tagged w/ Japan Earthquake
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NBC | LOS ANGELES...
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Scientists Find Post-Tsunami Radiation in Sea Kelp, Seek to Expand Research
Scientists found radioactive kelp locally following Japan nuclear disaster
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By Melissa Pamer
| Thursday, Apr 5, 2012 | Updated 5:43 PM PDT
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Scientists Find Radiation in Food Chain
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Giant kelp off Southern California --such as the plants displayed here from the California Science Center -- were found to harbor radioactive iodine after Japan's nuclear disaster.
Two scientists who found radiation in sea kelp along the Southern California coast after Japan’s 2011 tsunami-induced nuclear disaster now hope to study whether contamination may be present in fish such as opaleye and other ocean creatures, including lobster and sea urchin.
The two researchers – from California State University, Long Beach – are hoping to expand on their recently published study showing that giant kelp contained up to 250 times the normal levels of a radioisotope of iodine in the weeks after last year's earthquake and resulting tsunami severely damaged Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Kelp is the tall, wavy, green algae that provides near-shore habitat for many marine species, some of which eat the plant.
Tests showed that contamination in the kelp was gone within a month, and there’s no risk to humans from the Iodine-131 radiation. Still, the research indicates that radiation from the damaged Japanese nuclear facility reached California.
“Of course it’s cause for concern – because you don’t find this naturally in kelp or fish. It can’t be a positive thing. It also tells you that what happens half a world away can be detected,” said Cal State biology professor Steven Manley, a co-author of the study.
Manley and his co-author, marine biology professor Chris Lowe, hope next to find out whether other kinds of nuclear contamination – two radioisotopes of cesium that break down much more slowly than the Iodine-131 – are found in California marine life, including kelp and fish.
Those two cesium radioisotopes were found to contaminate waters around Japan, according to preliminary results of a study published this week by an international team of scientists.
“Our coastal environment is pretty complex. We get a lot of our food out there,” Manley said. “We should be monitoring it for these radioisotopes.”
Lowe wants to trace the concentration of radioactive cesium up the food chain in Southern California.
“Our question is: How much gets into the ocean? Kelp is really kind of the basis for the food web and is important habitat for many of our coastal marine animals,” Lowe said. “The next step is to look at organisms that eat kelp. “
Kelp is consumed by sea urchin and some fish, including opaleye, halfmoon and senorita, according to the study. Urchin are in turn eaten by lobster and some large fish species that could be consumed by humans.
Getting funding for the future research shouldn’t be a problem, given the attention that Lowe and Manley have gotten for their recent study, which was published last month in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. The study was first reported by nonprofit Environmental Health News and on Scientific American’s website.
A month after the earthquake after Japan, the Long Beach pair obtained kelp samples from seven sites along the coast: the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County; Crystal Cove, Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar in Orange County; and farther north in Santa Barbara, Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz.
Kelp from Corona del Mar had the highest concentration of radioactive iodine, up to 250 times the amount found in kelp before the Japanese nuclear reactor spewed radiation in the atmosphere.
Lowe said they believe the Corona del Mar site was more contaminated because a lot of urban runoff goes through the area – meaning radiation-contaminated rain would have accumulated there.
The scientists chose to study kelp – which grows from the ocean floor up to the surface, where it floats – because it is especially good at absorbing iodine from both the water and the atmosphere.
Lowe compared kelp to the badge that X-ray technicians where to show how much radiation they’ve been exposed to.
.NBC | LOS ANGELES...
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Scientists Find Post-Tsunami Radiation in Sea Kelp,... more
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Mother Nature Network...
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Japan tsunami debris charts a course across the ocean
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Like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, debris from the March 2011 tsunami is expected to begin washing up on shores, including the Hawaiian Islands.
By Brett Israel, OurAmazingPlanetWed, Feb 29 2012 at 11:55 AM EST
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PHOTO:
OUT TO SEA: An aerial view of debris from an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck northern Japan. (Photo: U.S. Navy/AFLO/ZUMA Press)
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The tsunami triggered by the devastating earthquake that struck off the east coast of Japan on March 11, 2011, produced an estimated 25 million tons of debris. Much of this debris was swept out into the Pacific Ocean as the waters retreated.
