The Past Week Ticker

M13/6.0M, T14/6.8M, W15, Th16, F17, Sa18/6.2M, Su19/V9, M20/V15, T21, W22/6.1M, Th23/8.1M

MTWThFSaSu-days of week; 6M-quake, V8-volcano, MC or XC-solar flare, GS-geomagnetic storm



Moon for December 2004 per Astronomy Magazine in EDT

4 last quarter, 11 new moon, 12 perigee, 18 first quarter, 26 full moon, 27 apogee

The Moon is at apogee (252,580 miles far) on 27 December--farthest of the year.



EARTH AND SUN DIGEST for December 23, 2004

8.1M Quake South of New Zealand

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



California and Nevada earthquakes in past week--333; no quakes 4M or greater

Interactive map at http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/latest.htm

Global Earthquakes of 5.0 to 5.9M thru Wednesday--17 (Japan-1, SoPacific-3); three quakes of 6M or greater: 12/23 8.1M NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND, 12/22 6.1M SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE, 12/18 6.2M EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS.

Earthquake data from http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/bulletin.html .

Volcanic ash near Jet Stream (at 5 mi/8 km)--offshore, New Guinea

Ash data from http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs



Sunspot No. high and low--47 on 23 December from 14 on 16 December

Largest and smallest daily area of sunspots--210 on 20 and 21 December froom 30 on 16 December (100=Earth-size)

X-Class Solar Flares: none; last M-Class flares (5+/day): five on 15 August (See updating site at http://www.sel.noaa.gov/today.html .)

Planetary Geomagnetic A Indices: high of 19 on 22 December; five or more Kp's of 4 (or more) per 24 hours: none; high no. of Kp's of 3 per 24 hours this week: four on 17 December



(Data is upgraded at the source as needed without notice.)





RECENT VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS



Northern Ash and Gas Eruptions north of latitude 23°N.





ST. HELENS Washington, USA 46.20°N, 122.18°W; summit elev. 2,549 m (0)

during 16-20 December growth of the new lava dome inside the crater of St. Helens continuing, accompanied by low rates of seismicity, low emissions of steam and volcanic gases, and minor production of ash, on 16 December the lava dome noticeably widened, the prominent fracture system along its top continuing to widen, and ash intermittently emitted from hot cracks



SUWANOSE-JIMA Ryukyu Islands, Japan 29.53°N, 129.72°E; summit elev. 799 m (1.8 km)

on 20 December a SE-drifting plume to ~1.8 km, on 21 December an ash plume to an unknown height



Equatorial Ash and Gas Eruptions at less than 23°N or S



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

during 15-18 December ash plumes drifting predominately NE of the volcano



FUEGO Guatemala 14.47°N, 90.88°W; summit elev. 3,763 m (0)

during 15-21 December several small incandescent avalanches of volcanic material mainly SW toward the Taniluyá ravine, around 20 December a narrow lava flow from the S edge of the volcano's central crater



KILAUEA Hawaii, USA 19.43°N, 155.29°W; summit elev. 1,222 m (0)

during 19-21 December lava flows not entering the ocean, several areas of surface lava visible on the coastal flat, and on and above the Pulama pali fault scarp



LANGILA New Britain Island, Papua New Guinea 5.53°S, 148.42°E; summit elev. 1,330 m (?)

a plume visible on satellite imagery on 17 December reaching an unknown height



MANAM offshore New Guinea, Papua New Guinea 4.10°S, 145.06°E; summit elev. 1,807 m (9)

during 19-20 December satellite imagery showing ash plumes rose to at least 9 km and ash high as 15 km



NYIRAGONGO Democratic Republic of the Congo 1.52°S, 29.25°E; summit elev. 3,469 m (0)

during 29 November to 12 December nearly continuous high-amplitude tremor recorded at all seismic stations on the volcano



REVENTADOR Ecuador 0.078°S, 77.656°W, summit elev. 3,562 m (0)

on 16 December a block lava flow extending more than 1.5 km from the 2002 crater through a breach in the S portion of the crater wall



SANTA MARÍA Guatemala 14.756°N 91.552°W; summit elev. 3,772 m (5.1 km)

during 15-21 December weak-to-moderate explosions producing plumes to a maximum height of 5.1 km



SOUFRIÈRE HILLS Montserrat, West Indies 16.72°N, 62.18°W; summit elev. 1,052 m (0)

during 10-17 December six hybrid earthquakes and seven volcano-tectonic earthquakes, the sulfur-dioxide flux ranging from 290-450 metric tons per day, averaging 360 tons per day



TUNGURAHUA Ecuador 1.47°S, 78.44°W; summit elev. 5,023 m (7 km)

during 15-20 December small-to-moderate explosions and emissions of steam, gas, and small amounts of ash rose to a maximum height of 7 km





All ash elevations are in km above sea level (a.s.l.) and times are converted to UTC.





