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Increased activity at Fuego volcano, Guatemala


Strange Sounds
Tue, 12 Apr 2016 07:45 UTC
Fuego volcano eruption
© Clima Guatemala / TwitterFuego volcano explosion observed from Acatenango
The volcanic activity of the Fuego volcano is increasing in Guatemala. The last loud eruption on April 12, 2016 was heard over an area of 15km, rocked the roof and windows of houses located 15 km from the volcanic peak and sent a column of ash and gases 4km in the air.

It's not only the Santa Maria volcano, but also the Fuego volcano that shows an enhanced explosive activity in Guatemala these days .

According to Insivumeh, the National Institute for Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology of Guatemala, the Fuego volcano heavily exploded four to 6 times on April 12, 2016 sending a column of ash 4800 meters above sea level.

Here a timelapse video showing the explosions:

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Attention

Petroleum products from Deepwater Horizon oil spill linked to deaths of newborn dolphins


Phys.org
Tue, 12 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
dolphin deaths deepwater horizon spill
© Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Researchers investigated the deaths of perinatal dolphins, like this one, found in regions affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Scientists have finalized a four-year study of newborn and fetal dolphins found stranded on beaches in the northern Gulf of Mexico between 2010 and 2013. Their study, reported in the journal Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, identified substantial differences between fetal and newborn dolphins found stranded inside and outside the areas affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The study team evaluated 69 perinatal common bottlenose dolphins in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, the areas most affected by the spill, and 26 others found in areas unaffected by the spill. The work was conducted as part of an effort to investigate an "unusual mortality event" in the Gulf primarily involving bottlenose dolphins, beginning in early 2010 and continuing into 2014.

Scientists saw higher numbers of stranded perinatal dolphins in the spill zone in 2011 than in other years, particularly in Mississippi and Alabama, the researchers report. The young dolphins, which died in the womb or shortly after birth, "were significantly smaller than those that stranded during previous years and in other geographic locations," they wrote.
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Cloud Precipitation

Hailstones the size of BASEBALLS pound Texas, smashing windows, cars and buildings

Mia De Graaf
Daily Mail
Tue, 12 Apr 2016 16:54 UTC
Horrific: These are four of the hail stones, the size of a baseball, which battered northern Texas on Monday
Horrific: These are four of the hail stones, the size of a baseball, which battered northern Texas on Monday
Baseball-sized hail stones battered Texas on Monday, smashing windows, cars, and buildings.

Footage shared by people in Dallas, Fort Worth, Wylie and Denton showed astonishing clumps of ice bigger than an adult hand that fell during one of the worst storms the region has seen in months.

It all appeared to come from an ominous-looking green shelf cloud, which shone a luminous glow over northern Texas.

The damage drove officials in Wylie, which is 10 miles east of Plano, to close all schools on Tuesday.

Damage: This house is one of many houses left completely shattered by the intense ice clumps
Damage: This house is one of many houses left completely shattered by the intense ice clumps
One picture shared online showed how every window in a large three-story family home had been smashed by the hail stones.



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Attention

Dwarf Sperm whale dies on beach in Palolem, India


Times of India
Fri, 08 Apr 2016 16:23 UTC
Dwarf sperm whale
Dwarf sperm whale
The rarely-sighted dwarf sperm whale, stranded at Palolem beach recently, died due to shock caused by external injury, a postmortem examination has revealed.

The distressed mammal surfaced a few times on the beach on March 26, despite being pushed into the sea by rescuers, but washed ashore dead after midnight amid traumatic conditions. Discerning tourists and others alleged that the struggling animal was touched and pulled by the unruly crowd with bare hands, contrary to a set protocol to handle these marine mammals.

The rare sighting, the first recorded on Goa's shoreline, of this barely nine feet-long female mammal, as compared to other huge whale species, drew hordes of tourists and others.

Speculation was rife in some quarters that plastic possibly embedded in its entrails may have proved fatal. There have been a few cases of whales dying of plastic ingestion.

The dwarf sperm whale that washed ashore in Palolem on March 23 is the third confirmed case on India’s western coast.
The dwarf sperm whale that washed ashore in Palolem on March 23 is the third confirmed case on India’s western coast.
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Attention

Third dead whale found within a month off central Vietnam

Nghe An
Thanh Nien News
Tue, 12 Apr 2016 15:59 UTC
Local fishers hold a funeral ceremony for a dead whale in Nghe An Province on April 8, 2016.
© Tuoi TreLocal fishers hold a funeral ceremony for a dead whale in Nghe An Province on April 8, 2016.
At least three dead whales have been found in the central province of Nghe An over the last month, local media reported.

In the latest incident, on Monday afternoon, some tourists found the carcass of a whale on Cua Lo Beach.

The whale measured around one meter in length and 40 kilograms in weight. There were some wounds on its body.

Local fishers then held a ritual burial for the whale, which they considered sacred.

Three days earlier, a 44-year-old fisher also found a dead whale near the same beach. The whale was around 1.5 meter-long and weighed 80 kilograms.
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Sun

Bhubaneswar, India shatters all time heat records at 45.8°C, unprecedented heatwave continues


Skymet Weather
Tue, 12 Apr 2016 04:38 UTC
record heat in Bhubaneswar, India
© biswanath swain A stretch of National Highway near ISKCON temple wears a deserted look as Bhubaneswar registered a record temperature on Monday
The capital city of Odisha, Bhubaneswar, is under the grip of severe heat wave this summer season. While the city recorded its highest day temperature at 43.2°C on 5th April, the mercury has been settling several notches above than the normal. Due to an unprecedented heatwave, the Naveen Patnaik government has ordered the closure of all the schools till April 20.

