SPACE WEATHER ANOMALIES: "Unusual Ring Of Radiation In Space" - Scientists Are Stunned By Surprising Discovery Of Earth's Previously Unknown 3rd Radiation Belt?!

September 24, 2013 - SPACE - Since the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts in 1958, space scientists have believed these belts encircling the Earth consist of two doughnut-shaped rings of highly charged particles — an inner ring of high-energy electrons and energetic positive ions and an outer ring of high-energy electrons. In February of this year, a team of scientists reported the surprising discovery of a previously unknown third radiation ring — a narrow one that briefly appeared between the inner and outer rings in September 2012 and persisted for a month. 

Van Allen radiation belts. Credit: NASA

In new research, UCLA space scientists have successfully modeled and explained the unprecedented behavior of this third ring, showing that the extremely energetic particles that made up this ring, known as ultra-relativistic electrons, are driven by very different physics than typically observed Van Allen radiation belt particles. The region the belts occupy — ranging from about 1,000 to 50,000 kilometers above the Earth's surface — is filled with electrons so energetic they move close to the speed of light. 

"In the past, scientists thought that all the electrons in the radiation belts around the Earth obeyed the same physics," said Yuri Shprits, a research geophysicist with the UCLA Department of Earth and Space Sciences. "We are finding now that radiation belts consist of different populations that are driven by very different physical processes." 

Shprits, who is also an associate professor at Russia's Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, a new university co-organized by MIT, led the study, which is published Sept. 22 in the journal Nature Physics. 

The Van Allen belts can pose a severe danger to satellites and spacecraft, with hazards ranging from minor anomalies to the complete failure of critical satellites. A better understanding of the radiation in space is instrumental to protecting people and equipment, Shprits said. 

Ultra-relativistic electrons — which made up the third ring and are present in both the outer and inner belts — are especially hazardous and can penetrate through the shielding of the most protected and most valuable satellites in space, noted Shprits and Adam Kellerman, a staff research associate in Shprits' group. 

Van Allen radiation belts. Credit: NASA

"Their velocity is very close to the speed of light, and the energy of their motion is several times larger than the energy contained in their mass when they are at rest," Kellerman said. "The distinction between the behavior of the ultra-relativistic electrons and those at lower energies was key to this study." Shprits and his team found that on Sept. 1, 2012, plasma waves produced by ions that do not typically affect energetic electrons "whipped out ultra-relativistic electrons in the outer belt almost down to the inner edge of the outer belt." Only a narrow ring of ultra-relativistic electrons survived this storm. This remnant formed the third ring. 

After the storm, a cold bubble of plasma around the Earth expanded to protect the particles in the narrow ring from ion waves, allowing the ring to persist. Shprits' group also found that very low-frequency electromagnetic pulsations that were thought to be dominant in accelerating and losing radiation belt electrons did not influence the ultra-relativistic electrons. 

The Van Allen radiation belts "can no longer be considered as one consistent mass of electrons. They behave according to their energies and react in various ways to the disturbances in space," said Shprits, who was honored by President Obama last July with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. 

"Ultra-relativistic particles move very fast and cannot be at the right frequency with waves when they are close to the equatorial plane," said Ksenia Orlova, a UCLA postdoctoral scholar in Shprits' group who is funded by NASA's Jack Eddy Fellowship. "This is the main reason the acceleration and scattering into the atmosphere of ultra-relativistic electrons by these waves is less efficient." 

"This study shows that completely different populations of particles exist in space that change on different timescales, are driven by different physics and show very different spatial structures," Shprits said. 

The team performed simulations with a model of the Earth's radiation belts for the period from late August 2012 to early October 2012. The simulation, conducted using the physics of ultra-relativistic electrons and space weather conditions monitored by ground stations, matched the observations from NASA's Van Allen Probes mission extraordinarily well, confirming the team's theory about the new ring. 

"We have a remarkable agreement between our model and observations, both encompassing a wide range of energies," said Dmitriy Subbotin, a former graduate student of Shprits and current UCLA staff research associate. 

"I believe that, with this study, we have uncovered the tip of the iceberg," Shprits said. "We still need to fully understand how these electrons are accelerated, where they originate and how the dynamics of the belts is different for different storms." 

The Earth's radiation belts were discovered in 1958 by Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite that traveled to space. - PHYSORG.

