Chiranjeevi, the Megastar of Tollywood today, was born on 22nd August of 1955 in Mogalturu, a small village in ‘West Godavari’ District in Andhra Pradesh to Sri Venkat Rao and Anjana Devi. He grew up in his native village with his grand parents, while his family was elsewhere because of his father’s occupation. The sense of discipline and hard work which he still embraces were introduced at a very young age in his life and the tough childhood he had, being the eldest in his family, have helped him to handle many such events of higher proportion with great expertise in the later stages of his life.
Little did he imagine, even in the wildest of his dreams that he would, one day, be a Megastar and rule the Telugu Film Industry. Years later, this youngster, dearly called “Chiru” in the Film Industry, with his hard work and dedication to his profession could make it really big in the field hitting the limelight, with an unparallel fan following emulating his every act, word, dress and dance. What makes this ordinary human being such an extraordinary one - Hardwork and Dedication!Varaprasad’s education was nomadic accounting to his father Venkat Rao’s frequent transfers to Ongole, Bapatla, Chirala, Nellore etc, which didn’t really defer Vara Prasad as he gained a great friend circle wherever he was. Varaprasad is really fortunate for his father has constantly encouraged him after having discovered the undaunted liking of his son towards cultural activities.
Varaprasad did his schooling in Nidadavolu, Gurajala, Ponnuru, Mangalagiri and Mogalturu. He also won first prize for his first performance as Parandamayya Panthulu. After high school, Varaprasad joined Bi.P.C in P.R.Sharma Jr. College at Ongole. Following that he finished his B.Com from Narasapur college.After graduation, Varaprasad moved to Madras to seek a career in his chosen field of acting in the Film Industry.
To get himself ready for the camera, he joined in a film institute. This was in 1977.Varaprasad was offered the lead role in the film Punaadi Raallu, produced by Sheikh Abdul Khadir in the direction of Raj Kumar, which has laid the foundation stone to the acting career of Vara Prasad as Chiranjeevi. Even though Punadi Raalu was his first movie, it was Pranam Kareedhu that was his first release. Pranam kareedhu directed by K Vasu was released on September 22nd, 1978. The second movie to release was Manavuri Pandavulu from which Chiranjeevi started gaining recognition as hero among the spectators.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Unique ocean voyagers at sea in small boats
At least three small boats are plying the Pacific with environmental missions as you read this.
Two of them are single-handed efforts, the other having a two-person crew.Japan sailor Kenichi Horie, 69, is bobbing the Pacific between Hawai'i and Japan, a 4350-mile trip, aboard his boat Suntory Mermaid II. He left Honolulu March 16, 2008.The twin-hulled vehicle has a pair of aluminum fins under the bow that convert the power of waves into forward movement.
So his "engine" uses no fossil fuels.Meanwhile, long-distance rower Roz Savage left San Francisco May 24 and is nearly two weeks into an attempt to row her aluminum boat from the West Coast to Hawai'i.Her attempt last year was cut short when she was repeatedly rolled over in rough weather. This year her boat is outfitted with 200 pounds of lead in the keel to be more stable.
A few hundred miles south, another unique boat is waiting out the storm in at San Nicolas Island after departing Long Beach Sunday (June 1) before heading across the ocean to Hawai'i.
This is one of the stranger boats you'll see. It is made of trash. Its hulls are constructed of 15,000 plastic bottles encased in netting. Its cockpit is an old single-engine Cessna 310 airplane body.
The deck appears to be supported by a framework of old sailboat masts.The boat's name is Junk. The crew is Marcus Eriksen and Joel Paschal. They plan to sail downwind to Hawai'i behind a big square sail, which is used. Their goal is to bring more attention to the issue of ocean pollution and marine debris.They expect the voyage to take six weeks, which should put them in Hawai'i in mid-July.
Two of them are single-handed efforts, the other having a two-person crew.Japan sailor Kenichi Horie, 69, is bobbing the Pacific between Hawai'i and Japan, a 4350-mile trip, aboard his boat Suntory Mermaid II. He left Honolulu March 16, 2008.The twin-hulled vehicle has a pair of aluminum fins under the bow that convert the power of waves into forward movement.
So his "engine" uses no fossil fuels.Meanwhile, long-distance rower Roz Savage left San Francisco May 24 and is nearly two weeks into an attempt to row her aluminum boat from the West Coast to Hawai'i.Her attempt last year was cut short when she was repeatedly rolled over in rough weather. This year her boat is outfitted with 200 pounds of lead in the keel to be more stable.
A few hundred miles south, another unique boat is waiting out the storm in at San Nicolas Island after departing Long Beach Sunday (June 1) before heading across the ocean to Hawai'i.
This is one of the stranger boats you'll see. It is made of trash. Its hulls are constructed of 15,000 plastic bottles encased in netting. Its cockpit is an old single-engine Cessna 310 airplane body.
The deck appears to be supported by a framework of old sailboat masts.The boat's name is Junk. The crew is Marcus Eriksen and Joel Paschal. They plan to sail downwind to Hawai'i behind a big square sail, which is used. Their goal is to bring more attention to the issue of ocean pollution and marine debris.They expect the voyage to take six weeks, which should put them in Hawai'i in mid-July.
Global energy and global limits
We've come to an interesting zero-sum kind of place on the planet.That is to say, interesting, in the sense of the purported Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”Opportunities for extracting resources are no longer limitless, and the planet's various reserve capacities appear in many cases to be tapped out.Natural systems at one time presumably had a capacity for handling short term changes in inputs.
A pulse of carbon dioxide could be absorbed by plants and marine life, as an example. Today, the absorption seems at capacity, and a pure chemical relationship has taken over—as we dump more carbon dioxide in, increasing levels of carbon dioxide dwell in the atmosphere; oceans grow more acid.Humans don't have much opportunity for pioneering, for leaving civilization and going to never-inhabited places and tilling never-tilled soil.
Polynesian voyagers ran out of new islands a millenium ago. American pioneers ran into a western ocean within the last few centuries. Virtually all the habitable lands on the planet are inhabited. It means that in many cases, if you're gonna do something new, you've got to shove something old out of the way.The global food budget that suddenly seems limited. Where once we were assured that the American farmer had reserve capacity to feed the world.
