This open-file report presents materials from the 2012 Southwest Wildfire Hydrology & Hazards Workshop, including the workshop schedule, presentation abstracts, and a list of attendees. The oral presentations and posters are part of this report and are available for viewing.
Numerous landslides have plagued a project to straighten a section of Oregon’s Highway 20 through a part of the Coast Range that receives over 100 inches of rain per year. Landslide damage will force the state to demolish four new bridges.
An article on the MSNBC website explores the possible threats presented by activity at Mexico’s Popocatepetl Volcano. At the top of the list are lahars, speedy flows of water, mud, ash, rocks, plants and other debris that flow down the flanks of the volcano.
USGS has developed a working “Shake Alert” system that will send early warnings that arrive from a few seconds to as much as 90 seconds before earthquake vibrations. Unfortunately, very few people/institutions are able to receive these potentially life-saving warnings. The reason: the project needs more funding.
“By using GPS to measure ground deformation from large earthquakes, we can reduce the time needed to locate and characterize the damage from large seismic events to several minutes.”
“This year we see a quite early start of the tornado season with a high frequency of the events coming close to the record year 2008 for this time of the year.” Quoted from Peter Hoeppe, Munich Re.
“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.
One would think that lots of people in California have earthquake insurance coverage on their home and business. An article in The Orange County Register reports that 88% of homeowners and 90% of businesses are not covered.
“In 1986 Lake Nyos, in the volcanic region of Cameroon, suddenly released a cloud of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, killing 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby towns and villages. [...] But since then, to prevent Lake Nyos from exploding again, an international team of scientists and engineers has developed and implemented a program to artificially remove gas from the lake through piping.” Quoted from the USGS press release.
Out of nearly 6000 homes damaged by the August 23 earthquake in Virginia, only a few percent will be covered by earthquake insurance. A bill in the Virginia legislature, if passed, will require insurance companies to notify all homeowners who have purchased a homeowners insurance policy that does not cover earthquakes.
“More than 500 volcanic vents have been identified in the State of California. At least 76 of these vents have erupted, some repeatedly, during the last 10,000 yr. Past volcanic activity has ranged in scale and type from small rhyolitic and basaltic eruptions through large catastrophic rhyolitic eruptions.” Quoted from the USGS report.
“Decision-support systems can be used to help synthesize, visualize, and analyze the natural-science and socioeconomic information needed for making risk-reduction and land-use choices.”
An article in the Los Angeles Times reports that the California Department of Transportation would like to abandon State Highway 39 because landslide and other problems are costing $1.5 million per year to repair.
Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer at the Franklin Institute explains the recent “medium class” solar storm and how it might compare storms that will occur in 2013 when a solar maximum occurs.
“The United Nations reports 2011 was the costliest year in history for catastrophes. It says economic losses from natural disasters, including earthquakes, storms and floods, amounted to $366 billion.” Quoted from the Voice of America article.
The World Economic Forum just released their annual report, Global Risks 2012, that describes 50 global risks grouped into economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal and technological categories. Some of these risks are geoscience based and include rising greenhouse gas emissions, volatility in energy prices and more.
Damage caused by a landslide that cut off the Paseo Del Mar highway near San Pedro, California appears to be confined to an area fenced off by the city. The Contra Costa Times has a photo showing the severity of damage.
“In an attempt to better understand earthquakes and with the goal of one day being able to predict them, an international team of scientists and engineers headed to the heart of where earthquakes happen.” Quoted from the National Science Foundation news release.
An article on the Redding.com website considers the types of problems that will occur in the next eruption at Mt. Shasta. The mountain has erupted at least seven times in the past 4000 years.
ABC News has an article that looks back at the New Madrid Earthquakes – three of the most powerful earthquakes in the recorded history of the United States events that occurred near New Madrid, Missouri in December 1811, January 1812 and February 1812
“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.”
Hundreds of small earthquakes per month are being recorded in the area around Katla – a volcano in Iceland with a long history of very powerful eruptions.
Researchers debate the potential impact of a new volcano near Auckland, New Zealand. Where will it occur? How much warning? How big is the danger zone?
The University of Washington, the University of California Berkeley and the California Institute of Technology have each received $2 million for developing an earthquake warning system for the Pacific Northwest.
An interesting article on the Insurance Journal reports that about 1% of Oklahoma homeowners have earthquake insurance coverage. A recent increase in the number of small earthquakes in the state may motivate more homeowners to seek insurance.
“The “super-eruption” of a major volcanic system occurs about every 100,000 years and is considered one of the most catastrophic natural events on Earth, yet scientists have long been unsure about what triggers these violent explosions.” Quoted from the Oregon State University news release.
Over one million acres of land in Arizona was damaged by wildfires in 2011. Now these areas are subject to potential debris flows during heavy rain. A recent article on the Arizona Geological Survey website describes the problem.
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.
Numerous earthquakes have been recorded on a short portion of the Hayward Fault near Berkeley. Retired UC Berkeley seismologist, Robert Uhrhammer, explains earthquake basics and details about these recent events.
Over four hundred people are confirmed dead and thousands of people are living outside in freezing temperatures after Sunday’s magnitude 7.2 earthquake in Eastern Turkey.
The Loma Prieta Earthquake killed 63 people on October 17th, 1989. The earthquake that interrupted the World Series killed 63 people, injured thousands and destroyed thousands of homes. This San Andreas Fault event is also known as the “Santa Cruz Mountains Earthquake“.
“Unusually heavy monsoon rains inundated southern Pakistan in the summer of 2011, submerging fields and forcing residents from their homes. On September 29, 2011, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 5.44 million people had been affected, 1.8 million residents had been displaced, and 2.1 million acres of cropland had been damaged.” Quoted from the NASA image release.
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