The Day-Date-Moon Ticker

M24, T25/6.6M, W26, Th27, F28, Sa29, Su30FQ, M01/6.0M, T02/MC(2), W03, Th04



Explanatory Notes

The Ticker above is chronological, with symbols for day, date, moon phase and/or distance. After the / are earthquakes(7.0M), volcanoes(V8), geomagnetic storms(GS31), and solar flares(XC and MC). These correspond to the data below.



Earth and Sun Digest for December 4, 2003

QUIETER THANKSGIVING

...at a Glance (with time ticking)

(Source data can change without notice or correction.)



BOON'S FIVE RULE: FIVE EARTHQUAKES OF FIVE.X MAGNITUDE IN FIVE DAYS CAN CAUSE A VOLCANO TO ERUPT ASH AND/OR GAS UP FIVE MILES.



Earthquakes of 5.0 to 5.9M thru Wednesday--10 (Jap-1, SoPac-1); one quake of 6M or greater: 12/01 6.0M KAZAKHSTAN-XINJIANG BORDER REG.

California and Nevada earthquakes in past week--229; none 4M or greater

Volcanic ash near Jet Stream (at 5 mi/8 km)--none

Sunspot No. high and low--185 on 28 November to 100 on 3 December

Largest and smallest daily total area of sunspots--1500 on 28 November to 470 on 3 December (100 = Earth)

X-Class Solar Flares: none; last M-Class flares (5+/day) 5 on 27 October (see ticker for fewer MC)

Planetary Geomagnetic Indices: high of 10 on 27, 28 and 30 November and 1 December; last set of five or more Kp's of 4 or more per 24 hours: 9 to 23 November





Moon for December per Astronomy Magazine

8 full moon, 10 apogee, 16 last quarter, 22 perigee, 23 new moon, 30 first quarter

The moon is at apogee (252,450 miles far) on 7 December.





GEMINID Meteor Shower peaks on Dec. 14.





Recent Volcanic Eruptions





COLIMA western México 19.514°N,103.62°W; summit elev. ~3,850 m

on 1 and 2 December ash clouds visible at a maximum height of ~7 km



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

during 26 November to 2 December steam-and-ash plumes visible up to 4.1 km



FUEGO Guatemala 14.47°N, 90.88°W; summit elev. 3,763 m

during 28 November to 1 December moderate-to-weak explosions producing

gas-and-ash plumes to heights of 4.7 km



KARYMSKY Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia 54.05°N, 159.43°E; summit elev. 1,536 m

during 21-28 November possible ash-and-gas plumes to 3 km



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

during 30 November to 2 December incandescent lava visible only in the upper flow field, not on the coastal flat or Pulama pali



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

during 21 to 28 November Strombolian activity seen on the night of 21 November, gas-and-steam plumes containing some ash rose to low levels on 23-24 November



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

on 28 November many explosions followed by block-and-ash avalanches, on 1 December ash emissions



SOUFRIÈRE HILLS Montserrat, West Indies 16.72°N, 62.18°W; summit elev. 1,030 m

during 21-28 November five rockfalls, around 500 tons of sulfur dioxide recorded during the 2 days weather conditions were appropriate for measurements



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

during 22 November to 1 December a large number of emissions of gas, steam, and ash; plumes visible at a maximum height of ~7 km





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.



03/12/03 14:11:1442.48N144.65E33.0 5.9HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION

03/12/03 12:04:046.91S106.30E33.0 5.3JAVA, INDONESIA

03/12/03 07:33:5620.73S178.75W602.6 5.6FIJI REGION

03/12/02 00:18:2022.16S68.10W100.0 5.1NORTHERN CHILE

03/12/01 01:38:3242.93N80.64E10.0 6.0KAZAKHSTAN-XINJIANG BORDER REG.

03/11/29 20:22:508.96S123.57E33.0 5.8FLORES REGION, INDONESIA

03/11/29 16:48:0441.72S84.17W10.0 5.2WEST CHILE RISE

03/11/28 12:38:3451.45N178.80E33.0 5.0RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

03/11/27 10:34:563.16S127.31E33.0 5.6SERAM, INDONESIA

03/11/27 06:18:370.61N67.18E10.0 5.1CARLSBERG RIDGE

03/11/27 06:07:0453.81N163.26W33.0 5.4UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA





United States Quakes this past week

with quakes possibly felt in U.S. from nearby countries:



03/12/04 06:15:5135.64N117.57W0.9 3.7SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

03/12/03 06:40:0151.37N178.72E41.0 4.4RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

03/12/02 14:30:1151.30N177.78E33.0 4.6RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

03/12/02 00:37:2339.95N120.74W6.8 3.1NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

03/12/01 23:14:5439.95N120.73W7.6 3.2NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

03/11/30 15:29:0234.44N119.17W18.0 3.1SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

03/11/30 00:20:4740.31N124.53W8.9 3.5 OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

03/11/30 00:10:0451.25N178.70E33.0 4.9RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

03/11/25 17:32:0839.79N123.47W6.7 3.4NORTHERN CALIFORNIA





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



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 11 with one 7M

November 0 7 10 6 7 4 15 15 10 11 13 with one 7M

December 0 6 13 7 3 2 16 11 7 11 (1)



Yr total 19 110 160 109 76 63 103 109 112 133 (129)





SUN



Sunspot numbers for the past week:

11/26 27 28 29 30 12/1 2 3

209 154 185 177 178 159 119 100

Planetary geomagnetic A Indices for same period

9 10 10 9 10 10 9 7



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





SPECIAL NOTE



Cracks in Earth's Magnetosphere



The idea of cracks in the magnetic field of our planet were recently verified and may explain the distribution of effects of geomagnetic storms. See

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/03dec_magneticcracks.htm .





Comments and questions are always welcome.



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