The Past Week Ticker

M20/V15, T21, W22/6.1M, Th23/8.1M, F24, Sa25, Su26/9.0M,6.0M,6.1M,7.3M,6.5M,6.2M,6.3M,6.2M, M27/6.0M,6.1M,6.3M, T28, W29/6.1M,6.2M,MC(2), Th30/MC
MTWThFSaSu-days of week; 6M-quake, V8-volcano, MC or XC-solar flare, GS-geomagnetic storm



Moon for January 2005 per Astronomy Magazine in EDT

3 last quarter, 10 new moon, 10 perigee, 17 first quarter, 23 apogee, 25 full moon

The Moon is at perigee (221,562 miles near) on 10 January is the closest of 2005.



Planet Earth is at perihelion (91.4 million miles closest to the Sun) on 1 January 2005.



SUNSPOT WATCH: Sunspot 715 has a "delta-class" magnetic field. Forecasters estimate a 10% chance of an X-class solar flare during the next 24 hours. See www.spaceweather.com



The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks on 3 January at 4:20 PST.



Per Earthweek last week "two powerful explosions and fiery streaks in the sky above Jakarta", Indonesia were apparently from asteroid fragments "on the fringes of the annual Geminid meteor shower", with a similar event the week before in China's Gansu province.



North Sumatra, Indonesia, has a large, ancient crater lake believed caused by an asteroid collision visible on local quake map.





EARTH AND SUN DIGEST for December 30, 2004

The Great Quake of 2004, a 9.0M

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





Global Earthquakes of 5.0 to 5.9M thru Wednesday--46 (Japan-3, SoPacific-4); thirteen quakes of 6M or greater: 12/29 6.2M NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION, 12/29 6.1M NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION, 12/27 6.3M NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA, 12/27 6.1M ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION, 12/27 6.0M NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA, 12/26 6.2M OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA, 12/26 6.3M ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION, 12/26 6.2M ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION, 12/26 6.5M NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION, 12/26 7.3M NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION, 12/26 6.1M ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION, 12/26 6.0M ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION, 12/26 9.0M, OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA, 12/23 8.1M NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND .

California and Nevada earthquakes in past week--321; no quakes 4M or greater

Interactive map

Earthquake data .

Volcanic ash near Jet Stream (at 5 mi/8 km)--

http://Ash data



Sunspot No. high and low--47 on 23 December to 11 on 27 December

Largest and smallest daily area of sunspots--410 on 29 December from 90 on 26 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 .)  See ticker above.

Planetary Geomagnetic A Indices: high of 18 on 29 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: three on 26 and 28 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 (low)

during 22-28 December growth of the new lava dome inside the crater of St. Helens continuing, low emissions of steam and volcanic gases, and minor production of ash, analysis of gas emissions reveal no significant change, on 27 December field instruments indicating the lava dome growing at a rapid rate



SHIVELUCH Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia 56.653°N, 161.360°E; summit elev. 3,283 m (3.5 km)

during 19-22 December, based on seismic data ash-and-gas explosions with plumes to 3.5 km on 20 December, hot avalanches maybe during 16-19 December



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

ash plumes to unknown heights on 22, 24, 25, and 27 December, not visible on satellite imagery





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





FUEGO Guatemala 14.47°N, 90.88°W; summit elev. 3,763 m (4.5 km)

on 22 December a narrow lava flow reaching ~200 m from the central crater, many small block-lava avalanches, steam-and-ash emissions on 23 December to ~4.5 km



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

during 22-28 December several areas of surface lava visible along the PKK lava flow on the coastal flat, and along the Pulama pali fault scarp, on 26 December surface ground motion from a deadly M 9 earthquake just W of Sumatra picked up by all tiltmeters at Kilauea



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

eruptions continuing during 22-28 December



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

during 19-26 December seismic signals revealing lava emission continuing, mudflows on 17 and 19 December



SANGAY Ecuador 2.03°S, 78.34°W; summit elev. 5,188 m (6.4 km)

on 28 December around 0715 satellite imagery a plume most likely composed of steam with little ash, the plume at a height of ~6.4 km



