Japan has revised its tsunami warning system following the March 11 earthquake/tsunami.
The science team for the rover Opportunity have released their first image taken from the rim of Endeavour Crater.
Since this picture looks south from Spirit Point less than a football field’s distance from the rim, it appears to look into the crater, the mountains on the right being the crater’s rim. What looks like a debris field running across the center of the image looks to me to be a combination of exposed patches of bedrock and boulders on the plateau above the rim. For the scientists, those boulders will be the prime research targets, as they are possibly ejecta produced at crater impact and could therefore be material thrown out from deep within the Martian crust.
Satellite data has confirmed that the March 11 Japanese tsunami caused icebergs to calf off the Sulzberger Ice Shelf in Antarctica.
A discovery in Nebraska of rare earth minerals appears set to challenge China’s monopoly.
To me these were the key quotes from this article:
The U.S. used to produce rare earths through the Mountain Pass Mine in California, but it was shut down in 2002, primarily because of environmental concerns, including the spillage of hundreds of thousands of gallons of water carrying radioactive waste into a nearby lake.
and
Although studies have shown the U.S. has 13 million metric tons of rare-earth minerals, National Mining Association spokeswoman Carol Raulston said it does not mine any of it – partly as a result of the difficulty of obtaining permits. “One of the key problems that investors tell us about is that the permitting regime in this country is so complicated and time-consuming that it has hurt investments here in the United States,” Ms. Raulston said.
Global warming: Half of the Earth’s internal heat comes from radioactive decay.
The March 11th Japanese tsunami was the highest on record, 132.5 feet high.
Interested in caves on other worlds? You might want to attend the First International Planetary Caves Workshop to be held October 25-28, 2011 in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
Underwater Antarctic volcanoes discovered in the Southern Ocean.
Mount Etna had its fifth eruption this year Saturday, closing the local airport and causing local clocks to run 15 minutes fast. With lots of good images.
Another Iceland volcano, Hekla, is showing signs that it is about to erupt.
The volcano, dubbed by Icelanders in the Middle Ages as the “Gateway to Hell,” is one of Iceland’s most active, having erupted some 20 times over the past millennium, most recently on Feb. 26, 2000. It measures 4,891-feet (1,491-meters) and is located about 70 miles (110 kilometers) east of Reykjavik, not far from Eyjafjoell.
Tear-drop shaped mesas on Mars suggest ancient oceans to scientists.
Check out the spectacular images of the eruption of this Chilean volcano, its first in 50 years.
Satellite monitoring of the new Iceland volcano eruption.
Deep fractures on Mars, some more than 1500 feet deep.
Arne Saknussemm would be proud: Inside the heart of the volcano.
Indian scientists are about to begin drilling a five-mile-deep borehole to study earthquakes.
Scientists find a gigantic and previously unknown deposit of CO2 at Mars’ south pole.
“We already knew there is a small perennial cap of carbon-dioxide ice on top of the water ice there, but this buried deposit has about 30 times more dry ice than previously estimated,” said Roger Phillips of Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo. Phillips is deputy team leader for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Shallow Radar instrument and lead author of the report. . . . “When you include this buried deposit, Martian carbon dioxide right now is roughly half frozen and half in the atmosphere, but at other times it can be nearly all frozen or nearly all in the atmosphere,” Phillips said.
What this discovery means is that, depending on Mars’ orbital circumstances, its atmosphere can sometimes be dense enough for liquid water to flow on its surface.
The real disaster in Japan continues: Liquefaction.
Walking in Nyiragongo Crater in Africa. The pictures are stupendous.
Scientists have found strong evidence that liquid water once existed in the interior of a comet.
Another hero: Defiant Japanese boat captain who rode out tsunami.
A new statistical study has concluded that big quakes don’t trigger others large quakes far away.
This ain’t good: A nuclear meltdown appears to have occurred at the quake-damaged Japanese power plant.
The earthquake moved Japan’s coast eight feet while shifting the Earth’s axis about four inches.
Hawaii and Pacific islands brace for killer tsunami waves to strike across thousands of miles of ocean.
More here about the situation in Japan.
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