The new animation shows its probable path, which is helpful to shipping traffic since some of the debris is dangerously large. Debris-tracking missions have already found two fishing vessels that were carried out to sea by the tsunami.
Where it's heading
Since that magnitude 9.0 quake, the debris that has stayed afloat has drifted apart due to winds and ocean currents, with most of it moving eastward. Scientists have predicted the debris could wash up along the West Coast of the United States by next year. It is expected to hit Midway Atoll this winter and the main Hawaiian Islands in the winter of 2012-2013.
All is clear at the Midway Atoll so far this winter, though. The ocean currents have kept any debris away, said Jan Hafner of the International Pacific Research Center, who is part of the team that modeled the debris path.
"The currents are changing constantly and we expect the tsunami debris to reach there soon," Hafner told OurAmazingPlanet.
The debris has dispersed and is not visible by satellites, so scientists deployed hundreds of high-tech devices to help monitor the path of the debris, which could be hazardous to ships, marine life and coastlines.
Identifying Debris
A few big pieces of debris have turned up. At the end of September 2011, a Russian ship reported the edge of the debris field 250 miles (400 kilometers) northwest of Midway. About 100 miles (161 km) farther on, the ship found a 20-foot-long (6 meters) boat from Fukushima, which was identified by its markings.
Along the West Coast of North America, news reports have suggested that debris is already arriving. Debris from Asia, however, routinely washes up here, so scientists are cautious before confirming any debris they find is from the tsunami.
"If an unusually large amount of unusual types of debris washes on a beach, that is an indication of debris from the tsunami," Hafner said.
Scientists also look for identifying markers, such as registration numbers, Hafner said.
One of the fishing vessels had markings on the wheelhouse of the boat that showed its homeport to be in Fukushima Prefecture, the area hardest hit by the massive tsunami.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has urged anyone that spots potential tsunami debris to report it by emailing DisasterDebris@noaa.gov.
.Mother Nature Network...
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Japan tsunami debris charts a course across the ocean... more
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Fukushima pets saved - Due to severe weather conditions, efforts are underway to rescue Fukushima pets that had been left behind and were forced to survive on their own for over nine months after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that caused Fukushima nuclear accident. According to reports, hundreds of abandoned animals surviving in Fukushima are braving months of living in the high radiation area and struggling with lack of food are now facing another problem, the region's freezing winter weather.
http://www.pinoyhalo.com/2012/02/04/fukushima-pets-fighting-to-stay-alive-and-braving-freezing-conditions-rescued-in-fukushimas-exclusion-zone/Fukushima pets saved - Due to severe weather conditions, efforts are underway to... more
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On January 2 the Japanese Emperor makes 5 appearances with members of the Imperial Household to give a short (emphasis on short) speech welcoming the New Year.
Although the Japanese Imperial system goes back well over a millenia, the tradition of making public addresses to gathered crowds only dates back to after WWII.
This year however was different than previous years and the Emperor made direct mention to the Earthquake of March 11th and the continual suffering of those directly affected by it.On January 2 the Japanese Emperor makes 5 appearances with members of the Imperial... more
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11dim
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The amount and intensity of the radioactive fallout from this particular nuclear disaster will assuredly kill hundreds of millions of people worldwide over time. Japan itself is, of course, the epicenter of this radioactive contamination that has spread out from these reactors.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25327The amount and intensity of the radioactive fallout from this particular nuclear... more
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According to Avaaz it has, read their article below:
"Right now, the Japanese whaling fleet is barrelling south to hunt thousands of majestic whales, escorted by a 30 million dollar security force paid for out of the tsunami disaster relief fund!
Anti-whaling champions were successfully blocking the Japanese whale hunt -- which is exactly why the Japanese government decided to swipe money from relief efforts to stop the activists from bothering the boats while they engage in their brutal slaughter.
