UK braced for 'weather bomb'

 The UK is preparing to be hit by a "weather bomb" with freezing winds of up to 130 kilometers an hour and giant waves causing disruption to travel and power supplies.

The Met Office issued alerts on Wednesday as the deep, low-pressure system headed for the country.

Ferry and rail journeys were cancelled in parts of Scotland due to high winds and large waves hitting the coastline while schools in the Highlands and Western Isles were shut down.

In the Western Isles, 17,000 homes suffered a power cut as lightning struck electricity facilities early on Wednesday morning.

Storm warnings were also issued for Thursday across Britain by weather forecasters, with travelers being warned they would face major disruption.

- Freezing winds

Several flood warnings were issued across Scotland

Amber "be prepared" alerts were issued by the Met Office for western Scotland, the Highlands, Northern Ireland, Orkney and Shetland and Strathclyde regions.

Yellow "be aware" weather warnings were applied to England's South East, South West, North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber and northern Wales.

Referred to by meteorologists as a " weather bomb", deep, low-pressureweather systems known as cyclogenisis are known for their severe effects wrought by freezing, strong winds.
www.aa.com.tr/en
10/12/14
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Japan Cancels Dozens of Flights Following Volcano Eruption: Reports

Dozens of flights have been cancelled across southern Japan following the first eruption in 22 years of the country's largest active volcano, the Japan News reported Friday.

The active volcano Mount Aso in the southwest of Tokyo has been shooting out chunks of magma since Friday morning. It ejected lava debris and plumes of ash a kilometer (3,280 feet) high into the air on Wednesday after tremors began the day before, the newspaper reported.

Flights have been cancelled from the nearest city, Kumamoto, following a warning from the country’s Meteorological Agency to stay away from the volcanic crater. However the country’s observatory does not foresee an escalation in the eruption. Most of the activity occurred one hour within the explosion.

According to the newspaper, some hikers near the summit may have been hit by the flying rocks within a one kilometer radius of the volcano.

Mount Aso is Japan’s largest active volcano. In September, more than 60 people died when another volcano in the country, Mount Ontake, erupted. Mount Ontake's eruption was the worst in Japan for 90 years.
[sputniknews.com]
28/11/14
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•  Volcano in south Japan erupts, disrupting flights ...

• Volcano in central Japan erupts, injuring visitors (2 video)

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Night flight operations in N. Philippine airport halted due to typhoon damage

Night flight operations in an international airport in northern Philippines have been suspended after its runway was partly damaged by tropical storm Fung-Wong (local name Mario), the state aviation agency said Monday.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said that it has informed the airline operators that arrival and departure of their aircraft were temporarily halted from sunset to sunrise at the Laoag International Airport in Ilocos Norte province.
It cited the breakdown of the airport's runway edge light after the heavy rains spawned by Fung-Wong inundated the runway, grounding electrical connections.

"Airlines are only allowed to operate during day time from 6 a. m. to 6 p.m. until the grounded portion of runway are fixed," CAAP said.

Technical personnel were already deployed in the area to fix the problem, it added.

As of Monday, Fung-Wong has left 11 people dead, 12 injured and two missing.

• Of the 258,976 families affected in 1,126 villages in 27 provinces in northern part of the Philippines, including Metro Manila, 30,266 families or 129,676 individuals were being assisted at 324 evacuation centers.

Sources: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
22/9/14
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• Powerful Storm Blows Through Taiwan, Hits China 

• Death toll in Typhoon Fung-Wong climbs to 7 in Philippines. (A total 118,839 families or 530,438 persons were affected by the storm)

• The tropical storm Fung-Wong which begun in Philippines earlier this week causing heavy flooding and five deaths is expected to hit Taiwan by Monday, according to the Central Weather Bureau in Taiwan....

Iceland issues red alert after new eruption near volcano

Iceland on Sunday raised its aviation alert over its largest volcano to the highest level of red after a new eruption nearby.

The alert entails a ban on all flights below 6,000 feet (1.8 kilometers) within a radius of 10 nautical miles (18.5 kilometer) of Bardarbunga.

"All airports are open. The area has no effect on any airports," the Civil Protection Office said in a statement.

