Quote: I thought I made it clear that I did not want to further this conversation in this thread.
Sure did. I just wanted to clear up your argument that "natural disasters kill people, therefore we can't affect (or destroy) the earth." I'll respect your wishes and bring up what you mean by "destroying the earth" again in the next global warming thread. I also might ask what you mean by "you people"
My good friend's mom was at the airport where the tsunami hit. She had just flown in to bury her brother's ashes. Holly was a wreck not knowing for over 24 hours if her mom and family were okay. They are expecting that airport to be closed for over a month.
Published March 14, 2011 | Associated Press Print Email Share Comments Text Size
In this image made off Japan's NTV/NNN Japan television footage, smoke ascends from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant's Unit 3 in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northern Japan, Monday, March 14, 2011. The second hydrogen explosion in three days rocked Japan's stricken nuclear plant Monday, sending a massive column of smoke into the air and wounding 11 workers. (AP/NTV/NNN Japan) SOMA, Japan (AP) -- Water levels dropped precipitously Monday inside a stricken Japanese nuclear reactor, twice leaving the uranium fuel rods completely exposed and raising the threat of a meltdown, hours after a hydrogen explosion tore through the building housing a different reactor.
Water levels were restored after the first decrease but the rods remained exposed late Monday night after the second episode, increasing the risk of the spread of radiation and the potential for an eventual meltdown.
The cascading troubles in the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant compounded the immense challenges faced by the Tokyo government, already struggling to send relief to hundreds of thousands of people along the country's quake- and tsunami-ravaged coast where at least 10,000 people are believed to have died.
Later, a top Japanese official said the fuel rods in all three of the most troubled nuclear reactors appeared to be melting.
Of all these troubles, the drop in water levels at Unit 2 had officials the most worried.
March 12: This image provided by the U.S. Navy shows the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan underway in the Pacific Ocean en route to Japan to render humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. "Units 1 and 3 are at least somewhat stabilized for the time being," said Nuclear and Industrial Agency official Ryohei Shiomi "Unit 2 now requires all our effort and attention."
In some ways, the explosion at Unit 3 was not as dire as it might seem.
The blast actually lessened pressure building inside the troubled reactor, and officials said the all-important containment shell -- thick concrete armor around the reactor -- had not been damaged.
In addition, officials said radiation levels remained within legal limits, though anyone left within 12 miles of the scene was ordered to remain indoors.
"We have no evidence of harmful radiation exposure," deputy Cabinet secretary Noriyuki Shikata told reporters.
On Saturday, a similar hydrogen blast destroyed the housing around the complex's Unit 1 reactor, leaving the shell intact but resulting in the mass evacuation of more than 185,000 people from the area.
So the worst case scenario still hung over the complex, and officials were clearly struggling to keep ahead of the crisis.
Late Monday, the chief government spokesman said there were signs that the fuel rods were melting in all three reactors, all of which had lost their cooling systems in the wake of Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami
Some experts would consider that a partial meltdown. Others, though, reserve that term for times when nuclear fuel melts through a reactor's innermost chamber but not through the outer containment shell.
Officials held out the possibility that, too, may be happening.
"It's impossible to say whether there has or has not been damage" to the vessels, nuclear agency official Naoki Kumagai said.
If a complete reactor meltdown -- where the uranium core melts through the outer containment shell -- were to occur, a wave of radiation would be released, resulting in major, widespread health problems.
The Monday morning explosion at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant's Unit 3 injured 11 workers and came as authorities were trying to use sea water to cool the complex's three reactors.
While four Japanese nuclear complexes were damaged in the wake of Friday's twin disasters, the Dai-ichi complex, which sits just off the Pacific coast and was badly hammered by the tsunami, has been the focus of most of the worries over Japan's deepening nuclear crisis. All three of the operational reactors at the complex now have faced severe troubles.
Operators knew the sea water flooding would cause a pressure buildup in the reactor containment vessels -- and potentially lead to an explosion -- but felt they had no choice if they wanted to avoid complete meltdowns. Eventually, hydrogen in the released steam mixed with oxygen in the atmosphere and set off the two blasts.
Japan's meteorological agency did report one good sign. It said the prevailing wind in the area of the stricken plant was heading east into the Pacific, which experts said would help carry away any radiation.
Across the region, though, many residents expressed fear over the situation.
People in the port town of Soma had rushed to higher ground after a tsunami warning Monday -- a warning that turned out to be false alarm -- and then felt the earth shake from the explosion at the Fukushima reactor 25 miles away. Authorities there ordered everyone to go indoors to guard against possible radiation contamination.
"It's like a horror movie," said 49-year-old Kyoko Nambu as she stood on a hillside overlooking her ruined hometown. "Our house is gone and now they are telling us to stay indoors.
"We can see the damage to our houses, but radiation? ... We have no idea what is happening. I am so scared."
Meanwhile, 17 U.S. military personnel involved in helicopter relief missions were found to have been exposed to low levels of radiation after the flew back from the devastated coast to the USS Ronald Reagan, an aircraft carrier about 100 miles offshore.