Now, take some acreage out of food grains for fuel, and there are shortages, price hikes.Which leads to a thought about the carbon-neutrality of biofuels.In theory if you sequester carbon dioxide in a corn plant or oil palm, and then convert it into fuel, and then release the same carbon dioxide in burning the fuel—well then, it's a balance. As much carbon in as out. No net impact on the atmosphere.
A pulse of carbon dioxide could be absorbed by plants and marine life, as an example. Today, the absorption seems at capacity, and a pure chemical relationship has taken over—as we dump more carbon dioxide in, increasing levels of carbon dioxide dwell in the atmosphere; oceans grow more acid.Humans don't have much opportunity for pioneering, for leaving civilization and going to never-inhabited places and tilling never-tilled soil.
Polynesian voyagers ran out of new islands a millenium ago. American pioneers ran into a western ocean within the last few centuries. Virtually all the habitable lands on the planet are inhabited. It means that in many cases, if you're gonna do something new, you've got to shove something old out of the way.The global food budget that suddenly seems limited. Where once we were assured that the American farmer had reserve capacity to feed the world.
Now, take some acreage out of food grains for fuel, and there are shortages, price hikes.Which leads to a thought about the carbon-neutrality of biofuels.In theory if you sequester carbon dioxide in a corn plant or oil palm, and then convert it into fuel, and then release the same carbon dioxide in burning the fuel—well then, it's a balance. As much carbon in as out. No net impact on the atmosphere.
The lasagne forests of Hawai'i
The key value to forests is their ability, according to a new federal report, is to manage water, and the native lasagne forests of Hawai'i are a key example.That's lasagne in the sense of layered, not food, since much of the Hawaiian forest is not particularly edible.A new federal study is saying that water is perhaps the most product of a forest. The online journal Science Daily today (July 21) issued a report under the title “Greatest Value Of Forests Is Sustainable Water Supply.”
"Historically, forest managers have not focused much of their attention on water, and water managers have not focused on forests. But today's water problems demand that these groups work together closely," said Oregon State geosciencies professor Julia Jones, vice chair of a committee of the National Research Council, which released the report. She was quoted in Science Daily.
Hawai'i resarchers have figured this out, and water departments work alongside wildlife managers and conservation groups on watershed management teams across the state, to protect native forests.What's special about Hawaiian native forests as opposed to, for instance, woodlands of non-native species?One way to determine this is to walk through a woodland in Hawai'i.
The planted loblolly pine forests of Kōke'e on Kaua'i have very little other growth under them. Eucaluptus stands in Maui's Upcountry area prevent other species from coming up in their shade. Miconia forests on the Big Island are often nearly entirely miconia, with very little other vegetation able to survive.When a heavy rain pounds these woodlands, muddy water can flow from them, as the rain erodes the unprotected soil below.
"Historically, forest managers have not focused much of their attention on water, and water managers have not focused on forests. But today's water problems demand that these groups work together closely," said Oregon State geosciencies professor Julia Jones, vice chair of a committee of the National Research Council, which released the report. She was quoted in Science Daily.
Hawai'i resarchers have figured this out, and water departments work alongside wildlife managers and conservation groups on watershed management teams across the state, to protect native forests.What's special about Hawaiian native forests as opposed to, for instance, woodlands of non-native species?One way to determine this is to walk through a woodland in Hawai'i.
The planted loblolly pine forests of Kōke'e on Kaua'i have very little other growth under them. Eucaluptus stands in Maui's Upcountry area prevent other species from coming up in their shade. Miconia forests on the Big Island are often nearly entirely miconia, with very little other vegetation able to survive.When a heavy rain pounds these woodlands, muddy water can flow from them, as the rain erodes the unprotected soil below.
Polynesian chickens in Chile? New furor, but they still look Polynesian.
A towering scientific furor has arisen over...chickens. Specifically, whether Polynesian voyagers introduced chickens to South America before the first Europeans showed up...carrying their own chickens.We'll get into some detail later, but the short version is this:It still looks clear that voyaging canoes from the Polynesian culture of the Pacific carried chickens to the Americas well before Christopher Columbus, despite a great deal of rancorous comment and competing scientific papers in the esteemed journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists (PNAS).
Here's the longer version.In 2007, researchers led by Alice Storey of New Zealand published a paper on the dating and DNA analysis of chicken bones found at the El Arenal archaeological site in southern Chile.They found that 1) the bones dated to before Europeans first arrived in the Americas, and 2) the chickens were closely related genetically to early chickens found in Hawai'i and elsewhere in the Polynesian Pacific.
The inescapable conclusion was that the El Arenal chickens came from Polynesia, and since Polynesians, not South Americans, were a voyaging culture, that those chickens arrived on Polynesian voyaging canoes.Storey's paper was published in the PNAS in mid-2007. The same journal this week (July 28, 2008) published another chicken paper that challenges the Storey results.
It is: “Indo-European and Asian origins for Chilean and Pacific chickens revealed by mtDNA,” by Jaime Gongora, Nicolas J. Rawlence, Victor A. Mobegi, Han Jianlin, Jose A. Alcalde, Jose T. Matus, Olivier Hanotte, Chris Moran, Jeremy J. Austin, Sean Ulm, Atholl J. Anderson, Greger Larson, and Alan Cooper.In this one, Australian researcher Jaime Gongora argued that it might be premature to attribute those El Arenal chickens to a Polynesian voyager's introduction, in part because Gongora's team can't find Polynesian chicken DNA in modern South American chickens
Here's the longer version.In 2007, researchers led by Alice Storey of New Zealand published a paper on the dating and DNA analysis of chicken bones found at the El Arenal archaeological site in southern Chile.They found that 1) the bones dated to before Europeans first arrived in the Americas, and 2) the chickens were closely related genetically to early chickens found in Hawai'i and elsewhere in the Polynesian Pacific.
The inescapable conclusion was that the El Arenal chickens came from Polynesia, and since Polynesians, not South Americans, were a voyaging culture, that those chickens arrived on Polynesian voyaging canoes.Storey's paper was published in the PNAS in mid-2007. The same journal this week (July 28, 2008) published another chicken paper that challenges the Storey results.
