World
Why Mount Rainier Is The US Volcano Keeping Scientists Up At Night
Mount Rainier, Washington’s snowcapped peak that stands 4.3 kilometers (2.7 miles) above sea level, has not had a significant volcanic eruption in the last 1,000 years. More than Hawaii’s exploding lava fields or Yellowstone’s vast supervolcano, Mount Rainier has many US volcanologists concerned.
“Mount Rainier keeps me awake at night because it poses a significant threat to the nearby villages. “Tacoma and South Seattle are built on 100-foot-thick (30.5-meter) ancient mudflows from Mount Rainier eruptions,” said Jess Phoenix, a volcanologist and ambassador for the Union of Concerned Scientists, on an episode of CNN’s “Violent Earth With Liv Schreiber.”
Volcano | CNN Image
Why Mount Rainier Is The US Volcano Keeping Scientists Up At Night
The sleeping giant’s deadly potential does not stem from flaming lava flows, which, in the case of an eruption, are unlikely to spread more than a few miles beyond the boundary of Mount Rainier National Park in the Pacific Northwest. According to the US Geological Survey, most volcanic ash will likely drift downwind to the east, away from populated centers.
Instead, many scientists are concerned about a lahar, a fast-moving slurry of water and volcanic rock formed when ice or snow is rapidly melted by an eruption. Lahars gather debris as they run down valleys and drainage channels.
According to Seth Moran, a research seismologist at USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington, Mount Rainier’s tall height and ice and snow cover make it resilient to eruptive activity. “Hot stuff … will melt the cold stuff and a lot of water will start coming down,” he explained.
“And there are tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people who live in areas that potentially could be impacted by a large lahar, and it could happen quite quickly.”
A lahar is a rapidly flowing debris flow.
The deadliest lahar in recent memory occurred in November 1985, when Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted. Just a few hours after the eruption began, a flow of mud, rocks, lava, and freezing water surged over the village of Armero, killing over 23,000 people in minutes.
In an episode of CNN’s “Violent Earth,” Bradley Pitcher, a volcanologist and Columbia University lecturer in Earth and environmental sciences, described a hardened, concrete substance that can be difficult to escape.
Pitcher stated that Mount Rainier had approximately eight times the amount of glaciers and snow Nevado del Ruiz had when it erupted. “There’s the potential to have a much more catastrophic mudflow.”
According to the US Geological Survey’s 2018 threat assessment, Hawaii’s Kīlauea volcano is the most dangerous in the US, which is unsurprising given its proximity to the population and periodic eruptions. Mount St. Helens exploded violently in May 1980 and was voted second most dangerous, followed by Mount Rainier in third.
Lahars are most commonly associated with volcanic eruptions, but landslides and earthquakes can also create them. Moran said geologists have discovered evidence that at least 11 massive lahars from Mount Rainier have reached the surrounding area, known as the Puget Lowlands, over the last 6,000 years.
Scientists have not linked the most recent of these lahars, which occurred approximately 500 years ago, to any volcanic activity. According to analysts, the flow event could have been the result of a huge landslide on the mountain’s west face.
The loose, weak rock remains in that location, and Moran and other volcanologists are particularly concerned about the possibility of a similar, spontaneous landslide-induced lahar.
Volcano | CNN Image
Why Mount Rainier Is The US Volcano Keeping Scientists Up At Night
“We now know that the volcano can do it again. “And then we’re in this world where anything can happen at any time,” Moran explained.
“If it were the same size, it would be 10 minutes to the nearest places where people live and 60 minutes to the nearest significant settlements. “And those are very short time frames,” he added.
A 2022 study considered two worst-case scenarios. In the first scenario, a 260 million cubic meter, 4 meter deep (9.2 billion cubic feet, 13-foot deep) lahar would form on Mount Rainier’s west slope. According to Moran, the debris flow would be equivalent to 104,000 Olympic-size pools and could reach the heavily populated lowlands of Orting, Washington, roughly an hour after an eruption, moving at a rate of 13 feet (4 meters) per second.
According to the simulation, a second “pronounced hazard” area is the Nisqually River Valley, where a major lahar may displace enough water from Alder Lake to allow the 100-meter-tall (330-foot-tall) Alder Dam to spill over.