If we can stop the whaling security and get the relief money back for desperate Japanese citizens still languishing in radioactive hotspots, we could help end the whale hunt for good. Japanese PM Noda is already under enormous pressure after scandalous failures to compensate victims of the nuclear disaster. A massive global outcry can spark outrage inside and outside Japan and force Noda to use precious relief funds to save people, not kill whales - sign the petition and forward to everyone:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/japan_disaster_funds_whaling_b/?vl
Whale hunting is astronomically expensive, and it's made possible by ludicrous government subsidies amounting to $35,000 per whale! If these subsidies are cut back, the whaling industry could collapse. Now the Prime Minister will squander $30 million to provide private security for whale slaughterers to make sure they’re not bothered by environmental activists in the ocean. With the added muscle, Japan plans to kill 1,000 Minke whales for commercial meat sales this year.
Officials claim that whaling subsidies will support coastal communities hit by the tsunami -- even though Japan has had to stockpile whale meat because so few people wish to consume it. All the while, the government has turned a blind eye to victims trapped in radiation hot-spots, with the few who are entitled to compensation pocketing a pitiful $1,000.
Let's urge Prime Minister Noda to stop caving to the whaling lobby and spend relief money on the people who need it most: the victims -- sign the urgent petition now, and forward widely:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/japan_disaster_funds_whaling_b/?vl
Last year, our community came together in record numbers, and we won the fight to keep a global ban on whaling. And last month, 130,000 Japanese Avaaz members joined together, pressing the government to use tsunami relief funds to protect radiation-exposed children by funding their evacuation from unsafe areas. Time and again we see how powerful lobby groups like the Japanese whaling lobby put profits before people and planet. And time and again, we stop them. Let's do it again. "
What do you think? Could the claims be true?According to Avaaz it has, read their article below:
"Right now, the... more
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mark mackinnon
HIRONO, JAPAN— From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published Thursday, Oct. 06, 2011 8:06PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Oct. 06, 2011 11:03PM EDT
This could have been homecoming week in this pretty seaside town. Seven months after most residents fled as explosions rocked the nearby Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the Japanese government has declared it safe to return to Hirono.
But a week after the country’s Nuclear Disaster Minister lifted the government’s evacuation recommendation for Hirono and three other towns, no one has returned. The only people in Hirono are the same hard-core few who ignored the evacuation advisory all along, plus the teams of rescue workers who use the town as a base while they race to and from the battle to repair the four damaged reactors to the north.
More related to this story
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For the rest of the town’s pre-disaster population of 5,500 – including the outspoken mayor – an assurance from Tokyo is nowhere near enough to persuade them to return. Most prefer to remain, for now, in cramped temporary accommodations further from Fukushima Daiichi.
“I don’t plan to come back, ever,” said a middle-aged woman who briefly visited Hirono this week to retrieve belongings from the two-storey home that she and her family fled on March 12, the day after the tsunami that set in motion the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. She paused to take in her abandoned home’s view of the ocean and its now-unkempt garden. “I’ll never feel safe here. I’ll never feel secure.”
The area where the government has lifted its advisory was one of three evacuation zones around the plant. The 20-kilometre radius around Fukushima Daiichi remains a no-go zone for the foreseeable future, as does a heavily contaminated corridor northwest of the plant that was later added to the mandatory evacuation zone. Once home to more than 100,000 people, the areas are expected to be uninhabitable for upward of two decades.
Hirono and the three other towns that the government is encouraging residents to return to are in a third zone, between 20 and 30 kilometres from the plant. Pregnant women and hospitalized patients were advised to evacuate the towns in mid-April, the rest of the 58,500 who live in the area were told at the same time to be ready to flee “on a moment’s notice.” All left immediately, with the exception of 300 steadfast residents, most of them elderly enough to claim they aren’t worried about the long-term effects of radiation.
Shifting official recommendations since the disaster struck – as well as new revelations about the scope of the disaster of Fukushima Daiichi that still make newspaper headlines on a near-daily basis here – leaves few locals willing to trust the latest assessment from Tokyo.
