EARTH CHANGES BULLETIN Weekly Update

Geophysical Watch

Monitoring The Changes In The Earth

January 19, 2009

Topic keywords:

Earth's Wobble - Polar Motion - True Polar Wander - La Nina - El  Nino - Ocean Climate Regimes -  North Atlantic Oscillation - North Pacific Gyre - Pacific Equator -  World Weather - Earthquakes - Volcanism - Hurricanes - Global Warming Syndrome  Earthquakes Volcanoes  Drought Fire  Tectonic Shape-shifting Syzygy Predictions

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GEOPHYSICAL WATCH

The Changes In
Our Sacred Body
Without these things we die,
thus these things compose our true body.

Earth's Wobble  |  World Weather  |  Earthquakes  |  Volcanism  |

 
 

 

EARTH'S WOBBLE -  POLAR MOTION: Spin Axis, Magnetic Poles

 Links to:  ALMANAC  |  WOBBLE GALLERY  |  EARTH MONITOR

 

 

Mouse arrow cursor points toward the latest location of Spin Axis

Image is from WobbleTracker software, drawn by MWM

Graph Scale is set to 1.0 arcseconds, Grid Size = 0.05 arcseconds
Time Domain as shown in upper left hand corner
.
All movement is counter-clockwise.
 

This chart shows the location of the North Spin Axis relative to the “map coordinates” which were established at the end of the 19th century.  A drift of over 50 feet since 1900 in the circular track of Chandler’s Wobble is shown in this chart.  This drift is the primary cause of the acceleration in Earth’s tectonic activity. In order to “parallel” the way in which geophysicists create and record the Earth’s polar location geo-reference system, this graph shows the negative numbers opposite to the manner which they are typically drawn in school books.  –X is shown on the top half, and this corresponds to the direction of the Pacific Hemisphere.  –Y is shown on the right side and this corresponds to the Eurasian Land Mass.  X= Longitude 0, which is the Greenwich Meridian which bisects through England; +Y= Longitude West 90,  which bisects through the Great Lakes (North America).

 

[1-19-09 ECB]  POLAR MOTION: same - see below

 

[1-12-09 ECB]  POLAR MOTION:   - The Spin Axis continues to expand normally and at this moment has passed by  Y MIN for this Spiral, which means it is as close to Siberia as it is going to get.  Soon it will be heading towards Alaska.  Or, more correctly, the Earth's crust will be pushing Alaska towards the North Spin Axis.  Other than that, no new news

 

[8-4-08 ECB]  POLAR MOTION:   - no new news since 7-21, the spiral track of the wobble continues on its progression more or less in a normal manner. One can see even more plainly that the North (-) and South (+) track of the wobble on the X Axis describes a bias of movement which is greater than the horizontal movement (east-west).  This bias displays the fact that the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth is slightly heavier than the Northern Hemisphere.  The larger the "swing" of the wobble track, the more the bias can be easily observed.

 

 

[7-28-08 ECB]  POLAR MOTION:   - no new news since 7-21

[7-21-08 ECB]  POLAR MOTION:  The wobble spiral continues to expand but we can now see is this latest 14 month spiral track that the wobble may be displaying a fairly definite "sidedness" in the spin wobble.  From the perspective of Greenwich Meridian, which the 0 line of the X Axis (shown in bold), the Earth appears to bob to the North and South (vertically on the graph) more easily than it bobs to the East and West (horizontally on the graph).  This parallels the tendency we noticed very strongly in January 2006, which is shown by the short North-South spike  in the center of the spirals.  PLEASE NOTE HOWEVER, that this sidedness may be partly an illusion created by a spiral track which is expanding now more rapidly than it has during the prior two years.  It may take another two years to resolve whether or not this is an illusion or a real "lean" in the wobble.

