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Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

6.7 earthquake hits the Fox Islands in the Aleutian Islands.

6.5 earthquake hits the Fox Islands in the Aleutian Islands.

5.7 earthquake hits the Fox Islands in the Aleutian Islands.

5.5 earthquake hits the Fox Islands in the Aleutian Islands.

5.2 earthquake hits the Rat Islands in the Aleutian Islands.

5.2 earthquake hits northern Qinghai, China.

5.1 earthquake hits Tonga.

5.1 earthquake hits south of the Kermedec Islands.

5.0 earthquake hits the Fox Islands in the Aleutian Islands.

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Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:

In the Southern Hemisphere: Tropical cyclone 06p (Tiffany), located approximately 294 nm east-southeast of Darwin, Australia, is tracking westward at 14 knots.

Tropical cyclone 05p (Cody), located approximately 402 nm southwest of Suva, Fiji, is tracking southward at 06 knots.

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NewsBytes:

France – Flooding in southwestern France has closed roads and interrupted rail services. Hundreds of homes have experienced power outages. Several people were evacuated in areas of Toulouse, Haute-Garonne Department, where one fatality was reported. The Salat River in Saint Girons, Ariège jumped to levels not seen for 30 years, peaking at 3.13 metres on 10 January, the highest since October 1992 (3.02 metres) and the second highest on record after the June 1875 floods (6 metres). In Oloron Sainte-Marie, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, the Gave d’Oloron river reached its second highest ever level, standing at 5.04 metres on 10 January, below the record high of 5.27 metres seen in June 2018. Communities along the Garonne river in the Haute-Garonne Department saw some of the worst flooding. In the department capital Toulouse, the Garonne river stood at 4.31 metres as of 11 January, the highest level seen since the floods of June 2000 (4.38 metres).

Fiji – One person has died and over 4,000 evacuated their homes after flooding in Fiji brought by heavy rain from Tropical Storm Cody. The island group has seen heavy rain since last week, with rain intensifying as Tropical Storm Cody moved closer. Tailevu on Viti Levu, Fiji’s largest island, recorded 369mm of rain in 24 hours on 10 January 2022.

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Global Warming

Ocean Warming

Thanks to the relentless pace at which humans are adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, ocean temperatures in 2021 were “the hottest ever recorded by humans,” according to a report published Tuesday in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

Since 1958, the researchers found, the world’s oceans have warmed at a steady pace. But that rate sharply accelerated in the late 1980s, warming eight times as fast as in the decades prior.

The seas that are warming fastest, the report says, are the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. While factors such as El Niño and La Niña weather patterns continue to help determine short-term water temperature conditions, greenhouse gas emissions that trap solar radiation and warm the planet’s atmosphere are the biggest factor for increasing ocean warmth, according to the report.

The consequences of rising ocean temperatures range from stronger tropical storms to the accelerated melting of the Earth’s polar ice, which, in combination with the fact that the volume of the oceans expands when warmed, translates into more sea level rise. Warmer oceans result in a greater amount of evaporation, which adds more moisture to the atmosphere and leads to more powerful rain events like those witnessed across the globe in 2021, as well as conditions that give rise to tornadoes.

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Wildfires

Wildfires – Argentina

Wildfires began in Argentina’s Patagonia region in early December 2021, most likely due to a lightning strike. December is summertime in Argentina, and unfortunately that often comes with drought conditions that make wildfires common in the area. In addition to dry conditions, Argentine firefighters have also been battling winds sometimes in excess of 45 mph, AP reports, which has helped spread the flames, and authorities estimate almost 10,000 acres of native forest have been lost to the blaze.