EARTH

The FIVE Index has the last column giving the eight daily
Kp (three hourly) geomagnetic values in the same 
UTC time frame as the quake listings.
FIVE Index of Global earthquakes of 5.0 magnitude or greater
DATE-(UTC)-TIME    LAT  LON    DEP   MAG  Q  COMMENTS  Day's Kp values 
yy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss  deg. deg.   km 
READ UP for latest report.
12/23     1 2 1 1 x x x x
04/12/23  14:59:0450.24S160.13E10.0  8.1NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND 
12/22     3 4 4 5 3 3 2 2
04/12/22  21:03:3856.08S124.78W10.0  6.1SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE 
12/21     2 1 3 5 2 3 2 2
04/12/21  19:46:411.63N127.36E119.0  5.4HALMAHERA, INDONESIA 
04/12/21  17:21:0560.65N147.61W10.0  5.1SOUTHERN ALASKA 
04/12/21  15:34:2842.92N145.42E38.5  5.6HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION 
12/20     2 0 1 1 1 1 1 1
04/12/20  23:02:1737.02N28.29E29.7   5.3WESTERN TURKEY
04/12/20  13:12:125.37N101.31W10.0   5.4GALAPAGOS TRIPLE JUNCTION REGION 
04/12/20  03:58:4215.25S75.08W20.5   5.0NEAR THE COAST OF CENTRAL PERU
12/19     1 0 1 1 1 2 1 1
04/12/19  22:39:1355.49N158.12W24.0  5.2ALASKA PENINSULA 
04/12/19  08:23:479.34N78.82W55.0    5.3PANAMA 
04/12/19  03:07:5019.15S167.67E38.3  5.3VANUATU REGION 
12/18     4 4 2 2 3 2 1 1
04/12/18  17:57:2316.18S73.75W27.5   5.4NEAR THE COAST OF SOUTHERN PERU
04/12/18  17:15:2616.05S174.77W10.0  5.8TONGA 
04/12/18  09:12:4840.90N10.20E10.0   5.0TYRRHENIAN SEA 
04/12/18  08:50:0548.77N156.01E10.0  5.3EAST OF KURIL ISLANDS 
04/12/18  06:46:1948.86N156.16E10.0  6.2EAST OF KURIL ISLANDS 
04/12/18  00:35:3019.20N64.36W35.7   5.0VIRGIN ISLANDS 
12/17     3 4 4 3 2 3 2 3
04/12/17  07:13:1121.80S179.34W594.5 5.8FIJI REGION 
04/12/17  02:50:200.03S123.24E138.8  5.1SULAWESI, INDONESIA 
12/16     1 3 2 1 2 2 4 3
04/12/16  00:10:0524.12N122.31E53.1  5.0TAIWAN REGION 

United States Quakes this past week 
with quakes possibly felt in U.S. from nearby countries:  
04/12/23  05:12:5363.33N151.50W1.0   4.5CENTRAL ALASKA 
04/12/22  20:47:2642.49N126.86W10.0  4.9OFF THE COAST OF OREGON
04/12/22  01:56:0714.26N146.91E42.7  4.5ROTA REGION, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
04/12/21  17:21:0560.65N147.61W10.0  5.1SOUTHERN ALASKA
04/12/19  22:39:1355.49N158.12W24.0  5.2ALASKA PENINSULA 
04/12/18  00:35:3019.20N64.36W35.7   5.0VIRGIN ISLANDS 
04/12/16  11:37:5133.87N118.73W0.0   3.6CHANNEL ISL REG., CALIFORNIA 
04/12/16  07:29:5161.72N150.68W52.0  3.7SOUTHERN ALASKA 

YEARS OF MONTHLY COUNTS 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
July      2  10  12   7   5   9   8   9  10   5  15  11 with two 7M
August    2  14  16   6   7   8   9  12   8  12   8   4
September 4   8   8   9   7   4  12   7  10  13  18  15 with two 7M's
October   4  12  21   9   6   3   4   8  11  21  11  12
November  0   7  10   6   7   4  15  15  10  11  13  17 with five 7M's
December  0   6  13   7   3   2  16  11   7  11  17  (6)
YR total 19 110 160 109  76  63 103 109 112 133 145(130)
SUN
Sunspot numbers, daily for the past week:
12/15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22   
   28  14  40  40  29  30  25  47   
Planetary geomagnetic A Indices, daily (eight Kp's for same period)
    6  10  15  12   4   4  12  19