The city recorded the maximum temperature on Sunday which was the highest in Odisha and second highest in India. But beating its own record, city witnessed the highest ever maximum temperature on Monday evening at 45.8°C.

The all-time highest maximum temperature for Bhubaneswar stands at 45.0°C.

Heatwave is experienced when the maximum temperature over a place is above 40°C and five to six degrees above normal average temperatures.

While April is just half way through and temperatures are setting new records every other day, peak summer months may bring more harsh weather to several cities of East India.

Bhubaneswar has been witnessing a long dry spell since March 21, which has led to sharp rise in the mercury. Due to absence of any rain or cool winds, the temperatures has been on a higher side.

According to Skymet weather, the heat wave conditions in East India including Odisha and Jharkhand is likely to continue for another week.

Comment: Unusually harsh summer heat kills 66 in India's Telangana state

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Attention

Magnitude 5.6 earthquake recorded near Kiska Volcano, Alaska


Island Crisis News
Mon, 11 Apr 2016 21:17 UTC
Alaska 5.6 earthquake
An earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 5.6 has been recorded near Kiska Volcano, Alaska on 11 April 2016 20:10:35. The earthquake epicenter was located at precisely 109km SW of Kiska Volcano, Alaska and at a depth of approximately 28 km. A provisional tsunami alert have been issued for the region following this earthquake. Other details about the earthquake were not immediately available, and there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. We will update this report as soon as we have more information.

Below is a map showing the location of the earthquake and additional information pertaining to the exact location of the epicenter.
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Wolf

Dingo bites toddler on beach in Western Australia

Ruth Doherty
travel.aol.co.uk
Mon, 11 Apr 2016 18:52 UTC
Dingo
Dingo
A two-year-old girl has been bitten by a wild dog during a beach picnic on a holiday in Western Australia.

The Dwyer family were holidaying at the Kooljaman resort at Cape Leveque, 220km north of Broome, on Friday evening when the attack occurred.

Christine Dwyer, 27, said they were having an evening picnic on the beach when the animal approached her daughter Stella and attempted to steal her stuffed toy elephant.

Speaking to ABC News, Christine explained: "[Stella] tried to crawl away and was crying and it just ran back in and grabbed her on the lower back and buttock.

Comment: See also: Dingo euthanised after attacking tourist on Fraser Island, Australia

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Fire

Rumbling Africa volcano Nyiragongo has Goma Observatory experts concerned

Mark Robinson
The Weather Network
Sat, 09 Apr 2016 16:23 UTC
volcano Africa Nyirangongo
© The Weather NetworkNyirangongo volcano in new phase of activity
The question I keep getting when I tell people that I jumped into Nyiragongo, an active volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo is: "What did you do to the mountain!?"

It's an odd question, but it makes sense when you realize that Nyiragongo is suddenly undergoing a new, more active phase. And it's got the volcanologists at the Goma Observatory worried.

New activity in the crater over the last few weeks has spurred the scientists into action as a new vent has opened up on the ledge just above the lava lake. This was preceded by a series of earthquakes that knocked large rocks off the crater walls that I had only recently scaled.

The ledge that the vent opened on is the one that I didn't make it down to, but the rest of the team did. However, I did stand directly above the area in which it opened, but, at the time, I took no notice of the nondescript ground far below me. I had zero inkling that less then 10 days after I left, magma would boil out of a newly formed crack in the earth.

The vent has formed on the side of the caldera closest to the city of Goma at the base of the mountain. In addition, new fumoroles (gas and steam vents) have opened up on the flank of the volcano close to where lava erupted in the 2002 eruption. In that eruption, 147 people lost their lives and over a third of Goma was destroyed.

Comment: Though Africa get far less publicity than other parts of the world, Mother Nature has been very active there . This map only shows Earth change activity since January of 2016. Click play to view.



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Bizarro Earth

Massive 2015 Alaskan landslide triggering mega-tsunami estimated to be biggest non-volcanic landslide in North American history


The Watchers
Sun, 10 Apr 2016 00:00 UTC
landslide tyndall glacier
After a period of heavy rains, about 200 million metric tons of rock tumbled down a remote Southeast Alaska mountain. The massive landslide, lasting about 60 seconds, occurred on October 17, 2015, and landed on the toe of Tyndall Glacier and into Taan Fiord in Icy Bay, Alaska.

The event generated a local megatsunami that sheared trees more than 152.4 meters (500 feet) up on a peninsula within the fiord. It was big enough to register at the nearest tidal gauge 155 km (96.3 miles) away. For comparison, the 2011 tsunami in Japan reached about 39.6 meters (130 feet) above sea level.

This event, now estimated as the biggest nonvolcanic landslide, by volume, in North America's written history, was registered by special seismograms monitored by the Global CMT Project at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory whose seismologists Göran Ekström and Colin Stark have invented a new technique that uses seismic waves to detect landslides in remote areas where they might otherwise go unrecorded.
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