Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
A deep earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.1 hit the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan at 11:39 UTC (16:09 LT) on December 20, 2019. The agency is reporting a depth of 210.2 km (130.6 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.1 at a depth of 214 km (132.9 miles). The…
New activity/unrest was reported for 4 volcanoes from December 11 – 17, 2019. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 10 volcanoes. New activity/unrest: Bezymianny, Central Kamchatka (Russia) | Nishinoshima, Japan | Semisopochnoi, United States |…
Cosmic radiation has hit the 5-year high this month and is approaching record high values as the Sun sets a new Space Age record for spotlessness — days without sunspots. The Sun’s magnetic field weakens during solar minimums, allowing deep space cosmic…
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by PHIVOLCS as M6.9 hit Mindanao, Philippines at 06:11 UTC (14:11 LT) on December 15, 2019. The agency is reporting a depth of 3 km (1.8 miles). The USGS is reporting M6.8 at a depth of 22.4 km (13.9 miles); EMSC M6.8 at a…
New activity/unrest was reported for 3 volcanoes from December 4 to 10, 2019. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 10 volcanoes. New activity/unrest: Nishinoshima, Japan | Semisopochnoi, United States | White Island, North Island (New Zealand)….
NZ Defence Force assets with specialized equipment went to White Island volcano late December 12 (UTC) and recovered the bodies of 6 of the 8 people killed on the island during a short-lived eruption on Monday, December 9, 2019. 47 people were on the island at the…
A short-lived explosion occurred at Shishaldin volcano, Alaska, U.S. at 16:10 UTC (07:10 LT) on December 12, 2019. The eruption lasted about 3 minutes and produced an ash cloud up to 6 – 7.6 km (20 000 – 25 000 feet) above sea level, moving W-NW at 83 km/h (52 mph)….
The volcanic tremor has significantly increased at Whakaari/White Island on the morning of December 11, 2019 (LT), indicating that volcanic gas pressures remain high. The Volcanic Alert Level remains at Level 3 and the Aviation Color Code Orange. The death toll has…
A new World Magnetic Model (WMM) was officially released on December 10, 2019. WMM is a representation of the planet’s magnetic field that gives compasses dependable accuracy and one of the key tools developed to model the change in Earth's magnetic field….
Russian Avachinsky volcano, located close to Kamchatka's largest city – Petropavlovsk (population 180 000) is showing signs of increased unrest over the past couple of days, with notable incandescence, degassing and elevated seismicity. A gradual increase in…