Sunday was the third time in a week that Iceland issued a red alert for aviation due to seismic activity near Bardarbunga.

The latest eruption happened roughly in the same area of another eruption on Friday, the authorities said. Bardarbunga, in the southeast of the country, is Iceland's second-highest peak.

A major explosion at Bardarbunga, located under Europe's largest glacier, could signal a replay of the global travel chaos triggered when another Icelandic peak blew four years ago, unleashing a massive ash cloud across Europe.
Source: AFP - globaltimes.cn
31/8/14 (1/9/14)
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Related:

• Strong quakes shake Icelandic volcano 

• Iceland issues aviation alert on volcano activity (M 4.7 - ICELAND - 2014-08-23 18:33:06 UTC.....local time: 18:33)

• Iceland lowers aviation alert from Bardarbunga volcano...

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• M 5.0 - ICELAND - 2014-08-31 12:01:47 UTC

Magnitude    mb 5.0
Region    ICELAND
Date time    2014-08-31 12:01:47.6 UTC
Location    64.71 N ; 17.44 W
Depth    2 km
Distances

    224 km E of Reykjavík, Iceland / pop: 113,906 / local time: 12:01:47.6 2014-08-31
113 km S of Akureyri / pop: 16,563 / local time: 12:01:00.0 2014-08-31 

-----------------------

• M 4.6 - ICELAND - 2014-08-31 16:12:36 UTC

Magnitude    Mw 4.6
Region    ICELAND
Date time    2014-08-31 16:12:36.5 UTC
Location    64.78 N ; 17.27 W
Depth 

   15 km
Distances    234 km E of Reykjavík, Iceland / pop: 113,906 / local time: 16:12:36.5 2014-08-31
108 km S of Akureyri / pop: 16,563 / local time: 16:12:00.0 2014-08-31 

--------------------------

Strong quakes shake Icelandic volcano

Two strong earthquakes on Sunday shook Iceland's largest volcano, which is on orange alert lowered from red one for one day amid fears of an imminent eruption, the Icelandic Met Office said.

A large explosion at the Bardarbunga volcano could signal a replay of the global travel chaos caused by the eruption of another Icelandic peak four years ago, which created a massive ash cloud across Europe.

The earthquakes were listed on the Met Office's website with intensities of 5.3 and 5.1 on the Richter scale, which makes them the strongest recorded in the region since the current seismic cycle began last week.

On Saturday, Iceland raised its alert over the Bardarbunga volcano to the highest level and closed airspace in the area, but all of Iceland's airports remained open.

Met Office official Gunnar Gudmundsson told Icelandic public broadcaster RUV that it was difficult to say whether the earthquakes indicated an increased risk of an eruption.

Police said some 300 people had been evacuated in a popular tourist area located north of the Bardarbunga volcano, which lies in southeast Iceland.

"This is quite an extensive evacuation, but it is only in the canyons themselves, not in the inhabited area," Husavi chief of police Svavar Palsson told local media.

"Most of the people were foreign tourists."

The authorities said they had decided not to evacuate residents of nearby areas, but encouraged them to be alert and have their mobile phones switched on at all times.

Police said that the ice layer in the area was between 150 and 400 meters thick.

• Local authorities fear floods from melting ice could cause serious damage to the country's infrastructure.

Seismologists had recorded an earthquake of 4.5 on the Richter scale on Monday, when Iceland decided to raise its aviation alert to orange, the second-highest level of five.

The eruption of Eyjafjoell, a smaller volcano, in April 2010 caused travel mayhem, stranding more than 8 million people in the widest airspace shutdown since World War II.

"There's nothing we can do if we get another big eruption like that of Eyjafjoell except to interrupt air traffic in the dangerous areas," Icelandic Civil Aviation Administration spokesman Fridthor Eydal was quoted as saying earlier this week.

"It's really the only thing we can do," he said.

Iceland's most active sub-glacial volcano Grimsvotn erupted in 2011, forcing the country to temporarily shut its airspace and sparking fears of a repeat of the Eyjafjoell flight chaos.

Iceland is home to more than 100 volcanic mountains, some of which are among the most active in the world.
Sources: AFP - globaltimes.cn
24/8/14
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Related:

• Iceland issues aviation alert on volcano activity (M 4.7 - ICELAND - 2014-08-23 18:33:06 UTC.....local time: 18:33)

• Iceland lowers aviation alert from Bardarbunga volcano...

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Iceland issues aviation alert on volcano activity (M 4.7 - ICELAND - 2014-08-23 18:33:06 UTC.....local time: 18:33)

Iceland's Meteorological Office says a subglacial eruption is underway at the Bardarbunga volcano, which has been rattled by thousands of earthquakes over the past week.

Vulcanologist Melissa Pfeffer said seismic data indicates that lava from the volcano is melting ice beneath the Vatnajokull glacier. She said it was not clear when, or if, the eruption would melt the ice and send steam and ash into the air.

Minutes earlier, Iceland raised its aviation alert for the volcano to the highest level of red on Saturday, indicating an eruption that could cause “significant emission of ash into the atmosphere.” Red is the highest alert warning on a five-point scale.


Scientists had planned to fly over the glacier later Saturday to look for changes on the surface but it was not clear if that would still take place.

Authorities had evacuated several hundred people earlier this week from the highlands north of the Vatnajokull glacier as a precaution. The area is uninhabited but popular with hikers.

Iceland sits on a volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge and eruptions have occurred frequently, triggered when the Earth's plates move and when magma from deep underground pushes its way to the surface.

A 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokul volcano produced an ash cloud that caused a week of international aviation chaos, with more than 100,000 flights cancelled. Aviation regulators since have reformed policies about flying through ash, so a new eruption would be unlikely to cause that much disruption.

Pfeffer said the amount of ash produced would depend on the thickness of the ice.

“The thicker the ice, the more water there is, the more explosive it will be and the more ash-rich the eruption will be,” she said.
(AP)
http://www.france24.com/en/20140823-iceland-issues-aviation-alert-volcano-errupts-bardarbunga/
24/8/14
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Related:

• Iceland orders evacuation due to possible volcano eruption

• Threat to flights as Iceland's biggest volcano rumbles

• Islande: alerte rouge au-dessus du volcan BardarBunga...

• Le Bardarbunga en éruption: l’Islande ferme son espace aérien....

----

• M 4.7 - ICELAND - 2014-08-23 18:33:06 UTC.....local time: 18:33

Magnitude    mb 4.7
Region    ICELAND
Date time    2014-08-23 18:33:06.2 UTC
Location    64.70 N ; 17.48 W
Depth    2 km
Distances    222 km E of Reykjavík, Iceland / pop: 113,906 / local time: 18:33:06.2 2014-08-23
113 km S of Akureyri / pop: 16,563 / local time: 18:33:00.0 2014-08-23 
-------------------------
-

Iceland orders evacuation due to possible volcano eruption

The National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police (NCIP) announced on Tuesday that the authorities were evacuating the north of Vatnajokull to prepare against a possible eruption at Bardarbunga volcano in southeast Iceland.

The NCIP said in a statement that it has raised the Civil Protection level to Alert Phase as all roads leading into the area were closed, and the authorities in Husavik and Seydisfjordur were evacuating the area north of Vatnajokull.
A surveillance plane of the Icelandic Coast Guard has been ordered to monitor the volcano's situation.

This decision was a safety measure, said the statement, adding the seismic activity in Bardarbunga might lead to a volcanic eruption.

Bardarbunga volcano, located under the 800-meter-thick Vatnajokull glacier, is 225 km northeast from Reykjavik, capital of Iceland. Bardarbunga is Iceland's second highest mountain at 2,000 meters above sea level.

Since the onset of the earthquake swarm at Bardarbunga on Saturday morning, about 2,600 earthquakes have been detected by the earthquake monitoring network of the Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO).

IMO has raised the danger level from yellow to orange, which indicates the volcano showed heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption.
If the volcano erupts, a major flood fed by melting ice from the glacier could be expected to the north, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service reported.

