Tsunami warning for west coast

[Alan]

A massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck just south of Santiago Chile at 1:30 AM EST. A tsunami warning was generated for the entire Pacific rim. Hawaii should be struck by 11:30 today. So far only about 80 people are reported dead but with the state of communications in Chile greatly limited that number will surely rise.

 

[sailingdog]

damn, that's a big quake.

 

[zeehag]

first thing i saw when i opened my lappy this am---is huge.....

 

[Rick D]

About Noon In Greater Los Angeles...

...but probably more big currents than flooding. I suspect the will ask people in marinas to leave their boats for caution tho. Poor people in Chile! That's a massive quake and will take a huge effort for rescue, security and recovery!

 

[Hermit Scott]

Could you imagine doing an ocean crossing while a 600 mph wave is coming at you? There had to be some boats out there that saw it. Youtube probably has something already.

 

[Ross]

Could you imagine doing an ocean crossing while a 600 mph wave is coming at you? There had to be some boats out there that saw it. Youtube probably has something already.

In the open ocean you won't be aware of a tsunami wave. It is only as the wave approaches a shore that the wave mounts up and delivers its energy

 

[John Nantz]

Interview with USGS in Colorado

Chile earthquake alarming (Feb 27): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7jaayXlm-M

Has a number of "aftermath" pictures. Many pictures of parking garages with squashed cars, destruction, and grief-stricken people

Chile Quake Is One of the Biggest in a Century (Feb 27): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...5091611248294970.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines By comparison, in the USGS interview above the lady said that there is about one 8.0 quake per year world-wide.

Tsunami travel time from Chile (neat map): http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/2010/02/27/725245/12/ttvu725245-12.jpg

Giant iceberg breaks off from Antarctic glacier (Feb 26): http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS...ia_ow=t0:s0:a49:g43:r3:c0.121092:b31166020:z0

Editorial comment: The melting of polar ice and glaciers must have some effect on tectonic plate movement world-wide. As glacier mass redistributes itself it has an effect on the balance of Earth. As the rotational balance and axis changes, so to must the forces on the tectonic plates. As man"kind" exacerbates the global warming problem is it any wonder if there seems to be an up-tic in these kinds of events.

 

[Benny]

Chile had a 9.5 in 1960. They know how to construct dwellings here so you will not see the devastation you saw in Haiti. Accordying to the Mercalli Intensity Scale which takes into consideration the location defined the intensity in the capital, Santiago, as a VII which is classified as very strong with major effects of wall cracks. And this is what it is being seen through the capital. Some buildings are badly damaged and unusable but there were very few collapses. Obviously reports from near the epicenter are slow in getting out and there will be some tragedies but not anywhere near those in Haiti. The spanish station Univision has been broadcasting live video. The tsunamis are a real threat and caused some damage in Easter Island. We will see what happens as these waves reach locations around Asia.

 

[Scott]

Melting of polar ice caps and glaciers has absolutely nothing to do with plate tectonics. If you want to blame "global warming" for an earthquake - earthquakes are indeed caused by interior heating within the core of the earth. As interior temperature increases, pressure increases - hence somethings gotta give, and it just happens to occur at faults and plate boundaries found throughout the earth.

 

[John Nantz]

Tides and seismic events have a proven connection

In reading information about the Chile earthquake I came across an article where the University of Washington geoscientists after a decade long study have detected what amounts to ultra-slow-motion earthquakes on a regular basis about every 14 months. They also found evidence these events are affected by the rise and fall of ocean tides. There is other evidence of the connection between sea level and seismic events because major events often occur during periods of major tide swings.

If tidal swings can have an affect on seismic events, then certainly changes in the sea level can, too.

The Earth spins like a top with a bit of a wobble to it, or a flywheel, and changes in balance must have some effect on the plates and perhaps even the interior core. It take a very small change in mass at the outer edges to affect the balance of a flywheel. Changes in loads has got to either increase or decrease frictional resistance so there must be some effect.

The melting of the polar caps and glaciers will cause a change in location of the mass to the lower latitudes and that's pretty much a given.

 

[Rick D]

Local Tsunami Action

Well, my boat neighbor reported more action than I would have expected. Here's her e-mail as the wave went through about noon:

Just saw a 4' tide change (in about 5 mins)
Bouys aren't showing any fast currents right now....
Otherwise - sunny and nice right now!
Two freighters coming into harbor

 

[rpwillia]

You do realize that Global Warming is Junk Science, right?

The melting of the polar caps and glaciers will cause a change in location of the mass to the lower latitudes and that's pretty much a given.

Last I checked ice floats on water, so if it melts it just gets absorbed. Look at your whiskey tonight and let the ice melt before you drink it. Did it overflow the glass - yup, I didn't think so.

Pity about global warming - it would have extended the boating season; and I am all for that.

 

[Alan]

Agreed John, rushing to judgment and drawing simplistic conclusions with no real scientific evidence is not very effective.
Jumping the gun is a poor choice even for political reasons.