 

[5-19-08 ECB]  POLAR MOTION:  Not much new news.  Only this: the current track of the North Spin (for the past 14 month) demonstrates a small expansion than is more typical and it also demonstrates an oblong (out of round) shape.  It is as if the wobble is a little squashed at roughly its 90 degree graph axis.  The slightly small size of the wobble's spiral track is within historical variation but the somewhat oblong or perhaps elliptical shape is difficult to compare with previous three-year wobble expansion phases. 

 

[4-7-08 ECB]  POLAR MOTION:  Again, no change from prior weeks.  There remains some apparent tendency to truncation of the spiral track on the Y Axis. Movement up and down the X Axis appears slightly easier for the Earth's crust than than movement on the Y Axis.  This pattern we have been observing since the wobble "freeze" of January 2005.

 

[2-18-08 ECB]  POLAR MOTION:  The track now shows some outward expansion as one would expect.

 

[2-11-08 ECB]  POLAR MOTION:  Polar Motion apparently is now deviating once again from a normal track.  What has been a smooth outward expansion since March 2006 is now apparently too truncated to be called an expansionary spiral.  It is "retarded" and parallels far too closely the spiral track of 14 months ago. It should be showing progressive enlargement, but this is no longer evident.  There are two possible explanations.  One is that this Seven Year Wobble Cycle will be smaller than normal (which happens frequently).  Another possible explanation is that the Wobble is merely showing us that significant drift in the average location of the center of the wobble has been and is still underway, such that the spiral center is now drifting towards the left bottom of the chart (down towards about Longitude West 70-80). This the Wobble has also done before.  A third possibility is that both factors are in play.  Stay tuned, the Wobble continues to be more dynamic than anyone previously imagined.

 

[1-28-08 ECB]  POLAR MOTION:  As reported January 27 in the "Pivot Point" Bulletin (see Yahoo Archives), the Earth was apparently at tectonic standstill on Saturday/Sunday (almost 0 seismic activity 4+, ultra-low activity in the range of 2.5-4)) while the Earth's tilted axis orientation (fixed on Polaris) began to recede from the orbital Perihelion point and thus begin the shift of the orientations of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres toward the Sun.  Otherwise, no significant change from previous reports.  The Spiral Track of Earth's Wobble continues to expand outward in a stable pattern. As can be expected (by looking at the history of the Wobble Track), the Earth's Wobble is currently receiving a boost of energy from the Earth's Perihelion moment with the Sun. Since the Earth is closer to the Sun at this moment, solar gravity is tugging in phase slightly more strongly on the heavy side of the Earth (the Southern Hemisphere).  As a result the track of Polar Motion is now clearly showing a marked acceleration in the outward, expansionary movement of its spiral track.  This is all normal. The Spin Axis is currently located in the longitude quadrant of the Russian Far East moving rapidly towards Alaska..

 

NEW CHART RELEASE WHICH PROVES THAT POLAR MOTION PHASES REGULATE EL NINO (and probably the other climate oscillations in the Northern Atlantic and the Indian Oceans): To see the chart Click Here! Composed fresh for the revised edition of the Return of the Phoenix, a new expanded chart shows the track of Earth's Wobble up and down the Greenwich Meridian (called the X Axis of polar motion by geophysicists) for the period 1890-2006.  For additional details go to Wobble Almanac.

WORLD & REGIONAL WEATHER: Storm Fronts, Hurricanes, El Nino & La Nina, Drought & Fire, Global Warming

 

 

Why it is so cold in some places:  LA NINA IS OFFICIALLY HERE

 

[1-19-09]  NOAA reports officially that we are in a cold water LA NINA Pacific Ocean climate regime (which influences the Jet Stream and thus the climate of the entire planet). This at the moment is a borderline condition and during the last two weeks this condition has slightly weakened.  There are many individual model projections, the majority of which are not correct most of the time, but some of them are at least half the time, like the weathermen of old, and  at the moment at least half of them appear to show that La Nina will persist through Spring 2009. For this weeks thorough update profile brief from NOAA , click here:  Weekly ENSO Evolution, Status, and Prediction Presentation (PDF)

 

NOAA ENSO SWEEPING SUMMARY as of January 19, 2009

•Atmospheric and oceanic conditions reflect La Niņa.

