* Astronomy

A strong magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurred at 08:39:31 (UTC) on Wednesday, August 16, 2007,  in the Solomon islands region, 57 km SW of Honiara, Solomon Islands, at a depth of  35 km.

Location     9.893°S, 159.662°E

Advanced Land Observing Satellite "Daichi": Switching to the Redundant Data Relay Satellite Communication Equipment and Emergency Observations of the Solomon Islands Following Earthquake

At around 2:26 p.m. on April 5, 2007 (Japan Standard Time, JST, (all date and times hereinafter are in JST,) the observation data relay from the Advanced Land Observing Satellite "Daichi" to the Data Relay Satellite "Kodama" was interrupted. The "Daichi" was launched in January 2006 by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA.)
JAXA investigated the situation based on already acquired telemetry data, and at around 5:00 p.m. on April 8 the transmission system of the Daichi onboard data relay satellite communication equipment was switched to the redundant system to restore normal operations. We are continuing to study the cause of this phenomenon.
Observation data acquisition during the data transmission interruption was continuously performed by direct transmission between the Daichi and ground stations without relays. During that direct transmission period, at around 8:38 a.m. on April 8, JAXA conducted an emergency observation of the Solomon Islands Region. As a result of the data analysis, we were able to acquire image data of the areas stricken by the Solomon Island Earthquake.

Emergency Observation on the Solomon Islands Earthquake
At around 5:39 a.m. on April 2 (Japan Standard Time, JST, or at around 7:39 a.m. local time,) an 8.1 magnitude earthquake hit the Solomon Islands. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) performed emergency observations using the Advanced Land Observing Satellite "Daichi," and, as a result of the data analysis, we were able to acquire image data of disaster-stricken areas by the onboard observation equipment, AVNIR-2*1 and PALSAR*2.


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Credit JAXA

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A strong magnitude 6.4 earthquake occurred at 06:34:34 (UTC) on Wednesday, April 4, 2007, in the Solomon Islands region, 55km NW of Gizo, New Georgia Islands, at a depth of 10 km.

Location 7.774°S, 156.489°E

This image was captured by the Landsat-7 satellite, and shows the location of the earthquake epicentre in relation to the nearest islands in the Solomon Island group.
Gizo is beyond the left edge of the image, near to the triangular fringing coral reefs on the left edge.


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Credit NASA

The earthquake occurred along the Australia/Woodlark/Solomon Sea plate boundary, where the plates slide beneath the denser Pacific plate. Friction between the sinking (subducting) plates and the overriding Pacific plate led to the large magnitude 8.1 earthquake on April 1.