It is: “Indo-European and Asian origins for Chilean and Pacific chickens revealed by mtDNA,” by Jaime Gongora, Nicolas J. Rawlence, Victor A. Mobegi, Han Jianlin, Jose A. Alcalde, Jose T. Matus, Olivier Hanotte, Chris Moran, Jeremy J. Austin, Sean Ulm, Atholl J. Anderson, Greger Larson, and Alan Cooper.In this one, Australian researcher Jaime Gongora argued that it might be premature to attribute those El Arenal chickens to a Polynesian voyager's introduction, in part because Gongora's team can't find Polynesian chicken DNA in modern South American chickens
Viewing distant islands--O'ahu from Kaua'i
I looked out across the ocean east of Kaua'i yesterday, and saw O'ahu.It sat there on the horizon, a dark hump in the distance, with a low shelf off to the right side. Not clear enough to pick out gullies from ridges, but clear enough to know it was real.This isn't unheard of. Kaua'i residents who live in Kalaheo and Wailua Homesteads report that on special days, they sometimes spot the island from their highland vantages.
And other folks say they'll spot it from time to time even from Lihu'e.But being able to see O'ahu from Kaua'i or vice-versa is rare.I've never seen a photo of one island taken from the other, and even on this day, it was still hazy enough that while my eye could pick the shape of the island out, my camera could not.O'ahu folks know how hazy Moloka'i can be in the distance, across the Kaiwi Channel.
Well, the Ka'ie'iewaho Channel more than twice as wide as the Kaiwi. Sixty miles from closest point to closest point. On a normal day, there's nothing at all sitting on the horizon.I'm assuming the island was visible because the air was unusually clear. There had been a couple of days of calm, which let the ocean spray settle down. And the trades had just returned, lightly, to push the vog away.
As the wind picked up on the ocean, the island grew more faint, and by midday it was gone again.I have sailed between the islands, and normally have been able to pick Kaua'i out on a voyage from O'ahu at a range of 40 miles to about mid-channel, depending on ocean conditions. For those cogitating on the issue, viewing these islands does not require any special bending of light.
And other folks say they'll spot it from time to time even from Lihu'e.But being able to see O'ahu from Kaua'i or vice-versa is rare.I've never seen a photo of one island taken from the other, and even on this day, it was still hazy enough that while my eye could pick the shape of the island out, my camera could not.O'ahu folks know how hazy Moloka'i can be in the distance, across the Kaiwi Channel.
Well, the Ka'ie'iewaho Channel more than twice as wide as the Kaiwi. Sixty miles from closest point to closest point. On a normal day, there's nothing at all sitting on the horizon.I'm assuming the island was visible because the air was unusually clear. There had been a couple of days of calm, which let the ocean spray settle down. And the trades had just returned, lightly, to push the vog away.
As the wind picked up on the ocean, the island grew more faint, and by midday it was gone again.I have sailed between the islands, and normally have been able to pick Kaua'i out on a voyage from O'ahu at a range of 40 miles to about mid-channel, depending on ocean conditions. For those cogitating on the issue, viewing these islands does not require any special bending of light.
Hawaiian lobelias--all from a single original immigrant
The Hawaiian archipelago is not renowned for its spectacular native flowers, but it has them, and some of the most breathtaking examples are in the lobelia family.From amazing spires of ivory blooms that rise from low rosettes of green to drooping delicate lavender showpieces that dangle from tree forms.Purples and pales are the lobelias' favorite colors, but the range is enormous.So, where does all this diversity come from in an island chain so isolated.
From a single introduction, 13 million years ago, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, “Origin, adaptive radiation and diversification of the Hawaiian lobeliads.”Its authors are Thomas Givnish, Kendra Millam, Thomas Paterson, Terra Theim, Jillian Henss and Kenneth Sytsma, all of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Austin Mast of Florida State University
Andrew Hipp of Illinois' Morton Arboretum, James Smith of Idaho's Snake River Plains Herbarium, and, in Hawai'i, Kenneth Wood of the National Tropical Botanical Garden.Their research updates earlier arguments that lobelias in Hawai'i must have come from multiple introductions.The lobelia's 126 species in six distinct genus groups, represent an eighth of all the native plant species in Hawai'i.
And, say the authors, “have long been viewed as one of the most spectacular examples of adaptive radiation in plants.”Perhaps the most spectacular.“The Hawaiian lobelias are the most species-rich radiation of plants derived from a single colonist to be resolved on any single oceanic island or archipelago,” the authors write.Looking into the genetic material in Hawaiian lobelias, the researchers concluded that the first one arrived long before any of the existing main Hawaiian Islands were even formed.
From a single introduction, 13 million years ago, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, “Origin, adaptive radiation and diversification of the Hawaiian lobeliads.”Its authors are Thomas Givnish, Kendra Millam, Thomas Paterson, Terra Theim, Jillian Henss and Kenneth Sytsma, all of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Austin Mast of Florida State University
Andrew Hipp of Illinois' Morton Arboretum, James Smith of Idaho's Snake River Plains Herbarium, and, in Hawai'i, Kenneth Wood of the National Tropical Botanical Garden.Their research updates earlier arguments that lobelias in Hawai'i must have come from multiple introductions.The lobelia's 126 species in six distinct genus groups, represent an eighth of all the native plant species in Hawai'i.
And, say the authors, “have long been viewed as one of the most spectacular examples of adaptive radiation in plants.”Perhaps the most spectacular.“The Hawaiian lobelias are the most species-rich radiation of plants derived from a single colonist to be resolved on any single oceanic island or archipelago,” the authors write.Looking into the genetic material in Hawaiian lobelias, the researchers concluded that the first one arrived long before any of the existing main Hawaiian Islands were even formed.
Celebrate diversity in energy; avoid slavish adherence to favorites
There's been a lot of talk lately in the news about what energy technologies won't work, and which ones ought to be adopted to the exclusion of all others.My own view is that these are both troublesome positions.At a time when less than 10 percent of our energy in Hawai'i comes from non-fossil fuel sources, it makes little sense to casually toss any technologies out of consideration—either due to assumptions of their pre-eminence or their perceived flaws.
I recently wrote a post in which I cited arguments for using every workable technology. One correspondent argued that with was stupid—his term—and that just because some energy systems were feasible didn't mean they were appropriate.I entirely agreed. Some technologies would not make sense from an economic standpoint, some ought to be rejected from environmental perspectives, some might be too fragile and subject to disruption.
Just because you technically can drive a Mack truck as your primary household vehicle doesn't mean it's a workable option: they use a lot of fuel, they're expensive to garage and they're hard to park downtown. A bicycle, a hybrid or a small pickup truck might better suit your personal needs.It's a dangerous game to insist that any one energy source, whether it's oil/coal, or waves or even OTEC, is all we need to be working on.
