By David Shukman
The area surrounding the island nation of Tonga is very geologically active
Related Stories
An expedition is getting under way in the South Pacific to investigate one of the most seismically-active fault lines in the world.
Researchers are planning to study the Tonga Trench – a deep feature where the Pacific tectonic plate is being forced under the Indo-Australian plate.
The island nation of Tonga is regularly hit by tremors – most recently a 6.4 magnitude quake offshore last month.
The research expedition will last about one month.
The focus of the study will be an unusual zone on the seabed where undersea volcanoes are being dragged into the fault.
Scientists want a better understanding of how the submarine mountains affect the likelihood of earthquakes.
The volcanoes lie on the 4,000km-long Louisville Ridge and either act as a brake on the Pacific plate – or intensify the quakes which follow.
The area where they are pulled into the seabed suffers relatively fewer tremors than other stretches of the fault line.
The study – funded by Britain’s Natural Environment Research Council (Nerc) – will carry out surveys and develop 3D models during seven transits of the region.
One of the lead scientists on the expedition, Professor Tony Watts of Oxford University, told BBC News:
“We want to know whether subducted seamounts are holding up earthquakes or whether they cause earthquakes.
“This is important to find out so that we can learn what controls earthquakes and make better assessments about where they may occur in the future.”
Subduction zones like the Tonga Trench can trigger tsunamis – as happened off Japan last month and off Sumatra on Boxing Day 2004.
One recent study of an earthquake in Peru in 2001 showed that underwater mountains may have held up the quake for 40 seconds before rupturing.
A study of the Nankaido earthquake in Japan in 1946 successfully imaged a seamount that had been dragged 10km deep – and apparently limited the scale of the rupture and the tsunami risk.
According to Professor Watts, more data is needed on the deep structure of the Tonga Trench to understand the forces at work.
“We need to know whether the seamounts are more or less intact as they are carried into the trench or have been damaged or decapitated.
“If we find that there is a link between seamounts and earthquakes then imaging of the seafloor will put us in a much better position to understand future quakes and tsunamis.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers (l) and Admiral Lord Boyce are the 22nd and 23rd Knights of the Garter
Related Stories
The UK’s highest ranking judge and an ex-head of the Armed Forces have been made Knights of the Garter, the country’s highest order of chivalry.
The Queen bestowed the honour on President of the Supreme Court Lord Phillips and Admiral Lord Boyce, ex-Chief of the Defence Staff.
They will be officially appointed at a ceremony and service in June.
The Order of the Garter, established in 1348, honours contributions to national life or service to the Queen.
It was begun by Edward III and remains the most senior British order of chivalry.
Lord Phillips, 72, rules over the highest court in the land – the Supreme Court – which opened in October 2009 as a replacement for a special committee of the House of Lords.
Born Nicholas Addison Phillips, he is a former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, and has been a senior Law Lord since October 2008.
Michael Boyce, 68, was appointed First Sea Lord in 1998 and Chief of the Defence Staff in 2001, and was head of the Armed Forces at the time of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Queen’s gift
Giving evidence to the Iraq inquiry, he described the Treasury’s attitude as an “impediment” to the mission and criticised the government generally for its lack of “cohesion”.
He retired eight years ago and now sits as a cross-bench member of the House of Lords.
The appointments are traditionally announced on St George’s Day, but the official ceremonies take place on Garter Day in June, on the Monday of Royal Ascot week.
The appointment of Knights of the Garter is in the Queen’s gift and is made without consulting ministers.
The Queen formally invests them in the Throne Room at Windsor Castle, followed by a service in St George’s Chapel.
Other members include former prime ministers Lady Thatcher and Sir John Major as well as a number of British and foreign royals.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Weather forecast for the UK.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Teachers last went on strike in 2008 – the first national industrial action in two decades
Related Stories
Schools could face a series of walk-outs from this summer over cuts to teachers’ pensions packages.
Delegates at the National Union of Teachers conference in Harrogate are to vote on whether to ballot for a strike.
If it is passed, they are likely to co-ordinate action with the Association of Teachers and Lecturers who voted to ballot on the issue last week.
Ministers say any changes to pensions will be fair, and that firm proposals will be set out in the autumn.
But Department for Education officials wrote to teaching unions in January setting out what they could expect.
And Schools Minister Nick Gibb has written to the heads of teaching unions asking them to come and discuss the issue with him.
“People are living longer – in the early 1970s life expectancy of a 60-year-old was around 18 years: now it is around 28 years”
Department for Education
A priority motion on the issue is to be debated in Harrogate on Saturday.