MONUMENTAL EARTH CHANGES: Geological Upheaval - Pakistan's Mega-Quake Creates A New Island; Island Is 100 Feet In Diameter; At Least 46 Dead, Death Toll Expected To Rise; Many Homes Destroyed!

September 24, 2013 - PAKISTAN - A powerful earthquake in Pakistan has not only cost dozens of lives -- it also prompted the appearance of a small island off the coast, Pakistani officials said.

The appearance of a new island off Pakistan's coast.

The 7.7-magnitude quake struck in a remote area of southern Pakistan on Tuesday, but it had severe consequences.

At least 46 people were killed in Awaran in Balochistan province, provincial Home Secretary Asad Gilani said.

In addition to the fatalities, "dozens have been injured," Gilani said.

Officials fear people are trapped in rubble.

The quake was strong enough to cause a mass 20 to 30 feet high to emerge from the ocean like a small mountain island off the coast of Gwadar, local police official Mozzam Jah said. A large number of people gathered to view the newly formed island, he said.

Large quakes can cause significant deformation to the earth's crust, particularly visible along coastlines.

The island is about 100 feet in diameter and about one mile off the coast, GEO TV reported.

Zahid Rafi, principal seismologist for the National Seismic Monitoring Center, confirmed the island had formed. He said it was "not surprising," considering the magnitude of the earthquake.

But John Bellini, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said that generally it would be unlikely for such a large island to emerge from a quake like Tuesday's.

Devastation caused by an earthquake in the Awaran district of Balochistan on Sept. 24, 2013. People began
clearing the rubble on their own before any help could reach them. (Mujeeb Ahmed/NBC News)

Pakistani pedestrians and office workers leave an office building after an earthquake in Karachi on
September 24, 2013. (RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistani pedestrians and office workers gather on a street after an earthquake in Karachi on
September 24, 2013. (RIZWAN TABASSUM/AFP/Getty Images)

Many things, such as the tide, could come into play regarding the rise of the island, he said.

More than 1,000 troops will be sent to the area to provide aid, including rescue teams and medical teams, Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa said.

With a depth of about nine miles (about 15 kilometers), the quake struck 43 miles (69 kilometers) northeast of Awaran and 71 miles (114 kilometers) northwest of Bela, the U.S. Geological Survey said.


WATCH: Pakistan mega-quake creates new island. 

Some mud-walled homes fell in Awaran, said Latif Kakar, director of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority in Balochistan.

The tremors lasted two minutes. People flocked out onto the streets of Quetta, the provincial capital.

Aftershocks could be felt in Karachi, hundreds of miles to the southeast. - CNN.

PLANETARY TREMORS: Powerful 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Southern Pakistan - Felt Throughout Asia; At Least 25 Dead; USGS Issues "RED ALERT," Giving A 73 Percent Chance Of 1,000 Or More Deaths!

September 24, 2013 - PAKISTAN - A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck southern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 25 people according to early reports.

USGS earthquake location map.

The U.S. Geological Survey placed the epicenter 41 miles north-northeast of Awaran in the province of Balochistan. Mir Qadoos Bezinjo, deputy speaker of the Balochistan Assembly, told NBC News that "over 25 people" have been killed in the Arawan district as a result of the quake.

The tremor occurred at 7:29 a.m. Eastern time (4:29 p.m. local time) and shook the Pakistani mountain region, according to the USGS. The quake was relatively shallow, occurring just 12 miles (20 km) below ground, raising the potential for violent shaking near the epicenter. 

Balochistan is Pakistan's largest but least populous province, with a population of just under 8 million in an area slightly smaller than Montana.

However, "moderate" to "rather strong" shaking (levels 4 and 5 on the 12-point Mercalli Intensity Scale) were estimated by the USGS across the heavily populated Indus River valley, home to some 140 million people.

The Times of India reported the tremor was felt as far away as New Delhi, the capital of neighboring India.
The earthquake was originally rated a 7.4 on the Richter scale but was later upgraded to a 7.8, and then revised to a 7.7. Following the temblor, the USGS issued a "Red Alert," giving a 73 percent chance of 1,000 or more deaths.

USGS earthquake shakemap intensity.

USGS earthquake shakemap intensity.

The quake was felt in Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, along the Arabian Sea. People in the city's tall office buildings rushed into the streets following the tremor, and Pakistani television showed images of lights swaying as the earth moved.

