A new phreatic eruption was detected by the Bulusan Volcano Network at 20:37 UTC on June 11, 2022 (03:37 LT on June 12). The event lasted 18 minutes based on the seismic record but the eruption plume was not visible in camera monitors. Bulusan’s last eruption took place on June 5, forcing PHIVOLCS to raise the Alert Level to 1.
A dangerous rockslide occurred on the road in Vietnam’s Thai Nguyen Province on May 26, 2022. The event ‘illustrates the destructive power of rockfalls in a highly graphic manner,’ said landslides expert Dr. Dave Petley.
A newly-discovered asteroid designated 2022 LU2 flew past Earth at a distance of 0.43 LD / 0.00111 AU (166 537 km / 103 481 miles) at 00:02 UTC on June 8, 2022. This is the 61st known asteroid to fly past Earth within 1 lunar distance since the start of the year.
Arctic’s seasonal sea ice loss began more slowly in May 2022 than in the recent years as air temperatures were closer to the 1981 to 2010 average. The month ended with the highest sea ice extent since 2013 – the 14th lowest in the satellite record.
Between May 23 and 25, 2022, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope sustained a micrometeoroid impact to one of its primary mirror segments. While such strikes are an unavoidable aspect of operating any spacecraft, this most recent impact was larger than was modeled, and beyond what could have been tested on the ground.
Two shallow earthquakes registered by the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) as M5.8 (USGS M5.6) and M6.0 (USGS M5.9) hit western Sichuan, China on June 9, 2022. The first quake was registered at 16:03 UTC (00:03 LT) at a depth of 20 km (12.4 miles) and the second at 17:28 UTC (01:28 LT) at a depth of 14 km (8.7 miles). The quakes follow M6.1 (CENC; USGS M5.9) earthquake registered at 09:00 UTC on June 1.
At least 25 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million were affected in southern China since the start of this year’s flood season. In Hunan, China’s major rice-producing region, at least 96 160 ha (237 616 acres) of crops have been destroyed in the first 8 days of the month. Another 76 300 ha (187 8000 acres) of crops were damaged in neighboring Jiangxi.
Russian SL-4 rocket upper stage used for the Progress MS-20 ISS resupply mission on June 3, 2022, re-entered Earth’s orbit over Johannesburg, South Africa around 20:55 UTC (22:55 LT) on June 5.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has warned residents living in southeast Queensland of frosty mornings and single-digit temperatures throughout the month as well below June average temperatures descend over much of southeast Australia. Some parts of the state are experiencing their lowest June temperatures in more than 100 years.
The latest round of heavy rain affecting China’s Jiangxi Province since May 28, 2022, affected nearly 800 000 people.
