Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Several dead in Papua New Guinea due to flooding and landslides


fbc.com.fj
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 14:58 UTC
Heavy rain in Papua New Guinea.
© RNZI / Johnny Blades Heavy rain in Papua New Guinea.

At least six people in Papua New Guinea are reported to have died as a result of landslides and flooding caused by heavy rains in recent weeks.

The Post Courier newspaper has reported deaths in Chimbu and the Western Highlands.

It reported 200 homes have been destroyed, and bridges have been swept away in Oro and West New Britain provinces.

World Vision PNG response manager Bonie Belonio said disaster authorities and humanitarian organisations were scrambling to assess the extent of the damage so distribution of relief supplies could begin.

He said he believed the rains may have taken many people by surprise after the long drought.
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Attention

6.2 magnitude earthquake hits Auckland Islands off New Zealand

Tom Evans
Daily Star (UK)
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 13:46 UTC
EPICENTRE: The earthquake was just 258 miles away from mainland New Zealand
© USGSEPICENTRE: The earthquake was just 258 miles away from mainland New Zealand
A 6.2 magnitude earthquake has hit the Auckland Islands off the south coast of New Zealand, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Earthquakes 6.0 to 6.9 can cause a lot of damage in very populated areas. News of this earthquake comes just days after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake killed at least 11 people in Taiwan.

The epicentre of the quake is said to have been just 258 miles away from mainland New Zealand.

The earthquake follows a 5.7 magnitude quake hit Christchurch yesterday, causing cliffs to collapse.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake struck shortly before 1930 GMT on Monday and was centered 136 miles northwest of Auckland Island. It was at a depth of 6.2 miles.

There was no immediate tsunami alert from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Minutes later, reports emerged that another earthquake hit Zacharo Town along Greece's west coast.
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Fire

Powerful gas explosion partly destroys residential building in Russia; 7 dead, many feared trapped


RT
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 02:40 UTC
Gas explosion in Yaroslavl, Russia
Russian Emergencies Ministry members work at the site of a residential five-storey apartment building after a gas explosion in the early morning, in the city of Yaroslavl, northeast of Moscow, Russia, February 16, 2016
An entire section of a five story residential building in the Russian city of Yaroslavl has collapsed in a powerful gas explosion, which killed 7 people. The emergencies services say many are feared trapped under the rubble.

"Gas exploded in a five story residential building, the structure caved in from the first to the fifth floor," an emergencies ministry representative told RIA Novosti.

"People remain under rubble," the ministry confirmed, adding that at least ten flats have collapsed.

Rescue workers have taken seven bodies from the rubble. Kristina Guzovskaya of the Investigation Committee for the Yaroslavl region, has told Interfax that among the victims there are four women, one man and two children, possibly an 11- and 6-year-old.

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Bizarro Earth

Odd Australian creature washed up identified as pike eel

Tim Connell
Newcastle Herald, Australia
Tue, 16 Feb 2016 02:33 UTC
Pike Eel
© FacebookMYSTERY: A creature apparently photographed near the Swansea boat ramp has sent ripples through social media.
Giant eel, "messed up crocodile" or unidentified lake monster?

A creature apparently photographed at Swansea has confused and slightly frightened locals since it washed up on social media on Monday.

Ethan Tippa, who posted the photo on Facebook, typified the general response.

"What the f--- is it?"

The answer, said marine biologist Julian Pepperell, is that it's a pike eel.

The angle of the photo made it difficult to judge the creature's length, but it seems longer than the species' average maximum of 1.8 metres.

"I think it's definitely a pike eel. The head is very indicative of that species," Dr Pepperell said.

"It's hard from the photo to get an idea of the scale."

The nocturnal pike eel is common in NSW waters, but surprisingly little is known about it.

Dr Pepperell said the species is frequently caught by fishers at night who get "the fight of their lives" when they reel in a powerful, thrashing predator with a nasty bite.
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Snow Globe

Cold blast shatters records in northeastern US on Valentine's Day

Alex Sosnowski
AccuWeather
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 19:33 UTC
polar vortex
© AP Photo/David SharpFrost on a window forms a heart-shaped pattern on Friday, Feb. 12, 2016, in Falmouth, Maine, where the early morning temperature dipped below zero. Temperatures dropped to even lower levels during the Valentine's Day weekend in the Northeast.
Assisted by a southward shift in the polar vortex, temperatures plummeted to their lowest levels in decades in some locations of the Northeast at the start of Valentine's Day.

The polar vortex is a storm that is typically centered near the North Pole and tends to keep the coldest air trapped in northern Canada. Occasionally, this storm weakens or shifts enough to allow frigid air to plummet southward into the United States.

