Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.1 Earthquake hits Minahasa, Sulawesi, Indonesia.

5.0 Earthquake hits the Mid-Indian ridge.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Hurricane Vance is located about 70 mi...115 km ESE of Socorro island and about 405 mi...650 km SW of Mazatlan Mexico with maximum sustained winds...105 mph...165 km/h. Present movement...NNE or 25 degrees at 13 mph...20 km/h.

Hazards affecting land - rainfall...Vance and moisture spreading northward ahead of the system are expected to produce rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches with isolated amounts near 12 inches through Wednesday over the states of Sinaloa...Nayarit....and Durango in western Mexico. These rains are likely to produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides...especially in areas of mountainous terrain. Surf...swells generated by Vance will be affecting portions of the coast of southwestern Mexico and Baja California Sur today and tonight.

Typhoon 20w (Nuri), located approximately 358 nm west-southwest of Iwo To, and is tracking north-northeastward at 09 knots.

NewsBytes:

Nepal - An avalanche on Mount Ama Dablam in Khumjung-7 of Solukhumbu distirct in Nepal has claimed the life of a Nepali Sherpa and injured three foreigners. Three foreign mountaineers—one Swiss, one Russian and one Briton—got injured in the incident above the Base 2 on the 6,812-metre mountain.

Peru - Heavy rains have resulted in floods across central Peru on Sunday. The flood water has damaged local schools and more than 100 homes. Mudslides have also cut off highways in the largely rural area. In the city of Huanuco, which has a population of 75,000, students were forced onto chairs in flooded classrooms and parents carried children on their backs after classes were suspended following the rain.

Israel - Major flooding hit several Merkaz (Central) region towns on Monday, after an unusual deluge of rainfall buckled some roads and swallowed cars on others.

Argentina - 19 districts of Buenos Aires province have been affected by flooding caused by record levels of rainfall, with a total of 5,203 people evacuated across the region.

Disease

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Saudi Arabia

Between 18 and 26 October 2014, the National IHR Focal Point of Saudi Arabia (KSA) notified WHO of 12 additional cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection, including five deaths.

Ebola - Update

The reports of declining rates of new Ebola cases in Liberia, announced by the World Health Organization on Oct. 29, fuelled hopes that the outbreak response is working, but experts are cautioning that it is too soon to believe West Africa has entered a new phase of the epidemic.

Liberia is one of the worst affected countries by the Ebola outbreak, with more than 6,500 cases and 2,413 deaths reported in that country alone as of Oct. 31.

In addition to the perhaps positive news out of Liberia, WHO officials are saying that the total number of new cases in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea may also be levelling off, with some officials telling the BBC News that they now expect the rate of new cases will be steady, at around 1,000 weekly cases total in all three countries. This is a contrast to the increasing pace seen earlier weeks, when the number of new cases was growing exponentially.

Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity

Kilauea (Hawai'i): Over the past few days, there has been no advance of the lava flow front towards residences in Pahoa, though active lava continues to break out from the margins of the flow behind its farthest reach. Luckily no residences have burned so far because of this slow-down, but locals await the seemingly inevitable pressure surge which will come from somewhere on the flow in the near future.

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.7 Earthquake hits the Mid-Indian ridge.

5.5 Earthquake hits the central Mid-Atlantic ridge.

5.3 Earthquake hits Zambia.

5.2 Earthquake hits the Balleny Islands.

5.2 Earthquake hits Iceland.

5.1 Earthquake hits the central Mid-Atlantic ridge.

5.0 Earthquake hits the Madeira Islands, Portugal.

5.0 Earthquake hits Java, Indonesia.

5.0 Earthquake hits off the east coast of Honsu, Japan.

5.0 Earthquake hits the central Mid-Atlantic ridge.

Storms and Flood

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Hurricane Vance is located about 505 mi...810 km SW of Manzanillo Mexico with maximum sustained winds...105 mph...165 km/h. Present movement...NW or 320 degrees at 14 mph...22 km/h.

Hazards affecting land - surf...swells generated by Vance are expected to begin affecting portions of the coast of southwestern Mexico and Baja California Sur in a day or two..