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

on 22 December ash plumes to 5.1 km, ash plumes visible on satellite imagery on several days during 22-27 December



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

during 17-24 December, sulfur-dioxide flux ranging from 200-500 metric tons per day, with an average of 325 metric tons per day, no lava-dome growth



TUNGURAHUA Ecuador 1.47°S, 78.44°W; summit elev. 5,023 m (6.5 km)

during 22-27 December small-to-moderate explosions, steam, gas, and small amounts of ash rose to a maximum height of 6.5 km on 22 December



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 dailyKp (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.
12/30     2 3 4 3-1-1-1-1
04/12/30  04:27:385.57N94.27E37.7    5.3NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA 
12/29     4 4 3 4 4 2 2 2
04/12/29  21:12:595.20N94.71E25.8    5.7NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA 
04/12/29  19:32:0816.12N47.20W10.0   4.8NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
04/12/29  18:50:205.54N94.35E38.6    5.6NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA (see also below) 
04/12/29  13:58:5238.51N141.91E54.8  5.0NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN 
04/12/29  13:20:2528.89N130.44E7.7   5.6RYUKYU ISLANDS, JAPAN 
12/28     3 2 2 3 2 3 4 4
04/12/28  21:07:3553.29N173.82W251.4 5.8ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
04/12/28  09:30:4037.25N138.80E36.0  5.1NEAR WEST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN 
12/27     1 1 3 1 1 1 3 2
12/27     Lunar apogee
12/26     3 3 2 2 2 3 2 2
04/12/26  20:50:316.31N126.86E94.7   5.8MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
12/25     3 4 4 2 1 1 2 2
12/24     0 0 0 1 1 2 1 1
04/12/24  19:36:3819.17S167.70E32.5  5.3VANUATU REGION 
04/12/24  13:39:4520.20S178.78W621.9 5.1FIJI REGION
04/12/24  05:31:4450.20S161.27E10.0  5.5NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND 
112/23    1 2 1 1 1 2 2 2
04/12/23  14:59:0450.24S160.13E10.0  8.1NORTH OF MACQUARIE ISLAND 
THE GREAT QUAKE OF 2004 
(see also ticker and summary above for dates of 6M+ quakes):
ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION-- 18 quakes, five 6M
04/12/27  15:20:32 10.60N 93.59E13.9   5.1M from
04/12/26  02:15:57 12.35N 92.53E10.0   5.8M
NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION-- 14 quakes, three 6M, one 7M
04/12/29  05:56:50  8.78N 93.22E30.0   6.2M from
04/12/26  02:22:01  8.81N 92.54E10.0   5.9M
NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA-- 17 quakes, three 6M, one 9M 
04/12/29  21:12:59  5.20N 94.71E25.8   5.7M from
04/12/26  00:58:50  3.25N 95.80E10.0   9.0M

United States Quakes this past week 
with quakes possibly felt in U.S. from nearby countries:  
04/12/30  01:37:4437.28N119.38W32.9  3.3CENTRAL CALIFORNIA 
04/12/29  17:25:4838.81N122.79W2.5   2.9NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
04/12/28  21:07:3553.29N173.82W251.4 5.8ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
04/12/27  00:24:0139.82N120.79W5.4   3.4NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
04/12/26  21:13:4439.82N120.79W5.1   3.8NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
04/12/26  03:56:2837.96N118.66W7.8   3.9CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
04/12/23  06:54:2135.43N84.20W7.6    3.0EASTERN TENNESSEE
04/12/23  05:12:5363.33N151.50W1.0   4.5CENTRAL 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 (19 with a 7, an 8 & a 9M)
YR total 19 110 160 109  76  63 103 109 112 133 145(143)
SUN
Sunspot numbers, daily for the past week:
12/22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29 
   47  47  42  26  16  11  27  27   
Planetary geomagnetic A Indices, daily (eight Kp's for same period)
   19   6   4  12  10   7  16  18