Mount Rainier’s neighbor, Mount St. Helens, farther south in the Cascade Range, erupted four decades ago, causing a disastrous lahar that did not reach any highly populated regions.
Venus Dergan and her then-boyfriend, Roald Reitan, were trapped in the Mount St. Helens lahar while on a camping vacation and are among the few persons known to have survived being swept up in a debris flow.
“I tried to cling on as we were swept downstream, but the tree bark was scraping. … During an interview for CNN’s “Violent Earth,” she recounted feeling it on her legs and arms.
“At one point, I went under the logs and dirt and accepted that this was the end. I was not going to get out of this, and I was going to die.
Volcano | CNN Image
Why Mount Rainier Is The US Volcano Keeping Scientists Up At Night
Following the explosion of Mount St. Helens, the US Geological Survey established a lahar detection system on Mount Rainier in 1998, which has been modified and expanded since 2017.
About 20 places on the volcano’s slopes and the two paths identified as most at risk of a lahar now have broadband seismometers that send real-time data and additional sensors such as trip wires, infrasound sensors, web cameras, and GPS receivers.
Moran explained that the device is designed to identify both a lahar if the volcano erupts in the future and a lahar caused by a landslide.
Because of the constraints of 1990s technology, the original system had limited bandwidth and power requirements, resulting in data transmission every two minutes.
In March, 45,000 kids from Puyallup, Sumner-Bonney Lake, Orting, White River, and Carbonado, Washington, took part in a lahar evacuation simulation. According to the USGS, this was the first time numerous school districts exercised on the same day, making it the world’s largest lahar drill.
Approximately 13,000 pupils walked up to 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) to specified areas outside of the defined lahar zone, while the remaining schools outside the lahar zone practiced sheltering in place.
Moran stated that the fail-safe components of the Lahar detection system are roughly 45 minutes away from the next significant community; thus, that was the time window within which communities had to work.
“Most of what happens at volcanoes is close by, and that’s why you try to keep people away because things happen fast, but lahars can travel a long way from the volcano and have a big impact.”
SOURCE – (CNN)
Mount Fuji, a UNESCO World Heritage site and Japanese icon, has implemented new climbing limits in response to concerns about overpopulation.
Beginning July 1, climbers must pay 2,000 yen ($12.40) per person, and there is a daily limit of 4,000 climbers.
Mount Fuji | Japan Times
Japan’s Mount Fuji Implements Tourist Tax In Response To Overcrowding Concerns
“By strongly promoting comprehensive safety measures for climbing Mount Fuji, we will ensure that Mount Fuji, a world treasure, is passed down to future generations,” stated Koutaro Nagasaki, governor of Yamanashi Prefecture, when he announced the new laws earlier this year.
“To revitalize traditional mountain climbing from the foot of Mount Fuji, we shall get a thorough grasp of the Fuji-ko and Oshi cultures that fostered Mount Fuji worship. We hope to connect different civilizations through mountain climbing, which is steeped in religious cultural values.”
Fuji-ko is a religion unique to the mountains.
Human traffic bottlenecks, garbage-strewn hillsides, and poorly dressed hikers – some attempting the trip in sandals – are among the challenges afflicting the renowned Japanese destination.
In addition, new guides will oversee trail safety and notify climbers if they violate mountain etiquette, such as sleeping along the trail, making a fire, or wearing inappropriate attire.
According to prefectural data, five million people hiked Mount Fuji in 2019, up three million from 2012.
“Overtourism – and all the subsequent consequences like rubbish, rising CO2 emissions, and reckless hikers – is the biggest problem facing Mount Fuji,” Masatake Izumi, a Yamanashi prefectural government official, told CNN Travel last year.
In 2023, a volunteer named Tomoyo Takahashi told CNN that she planned to ask tourists to donate 1,000 yen ($6.20) to help maintain the mountain.
“Not everyone pays the 1,000 yen, which makes me sad. “There should be a much higher mandatory entrance fee so that only visitors who truly value Mount Fuji’s heritage come,” she stated.
Takahashi will finally achieve her wish.
Mount Fuji | CNN Image
Japan’s Mount Fuji Implements Tourist Tax In Response To Overcrowding Concerns
The new limitations, however, only apply to Yamanashi prefecture, which has the most popular hiking trails. Fuji is also located in Shizuoka prefecture, which has yet to have any tariffs or visiting restrictions. Governor Nagasaki told reporters that he and Shizuoka’s governor will meet at the end of the climbing season to swap notes.