There is danger in putting all your eggs in one basket.If an earthquake can knock out an oil-fired power system, it can also probably take out a windmill. If a hurricane can take out oil platforms, it can probably impact OTEC facilities. A tsunami can probably wipe out wave systems. And so forth.We've been all-fossil-fuel-all-the-time for so long that for many of us it's a stretch to think about distributed power generation scenarios.
I recently wrote a post in which I cited arguments for using every workable technology. One correspondent argued that with was stupid—his term—and that just because some energy systems were feasible didn't mean they were appropriate.I entirely agreed. Some technologies would not make sense from an economic standpoint, some ought to be rejected from environmental perspectives, some might be too fragile and subject to disruption.
Just because you technically can drive a Mack truck as your primary household vehicle doesn't mean it's a workable option: they use a lot of fuel, they're expensive to garage and they're hard to park downtown. A bicycle, a hybrid or a small pickup truck might better suit your personal needs.It's a dangerous game to insist that any one energy source, whether it's oil/coal, or waves or even OTEC, is all we need to be working on.
There is danger in putting all your eggs in one basket.If an earthquake can knock out an oil-fired power system, it can also probably take out a windmill. If a hurricane can take out oil platforms, it can probably impact OTEC facilities. A tsunami can probably wipe out wave systems. And so forth.We've been all-fossil-fuel-all-the-time for so long that for many of us it's a stretch to think about distributed power generation scenarios.
Big wave, wind generators proposed for Penguin Bank, Kaiwi Channel
A Seattle company has proposed a series of wave and wind energy generators in and south of the Molokai -to-O'ahu Kaiwi Channel.The wave generators would sit on the broad shallows called Penguin Bank, which extend into the Kaiwi Channel and to the southwest of western Molokai. It is an area with strong tidal flow. There are no images of what the units would look like in the application to date.
Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company has filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission an application for permits for its Hawaii Ocean Energy Project. It is one of several permit requests Grays Harbor has filed, for similar projects in New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, New York, and Rhode Island. All were filed on the same day, October 22, 2008.Life of the Land has filed an application to intervene in the permitting.
noting that “this is the first application for a large scale ocean energy system in Hawai'i and will establish policy and set the tone for this and future ocean energy proposals.”Grays Harbor proposes 100 wave energy conversion structures at maximum capacity of one megawatt each, for a total maximum production of 100 megawatts. That's the goal, but for now, the firm wants a pilot project to install just two of the 1-megawatt generators for testing.
It also says that wind generators could be built atop the wave energy structures.The firm says in its application that the project would create utility-scale renewable energy from offshore wave energy, would enable testing of new wave energy technologies, would create jobs and would improve fishing “because the supporting platforms become artificial reefs.”Of Penguin Bank, the company says this:
Grays Harbor Ocean Energy Company has filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission an application for permits for its Hawaii Ocean Energy Project. It is one of several permit requests Grays Harbor has filed, for similar projects in New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, New York, and Rhode Island. All were filed on the same day, October 22, 2008.Life of the Land has filed an application to intervene in the permitting.
noting that “this is the first application for a large scale ocean energy system in Hawai'i and will establish policy and set the tone for this and future ocean energy proposals.”Grays Harbor proposes 100 wave energy conversion structures at maximum capacity of one megawatt each, for a total maximum production of 100 megawatts. That's the goal, but for now, the firm wants a pilot project to install just two of the 1-megawatt generators for testing.
It also says that wind generators could be built atop the wave energy structures.The firm says in its application that the project would create utility-scale renewable energy from offshore wave energy, would enable testing of new wave energy technologies, would create jobs and would improve fishing “because the supporting platforms become artificial reefs.”Of Penguin Bank, the company says this:
HECO/Sensus smart meters, smarter than they look
When Hawaiian Electric and Sensus Metering Systems announced a plan to put “smart” meters all over O'ahu, Maui and Hawai'i, Hawai'i media outlets missed or underplayed the significant piece of this scheme.The new meters are way smarter than they at first appear.Sure, they're wireless, meaning the electric company can get billing information without having to send its meter readers out in cars.
Just 19 towers scattered around the islands will be able to monitor the meters.But the communication won't be just one way.“This is an enabling technology. It's going to give the utility and the customers more options,” said HECO's Darren Pai.The proposal to put the “FlexNet wireless smart grid solution” meters in place requires state Public Utilities Commission approval, and any changes in service and rates will also require approvals.
But its capabilities appear to be remarkable.The utility can check on its grid any time. It can reconnect disconnected services remotely. It can diagnose trouble spots far more quickly and efficiently, thus improving reliability for the consumer.The new meters can be provided with upgrades via the wireless system of their firmware—the programs that run their electronics.
For consumers, there is the potential of much greater control over electrical use and the power bill.As an example, Hawaiian Electric could establish different rates at different times. With higher rates during peak hours, and low rates when use is low, the utility could shift demand—and reduce the need for new power plants.For the consumer, being able to shift water heating, ice-making, electric car charging and other high-demand uses to cheaper times means savings.
Just 19 towers scattered around the islands will be able to monitor the meters.But the communication won't be just one way.“This is an enabling technology. It's going to give the utility and the customers more options,” said HECO's Darren Pai.The proposal to put the “FlexNet wireless smart grid solution” meters in place requires state Public Utilities Commission approval, and any changes in service and rates will also require approvals.
But its capabilities appear to be remarkable.The utility can check on its grid any time. It can reconnect disconnected services remotely. It can diagnose trouble spots far more quickly and efficiently, thus improving reliability for the consumer.The new meters can be provided with upgrades via the wireless system of their firmware—the programs that run their electronics.
For consumers, there is the potential of much greater control over electrical use and the power bill.As an example, Hawaiian Electric could establish different rates at different times. With higher rates during peak hours, and low rates when use is low, the utility could shift demand—and reduce the need for new power plants.For the consumer, being able to shift water heating, ice-making, electric car charging and other high-demand uses to cheaper times means savings.
2009 highest tides January 10--roll up your trousers
The highest tides of 2009 for Hawai'i are just a week away as this is written, and people near the shore should be alert.From January 9 to 11, the highest tides, a few hours before dawn, will be 2.6 feet or higher in Honolulu, with the peak on the 10th. Depending on where you are in Hawai'i, the peak may be a little higher or lower, and a little earlier or later, but generally, folks will see a remarkably high high waterline when they get up on the 10th.