•Negative equatorial SST anomalies persist across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.

•Based on recent trends in the observations and model forecasts, La Niņa conditions are likely to continue into Northern Hemisphere Spring 2009.

 

[9-1-08] GENERAL INTENT:  The volume of weather material is beyond my ability to track as I shift my focus more militantly to finish my book projects.  I am going to update this section by trimming this section severely.

 

[9-1-08] TREMENDOUS INSIGHT: The weather chaos and unusual patterns may be primarily generated BY THE ACCELERATION OF THE JET STREAM AND THE ARTIC AIR MASS GYRE. Nobody's noticing it because nobody is looking there. 

 

GENERAL FORECAST: 

 

[1-19-09] Tear up the professional weather predictions for any time frame greater than 10 days, most of them have been wrong for this year and the accuracy is not going to improve.   For the next ten days of  NOAA weather predictions, go to Climate Center Weather Maps. As can be seen at this site, weather forecasts for the entire season ahead are now becoming routine but for greater than ten days they are likely not worth a tinker's diddle. Expect cold, snow, rain, and slow storms, widely for the next 30 days, pretty much the weather of now and the past two weeks.  Eurasia is a little bit different call, the North Atlantic Oscillation WAS in a MAX warm phase, centered around Newfoundland, but this is now fading. Whatever your weather was, it will continue to shift.

 

Old Farmer's Almanac likely expects a cold Winter.  I expect chaotic patterns because of the lack of Solar entrainment and the presense of La Nina.  La Nina, however, may be dissolving.

 

 

See http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_hem_loop-12.html

 

For more, see the NOAA National Climate  Prediction Center

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/index.php

 

These are great charts which lays it all out very well for

  • 6-10 Day SEVERE WEATHER FORECAST - NORTH AMERICA
     

  • 6-10 Day TEMPERATURE FORECAST - NORTH AMERICA
     

  • 90 Day DROUGHT FORECAST - NORTH AMERICA

 

Click here for:
Weather Forecast For The Next 18 Months - North America

U.S. Weather Service - Experimental Forecasts
[5-5-08 ECB] Click to these charts for the next several seasons - the charts show expected temperatures and moisture compared to average.  I suspect for summer of 2008 the forecasts will be close to the mark for the PSW and the western half of North America.  But I do not think they have El Nino in mind and I suspect THAT will be roaring down the pike late Fall 2008 and winter of 2009.

LATEST HURRICANE SEASON UPDATE

 

It crashed and burned, the season did, like 2007.  What's up?  Solar MIN. Such storms simply are not produced very well during the eleven year lull in the Solar Sunspot Cycle. Duh.

 

Hurricane Sources For Reference:

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml

 

Atlantic Storm Tracks & Advisories: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

 

USN Advisories This Date

I use NASA for Atlantic, USN for the remainder of the world

 

From:  http://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.php

Most items in this list are clickable

 

NOAA EAST PACIFIC  Latest Facts & Forecast Updated every 12 hours

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo_epac.shtml

NOAA WEST ATLANTIC  Latest Facts & Forecast Updated every 12 hours

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo_atl.shtml

 

SUMMARY ASSESSMENTS  as of January 12 2008

 

FOR THIS YEAR, THE EXTREMES IN CYCLONES, TORNADOES, AND FLOODS PLAINLY AND ABSOLUTELY ARE NOT A RESULT OF STIMULUS FROM THE SUN NOR NATURAL NOR HUMAN-CAUSED CONDITIONS IN THE ATMOSPHERE.  This can only by Global Warming Syndrome, showing us what the new weather "normal" is becoming as the Earth's oceans continue to gradually warm.

 

 

The Ocean Climate Regimes (relative to averages)

NEW PREDICTION TOOL BY NOAA PEOPLE - THEY ARE GETTING MORE POWERFUL IN THE ART - EVEN IF THEIR PRESENTATION IS STILL A LITTLE TOO OBSCURE FOR GENERAL READERS -  MAY BE WORTH A LOOK:

 

Most likely Atlantic hurricane seasons will not become record-makers again until 2010 or possibly not until higher up the ramp to Solar MAX in 2012.  The result will be pretty much pure "Global Warming" syndrome, mightily influenced throughout the Northern Hemisphere by the North Central Pacific Gyre, with occasional peaking of storm intensity by surges in Solar Activity (but Solar Activity looks like it is going to be minor for the next few months). 

 

Click here for complete version of  NOAA's latest ENSO Assessment: Weekly Update:  Weekly ENSO Evolution, Status, and Prediction Presentation (PDF) On Monday the CPC updates in two different formats: a PowerPoint and a PDF  presentation.  They present the recent trends and change, summarize the current status and and give predictions of conditions in the tropical Pacific related to the El Niņo-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle for the year ahead.

 

 

[5-19-08 ECB] NOAA GRAPH PREDICTIONS FOR THE NEXT EL NINO:  Some 15 different prediction models from various sources around the world are summarized in this graph.  El Nino and La Nina are technically now categorized as Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) plus or minus 0.5 degrees C from an averaged historical norm.  Two predictors agree with the ECB that El Nino may begin to set in this Summer (from July onwards) and two others agree that El Nino may begin to set in this coming November. Five others suggest that La Nina is still here and will remain virtually as it is now through to the end of 2008.  [1-19-09 ECB]  Basically, the models in the graph below which predicted La Nina were correct.  Though the stats are borderline around -0.5 C for the latest sea surface temperatures on the Pacific Equator, NOAA declares this a La Nina as of December 09.  Current graphs, see the NOAA PDF link above, suggest La Nina through Spring 09 will continue to pound the PNW and make for a cold late Spring in the Mountains and the Mid West.

 

 Click on image for larger, clearer view

  

source:  NOAA National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center
see ENSO DIAGNOSTIC DISCUSSION BY NOAA

Figure provided by the International Research Institute (IRI) for Climate and Society (updated 18 April 2008). 

 

 

For More Information On Dynamics and Predictions Of  The Ocean Climate Regimes & El Nino / La Nina:  GO TO THE WEATHER/CLIMATE ALMANAC

 

THE NEXT EL NINO:  The year 2009 is an X MAX year in the Wobble  and El Nino almost never occurs during a year in which the size of the wobble spiral is at maximum size. Accordingly El Nino is now likely to occur in 2010, 2011, or in 2009, with probably the greatest odds for 2010-2011.
 

GLOBAL WARMING SYNDROME:  Swamped by La Nina.  The Arctic suddenly reversed its extreme melt and is now headed to extreme freeze.  The Global Warming trend will disappear for 2009 as it did in the later part of 2008.  Global Cooling may appear in the statistics, but this will last only until the next El Nino or the rise of major Solar Activity from Solar Cycle #24.  Then the Carbon Cap Quacks will be back in force with the Global Warming Boogieman.  If Tectonic Trends continue upward, Global Warming Syndrome is sure to reappear, but it is going to be on vacation for at least one year, perhaps two or three.

 

 

 

SOURCE: NOAA

The key to dynamic change is the bottom graph which displays the "out of average" readings.  This allows us to quickly spot the extremes which are forming up in the various oceanic climate regimes.  It is a lot cheaper and easier than using supercomputers.

 

Seasonal Color Map Graphs - Predict Rain and Temperatures For North America For The Year Ahead – Science Is Finally Catching Up With Farmer’s Almanac.  Go here to get updated on the likely rain and temperature forecast.  This one currently on the web is essentially based on a La Nina forecast. 

