Earth ChangesS


Wolf

Pack of dogs kill woman in Barbados

Dog attack
A 74-year-old walker is dead this morning after an early morning attack.

Police spokesperson, Roland Cobbler reported that while walking along A 74-year-old walker is dead this morning after an early morning attack.

Police spokesperson, Roland Cobbler reported that while walking along Munroe Road, Haggatt Hall, St. Michael around 5:30 am, the woman was attacked by a pack of dogs and subsequently died at the scene. A 30-year-old resident ran to her assistance and he was also attacked by the dogs and he has been taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) for medical attention.

Snowflake Cold

Second summer snowfall in New Zealand and helicopter downdraft to dry soggy fruit

Cardrona Alpine Resort in Summer
Cardrona Alpine Resort in Summer
This is now the second "Rare" summer snowfall in New Zealand.

The year has so far been below normal temperatures for several parts of the country, but the last out of season Antarctic low brought a foot of snow in the middle of summer.

Apple shortages across the country and out of season rains have prompted farmers to hire helicopters to hover over the fields to dry fruit.


Sources

Fish

Thousands of rotting fish appear in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Yayan Abranto, 24, a resident at the Intan Baiduri People’s Housing Project, walks past the dead fish.
© Hari AnggaraYayan Abranto, 24, a resident at the Intan Baiduri People’s Housing Project, walks past the dead fish.
Residents at the Intan Baiduri People's Housing Project (PPR) have been putting up with stench from thousands of rotting fish since Tuesday evening.

Tilapia used to thrive in the lake that is part of the housing scheme.

Khairul Anuwar, 50, said: "Some residents think the lake may be polluted. It could be some kind of disease, and authorities must investigate immediately."

Khairul said he had lodged complaints with City Hall, the Drainage and Irrigation Department, and Department of Environment.

"It's going to be two days. I hope the authorities will take action quickly as the stench is becoming worse," he said.

Another resident, Siti Aman, 38, said the incident was worrying.

Cloud Grey

Lenticular cloud baffles skiers in Sweden

Lenticular cloud in Sweden
© Via Instagram/svtvader
A mysterious UFO-shaped cloud baffled skiers when it appeared in the sky over Sweden.

The bizarre cloud floated in the sky over ski resorts Åre and Duved on Thursday, prompting some to speculate that Martians had arrived for a day on the slopes.

Many rushed to take pictures of the unusual phenomenon and posted them on social media. "I thought it was pretty cool," one of them, Elvira Kuper, told broadcaster SVT.

Experts explained it was a so-called lenticular cloud, which forms over mountain peaks when the air is forced to rise as it hits the hillside. As it cools it condenses into a cloud.

Thanks to their peculiar shape, they are often mistaken for UFOs.

Airplane

Increased cosmic rays are irradiating airline travelers

airplane
You are now free to radiate about the cabin. Airline travelers and pilots face an even higher risk of radiation doses at elevated altitudes than expected, NASA research shows. The study may impact air travel as well as exploration of Mars.

On Friday, NASA scientists released results from their study NASA's Radiation Dosimetry Experiment, or RaD-X. NASA has been sending giant helium-filled weather balloons into the stratosphere and beyond, and the balloons are equipped with instruments that detect cosmic radiation from outer space.

These are the first detailed insights into radiation levels in the magnetosphere, 120,000 feet above Earth, where charged particles are primarily controlled by the planet's magnetic field.

"The measurements, for the first time, were taken at seven different altitudes, where the physics of dosimetry is very different," Chris Mertens, principal investigator of the RaD-X mission, said.

Comment: The part they're leaving out is that more cosmic rays than ever before are reaching the atmosphere:


Snowflake Cold

Kashmir experiences record snowfall, 11-feet snow depth in avalanche-hit Gurez

Snowfall continued intermittently for the fourth consecutive day, virtually cutting of the Valley from rest of the country due to closure of Srinagar-Jammu national highway
© Shuaib Masoodi Snowfall continued intermittently for the fourth consecutive day, virtually cutting of the Valley from rest of the country due to closure of Srinagar-Jammu national highway
The snowfall in Kashmir in last few days has broken the record of over two decades.

A Meteorological department official said Kashmir has recorded heavy snowfall this year.

He said it was the heaviest snowfall recorded in the valley since 1992.

"We had witnessed major snowfall in 1992 and 2006 but the present snowfall has broken the record of last 25 years," the official said.
The upper reaches of the Valley including Keran, Karnah, Gurez, Machil, Tanghdar, Uri, Gulmarg, Yousmarg, Pahalgam, Sonarmarg have witnessed heavy snowfall. The ski resort of Gulmarg has recorded more than 7 ft of snowfall while Gurez, which has witnessed at least three snow avalanches in 72 hours, has experienced about 11 ft of snowfall.

