Earthwatch: A Diary of the PlanetCaribbean Threat

Caribbean Threat

Trinidad geologists warned that an undersea volcano in the eastern Caribbean Sea could unleash a destructive wave capable of swamping much of Grenada’s north coast and the Grenadine islands. Chances of a killer wave are low, but the Seismic Research Unit at the University of the West Indies plans to build a system to warn of eruptions or quakes near the volcano known as Kick ‘em Jenny. An eruption of the volcano, just six miles north of Grenada, could generate a wave 60 to 120 feet high. Such a wave would reach Grenada within five minutes.

Volcanic Peninsula

Volcanic activity beneath Lake Karymskoye on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula has created a peninsula that has grown into the lake during the past three years. The coastline of the crescent-shaped peninsula now stretches three miles into the body of water. The process was initiated in 1996 by the eruption of an underwater volcano that produced a 260-foot tsunami, which forced nearly all of the water out of the lake, according to Itar-Tass.

Volcano of Fire

Mexican authorities evacuated more residents around the flanks of the Vulcan de Fuego as the smoking gray mountain shuddered from a new round of internal explosions and small earthquakes.

Earthquakes

The death toll from a powerful temblor that struck Afghanistan’s Maidan Shahr region Feb. 12 reached 60. The disaster also left 500 people injured and thousands of others homeless in bitter cold.

Earth movements were also felt in western and northeastern parts of Iran, Sumatra, Japan, the Kuril Islands, Sicily and western Switzerland.

Spoils of War

Oil leaking from a corroding ship sunk by Tamil guerrillas in September 1997 now threatens marine life off the Sri Lanka coast, according to an environmental group. Nearly 700 tons of oil were in the vessel when the guerrillas attacked and sank it off the northeastern coast of the Indian Ocean island. According to Hemantha Withnage of the Environmental Foundation Ltd. of Sri Lanka, “If something is not done soon, this will have an adverse impact on the Trincomalee area and its lagoon.”

Winter’s Wind

The severity of this winter’s weather across Europe is linked to a newly discovered atmospheric phenomenon over the Atlantic. The “Atlantic Oscillation” is an El Nino-like pattern that normally forms from December to March. It occurs between low pressure off Iceland and a high-pressure center near the Azores. When especially pronounced, it creates a channel that accelerates the jet stream winds blowing off the Atlantic. That moist air has generated the snowstorms that have created havoc across Europe this season.

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Additional Sources: U.S. National Earthquake Information Center and the United Nations World Meteorological Organization.