 

GEOTECTONIC ACTIVITY: Volcanoes, Shape Shifting, Earthquakes

Links to:  ALMANAC  |  GEOTECTONIC  GALLERY  |  EARTH MONITOR

 

Al, you there?  Here is the primary signal of the tectonic motion which is creating Global Warming.

 

EARTHQUAKE TRENDS & THE CHANGE IN THE EARTH

Links to:  ALMANAC  |  QUAKE GALLERY  |  EARTH MONITOR

 

Click here to see the latest graphs of the Global Quake Trend
(fourfold increase during the past 30 years)

 

EARTHQUAKES CURRENT:

 

[1-19-09 ECB]   After two mild Perihelion  - Perigee surges, seismic activity has been vigorous in the Class 4 to Class 5 range during the past several days, a little above average.  The Americas have been mainly silent, most activity has been on the Western Pacific, especially related to the northern edge of the Australian Tectonic Plate.

 

January 19, 2009, IRIS Chart Class 4+

 

 

CLICK ON IMAGES FOR EXPANDED VIEW; red indicates quakes 4+ during the previous 24 hours, orange during previous day, yellow during the previous two weeks, violet during the past 15 years

SEISMIC MONITOR BY IRIS
 

Best to go here below and click for the latest dynamic page with explanations of the symbols and large displays of regions of the Earth (these are "at the moment" charts):  http://www.iris.edu/seismon/

Last Seven Days - for earthquakes worldwide magnitude 4.0 plus and U.S. territorial magnitude 2.5 plus; for source list see http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_big.php

 

 

The East Pacific Rift is known to be separating at a faster rate than any other zone but generally the rifting produces only small quakes, under Class 3.  Thus they do not show up on anyone's charts because no one is paying any attention to such small quakes.  The same is true of all of the Great Rift, but the Atlantic portion also produces many more Class 4+ quakes during the course of any given year than the other rift zones.  No one seems to know why.

 

CONCERNING DATABASE FILES OF QUAKE CATALOGS:
The EC Bulletins is now using  ONLY THE "ANSS COMPOSITE QUAKE CATALOG" for stats - The ANSS is the evolved transformation of the CSSC system based at Berkeley California where the geophysicists have been collecting data since the beginning of the seismograph technology.  The USGS databases are derived from the ANSS catalogs and the IRIS group above is attempting to provide a scientific display network for access to current information about current earthquakes (for the last 30 days).

 

SHAPESHIFTING:  ACTIVITY LAST YEAR WAS VERY HIGH.

Shape-shifter quakes indicate the spreading of the Rift Valley, the creation of new crust through magma dikes which fills in the cracks of the Great Rift, and hence the inevitable forcing of the Earth’s crust to change its shape to adjust for the new crust.  Most subduction zone quakes (such as in the Pacific Rim of Fire) probably occur as a consequence of the shape-shifting of the Earth. The outlines of the tectonic plates and the Great Rift can be be seen in the violet color in this chart above.  For a chart of Earth’s Tectonic Plates, go to: http://www.iris.edu/seismon/html/plates.html

 

M 5+ earthquakes, past 7 days RSS 2.0 CAP
The USGS RSS Feed, which is constantly changing its content, can be accessed at:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/catalogs/eqs7day-M5.xml

 

Other Datafeeds On Quakes:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/catalogs/

 

TECTONIC MOTION QUAKE FORECAST:
Forecasts are based on Syzygy Windows which can be seen in the Lunar Ephemeris Charts.  Go to the Moon section to select your chart.

Occasionally the chart information is supplemented with data from Earth Sensitives, who include some humans and animals. For Earth Sensitive information, go to PamWiseman.com  For other Syzygy-type forecasts and a portal to other valuable approaches, see Syzygyjob.com

 

ECB EARTHQUAKE FORECAST: as of 1-19-09

Great Quakes Class 7+ on average occur about every three weeks, Class 6+ occur on average every other day, hence major destructive quakes are always possible somewhere in the world, especially more often than not near the extreme moments in the lunar cycles. The relatively mild quake profiles for December and January suggest that the Tectonic Activity trends have leveled off.  This condition should continue through much of 2009, probably no Class 8+ quakes, perhaps lower than average (of the last year) for all Class 4+.