TV footage showed residents in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, coming out of their homes and offices in a panic. One man told Pakistan's Dunya television channel that he was sitting in his office when the building started shaking.

Other residents said people started reciting verses from Islam's holy book, the Quran, when the quake began.

USGS earthquake population exposure.

USGS earthquake damage estimates.

Baluchistan and neighboring Iran are prone to earthquakes.

A magnitude 7.8, which was centered just across the border in Iran, killed at least 35 people in Pakistan in April.

A 5.9-magnitude aftershock was reported near the epicenter just minutes after the initial quake.

Information from the Associated Press is included in this report. - TWC.

Tectonic Summary.

The September 24, 2013 M7.7 earthquake in south-central Pakistan occurred as the result of oblique-strike-slip type motion at shallow crustal depths. The location and mechanism of the earthquake are consistent with rupture within the Eurasia plate above the Makran subduction zone. The event occurred within the transition zone between northward subduction of the Arabia plate beneath the Eurasia plate and northward collision of the India plate with the Eurasia plate. The epicenter of the event is 69km north of Awaran, Pakistan, and 270km north of Karachi, Pakistan (population 11.6 million).

On a broad scale, the tectonics of southern and central Pakistan reflect a complex plate boundary where the India plate slides northward relative to the Eurasia plate in the east, and the Arabia plate subducts northward beneath the Eurasia plate in the Makran (western Pakistan). These motions typically result in north-south to northeast-southwest strike-slip motion at the latitude of the September 24 earthquake that is primarily accommodated on the Chaman Fault, with the earthquake potentially occurring on one of the southern-most strands of this fault system. Further, more in-depth studies will be required to identify the precise fault associated with this event. Although seismically active, this portion of the Eurasia plate boundary region has not experience large damaging earthquakes in the recent history. In the past 40 years, only one significant event (M6.1), which killed 6, has occurred within 200km of the September 2013 event, in July of 1990.

Seismotectonics of the Middle East and Vicinity.

No fewer than four major tectonic plates (Arabia, Eurasia, India, and Africa) and one smaller tectonic block (Anatolia) are responsible for seismicity and tectonics in the Middle East and surrounding region. Geologic development of the region is a consequence of a number of first-order plate tectonic processes that include subduction, large-scale transform faulting, compressional mountain building and crustal extension. 

Mountain building in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan is the result of compressional tectonics associated with collision of the India plate moving northwards at a rate of 40 mm/yr with respect to the Eurasia plate. Continental thickening of the northern and western edge of the India subcontinent has produced the highest mountains in the world, including the Himalayan, Karakoram, Pamir and Hindu Kush ranges. Earthquake activity and faulting found in this region, as well as adjacent parts of Afghanistan and India, are due to collisional plate tectonics. 

USGS plate tectonics for the region.

Beneath the Pamir-Hindu Kush Mountains of northern Afghanistan, earthquakes occur to depths as great as 200 km as a result of remnant lithospheric subduction. Shallower crustal earthquakes in the Pamir-Hindu Mountains occur primarily along the Main Pamir Thrust and other active Quaternary faults, which accommodate much of the region's crustal shortening. The western and eastern margins of the Main Pamir Thrust display a combination of thrust and strike-slip mechanisms. 

Along the western margin of the Tibetan Plateau, in the vicinity of southeastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, the India plate translates obliquely relative to the Eurasia plate, resulting in a complex fold-and-thrust belt known as the Sulaiman Range. Faulting in this region includes strike-slip, reverse-slip and oblique-slip motion and often results in shallow, destructive earthquakes. The relatively fast moving left-lateral, strike-slip Chaman Fault system in southeastern Afghanistan accommodates translational motion between the India and Eurasia plates. In 1505, a segment of the Chaman Fault system near Kabul, Afghanistan ruptured causing widespread destruction of Kabul and surrounding villages. In the same region, the more recent 30 May 1935, M7.6 Quetta, Pakistan earthquake, occurred within the Sulaiman Range, killing between 30,000 and 60,000 people. 

