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It hardly raised a ripple when it was reported over the summer, but news that a tsunami could one day hit New York is suddenly getting a second look. Several months ago, geologists raised concerns that an unstable flank of a volcano in the Canary Islands off the coast of Western Africa could slide into the sea and send giant waves across the Atlantic at the speed of a jumbo jet. Within three hours, the wave could swamp the west coast of Africa. Within five hours, it could hit southern England, and within 12 hours, it could build up...

M5.4 - 31km NW of Frontera, Spain 2013-12-27 17:46:06 UTC

The Cascadia fault, a 600-mile-long collision between two chunks of the earth's crust off the Pacific Northwest coast, has been quiet for a long time, and that is not a comforting fact. Major earthquakes occur somewhere in the world every year or two. Catastrophic tsunamis - giant waves generated by undersea earthquakes or landslides - strike less often, and some of the largest of tsunamis originate in places that do not, at first glance, appear particularly treacherous. The devastating tsunamis created Dec. 26 by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake that killed as many as 150,000 people on the shores of the...

One of the world’s most active volcanic areas is a relatively unknown part of the seabed between New Zealand and Tonga, and could trigger a devastating tsunami at any moment, ANU geologist Professor Richard Arculus warned today. While relatively little money is available for ocean research, submerged volcanoes pose a significant threat to communities across the Pacific, Professor Arculus said. “Over the last six years, research teams from Australia, New Zealand, the USA, and Germany have mapped a relatively narrow strip of ocean stretching about 2000 kilometres from the north of New Zealand to Tonga, and found 75 previously unknown...

Both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the Americas are vulnerable to tsunamis like the one that devastated Indian Ocean shorelines in December and experts said on Tuesday they are scrambling to try to get warning system in place before politicians lose interest. "It's not if but when," said Laura Kong, director of the International Tsunami Information Center run by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the United Nations (news - web sites) Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization. She and other experts want to use momentum from the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed or left missing nearly 300,000 people...

Government officials are evaluating and revising disaster plans around the United States in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, just as they did after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. While war and automobiles kill more people than nature, find out what natural disasters top scientists’ worry lists. #10 Pacific Northwest Megathrust Earthquake Geologists know it’s just a matter of time before another 9.0 or larger earthquake strikes somewhere between Northern California and Canada. The shaking would be locally catastrophic, but the biggest threat is the tsunami that would ensue from a fault line that’s seismically identical to the one that...

Tsunami Could Hit Here, Geologists Say BY JEREMY SMERD - Special to the Sun December 29, 2004 Could New York be next? The earthquake that ravaged coastline communities surrounding the Indian Ocean has reawakened a debate over the possibility that a tsunami could hit New York.

Translated.. El Hierro recorded 28 earthquakes so far of day The recorded earthquakes ranging from 1.9 and 2.6 magnitude on the Richter scale 18.03.2013 | 18:51 EP volcano monitoring network monitoring 24 hours a National Geographic Institute (IGN) has recorded on the island of El Hierro on Monday a total of 28 earthquakes of between 1.9 and 2.6 magnitude on the Richter scale, although none felt by population. The largest of the quakes, which struck at 14.29 pm, had a magnitude of 2.6 degrees, and occurred west of the town of Frontera, on land, 20 kilometers deep. At 14.42 hours...

MADRID, July 31 (RIA Novosti) - Some 10,000 people have been evacuated from two major islands on Spain's Canaries swept by forest fires, a local government spokesman said Tuesday. "The island of Gran Canaria, where over 20,000 hectares of pineland has burnt down, is seeing the worst situation, and 13,000 hectares of forests have been destroyed on Tenerife," the source said. However, the spokesman said the fires were raging in inland areas of the islands, while coastal regions where numerous hotels and popular beaches are located were under no threat. The official said strong winds and scorching temperatures of up...

Can you imagine the devastation that would be caused if a massive wall of water several hundred feet high slammed into Florida at more than 100 miles an hour? To many people such a scenario is impossible, but that is what people living along the Indian Ocean thought before the 2004 tsunami and that is what people living in Japan thought before the 2011 tsunami. Throughout history, giant tsunamis have been relatively rare events, but they do happen. Scientists tell us that a mega-tsunami can race across the open ocean at up to 500 miles an hour, and when they...

