Mysterious blast shakes Nanaimo - Canada

[dArKeR]

Was it a sonic boom, a dynamite blast, or an asteroid hitting the earth?

Government and local emergency services were stumped Wednesday afternoon, unable to explain a powerful blast that shook Nanaimo from stem to stern.

The blast, which occurred around 1 p.m., was heard and felt as far south as Chemainus, and as far north as Nanoose.

Nanaimo RCMP say no damage or injuries had been reported.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030911.wnama0911/BNStory/National/

[xchrom]

1. i love mystery like this

and this one is even eerie.

[LosinIt]

2. Anybody suggest a good source for a map of this?

[Bridget Burke]

3. Follow this link...

To a bed & breakfast in (or near) Nanaimo.

www.goldkeyinns.com/nanaimo/map/map_nanaimo.htm

It's in British Colombia & appears to be a quite beautiful area.

[Superfly]

4. It is beautiful

the Butchart Gardens are only about 20 minutes away and Victoria (My favorite city in the whole world) is not too far, either. Plus, over 90% of Vancouver Island is still in a pristine condition.

[Art_from_Ark]

6. Nowhere near 90% pristine, I'm afraid

Much if not most of the island has been clearcut at one time or another, and more than 90% of the rainforest valleys have been logged. Read this and weep:

http://archive.greenpeace.org/majordomo/index-press-releases/1997/msg00354.html

[chenGOD]

11. THat's laughable.

90% in pristine condition? Please. Go check out the clearcuts in the walbran.

http://www.wildernesscommitteevictoria.org/

[Superfly]

16. Looks as if I was wrong.

Shit, I still love that place!

[chenGOD]

26. I still love it too....

It is beautiful territory,and I don't want to see any more of it get destroyed. Next time you're in Vancouver/Victoria, check out the office of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. They love for visitors to drop in.

[Robb]

5. Doesn't make sense

A seismograph records movement in three directions -- north-south, east-west, and up-down. With relatively little information about the surrounding rock, you can determine exactly where (azimuth and distance) an explosion took place.

Also, a sonic boom (or any air event) is substantially different from an explosion in the earth.

This shouldn't be a mystery to any serious earth science department; this has got to be just bad reporting.

p.s.- Always loved the sight of Nanaimo after a long journey across the straits.... (sigh)

[SpiralHawk]

7. Dispatching Sgt. Preston and Yukon King to investigate

The Mounties will get to the bottom of this. One hopes.

[SpiralHawk]

8. BC is a long way from Minneapolis

But there are peculiar happenings there, too -- rumblings.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=317997

[qb]

9. I was going to mention the same thing

That was eerie. I assumed it was thunder, but it was so constant. I figured there must be a bunch of thunderstorms to the west, and the sound from all of them was drifting our way.

It turned out to be a pyrotechnics convention in Bloomington. They had a permit for their (incredibly long) firework display, but the public was not notified.

[TrogL]

10. Probably an explosive meteor

They had a similar event over Greenland(?) a few years ago that raised a few eyebrows at NORAD and one over the middle east during the first Gulf war that damn near started WW III.

[screembloodymurder]

12. UFO crash

It could be an earthquake. They sometimes produce sound events.

[sexybomber]

19. kind of like the Tunguska rock in 1903?

obviously on a much smaller scale, since the Tunguska impact flattened a hundred-mile-wide swath of Siberian forest, but same idea?

[TrogL]

23. yes

[THUNDER HANDS]

13. I was watching the movie...

"The Core" last night and that was about how the govt made a big weapon that made the earth's core stop spinning and all sorts of weird stuff started to happen.

Maybe it's just another one of Rumsfeld's toys?

;)

[MetaTrope]

15. Close!

We're actually talking scalar EM weaponry.

[demdave]

14. I found the part about atmospheric focusing of sound to be interesting.

I had no idea that that happened. I understand lensing effects in astronomical viewing but never heard about one for sounds. Does anyone have a source for more info on this phenomenon?

[Xithras]

17. No a source, but an explanation

When talking about atmospheric sound "focusing", what the're really referring to is a phenomenon similar to a rogue wave. Just like waves in the water, sound waves in the air can travel at different speeds depending on their power and amplitude. When waves overtake each other, they can cancel each other out, or they can briefly combine and create a "rogue sound wave"...a noise that can be just as loud as the original blast (imagine standing two miles from a dynamite explosion, and hearing it as if you were two feet away). The waves will loose synchronization and break up quickly, but they can create a tremendous blast for the brief period of time they exist.

These waves REQUIRE an inversion layer to reflect the sound waves along the ground and keep the sound focused enough to get a decent wave overlap. It's uncommon to have an inversion layer low enough to do that, a sound big enough to be noticeable, and people standing in the area the amplified waves are focused in, but it does happen.

[demdave]

18. Thank you, very well explained. Clear and concise.

Thanks again.

[Ediacara]

20. Aparently NOT an earthquake

According to this USGS map:



There have not been any earthquakes (even small ones) in that part of the continent in that last week.

[hippiechick]

21. Bunker Dick was tunneling north and hit a BIG rock

:silly:


:hippie:

[BeHereNow]

22. Um. I smell

Poopdexter and his newest DARPA toy.
Didn't they just launch a top secret something
the other day?
Sorry, don't mean to be tin foil, it's just that
after reading some of the PNAC docs,
NOTHING would surprise me when it comes
to the Bozo-Brigade.
Also, I found the fact that none of the big boys
were in NY for the ground zero ceremony, suspicious.
I think Cheney was slithering around nearby,
but not actually there.
It would appear the Cabal was staying near
their bunker today. Wonder what they know
that we don't?

BHN

[Art_from_Ark]

24. Where's Lisa?

She's in the physical geography department of a university on the island. If any DUer would have an inside scoop about this, she would be the one.

[stickdog]

25. So that's where

Bush's approval rating landed.

[david_vincent]

27. There's a long history...

of inexplicable loud booming or blasting sounds. Check Fortean Times archives; I bet they've got scores of reports of these. IIRC, this phenomenon used to be regularly heard off the coast of Connecticut back in the 19th century - I think they were called Moodus sounds. Anyone who's familiar with fortean phenomena will know that this is a somewhat regularly reported kind of thing in the literature.

[Art_from_Ark]

28. Moodus sounds... hmm, interesting

Apparently, some geologists think they might be earthquake-induced. It is interesting to me in the fact that right before some earthquakes here in Japan, I have heard a noise that sounds like a concrete slab falling on the pavement.

[FlaGranny]

29. I remember that two loud booms were heard

off the coast of New Jersey some years ago and they never did come up with an explanation.