 

VOLCANISM

Links to:  ALMANAC  |  VOLCANO  GALLERY  |  EARTH MONITOR

 

 

Krakatau In Vigorous Eruption November, 2007
(also popularly known as Krakatoa)

 

For Some New Volcano Reports
as written by John Seach, See http://www.volcanolive.com/volcanolive.html  Reports are posted in Eastern Australian Time (UT +10 hr).  Archived Volcano News  RSS

For Comprehensive Coverage Of New Eruptions
see the current eruptions profiles at the International Volcano Research Center

[1-19-09 ECB]   The IVRC Active List dropped to 18 in December 2008 and is now already back up to 29 as of this day.  That is as much as the average number of active continuous eruptions during 2008, according to the IVRC update summary web page.   Restless List is at 6 while the Alert List is back up to 65.  The number of updated reports is typical for this week and most of the activity reported is related to minor explosions and occasional ash venting.  Kilauea is strongly expressing lava, Stromboli nightly explosions are still a major tourist draw, and the volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula are still at it with ash emissions and some lava flow, and Soufriere Hills on Montserrat is still generating an ash plume.  As during last Fall, Kamchatka and the Carib plates appear to be the most vigorous areas at this time. Our herald Etna is apparently slumbering, but fitfully, a minor ash/steam emission was reported this past week.

 

Doubtless, the volcano season for 2009 is now beginning to surge but  most of the action is still minor within the major continuous erupters.  A few occasional erupters are sputtering on and off.  The surge is off to a good start, with a significant spread of 29.  This may be a strong year for volcanism.

 

Equally doubtless is that 2008 was not a record year. So 2009 can be a more active year and it will not have to set any records to do so.   Since these counts in 2007/2008 are key to my Tectonic Activity Trends Charts, I am going to spend a lot of time this next week counting activities at each of the volcanoes.

 

Forecast:   [1-7-08 ECB] In accordance with past wobble cycles and the general average trend of increase in volcanic activity, I expect that volcanic activity during 2008 will be about the same as 2007 or abate by a small percentage.

PROGNOSIS ON THIS DEC 2008.  Hard to tell. Will have to do a lot of counting in January to make a determination.

 

Forecast For The 2009 Volcano Season:  It will commence with a flare or two in late November and more in December.

 

SUMMARY DATA FROM THE INTERNATIONAL VOLCANO RESEARCH CENTER: 

 

General Note:   INTLVRC reached a 100% rate of accuracy in predicting eruptions, the first time in their history since 1989.  They also documented 69 eruptions during 2005 and 2006, which most likely defines a peak plateau.  I expect to see even higher in 2007 (based on Wobble parallels) and then another plateauing for a couple years.  The year 2007 began with higher than normal numbers for "alert list" volcanoes.  The list generally begins the year in the range of 60 but it began the year at 71 for 2007, a record, and was at 73 just eight days into the year.  Activity going into 2008 is apparently about 10% lower.

Conclusions Independently Reached From Data At The International Volcano Research Center (INTLVRC)

http://www.intlvrc.org/

 

In early January the INTLVRC resets their counts.  They carried forward into 2007 16 volcanoes on the active list . Only 13 were carried forward as active into 2008 but within two weeks time the active list had swelled up to 20 .  Apparently the reset was too severe and a base number of 20 is more likely to be a better number.   Thus, the year probably began at about the same level as did 2007 or perhaps a little higher.  These are volcanoes  which more or less are continuously erupting.

[12-15-08]   Alert List = 58

[12-15-08]   Restless List =4

[12-15-08]   Active List = 27

 

PREDICTING ERUPTIONS:

 

Side Note on INTLVRC's eruption prediction program.  

ERUPTION Pro 10.6   

 

 

 

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