Overtourism has become a major issue in Japan since the country reopened during the pandemic.
Locals in Kyoto’s historic Gion area have expressed concern over tourists flocking to photograph and sometimes harass the geisha who live and work there, giving them the term “geisha paparazzi.”
While the city has posted signs and boards urging visitors not to photograph geisha, several locals told CNN Travel that more is needed. The neighborhood council proposed issuing fines or penalties.
Hatsukaichi, in Hiroshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, has also been hit. The little hamlet is notable for its orange “floating shrine” torii gate, part of a 1,400-year-old Shinto complex.
In October 2023, the town started charging 100 yen (62 cents) for visitors to the temple. The “tourist tax” funds the site’s maintenance and infrastructure.
SOURCE – (CNN)
Hurricane Beryl is raging over the Windward Islands as a Category 4, bringing high gusts, heavy rain, and a life-threatening storm surge after landfall on Monday.
According to NOAA statistics dating back to 1851, it is the strongest storm to pass through this region.
Beryl | AP news image
Hurricane Beryl Makes Landfall As Life-Threatening Category 4 Storm
Beryl made landfall shortly after 11:00 a.m. EDT on the Grenadines’ Carriacou Island in the Caribbean Sea, with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm caused power outages, flooded streets, and brought storm surge flooding to sections of the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados, and Tobago on Monday.
Beryl’s arrival marks a particularly early start to the Atlantic hurricane season. On Sunday, it became the Atlantic Ocean’s earliest Category 4 storm on record and the only one in June. The bathtub-warm ocean conditions that aided Beryl’s worrisome strengthening strongly indicate that this hurricane season will be abnormal due to global warming caused by fossil fuel pollution.
According to Jim Kossin, a hurricane expert and science advisor at the charity First Street Foundation, Beryl is smashing June records because the ocean is as warm as it would be during hurricane season.
“Hurricanes don’t know what month it is, they only know what their ambient environment is,” Kossin told CNN on Wednesday. “Beryl is breaking records for the month of June because Beryl thinks it’s September.”
Kossin noted that the ocean heat driving Beryl’s extraordinary power “certainly has a human fingerprint on it.”
Beryl is the Atlantic’s first big hurricane (Category 3 or higher) in 58 years. According to National Hurricane Center Director Mike Brennan, the storm’s quick intensification is unusual for this early in hurricane season. According to NOAA statistics, tropical systems, particularly strong ones, rarely form in the central Atlantic east of the Lesser Antilles in June.
The storm isn’t simply early in the season. It is presently the Atlantic Ocean’s third-earliest significant storm. The first was Hurricane Alma on June 8, 1966, followed by Hurricane Audrey, which reached major hurricane status on June 27, 1957.
Beryl also broke the record for the easternmost hurricane to form in the Tropical Atlantic in June, surpassing the previous record established in 1933.
Beryl | CNN Image
Hurricane Beryl Makes Landfall As Life-Threatening Category 4 Storm
August is generally a more active month in the Middle and Eastern Atlantic because warmer water temperatures fuel emerging systems.
This year, the Atlantic basin has had above-normal water temperatures and a lack of wind shear due to the shift from El Niño to La Niña season, fueling tropical development.
“Beryl has found an environment with very warm ocean waters for this time of year,” she said.
According to Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and research scientist at Colorado State University, systems forming in this section of the Atlantic early in the summer signify the upcoming hyperactive hurricane season. Normally, water temperatures in June and July do not support tropical ecosystems.
“That’s well above average,” Brennan said.
SOURCE – (CNN)
World
Hurricane Beryl Intensifies Into An ‘Extremely Dangerous’ Category 4 Storm As It Approaches The Caribbean
Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, strengthened into an extremely hazardous Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph Sunday morning as it approached the Windward Islands.
Beryl is now the earliest Category 4 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and the only Category 4 storm to occur in June.
Tropical storm-force winds will likely hit the Windward Islands late Sunday or early Monday.
The early timing of the season’s first storm is rare, considering the average date is August 11.
As of 11 a.m, ET, Beryl was about 355 miles east-southeast of Barbados and headed west.