It means, of course, flooding in Mapunapuna, docks under water at Nawiliwili, beaches razor thin or gone entirely, and all the other features associated with the highest water.What isn't entirely clear is what other factors will be driving that water even higher or lower. That's because tides operate on top of the regional sea level, that can change due to a number of factors.
During certain climate events, like El Nino periods and strong low pressure systems, the base water level can be higher than normal. Warm water expands and can create regional high sea levels. There are oceanic gyres that can cause vast regions of the ocean to form a kind of hump. High tides atop these can drive water farther inland than normal.Strong waves atop high tides can also push flooding waters inland.
Chip Fletcher, the coastal geologist at the University of Hawai'i's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, said he's not sure how severe the early January tides will be.
“Any swell that accompanies them will be a problem, but cool water this time of year should ameliorate a bit,” he wrote in an email.And all these features—tides, gyres, storms and the rest—operate atop the base sea level, which for the last century has been rising.
It means, of course, flooding in Mapunapuna, docks under water at Nawiliwili, beaches razor thin or gone entirely, and all the other features associated with the highest water.What isn't entirely clear is what other factors will be driving that water even higher or lower. That's because tides operate on top of the regional sea level, that can change due to a number of factors.
During certain climate events, like El Nino periods and strong low pressure systems, the base water level can be higher than normal. Warm water expands and can create regional high sea levels. There are oceanic gyres that can cause vast regions of the ocean to form a kind of hump. High tides atop these can drive water farther inland than normal.Strong waves atop high tides can also push flooding waters inland.
Chip Fletcher, the coastal geologist at the University of Hawai'i's School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, said he's not sure how severe the early January tides will be.
“Any swell that accompanies them will be a problem, but cool water this time of year should ameliorate a bit,” he wrote in an email.And all these features—tides, gyres, storms and the rest—operate atop the base sea level, which for the last century has been rising.
Polynesian voyaging curbed by climate change?
Is there a role for climate science in archaeology.Increasingly, the answer seems to be yes.
One of the mysteries of Hawaiian history has been why voyaging between the Hawaiian Islands and the South Pacific stopped several hundred years before the arrival of Europeans in the Islands.Climate researchers say that the decline in long-distance Pacific voyaging may have coincided with a significant change in climate.
which would have changed weather patterns throughout the region.For traditional navigator Bruce Blankenfeld, the link between climate and voyaging success is perfectly reasonable.
“You take a lot of your cues from the weather. If the weather changes, that changes everything,” he said.Blankenfeld is one of five Hawai'i non-instrument navigators who recently was inducted into a traditional Micronesian navigation society.
He is one of the veteran navigators of the Polynesian Voyaging Society's canoe, Hōkūle'a.Around the year 1300 the global climate began a switch from a warm period, often referred to as the Medieval Warm Period, to a cooler pattern known as the Little Ice Age.“There were changes in weather patterns and climate patterns, and there were more storm events in the Little Ice Age.
This would have made traveling much harder, less predictable and less successful,” said Oliver Timm, a paleoclimatologist with the University of Hawai'i's International Pacific Research Center.What caused the climate to cool? There are a couple of suspects, Timm told RaisingIslands.One is that solar radiation dropped at the end of the warm period, although the drop was so small, about a tenth of a percent, that Timm believes it was unlikely to be the sole cause of cooling.
One of the mysteries of Hawaiian history has been why voyaging between the Hawaiian Islands and the South Pacific stopped several hundred years before the arrival of Europeans in the Islands.Climate researchers say that the decline in long-distance Pacific voyaging may have coincided with a significant change in climate.
which would have changed weather patterns throughout the region.For traditional navigator Bruce Blankenfeld, the link between climate and voyaging success is perfectly reasonable.
“You take a lot of your cues from the weather. If the weather changes, that changes everything,” he said.Blankenfeld is one of five Hawai'i non-instrument navigators who recently was inducted into a traditional Micronesian navigation society.
He is one of the veteran navigators of the Polynesian Voyaging Society's canoe, Hōkūle'a.Around the year 1300 the global climate began a switch from a warm period, often referred to as the Medieval Warm Period, to a cooler pattern known as the Little Ice Age.“There were changes in weather patterns and climate patterns, and there were more storm events in the Little Ice Age.
This would have made traveling much harder, less predictable and less successful,” said Oliver Timm, a paleoclimatologist with the University of Hawai'i's International Pacific Research Center.What caused the climate to cool? There are a couple of suspects, Timm told RaisingIslands.One is that solar radiation dropped at the end of the warm period, although the drop was so small, about a tenth of a percent, that Timm believes it was unlikely to be the sole cause of cooling.
Emissions aren't just about climate--they're still killing us
In all the furor over carbon dioxide and global warming, many folks have lost sight of some of the other impacts of air pollution.It's still killing us.A simple search found a pile of recent research, linking air pollution to low sperm counts, low birth weights, asthma and other health problems in kids, heart and blood pressure issues in adults and on and on.Do you need another reason to be unhappy with the neighbor who climbs into her/his SUV or high-powered truck, or zoom-zoom luxury sedan
Do you need a reason to think twice when you pile clothes in the dryer that could be air-dried, flick on the air-conditioning, fail to use public transportation or neglect to insist your lawmakers pay immediate attention to these issues?How about this: It's making you, and your children, and your neighbors sick. There's plenty of evidence of it, much of it brand new, but lots more that's been around for years.
The carbon dioxide that comes out of tailpipes and smokestacks can be associated with a lot of compounds in addition to carbon dioxide—sulfur compounds, nitrogen compounds, benzene, formaldehyde and the like—which aren't good for humans or the environment.Even in places like Hawai'i, where in most places, tradewinds appear to blow the skies clean. More on that later in this article.
“Primary care physicians should be aware of the acute and chronic deleterious clinical effects of diesel exhaust,” says an article in the Journal of Family Medicine, “The Toxicity of Diesel Exhaust: Implications for Primary Care,” dated Jan. 1, 2008.“Urban air pollution is associated with inflammation, oxidative stress, blood coagulation and autonomic dysfunction simultaneously in healthy young humans, with sulfate and O3 as two major traffic-related pollutants contributing to such effects,” says an article in The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, “The Effect of Urban Air Pollution on Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, Coagulation, and Autonomic Dysfunction in Young Adults,” published in 2007.