Off the south coast of Pakistan and southeast coast of Iran, the Makran trench is the present-day surface expression of active subduction of the Arabia plate beneath the continental Eurasia plate, which converge at a rate of approximately 20 mm/yr. Although the Makran subduction zone has a relatively slow convergence rate, it has produced large devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. For example, the November 27, 1945 M8.0 mega-thrust earthquake produced a tsunami within the Gulf of Oman and Arabia Sea, killing over 4,000 people. Northwest of this active subduction zone, collision of the Arabia and Eurasia plates forms the approximately 1,500-km-long fold and thrust belt of the Zagros Mountains, which crosses the whole of western Iran and extends into northeastern Iraq. Collision of the Arabia and Eurasia plates also causes crustal shortening in the Alborz Mountains and Kopet Dag in northern Iran. Eastern Iran experiences destructive earthquakes that originate on both strike-slip and reverse faults. For example, the 16 September 1978 M7.8 earthquake, along the southwest edge of the Dasht-e-Lut Basin killed at least 15,000 people. 

Along the eastern margin of the Mediterranean region there is complex interaction between the Africa, Arabia and Eurasia plates. The Red Sea Rift is a spreading center between the Africa and Arabia plates, with a spreading rate of approximately 10mm/yr near its northern end, and 16mm/yr near its southern end (Chu, D. and Gordon, R. G., 1998). Seismicity rate and size of earthquakes has been relatively small along the spreading center, but the rifting process has produced a series of volcanic systems across western Saudi Arabia. 

Further north, the Red Sea Rift terminates at the southern boundary of the Dead Sea Transform Fault. The Dead Sea Transform is a strike-slip fault that accommodates differential motion between the Africa and Arabia plates. Though both the Africa plate, to the west, and the Arabia plate, to the east, are moving in a NNE direction, the Arabia plate is moving slightly faster, resulting in the left-lateral, strike-slip motion along this segment of the plate boundary. Historically, earthquake activity along the Dead Sea Transform has been a significant hazard in the densely populated Levant region (eastern Mediterranean). For example, the November 1759 Near East earthquake is thought to have killed somewhere between 2,000-20,000 people. The northern termination of the Dead Sea Transform occurs within a complex tectonic region of southeast Turkey, where interaction of the Africa and Arabia plates and the Anatolia block occurs. This involves translational motion of the Anatolia Block westwards, with a speed of approximately 25mm/yr with respect to Eurasia, in order to accommodate closure of the Mediterranean basin. 

The right-lateral, strike-slip North Anatolia Fault, in northern Turkey, accommodates much of the westwards motion between the Anatolia Block and Eurasia Plate. Between 1939 and 1999, a series of devastating M7.0+ strike-slip earthquakes propagated westwards along the North Anatolia Fault system. The westernmost of these earthquakes was the 17th August 1999, M7.6 Izmit earthquake, near the Sea of Marmara, killed approximately 17,000 people. 

At the southern edge of the Anatolia Block lies the east-west trending Cyprian Arc with associated levels of moderate seismicity. The Cyprian Arc represents the convergent boundary between the Anatolia Block to the north and the Africa Plate to the south. The boundary is thought to join the East Anatolia Fault zone in eastern Turkey; however no certain geometry or sense of relative motion along the entire boundary is widely accepted. - USGS.

The Kolbrin Bible

No one knows the origin of the Kolbrin Bible. Right now, people only know that the Kolbrin Bible is owned and guarded by The Culdians, a secret organization. They claimed that they have guarded the Kolbrin Bible for more than 850 years. However, they only provided the modern English version of the Kolbrin Bible reprinted in 1994 for people, the original version of the Koblrin Bible has ever made public.

Besides, Marshall Master, the expert in studying the history of Planet X and the impacts of Planet X towards the earth, released an updated version of the Kolbrin Bible in 2006 named The Kolbrin Bible, 21stCentury Master Edition. This book has 600 pages, size of an A4 paper and with about 600 thousand of words in total.

MONUMENTAL EARTH CHANGES: The Break In Rains Help Colorado Flood Rescue Efforts - Death Toll Now At 7; About 400 Missing; Scores Of Homes, Bridges And Roads Washed Away!

September 16, 2013 - UNITED STATES - The death toll from the massive flooding along Colorado's Front Range grew to seven Monday as search-and-rescue operations intensified and the storms that have pummeled the state for a week began to subside.

A house in the path of the recent floods is destroyed in Jamestown, Colo.(Photo: Helen H. Richardson, AP)

State emergency officials did not release names or details about the latest victims. Three deaths were confirmed in Boulder County and two in El Paso County, and two are presumed dead in Larimer County.