There have been 48 eruptions in Iceland in last 100 years. The latest huge eruption happened in 2010, when the ash emission from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano forced an air travel disruption in Europe.
By AgenciesX Sources: Xinhua  -globaltimes.cn
20/8/14
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Related:

• Threat to flights as Iceland's biggest volcano rumbles

Threat to flights as Iceland's biggest volcano rumbles

REYKJAVIK: Iceland has warned that its largest volcano is in danger of erupting, four years after millions of air travellers were grounded by a huge ash cloud from another peak.
Scientists believe the ash from an eruption at Bardarbunga could disrupt transatlantic and northern European air traffic, with floods of melting ice likely to cause serious damage to the country's infrastructure.
The Icelandic Meteorological Office raised its aviation alert to the second-highest level on Monday after four days of increasing seismic activity, signalling a heightened risk of eruption.

The eruption of Iceland's smaller Eyjafjoell volcano in April 2010 caused global travel chaos, stranding more than eight million travellers as volcanic ash spread across Europe.
The alert was raised to "orange" after seismologists recorded an earthquake of 4.5 on the Richter scale early on Monday, the strongest in the region since 1996. Roads in a sparsely populated area north of Bardarbunga were closed on Tuesday, as the Meteorological Office said it had recorded some 2,600 tremors over the past four days.
Bardarbunga, Iceland's second-highest peak, rises to more than 2,000 metres, caps the country's largest volcanic system. It sits under the vast Vatnajokull glacier, the country's largest, in the southeast of the island, one of the most active seismic areas on the planet.
Bryndis Brandsdottir, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, told public broadcaster Ruv on Tuesday that the latest readings indicated that magma was not approaching the surface, but rather remaining "three to seven kilometres below".
"We meet twice a day, but the earthquake activity still comes in waves. There do not seem to be any changes, but it is still very powerful," Vidir Reynisson, department manager at Iceland's Civil Protection Department, told broadcaster 365.
In 2010, the Eyjafjoell volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier, further to the south, shot a massive plume of volcanic debris up to nine kilometres into the sky, blowing ash across to mainland Europe. The ash cloud caused the planet's biggest airspace shutdown since World War II, with fears it could damage aircraft engines.
In 2011, Iceland's most active sub-glacial volcano Grimsvotn erupted, forcing Iceland to temporarily shut its airspace amid fears of a repeat of the Eyjafjoell flight chaos.

- AFP/de

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/threat-to-flights-as/1320792.html

19/8/14

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Related:

 

• Στην Καμτσάτκα η δραστηριότητα τριών ηφαιστείων απειλεί τις πτήσεις

China-Russia natural gas deal on the way

Russia has agreed to "finalize" a prolonged negotiation on natural gas with China in a meeting between the leaders of the two countries on Tuesday.

According to a joint statement, the two countries will "establish a comprehensive energy cooperation partnership". The deal is still pending, despite of the huge progress claimed in the protracted negotiation. Sinopec, China's top oil refiner, signed a framework agreement about the east route of the natural gas project with Russia's Gazprom, the world's largest gas company, in September of 2013.

The east route pipeline is scheduled to start providing China with 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from 2018. Feng Yujun, an expert on Russia with the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said that the key hinderance is price.

"Whether the natural gas price will be linked to the oil price or to liquefied natural gas (LNG) is still not settled," Feng said.

Liu Yijun, professor with China University of Petroleum, believes the deal will affect the pricing systems of other projects in the Asian-Pacific region. "The huge supplies from Russia and vast demands from China do not make for a quick and easy agreement," Liu said.

Natural gas has become an important option for China's sustainable development. Consumption of natural gas stood at 167.6 billion cubic meters in 2013, up 13.9 percent year on year, while the natural gas imports rose 25 percent from a year ago.

The new popularity of shale gas has reduced Russia's exports to Europe, which forced Russia turned its strategy to the Asian-Pacific market.

Chen Weidong, senior energy researcher with China National Offshore Oil Corporation, said that the global energy structure is changed as the United States became a natural gas exporter, Iraq saw larger oil production and China stressed development of shale gas and coal bed gas.

Liu suggests a new cooperation method rather than being entangled in the pricing mechanism, such as exploring breakthroughs from the entire industry chain.

