16 March 2022 (15:08-UTC-07 Tango 06) 25 Esfand 1400/12 Sha’ban 1443/14 Gui Mao 4720
“A severe interruption to a regional telecommunication link in King Salmon has resulted in the loss of data flow from seismic stations at nine volcanoes in the Katmai region and northern Alaska Peninsula over the past weeks. As a result, AVO can no longer seismically monitor the volcanoes listed below. Thus, we are unable to assess whether these volcanoes are at their normal background state, or to quickly confirm or dismiss reports of activity at these volcanoes.”–Alaska Volcano Observatory Information Statement, 16MAR2022
On the same day the Japan got a redux on its March 2011 quake/tsunami, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) revealed that it had lost connection with its volcano monitoring system in Alaska. What’s more sinister, USGS lost the connection to its volcano monitors several weeks prior!
List of volcanoes now ‘in the dark’: Griggs, Katmai, Mageik, Martin, Novarupta, Snowy Mountain, Trident, Ugashik-Peulik, Ukinrek-Maars.
Portable lighting system, USMC photo by Lance Corporal Malik Lewis.
U.S. Marine Corps personnel with Combat Logistics Battalion 31, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit conduct disaster relief (humanitarian assistance) training on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, 19-21MAY2021.
“…the largest chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear exercise held in Alaska.”-Colonel Anthony Mortrud, Alaska National Guard
National Guard units from several states (Alaska, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Idaho, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin) conducted a massive disaster response exercise between 17th and 20th of May. At least 250 people took part in what was called Exercise ORCA 2021:
U.S. Marines assigned to 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 1st Marine Division, conduct a simulated earthquake/disaster Noncombatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) 16MAY2021, on Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, California.
U.S. Army Reserve photo by Sergeant First Class Brent C. Powell.
Utah Army National Guard’s Camp Williams was the site of the U.S. Army Reserve’s Exercise Vibrant Response 21. The training was meant to test the ability of headquarters (administration) units to respond to natural disasters.
USN SeaBees build ‘environmental enclosures’ at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, the enclosures are meant to provide people with a place to shelter from sudden “hostile weather conditions”. The project began in October 2019 and is still ongoing.
CAMP2Ex (Cloud, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment) is a partnership with NASA, NRL, the Manila Observatory, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), and various academic organizations. Researchers on the campaign seek to collect data to answer three key questions; – Do aerosol particles influence weather and precipitation in tropical environments?
– Do these influences feed back into the aerosol lifecycle?
– How do the aerosol and cloud influence the radiation energy of the region?
The U.S. Air Force hurricane hunters have been flying through the Pineapple Express (one of the famous ‘atmospheric rivers’ that brings warm humid air to North America during Winter): “There is no off season for us, after the Hurricane season is done we roll into the Winter Storm season and part of that is providing support for atmospheric rivers off the West Coast. ARs [atmospheric river] are flowing columns of water vapor that produce vast amounts of precipitation when they make landfall. The heavy amounts of precipitation can turn into extreme rainfall and snow, which then can cause flooding and mudslides.”-Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Rickert, 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron
The final ‘shell’ emplacement had been delayed by unusually high water levels, but now that water levels have dropped the U.S.$1.22-billion Kentucky Lock Addition Project can continue. Ten ‘shells’ were needed to build the new lock addition in dry conditions. Reports say that since December 2019 the level of the Tennessee River was over-topping the nine shells already in place, each shell is 31-feet/9-meters high.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spending at least U.S.$16-million to repair a breach in the Buffalo North Breakwater, which was caused by the Halloween Night Storm last year.
Altus Air Force Base is experimenting with a new cheaper way to clean-up its ground water, called a ‘bio-wall’ (‘bioreactors’ filled with locally sourced micro-organisms): “The purpose of the bio wall is to degrade the manmade contaminates currently found in the groundwater and break them down into naturally found elements. The bio walls act like a big water filter that is 30 feet underground. As the water flows through the wall, we are purifying it from the potentially harmful chemicals that were put in the ground a long time ago.”-Mary Bitney, Altus AFB Remedial Project Manager
Virginia; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a U.S.$23.7-million contract to Florida based contractor to rebuild the eroded beach at NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, including construction of breakwaters using 1.3-million cubic yards of sand.
Utah National Guard joined Hawaii National Guard in a disaster drill that included a contamination event, and the ‘transfer of authority’ to a much larger responding unit:
Oregon; State government Cascadia Playbook revealed, Bend-Redmond area to be emergency response HQ: “Our operating assumption is most of the infrastructure we rely on today will not be accessible to us if you’re in the Valley or on the Coast following a Cascadia earthquake.”-Andrew Phelps, Oregon Office of Emergency Management
NATO members Canada, France, Italy, Lithuania and the United States are testing energy saving tech at this year’s Smart Energy Training and Assessment Camp. It includes LED lighting, energy metering, atmospheric water generation, and various sizes of portable solar arrays.
Puerto Rico Air National Guard photo by Master Sergeant Caycee Watson, 30JAN2020.
Puerto Rico Air National Guard personnel with the 156th Medical Group, inspect toilets and hand washing facilities at an earthquake response ‘base camp’ in Guayanilla, 30JAN2020.
Folsom Dam Raise Project groundbreaking, at the Folsom Point Boat Launch near Dike 8, 21JAN2020. In a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers directed project the Folsom Dam is going to be raised as part of a plan to both increase water storage and prevent future flooding.
Washington National Guard’s Homeland Response Force toured the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Western Regional Center in Seattle: “The information provided by these resources is critical to anticipating weather’s effects on hazardous material incidents and our response operations during an incident.”-Sergeant First Class James Peters
Washington National Guard also showed-off its disaster response communications equipment, along with AT&T’s First Net.
Between July and September 2019 the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, NASA, and other federal agencies, conducted studies of pyrocumulonimbus (PyroCbs) clouds. The PyroCbs (pyro means fire) are formed by intense wildfires, NASA calls them “the fire-breathing dragon of clouds.”
PyroCbs were first identified in the late 1990s, while scientists were trying to find out what was causing clouds in the upper atmosphere when the ‘natural’ weather conditions weren’t correct for such formations and there was no volcanic activity. Since then studies show such dragon clouds can pump as much particulates into the upper atmosphere as a volcano: “They act as giant chimneys, transporting smoke from the ground to high altitudes. Intense PyroCbs can inject smoke into the lower stratosphere, where it can persist for weeks or months.”-Dave Peterson, Naval Research Laboratory, one of the first meteorologists to notice the PryoCbs phenomenon in the late 1990s
The data collected from the 2019 FIREX-AQ missions is now being studied to see how cloud water droplets and ice particles change in the presence of smoke.
On 12JAN202, the USAF at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, evacuated personnel on at least five C-130 aircraft due to an impending storm. The operation is known as a Weather Evacuation (WX Evac).