Do you need a reason to think twice when you pile clothes in the dryer that could be air-dried, flick on the air-conditioning, fail to use public transportation or neglect to insist your lawmakers pay immediate attention to these issues?How about this: It's making you, and your children, and your neighbors sick. There's plenty of evidence of it, much of it brand new, but lots more that's been around for years.
The carbon dioxide that comes out of tailpipes and smokestacks can be associated with a lot of compounds in addition to carbon dioxide—sulfur compounds, nitrogen compounds, benzene, formaldehyde and the like—which aren't good for humans or the environment.Even in places like Hawai'i, where in most places, tradewinds appear to blow the skies clean. More on that later in this article.
“Primary care physicians should be aware of the acute and chronic deleterious clinical effects of diesel exhaust,” says an article in the Journal of Family Medicine, “The Toxicity of Diesel Exhaust: Implications for Primary Care,” dated Jan. 1, 2008.“Urban air pollution is associated with inflammation, oxidative stress, blood coagulation and autonomic dysfunction simultaneously in healthy young humans, with sulfate and O3 as two major traffic-related pollutants contributing to such effects,” says an article in The American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, “The Effect of Urban Air Pollution on Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, Coagulation, and Autonomic Dysfunction in Young Adults,” published in 2007.
Mercury's Hawaiian connection, and is it volcanic?
We'll soon know lots more about Mercury than we once did, thanks to a voyaging spacecraft called MESSENGER.We already know that Mercury is hot, except where it's not. On the sunny side, it can reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit, while on the night side, that can drop more than a thousand degrees.That it's a small planet, just a third wider in diameter than our Moon.
That it spins very slowly compared to Earth. From one Mercury noon to the next takes half an Earth year.And that, like the Moon, it gets pounded by space rocks. Since it has no atmosphere, meteorites blast to the surface without burning up as many do in Earth's atmosphere. Images of the planet make it look remarkably battered and Moon-like.But Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, is so close to Old Sol that's it's difficult to study thoroughly without being blinded by the brightness alongside.
The last time researchers had a good look was during the Mariner 10 spacecraft mission in 1991. The new mission is the Mercury surface, space environment, geochemistry and ranging effort, whose first and sometimes second letters have been cobbled together into the word messenger.University of Hawai'i researcher Jeffrey Gillis-Davis, with the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, is a member of the MESSENGER team.
“If Mercury were a puzzle, we would only have half the pieces, which makes it difficult to put geologic processes into a global perspective. MESSENGER will fill in a lot of those missing puzzle pieces this month,” Gillis-Davis said.His role is to use an array of sensors on the craft to study the planet's origin and its geologic evolution, to determine whether volcanic activity has played a role and to compare its geology to that of the other rocky planets, like Earth.
That it spins very slowly compared to Earth. From one Mercury noon to the next takes half an Earth year.And that, like the Moon, it gets pounded by space rocks. Since it has no atmosphere, meteorites blast to the surface without burning up as many do in Earth's atmosphere. Images of the planet make it look remarkably battered and Moon-like.But Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, is so close to Old Sol that's it's difficult to study thoroughly without being blinded by the brightness alongside.
The last time researchers had a good look was during the Mariner 10 spacecraft mission in 1991. The new mission is the Mercury surface, space environment, geochemistry and ranging effort, whose first and sometimes second letters have been cobbled together into the word messenger.University of Hawai'i researcher Jeffrey Gillis-Davis, with the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, is a member of the MESSENGER team.
“If Mercury were a puzzle, we would only have half the pieces, which makes it difficult to put geologic processes into a global perspective. MESSENGER will fill in a lot of those missing puzzle pieces this month,” Gillis-Davis said.His role is to use an array of sensors on the craft to study the planet's origin and its geologic evolution, to determine whether volcanic activity has played a role and to compare its geology to that of the other rocky planets, like Earth.
Mystery of the Hawaiian-Emperor Bend, solved?
The Hawaiian Island chain, as most people know it, runs from Hawai'i to Kaua'i and Ni'ihau, but the islands are only the tail of a string of volcanoes that runs all the way to the Aleutians.
What baffles science is why this long string makes a distinct turn midway.Chain extends 3,700 miles northwest from the main Hawaiian Islands, and then makes a right turn beyond Midway and Kure, continuing as a line of seamounts that eventually disappears at the northern edge of the Pacific tectonic plate.
The blue line follows the course of the chain and the red arrow marks the right turn. Credit: Modified from Google Earth.)Current geological thinking is that the massive Pacific plate, which forms part of the Earth's crust, is constantly moving, its edges sliding along or under or over other plates, or being shoved away from others by volcanic activity. And a feature called the Hawaiian hot spot punches volcanoes up through the plate.
Like a pencil marking a line of dots on a page, the hot spot under the moving plate leaves a line of volcanoes.But what could have caused the bend in the line? Some movement of the hot spot? A dramatic change in the direction in which the plate moves? The question was tackled in a recent paper in Science Magazine by geologists David Clague, former director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory now working with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
and Warren Sharp, of the Berkeley Geochronology Center.They conclude that the bend in the 129-volcano Hawaiian-Emperor Chain (the name for the combination of the Hawaiian Archipelago south of the bend and the Emperor Seamounts north of it), occurred about 50 million years ago.They carefully determined the ages at which rocks in the chain were created, using the latest dating techniques available.
What baffles science is why this long string makes a distinct turn midway.Chain extends 3,700 miles northwest from the main Hawaiian Islands, and then makes a right turn beyond Midway and Kure, continuing as a line of seamounts that eventually disappears at the northern edge of the Pacific tectonic plate.
The blue line follows the course of the chain and the red arrow marks the right turn. Credit: Modified from Google Earth.)Current geological thinking is that the massive Pacific plate, which forms part of the Earth's crust, is constantly moving, its edges sliding along or under or over other plates, or being shoved away from others by volcanic activity. And a feature called the Hawaiian hot spot punches volcanoes up through the plate.
Like a pencil marking a line of dots on a page, the hot spot under the moving plate leaves a line of volcanoes.But what could have caused the bend in the line? Some movement of the hot spot? A dramatic change in the direction in which the plate moves? The question was tackled in a recent paper in Science Magazine by geologists David Clague, former director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory now working with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
and Warren Sharp, of the Berkeley Geochronology Center.They conclude that the bend in the 129-volcano Hawaiian-Emperor Chain (the name for the combination of the Hawaiian Archipelago south of the bend and the Emperor Seamounts north of it), occurred about 50 million years ago.They carefully determined the ages at which rocks in the chain were created, using the latest dating techniques available.
