Southern California Hot Spot Hits 812 Degrees, Baffles Experts
Photo: Ventura County Fire Department
From FoxNews: The ground is so hot in one part of Southern California it can melt the shoes right off your feet.
An unexplained “thermal anomaly” caused a patch of land in Ventura County to reach a temperature of over 800 degrees on Friday, baffling experts who have been monitoring the area for weeks.
The anomaly was discovered after the land got so hot, it started a brush fire and burned three acres last month. Firefighters were brought to the scene after reports of a blaze, but by the time they arrived only smoldering dirt and brush remained.
Firefighters took no chances with the smoking ground, clearing brush near the fumes and cutting a fire line around the area to prevent a blaze from igniting.
Photo by Karen Quincy Loberg
“We are a little perplexed at this point, to tell you the truth,” the Ventura County Star quoted geologist David Panaro as saying. “This is not your usual geological detective story.”
The area has recorded high temperatures at least five times since 1987, Allen King, a retired geologist with the U.S. Forest Service told the newspaper.
The hot spot is located in steep, rugged terrain a few miles north of the town of Fillmore on land owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and leased by Seneca Resources Corp.
Officials who are familiar with the patch of land, which is near the large Sespe Oil Field, have come up with a few theories as to why the ground soared to 812 degrees fahrenheit on August 1.
One theory is that natural hydrocarbons, such as oil or gas, are burning deep in the earth and seeping out through cracks in the area, causing the surface to rapidly heat and generate smoke.
According to the Star, Allen King, a former geologist with the U.S. Forest Service recently stuck a thermometer into the ground and got a reading of 550 degrees — so hot that it melted the glue holding the sole of his boots together.
“After that we were more cautious about standing in one place for too long,” he said.
h/t Gary Boden
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Sounds like something out of a Sci Fi novel.
Not much to go on, but it may be a vent area for an unknown volcano or simply some type of vent from the center of the earth!
But there’s a few questions also. If the ground is so hot it burned off the soles of one geologist, why didn’t it impact the firefighters? Also, if this has been known since 1987, why hasn’t it been publicized before?
Whew, still some more unknown for the simplistic folks at NASA to bury!
Jack Koenig, Editor
The Mysterious Climate Project
http://www.climateclinic.com
At first I thought you were yanking our chain. Could this be volcanic activity? There are many fault lines in the SoCal area.
Isn’t that article title a tad off? It’s not the earth but a tiny piece of land that warms up.
I can see the alarmist watermelons get a field day !
Geeeze!
JFA in Montreal
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/04/coal-dust-burns-boy-crocs/
This happened here in Colorado Springs and they claim the problem was coal dust a few feet under the ground. It melted a kids shoes and burned his feet and he wasn’t standing on it very long at all.
Is this perhaps “Focused Global Warming”? Or will it teleconnect across the world?
There was an earthquake recently in the vicinity of Los Angeles.
There is very hot rock underneath us.
Earthquakes are known to open cracks in the crust.
Magma is known to flow upward through such cracks.
Big-time flows produce volcanoes. Lesser flows produce hot springs, geysers, as in Iceland.
Some mystery.
The only mystery to me is how these persons ever became qualified as experts on anything having to do with earth science.
Why not? – its next to Devils Heart peak
Anyone know how big (area) this hot-spot is?
And have they linked this to global warming yet? Should come in VERY handy to them…
I’m surprised they haven’t put a surface station there yet. Using Hansen’s adjustments, it would probably raise the temperature for all of California by about 50 degrees.
A little off topic but has any one noticed that the NOAA site United States Climate Summary has now listed 2007 as the warmist year on record for the United States as it depicts the graphics of recent temperature changes.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/na.html
I was just looking this morning and noticed that the rate of change had shifted and now it is warmer than just a couple of weeks ago. I wonder if the Mauna Loa data corrections might have wondered over into the temperature records (tongue in cheek). I am starting to have little faith in our great governmental science agencies. I think we are seeing positioning for future grants and this is disturbing to me.
Just food for thought.
Bill Derryberry
Will: I had the same thought: I am surprised they haven’t yet sited a USHCN station there. It is out in the middle of nowhere. Talk about getting cynical!
Well at least they aren’t blaming it on global warming…yet!
Great site for a geothermal power station. Must be even hotter below the surface.
I must be missing something – from NCSC front page “The average temperature in June 2008 was 70.4 F. This was 1.1 F warmer than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average, the 27th warmest June in 114 years. The temperature trend for the period of record (1895 to present) is 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. and then a few pages in
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2008/jun/jun08.html
“…The combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures for June 2008 ranked eighth warmest for June since worldwide records began in 1880, according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Also, globally it was the ninth warmest January – June period on record. “
really?
Whatever the source of the heat be it due to magma or an underground fire burning hydrocarbons the location would be worth investigating for a geothermal electricity generating station.
“I am starting to have little faith in our great governmental science agencies. I think we are seeing positioning for future grants and this is disturbing to me” Bill Derryberry
Where is faith in “truth, justice, and the American way”? We seem to be panicking as a culture. Calmness is the percentage play, even in combat, if I understand any history.
Are they sure that they didn’t see Moses and a burning bush around there somewhere?
This has earthquake written all over it…….
So the burning of hydrocabons is perferctly natural? What’s all the fuss about me burning them in my car then?
Lewis and Clark in their journals wrote about the smokey hills as they where coming through South Dakota. West of Platte SD along the Mo. I beleive they’re still putting out smoke—
Try this L.A. Times story. The area is on a slow active landslide (loose soil) near an oil field. Seeping oil or gas is probably burning in loose ground, and heavy rain might put out the fire.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hotground5-2008aug05,0,4689903.story
It’s probably not unusual. When any natural oil field fills up or is disturbed (seems likely in earthquake-prone California), there will be leakage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum_seep
Videodrone,
One is Global, the other US only.
The guy’s a little perplexed? Well, no wonder – he’s a geologist. He concerns himself with such trivial concerns as facts. Check with climatologists. I’m sure they can find many who’ll be quick to point out that it’s the fault of the folks at Sespe Oil field.
Hey governator, don’t throw your taxpayer dollars at an imaginary problem when you have a real problem all nice and self contained in California. Maybe you need to drill more oil wells to pull all that oil out of the ground before it burns.
Looks like free energy to me!
Let’s grab it.