The unions are concerned that the coalition’s changes to public-sector pensions will mean they pay more, work longer and receive less when they retire.
It comes as the union publishes research suggesting two-thirds of its members would be more likely to quit teaching if their pension packages were reduced.
The government is planning changes to pensions schemes in all parts of the public sector, to save £2.8bn.
It asked Lord Hutton to draw up plans for this, which it has accepted in principle.
NUT general secretary Christine Blower said teachers were angry and felt they had been tricked over their pensions.
She said if the government did not take their complaints into consideration, teachers could be the first of a wave of public sector workers to walk out in protest over the cuts.
But she had no doubt they would be followed by other staff working in the public sector if ministers did not back down.
Ahead of the vote, the union published research after consulting 7,500 of its members.
It found two-thirds would be more likely to quit the profession if the proposed changes to their pensions went ahead.
Of these, a third said they would be very likely to leave their jobs.
Nearly 70% said they saw their pension as an important part of their pay when they joined the profession.
And 60% said their pensions remained an important factor in keeping them in teaching.
Ms Blower added: “The NUT survey proves what we have been saying – the government’s proposals are not just unfair and unnecessary, they will have a massive impact on the recruitment and retention to teaching.”
A Department for Education spokesman said: “Lord Hutton has made it clear that change is needed.
“People are living longer – in the early 1970s life expectancy of a 60-year-old was around 18 years: now it is around 28 years.
“We will set out proposals in the autumn that are affordable, sustainable, and fair to both the public sector workforce and taxpayers.”
NUT members last walked out in 2008 over pay. It was the union’s first national strike in 21 years.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Deepwater Horizon owner Transocean was drilling an oil well for BP when the explosion occurred
A lax safety culture and poorly working kit aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig contributed to last year’s explosion, the US Coast Guard says.
In a report on the incident, which killed 11 and caused a massive spill, the agency criticised the practices and training of rig owner Transocean.
It said equipment was poorly maintained and alarms and automatic shutdown systems did not work properly.
A Transocean spokesman on Friday rejected the findings.
In a 288-page report released just over a year after the accident, the Coast Guard found actions by Transocean and the oil rig crew hindered their ability to prevent or contain the disaster.
“Deepwater Horizon and its owner, Transocean, had serious safety management system failures and a poor safety culture,” the report said.
“Collectively, this record raises serious questions whether Transocean’s safety culture was a factor that contributed to the disaster.”
Transocean spokesman Brian Kennedy told the Associated Press that the Coast Guard had inspected the Deepwater Horizon seven months before the blowout and deemed it in compliance with safety standards.
“We strongly disagree with – and documentary evidence in the Coast Guard’s possession refutes – key findings in this report,” he said in a statement.
Overnight on 20 April 2010, Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon burst into flames while drilling a well for BP.
In the months that followed, more than 200 million gallons (780 million litres) of oil flowed in the Gulf of Mexico from the well, soiling hundreds of miles of coastline in the worst US oil spill in history.
The Coast Guard also cited lax oversight by the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the nation in the Pacific where Transocean had registered the rig.
It said national regulators had effectively “abdicated” their inspection responsibilities by contracting them out to third parties.
The Coast Guard report said evidence indicated the explosion occurred when electrical equipment ignited a cloud of flammable gas that had flowed up from the well.
It said electrical equipment may have been incapable of preventing ignition, and cited a 2010 inspection audit that found some equipment on board was in “bad condition” and was “seriously corroded”.
“Because of these deficiencies, there is no assurance that the electrical equipment was safe and could not have caused the explosions,” the Coast Guard said.
Among other contributing shortcomings, the report found:
Gas detectors on the oil rig were not set up to shut down the flow from the well automatically in an emergency, nor to shut down the air flow into the rig’s engine roomAudible alarms on some gas detectors had been turned off to avoid disturbing the crew with false alarmsThe rig’s fire-fighting system depended on electricity to power water pumps and was rendered useless when the explosions caused a loss of powerRig crew had become complacent following routine fire drills from which drilling crew were sometimes excusedThe crew had not held training drills on how to respond to a well blowout requiring rig evacuation
On Wednesday, the first anniversary of the explosion, BP sued Transocean for $40bn (£24.37bn) in damages in an attempt to defray the oil firm’s tens of billions of dollars in liabilities associated with clean-up and compensation.
In federal court in New Orleans, BP said safety systems on Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon rig had failed. BP also sued the maker of the rig’s blowout preventer, alleging the device failed to stop the huge oil spill that followed the explosion.
Transocean has also demanded court judgements against BP and other companies.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
