Earth and Sun Digest 2003/09/25 8.0M QUAKE, JAPAN

Earth and Sun Digest 2003/09/25 8.0M QUAKE, JAPAN

Posted by Donald Boon on September 25, 2003 at 16:50:24:

The Day-Date-Moon Ticker*

The Day-Date-Moon Ticker*

M15, T16Ag/MC,GS37, W17/6.1M,GS61, Th18LQ/GS40, F19/GS32, Sa20, Su21/6.0M,6.6M, M22/V8,6.5M, T23, W24/GS33, Th25/8.0M,7.0M

Key: Moon: FM-full moon, LQ-last quarter, NM-new moon, or FQ-first quarter; le-lunar eclipse or se-solar eclipse; Pg-perigee or Ag-apogee); Solar flares=XC-X--Class or MC-M--Class, Geomagnetic Storm(with magnitude)--GS30; Volcanic Eruption(height in kilimoeters)--V8; Earthquakes(magnitude given)--6M

Earth and Sun Digest for September 25, 2003

8.0M EARTHQUAKE, JAPAN

...at a Glance (with time ticking)

(Source data can change without notice or correction.)

Earthquakes of 5.0 to 5.9M thru Wednesday--10; five quakes of 6M or greater: 9/25 7.0M HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION, 9/25 8.0M HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION, 9/22 6.5M DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION, 9/21 6.0M NORTH OF ASCENSION ISLAND, 9/21 6.6M MYANMAR

California earthquakes in past week--214; none of 4M or greater

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

Sunspot No. high--133 on 23 September

Smallest to largest daily total area of sunspots--420 on 19 September to 860 on 23 September

(100 equals a Planet Earth area.)

X-Class Solar Flares: none detected; last M-Class flares (5/day) 8 on 11 June (see ticker for fewer MC, if any)

Planetary Geomagnetic Indices: high of 40 on 18 September;

one set of K-Indices of 4 or more (5 or more/24 hours*) before 17 through 25 September

Moon for October per Astronomy Magazine

2 first quarter, 10 full, 13 apogee, 18 last quarter, 25 new, 26 perigee

The moon is at perigee (225,455 miles near) on 28 September.

Mars continues its apparent retrograde motion, but becomes stationary on Sept. 29 at 10 AM EDT, then resumes normal motion.

Note the seismic activity in the eastern Mediterranean.

Recent Volcanic Eruptions:

KATMAI VOLCANIC CLUSTER Alaska, USA

strong winds on 21 September picked up old, loose volcanic ash, not the result of volcanic activity and no eruption occurred

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

during 12-19 September data indicating possible ash-and-gas explosions to 3 km, on 14 September an ash-and-gas plume to 2 km, on 23 September an ash plume to 5 km

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

during 17-23 September surface lava flows sometimes visible on coastal flat and upslope areas, surface lava flows about 800 m inland of the coast on 21 September

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

during 12-19 September with ash-and-gas plumes to 4.9 km

MAYON southeastern Luzon, Philippines 13.257°N, 123.685°E; summit elev. 2,462 m

during 14 August to 18 September moderate volcanic-gas emissions most of the report period

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

during 17-23 September moderate emissions of mainly gas, steam, and sometimes ash, on 21 September a small possible ash cloud visible at a height of ~7 km

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

volcanic activity at low levels during 5-12 September, several ash-venting episodes, sulfur-dioxide emission rates relatively low

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

during 19-26 September a period of relatively high activity, during 9 September to at least 26 September nearly permanent tremor related to gas discharge, and strong ash emissions, on 22 September ash clouds to a height of 8 km

ULAWUN New Britain, Papua New Guinea 5.04°S, 151.34°E; summit elev. 2,334 m

an ash plume visible on 22 September at a height of ~3.7 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.).

EARTH:

FIVE Index of Global earthquakes of 5.0 magnitude or greater

(Reference: http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/ )

(6.0 or greater are highlighted in red.)

Regions highlighted are

Japan and South Pacific.

Note the PERIGEE of the moon.

DATE-(UTC)-TIME LAT LON DEP MAG Q COMMENTS

yy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss deg. deg. km

READ UP for latest report.