Hundreds of residents remain unaccounted for, but the state's earlier estimate of more than 1,250 missing was expected to be significantly lowered after Larimer County officials reported about 400 missing, down from earlier state estimates of about 1,000. Exact numbers remain elusive, since many residents live in isolated or hard-to-reach mountain communities where scores of bridges and roads have been washed out and telephone, cellphone and Internet service has been disrupted for several days.

The National Weather Service expected warmer, drier conditions in the state Monday with rain ending at night. Yet officials warned there is still potential for flash flooding in and near saturated foothills late Monday afternoon into early evening, as lingering air moisture combined with warmer temperatures could cause scattered thunderstorms.

Joey Schendel searches for submerged items while helping neighbors clean their property in a flooded area
on Sept. 16 in Hygeine, Colo.  Brennan Linsley, AP

Flood victims are helped off of a military helicopter.  Ed Andrieski, AP

More than 1,200 people were rescued by vehicles and helicopters Saturday, but 16 rescue helicopters were grounded Sunday after some parts of flooded areas got up to 4 inches of new rain. After seven straight days of rain, some regions have gotten up to 20 inches of rainfall, as much as falls in a typical year.

Colorado National Guard Lt. James Goff says 19 helicopters are available for search-and-rescue. The air rescue operation is already one of the nation's largest since Hurricane Katrina, but has been hampered by steady rains and foggy conditions. As the weather breaks, officials urged those unable to communicate by phone to signal helicopters with sheets, mirrors, flares and signal fires.

The death toll from the massive flooding along Colorado's Front Range grew to seven Monday as search-and-rescue operations intensified and the storms that have pummeled the state for a week began to subside.

State emergency officials did not release names or details about the latest victims. Three deaths were confirmed in Boulder County and two in El Paso County, and two are presumed dead in Larimer County.

Mike Steinpach shovels mud from the basement of Stan McDonald's house after heavy flooding on
Sept. 15 in Longmont, Colo.  Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post, via AP

A truck rests next to a washed out railroad track in the Champion Greens neighborhood in
Longmont.  Craig F. Walker, The Denver Post, via AP

Hundreds of residents remain unaccounted for, but the state's earlier estimate of more than 1,250 missing was expected to be significantly lowered after Larimer County officials reported about 400 missing, down from earlier state estimates of about 1,000. Exact numbers remain elusive, since many residents live in isolated or hard-to-reach mountain communities where scores of bridges and roads have been washed out and telephone, cellphone and Internet service has been disrupted for several days.

The National Weather Service expected warmer, drier conditions in the state Monday with rain ending at night. Yet officials warned there is still potential for flash flooding in and near saturated foothills late Monday afternoon into early evening, as lingering air moisture combined with warmer temperatures could cause scattered thunderstorms.

 WATCH: Flooding in Larimer County.

More than 1,200 people were rescued by vehicles and helicopters Saturday, but 16 rescue helicopters were grounded Sunday after some parts of flooded areas got up to 4 inches of new rain. After seven straight days of rain, some regions have gotten up to 20 inches of rainfall, as much as falls in a typical year.

Colorado National Guard Lt. James Goff says 19 helicopters are available for search-and-rescue. The air rescue operation is already one of the nation's largest since Hurricane Katrina, but has been hampered by steady rains and foggy conditions. As the weather breaks, officials urged those unable to communicate by phone to signal helicopters with sheets, mirrors, flares and signal fires. - USA Today.

PLAGUES & PESTILENCES: Mass Bird Die-Off - Terror Grips Bhaktapur In Nepal As Crows And Pigeons Mysteriously Drop Dead?!

September 16, 2013 - NEPAL - Bird flu fear has gripped Bhaktapur people, again. The ominous signs started haunting the locals after crows and pigeons on flight dropped dead at Chnwaga Ganesh of Bhaktapur Municipality-17. 

The Bhaktapur Bird Flu Control Section has asked locals to bury dead pigeons and crows well, without bothering to conduct avian influenza tests on the samples. 

File photo of a recent mass bird die-off in Nepal.

Who will be responsible if they catch ‘bird flu’ after burying the birds? This is the question local people like Tulasha Shrestha are asking. 