Super Typhoon 20w (Nuri), located approximately 5531 nm south-southeast of Kadena AB, and is tracking north-northeastward at 06 knots.

Environment

Polar Vortex Outbreaks Linked to Vanishing Arctic Ice

Vanishing Arctic sea ice appears to have been responsible for the spells of bitterly cold wintertime conditions in the Northern Hemisphere during recent years.

Masato Mori of the University of Tokyo and colleagues found colder-than-normal winters are now twice as likely to occur across Eurasia under these conditions than before the record polar melting began.

This past September saw the sixth-lowest minimum Arctic sea ice extent ever observed.

A warming Arctic causes the polar jet stream to be weaker, allowing frigid weather systems to creep farther south.

It can also promote blocking weather patterns that cause the chill to linger for weeks.

While the study focused on a part of Eurasia that stretches from Eastern Europe to China, the past few winters have also brought frigid conditions not seen in decades to parts of Western Europe and North America.

But Adam Scaife of the U.K. Met Office says the polar blasts are likely to end once all of the ice disappears in the Arctic during autumn. Some models predict it could happen during the 2030s.

"The key thing here is that they argue that climate change wins in the long run," Scaife told New Scientist. This means that while our current winters may at times be bitterly cold, global warming will eventually catch up once the Arctic refrigerator defrosts.

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

6.9 Earthquake hits Fiji.

There was no immediate tsunami alert following the quake. There were no immediate reports of injury or building damage.

6.0 Earthquake his Easter Island.

5.4 Earthquake hits the Solomon Islands.

5.3 Earthquake hits off the east coast of North Island, New Zealand.

5.3 Earthquake hits the northern Mid-Atlantic ridge.

5.2 Earthquake hits Easter Island.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Tropical Storm Vance is located about 580 mi...930 km SSW of Manzanillo Mexico maximum sustained winds...70 mph...110 km/h. Present movement...WNW or 295 degrees at 14 mph...22 km/h.

Hazards affecting land - none.

Tropical storm 20w (Nuri), located approximately 511 nm northwest of Yap, and is tracking northward at 07 knots.

Wildlife

Giant Tortoise Rebounds From Near Extinction

The famed giant tortoise of the Galapagos Islands has been brought back from the verge of extinction after its population dropped to only 15 by the 1960s.

Captive breeding and conservation efforts have allowed that number to rebound to more than 1,000.

“The population is secure. It’s a rare example of how biologists and managers can collaborate to recover a species from the brink of extinction,” said James P. Gibbs, a biologist at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

He was lead author of a study that charted the growing success of the islands tortoises, published in the journal PLOS ONE.

But Gibbs cautions that the giant tortoise population is not likely to increase further on the island of Española until the landscape recovers from the damage inflicted by now-eradicated goats.

After the imported goats devoured all the grassy vegetation and were removed from the island, more shrubs and small trees have grown.

The report says the vegetation hinders both the growth of cactus, which is a vital piece of a tortoise's diet, and the tortoises' movement.

Wildfires

Wildfires - Australia

A firefighter has been killed and at least two homes have been destroyed by Australian spring wildfires, officials said Saturday.

The 38-year-old volunteer firefighter was severely burned Friday while battling a blaze on a farm near the town of Nantawarra in South Australia. The fire was later contained.

At least two homes were razed by wildfires Saturday on the outskirts of the town of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, in New South Wales. Firefighters had battled to protect homes in Katoomba from flames fanned by winds of 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour.

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.1 Earthquake hits Iceland.

5.1 Earthquake hits northern Peru.

5.1 Earthquake hits Tanzania.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Tropical Storm Vance is located about 550 mi...885 km SSW of Acapulco Mexico with maximum sustained winds...40 mph...65 km/h. Present movement...W or 265 degrees at 7 mph...11 km/h.

Hazards affecting land - none.

Tropical storm 20w (Nuri), located approximately 358 nm northwest of Yap, and is tracking west-northwestward at 06 knots.

