Earth and Sun Digest 2003/10/30 SPACE RADIATION STORM
Posted by Donald Boon on October 30, 2003 at 13:24:16:





The Day-Date-Moon Ticker

The Day-Date-Moon Ticker

M20/GS30,MC, T21/GS39,MC(2), W22/6.3M,GS33,MC(7), Th23/XC(2),MC(3), F24/MC(4), Sa25NM/MC(3), Su26Pg/XC(2),MC(2), M27/MC(5),V9, T28/XC,6.0M, W29/XC,MC(2), Th30





Earth and Sun Digest for October 30, 2003

SOLAR FLARES: GEOMAGNETIC AND RADIATION STORMS FOR EARTH

...at a Glance (with time ticking)

(Source data can change without notice or correction.)



Earthquakes of 5.0 to 5.9M thru Wednesday--17 (J-1, SP-3); one quake of 6M or greater: 10/28 6.0M NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

California (includes Nevada) earthquakes in past week--217; none of 4M or greater

Volcanic ash over 5 mi (8 km)--Ecuador

Sunspot No. high--330 om 29 October

Smallest to largest daily total area of sunspots--2930 on 23 October to 5160 on 29 October

(100 equals a Planet Earth area.)

X-Class Solar Flares: six-23(2), 26(2), 28 and 29 October; last M-Class flares (5+/day) 5 on 27 October (see ticker for fewer MC)

Planetary Geomagnetic Indices: high of 189 on 29 October; last set of K-Indices of 4 or more (5 or more/24 hours): 24, 28 through 30 October





Moon for November per Astronomy Magazine

1 first quarter, 8 full, 10 apogee, 16 last quarter, 23 both new and perigee

The moon is at apogee (252,464 miles far) on 10 November.[/center]



Huge Santa Ana-related firestorms correspond with dead forests from pine beetle and small earthquakes in Greater Los Angeles.





Recent Volcanic Eruptions

Highlighted if at least one eruption is over 8 km





DUKONO Halmahera, Indonesia 1.70°N, 127.87°E; summit elev. 1,185 m

an ash plume to ~3 km



KILAUEA Hawaii, USA 19.43°N, 155.29°W; summit elev. 1,222 m

during 22-28 October surface lava visible upslope of Kilauea's coastal flat



KLIUCHEVSKOI Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia 56.06°N, 160.64°E; summit elev. 4,835 m

during 17-24 October gas-and steam plumes, on 18 October an ash plume at a height of ~6.8 km



POPOCATÉPETL México 19.02°N, 98.62°W; summit elev. 5,426 m

during October moderate emissions of mainly gas and steam



SANTA MARÍA Guatemala 14.756°N 91.552°W; summit elev. 3,772 m

as of 24 October several moderate explosions and block-and-ash avalanches, on 26 October a small eruption



SOUFRIÈRE HILLS Montserrat, West Indies 16.72°N, 62.18°W; summit elev. 1,052 m

Volcanic activity low during 17-24 October, sulfur-dioxide emission rates remaining high, low-level ash clouds sometimes visible on satellite imagery



TUNGURAHUA Ecuador 1.47°S, 78.44°W; summit elev. 5,023 m

during 21-27 October ash plumes generally to ~7 km, on 27 October an eruption with ash plume to ~9 km; several ash plumes visible on satellite imagery





Ash data is summarized from the weekly GVN/USGS report at

http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/

All ash elevations are in km above sea level (a.s.l.).



The earthquake data that follows are taken from U.S. Geological Survey tables available through http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/bulletin.html .


EARTH
FIVE Index of Global earthquakes of 5.0 magnitude or greater
   DATE-(UTC)-TIME    LAT    LON     DEP   MAG  Q  COMMENTS
 yy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss    deg.   deg.    km 
READ UP for latest report.
03/10/30  06:00:4960.56S25.18W33.0   5.9SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
03/10/29  21:10:2049.06S124.74E10.0  5.5WESTERN INDIAN-ANTARCTIC RIDGE
03/10/29  19:54:1960.55S25.28W33.0   5.3SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
03/10/28  21:48:2043.73N147.71E69.3  5.9KURIL ISLANDS
03/10/28  08:14:2513.92S70.31W196.9  5.6CENTRAL PERU
03/10/28  02:33:505.33S151.43E53.9   6.0NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
03/10/27  13:29:266.22S103.70E33.0   5.3SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA
03/10/27  13:28:496.09S103.81E33.0   5.2SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA
03/10/27  12:47:5810.50N125.16E33.0  5.0LEYTE, PHILIPPINES
03/10/25  14:34:4138.17N101.35E10.0  5.1GANSU, CHINA
03/10/25  13:25:2238.34N101.08E10.0  5.0GANSU, CHINA
03/10/25  12:47:5838.35N100.98E10.0  5.8GANSU-QINGHAI BORDER REG, CHINA
03/10/25  12:41:3438.35N100.96E10.0  5.8GANSU-QINGHAI BORDER REG, CHINA
03/10/24  05:58:2128.37N54.08E33.0   5.1SOUTHERN IRAN
03/10/24  01:26:573.59S145.33E33.0   5.9NEAR N COAST OF NEW GUINEA, PNG.
03/10/23  10:54:3951.54N176.55E33.0  5.6RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
03/10/23  07:58:2823.74S179.73E547.6 5.2SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
03/10/23  07:53:5611.51N141.55E33.0  5.5STATE OF YAP, MICRONESIA
03/10/23  00:25:4549.95N88.21E10.0   5.0RUSSIA-MONGOLIA BORDER REGION