The quiet volcano gets explosive
The world's great drive-in volcano showed its darker side this week—and not for the first time.Kīlauea is known for its calm eruptions and flows, which visitors often can approach close enough to feel the heat. But as the week's activities showed, the volcano also has a history of violence, of catastrophic explosions capable of destroying property and taking lives.Earlier, the firepit within the Kīlauea began producing prodigious amounts of nasty fumes.
On March 19, 2008, a blast just before 3 a.m. strewed rocks and gravel over an estimated 75 acres. It followed several days of concerns over toxic sulfur dioxide gas emissions from the volcano, including the discussion that Volcano Village might need to be evacuated if gas clouds moved in its direction.Parts of Crater Rim Drive continued to be closed due to danger from the gas.
and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said further explosions—driven by steam or underground gas—were possible.Elevated toxic gas levels continued after the explosions, and parts of the region remained closed to human activity several days after the explosion.For many folks, the violence of the volcano seemed uncharacteristic, but it certainly was not unheard-of.In its multi-day events of May 1924.
the Halema'uma'u firepit rumbled and roared, its activity punctuated by powerful blasts that threw rocks from the size of sand grains to small cars. They landed, sizzling in the rain, hundreds and occasionally thousands of feet from the edge of the pit. Showers of yellow mud fell 25 miles away.That event ended in a spectacular eruption. During the events, one observer, a photographer, was killed by rocks and hot mud.
On March 19, 2008, a blast just before 3 a.m. strewed rocks and gravel over an estimated 75 acres. It followed several days of concerns over toxic sulfur dioxide gas emissions from the volcano, including the discussion that Volcano Village might need to be evacuated if gas clouds moved in its direction.Parts of Crater Rim Drive continued to be closed due to danger from the gas.
and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said further explosions—driven by steam or underground gas—were possible.Elevated toxic gas levels continued after the explosions, and parts of the region remained closed to human activity several days after the explosion.For many folks, the violence of the volcano seemed uncharacteristic, but it certainly was not unheard-of.In its multi-day events of May 1924.
the Halema'uma'u firepit rumbled and roared, its activity punctuated by powerful blasts that threw rocks from the size of sand grains to small cars. They landed, sizzling in the rain, hundreds and occasionally thousands of feet from the edge of the pit. Showers of yellow mud fell 25 miles away.That event ended in a spectacular eruption. During the events, one observer, a photographer, was killed by rocks and hot mud.
Halema'uma'u erupting! First time since 1982.
Halema'uma'u Crater, the firepit of Kīlauea, is erupting for the first time in 26 years.(Image: Hawaiian Volcano Observatory image of ash plume from Halema'uma'u.In a buildup that has lasted more than a week, Halema'uma'u first began pumping out increased amounts of sulfurous gas, then threw boulders across the landscape in what was described as a gas explosion. Sunday night, it began erupting small amounts of lava and large amounts of ash.
Much of the landscape around the Kīlauea Caldera is covered with ash from previous eruptions, so this is not unheard-of.The implications of the ash plume are potentially severe. It can damage aircraft engines that fly through it. It can harm human lungs. “There is now continuous emission of ash from the new gas vent in Halema`uma`u Crater, turning the formerly white cloud of fume a dusty-brown color.
The top of the ash plume, which is currently being blown to the southwest of the Crater, reaches 0.5 to 1.0 mile above ground level. Hawai`i aviation agencies have been notified of the potential hazard to aircraft,” the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in its daily update Monday.Observatory staffers began seeing glowing material erupting Sunday night from a 100-foot-wide vent that is within the crater and below the crater overlook.
The overlook and parts of the Chain of Craters road are closed to the public because of the health and safety hazards.The eruption as of the most recent update is not the classic fountain of lava, but more of a spattering of molten rock. Geologists searching the area yesterday found a range of volcanic products, including long, thin strands and small gobs, which are known as Pele's hair and Pele's tears.
Much of the landscape around the Kīlauea Caldera is covered with ash from previous eruptions, so this is not unheard-of.The implications of the ash plume are potentially severe. It can damage aircraft engines that fly through it. It can harm human lungs. “There is now continuous emission of ash from the new gas vent in Halema`uma`u Crater, turning the formerly white cloud of fume a dusty-brown color.
The top of the ash plume, which is currently being blown to the southwest of the Crater, reaches 0.5 to 1.0 mile above ground level. Hawai`i aviation agencies have been notified of the potential hazard to aircraft,” the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said in its daily update Monday.Observatory staffers began seeing glowing material erupting Sunday night from a 100-foot-wide vent that is within the crater and below the crater overlook.
The overlook and parts of the Chain of Craters road are closed to the public because of the health and safety hazards.The eruption as of the most recent update is not the classic fountain of lava, but more of a spattering of molten rock. Geologists searching the area yesterday found a range of volcanic products, including long, thin strands and small gobs, which are known as Pele's hair and Pele's tears.
Loihi seamount yields volcanic glass, limu o Pele.
Limu o Pele is a magical product of the volcano, formed when waves wash over lava flowing into the sea.Seawater gets trapped under molten rock. The water flashes to steam. The still-molten rock forms a huge, thin bubble. Almost instantly, the bubble wall hardens, the bubble explodes and and the tissue-thin fragments waft away on the wind.If there's an onshore breeze, you can find it in greenish-brown see-through flakes of volcanic glass.
When I first saw it, the tiny flakes had filled voids in a lava flow and was gleaming gold in the setting sun. You could pick it up in your hand, and the fragments slid against each other.
It seems odd, but the stuff also forms deep under the sea, and is being studied at the volcano Loihi.Loihi, sometimes called the “next Hawaiian island,” lies 20 miles off the southeast coast of the Big Island. Its tallest point is still 3,000 feet below the waves.
There, the water temperature is cold, and the water pressure is extremely high. But the power of steam is enormous, and the presence of the volcanic glass flakes proves that the undersea eruptions create similar processes to those along the shore.Still the Loihi limu o Pele is not identical to the stuff at the surface.“Limu o Pele fragments quench at fantastic rates and that affects the structure of the glass,”
said David Clague, formerly with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and now at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.A report on the Loihi volcanic glass was published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters by researchers Marcel Potuzak, Alexander Nichols and Donald Dingwell of the University of Munich's Earth and Environment program, and Clague. Potuzak is also association with Corning, Nichols with the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology, and Dingwell with Stanford's Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences.
