Earth ChangesS


Windsock

Record storm surge batters beaches in Rio de Janeiro

Copacabana beach storm surge
© Javier Etxezarreta/EPA The increasing frequency of storms is hindering the beaches’ ability to recuperate, leading to erosion along stretches of the shoreline at Copacabana beach and others.

Local traders lament collapse in business from storm surge amid growing concern that city's sea defences are ill-equipped to cope


Scientists in Rio de Janeiro have warned that the city's sea defences may not be able to cope with the effects of climate change after a record storm surge swamped beaches, dumping hundreds of tonnes of sand across nearby roads and buildings.

Waves of almost four metres in the weekend storm left beach flags fluttering in tatters, forced the closure of deckchair-rental gazebos, and inundated coconut-and-beer kiosks with grit and sea water.

Tourists who had expected to bask in the glorious sunshine that is normal at the start of the southern hemisphere summer walked ponderously along a shoreline that is only slowly recovering from the unseasonal buffeting, while local traders lamented the collapse in business.

"This is the worst I have seen in the 20 years since I started working here," said Dominique Souza as he surveyed the aftermath of the storm surge at Post 11 in Leblon: giant heaps of sand, cracked pavements and deluged public toilets. He estimated a more than 80% fall in sales over the past few days at his baraca (beach stall) that sells cold drinks and rents parasols.

Although he expects business to pick up as soon as the weather improves, climate scientists are debating whether wave-slamming on this scale poses an increasing threat to Rio's beach economy, which is estimated to be worth 2bn reais (£509m/$622m) a year and directly and indirectly employs more than 230,000 people.

In the 1990s, storm surge disruptions occurred roughly once a year, but since 2010 they have hit Rio four or five times as frequently. There have already been four this year, including two of the biggest ever seen. In April, two people were killed when a 50-metre stretch of the Tim Maia bike path was washed away just months after it was built.

Arrow Up

Indonesia's Mount Sinabung erupts again

Sinabung eruption Nov 2106
© Youtube/AFP (screen capture)
Mount Sinabung on Sumatra island erupts again. The volcano roared back to life in 2010 for the first time in 400 years and erupted once more in 2013, it has remained highly active since.


Seismograph

4.5 magnitude earthquake strikes near Pawnee, Oklahoma

Wichita earthquake map
© earthquake.usgs.gov
A 4.5 magnitude earthquake in Oklahoma shook some residents in the Wichita area late Tuesday night.

Residents in the Delano district, College Hill, Riverside, north, south and northwest Wichita said on Twitter that they felt it.

Kenneth Woodard e-mailed The Eagle and said: "Felt the bed sway back and forth several times... It was pretty shaky! Nothing fell off the shelves." He said he lives near Edgemoor and 13th.

The U.S. Geological Society initially reported on its website that a 4.1 magnitude earthquake occurred at 11:26 p.m. near Pawnee, Okla. Pawnee is about 90 miles north of Oklahoma City. It later upgraded it to a 4.5 magnitude.

According to the geological society's site, the quake was felt in Arkansas, Missouri and Texas. Besides Wichita, Kansas towns reporting include: Colwich, Derby, Fort Riley, Salina, Haysville, Pratt, Inman, Overland Park, Lawrence, Hutchinson, Hesston, Pittsburg, Topeka and Kansas City.

Comment: It was the fifth earthquake of the day in Oklahoma according to the United States Geological Survey. A couple of months ago
a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Pawnee, the strongest in the state's history.


Eye 2

Crocodile attacks couple in hotel swimming pool in Kariba, Zimbabwe

The crocodile sneaks out of the shadows and slides into the pool
The crocodile sneaks out of the shadows and slides into the pool
Terrifying CCTV footage has captured the moment a couple were attacked by a giant crocodile in their hotel pool.

The man and woman were enjoying a late night swim when they creature crawled out of the shadows and launched itself into the water.

Seconds later, the croc begins thrashing in the direction of the couple, prompting the man to leap to safety out of the side of the pool.

But the woman cannot escape so easily and is forced to fend off the 6ft-long animal as she desperately tries to swim away.


Eye 2

Signs and Portents: Two-headed grass snake found in Croatia

Rare two-headed snake found in Croatia on Sunday
© Barcroft TVRare two-headed snake found in Croatia on Sunday
For some, one headed snakes are unpleasant enough, but are two heads really better than one?

A juvenile two-headed grass snake has been discovered in a small town near Croatia's capital city, Zagreb.

The rather bizarre (yet sweet, if I do say so myself) reptile was found by Josip Vranic close to his garage in the small town of Kravarsko, which lies approximately 36km from Zagreb, Barcroft TV reports.


Black Cat

Leopard kills boy in Mahore, India; second such incident in 17 days for the area

Leopard
Leopard
The badly injured body of the victim was recovered from a field outside the village, about 100 m from the boy's house.

An alleged man eater leopard today killed another minor here - the second such death in the area in last seventeen days.

Police said a 13-year-old boy Nazaqat Ali son of Mohammad Sharief was mauled to death by the leopard in Angralla village- 20 km away from tehsil headquarter Mahore. They said the boy was last seen playing outside his house adding before attacking him , the leopard had also killed a goat .

Comment: See also: Leopard kills 12-year-old boy outside his house in Reasi, India


Attention

Two shark attacks over the weekend off Mayport, Florida

Shark attacks
A Mayport spokesperson confirms two shark bites over the weekend in the Mayport area.

The photo we have attached to the story is related to the shark attack near the Mayport poles. There are currently no photos from the second shark bite.

According to the spokesperson a 42-year-old man was bitten on the leg Saturday afternoon at NS Mayport, the man sustained non-life threatening injury.

A second person was bitten by a shark near the Mayport poles. He suffered bite marks to his hand.

Shark bite
Shark bite

Attention

Wild elephant kills 2 in Bihar, India

Charging elephant
© GettyCharging elephant
A wild elephant trampled two persons to death in Piprithan area under Thakurganj block, forest officials said today.

The elephant, that entered the district on Saturday from jungles of Nepal, trampled Baleshwar Singh near Balkaduba village under Pauakhali police station area and crushed a woman Sayeeda Khatoon (35) at nearby Balkaduba village yesterday, DFO, Kishanganj, Dinesh Kumar Das said.

Thakurganj Circle Officer Mohammad Ismail said Rs 5 lakh each would be paid as ex-gratia to the next of the kin of the deceased.

Wild animals, including elephants, often cross over to the bordering areas such as Kadogaon, Suribhitta, Bihartola, Dhantola, Karuvamni and others of the district from the jungles of Nepal, the DFO said.

A youth had been trampled to death by an elephant in March in Bihartoal village of Dhantola panchayat.

Arrow Up

Dormant volcano near Rome slowly reawakening say scientists

Alban Hills volcano near Rome
The Alban Hills volcanic district enters an eruptive phase every 31,000 years or so
The string of earthquakes that hit central Italy over the past two months has sparked fears that the country's capital may be at risk of a "big one" herself.

The series of tremors, all followed by powerful aftershocks, proved the final straw for a number of important architectural landmarks, including the Abbey of Sant-Eutizio in Umbria, and damaged several churches and buildings in the heart of Rome, including the Colosseum

Whilst scientists say there is no risk that Rome will be hit by a "big one", something different may be threatening the Eternal City: a dormant volcano.

Situated on Rome's doorstep, the volcano is showing signs of activity which, combined with the seismic history of the area, would indicate it is slowly reactivating, an international team of scientist said.

While in geological times the eruption would be imminent, it's far away on a human scale, about a thousand years, and there isn't currently any cause for worry.

Chambers located between 5km and 10km under the residential areas of Ariccia, Castel Gandolfo, Albano and other "Roman castles" are filling up with magma and the ground is rising 2-3mm per year, the scientists said in the study, published on Geophysical Research Letters in July.

Windsock

Rare tropical storm forms in Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea tropical cyclone
© NASA WorldviewHigh-resolution visible image from the Suomi NPP satellite of the Mediterranean Sea tropical cyclone on October 30, 2016.
A tropical storm formed Halloween weekend, not in the typical Atlantic or Pacific, but in the Mediterranean Sea.

This rather strange sequence of events began as an area of low-pressure dropped southward from southern Europe and became temporarily left behind by the jet stream over the central Mediterranean Sea south of the Italian coast.

By Saturday, Oct. 29, a non-tropical low pressure center formed east of Malta, a group of islands between Sicily and the coast of Libya over the weekend.

The next day, thunderstorms became more clustered near the low-pressure center to warm the mid levels of the atmosphere sufficiently to morph the system into a subtropical storm.

A subtropical storm displays features of both tropical and non-tropical systems, including a broad wind field, no cold or warm fronts, and generally low-topped thunderstorms displaced from the center of the system.

Soon after, the clusters of storms became even more tightly concentrated, and the atmosphere warm enough that this low actually became a tropical storm.

This Mediterranean tropical storm, known as invest 90M, wasn't nearly the powerhouse deep tropical cyclone you would see in the tropical Atlantic or Pacific basins.

Its warm air was relatively shallow, but there, according to an analysis from Florida State University.