 

[JohnS]

The big chunk of ice that recently broke off from Antarctica was all un-grounded. It was already floating, just like the ice in that cocktail glass, hence no net sea level change or mass balance as a result. It's the loss of grounded ice that will raise sea levels, and could affect plate tectonics.

 

[Ross]

Last I checked ice floats on water, so if it melts it just gets absorbed. Look at your whiskey tonight and let the ice melt before you drink it. Did it overflow the glass - yup, I didn't think so.

Pity about global warming - it would have extended the boating season; and I am all for that.

Lest you deceive yourself be aware that global warming is a fact. You simply don't comprehend the implications. The summers and winters are not going to become a few degrees warmer They are going to become more extreme. The changes will be hardly noticeable on an annual chart. The fifty year average precipatation for February will probably increase only slightly and the temperature may decrease only slightly. But that may be enough to cause the forecast rain to fall as snow. The result will be that people will say we didn't get this much snow in the past, but they won't remember that the pond hasn't frozen for ice skating in several years while it froze every winter when they were in high school.

 

[KD3PC]

Ross and the group

Sorry to disagree, Climate change is a fact and

global warming is but the latest teeter totter to make someone tons of money. Just a few years back it was global cooling-next ice age.

tll the models and the "experts" get the models to replay what we know has happened in recent history correctly, how can you put faith and trillions of dollars in their latest models. It is more about who gets published and the acclaim, than it is the facts.

til politicians and internet-inventors keep their collective noses out of it...

even the experts on tsunami wave were off by almost an hour with the wave action hitting Hawaii. This after making a production about hitting with "8ft surge at 11:19 local time at Hilo"

One thing you would think these idiots would learn that when dealing with Mother Nature and even science - there are no certainties and absolutes...Pluto was a planet when I was young, and I was punished by the Nuns for even thinking that there might be others, now it is not... Many fishes, were extinct, now they are not...Drag Cars can not go over 150mph, Don Garlits did it, then when they said 170mph, he topped that, then again at 190mph, and now they are over 300mph.

The real gains to society will be when these clowns quitting "theorizing" and look at practical solutions for the things we know are hurting us the most. Cut back on packaging, quit throwing everything away, fossil fuels WILL run out, water is being polluted at amazing rates. Purascan systems are better than dumping overboard. Etc,
Anything else is icing on the cake.

 

[Bill1565]

I live in Florda, curently 6 1/2 feet above sea level. Tidal stations in Tampa Bay and at Ft Myers have recorded 4 inch raises in sea level in the last 50 years, 8 inches Tampa in the last hundred.

Florida has been under water many times in the past. Will be under again in the future. Canada and northern US have been ice covered many times in the past. local scientists agree that during the current warming period weather will be more extreme. Hotter hots, colder colds, wetter wets etc. Just like it was in past ice ages/warm periods. Mankind may or may not be hurrying the process.

 

[Scott B]

Let's keep this on the original track on and not go into political Global warming please.

 

[KD3PC]

the original poster rephrased the tsunami warning, and if you had watched the statement, given with such authority, no room for an hour plus or minus, or height plus or minus...

I was simply saying that if the "expert" can not accurately provide facts about this tsunami, that they can literally watch with buoys and satellites, how can you trust them to be accurate about anything, especially models and speculations.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for science and discovery, but just don't preach to me accuracy and authority, when in reality there is none.

As an example the recent snow storms we have gotten here, are preceded by media and expert weather predictors as certainties and definites. It doesn't work that way in real life.

The experts blast - you need to do this, and buy that, and etc, etc....somehow Chicago and Toronto (I have been to both during the winter, and do not need to guess or speculate or pretend to know) survive every year with far greater snow, and less fanfare. When was the last time that the Provinciall Capitols were shut down for 4 days, due to snow.

Even the original poster, no offense Alan, speculates that the number of dead will rise? How does he know? Why will the number rise? Why is that presented as fact, when it may or may not be?

Santiago is a very cosmopolitan city, as is Concepcion, both have learned a lot since the last 9+ in the 60s....and surprisingly done something about it. Their construction is better now, tie ins to other buildings are not being made, better materials being used, etc.

 

[Ross]

There is a sufficient body of evidence in historical records of the melting of glaciers and in the nesting patterns of birds and in the growth patterns of forests to give credence to the concept of long term global warming. Is human activity responsible for some of these changes? Probably, but to what degree is uncertain. There are more acres of forest land today in America than there were 100 years ago. We are also burning more fossil fuel today than we did 100 years ago. But we are burning it cleaner. I am pretty well convinced that the biblical floods(every society has such a tale) were the result of the melting of the great ice sheet 10,000-15,000 years ago. The sea levels rose during that time by a few hundred feet and coastlines were changed dramatically. Can we "DO" anything about global warming? Only about as much as Noah was able to do.