Hirono’s mayor, Motohoshi Yamada, is among those staying away for now. In his estimation, the order from Tokyo – announced by new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda – was made perhaps 15 months too early.
“The government’s figures on radiation are not that trustworthy. They’re not precise. My goal is to bring the radiation levels back down to what they were before March 11,” Mr. Yamada said in an interview at his administration’s temporary headquarters in the city of Iwaki, another 25 kilometres south of Hirono and away from Fukushima Daiichi.
In the past week alone, plutonium was discovered in soil 40 kilometres from the stricken plant and a local environmental group reported finding levels of radioactive cesium in the city of Fukushima, 60 kilometres from the plant, that were triple the level that requires sealing in concrete. Hirono residents whisper about sky-high cesium-137 readings rumoured to have been taken near the window of the local school.
A radiation dosimeter set up in Hirono’s near-deserted town hall bobbed around 0.09 microsievert per hour this week, a level that suggests annual exposure below the International Commission on Radiological Protection’s recommended limit of 1 millisievert per year. But few appeared convinced by an indoor dosimeter maintained by Tokyo Electric Power Company (better known as TEPCO), the same utility that operates the Fukushima Daiichi plant. “That’s just the indoor radiation,” snorted a 77-year-old woman who walked by the dosimeter clutching a bag full of bottled water. “There are hot spots all over town.”
Mr. Yamada said he wouldn’t recommend his constituents return to Hirono until the town’s upper crust of contaminated earth and pavement is scraped away, a cleanup that is expected to take until December of 2012. Only then – and barring any further setbacks – will Mr. Yamada advise people to go home.
“Restoring and revitalizing the town will take a very long time, but the situation at Fukushima Daiichi is still not solved yet,” he said.
Before the disaster, Hirono was best known for hosting J-Town, a soccer training centre used by Japan’s national team. Today, J-Town hosts 3,000 blue-uniformed nuclear workers, front-line troops in the ongoing effort to bring Fukushima Daiichi’s reactors under control.
Their escorted convoys to and from the crippled reactors provide the bulk of the activity on Hirono’s otherwise empty streets. Those working inside the plant provide little reason for optimism. “It’s endless, endless. The task will never end,” said a senior nuclear engineer who spends six hours a day, five days a week supervising the effort to make sure the reactor cores that partially melted down in March remain immersed in cooling water.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the nuclear worker said he wouldn’t risk having his own family join him in Hirono. “No matter how much they say it’s safe, as long as the soil contamination exists, I could not bring my relatives here.” And, he added, there remains the possibility of another explosion “if someone is careless or the cooling facility stops.”
Nightmare scenarios aside, some of those who have remained in Hirono throughout say they expect their town to retain its ghostly feel for some time to come.
To contact the PM of Japan and see if he would move there with his family here is the link:
https://www.kantei.go.jp/foreign/forms/comment_ssl.htmlmark mackinnon
HIRONO, JAPAN— From Friday's Globe and Mail
Published... more
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ABC...
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6.8-magnitude quake hits off Japan's coast, tsunami advisory issued
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6.8-magnitude quake hits off Japan's coast, tsunami advisory... more
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It's now time for a story that restores your faith in mankind, even if it means going all the way to Japan to find it: In the five months since that country's devastating quake and tsunami, almost $78 million in cash has been found amongst the wreckage and turned in.
The money was recovered from countless abandoned wallets and purses, as well as from 5,700 safes that have washed up along the coastline. One safe alone was said to contain $1 million. But what were these coastal villagers doing sitting on so much cash in the first place? From the Daily Mail:
It is not unusual for the Japanese to keep large amounts of money at home and at offices, particularly in the coastal regions where fisheries companies prefer to deal with cash transactions.
Police have hired specialists to cut open the safes, and their rightful owners are being contacted based on the personal information contained inside.
'The fact that these safes were washed away, meant the homes were washed away too,' [said Koetsu Saiki, of the Miyagi Prefectural Police.] 'We had to first determine if the owners were alive, then find where they had evacuated to.' [...]