The frigid weather follows one of the warmest starts to a winter on record.

Dozens of locations in the Northeast shattered record lows for the date on Sunday morning.

Many locations dipped to their lowest levels of the winter, while some locations plunged to lower levels than all of last winter.
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Attention

Whale carcass removed from Bantry Bay, South Africa


ENCA
Sun, 14 Feb 2016 19:34 UTC
Dead whale along the promenade towards Bantry Bay
© Metaxia SterianosDead whale along the promenade towards Bantry Bay
The City of Cape Town successfully removed the carcass of a whale that beached in Bantry Bay.

Authorities believed that dead marine mammal posed a risk to the public.

Decomposing whales could attract sharks, and they also create an awful stench.

Samples will now be taken for research purposes, and the carcass buried in a landfill site.

Gregg Oelofse from the City of Cape Town said before the removal, "It's going to be difficult. But the particular location of this animal means we're going to have to take it off by towing it back out to sea."

"We're quite lucky because it's a small whale, a calf, about 6 metres in length so it makes it easier for us."

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Attention

Dolphin found dead on east coast - days after whales died in Lincolnshire, UK


Grimsby Telegraph
Sun, 14 Feb 2016 19:26 UTC
A Hornsea Coastguard officer with the dolphin.
© Hornsea CoastguardA Hornsea Coastguard officer with the dolphin.
A dolphin washed up dead on the east coast, just days after a number of whales were stranded along the Lincolnshire coastline.

Hornsea Coastguard was called out to the beach in East Yorkshire at about 3pm on Friday afternoon after reports of a whale or porpoise on the beach.

It was later identified as a white beaked dolphin, and details were passed to the Natural History Museum to arrange collection.

A spokesman for Hornsea Coastguard said: "Team paged by CGOC Humber to a report of a whale/porpoise on the beach north of Hornsea.
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Binoculars

Migrant birds confused by hot-and-cold winter as hundreds stay in their Dehli homelands, India

Baishali Adak
Daily Mail, UK
Sat, 06 Feb 2016 18:51 UTC
Delhi's bird watchers have noticed significant changes in the behaviour of migratory birds this season
Delhi's bird watchers have noticed significant changes in the behaviour of migratory birds this season
While the Capital's citizens missed out on the trademark Delhi chill over the winter months, the flip-flop winter seems to have baffled its winged guests as well.

Some species of migratory ducks, which used to arrive in their thousands, have trickled down to hundreds.

Experts said the arrival of these birds was also delayed, and this is being attributed to the lack of snow in their homelands in Europe and central Asia.

Some of the migratory birds that did arrive this season, apparently, are ready to leave.

Adding to all the 'confusion', a few birds that breed only in summer are nesting and pairing up in January, a phenomenon usually witnessed in April, say experts.

However, it may be too soon to press the climate change alarm, some birders caution, adding that any change in migratory behaviour could have resulted from the disturbed habitats in the city.
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Cloud Grey

Lake Tahoe was flooded with 6 billion gallons of water in 24 Hours

Evan Ssenoffsky
Esquire
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 15:50 UTC
Lake Tahoe
© Getty
More than 6 billion gallons of water have poured into Lake Tahoe in less than two days, helping the lake begin to recover from four years of crushing drought.

Since midnight Monday, the lake has gone up 1.92 inches, the equivalent of 6.39 billion gallons of water, according to the National Weather Service. The water comes as a winter storm slams the Sierra, bringing several feet of snow to higher elevations and rain at lake level, which sits at roughly 6,223 feet.

The lake—the second deepest in the United States behind Oregon's Crater Lake—was hit hard this year by the drought. Over the summer, the lake was shockingly low. Many boaters were unable to get their crafts into the lake after waters pulled back from most boat launches.
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Arrow Up

Condamine River's mysterious bubbling methane 'intensifying' in Queensland, Australia

Mark Willacy
abc.net.au
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 17:03 UTC
Scientists are trying to identify the cause of methane gas bubbling in the Condamine River.
© ABC News: Scott Kyle Scientists are trying to identify the cause of methane gas bubbling in the Condamine River.
Landholders in Queensland are calling on the State Government to find the cause of methane gas bubbling in a major river, which they say has intensified in recent months.

The so-called methane seeps in the Condamine River near Chinchilla were reported in 2012, triggering a series of investigations.

But the Government has told the ABC that it does not have sufficient information to identify the cause of the seeps.

Professor Damian Barrett, the CSIRO's lead researcher into unconventional gas, has been monitoring the Condamine gas seeps.

He confirmed to the ABC that the bubbling had intensified.

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