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Mineral Production Data Reflect Economic Slowdown
Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2008 @ 1:17 am by USGS Newsroom
The USGS releases mineral information essential to the U.S. economy and national security.
U.S. Geological Survey data on U.S. mineral production reflect the domestic housing market decline over the past year. The USGS study shows significant declines in domestic production for a number of construction materials, including cement, gypsum, construction sand and gravel, and crushed stone.
USGS mineral data are used by the Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors in preparing its index of industrial production, a principal economic indicator.
This index measures the output of factories, mines, and electric and gas utilities. Output reflects changes in price and demand for mineral commodities used by industries such as construction, transportation equipment and agriculture. Output is an important early indicator of changes in economic activity in those industries.
“We find the data, analysis and assistance provided by the USGS to be invaluable in the preparation of the indexes of industrial production and of capacity,” said Norman J. Morin, senior economist with the Federal Reserve System. “The USGS data add appreciably to the product content of industrial production and, moreover, are in an area where no data are otherwise available.”
This is the first time the USGS has publicly released these data in the same form they are provided to the Federal Reserve System. This change is in response to a recent recommendation by the National Academy of Sciences in the report “Minerals, Critical Minerals, and the U.S. Economy.”
The U.S. is the world’s largest user of mineral commodities. Domestic mineral data are collected by the USGS through voluntary cooperation of the mineral industry. The USGS is the sole federal provider of unbiased research on mineral potential, production, consumption and environmental effects.
To see the report read “U.S. Production of Selected Mineral Commodities”
For more information on the NAS report read “Minerals, Critical Minerals, and the U.S. Economy”
Visit the USGS Mineral Resources Program for more information.
[Via USGS]
Video of Mount St. Helens Lava Dome Growth
Posted on Friday, May 23, 2008 @ 12:35 am by Dave Schumaker
Courtesy of the USGS, I received some fascinating b-roll footage relating to Mount St. Helens. By far, the most interesting segment in the 29 minutes of video occurs at the end, a time lapse sequence lasting 4 years, showing the growth of the lava dome inside the crater of Mount St. Helens.
I uploaded that segment of the video into Vimeo for the world to see. Check it out!
USGS Earthquake Scenario for Southern California
Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2008 @ 11:10 am by Dave Schumaker
The strongest shaking and greatest damage is near the stretch of the San Andreas Fault that extends through the fastest growing areas of Southern California, including the Coachella Valley, Inland Empire and Antelope Valley.
At least 10 million people will be exposed to heavy shaking. California’s efforts at mitigation have concentrated on life safety and have been largely successful. Thus, in spite of the large numbers of people in highly shaken areas, deaths are estimated at only 1,800.
Building types known to be vulnerable to damage and collapse, do indeed sustain major damage. All un-reinforced masonry buildings within 15 miles of the San Andreas Fault are completely destroyed. Those that are not retrofitted kill many occupants. Many other older building types without retrofitting contribute to over $33 billion in damage to buildings.
The fault offsets all lifelines crossing into Southern California at Cajon Pass (Interstate 15), San Gorgonio Pass (Interstate 10) and along Route 14, including pipelines, power lines, roads, railways, telecommunications and aqueducts.
Strong shaking continues in downtown Los Angeles for 55 seconds nearly 8 times longer than in the Northridge Earthquake
The prolonged, strong shaking heavily damages and sometimes collapses hundreds of old brick buildings, thousands of older commercial and industrial concrete buildings, many wood-frame buildings, and even a few, high-rise steel buildings. Over 600,000 buildings suffer at least some damage that causes tens of thousands of injuries and hundreds of deaths, and leaves many thousands of people without homes or jobs.
Fire doubles the fatalities and economic losses. Around Southern California, there will be 1,600 fires started large enough to warrant a 911 call, and some fires merge into conflagrations that burn hundreds of city blocks. Assuming no Santa Ana winds, the models still indicate a further $65 billion in direct losses and $22 billion in indirect losses from the fires.
Nearly two thirds of the hospital beds are non-functional in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. At the same time, 50,000 people will seek treatment at emergency rooms.
Andrew Alden at about.com briefly wrote about this yesterday.
Disseminating Information: Twitter vs. USGS on the Sichuan Earthquake
Posted on Thursday, May 15, 2008 @ 3:05 pm by Dave Schumaker
On Sunday evening, noted Bay Area tech blogger Robert Scoble, became one of the first people in the western hemisphere to find out about a large earthquake in China. He reposted a message he received on his Twitter account about the breaking news and within minutes, thousands of people around the world were aware that something had just happened.
Scoble’s Twitter message immediately after the Sichuan earthquake.
Later that evening, Scoble wrote a message on his blog, explaining how Twitter beat the USGS with information about the earthquake and sharing his amazement at learning about news as it happened on Twitter. Rory Cellan-Jones, a technology blogger for the BBC News, even went on to imply that this could mark Twitter’s “coming of age,” and establish its importance in disseminating information about major news events.
Does this really establish Twitter’s importance as a source of news? And how does this compare with the response time and information available from the USGS?
More after the jump. (more…)
Mount St. Helens’ Glacier Growing
Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 @ 5:28 pm by Dave Schumaker
A glacier inside the crater of Mount St. Helens is apparently one of the few glaciers in the world that is actually growing. Measurements and observations by scientists from the USGS show that the volume of ice is increasing and that two “glacial arms” wrapping around the new lava dome (formed as a result of the eruption beginning in 2004) will eventually meet.
“We’ve all been surprised at how little melt has actually happened,” said Carolyn Driedger, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Vancouver. “Intuitively, you would certainly expect more snow and ice melt.”Meanwhile, two severed “arms” of the glacier have been shoved around the old lava dome and northward down the crater slope — covering an area roughly the size of downtown Portland. The ends of the two arms, each looming 60 to 130 feet in height, lately have moved closer together in a kind of geological embrace.
[Via The Columbian]