Earth ChangesS


Binoculars

Yellow-nosed albatross from the southern hemisphere makes rare appearance on Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Mark Faherty
capeandislands.org
Wed, 19 Oct 2016 15:06 UTC
Yellow-nosed Albatross
© Ed Dunens Yellow-nosed Albatross
Already one of the great seabird watching locations in the world, Cape Cod recently produced yet another staggering record. Following last weekend's storm, a Yellow-nosed Albatross was spotted doing what albatrosses do, casually gliding around in the wicked winds off First Encounter Beach in Eastham.

First Encounter has long been known in the birding world as the place to be following the passage of a Nor'easter, and the legendary location came through again.

During a Nor'easter, seabirds that would normally be well offshore get blown into Cape Cod Bay, where they wait for the right conditions to exit the bay and head back out to sea. During the easterly blow, the north facing beach at Sandy Neck in Barnstable is a good place to see these birds as they struggle to fly into the strong headwinds. But when the storm has passed and the winds shift to the northwest, the west-facing First Encounter offers the best chance to see birds typically difficult or impossible to see from land in this part of the world, and often right off the beach. Everything from puffins to rare Caribbean petrels have passed this beach over the years. And this is the second Yellow-nosed Albatross for First Encounter, the last one recorded in 2003. Local sea birding legend Blair Nikula is responsible for both of these records
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Seismograph

6.5 magnitude earthquake rocks Subang, Java

Angelina Anjar Sawitri
tempo.co
Wed, 19 Oct 2016 14:50 UTC
Earthquake illustration
© TEMPO/Prima Mulia
A 6.5-magnitude quake rocked Subang District, West Java, this morning. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) website says that the earthquake occurred at 7:25 am.

The same source says that the epicenter of the quake was at a latitude of 5.29 degrees south and a longitude of 108 degrees east, 120 kilometers northeast of Subang, 654 kilometers below the sea.

According to the head of Data, Information and Public Relations, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), no injuries nor casualties reported after earthquake. "As of now, there are no victims," he told Tempo via text message.

According to the data from the BNPB, the quake has no potential to cause a tsunami. However, it was felt in several regions in West Java, such as Cikarang, Indramayu, Cirebon, Cianjur, etc.

Map earthquake
© Google Epicentre of earthquake
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Fire

25 square miles and 5 homes lost to wildfire in Custer County, Colorado

Allison Sylte
9news.com
Tue, 18 Oct 2016 14:06 UTC
The Junkins fire grew rapidly Monday in southern Colorado, forcing more than 175 homes to evacuate.
© KKTVThe Junkins fire grew rapidly Monday in southern Colorado, forcing more than 175 homes to evacuate.
Authorities say a wildfire in southern Colorado has destroyed five homes and hundreds of people remain under evacuation orders.

The Pueblo County Sheriff's Department said Tuesday the fire had scorched more than 25 square miles.

The sheriff's department says the fire started when high winds blew a metal outbuilding into a power line.

In addition to the homes, 13 outbuildings have been destroyed.

Crews were trying to block the flames with fire lines, but authorities said the blaze was still uncontained Tuesday night.

Custer County has declared the fire a local emergency, and the Colorado Office of Emergency Management is trying to secure a verbal declaration of disaster from the governor's office, which will provide funding and help from the Colorado National Guard.

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Fire

Prairie fire scorches 48 square miles and kills scores of cattle east of Rapid City, South Dakota

Jim Holland and Chris Huber
Rapid City Journal
Mon, 17 Oct 2016 13:18 UTC
wILDFIR
© Chris Huber
A massive prairie fire that consumed an estimated 48 square miles of private and public ranch lands east of Rapid City — and which was mostly contained but still burning on Monday — led to the loss of ranch outbuildings, caused a pair of interstate traffic wrecks, killed at least 135 head of cattle and consumed untold amounts of grasslands by Monday afternoon.

The blaze, called the Cottonwood Fire, began around 1 p.m. Sunday and was initially battled by 300 firefighting personnel. The fire caused smoky skies and upset ranching activities across a wide swath of land about 75 miles east of Rapid City in an area between Interstate 90 and U.S. Highway 14.

No one had been injured by the fire or while battling it as of late Monday; the fire was reportedly 75 percent contained by 4 p.m. Monday, and potential rain in the area Monday night might help the firefighting cause.

Officials located the fire's point of origin and an investigator confirmed Monday that the fire was human-caused, but no specific cause was announced as the investigation continues, said Rapid City Fire Department Lt. Jim Bussell.

Sunday's fire-ripe combination of unseasonably high temperatures, low humidity and winds gusting as high as 50 mph pushed flames swiftly across the prairie, scorching most everything in its path.

"Under these conditions, the fire spread quickly," Bussell said in a Monday news briefing.

The fire scorched an estimated 48 square miles of private land and part of the Buffalo Gap National Grassland, southeast of Cottonwood and north of I-90.
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Dig

Sinkhole at Florida fertilizer plant 152 ft. wide, overall depth unknown

Melissa Marino
WFLA
Mon, 17 Oct 2016 19:44 UTC
Mosaic sinkhole
© WFLA
Mosaic officials say they still don't know the depth of a sinkhole that opened up at the Mosaic plant near Mulberry last month.