"The energy partnership reflects the wishes for energy cooperation," Feng added, "but the final price will be determined by the market." 
  [globaltimes.cn]
21/5/14
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• Negotiations ongoing for long-awaited gas deal. - Xi, Putin vow to push ties to ‘new phase’

Negotiations ongoing for long-awaited gas deal. - Xi, Putin vow to push ties to ‘new phase’

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting Tuesday yielded a "substantial" joint statement, which vowed to push the all-round strategic partnership to a "new phase," though the two countries have yet to finalize a key gas supply agreement.

The trip to Shanghai marks Putin's first state visit to China after Xi took office last year.

Following their meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a series of deals in fields including trade, energy, aviation and aerospace.

A comprehensive energy partnership was highlighted in the joint statement signed by Xi and Putin, as the two agreed to jointly develop coal mines in Russia and consider jointly building power plants in Russia to increase power supply to China.

• Russia's second largest gas producer Novatek signed an annual 3 million-ton liquefied natural gas deal with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) on Tuesday.

• However, the two sides failed to seal a highly anticipated gas supply deal between Gazprom and CNPC Tuesday, which was widely considered to crown the visit.

The deal, once settled, will see 38 billion cubic meters of natural gas piped annually from Russia to China for 30 years, and is seen as Russia's attempt to transfer its energy export focus away from Europe under the current tension.

With the price for gas still the major obstacle, a compromise is being sought so "the contract can be signed on a mutually beneficial basis," Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said Tuesday, according to a Gazprom press release.

Senior Russian leaders, including Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Tuesday both denied political concerns behind the gas deal, stressing its long-term strategic significance with China.

"Today, I wouldn't look for politics behind this, but I have no doubt that supplying energy to the Asia-Pacific region holds out a great promise in future," Medvedev said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

Although an important move, energy agreements do not equate with politics and it is still acceptable if the gas deal is not signed during Putin's visit. The two sides have agreed to seal it by the end of the year under Russia's inevitable energy diversification trend, said Wang Xianju, a professor with the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Russia will make decisions on the gas price after weighing the economic influences caused by Western sanctions, said Li Xing, a professor of Russian studies with Beijing Normal University.

The joint statement also stressed security cooperation under the complicated and changing regional and international situations to safeguard stability in the two countries and in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Chinese and Russian militaries should deepen cooperation in joint drills, training and the fight against terrorism, Xi said.

Such emphasis on defense issues signals a high stage of political mutual trust between the two powers, especially when the two leaders personally attended a joint naval exercise in the East China Sea on Tuesday after the talks, said Wang.

"Previous drills only saw military leaders present from the two nations. Military cooperation is the most sensitive area that symbolizes the level of political trust," said Wang, noting the drill location also indicates Russia's support and recognition of China's Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea.

The two countries will jointly commemorate the 70th anniversary of World War II along with other allies.

Observers said such security cooperation will help improve regional stability when the two permanent members of the UN Security Council support each other in major regional issues, including the post-war order.

Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov told the Global Times earlier that he believes bilateral relations will only continue to improve.

When asked if Putin's visit is viewed as a signal for Russia's strategic incline to the Asia-Pacific region, Denisov said "yes and no." 

 "The current complicated international situation encouraged China and Russia to boost cooperation, but we will strengthen the partnership no matter [if Western] sanctions exist as we have reached a significant height," Denisov said.

The statement also urged all parties concerned in the Ukraine crisis to exercise restraint, avoid escalating the conflict and seek a peaceful and political settlement for the current problems.
 [globaltimes.cn]
20/5/14
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Related:

• Gazprom to sign monumental gas deal with China

Aviation biofuel to significantly cut carbon emissions .....

Watch Video (cctv)

Sinopec’s biofuel could be refined by palm oil and recycled cooking oil, or so called "gutter oil" which is made from discarded animal parts and vegetable grease.

Analysts say the aviation biofuel will reduce carbon emissions by as much as 92 percent compared with traditional jet fuels such as aviation kerosene. 

Aviation fuel consumption in China has recently maintained a steady growth rate of 13 percent annually, much higher than the global growth rate.


China Eastern Airlines notes that it holds the independent intellectual property rights over this newly developed biofuel technology, adding the company plans to increase the usage of biofuels on its commercial routes.
.cntv.cn
25/4/13
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