If this house is a-rockin' ...

About 10 minutes ago, an earthquake hit which was felt pretty well in the Ottawa area. My house was noticeably shaking for several seconds, followed by minor after-tremors. No damage done here, but it probably the strongest one I've felt in the area. I haven't seen anything official, but estimates are 5+ on the Richter Scale (estimates I've seen have ranged from 5.1 to 5.5), or about as much energy as the Nagasaki atomic bomb.

Ottawa is actually fairly seismically active, with quakes happening on average once every 5 days. Those are usually minor, and not felt by people. In Canada, the Geological Survey has us ranked third at risk among urban centres, after Vancouver and Montreal. You can see the estimated hazard, and take a look at previous local earthquakes here.

The USGS (US Geological Survey) also tracks earthquakes worldwide and claims 'real-time', but the Ottawa area tremors aren't up yet.

Undersea Volcano Eruption

Most people have probably heard about this already, but the pictures are too cool not to post. Earlier this week a deep-sea volcano near Tonga in the South Pacific began erupting and put on quite a show (video at link).




More pics here.
The eruption poses no threat to the island, but flights through the area have been re-routed to avoid the smoke and debris.