California Earthquake Hazard Map

This is a map I created on Adobe Illustrator showing Earthquakes over magnitude 5 vs. the population of California.

Copyright: Matt Drahnak November 19, 2011

Large winter storm slams America's largest state

The largest storm in forty years has hit the state of Alaska. Hurricane force winds of around 137 mph pummeled Alaska's western coast creating massive sea surges. With this storm came heavy snow and rain which affected the entire western portion of the state. Over 40 communities have reported large amounts of damage from this storm with winds, flooding and erosion being the culprits of the damage caused. Other communities that were hit hard by this storm included the northwest Alaska villages of Point Hope, built on a large gravel spit, and Kivalina which is affected by landslides due to its highly eroded topography. The amount of people impacted in these two towns is around 1500 people. The location of where these towns were built had a direct relationship to the amount of damage that was endured by these towns. The large storm surges and flooding have resulted in mass wastage events to occur washing away homes.



http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/11/10/alaska-storm-british-columbia.html?cmp=googleeditorspick

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9QU9ROO0.htm

Mudslide ravages Columbia

22 people are dead and 70 people are missing after heavy rain caused a landslide in the city of Manizales, Columbia. The landslide has destroyed at least 17 homes and is threatening to cause more evacuations on the region due to the persistent heavy rains. The La Nina season has been causing hundreds of thousands of evacuations in the country due to the persistent rains that have been pounding the region. Rescue workers with the Red Cross have begun searching for the missing people in the muddy debris. Since this region is high in coffee production, the high agriculture demand for the production of this high valued commodity has caused for there to be large areas of deforestation. These deforested areas are much more susceptible for mass movements (landslides to occur).


http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/05/8659135-mudslide-kills-four-and-leaves-28-missing-in-colombia

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15613951

New hyperspectral camera will be able to detect environmental hazards

 Tel Aviv University has just created a hyper spectral  camera that can analyse more than 300 times more information than the human brain. The human eye can only see the color spectrum whereas this camera can see thousands of colors which are invisible to humans eyes. The creators in Israel hope that this high resolution camera will provide real-time monitoring of forests (fires), urban areas (human health), agricultural lands (nitrogen runoff or erosion), and water bodies (oil spills). The camera has a very large view; it can see objects from up to 500 miles away which means that the device can be placed almost anywhere.

The creators in Israel hope that this camera will be able to detect pollution and other contaminates before they become hazardous to the environment. This story can be related to the Engineering paradigm because it clearly shows human beings creating technology to better understand our environmental impact on the planet and try to prevent future environmental catastrophes.


Article:  http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/energy-and-environment/news/hyperspectral-camera-can-identify-environmental-hazards/1010789.article#ixzz1cf7TR9SB

Heavy snow in northeast puts a damper on Halloween weekend

Record snowfall totals are being set up and down the northeast this past Halloween weekend. Plainfield, Massachusetts saw 27 inches of wet snow in the past 48 hours which is a record for this time of year. Even New York City saw the flakes flying and they received around 1.5 inches. The heavy wet snow has caused 21 deaths in the region. These deaths have been associated with down electric wires,fallen trees from the wet snow and traffic accidents. Additionally this storm has also left three million without electricity. States of emergency have been declared in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and certain parts of New York. Airports have been bogged down and some roads have become inaccessible for the time being. A lot of people were unprepared for the winter weather to strike so early in the season and therefore long term power outages and expected to occur for the remainder of today and into the rest of the week.

Looking at this situation from a complexity approach, the overall preparedness for this storm was low due to the fact that the entire northeast is still recovering from the Irene which flooded large areas of the region a few months ago wiping entire towns off the map in states such as Vermont. From a personal point of view however, after having worked in the northeast in New Hampshire I know that the people of this region are very hearty and they can deal with large snowstorms such as the Halloween blizzard.

image: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/30/MNFA1LOALE.DTL

Article: http://online.wsj.com/article/AP4a3385d8d10049a6825f80f1d086fed9.html

Mexico braces itself for yet another hurricane

Today a category 2 hurricane named Rina is expected to hit the eastern Mexican coast. The Mexican government has issued a hurricane warning for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, which includes Cancun. NASA's Terra satellite passed over the large storm and took pictures. Then, NASA's Aqua satellite took measurements of the clouds using an infrared instrument mounted on the satellite. The infrared imagery showed powerful convection surrounding the eye of the hurricane. The fastest recorded winds of this storm now are around 110 mph. The infrared imagery also showed forecasts of rainfall estimates which range from 8-16 inches associated with this hurricane. Additionally the infrared data also showed that Rina is in an area of  warm ocean temperatures, which will allow the storm to potentially strengthen over time.

The satellite (remote sensing) technology is astounding and helps forecast hurricane strength,rainfall estimates,temperatures, and where storms could make landfall. Technology such as the satellite mounted intruments is the future for forecasting hurricanes and other dangerous storms as technology progresses foreward in this field of remote sensing.

Image taken by the Terra satellite.

 

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111025163126.htm  

Devastating earthquake hits eastern Turkey

Earlier this morning a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit the Lake Van region of eastern Turkey. The death toll stands at 138, with the majority of the deaths occuring in Van. In addition to the deaths there are at least 350 injured in the wake of the quake. Experts say this quake is the most powerful in more than a decade. Almost 100 buildings were destroyed in the quake including many homes/buildings around the lake. Additionally a student dormitory was destroyed resulting in many injuries. Rescue teams have already been deployed to dig through the rubble in search of survivors. A crisis center has been created in the country's capital Ankara. Concerns in the aftermath of the quake are the drastic search for survivors and possible flooding due to the displacement of Lake Van. Turkey has a fairly good response time for earthquakes. The structural integrity of some of the buildings in the rural areas of the country was one of the causes to the loss of life from this quake. Had the quake struck earlier in the day there could have been more injuries as people could have been sleeping in the homes that collapsed.


Location of the earthquake.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/23/turkey-earthquake-up-to-1000-feared-dead
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/europe/turkey-earthquake/?hpt=wo_c2