The plains including Srinagar have also experienced heavy snowfall.

Attention

Ethiopia's Erta-Ale volcano: Lava flows from crater for first time in a decade

Erta Ale volcano
© Traveldudes.orgErta Ale - The world's only permanent lava lake
The world's famous active volcano and molten lava lake of the Afar Regional Sates of Ethiopia, Erta-Ale, is flowing out of its crater for the first time in a decade says Addis Ababa University.

The unusual happening was made public today by Professor Gezahegn Yirgu of the Addis Ababa University Department of Geology.

The molten lava crater is a famous destination for tourists and scientists both from home and abroad. It has been flowing in large amount over for a week now, said the professor.

According to the professor, the molten lava has filled another crater and flowing further south wards towards Afdera town. It the flowing continues, it disrupts life in the area. That needs a serious scrutiny in the area, he said.

The professor also noted that at the right side of the road to Erta-Ale, a new happening has been observed; lava is coming out of a new depression in the area.


Comment: The recent Erta'Ale eruption also produced the largest sulfur dioxide emission ever measured (by satellite) from the volcano.




Fire

Deadly wildfire like 'Dante's Inferno' razes entire town in Chile

santa olga wildfire
© Martin Bernetti—AFP/Getty Images Santa Olga, which was destroyed by a forest fire, on Jan. 26, 2017.

One body found in smouldering ruins of Santa Olga, the worst-hit of several smaller communities, as hot, dry weather fuels fiercest fires in recent history


An entire town has been consumed by flames in Chile as unusually hot, dry weather undermined efforts to combat the worst forest fires in the country's recent history.

More than 1,000 buildings, including schools, nurseries, shops and a post office were destroyed in Santa Olga, the biggest of several communities to be reduced to ashes in the Maule region.

One body was later recovered from the ruins. Two people are missing, but most of the residents were evacuated unharmed. Few will have a home to return to.

Drone images showed entire neighbourhoods reduced to ashes. The roads are still neatly symmetrical, but the buildings in block after block lie in smouldering ruins under a hazy sky.

Even for a region that is frequently hit by earthquakes and floods, the extent of the destruction was shocking.

"Nobody can imagine what happened in Santa Olga. What we have experienced here is literally like Dante's Inferno," said the Carlos Valenzuela, the mayor of the encompassing municipality Constitución. "We were recovering after the last earthquake, but this tragedy has messed up everything."


Comment: Chile declares 'state of catastrophe' due to worst forest fires for over a decade


Binoculars

Tiny seabirds from the Arctic battered by storm rescued in unprecedented numbers on Cape Cod

Dovekie
Dovekie
The Nerf football-sized birds were scattered around Cape Cod.

Someone had located one of the black-and-white critters wandering aimlessly in the parking lot of a Shaws grocery store, in Orleans. A second Dovekie — a waterborne bird and relative of the Puffin — was found nearby, at the Barley Neck Inn. Others were stranded in Brewster, and parts of Eastham.

They were far from home. Dovekies are arctic birds typically found miles offshore, not anywhere near Cape Cod or any big land mass. They had been blown in by powerful winds and large waves produced by Tuesday's Nor-easter, which battered much of the state coastline.

With the help of volunteers and staff from Wild Care, Inc., a non-profit in Eastham that takes in sick and injured wildlife for rehabilitation, many of the Dovekies found along the beaches and marshes and those discovered in backyards or parking lots, were returned to their ocean habitat unharmed Thursday.


Binoculars

Unusually large influx of over 300 glaucous gulls from the Arctic hits the UK and Ireland

A juvenile Glaucous Gull announces its arrival
© AR Jones PhotographyA juvenile Glaucous Gull announces its arrival
From the edge of the Arctic, an influx of Glaucous Gulls has arrived this week, more than 300 recorded across Britain and Ireland.

These are big, beefy birds that spend the nesting season raiding colonies of other seabirds and frequently steal food from other gulls; I've seen one wrestle a fish from the bill of a Great Black-backed Gull, a slightly bigger bird.

Adult Glaucous Gulls are pale grey, with white wing feathers, but most arrivals here are immature birds the colour of slushy snow.

Most Glaucous Gull arrivals have been along North Sea coasts and in western Ireland, but a couple have made it into North Wales, the most showy in Holyhead Bay.

Thanks to the lettered ring on its leg, we know that this one comes from Svalbard (Spitsbergen), 2,000 miles to the north.