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5 November 2011
Oklahoma Rocks! After The Summer Bake, Sooners Get A Shake!
Remember “shake and bake” chicken? Well Mother Nature seems to have it backwards, because after a summer of being baked, Oklahomans just got the shake! A magnitude 4.8 quake hit near Sparks, Oklahoma at 2:12 am (07:12 GMT) Saturday morning, and even caused some damage in the nearby town of Prague. The quake was very shallow at 3.5 km depth and was felt over a large part of the state. …
26 August 2011
Hurricanes and Quakes are Inspirational Science Moments
Every meteorologist I know can point to a big storm as the inspiration that led them into the field of atmospheric science (A blizzard in 1968 and the tornadoes of June 8,1974 for me), and this is true for other sciences as well. Neil de Grasse Tyson still has his certificate of accomplishment from the Hayden Planetarium that he now directs. The certificates are still given out and he signs …
10 August 2011
Tsunami from Japan quake breaks off huge bergs from Sulzberger Ice Shelf in Antarctica
We live on a very connected planet!
13 June 2011
Two Amazing Images from Space
The Chaiten Puyehue volcano in Chile continues to spew and enormous amount of ash, and has me wondering if we are getting to the point that we could see a global climate impact from the eruption. Vulcanologist Charles Stern at Colorado Univ. said back in May that the eruption was high in silica and low in Sulfur, which would negate the effects of a major global temperature change. I ‘ve …
15 March 2011
False Radiation Rumors Run Rampant
Whoever put this map out should face criminal charges IMHO There is no doubt that what is happening at the Fukushima Nuclear plant in Japan is alarming. I’ve even seen reliable reports that one of the containment vessels may have been damaged in an explosion early Tuesday, Japan time. Â Unfortunately, some people are taking advantage of most people’s lack of any rudimentary knowledge about nuclear power to spread fear. There’s …
13 March 2011
NASA Terra Satellite Shows Tsunami Flooding in Japan
Below is an image after the quake/tsunamis. Late Saturday, the USGS confirmed that GPS sensors indicate a movement of about 2.4 meters due to the quake. This is a large amount. This quake was on the subduction zone between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. The ocean off Japan is on the Pacific plate which is diving under the North American plate. This means the fault rupture was …
11 March 2011
Tsunami Wave Height Map from NOAA
My fellow AGU bloggers have some really good info on the science behind the quake here. In particular, Callan Bentley’s Mountain Beltway and Dave Petley’s Landslide Blog. My Seismograph Story While at university in the late 1970’s, I worked at a seismic observatory in Oklahoma for a summer. It was a very fascinating experience and has turned out to be very helpful in my job as a meteorologist working in …
Super Quake Spawns Massive Tsunami in Japan
Update: Amazing video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3fUqdGXLbM The strongest earthquake ever recorded in Japan struck at 0546 GMT Friday. It was 3:46 PM on a Friday afternoon and a massive tsunami struck minutes later. The damage you can see on TV (The BBC coverage is exc. as usual) but here is a little science behind why it happened. Japan sits on top of three of the Earths Tectonic plates. Mount …
7 March 2011
Christchurch Quake from Space
Lyttelton Harbour was ground zero for the Christchurch earthquake. It’s an historic village with a big connection to Antarctica. Sir Robert Falcon Scott made his last stop here on the way to McMurdo Sound in 1910. They had a farewell party at the Mitre Hotel. As history notes, he died attempting the Pole. Remote sensing is amazing these days… Dan
21 February 2011
Huge Quake Brings Down Christchurch Cathedral
I took the photo on the right a year ago on New Years Day 2010. Christchurch New Zealand is one of the most beautiful cities you will ever see. Without doubt that building was the most famous in all of NZ. It’s now mostly destroyed. The quake struck just after 12:51PM Tuesday, in Christchurch, a magnitude 6.3 quake struck the city. It was centered just 5 km below the city …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.