The hole opened up in August, but the public did not know about it until WFLA News Channel 8 broke the story.

On Monday, Mosaic officials released details about the size of the sinkhole, which ranges between 40 feet, and 150 feet in diameter at its widest point, and approximately 220 feet deep from the top of the gypstack. Mosaic recently used LIDAR/sonar equipment to measure the sinkhole. LiDAR is a remote sensing technology that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to provide three-dimensional mapping. This technology expedites the remediation process.

"Based on the survey results, the company now has a better understanding of the sinkhole dimensions - which is a critical step in remediating the sinkhole," Mosaic said in a release. "We continue to work with closely with FDEP and continue to keep Polk County and Hillsborough County apprised of our efforts to remediate the sinkhole."


Comment: To find out more about how sinkholes are formed and the dramatic increase we've observed recently, see: Sinkholes: The groundbreaking truth.

See also: 215M gallons of 'slightly radioactive' water drained into Florida aquifer

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Seismograph

Shallow magnitude 3.8 earthquake strikes in central California


SFGate
Tue, 18 Oct 2016 15:53 UTC
Ridgemark quake map
© USGS
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.8 struck near Ridgemark Tuesday afternoon, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The earthquake struck at 2:09 p.m. The quake struck 6 miles south-southeast from Ridgemark and 10 miles outside of Hollister, and at a depth of 4.7 miles.

Locals in the Salinas and Hollister area reported weak shaking to the USGS site and there were no immediate reports of damage.

Tuesday's earthquake is the latest in a series of small tremors in the area. The USGS also reported four other quakes in October that centered in Ridgemark. The earthquakes have ranged from the smallest quake measuring at a magnitude-1.7 on Oct. 10, to an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.2 that struck the area on Monday.
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Black Cat

Leopard kills 4-year-old girl in Gujarat, India


The Times of India
Thu, 29 Sep 2016 20:05 UTC
Leopard
A four-year-old girl was mauled to death by a leopard in Rabarika village on Savarkundla-Jesar Road in Amreli district on Wednesday.

The leopard took away the girl Daya Parmar who was sleeping outside her hut near a lake early in the morning.

Her parents and elder sister, all farm labourers, had gone to the near-by field for work.

The locals immediately informed the forest department and a team of range forest officer RJ Mor rushed to the spot.

Some people also claimed to have seen the leopard moveing around in the area.

"We have placed three cages to nab the leopard," said Mor.
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Black Cat

Leopard kills 12-year-old boy outside his house in Reasi, India


NDTV
Thu, 13 Oct 2016 19:57 UTC
The leopard attacked and killed the boy in the compound of his house in Mohara Bagla village.
The leopard attacked and killed the boy in the compound of his house in Mohara Bagla village.
A 12-year-old boy was killed by a leopard in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said today.

Noor Hussain was in the compound of his house in Mohara Bagla village in Chasana tehsil last night when a leopard attacked and killed him, a police officer said.

As the people came out of their houses, the leopard left behind the victim.

The body was recovered, he added.
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Wolf

Woman in serious condition after grandson's dog attacks her in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania


Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Mon, 17 Oct 2016 19:41 UTC
Dog attack
A 75-year-old woman is in serious condition at a Pittsburgh hospital after a dog attacked her in West Oakland, biting her multiple times. The canine then attacked a Pittsburgh police officer.

Police were called to the 2500 block of Allequippa Street shortly before 12:30 a.m. today for a report that the woman was bitten by her grandson's dog.

The grandson had later put the dog in the backyard, but as paramedics were tending to the woman, the dog got out of the back yard and ran to the front porch. The grandson tried to grab the dog but it got into the home and bit the woman again.

The woman was taken to UPMC Presbyterian in serious condition.

The dog also bit an officer who tried to corral the pet. She was treated at UPMC Mercy.

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Wolf

Coyote attacks of 6-year-old boy in Irvine, California; spate of 3 attacks locally over the past few months

Tomoya Shimura
The Orange County Register
Thu, 13 Oct 2016 14:09 UTC
Coyote
Haseena Habibi and her sister rushed out of their cousin's apartment when they heard a scream.

They saw a man trying to pull his young son away from a coyote at Springbrook Park, next to the apartment complex. The coyote let go of the boy, but stayed at the sand playground, said Habibi, who then spotted the man's other son, a toddler, walking toward the coyote.

Habibi ran to the coyote, yelled, took off her shoe and threw it at the coyote. When that didn't work, she began throwing sand at the animal, which was about the size of a large dog, Habibi said. The coyote finally took off after her husband arrived and chased it away.

"I wasn't expecting coyotes to attack kids," said Waleed Qazi, Habibi's husband. "I thought they were after foxes and rabbits and they don't bother with humans."


Comment: See also these other reports from the last 2 years:

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