Japan earthquake.... tsunami

[Two_Sheds]

..It's like mother nature has had a hissy fit just recently ........Icelan, australia , New Zealand

... and New Orleans and Haiti and on a much smaller scale, Boscastle

[snohare]

I was perplexed about the 'teardrop' shape of the reaction

As with any form of emission in the lower atmosphere that rises high enough, when/if fallout from this reaches the stratosphere - the altitude at which airliners fly - it will get a boost from the "jetstream", which is a current of air which flows at high speed over large areas of the earth's surface. The meanderings of the jetstreams (there's more than one) are responsible for much of our weather down here on the surface, because they carry heat to and from continents and oceans, have a lot of atmospheric chemistry going on, alter air pressure etc.
Trade winds are lower down in the atmosphere, are much slower but more predictable, and will carry pollution that does not rise so far.
Larger particles drop out first, and then as distance increases the particulate size decreases; this and the winds account for the teardrop shape of most fallout plumes. However lots of chemical processes - for example cloud formation and ensuing rain - can spread or remove pollution of any sort from within the atmosphere.
If you look at the 19th century, there were plenty of disasters going on then, too. But that was more to do with improved travel and communications and science-obsessed Victorians publishing articles, than any increase in death rate. I'm inclined to think that the higher profile given to disasters does tend to make us overrate them nowadays, in terms of frequency.
That said, the IPCC report on climate change in 1997 made an awful lot of predictions which are proving correct scarily early (the Amazon was not supposed to be suffering drought until 2030, if I remember correctly), and the Reinsurance companies like Zurich Re (who underwrite insurance companies) have been making a loss for years now, hence huge and seemingly unreasonable increases in insurance premiums of all sorts.
They are well convinced that the science behind anthropogenic climate change is correct, simply due to looking at their increasing payouts made for weather damage.
So I'd agree with "hissy fit", rather than the lunar lunacy proposed by the Dimly Male. After all, make a prediction with every issue, and every paper will seem to get it right at least once, just by coincidence !

[selfraising]

It seems that the Australian Seismological Centre is now predicting a possible aftershock quake of around 7.9 which they say is able to produce another Tsunami

[snohare]

a possible aftershock quake of around 7.9 which they say is able to produce another Tsunami

Call me heartless, but I am inclined to think that this will just make the paperwork a little easier - 2 for the price of 1 as it were. I doubt if the previous tsunami left any survivors trapped in the wreckage, so another, smaller wave isn't going to do more than move debris around.
You know how Turkey has a bad quake every few years ? That's because there is a faultline "unzipping" there, with the epicentre not-so-gradually working towards Istambul. One of the biggest cities in the world, next to a coast, no quakeproofing systems at all, a shallow epicentre...this is going to seem small fry when that happens, and it is not many years distant.
But misery isn't comparative, it's an absolute, so I feel for those poor people in Japan. I used to have penpals there.

[starloc]

now the `nuclear experts` admit theres something wrong ` theres a leak.....`

BBC News - Japan quake: Radiation rises at Fukushima nuclear plant

"Now we are talking about levels that can impact human health," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said: "There is still a very high risk of more radiation coming out."

[Headfry]

Why is it that I never trust what the 'officials' say..... so it comes to light that there is a leak and its a dangerous leak! What else are they not quite telling us.

[Rabidbun]

While you can usually not trust most things that come from politicians they have been reasonably transparent about the explosions it seems (not that they could exactly hide them, else they may well have tried).

The third explosion is the main problem at the moment with it fragmenting the torus under the reactor itself (filled with water for emergency cooling purposes), which, as well as hampering the ability to keep the pressure down inside the reactor, has resulted in a release of higher levels of radiation from condensed gases produced inside. Whether or not there has been further damage will be assessed from the radiation levels. Still not looking good if they can't get it under control.

Has anyone heard anything more on the expected aftershocks that were predicted yesterday (there was a smaller one but haven't found any information since that)?

[ginger ninger]

Which ever way we look at this it's still very tragic for all the Japanese people, earth quakes, tsunami, after shocks, disease, missing family, homelessness and now they could be facing radiation poisoning.
But on top of all this the Japanese people queue for what little food there is with no fighting, pushing or mugging of the shop keepers and with so much dignity it could put the everyday person to shame.

[northepaul]

I only wish my Japanese was better, and I had been medically (or something useful) trained, then I would volunteer to go out there and help.

[northepaul]

Japan Society of the UK - Japan Society Tohoku Earthquake Relief Fund

and
Japan Tsunami Appeal | British Red Cross

[snohare]

Well, after the third explosion it sounds like it is an official meltdown, even if they are not calling it that. Once the fuel core is sufficiently distorted, there is no way to cool it uniformly, and that is a crucial requirement for control. It's now an unstoppable boiling kettle on a mind boggling scale, at least until they get enough of a moderator like graphite or boron in there.
There was a link to a blogging site that someone posted on the Vine last night, which gave an excellent, informative, well written sitrep by a nuclear physicist, stating why we didn't have to worry.
I was very impressed, except for two things; the absolute certainty that they had it covered (and their cleverness really did shine bright), and the man's obvious ignorance of how once a meltdown occurs, weather, water and wildlife take over in spreading the fissile materiels.
It strikes me that the people who propose building nuclear power stations are not the type of engineers who really, truly believe in Murphy's Law.
Me, I'd be leaving the area. Sometimes just not being there is the best thing that you can do for a disaster zone.

[Capsid]

I found this as a helpful explanation.
The Great Beyond: Fukushima crisis: Anatomy of a meltdown

So far the containment vessels have not been breached by melting fuel. The reactors are designed to not be breached.

[northepaul]

Miyako Yoshinaga - Art Prospects
My Friend Takahiro Kaneyama is selling some of his beautiful images of Japan in aid of the relief effort. His family come from the worst effected area. If you are able to, please buy one, or at least have a look at his work. Thank you.