03/09/25 21:07:5941.83N143.51E33.0 7.0HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION

03/09/25 19:50:0842.17N143.72E33.0 8.0HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION

03/09/24 23:03:220.51N126.23E33.0 5.2MOLUCCA SEA

03/09/24 20:56:5335.40N135.16E358.9 5.4WESTERN HONSHU, JAPAN

03/09/23 00:47:1412.14N143.55E33.0 5.3GUAM REGION

03/09/22 22:59:035.04S153.82E109.6 5.8NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.

03/09/22 20:45:1780.23N1.48W10.0 5.3NORTH OF SVALBARD

03/09/22 05:30:1519.60N70.52W10.0 5.1DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION

03/09/22 04:45:3519.68N70.67W10.0 6.5DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION

03/09/21 23:15:111.16S13.96W10.0 6.0NORTH OF ASCENSION ISLAND

03/09/21 18:16:1219.91N95.72E10.0 6.6MYANMAR

03/09/21 07:42:4511.85N143.12E33.0 5.6SOUTH OF MARIANA ISLANDS

03/09/20 17:38:3455.85S28.03W116.8 5.4SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION

03/09/20 03:54:5035.02N140.14E51.9 5.2NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

03/09/18 13:18:104.79S103.09E33.0 5.1SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA

United States Quakes this past week

with quakes that might be felt:

03/09/24 15:02:0935.28N101.74W5.0 3.3TEXAS PANHANDLE REGION

03/09/25 14:33:4536.82N121.35W6.0 3.5CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

03/09/24 15:02:0935.28N101.74W5.0 3.3TEXAS PANHANDLE REGION

03/09/23 11:20:4851.49N177.07E33.0 4.8RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

03/09/23 00:47:1412.14N143.55E33.0 5.3GUAM REGION

03/09/22 14:06:1947.90N117.02W13.1 3.3NORTHERN IDAHO

03/09/22 11:58:3638.77N122.74W3.2 2.8NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

03/09/21 20:59:2235.48N120.77W0.0 2.9CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

03/09/21 17:43:3868.45N147.88W31.0 3.3NORTHERN ALASKA

03/09/21 07:43:2536.08N120.64W6.6 3.2CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

03/09/21 07:42:4511.85N143.12E33.0 5.6SOUTH OF MARIANA ISLANDS

03/09/20 21:35:1663.47N147.70W3.0 4.2CENTRAL ALASKA

03/09/20 18:39:2245.10N111.82W1.0 3.1WESTERN MONTANA

03/09/18 11:44:3740.99N127.52W10.0 3.2OFF THE COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

MEDITERRANEAN REGION, Continued

03/09/24 08:13:1039.54N38.27E10.0 4.7EASTERN TURKEY

03/09/21 10:34:1439.33N0.03E10.0 4.1SPAIN

03/09/19 07:19:3144.28N7.63E5.0 2.0NORTHERN ITALY

03/09/19 05:23:0244.30N7.23E5.0 1.9NORTHERN ITALY

03/09/19 01:15:0836.57N21.74E8.0 3.4SOUTHERN GREECE

03/09/19 00:35:4438.39N21.90E24.0 3.0GREECE

03/09/18 07:03:4635.93N28.04E33.0 4.4EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN

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

April 0 12 17 4 9 6 8 3 9 7 8

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 (11)

Yr total 19 110 160 109 76 63 103 109 112 133 (97)

SUN

Sunspot numbers for the past week:

9/17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

83 92 71 72 64 91 133 121

Planetary geomagnetic A Indices for same period

61 40 32 25 21 18 17 33

Data from http://www.sec.noaa.gov/

SPECIAL NOTE

USGS on Moon and Earthquakes

From a USGS FAQ sheet:

quote:

Q: Can the position of the moon or the planets affect seismicity?

A: The moon, sun, and other planets have an influence on the earth in the form of perturbations to the gravitational field. The relative amount of influence is proportional to the objects mass, and inversely proportional to the square of its distance from the earth. No significant correlations have been identified between the rate of earthquake occurrence and the semi-diurnal tides when using large earthquake catalogs. There have, however, been some small but significant correlations reported between the semi-diurnal tides and the rate of occurrence of aftershocks in some volcanic regions, such as Mammoth Lakes. (UC Berkeley)

For further information, see online: "Gravitational Forces"

University of California, Berkeley, Seismological Laboratory

Comments and questions are always welcome.

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