'[T]he fact that a hefty 2.3 billion yen in cash has been returned to its owners shows the high level of ethical awareness in the Japanese people,' said Ryuji Ito, professor emeritus at Yokohama City University.
http://gizmodo.com/5832094/japanese-quake-survivors-have-returned-78-million-in-lost-cashIt's now time for a story that restores your faith in mankind, even if it means... more
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Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture is one of the town that was hit hard by the tsunami which followed the earthquake on March 11, 2011. I was passing thru 5 months afterwards and still the stark grim reminders remain of what happened that day.
Later that evening I went to Sendai the capital of Miyagi which had also gotten hit that day. It was the kick-off of their big Tanabata festival which they do with a big fireworks display. It was good to see the people out and about enjoying themselves - they had cancelled some other festivals in previous months. It showed me that the Tohoku area will pull itself through the disaster with their indomitable spirit.Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture is one of the town that was hit hard by the tsunami... more
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(Chico, CA. July 20, 2011) The Chico Outlaws of the North American League, the premier independent minor league in western North America, today announced that Japanese pitching sensation Eri Yoshida has agreed to terms and will rejoin the Chico Outlaws. She will report to Chico immediately and will start on the mound this Friday night versus the Maui Na Koa Ikaika at Nettleton Stadium as she returns to the team that she won a league championship with last season.
Yoshida, 19, made headlines and impressed the baseball world last summer when she became the first female to play professionally in Japan and the U.S. Equipped with a sidearm knuckleball that is considered almost unhittable when she is on, she has played for the Kobe Cruise 9 of the Kansai League in Japan and then in the Arizona Winter League in the U.S. in 2010 and 2011 and also with the Chico Outlaws last year. She also became the first female pro player to have a hit and an RBI in a professional men's league and her jersey and bat from the 2010 Chico Outlaws were requested by, and are displayed in, the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. She began playing baseball in the 2nd grade and credits Tim Wakefield as the inspiration for her 50 mph knuckleball delivered from her 5 foot 1 inch, 115 lb frame.
She made 8 starts for the Outlaws last year before ending her season early with a tired arm. Fully recovered, she pitched in the Arizona Winter League this February, but the tragic events in Japan in March sidetracked her ability to be ready to rejoin Chico in May when the season started. Turning down offers from Japanese minor league teams, she joined the amateur All Samurai Japan team to get fully prepared and also to be showcased to MLB scouts as the team traveled to southern California early this summer. She had a number of tryouts with MLB teams and was impressive, but did not receive a contract offer as she needed to demonstrate her effectiveness in a professional league against quality and experienced pro hitters.
"We are thrilled to have Eri back and pitching for the Outlaws again," said Chico Outlaws team president and manager Mike Marshall. "The Outlaws are one of the leading teams in moving players to major league organizations and will be a fine showcase for her to show her talent. In addition, our fans will be excited as she was a big favorite last year and was quite a hit in the community and with the youth of Chico."
Yoshida will take the mound this Friday night and will be facing the Maui Na Koa Ikaika who are managed this year by Yoshida's skipper from last season, Garry Templeton, and also three Chico Outlaws that were traded to Maui in the offseason as she returns to the town that embraced her with incredible support and provided her the opportunity to realize her dream of playing minor league baseball in the U.S.
"I am grateful for this opportunity to pitch for the Chico Outlaws again," said Yoshida. "This is a dream come true for me and I hope that I can contribute to the team to help them win and also to continue to improve as a pro baseball player."
Click here to go back to news articles(Chico, CA. July 20, 2011) The Chico Outlaws of the North American League, the... more
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I saw a video of a Brave Couple who are pleaing to other humans for help. They have been forced to live in an area bombarded with radiation. Some kind person in France translated the video and when I finally heard their words, I knew I had to do something, anything to help them.
I wrote to Salem News In Oregon, they are very human rights there, and begged them to do an article on their plight. Much to my surprise, I got an answer back late last night and Tim, the Editor asked for permission to use my name. Of course I was delighted because I wanted the article written. I gave my permission.
This morning, I got another email from TIm and he had written and published a wonderful article exposing how the poor people want to be evacuated as they fear for their children's health.