The risk of a landslide in the Canary Islands causing a tidal wave (tsunami) able to devastate America's east coast is vastly overstated. That's according to marine geologists studying ancient landslides in the area In typical Canary Island landslides, chunks of land break off in bits, not in one dramatic plunge, they claim. This contradicts previous warnings that an Isle of Man-sized chunk of land could fall off the island of La Palma into the sea, causing a mega-tsunami.

A wall of water up to 55 yards high crashing into the Atlantic seaboard of the United States, flattening everything in its path -- not a Hollywood movie but a dire prophecy by some British and U.S. academics. As the international community struggles to aid victims of last month's devastating tsunami in southern Asia, scientists warn an eruption of a volcano in Spain's Canary Islands could unleash a "mega-tsunami" larger than any in recorded history. According to their controversial study, an explosion of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma could send a chunk of rock twice...

This chart shows the accumulated earthquake energy since about early August around El Hierro in the Canary Islands. This is the volcano group that can generate a 150 foot tall tsunami on the east coast under certain circumstances. Heads up!

Update 17/10 – 17:29 UTC : The volcano discussion panel @ jonfr.com is expecting that we are in the stage of a surtseyan eruption. The vent opened in a very shallow depth of 150 m. That means that the magma can form pillow lava so that the “building” soon reaches the surface and then continues with phreatomagmatic eruptions.

I just had a scary (though possibly naive) thought. I've read quite a bit about the La Palma volcano in the Canary Islands triggering a "mega-tsunami". From what I've read this is a virtually certainty in the next 2000 years. Apparently an eruption 60+ years ago "loosened" a massive piece of rock from the side of the mountain creating a 6 foot "crack" as it moved towards the Atlantic ocean. If and when this 20+ mile piece of rock collapses into the ocean, a maga-tsunami would be generated that could be up to to 1000 feet high, moving across the...

09/29/2011 She's Gonna Blow Canary Island Evacuated Amid Volcano Fears Natural DisastersRSS 09/29/2011 She's Gonna Blow Canary Island Evacuated Amid Volcano Fears Photo Gallery: El Hierro Rumbles Photos DPA Worries of a potential volcanic eruption have prompted Spanish authorities to evacuate residents and tourists on one of the Canary Islands. Thousands of tiny tremors have recently intensified, with the biggest one reaching a magnitude of 3.4, they said. The seismic activity indicates magma on the move. Info Thousands of tiny earthquakes have rattled the island of El Hierro since this July. But recently the tremors have grown stronger, prompting concern...

While the unusually strong earthquake swarm under El Hierro Island continues, harmonic volcanic tremor has reappeared short time ago at about 16h10 UTC. The tremor, a low-frequency ground vibration, is thought to be caused by moving magma. It had been strong yesterday and correlated well with a southward propagation of earthquake locations, suggesting that magma at about 20 km depth flew from underneath the El Golfo area towards the EL Julan (south) coast, in a similar way as before the Oct 2011 eruption, but became blocked there, and did not reach the southern rift zone near La Restinga. After the...

Check Out This Volcano Erupting Underwater Near Spain's Canary Islands Nick Jardine Nov. 8, 2011, 9:00 PM Image: Presidencia del Gobierno de Canarias via Flickr This weekend the Spanish government ordered residents on El Hierro Island in the Canary Islands to abandon their homes. The reason? A big volcano, just 70 meters from the surface of the water. Increased volcanic and seismic activity has forced residents out. Since July the volcano has spewed out gas, lava and sulfur into the ocean turning the ocean into a volcanic jacuzzi. Have a look at some more photos of the eruption. Click here...

The Instituto Geografico Nacional (IGN) has reported an increase in the intensity of earthquakes recorded on El Hierro, the smallest of The Canary Islands, during the last 24 to 36 hours. The number of earthquakes recorded since July 17 , 2011 on El Hierros has now reached 10,000, figures from the IGN confirm. The IGN also confirmed surface deformations exceeding 35mm on the 280-sqkm island, where residents have been put on alert for a possible volcanic eruption. However, seismologists have moved to reassure the local population that a volcanic eruption is not imminent. The agency confirmed on Friday that 890...

Residents of El Hierro have been put on standby for mandatory evacuation. The Canary Islands are on watch for what scientists believe is a pending volcanic eruption. MADRID, SPAIN - The 108 square mile island of El Hierro is home to about 10,000 people. And the population is on standby orders for emergency evacuation. The island has seen thousands of small earthquakes in what seismologists refer to as an, "earthquake swarm." They believe the earthquake swarm is a sign that an eruption is imminent. Nearly 9,000 tremors have been detected in the last two months. On Monday a 3.8 quake...