When I first saw it, the tiny flakes had filled voids in a lava flow and was gleaming gold in the setting sun. You could pick it up in your hand, and the fragments slid against each other.
It seems odd, but the stuff also forms deep under the sea, and is being studied at the volcano Loihi.Loihi, sometimes called the “next Hawaiian island,” lies 20 miles off the southeast coast of the Big Island. Its tallest point is still 3,000 feet below the waves.
There, the water temperature is cold, and the water pressure is extremely high. But the power of steam is enormous, and the presence of the volcanic glass flakes proves that the undersea eruptions create similar processes to those along the shore.Still the Loihi limu o Pele is not identical to the stuff at the surface.“Limu o Pele fragments quench at fantastic rates and that affects the structure of the glass,”
said David Clague, formerly with the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and now at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.A report on the Loihi volcanic glass was published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters by researchers Marcel Potuzak, Alexander Nichols and Donald Dingwell of the University of Munich's Earth and Environment program, and Clague. Potuzak is also association with Corning, Nichols with the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology, and Dingwell with Stanford's Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences.
Island ground water reacts to big surf
Deep under the islands' surfaces, the groundwater is moving.It flows, of course, from the mountains toward the sea. As rain falls on the surface of islands, it percolates down and forms a vast underground lake within the volcanic matrix. That lake is constantly at flow seaward, where the island's fresh water leaks into the salt water surrounding the islands.When storm surf occurs, it shoves vast amounts of water up against the island, creating a rise in the overall level of the water.
In some areas, swimmers can feel its cool flow where it enters the ocean below the surface near shore.But the groundwater also moves up and down.Researchers have long known that the water in the islands' aquifers rises and falls with changes in atmospheric pressure. But it also moves with the tides, and with periods of storm surf along the coast.When storm surf pounds an island's shore, the change in the height of the groundwater can be measured in wells miles inland, according to research by Kolja Rotzoll, of the U.S.
Geological Survey's Pacific Islands Water Science Center.Rotzoll and Aly El-Kadi, both associated with the University of Hawai'i UH Dept of Geology andGeophysics Water Resources Research Center, published their study on the subject in the Journal of Hydrology. The work was part of Rotzoll's work toward his doctorate degree. Its aim was to better understand the movement of water in the aquifers under islands.
In research on Maui, he found that the impact of a major storm surf event on the coast can be measured as a rise in the water level in wells more than three miles in from the shore.
“The change in water level travels through the aquifer and can be detected as a net rise in the ground-water table kilometers away from the coast,” he said in an email.The effect is apparently the reaction to a rise in sea level at the coast.
In some areas, swimmers can feel its cool flow where it enters the ocean below the surface near shore.But the groundwater also moves up and down.Researchers have long known that the water in the islands' aquifers rises and falls with changes in atmospheric pressure. But it also moves with the tides, and with periods of storm surf along the coast.When storm surf pounds an island's shore, the change in the height of the groundwater can be measured in wells miles inland, according to research by Kolja Rotzoll, of the U.S.
Geological Survey's Pacific Islands Water Science Center.Rotzoll and Aly El-Kadi, both associated with the University of Hawai'i UH Dept of Geology andGeophysics Water Resources Research Center, published their study on the subject in the Journal of Hydrology. The work was part of Rotzoll's work toward his doctorate degree. Its aim was to better understand the movement of water in the aquifers under islands.
In research on Maui, he found that the impact of a major storm surf event on the coast can be measured as a rise in the water level in wells more than three miles in from the shore.
“The change in water level travels through the aquifer and can be detected as a net rise in the ground-water table kilometers away from the coast,” he said in an email.The effect is apparently the reaction to a rise in sea level at the coast.
Alaska quake: no tsunami threat, but a caution
A powerful earthquake Thursday afternoon in the Andreanof Islands of Alaska's Aleutian chain did not launch a tsunami toward Hawai'i, but it's a clear warning. Two of the most damaging tsunami in Hawai'i history came from the same region.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center report of no tsunami hazard went out at 3:46 p.m. Hawai'i time, just 12 minutes after the 3:34 p.m. shake.
which registered a 7.0, although later recalculations dropped it to magnitude 6.6.
“A destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected and there is no tsunami threat to Hawai'i,” said a statement from the center.The quake was centered at 51.8 degrees north and 177.6 west. That placed it a little more than 1,200 miles from Anchorage.“It was a pretty good-sized quake.
It was heavily felt in the Adak area,” said Bruce Turner, geophysicist and science officer with the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.It normally takes a considerably larger quake to generate a significant tsunami, but it was interesting that Alaska had a very active day Thursday from an earthquake perspective. Just a day earlier, at nearly the same location, there was a 5.1 quake.
And smaller shakers have rumbled up and down the Aleutian chain during the past 24 hours, most of them located in the immediate vicinity of these earthquakes.The 1957 tsunami came from a quake quite close to yesterday's temblor. It was at 51.5 degrees north, 175.7 degrees west, just 84 miles away and within the Andreanof Islands.The 1946 tsunami that caused severe damage in Hawai'i came from a location at 52.8 degrees north and 163.5 degrees west, about 900 miles away.
which registered a 7.0, although later recalculations dropped it to magnitude 6.6.
“A destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected and there is no tsunami threat to Hawai'i,” said a statement from the center.The quake was centered at 51.8 degrees north and 177.6 west. That placed it a little more than 1,200 miles from Anchorage.“It was a pretty good-sized quake.
It was heavily felt in the Adak area,” said Bruce Turner, geophysicist and science officer with the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.It normally takes a considerably larger quake to generate a significant tsunami, but it was interesting that Alaska had a very active day Thursday from an earthquake perspective. Just a day earlier, at nearly the same location, there was a 5.1 quake.
And smaller shakers have rumbled up and down the Aleutian chain during the past 24 hours, most of them located in the immediate vicinity of these earthquakes.The 1957 tsunami came from a quake quite close to yesterday's temblor. It was at 51.5 degrees north, 175.7 degrees west, just 84 miles away and within the Andreanof Islands.The 1946 tsunami that caused severe damage in Hawai'i came from a location at 52.8 degrees north and 163.5 degrees west, about 900 miles away.
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