Here is the article Tim wrote:
http://salem-news.com/articles/july162011/fukushima-sos-tk.php
Now I am asking for your help. These people have nowhere to turn. Their govt. is deaf to their fears. We , all of us, can put the pressure on our Federal Govt. legislators, The President, Vice President, anyone and everyone we can think of, to please , through diplomatic means, pressure the Japanese Govt. to evacuate these Brave People to a safer area.
Will you help me? The information of how to reach legislators and the President are in the article. I need people who have Facebook and Twitter, etc. to spread the word .
I don't mess with all that stuff, I am disabled and haven't the time or energy to deal with it.
Also, if you go to any forums, comment boards, etc. please post a link to the article.. the more people aware , the more people will write or call Washington and put the heat on the Japanese Govt.
This is the only way we can help them right now.. at least it is the only way I have found so far. PLEASE help me, help them ???
Thank you,
Karin Rougeau
I don't even know if I am doing doing this right , I don't know where it will end up, but I hope I get lucky and it will be on some forum here.I saw a video of a Brave Couple who are pleaing to other humans for help. They have... more
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Once again, our American media is MIA on vital news, while we all are subjected to endless Bieberisms. Sadly, we must turn to Al Jazeera English for news that TEPCO (Tokyo Electric) has publicly reported.
A quick quote from the full piece, here: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/201161664828302638.html
Scientific experts believe Japan's nuclear disaster to be far worse than governments are revealing to the public.
Even though the plant is now shut down, fission products such as uranium continue to generate heat, and therefore require cooling.
"The fuels are now a molten blob at the bottom of the reactor," Gundersen added. "TEPCO announced they had a melt through. A melt down is when the fuel collapses to the bottom of the reactor, and a melt through means it has melted through some layers. That blob is incredibly radioactive, and now you have water on top of it. The water picks up enormous amounts of radiation, so you add more water and you are generating hundreds of thousands of tons of highly radioactive water."
Independent scientists have been monitoring the locations of radioactive "hot spots" around Japan, and their findings are disconcerting.
"We have 20 nuclear cores exposed, the fuel pools have several cores each, that is 20 times the potential to be released than Chernobyl," said Gundersen. "The data I'm seeing shows that we are finding hot spots further away than we had from Chernobyl, and the amount of radiation in many of them was the amount that caused areas to be declared no-man's-land for Chernobyl. We are seeing square kilometers being found 60 to 70 kilometers away from the reactor. You can't clean all this up. We still have radioactive wild boar in Germany, 30 years after Chernobyl."
Read the full story here: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/201161664828302638.htmlOnce again, our American media is MIA on vital news, while we all are subjected to... more
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The latest news from from media students in Japan
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Orphaned in quake, forgotten in Japan
The Japanese government still doesn't have an accurate count of the number of children orphaned in the March earthquake and tsunami. Adding to their woes, a group helping the children says people have stopped calling to offer
VIDEOOrphaned in quake, forgotten in Japan
The Japanese government still... more
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Kuniko Tanioko: Japan must tell world how it dealt with the nuclear runoff into the ocean. Kuniko Tanioka (谷岡 éƒå) is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of JapanKuniko Tanioko: Japan must tell world how it dealt with the nuclear runoff into the... more
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Unclear - a shaky story
Unclear is a video piece inspired by recent events which occurred in Fukushima, Japan.
Alessio, of ADV associates, was on a business trip in Tokyo during the earthquake of February 11th 2011. This experience became deeply rooted in our conscience and the piece was created. “Unclear” is meant to be a suggestion, a “what if...” piece, to awaken viewers conscience and instill doubts.
The opening shows a quiet landscape with a nuclear power plant in the background. Rapidly the atmosphere changes, making the viewers realize that the point of view is the one of a power plant worker, who, frustrated, questions himself from the inside of another nuclear plant.
http://www.vimeo.com/23748850 (**)
________
ADV associates (*) is a creative agency based in New York, that works internationally in both the commercial and the fine art world.