U.S. officials said the exposure level was roughly equal to one month's normal exposure to natural background radiation, and the 17 were declared contamination-free after scrubbing with soap and water.
As a precaution, the U.S. said the carrier and other 7th Fleet ships involved in relief efforts had shifted to another area.
While Japan has aggressively prepared for years for major earthquakes, reinforcing buildings and running drills, the impact of the tsunami -- which came so quickly that not many people managed to flee to higher ground -- was immense.
By Monday, officials were overwhelmed by the scale of the crisis, with millions of people facing a fourth night without electricity, water, food or heat in near-freezing temperatures.
International scientists say there are serious dangers but little risk of a catastrophe like the 1986 blast in Chernobyl, where there was no containment shells.
And, some analysts noted, the length of time since the nuclear crisis began indicates that the chemical reactions inside the reactor were not moving quickly toward a complete meltdown.
"We're now into the fourth day. Whatever is happening in that core is taking a long time to unfold," said Mark Hibbs, a senior associate at the nuclear policy program for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "They've succeeded in prolonging the timeline of the accident sequence."
He noted, though, that Japanese officials appeared unable to figure out what was going on deep inside the reactor. In part, that was probably because of the damage done to the facility by the tsunami.
"The real question mark is what's going on inside the core," he said.
Overall, more than 1,500 people had been scanned for radiation exposure in the area, officials said.
I was just talking to a lady on the phone about setting up my moms 85th birthday party this summer,, She was telling me about her daughter who lives in Tokyo. To hear her daughter tell it, the threat of eminent danger at the hands of the Nukes is being somewhat blown out of whack.
Again, it's heresay.. no link possible and of course, it could be a daughter trying to lessen the fear a mother is feeling.
But it wouldn't surprise me to hear that the press is building it up.. They tend to do that with just about everything.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
Volcano in southern Japan erupts The Shinmoedake volcano on Japan's Kyushu island, after lying dormant for a couple of weeks, resumes activity in a blast heard miles away. It was unclear if the eruption was linked to Friday's massive earthquake in the north.
he Japanese weather agency has reported that a volcano in southern Japan began spewing ash and rock even as the country struggled to recover Sunday from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.
Japan's Meteorological Agency issued a warning Sunday that the Shinmoedake volcano resumed activity after lying dormant for a couple of weeks.
The volcano is on Kyushu island, about 950 miles from the epicenter of Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake, which devastated much of the country's northeastern coast.
Photos: Scenes of earthquake destruction
It was unclear if the eruptions were linked to quake, officials said. Japan lies on the "ring of fire," a seismically active zone where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common.
The volcano last erupted Jan. 19 after remaining dormant for two years. Volcanologists had warned that a "lava dome" was growing inside the volcano's crater, although it was uncertain when or if the volcano would erupt.
Sunday's eruption, which was the biggest volcanic activity in Shinmoedake in 52 years, caused widespread destruction and panic. The blast could be heard for miles, and shattered windows four miles away, the BBC reported. Hundreds of people fled the area as the volcano spewed debris, including hot ash and rocks, more than 6,000 feet in the air, according to BBC reports.
Volcano in southern Japan erupts The Shinmoedake volcano on Japan's Kyushu island, after lying dormant for a couple of weeks, resumes activity in a blast heard miles away. It was unclear if the eruption was linked to Friday's massive earthquake in the north.
he Japanese weather agency has reported that a volcano in southern Japan began spewing ash and rock even as the country struggled to recover Sunday from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami.
Japan's Meteorological Agency issued a warning Sunday that the Shinmoedake volcano resumed activity after lying dormant for a couple of weeks.
The volcano is on Kyushu island, about 950 miles from the epicenter of Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake, which devastated much of the country's northeastern coast.
Photos: Scenes of earthquake destruction
It was unclear if the eruptions were linked to quake, officials said. Japan lies on the "ring of fire," a seismically active zone where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common.
The volcano last erupted Jan. 19 after remaining dormant for two years. Volcanologists had warned that a "lava dome" was growing inside the volcano's crater, although it was uncertain when or if the volcano would erupt.
Sunday's eruption, which was the biggest volcanic activity in Shinmoedake in 52 years, caused widespread destruction and panic. The blast could be heard for miles, and shattered windows four miles away, the BBC reported. Hundreds of people fled the area as the volcano spewed debris, including hot ash and rocks, more than 6,000 feet in the air, according to BBC reports.
What in the heck is going on down there geesh.... does anybody else think the polar shifts are happening now this is what is suppose to happen when they shift the weather the dead animals all around the world somethings going on.
It only stands to reason that an earthquake which caused the island of Japan to move 8 feet, caused the earths axis to move by 4", and caused an acceleration in time by temporarily speeding up the earths rotation... might have opened up cracks for the volcano..
Quote: a volcano that had been dormant a whole "couple weeks" is active again. my goodness
(yes, i did read that it was the biggest eruption there in 52 yrs and the Japanese surely don't need any more destruction, but still)
My point wasn't whether it was dormant 2 weeks or 2 centuries. Its the fact they are now dealing with a volcano that they were not dealing with the day before.
