The live video feed of the tsunami is shocking. Cars, houses, boats - some on fire - washing miles inland.
amazing pictures.
The Sendai Airport was 99% underwater at one point. The only thing you could see was part of the runway and the terminal building, amazingly no airplanes were parked at the gate!
Last I heard, they’ve opened 2 of the 4 runways at Haneda, but Narita remains closed. Some flights are being allowed to land at US military bases, mainly those long flights that were in the air when the quake hit. There have also been a couple of LAX departures to Haneda even after the quake.
Tsunami hitting SDJ/RJSS Sendai airport
Latest news says Narita is reopened.
Sendai is listed as being 6’ MSL.
In case you were wondering.
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20110311/i/r3526484811.jpg
Sendai Airport
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20110311/i/r2967061172.jpg
Sendai Airport
http://d.yimg.com/a/p/rids/20110311/i/r10815733.jpg
Sendai Airport
http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2011-03/249355140-11081728.jpg
Although the Tokyo airports re-opened (partially) last night, they are closed again today.
" … The State Department notes that "Tokyo airports are currently closed; other airports in Japan may be closed or have restricted access. … "
Also in Hawaii:
" … Honolulu International Airport is still open, but airports on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island have been closed and Continental, American and Delta are waiving change fees for affected passengers, according to BBC Today … "
Also Matsushima Air Base
Multiple JASDF aircraft destroyed or damaged by tsunami caused by an 8.9 scale earthquake.
Ministry of Defense quoted 28 aircraft involved, 18 Mitsubishi F-2 A/B’s (similar to F-16), 5 Kawasaki T-4 jet trainers, 3 U-125’s Hawker 800XP’s, 3 UH-60J’s helicopters.
Photo of ramp swamped Click Here
Video of aftermath Click Here at Matsushima Air Base.
Both CNN and the Vancouver Sun have reported that the earthquake caused the planet’s axis to shift by about 4 - 6 inches.
If this is true, I wonder how this will come into play with runway alignments. In short, if TPA just changed theirs because of the normal movement of the magnetic north pole, would this shift cause magnetic north to move more, causing those other runways on the cusp to have to be changed?
BL.
I saw one report, only once, that the plate Japan is on moved 2.5 meters. I haven’t seen the report since.
I saw the same thing, although it gave the distance in feet - moved 8 feet. It also caused the earth to slow down by 1 or 1.5 millionth second.
Funny I wondered the same thing.
Not only that, but I also wonder if GPS relationship to mapping programs would have changed due to the shift in axis.
I don’t think a 10cm shift in the axis is enough to renumber runways but no doubt makes a difference to astronomers. The GPS maps for Japan will have to be redrawn.
+1
Consider that the magnetic pole can shift position as much as 85 km in one day.
One thing I haven’t seen is how long the farmland will take to return to normal production. Polluted salt water and seeds don’t normally mix very well. It looks like there is still plenty of salt water pooled up in a lot of the farmland areas outside of the various cities and towns.
Good point!
Gulf coast, specifically Gulfport has not recovered from Katrina with regards to plantation and vegetation post storm surge inundation.
Except for the immediate coast I would imagine that Katrina was fresh water saturation.
Following a tsunami it could take many years or even decades for normal rainfall to get rid of most of the salt and other garbage that has been deposited. At least enough for the land to be usable as farmland.
by the way, on a $15 timex how do you adjust for 1.6 millionth of a second?
I lost the directions about 14 years ago.
Actually Gulf of Mexico is salt water but based on my own observations, you are right, mainly highway 90 corrider and south, plant life has not come back.
I was told third hand that dead shrimp was found as far as 5 miles inland from the storm surge.
On another tangent, anybody consider if evacuees from Japan that were exposed to radiation, would they be a danger to their fellow passenger(s) travelling with them?
I know when my mother had LOW dose radiation therapy, she was told not to be near babies or pregnant women. Would this apply to evacuees exposed to radiation in the close confines of an airplane?
Or is this just an Allen thinking too hard paranoia 
Stick with that timex. It takes a licking and keeps on ticking 
Iphones can’t handle a one hour change