The Past Week Ticker
M05/6.2M,6.6M,MC, T06/MC,V9, W07, Th08/6.3M, F09/6.5M, Sa10, Su11/6.2M,6.1M, M12, T13, W14/6.0M,6.2M, Th15

Moon for April 2004 per Astronomy Magazine in EDT
5 full moon, 7 perigee, 11 last quarter, 19 new moon, 23 apogee, 27 first quarter
The moon is at apogee (251,906 miles far) on 8:25 PM EDT on 23 April.

A partial solar eclipse visible only south of Equator occurs 19 April.
The Lyrid Meteor Shower peaks around midnight of 21 April, in the dark of the New Moon on 19 April.
A total lunar eclipse occurs on May 4 but is not visible in U.S.

Earth and Sun Digest for April 15, 2004

...Week at a Glance (with time ticking)

(Source data can change without notice or correction.)

Earthquakes of 5.0 to 5.9M thru Wednesday--13 (Jap-1, SoPac-8); six quakes of 6M or greater: 4/14 6.0m JAN MAYEN ISLAND REGION, 4/14 6.2M NEAR THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA, 4/14 6.0M TONGA, 4/11 6.1M HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION, 4/11 6.2M PAPUA, INDONESIA. 4/09 6.5M VANUATU, 4/08 6.3M WEST CHILE RISE
California and Nevada earthquakes in past week--314; no quakes of 4M or greater
Volcanic ash near Jet Stream (at 5 mi/8 km)--Russia (Kamchatka)
Sunspot No. high and low--69 on 14 April from 16 on 11 April
Largest and smallest daily total area of sunspots--230 on 14 April from 90 on 11 April (100 = Earth)
X-Class Solar Flares: none; last M-Class flares (5+/day) 5 on 27 October (Ticker has fewer MC.)
(See http://www.sel.noaa.gov/today.html )
Planetary Geomagnetic Indices: high of April; last set of five or more Kp's of 4 or more per 24 hours: 3-6 April

Nearest Earth Asteroids:
2004 FH on 18 March by 0.125 LD, closest of the year.
2004 FY 15 on 27 March by 0.6 LD's

Comets C/2002 T7 and C/2001 Q4 are brightest in early May.
See www.spaceweather.com for details on comets and asteroids.

Recent Volcanic Eruptions: TWO GROUPINGS (REVISED)

For Northern Ash and Gas Eruptions
affecting prevailing winds blowing northeast from latitude 23°N.

KARYMSKY Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia 54.05°N, 159.43°E; summit elev. 1,536 m
during 2-9 April, based on seismic data, daily ash-and-gas explosions possibly producing plumes to heights of 2.5-3 km

SHIVELUCH Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia 56.653°N, 161.360°E; summit elev. 3,283 m
during 2-9 April, based on seismic data, one ash-and-gas plume to a height of 9 km, and 13 plumes to 7.2 km during several days, on 7 April an ash-and-gas plume to a height of 6.2 km

For World Effects of Ash and Gas Eruptions
from winds blowing westward along the Equator at less than 23°N or S

ANATAHAN Mariana Islands, central Pacific Ocean 16.35°N, 145.67°E; summit elev. 788 m
high levels of volcanic seismicity on 31 March through 12 April, not quite as high as during its 6-7 April peak with small steam and/or ash emissions occasionally to levels below 1 km

COLIMA western México 19.514°N,103.62°W; summit elev. ~3,850 m
an ash emission from Colima on 12 April to ~4.9 km

DUKONO Halmahera, Indonesia 1.70°N, 127.87°E; summit elev. 1,185 m
during 7-13 April ash clouds occasionally visible around a height of 3 km

FUEGO Guatemala 14.47°N, 90.88°W; summit elev. 3,763 m
on 12 April weak-to-moderate explosions producing plumes to 4.8 km

KILAUEA Hawaii, USA 19.43°N, 155.29°W; summit elev. 1,222 m
during 7-12 April incandescence visible in the crater of Pu`u `O`o cone

MANAM offshore New Guinea, Papua New Guinea 4.10°S, 145.06°E; summit elev. 1,807 m
during 15 March to 1 April mild eruptive activity with emissions of brown ash on 17, 18, 27, and 28 March, the ash clouds rising to about 2.1 km a

PAGO New Britain, Papua New Guinea 5.58°S, 150.52°E; summit elev. 742 m
during 15 March to 1 April all vents gently releasing small volumes of "thin white vapor" on some days small amounts of "blue vapor" from the lower vents