Quote: But it wouldn't surprise me to hear that the press is building it up.. They tend to do that with just about everything.
Whoa, whoa...you mean the press isn't always telling the exact truth and they're more concerned about ratings than truly reporting the actual situation?
I had a hard time watching CNN over the weekend. It seemed like half of the content was pure Conjecture-related Ratings Assault Pieces (CRAP). One time, a reporter got out of her car at night to show the world she was stuck in traffic...and was showing the stopped cars as if it was cutting edge journalism. "I'm stuck in traffic just outside of Denai and our car hasn't moved for 25 minutes....look at all the stopped cars....this is amazing!"
And I like how they bring on an expert from a local university to describe earthquakes but the person has no real knowledge of the Japanese tectonic situation. It reminds me of the movie Die Hard when they brought on that hostage expert and he was wrong with everything he said (while cutting to actual footage in the building).
Oh well. Let's hope stuff starts to stabilize over there.
Man, 8 feet!?! Wow...that's nuts!
“...Iguodala to Curry, back to Iguodala, up for the layup! Oh! Blocked by James! LeBron James with the rejection!”
I'm pretty sure Tokyo is just a Sim City 2000 simulation -- and the 7 year old running it just found the "disaster" button
~Lyuokdea
"When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 19:33-34
Quote: Whoa, whoa...you mean the press isn't always telling the exact truth and they're more concerned about ratings than truly reporting the actual situation?
I don't know what I could have been thinking
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
Quote: a volcano that had been dormant a whole "couple weeks" is active again. my goodness
(yes, i did read that it was the biggest eruption there in 52 yrs and the Japanese surely don't need any more destruction, but still)
Actually by dormant a couple weeks what they meant was that it erupted for a while starting in January.. before that it has been dormant for 2 years... its not one of those that has been constantly flowing and stopped 2 weeks ago and then started again. Prior to January it had been quite for a couple years..
9.0 is a pretty dam impressive quake though. Everyone remember the 7.0 quake that caused so much damage in Haiti ... 9.0 is 100 TIMES stronger than that.
And apparently, parts of Japan moved 13 feet closer to the US ...
Japan’s earthquake shifted balance of the planet By Liz Goodwin
Mon Mar 14, 9:56 am ET Last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan has actually moved the island closer to the United States and shifted the planet's axis.
The quake caused a rift 15 miles below the sea floor that stretched 186 miles long and 93 miles wide, according to the AP. The areas closest to the epicenter of the quake jumped a full 13 feet closer to the United States, geophysicist Ross Stein at the United States Geological Survey told The New York Times.
The world's fifth-largest, 8.8 magnitude quake was caused when the Pacific tectonic plate dived under the North American plate, which shifted Eastern Japan towards North America by about 13 feet (see NASA's before and after photos at right). The quake also shifted the earth's axis by 6.5 inches, shortened the day by 1.6 microseconds, and sank Japan downward by about two feet. As Japan's eastern coastline sunk, the tsunami's waves rolled in.
Why did the quake shorten the day? The earth's mass shifted towards the center, spurring the planet to spin a bit faster. Last year's massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile also shortened the day, but by an even smaller fraction of a second. The 2004 Sumatra quake knocked a whopping 6.8 micro-seconds off the day.
After the country's 1995 earthquake, Japan placed high-tech sensors around the country to observe even the slightest movements, which is why scientists are able to calculate the quake's impact down to the inch. "This is overwhelmingly the best-recorded great earthquake ever," Lucy Jones, chief scientist for the Multi-Hazards project at the U.S. Geological Survey, told The Boston Herald.
The tsunami's waves necessitated life-saving evacuations as far away as Chile. Fisherman off the coast of Mexico reported a banner fishing day Friday, and speculated that the tsunami knocked sealife in their direction.
Quote: does anybody else think the polar shifts are happening now this is what is suppose to happen when they shift the weather the dead animals all around the world somethings going on.
Nah. While no one knows exactly what will happen, it won't be anywhere near as bad as some people on the discovery channel and history channel want you to think. It'll probably be fairly benign without any tectonic activity.
another blast at one of the reactors-the most severe so far at reactor #2. Seems that there is a breach of the containment structure and pressure is dropping which they surmise is a leak of radioactive material.
Now that is some crazy stuff the cracks are moving back in forth .. what the ????.. well today is march 15 and so far nothing has happened ??? what a surprise
I think it would deal more with the extremes of winter and summer. It the earth was tilted more (down), we would see colder winters and warmer summers. If it was tilted less (up) we would see warmer winters and cooler summers.
It definetely lets you know how weak you are compared to mother nature.She can kick your ass. It's just sad that so many lost their lives and are suffering because of it.
Geological science has always facinated me. I've always loved reading about volcanoes, earthquakes and the like. If the pay and job prospects were as comparable as computer programming jobs, I might of taken that up as a profession ... then again, I don't know if I would be doing the actual fun science stuff, or showing up on NGC specials with rediculous scale models saying, "Look what might happen in an earthquake with a tsunami! Now give us some grants, or this will be your future!"
![[Linked Image]](http://www.dawgtalkers.net/uploads/Punchsmack/punch.gif)