NewsBytes:

Somalia - After a poor rainy season early this year, parts of southern Somalia now are being hit with severe floods. The rainy season that began in October has caused flooding along the Shebelle and Juba Rivers. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warns that’s making ongoing food insecurity even worse. The U.N. estimates more than one-million people in Somalia are in urgent need of assistance – a 20-percent increase in the past six months. What’s more, it says another two-million people are facing threats to their food security. Much of Somalia’s farming takes place along the Shabelle and Juba Rivers. Along the Shabelle, the town of Belet Weyne is the worst hit. Along the Juba, flooding is reported in Dollow, Jilib and Jamame.

Space Events

Solar Salvo Sends Blasts Into Space

The largest group of sunspots seen in nearly a quarter-century sent a barrage of solar flares into space, three of which were among some of the most powerful that the sun can create.

Solar flares are gigantic explosions on the surface of the sun, which send streams of dangerous charged particles rushing into space.

If Earth happens to be in the path of the blasts, the resulting geomagnetic storms can knock out satellite electronics, disrupt high-frequency communications and even bring down power grids.

Such storms also produce vivid aurora displays.

The only significant effects on Earth from the latest blasts by the AR 12192 sunspot were radio blackouts at some frequencies. This is mainly because the solar eruptions did not send out blasts of plasma, known as coronal mass ejections.

The largest sunspot in history was observed in 1947 and grew to be three times larger than the one currently producing the swarm of flares.

Many skywatchers who were taking photos of the partial solar eclipse across North America during the previous week managed to capture images of the massive sunspot as well.

Disease

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) – Qatar

On 12 and 23 October 2014, WHO was notified by the National IHR Focal Point of Qatar of 2 cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). These are the first cases reported to WHO by Qatar in 2014.

Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity

Shishaldin (United States, Aleutian Islands): Eruptive activity at the volcano continues. Most of the time, it seems to be weak, probably strombolian in nature, but there have been episodes with more intense activity, possibly lava fountaining, evidenced by strong tremor and elevated surface temperatures. Such an episode occurred during 25-28 Oct. Elevated surface temperatures were observed in satellite images beginning on October 25, and early that evening seismic tremor began to be recorded on nearby seismic stations, accompanied by stronger thermal anomalies. New deposits of ash and ballistics darkened the summit area, indicating the activity was energetic enough to eject material from a depth of several hundred meters (~600 ft / 200 m) within the summit crater. The activity was recorded on infrasound arrays located in Akutan, 90 mi (145 km) to the southwest, and Dillingham, 363 mi (585 km) to the northeast. (AVO)

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.8 Earthquake hits the Bali Sea.

5.5 Earthquake hits near the coast of southern Peru.

5.0 Earthquake hits Iceland.

5.0 Earthquake hits near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Tropical Storm Vance forms about 450 mi...720 km S of Acapulco Mexico with maximum sustained winds...45 mph...75 km/h. Present movement...WSW or 245 degrees at 3 mph...6 km/h.

Hazards affecting land - none.

Tropical cyclone (tc) 04a (Nilofar), located approximately 281 nm south-southwest of Karachi, Pakistan, and is tracking east-northeastward at 05 knots.

Environment

Newly Discovered Microbe in Melting Tundra

A microbe recently discovered in the melting Arctic permafrost appears to be releasing vast amounts of the greenhouse gas methane, possibly speeding up climate change.

Methanoflorens stordalenmirensis “breathes out methane like we breathe out carbon dioxide,” said lead author Carmody McCalley, a scientist at the Earth Systems Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.

Methane makes up only about 9 percent of all the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but it can store up to 21 times more heat than carbon dioxide.

Researchers say they hope the microbic discovery will help scientists improve their simulations of future climate by providing a more accurate picture of how thawing permafrost releases greenhouse gases.

An instrument measuring methane emissions from Methanoflorens stordalenmirensis in northern Sweden

Environment

Global Temperature Extremes

The week's hottest temperature was 112.1 degrees Fahrenheit (44.5 degrees Celsius) at Santiago del Estero, Argentina.

The week's coldest temperature was minus 69.7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 56.5 degrees Celsius) at Russia's Vostok Antarctic research station.

Temperatures were tabulated from the more than 10,000 worldwide synoptic weather stations. The United Nations World Meteorological Organization sets the standards for weather observations, and provides a global telecommunications circuit for data distribution.