Shrestha says the section’s instruction to locals — to bury the birds on their own — has terrified the locals further. According to Shrestha, a crow dropped dead in front of her house yesterday evening. She says pigeons have died in her neighbour Indrabhakta Rajlabat’s house. 

Locals fear that bird flu will make inroads into Bhaktapur, again. 

“When we contacted the District Livestock Office today, officials there asked us to bury the dead birds safely. This has scared us,” Shrestha says. 

No one is ready to bury the birds fearing bird flu, according to the Bhaktapur local. 

“If the person burying the birds catches bird flu, who will take responsibility?” asks Indra Bhakta Rajlabat, another local. 

Khagendraraj Bhatta, chief at the livestock office, says his office has urged locals to bury the dead birds on their own as the office does not need to conduct bird flu tests in the crisis-hit zone. 

According to Bhatta, there’s no need to panic as other factors may have killed the birds. 

The government had declared Bhaktapur a bird flu crisis-hit zone on August 15. A stamping out operation meant to destroy birds and bird-related materials is on in the district, with 7,22,814 fowls and 2,75,997 chicks from 498 farms culled so far. 

The operation has also destroyed 12,89,299 eggs and 50,806 kg chicken feed. - The Himalayan Times.

MONUMENTAL SOLAR SYSTEM CHANGES: Strange Space Winds Blows Through The Solar System; New Study Reveals That We Are Now In A Surprisingly Complex And Dynamic Part Of The Milky Way Galaxy; Interstellar Wind Stream Could Have Wide-Reaching Effects!

September 15, 2013 - SPACE - Shifting cosmic winds suggest that our solar system lives in a surprisingly complex and dynamic part of the Milky Way galaxy, a new study reports.

A view from the Earth and Sun from far above the North Pole. As an interstellar wind blows in from the
constellation Scorpio, the sun's gravity captures it and forms a tail. The slower wind (dark blue) is bent
stronger than its faster counterpa (NASA/GSFC/UNH)

Scientists examining four decades' worth of data have discovered that the interstellar gas breezing through the solar system has shifted in direction by 6 degrees, a finding that could affect how we view not only the entire galaxy but the sun itself.

"The shift in the wind is evidence that the sun lives in an evolving galactic environment," study lead author Priscilla Frisch of the University of Chicago told SPACE.com via email. 

The winds of changeCharged particles stream off the sun to form a huge invisible shellaround the solar system called the heliosphere. Outside of this shell lies the Local Interstellar Cloud (LIC), a haze of hydrogen and helium approximately 30 light-years across.

The LIC is wispy, featuring just 0.016 atoms per cubic inch on average. LIC gas tends to be blocked by the heliosphere, but a thin stream makes it past the sun's magnetic field at the rate of 0.0009 atoms per cubic inch (0.015 atoms per cubic cm), researchers said.

"Right now, the sun is moving through an interstellar cloud at a relative velocity of 52,000 miles per hour," Frisch said. "This motion allows neutral atoms from the cloud to flow through the heliosphere — the solar wind bubble — and create an interstellar 'wind.'"

In 2012, three papers citing measurements by NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft showed that the wind has changed slightly over the past decade.

The sun is passing through a wispy cloud of interstellar gas known as the Local Interstellar Cloud. As the
sun moves through it, it sweeps up neutral interstellar helium into a cone behind it.
(NASA/Goddard/Adler/University of Chicago/Wesleyan University)

Frisch and her team were intrigued, and they began to wonder just how far back the difference extended. Studying data gathered by a number of spacecraft — IBEX, the joint European Space Agency/NASA Ulysses probe and several craft from the 1970s, including NASA's Mariner 10 and the Soviet research satellite Prognoz 6 — the team found that, over the course of 40 years, the wind had shifted by 6 degrees.

What's causing this change in direction? According to Frisch, it may be related to turbulence in the interstellar cloud around the solar system.

"Winds on Earth are turbulent, and other data show that interstellar clouds are also turbulent," she said. "We find that the 6-degree change is comparable to the turbulent velocity of the surrounding cloud on [the] outside of the heliosphere."

Wide-reaching effectsInterstellar winds stream in from the direction of the constellation Scorpius, almost perpendicular to the sun's path through the galaxy. As the winds interact with the sun, they create a distinctive feature.

"Helium is gravitationally focused to create a trail of helium known as the 'focusing cone' behind the sun as it moves through space," Frisch said.

