“In March, the US, European Union, and Japan formally requested that the World Trade Organization (WTO) launch an investigation into China’s rare earth export policy.” Quoted from the Rare Earth Investing News.
In response to a shortage of rare earth elements and high prices, Japan’s Hitachi Ltd. has developed an efficient industrial motor that can be manufactured without rare earth elements.
“Altough the Tohoku quake did not occur in the United States or its territories, it was one of the most thoroughly recorded seismic events of its magnitude and provides valuable information to U.S. scientists seeking to understand how similar events would affect this Nation.” Quoted from the USGS press release.
Small devices that monitor motion in three directions will be installed in buildings to gather data during Japan’s small earthquakes. The data will be used to determine how the building might be damaged in a large earthquake.
This recording of the 2011 Japanese earthquake was taken near the coastline of Japan between Fukushima Daiichi (the nuclear reactor site) and Tokyo. The initial blast of sound is the 9.0 mainshock. As the earth’s plates slipped dozens of meters into new positions, aftershocks occurred. They are indicated by “pop” noises immediately following the mainshock sound. These plate adjustments will likely continue for years. Created by Zhigang Peng, associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
The earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March 2011 caused millions of tons of debris to be swept into the Pacific Ocean. Now winds and currents are carrying the debris eastward
On average, 14 crude oil tankers per day passed through the Strait in 2011, with a corresponding amount of empty tankers entering to pick up new cargos. More than 85% of these crude oil exports went to Asian markets, with Japan, India, South Korea, and China representing the largest destinations.
“NASA and Ohio State University researchers have discovered the major tsunami generated by the Japanearthquake of March 2011 was a long-hypothesized ‘merging tsunami.’ The tsunami doubled in intensity over rugged ocean ridges, amplifying its destructive power at landfall.”
An article on the Scientific American website reports that seafloor movement during the Fukushima Earthquake was as much as 50 meters laterally and 16 meters vertically.
The devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11 has that nation thinking deeply about contingency plans. A new city with emergency facilities that can house a back-up capital is being considered.
An article on the Syracuse.com website explains how about 20 million tons of floating debris from Japan’s March 11th earthquake and tsunami is moving across the Pacific and is expected to wash ashore on the Hawaiian Islands and the US west coast.
“Global natural gas prices vary considerably from one region to another. Since the beginning of 2010, North American prices have been relatively low, Asian prices relatively high, and northwest European prices in between.” Quoted from the Energy Information Administration article.
Landslide incidence mapping in Japan has identified nearly 300,000 locations of landslide concern. Although landslides are triggered by heavy typhoon rains in many parts of Japan, local governments have been slow to implement landslide education and mitigation programs.
As rare earth element supplies from China became limited and unreliable, Japan began looking for other suppliers. Now they have a potential deal with Myanmar.
Researchers are testing an earthquake early warning system that has the ability to give you a very brief warning before earthquake waves arrive. Wired and wireless communication signals travel faster than earthquake waves so when monitors near the source of an earthquake detect vibrations they can trigger warning signals that will be received before earthquake waves arrive. Japan already has an early warning system that warned millions of people on March 11th.
Although China is keeping tight controls over the export of rare earth minerals the country is trying to encourage Japanese companies to bring rare earth technologies to China.
Immediately after Japan was hit with a devastating earthquake and tsunami plans were underway to replace much of the country’s nuclear power generating capacity with fossil fuels. This New York Times article explores how this is being done and at what cost.
Natural gas prices in Asia are three times higher than prices in North America. Natural gas producers, Apache, Encana and EOG Resources hope to cash in on that by building a liquefied natural gas plant near Kitimat, British Colombia that will prepare LNG for shipment to Asian customers.
The cost of liquefied natural gas (LNG) being imported by Japan has been rising sharply since the earthquake and tsunami damaged of their nuclear power generating capacity. Quoted from the Energy Information Administration article.
The Los Angeles Times has an Op-Ed article that begins with a very strong statement: “Seismic risk mitigation is the greatest urban policy challenge the world confronts today.”
“Japan’s March 11 Tohoku Earthquake is among the strongest ever recorded, and because it struck one of the world’s most heavily instrumented seismic zones, this natural disaster is providing scientists with a treasure trove of data on rare magnitude 9 earthquakes.” Quoted from the Georgia Tech press release.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan believes that Japan should work to decrease and then eliminate its reliance on nuclear power: “Through my experience of the March 11 accident, I came to realize the risk of nuclear energy is too high.”
“To better understand and reduce tsunami hazards, USGS scientists examined sediment deposited by the tsunami in and around Sendai, Japan, as part of an international tsunami survey team organized by Japanese scientific cooperators.” Quoted from the USGS Science Features page.
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