SANTA MARÍA Guatemala 14.756°N 91.552°W; summit elev. 3,772 m
on 12 April weak-to-moderate explosions producing plumes to heights of 4.6 km

SOUFRIÈRE HILLS Montserrat, West Indies 16.72°N, 62.18°W; summit elev. 1,052 m
during 2-9 April volcanic activity at low-to-moderate levels, the sulfur-dioxide flux remained low during most of the report period

TUNGURAHUA Ecuador 1.47°S, 78.44°W; summit elev. 5,023 m
during 7-11 April volcanic activity at low levels, with emissions of steam, gas, and very little ash, sulfur-dioxide flux measurements on 11 April the highest measured for several weeks (1,600-1,700 tons per day)

ULAWUN New Britain, Papua New Guinea 5.04°S, 151.34°E; summit elev. 2,334 m
volcanic activity at low levels during 15 March to 1 April, on 12 and 13 April thin ash plumes visible on satellite imagery at a height of ~3.0 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.) and times are converted to UTC. For time changes, check the table at the end of the USGS website below.

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.
04/04/15  06:48:4010.57S161.37E10.0  5.1SOLOMON ISLANDS
04/04/14  23:07:3971.09N7.52W10.0    6.0JAN MAYEN ISLAND REGION
04/04/14  08:10:0860.67S153.79E10.0  5.7WEST OF MACQUARIE ISLAND
04/04/14  01:54:0955.26N162.62E51.5  6.2NEAR THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA
04/04/14  01:33:0517.84S174.55W143.2 6.0TONGA
04/04/13  11:24:2615.66S173.95W17.6  5.1TONGA
04/04/13  10:22:077.31S128.81E87.2   5.3KEPULAUAN BARAT DAYA, INDONESIA
04/04/12  11:00:158.68N126.25E75.0   5.0MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
04/04/12  06:30:4418.10S173.87W5.2   5.0TONGA
04/04/11  18:06:1242.93N144.84E41.6  6.1HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
04/04/11  07:37:293.72S140.10E20.0   6.2PAPUA, INDONESIA
04/04/10  16:06:5124.53S176.15W38.9  5.7SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
04/04/10  15:56:5913.12N93.28E17.7   5.4ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
04/04/10  07:35:248.02N137.27E40.8   5.8STATE OF YAP, FED. STATES OF MICRONESIA
04/04/10  04:54:0724.43S175.98W31.7  5.6SOUTH OF TONGA
04/04/09  15:23:3513.22S167.21E230.2 6.5VANUATU
04/04/09  01:55:491.53S100.48E59.2   5.5SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
04/04/08  13:56:117.83S154.47E94.6   5.0BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
04/04/08  13:24:4010.95N141.32E46.4  5.2STATE OF YAP, FED. STATES OF MICRONESIA
04/04/08  10:23:0155.70S27.91W64.7   5.5SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
04/04/08  04:57:5036.28S97.85W10.0   6.3WEST CHILE RISE
United States Quakes this past week 
with quakes possibly felt in U.S. from nearby countries:  
04/04/13  01:51:0046.98N114.31W17.6  3.0WESTERN MONTANA
04/04/12  13:38:4259.93N153.28W121.0 4.5SOUTHERN ALASKA
04/04/11  11:36:3619.17N155.72W10.4  3.3ISLAND OF HAWAII, HAWAII
04/04/10  13:57:4939.51N119.77W8.6   2.4NEVADA
04/04/10  05:14:2662.09N148.08W30.0  3.2CENTRAL ALASKA
04/04/10  01:53:3631.77N116.24W6.0   3.1BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
04/04/08  18:19:3834.32N116.86W5.1   2.8SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
04/04/08  15:46:2133.10N115.86W9.5   3.2SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
04/04/08  12:53:3933.87N118.56W10.6  2.9SANTA MONICA BAY, CALIFORNIA
04/04/08  12:50:0051.47N178.67E68.9  4.1RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA

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  04
January   2   1  13  10   4   7   5   8  10  14  10  11 with one 7M
February  1  12  13  18   7   4   6   4  14   6   5  13 with two 7M's)
March     0   2   8  13   5   7   8   5   5  10  15  10
April     0  12  17   4   9   6   8   3   9   7   8  (9)
YR total 19 110 160 109  76  63 103 109 112 133 145 (43)

SUN
Sunspot numbers for the past week:
4/7   8   9  10  11  12  13  14  
 57  33  18  20  16  37  41  69
Planetary geomagnetic A Indices for same period 
 10  16  16  10   8  11   6   5

Donald J. Boon, editor