“A life-threatening storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 6 to 9 feet above normal tide levels in areas of onshore flow near where the eye makes landfall in the hurricane warning area,” the National Hurricane Center stated, adding that the surge could bring huge and damaging waves near the shoreline.
Hurricane Beryl | CNN Image
Hurricane Beryl Intensifies Into An ‘Extremely Dangerous’ Category 4 Storm As It Approaches The Caribbean
The hurricane is rapidly strengthening, reaching 55 mph in the 24 hours preceding Sunday morning. The National Hurricane Center defines rapid intensification as an increase in maximum sustained wind speed of 35 mph or more within 24 hours.
“We’re forecasting rapid intensification and expect Beryl to become a major hurricane before it reaches places like Barbados and the Windward islands, and to continue to be a powerful hurricane as it moves into the eastern and central Caribbean as we go into the early portions of next week,” Mike Brennan, Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center, told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday.
Brennan advised residents in hurricane-prone areas to prepare for major storm consequences. Beryl increases the possibility of torrential rainfall, damaging hurricane-force winds, and severe storm surges and waves. According to the center, rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches could cause localized flooding in the Windward Islands on Sunday night and Monday.
According to the weather center, the hurricane is anticipated to dump 3 to 6 inches of rain on Barbados and the Windward Islands through Monday.
Beryl is the Atlantic’s first big hurricane (Category 3 or higher) in 58 years. According to Brennan, the storm’s quick intensification is rare at this early stage of the hurricane season. According to NOAA statistics, only a few tropical systems, particularly powerful ones, formed in the central Atlantic east of the Lesser Antilles in June.
Hurricane Beryl | Getty Image
Hurricane Beryl Intensifies Into An ‘Extremely Dangerous’ Category 4 Storm As It Approaches The Caribbean
Beryl is not only early for this hurricane season but also the third-earliest significant hurricane in the Atlantic. The first was Hurricane Alma on June 8, 1996, followed by Hurricane Audrey, which became a significant storm on June 27, 1957.
The storm has already broken the record for the easternmost hurricane to form in the Tropical Atlantic in June, surpassing the previous record established in 1933.
August is generally a more active month in the Middle and Eastern Atlantic because warmer water temperatures fuel emerging systems.
This year, the Atlantic basin has had above-normal water temperatures and a lack of wind shear due to the shift from El Niño to La Niña season, fueling tropical development.
“Beryl has found an environment with very warm ocean waters for this time of year,” she said.
Warmer waters in the Atlantic Basin have allowed tropical storms and hurricanes to develop at a faster rate in an eastward direction, according to Brennan. This allows storms to become more powerful and thus more destructive earlier in the hurricane season, which lasts from June 1 to November 30.
“These are ocean water you’d normally see like in August or September, but now we’re seeing them in late June,” according to Brennan. “It’s kind of opening up more of the deep tropical Atlantic for formation before we get to what would be the traditional peak of the hurricane season.”
Caribbean islands encourage citizens to prepare ahead of the hurricane.
Authorities are encouraging inhabitants to take precautions, with many Caribbean nations under hurricane watches and warnings as Hurricane Beryl approaches and intensifies.
Hurricane Beryl | CNN Image
Hurricane Beryl Intensifies Into An ‘Extremely Dangerous’ Category 4 Storm As It Approaches The Caribbean
Officials in Barbados believe the hurricane will hit the island as early as late Sunday night. Its meteorological agency predicts storm-force winds, 3 to 6 inches of rain, “hazardous” maritime conditions, and strong thunderstorms that may cause power outages.
“All of the regular hurricane preparations that we do are in full swing,” Minister of Home Affairs and Information Wilfred Abrahams stated. “We have less than 48 hours till we may observe the consequences of this system on Barbados. Please spend your time wisely.”
According to Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and research scientist at Colorado State University, systems forming in this section of the Atlantic early in the summer signify the upcoming hyperactive hurricane season. Normally, water temperatures in June and July do not support tropical ecosystems.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service estimate 17 to 25 named storms this season, with eight to 13 developing into hurricanes, including four to seven major hurricanes.
“That’s well above average,” Brennan said.
The National Weather Service says that’s “due to a confluence of factors, including near-record warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean, development of La Nina conditions in the Pacific, reduced Atlantic trade winds and less wind shear, all of which tend to favor tropical storm formation.”
SOURCE – (CNN)
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