Professor Chandrasekharam from the Indian Institute of Technology reported that as of 4 January no unusual volcanic activity was occurring at these volcanic islands. Newspaper reports of...

Magnitude 9.0 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:49 UTC Question: Can we expect many aftershocks to this earthquake? Answer: There have been numerous aftershocks detected following the recent magnitude 9 megathrust earthquake. The U.S. Geological Survey National Earthquake Information Center (USGS/NEIC) continues to record many newly occurred aftershocks. As of 1:00PM, MST, December 29, sixty-eight aftershocks have been cataloged. The largest occurred about three hours after the main shock and is now assigned a magnitude of 7.1. Thirteen of the aftershocks thus far cataloged have magnitudes of 6.0 or larger. There have been no...

THE US military said today it had diverted an aircraft carrier, other ships, at least 20 aircraft and thousands of sailors and marines to Asian countries struck by devastating tsunami waves. The men and material were dispatched by US Pacific Command with many of the aircraft heading for Thailand and Sri Lanka, two of the worst hit countries. Logistical problems hampered a massive humanitarian relief operation along Asia's devastated shores as the death toll from a huge earthquake and deadly tidal waves surged past 55,000. “We have diverted the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier and its five ships. They left Hong...

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/ip?2.7e-02 Impact Probability The calculation of impact probability involves the disciplines of orbital dynamics, estimation theory, and numerical analysis. The orbit of a comet or asteroid is determined from a set of observations (right ascension/declination coordinates). The observations are typically accurate to 0.5 arc-sec, although this can vary somewhat according to the pixel size used in the CCD detectors: some observatories have only 1.0 arc-sec accuracy. Because there are some errors in the observations, there will be uncertainties in the orbital determination for the object. The uncertainty in the orbital elements also depends on the number of observations and the...

The earthquake that struck northwest of Sumatra, Indonesia, at dawn yesterday was a perfect wave-making machine, and the lack of a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean essentially guaranteed the devastation that swept coastal communities around southern Asia, experts said. Although waves swamped parts of the Sumatran coast and nearby islands within minutes, there would have been time to alert more distant communities if the Indian Ocean had a warning network like that in the Pacific, said Dr. Tad Murty, an expert on the region's tsunamis who is affiliated with the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. Within 15 minutes...

TOKYO (Reuters) - A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 and several big aftershocks have rocked northern Japan, killing at least one person, partially derailing a train, triggering landslides and knocking out electricity supplies, media reports say. The focus of the initial quake, which struck at around 5:56 p.m. (9:56 a.m. British time), was 20 km deep in Niigata prefecture, some 250 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo. The jolts, including aftershocks of magnitude up to 6.3, were also felt strongly in the capital. At least one person had died, Kyodo news agency reported. Other media reported that...

Tropical Storm Earl Discussion Number 10 Statement as of 11:00 PM EDT on August 15, 2004 if not for the government of Venezuela this probably would have been the last advisory on Earl...at least for now. The reconnaissance aircraft scheduled to investigate Earl this evening was denied access to venezuelan airspace. Had they been able to get to the storm...I doubt they would have found a closed circulation...as the Quikscat ambiguities at 22z look more like an open wave. However...there is enough doubt to keep advisories going until the next aircraft arrives tomorrow morning...and indications are that that mission will...

PARIS (AFP) - European satellites have given confirmation to terrified mariners who describe seeing freak waves as tall as 10-storey buildings, the European Space Agency (ESA) said. "Rogue waves" have been the anecdotal cause behind scores of sinkings of vessels as large as container ships and supertankers over the past two decades. But evidence to support this has been sketchy, and many marine scientists have clung to statistical models that say monstrous deviations from the normal sea state only occur once every thousand years. Testing this promise, ESA tasked two of its Earth-scanning satellites, ERS-1 and ERS-2, to monitor the...