United States Quakes this past week 
with quakes that might be felt:  
03/10/30  00:07:2862.01N148.12W32.0  3.9CENTRAL ALASKA
03/10/29  23:44:4834.27N118.75W13.8  3.6GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CA.
03/10/29  19:45:5340.05N122.01W0.0   2.8NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
03/10/29  16:36:1934.28N118.74W8.4   2.8GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CA.
03/10/29  07:18:3034.66N116.29W4.5   3.0SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
03/10/28  22:45:0019.70N70.61W10.0   4.8DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
03/10/28  18:47:5244.56N129.86W10.0  4.2OFF THE COAST OF OREGON
03/10/27  06:33:3263.58N147.93W8.0   3.6CENTRAL ALASKA
03/10/27  04:51:3641.29N126.33W10.0  3.4OFF THE COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
03/10/26  16:39:1519.89N70.61W33.0   4.3DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
03/10/25  17:47:1719.14N66.67W46.2   3.1PUERTO RICO REGION
03/10/25  11:50:5649.30N119.54W8.0   2.4BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
03/10/25  06:00:4619.01N64.68W24.8   3.5VIRGIN ISLANDS
03/10/25  05:49:5232.19N115.42W7.0   3.4BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
03/10/24  10:11:0533.06N115.91W3.0   3.1SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
03/10/23  15:34:4040.62N122.41W22.9  3.3NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
03/10/23  15:32:0951.51N176.59E33.0  4.8RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
03/10/23  10:54:3951.54N176.55E33.0  5.6RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
03/10/23  08:16:2450.86N129.18W10.0  4.0VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA REGION

MEDITERRANEAN REGION, Continued
03/10/24  20:47:1139.95N50.29E0.0    4.2CASPIAN SEA, OFFSHORE AZERBAIJAN
03/10/24  05:58:2128.37N54.08E33.0   5.1SOUTHERN IRAN
03/10/23  17:24:0437.43N42.67E33.0   4.7TURKEY-SYRIA-IRAQ BORDER REGION
Late listings
03/10/21  19:59:1244.45N6.81E3.0     2.0FRANCE
03/10/21  19:57:3044.45N6.79E2.0     2.3FRANCE
03/10/21  19:56:3644.48N6.81E4.0     2.6FRANCE
03/10/20  21:36:4444.87N6.72E2.0     1.7FRANCE
03/10/20  15:31:2251.57N16.11E5.0    3.2POLAND  
Monthly Summary of Earthquakes of 6 or greater Magnitude
in the World, per USGS/NEIC Preliminary Global Report
 YEAR:   93  94  95  96  97  98  99  00  01  02  03
May       3  15  17   8   9   6   9   5   8   7  16 with two 7M's
June      1  11  12  12   3   3   3  22  10  14  12 with one 7M
July      2  10  12   7   5   9   8   9  10   5  15 with one 7M
August    2  14  16   6   7   8   9  12   8  12   8 with two 7M's
September 4   8   8   9   7   4  12   7  10  13  18 with two 7M's, one 8M
October   4  12  21   9   6   3   4   8  11  21  (9)
Yr total 19 110 160 109  76  63 103 109 112 133 (113)

SUN
Sunspot numbers for the past week:
10/22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29   
  117 122 160 139 191 238 230 330
Planetary geomagnetic A Indices for same period 
   33   7  34  14  10  15  20 189





Solar data from http://www.sec.noaa.gov/





SPECIAL NOTE



Solar Flares and Space Radiation Storms



This past week has seen two of the largest X-Class solar flares known, with both geomagnetic and radiation storms of similar size, in part because the flares were directly aimed at the Earth. Indeed the CME from the first flare arrived at Earth twelve hours earlier than expected. While the effects of geomagnetic storms are well known, the radiation storms are not. They are graded S1 to S5, with S5 the most severe. Here from SpaceWeather.com is a fact sheet:

http://spaceweather.com/glossary/srs.html





Comments and questions are always welcome.



Donald J. Boon, editor, donaldboon@comcast.net




Follow Ups:
     ● Re: Earth and Sun Digest 2003/10/30  - Donald Boon  13:29:50 - 10/30/2003  (19921)  (0)