Sciency Thoughts: Attica

Showing posts with label Attica. Show all posts

Sunday, 21 July 2019

Magnitude 5.3 Earthquake on the Attic Peninsula, Greece,

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.3 Earthquake at a depth of 10.0 km, roughly 3 km to the northeast of the town of Magoula on the Attic Peninsula of Greece, slightly before 2.15 pm local time (slightly before 11.15 am GMT) on Friday 19 July 2019 . No injuries have been reported following this event, though some damage to buildings has occurred, and the event was felt across much of southern Greece.

A collapsed building in the Port of Piraeus near Athens, following the 19 July 2019 Attic Peninsula Earthquake. Petros Giannakouris/AP.

The Attic Peninsula is to the north of the boundary between the Aegean Sea Plate, which underlies southern Greece, and the African Plate, which underlies most of the Mediterranean. The African Plate is moving northward relative to the Aegean Sea Plate, and is being subducted beneath it along the Hellenic Trench, which runs from the Ionian Sea to the south and west of the Peloponnese and then to the south of Crete. This is not a smooth process, as the plates frequently stick together then break apart once the pressure has built up sufficiently, leading to (fairly frequent) Earthquakes.

The extent of the Hellenic Trench. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica eVulcanologia.

Witness accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events, and the structures that cause them. The international non-profit organisation Earthquake Report is interested in hearing from people who may have felt this event; if you felt this quake then you can report it to Earthquake Report here.

Thursday, 26 July 2018

Eighty five confirmed dead and more than 180 injured as wildfire destroys coastal village on Attica Peninsula, Greece.

Eighty five people have now been confirmed dead and over 180 have been injured after a wildfire swept through the village of Mati, to the east of Athens, on the Attica Peninsula, Greece, on Monday 23 July 2018. Most of those who perished were trapped when roads exciting the village became blocked by vehicles, while many of those who escaped did so by leaping from cliffs around the village into the sea. However, many people are still missing, and it is thought likely that some of these will have drowned while attempting to swim to safety.

Destruction left by a wildfire that swept through the village of Mati on the Attica Peninsula on Monday 23 July 2018. Reuters.

The fire is thought to have been compounded by extensive illegal building in the area, principally to let to tourists, which has led to streets being narrowed, enabling the fire to spread more quickly and hampering people's attempts to escape. However many residents of the village have blamed the Greek government for the disaster, claiming that an evacuation plan should have been put in place.

Burned out vehicles on a road exciting the Greek village of Mati that was destroyed by fire on Monday 23 July 2018. Many people died in their vehicles when they became caught in traffic and were overtaken by the flames. APP.

The exact cause of the fire is unclear, but the severity of the event appears to have been due to the exceptionally hot and dry weather the area had been suffering, which dried out vegetation around the village, combined with gale force winds on the day, which helped the fire to spread and kept it supplied with oxygen.

Saturday, 18 November 2017

Flooding and landslide kill nineteen in the Attica Region of Greece.

Nineteen people have died and a further three are missing following a series of flash floods and landslides in the Attica Region of Greece since Tuesday 14 November 2017. Many houses and businesses have been inundated in the towns of Mandra, Nea Peramos and Megara, and part of the Athens-Corinth highway has been washed away near Athens.

Flash flood in Mandora earlier this week. Valarie Gache/APP/Getty Images.

Storm systems form due to heating of air over the sea, usually in tropical zones, though Herwart formed off the coast of southern Scandinavia. As the air is heated the the air pressure drops and the air rises, causing new air to rush in from outside the forming storm zone. If this zone is sufficiently large, then it will be influenced by the Coriolis Effect, which loosely speaking means the winds closer to the equator will be faster than those further away, causing the storm to rotate, clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere.