Earth ChangesS


Attention

Dead whale found in the Hudson River, Jersey City

 A dead whale was found floating in the Hudson River off New Jersey.
© NBC New York A dead whale was found floating in the Hudson River off New Jersey.
A dead whale struck by a ship several days ago in New Jersey has apparently resurfaced in the Hudson River — it's one of a number that have been spotted around New York City over the past few days.

The 30-foot whale was first spotted under the bow of a cargo ship in Newark Bay by a pilot boat driver a couple of days ago, according to Bob Schoelkopf of Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine. The ship appeared to have struck the whale, the pilot boat driver confirmed.

The whale apparently sank, then floated to the surface in the Hudson River off Jersey City Wednesday, according to Schoelkopf.

On Wednesday, crews were approaching the whale to try to remove it, Chopper 4 over the scene shows.


Bizarro Earth

What happens when the water's gone? Ogallala aquifer in western U.S. is being drained away

elida new mexico wind turbines
Bedsprings once served as a corral near Elida, New Mexico, where turbines tap into the High Plains’ unrelenting wind, generating new income for farmers who have lost earnings as their wells dry up.
The Ogallala aquifer turned the region into America's breadbasket. Now it, and a way of life, are being drained away.

"Whoa," yells Brownie Wilson, as the steel measuring tape I am feeding down the throat of an irrigation well on the Kansas prairie gets away from me and unspools rapidly into the depths below.

The well, wide enough to fall into, taps into the Ogallala aquifer, the immense underground freshwater basin that makes modern life possible in the dry states of Middle America. We have come to assess the aquifer's health. The weighted tip hits the water at 195 feet, a foot lower than a year ago. Dropping at this pace, it is nearing the end of its life. "Already this well does not have enough water left to irrigate for an entire summer," Wilson says.

It is three days into January, and we are alone on an endlessly flat expanse surrounded by 360 degrees of pale blue horizon, not a cloud, not a tree in sight. We are 4,000 feet above sea level, the reason this is called the High Plains. The incessant wind that blew topsoil from the Dust Bowl east to the Atlantic Ocean and onto the decks of ships during the 1930s is unseasonably calm, although Wilson's SUV is packed to the roof with gear for every possible weather calamity. On the field behind us, the spindly steel skeleton of a center-pivot irrigation sprinkler stretches out over brown earth like a giant sci-fi insect, dormant until spring.

Wolf

Rare wolverine filmed in the Sierra Nevada believed to be first one in the area since 1920s

This May 18 photo taken from a remote camera, set up by biologist Chris Stermer, shows a wolverine in the Tahoe National Forest in California.
This May 18 photo taken from a remote camera, set up by biologist Chris Stermer, shows a wolverine in the Tahoe National Forest in California.
Scientists following up on a rare wolverine sighting in the Sierra Nevada set up cameras and captured video of the animal scurrying in the snow, scaling a tree and chewing on bait.

They believe the wolverine is the same one that eight years ago became the first documented in the area since the 1920s.

Chris Stermer, a wildlife biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, set up the remote cameras in the Tahoe National Forest after officials at a field station sent him photos in January of unusual tracks in the snow near Truckee.

'They were definitely wolverine tracks,' Stermer told the Sierra Sun newspaper.

Wolverines, a member of the weasel family that look like a small bear with big claws, once were found throughout the Rocky Mountains and as far west as the Sierra.

An estimated 250 to 300 wolverines survive in remote areas of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Washington state, according to wildlife officials.

Prior to the 2008 sighting, scientists were convinced fur trapping during the early 1900s had wiped out the species in California.
In this February 27, 2016 photo, the wolverine is pictured during a snowy day in the Tahoe National Forest
In this February 27, 2016 photo, the wolverine is pictured during a snowy day in the Tahoe National Forest

Cloud Grey

Rare 'morning glory' roll cloud seen in Queensland, Australia

 Roll cloud also known as the Morning Glory
© Michael ButlerMichael Butler from Athol station at Blackall took this picture of a roll cloud, also known as the Morning Glory, on Saturday.
A rare cloud formation, often called the morning glory, has rolled across outback Queensland delighting locals.

Michael Butler was home at Athol station, Blackall, on Saturday morning when he looked up and saw the cloud rolling across the sky.

The morning glory is often seen in the Gulf of Carpentaria in September but is almost never sighted over inland areas.

Mr Butler said in 16 years on his Blackall property, he had never witnessed anything like it.

"You see some unusual clouds in the storm season with the cold fronts but nothing like that," he said.

"This was just unusual, for being such a beautiful day, and this cloud just coming out of nowhere.


Bizarro Earth

Scientists say California's East Bay is overdue for the largest earthquake in centuries

Haywood fault movement earthquake San Francisco
© Tom MorgensternUC Berkeley professor Nick Sitar shows the gap at California Memorial Stadium due to Hayward Fault movement over the years.
A Hayward Fault shaker will be way, way worse than 1989's Loma Prieta quake.

Nicholas Sitar is a professor of civil engineering at UC Berkeley, and he likes to joke that "earthquakes don't come with due dates." Yet he and other scientists say it's only a matter of time — maybe days, more likely a few years — before a major Earth-shaking catastrophe hits the East Bay.

Their words are not scare tactics. The Hayward Fault runs nearly right through the heart of the region, splitting the flatlands from the hills. This 74-mile-long zone has been quiet since 1868, when it generated its last large earthquake. But scientists explained to the Express that the average time frame in which a large tremblor occurs on the Hayward Fault is about 140 years. And that period lapsed in 2008. "Yes, in terms of the statistical average, we are now well past the average period between earthquakes," is how Sitar put it.

This means that, in layman's terms, the proverbial Big One is overdue.

The professor is among many scientists who spend their time considering what would happen if a quake similar in size to, or perhaps substantially more powerful than, the 1868 Hayward Fault shaker struck Oakland and the greater region today. Nearly all agree that it would be a terrible disaster.

The shaking of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake would cause tremendous and unprecedented destruction. Thousands of buildings — even dozens of hospitals that are rated by state officials as seismically unstable — could be destroyed. Gas and water lines would break, and fires would leave the region reeling, if not wholly crippled, for days. Looters and thieves almost certainly will take advantage of abandoned homes and busy police and emergency officials.

Even less-dramatic experts such as Sitar concede that hundreds of people will die. Others expect a death toll in the thousands.

Cloud Precipitation

37 dead with 26 missing due to widespread floods and landslides in Nepal

Men, women and children at a squatter settlement in Gaidakot, Nawalparasi wade through floodwaters from the Narayani River that inundated their homes Tuesday. The water level in the river reached 10.24 meters in the evening.
© Ramesh Kumar Paudel/RepublicMen, women and children at a squatter settlement in Gaidakot, Nawalparasi wade through floodwaters from the Narayani River that inundated their homes Tuesday. The water level in the river reached 10.24 meters in the evening.
Floods and landslides have swept across various parts of the country, leaving at least 37 people dead in the last 24 hours. Twenty-six others have gone missing while more than 2,000 houses are inundated.

Landslides and floods triggered by incessant rainfall have left 15 dead in Pyuthan district, seven in Gulmi, four in Palpa, three in Makwanpur, two in Udaypur, three in Baglung, one in Banke and two in Rupandehi. Hundreds of families have been displaced in various parts of the country.

Monsoon-triggered floods and landslides in Pyuthan claimed at least 15 lives. And at least 23 others in the district have gone missing. Over 200 households are at high risk of being swept away by flooding and landslides.


Among the deceased, five are from Lung VDC, two from Puja, and two others from Khawang. Shova Rijal and Kali Pariyar of Lung-6 were buried in landslide. Prem Thapa, 11, Ranjana KC, 40, and Sushila KC, 12, of Bahane Bajar were buried by landslide and later pronounced dead.



Fire

State of emergency declared on Greek island of Chios due to raging wildfire

Dense smoke over Lithi village during a wildfire on Chios island, Greece
© EPADense smoke over Lithi village during a wildfire on Chios island, Greece
Greece has declared a state of emergency after the Aegean island of Chios has been engulfed by a wildfire raging out of control.

Dozens of firefighters and aircraft were deployed to fight the forest fire which broke out early on Monday.

The blaze destroyed olive groves and mastic trees, which are an important source of income for the island, which has a population of about 52,000.

At 30 miles long and 12 miles wide, Chios is a fair size for a Greek Island.

It's a popular holiday destination, positioned between Samos and Lesvos in the north east Aegean.


Attention

Over 90 dead dolphins found on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast this summer

Dead dolphin
Dead dolphin
A total of 91 dead dolphins have been found on beaches on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast so far in summer 2016, according to regional inspectorates of the environment.

This figure, as of July 19, is higher than the total 90 dead dolphins found on the country's coast in all of 2015.

There have been repeated cases, and ensuing media reports, in recent years about dolphins being found dead on Bulgarian beaches. In spite of repeated allegations, often with finger-pointing at fishermen, no cause for the deaths has been established conclusively.

A joint Bulgarian-Romanian investigation is underway, after the finding of dead dolphins horrified tourists at Black Sea beaches, a report by Bulgarian National Television said.

The findings have taken place from the northernmost to the southernmost points of Bulgaria's coast.

In some cases, the appearance of the dead dolphins suggested that they had been slashed, and possibly meat even removed.

Cloud Lightning

Teenager hit by lightning while playing Pokemon Go in Clearwater, Florida

Cameron Poimboeuf
Cameron Poimboeuf
The North Carolina teenager who was struck by lightning while playing Pokemon Go on the beach with a friend said "everything went black" right before the strike.

Cameron Poimboeuf, 15, was with a friend on Sand Key Beach, near Clearwater, on July 19, when a storm rolled in as the pair were engrossed in Pokemon Go, the location-based game app.

"It was just really dark, I was on my phone and everything went black," Poimboeuf, of Charlotte, North Carolina, told Tampa ABC affiliate WFTS-TV.

Poimboeuf said he was told he was struck by lightning in his back and through his leg.

"Everyone was standing there looking at me," Poimboeuf told WFTS. "I was trying to figure out if I was hurting or anything, but my body was pretty much numb."


Attention

6.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Aisen, Chile

Graph
© Dimas Ardian, Getty Images
6.0 magnitude earthquake

2016-07-27 01:25:12 UTC

UTC time: Wednesday, July 27, 2016 01:25 AM

Your time: 2016-07-27T01:25:12Z

Magnitude Type: mwc

USGS page: M 6.0 - Off the coast of Aisen, Chile

USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist

Reports from the public: 1 person