Best regards,
ADV associates
http://advassociates.net/
info@advassociates.net
(*) ADV was founded in 2010 by Alessio De Vecchi (art director and cg artist), later joined by Clefi Lee (3d artist and animator), Gemma Fleming (art director, video maker and photographer) and Ben Vaccaro (photographer and video maker).
(**) Music by Ayumi Hatai, sound artist raised in Japan and residing in New York.Unclear - a shaky story
Unclear is a video piece inspired by recent events which... more
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"DISCLAIMER": I am merely submitting the following...
LiveScience...
Japan Earthquake Was 'In the Air' Days Before, Scientist Claims
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 18 May 2011 Time: 03:14 PM ET
PHOTO:
On March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m. local time (05:46 UTC), a magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck off the east coast of Japan. The epicenter was 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of Sendai, and 231 miles (373 km) northeast of Tokyo. If initial measurements are confirmed, it will be the world’s fifth largest earthquake since 1900 and the worst in Japan's history.
This image of Japan from 1999 was taken as part of SeaWiFS, the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor Project.
CREDIT: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, SeaWiFS Project and ORBIMAGE
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The atmosphere above the epicenter of the March 11 earthquake in Japan underwent unusual changes in the days leading up to the disaster, according to preliminary data.
The research has not yet been published in an academic journal or reviewed by other scientists, but it could offer an intriguing possibility for earthquake prediction — though the day scientists are able to forecast earthquakes is still "far away," said study researcher Dimitar Ouzounov, a professor of earth sciences at Chapman University in California.
Looking to the sky in hopes of predicting an earthquake is not a new idea. The theory, which in science circles is called "Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere Coupling mechanism," goes like this: Right before an earthquake, the stressed fault releases more gases, especially the colorless, odorless radon gas. Once in the upper-atmosphere ionosphere, the radon gas strips air molecules of their electrons, splitting them into negatively charged particles (the free electrons) and positively charged particles. These charged particles, called ions, attract condensed water in a process that releases heat. [Infographic: Tallest Mountain to Deepest Ocean Trench]
And scientists can detect this heat in the form of infrared radiation.
Using satellite data, Ouzounov and his colleagues looked at what the atmosphere was doing in the days before the Japanese quake. They found that the concentration of electrons in the ionosphere increased in the days before the earthquake, as did infrared radiation. March 8, three days before the quake, was the most anomalous day, Ouzounov told LiveScience. [Read: The Science Behind Japan's Deadly Earthquake]
The researchers have crunched data for more than 100 quakes in Asia and Taiwan, Ouzounov said, and have found similar correlations for earthquakes with magnitudes bigger than 5.5 and depths less than 31 miles (50 kilometers). The team is now working to involve researchers in Japan and worldwide, as ambitious atmosphere monitoring will take international effort, Ouzounov said.
Nonetheless, the success of earthquake forecasting is far from guaranteed. No one has ever predicted an earthquake from atmospheric data, and plenty of supposed earthquake precursors, from weird animal behavior to groundwater flowing the wrong way, have proven hit-or-miss.
"It's intriguing," said Henry Pollack, an emeritus professor of geophysics at the University of Michigan who was not involved in the research. "But it's hardly what I would call a breakthrough."
To iron out the usefulness of the atmospheric approach, Pollack told LiveScience, you'd need to look at lots of earthquakes over time to make sure the phenomena is statistically linked with fault ruptures. You'd also want to know how often these atmospheric anomalies show up without an associated quake.
Terry Tullis, an emeritus professor of geological sciences at Brown University, was similarly doubtful. Earthquake scientists have been "burned enough times in the past" and so have learned not to get excited about every potential prediction method, Tullis told LiveScience. But plans are underway to put together a workshop between earth scientists and atmospheric scientists this summer to discuss the research on the ionosphere changes, he said.
"I don't want to dismiss it out of hand," Tullis said. "But at this point, one has to be somewhat skeptical."
The full report is available at The Physics arXiv Blog. The researchers have also submitted their research report to a scientific journal."DISCLAIMER": I am merely submitting the following...
LiveScience...... more
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