A rare snowfall blanketed the Taklimakan Desert of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on January 17, 2023, creating picturesque winter scenery and impressing local residents and visitors. The Taklimakan Desert is the largest desert in China and the second-largest shifting-sand desert in the world.
An avalanche hit southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region at 19:50 LT on January 17, 2023, burying multiple vehicles and killing at least 28 people as of January 20. The avalanche occurred on a section of road between Pai village in Mainling county and the Doxong La tunnel in Medog county, leaving people trapped in their vehicles as snow engulfed the exit of the tunnel.
Another slow-motion earthquake, or “slow slip event,” is now underway on the Hikurangi subduction plate boundary offshore the North Island’s east coast. The amount of slow slip movement during the last month has released energy equivalent to a magnitude 7 earthquake.
A stronger-than-usual eruption took place at Popocatepetl volcano, Mexico at around 13:38 UTC (07:38 LT) on January 21, 2023.
A very deep earthquake registered by the USGS and EMSC as M6.8 hit northern Argentina at 22:09 UTC on January 20, 2023. The depth of the earthquake was reported as 610.7 km (379 miles) by the USGS, and 586 km (364 miles) by the EMSC.
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.2 hit near the west coast of Guadeloupe at 11:23 UTC on January 20, 2023. The agency is reporting a depth of 165 km (102 miles). EMSC is reporting the same magnitude and depth.
After a run of particularly wet weather for New Zealand’s Gisborne region, one location has beaten its record for the highest January rainfall since 1937.
Tropical Cyclone “Cheneso” formed around 12:00 UTC on January 18, 2023, as the fourth named storm of the 2022/23 Southwest Indian Ocean cyclone season.
New activity/unrest was reported for 5 volcanoes from January 11 – 17, 2023. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 15 volcanoes.
A new study published in AGU’s Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems has revealed the existence of a magma chamber beneath the Kolumbo volcano, located near Santorini, Greece. Using a high-resolution technology called full-waveform inversion, the study found that the magma chamber poses a serious hazard as it could produce a highly explosive, tsunamigenic eruption in the near future.