The dense cone makes the particles easier to study as they pack in behind Earth's star.

The changing wind could have implications that go beyond understanding the region surrounding the solar system. It could also affect studies of the charged particles streaming off the sun.

"When we try to understand the past and present heliosphere, we can no longer assume that the heliosphere changes only because of the solar wind," Frisch said. "Now we have evidence that changes in the interstellar wind may be important."

The new study was published online Sept. 5 in the journal Science. - FOX News.

GLOBAL VOLCANISM: Global Volcano Report For September 12, 2013 - Updates On Lokon-Empung, Sakurajima, Shiveluch, Veniaminof, Suwanose-jima, Rabaul, Manam, Ulawun, Santa María, Santiaguito, And Arenal!

September 12, 2013 - WORLDWIDE VOLCANOES - The following constitutes the new activity, unrest and ongoing reports of volcanoes across the globe.

Ash emission from Lokon volcano this morning (VSI webcam)

Lokon-Empung (North Sulawesi, Indonesia): Activity remains elevated. During yesterday, no significant explosions occurred, but the volcano erupted again several times with small explosions and ash emissions today.


WATCH: Time-lapse video of Lokon.

Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): An explosion this morning produced an ash plume rising to 14,000 ft (4.2 km) altitude. This is the latest of the currently intense eruptive phase of ash emissions and frequent vulcanian explosions (at least 6 during yesterday).

On the 11th, JMA reported that 15 explosions from Sakura-jima's Showa Crater ejected tephra as far as 1,300 m during 2-6 September. Incandescence from the crater was visible some nights. An explosion at 1100 on 4 September generated an ash plume that rose 2.8 km and drifted S, causing ashfall in areas downwind including Arimuracho (4 km SSE). Tephra 4 cm in diameter was confirmed in an area 3 km S, and tephra 1 cm in diameter was reported 10 km SSE.
  

Suwanose-jima (Ryukyu Islands): A new eruption was reported this morning producing an ash plume rising about 1 km above the Ontake crater to an altitude of 6,000 ft (1.8 km) and drifting NW.(VAAC Tokyo)


Rabaul (Tavurvur) (New Britain, Papua New Guinea): RVO reported that during 1-31 August low-level activity at Rabaul caldera's Tavurvur cone consisted of pale gray plumes with variable but mostly minor ash content. Intervals between emissions ranged from tens of seconds to hours.
  

Manam (Papua New Guinea): RVO reported that after a small eruption from Manam's Southern Crater during 27-28 August, activity subsided. Diffuse gray-brown ash plumes, emitted at short intervals, rose from the crater during 29-30 August, and crater incandescence was noted. Seismicity declined and was at a low level by the end of the day on 31 August.


Ulawun (New Britain, Papua New Guinea): RVO reported that activity at Ulawun was low during 4-31 August; emissions from the summit crater consisted of white vapor until 16 August, and were gray during 17-31 August.



Shiveluch (Kamchatka): The volcano continues to slowly extrude a new lobe of viscous lava from the dome. 

Explosion from Shiveluch volcano this morning (KVERT webcam)

This process is accompanied by occasional explosions and ash emissions such as one this morning that produced a plume rising to 19,000 ft (5.8 km) altitude.


Santa María / Santiaguito (Guatemala): INSIVUMEH reported that at 1405 on 5 September a lahar descended Santa María's Nima I drainage on the S flank carrying mostly fine sediment and 50-cm-diameter blocks, but also a small percentage of blocks 1-2 m in diameter. During 5-10 September white plumes rose 200-500 m and drifted W, SW, E, and NE.


Arenal (Costa Rica): OVSICORI-UNA reported that plumes composed mainly of water vapor rose from the NE and SE edges of Arenal's Crater C on 8 and 9 September. Tremors indicative of hydrothermal and magmatic activity were detected on 8 September. 

The report noted that seismic and fumarolic activity had been very low in the past three years; however steam plumes associated with heavy rains had been frequent. (Smithsonian/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report) 


Veniaminof volcano (Alaska): A phase of strong continuous tremor occurred between yesterday noon and this morning (local time), possibly indicating another paroxysm with lava fountaining and associated ash emissions. 

Current seismic recording from Veniaminof (VNHG station, AVO)

Cloud cover prevented direct observations.