• Swarm of small earthquakes hits Salton Sea, California

    Between 11:03 UTC on September 26 and 06:03 UTC on September 27, 2016, USGS registered a total of 143 earthquakes in a remote desert area around the Salton Sea in California. Three of them had magnitudes above 4. The largest was a shallow M4.3 at 14:31 UTC on…

  • Days of heavy rain cause major flooding across the US Midwest

    Days of heavy rain have caused major flooding in parts of the US Midwest over the weekend, leaving at least two people dead. The governors of Iowa and Wisconsin have declared a state of emergency. NWS said that the 7 day period to September 23 saw rainfall levels in…

  • Mercury contamination widespread across western North America

    An international research team has found that mercury contamination is widespread across western North America in the air, soil, lake sediments, plants, fish and wildlife. The team, led by researchers from the USGS, evaluated potential risks from mercury to the…

  • The 2015 Indonesia haze may have caused 100 000 premature deaths

    Harvard Univesity researchers and their colleagues estimated that hazardous levels of smoke from agricultural fires across Indonesia in 2015 may have caused upwards of 100 000 deaths across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. The research is part of a larger effort…

  • Rare hailstorm hits Samoa

    On Friday, September 16, 2016, the tropical nation of Samoa, Pacific Ocean experienced their second hailstorm since records began. The first one was in 2011. An unexpected hailstorm, accompanied by heavy rain and strong wind, hit the east side of Samoa on Friday…

  • Penumbral lunar eclipse of September 16, 2016

    The Sun, Earth and Moon will align in almost perfect line on September 16, 2016, treating observers in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia with a penumbral lunar eclipse. The eclipse will last 3 hours and 59 minutes and will be the last of three lunar eclipses in…

  • New eruption starts at Piton de la Fournaise, La Réunion

    A new eruption has begun at La Réunion's Piton de la Fournaise volcano at 04:41 UTC (08:41 local time) on September 11, 2016. An eruptive fissure opened on the upper north side of Dolomieu, generating a curtain of lava fountains along the fissure feeding…

  • Daylight meteor seen over North Carolina, US

    A rare daylight meteor was seen over North Carolina around 18:03 EDT on September 8, 2016 (22:03 UTC). At around the same time, a bright meteor exploded over Cyprus and parts of it are believed to have fallen north of the island. The American Meteor Society received…

  • Oklahoma’s M5.8 earthquake activated an unknown fault

    USGS Geophysicist Daniel McNamara said that September 3, 2016 Mw5.8 Pawnee, Oklahoma earthquake was not on a fault known by the USGS. Instead, it happened on a fault perpendicular which intersected the fault. Based on aftershock patterns, this one is an unknown…