http://www.sott.net Signs of the Times, featuring news and commentary on world events. Never wavering in our unending search for the light of truth in a pathocracy driven world! en-us Original content Copyright 2010 by Signs of the Times. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:36:49 -0500 http://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net http://www.sott.net http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202712-More-Snow-Likely-to-Cripple-Major-U-S-Cities A major snow storm is sweeping through the US Mid-Atlantic region where plows still haven't touched some roads, resulting in closed schools, stranded people, and government closings. The storm hit the Midwest part of the US early Tuesday, shutting down schools and greeting commuters with slick, slushy roads from Indianapolis to Chicago. Powerful wind and snow were expected to crawl into the Mid-Atlantic States by the afternoon, expected to leave as much as 20 inches of new snow in the Washington, DC area and about18 inches in another major metropolitan area of Philadelphia by Wednesday night. Parts of these regions were already buried under nearly 3 feet of record snow that fell throughout the Washington area last Friday and Saturday. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202712-More-Snow-Likely-to-Cripple-Major-U-S-Cities Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:35:13 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202607-Los-Angeles-foothill-suburbs-dig-out-after-mudslides Crews waded through thigh-high mud to check for gas leaks and survey damage in the foothills north of Los Angeles Sunday as evacuated residents waited to find out if they could return to their homes and start digging out. Forty-three homes in La Canada Flintridge were damaged and 500 more evacuated Saturday after mud and water overflowed basins and surged into streets, taking furniture, cars and concrete barriers with it. About 70 homes remained evacuated Sunday morning. "In my 20 years of fire service, this is the first time I've seen this much devastation caused by a weather system," Los Angeles County Fire Battalion Chief Mike Brown said while walking past suburban homes with thigh-deep mud in their yards. Los Angeles County public works crews were using bulldozers and other heavy machinery to move boulders, scoop out catch basins and clear roads. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the area Sunday, stopping to talk to reporters in front of a house where flowing mud left a mark on the wall at least 5 feet above the ground. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202607-Los-Angeles-foothill-suburbs-dig-out-after-mudslides Sun, 07 Feb 2010 14:47:12 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202604-Japan-Earthquake-Magnitude-6-4-Southwestern-Ryukyu-Ilands Date-Time: Sunday, February 07, 2010 at 06:10:00 UTC Sunday, February 07, 2010 at 03:10:00 PM at epicenter Location: 23.472°N, 123.713°E Depth: 16.5 km (10.3 miles) (poorly constrained) Distances: 115 km (70 miles) SSW of Ishigaki-jima, Ryukyu Islands, Japan 225 km (140 miles) ESE of Hua-lien, Taiwan 225 km (140 miles) ESE of Su-ao, Taiwan 2055 km (1280 miles) SW of TOKYO, Japan http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202604-Japan-Earthquake-Magnitude-6-4-Southwestern-Ryukyu-Ilands Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:46:41 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202554-Snowmaggedon-brings-Washington-DC-to-a-standstill-heaviest-snowfall-in-US-history-predicted Heaviest snowfall on record forecast as second severe blizzard causes deaths and disruption in eastern US A massive blizzard dubbed "Snowmageddon" by president Barack Obama is causing chaos in the eastern US, with parts of the region buried under more than 20in [50cm] of snow. Washington DC has already seen more than 10in settle in what forecasters have warned could be the heaviest snowfall in the American capital since records began, with 2.5ft or more predicted. Parts of Maryland and West Virginia are already buried under more than 20in and forecasters have said up to 2in of snow could fall per hour across the eastern part of the country today. Authorities have blamed the storm for hundreds of accidents, including the deaths of a father and son in Virginia when they were struck by a tractor trailer. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202554-Snowmaggedon-brings-Washington-DC-to-a-standstill-heaviest-snowfall-in-US-history-predicted Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:59:08 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202551-How-the-Butterflies-Got-Their-Spots How two butterfly species have evolved exactly the same striking wing colour and pattern has intrigued biologists since Darwin's day. Now, scientists at Cambridge have found "hotspots" in the butterflies' genes that they believe will explain one of the most extraordinary examples of mimicry in the natural world. Heliconius, or passion-vine butterflies, live in the Americas -- from the southern United States to southern South America. Although they cannot interbreed, H. melpomene and H. erato have evolved to mimic one another perfectly. These delicate butterflies have splashes of red and yellow on their black wings, signaling to birds that they contain toxins and are extremely unpalatable. They mimic one another's colour and pattern to reinforce these warning signals. Scientists have studied these butterflies since the 1860s as a classic case of evolution in action, but only now is modern sequencing technology unlocking the underlying genetics. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202551-How-the-Butterflies-Got-Their-Spots Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:39:41 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202533-Mexico-rainstorms-leave-at-least-15-dead Hillsides collapse and rivers overflow after freak winter weather that affects more than half the country. Rains are severe in the mountains that are home to Monarch butterflies. Mexico City - Freak winter rains across Mexico collapsed hillsides, sent rivers over their banks and left at least 15 people dead, officials said Friday. The rain, which began early in the week and peaked Thursday, had relented by Friday morning, providing officials with their first good look at the damage. More than half of the country was affected. Hardest hit was the western state of Michoacan, where at least 13 people were killed by landslides and flooding. An unknown number of people were missing Friday. Rains were severe in the mountainous zone that is famous as a reserve for Monarch butterflies. At least 15,000 residents and 2,000 homes in Michoacan were affected, officials said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202533-Mexico-rainstorms-leave-at-least-15-dead Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:26:14 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202532-Moderate-earthquake-shakes-Poland Legnica - A moderate earthquake struck northwest of the Polish city of Legnica on Saturday morning, seismologists said. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The earthquake, which had a preliminary magnitude of 4.9, struck about 27 kilometers (16.7 miles) northwest of Legnica at a depth of 2 kilometers (1.2 miles), according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre. It happened at 05.55 a.m. local time. Earthquakes of such magnitudes are rare in Central Europe, and a seismologist at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) called it a "significant event" for the region. The strongest earthquake ever recorded in Poland since 1973 was a 5.4 on December 31, 1999. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the earthquake. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202532-Moderate-earthquake-shakes-Poland Sat, 06 Feb 2010 08:16:35 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202530-US-capital-shuts-down-on-powerful-blizzard Washington - An "extremely dangerous" blizzard expected to dump record amounts of snow pounded the eastern United States today, closing down the US capital and threatening to trap millions indoors for days. The National Weather Service (NWS) put the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area under a rare 24-hour blizzard warning starting at 10:00 pm Friday (0300 GMT Saturday). The storm, dubbed "Snowpocalypse" and "Snowmageddon" by many locals, stretched from Indiana to Pennsylvania and into parts of New York and North Carolina, creating treacherous travel conditions, shutting Washington area airports and leading several states to declare emergencies. The storm "will significantly impact most of the region through today," the NWS said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202530-US-capital-shuts-down-on-powerful-blizzard Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:55:16 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202500-IPCC-climate-report-error-3-the-Netherlands-is-55-below-sea-level- The UN climate change panel IPCC not only wrongly predicted Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035, it also put more than half of the Netherlands below sea level. The Dutch environment minister, Jaqueline Cramer, on Wednesday demanded a thorough investigation into the 2007 report by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change after a Dutch magazine uncovered it incorrectly states 55 percent of the country lies below sea level. The Dutch national bureau for environmental analysis has taken responsibility for the incorrect figure cited by the IPCC. Only 26 percent of the Netherlands is really below sea level. The error surfaced at a time when the IPCC is already under fire for another false claim that revealed earlier this week. The 2007 report states glaciers in the Himalayas will disappear by 2035, while the underlying research claims the mountain ice would last until 2350, British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph discovered. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202500-IPCC-climate-report-error-3-the-Netherlands-is-55-below-sea-level- Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:36:49 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202479-Cyclone-hits-French-Polynesia Cyclone Oli is rapidly intensifying and has prompted red alerts on Tahiti and islands nearby. Hundreds of tourists and locals have been evacuated into schools and hospitals as high winds and very high waves lashed a wide area of French Polynesia. Auckland Regional Council chairman Mike Lee, who was on the Tetiaroa, north of Tahiti, was among a group of New Zealanders flown to the main island by the French Military ahead of the cyclone. Regional meteorological services say Oli is located approximately 300 kilometres southwest of Tahiti and 380 km north of Rurutu. Today it has under gone a very rapid intensification from Category 1 to Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Scale where five is the highest. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202479-Cyclone-hits-French-Polynesia Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:59:12 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202471-Pacific-Ocean-Volcano-Erupts An undersea volcano erupted Wednesday, spewing columns of smoke and ash into the Pacific Ocean sky. A patrol vessel from the 3rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters visited the area, some 5 kilometers from Minami-Iwojima island in the Ogasawara island chain, around 7:45 a.m. The volcano is called Mount Fukutokuokanoba. It is located about 1,300 kilometers south of Tokyo. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202471-Pacific-Ocean-Volcano-Erupts Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:28:38 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202470-Global-Ocean-Protection-Measures-Have-Failed Thousands of tons of trash are thrown into the sea each year, endangering humans and wildlife. A classified German government report obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE indicates that efforts by the United Nations and the European Union to clean up our oceans have failed entirely. Since the world's oceans are so massive, few people seem to have a problem with dumping waste into them. But plastics degrade at very a slow rate, and huge amounts of them are sloshing around in our oceans. Wildlife consumes small pieces causing many of them to die, since the plastics are full of poisons. And, as experts warn, we've reached a point where it's even getting dangerous for humans to consume seafood. Given these conditions, the international community has been pushing for four decades for massive bureaucratic efforts aimed at clearing the oceans of waste. In 1973, the United Nations sponsored a pact for protecting the oceans from dumping. Additional provisions have been added to the so-called Marpol Convention -- short for "marine pollution" -- on six different occasions. And nine years ago, the European Union put directives on the books that forbid any dumping of maritime waste into the ocean while in ports. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202470-Global-Ocean-Protection-Measures-Have-Failed Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:17:38 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202446-US-2nd-large-quake-in-a-month-hits-off-Northern-California-coast Residents of Northern California's Humboldt County were rocked by a magnitude-6.0 earthquake Thursday, but officials said there were no immediate reports of major injury or damage from the second large temblor to hit the area within a month. The U.S. Geological Survey reported a magnitude-6.0 quake struck at 12:20 p.m. about 35 miles northwest of the community of Petrolia and nearly 50 miles west of Eureka. The shaking was felt within a 150-mile radius, as far north as southern Oregon and as far south as Sonoma County, according to the USGS Web site. Local officials and residents reported feeling a rolling sensation that caused items to fall from walls and shelves. Many said the movement didn't feel nearly as severe as the magnitude-6.5 quake that struck the same region Jan. 9 and caused more than $40 million in damage and one serious injury - an elderly woman who fell and broke her hip. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202446-US-2nd-large-quake-in-a-month-hits-off-Northern-California-coast Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:23:16 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202443-US-Magnitude-6-0-Earthquake-Offshore-Northern-California Date-Time Thursday, February 04, 2010 at 20:20:21 UTC Thursday, February 04, 2010 at 12:20:21 PM at epicenter Location: 40.431°N, 124.929°W Depth: 11.2 km (7.0 miles) Region: OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA Distances: 56 km (35 miles) WNW (282°) from Petrolia, CA 59 km (36 miles) WSW (254°) from Ferndale, CA 68 km (42 miles) WSW (256°) from Fortuna, CA 76 km (47 miles) WSW (239°) from Eureka, CA 363 km (225 miles) NW (306°) from Sacramento, CA http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202443-US-Magnitude-6-0-Earthquake-Offshore-Northern-California Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:14:37 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202439-Kyrgyzstan-to-Issue-Passports-for-Sheep- Ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan is preparing to roll out a new system under which the millions of sheep residing in the mountainous state will receive their own high-tech passport, state television reported Monday. First Deputy Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov said in an address to parliament the government has drafted a bill to deliver a cutting-edge passport to the nation's sheep. "We are ready to make a passport for each sheep. That is, from their birth to their slaughter, it will be possible to recognize a sheep's pedigree by using laser scanning," he said. Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished Central Asian country bordering China and Kazakhstan, is home to 4.25 million sheep, according to official government statistics. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202439-Kyrgyzstan-to-Issue-Passports-for-Sheep- Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:54:01 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202364-Leaves-Whisper-Their-Properties-Through-Ultrasound The water content of leaves, their thickness, their density and other properties can now be determined without even having to touch them. A team of researchers from the CSIC Institute of Acoustics and the Agri-Food Research and Technology Centre (CITA) of Aragón has just presented an innovative technique that enables plant leaves to be studied using ultrasound in a quick, simple and non-invasive fashion. Tomas E. Gómez, one of the authors of the study and researcher at the CSIC Institute of Acoustics, where a technique has been developed to analyse these parts of plants without touching them, explains to SINC that "The method involves establishing a silent dialogue with plant leaves, questioning them and listening to what they say". The research, recently published in the journal, Applied Physics Letters, demonstrates that some properties of leaves such as thickness, density or compressibility can be determined with this method. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202364-Leaves-Whisper-Their-Properties-Through-Ultrasound Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:15:52 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202351-IPCC-Chairman-Refuses-to-Apologise-for-Himalayan-Glaciers-Debacle The embattled chief of the UN climate change panel has admitted that a mistake in a landmark 2007 report had damaged the body's credibility, in an interview with a British newspaper. But Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, refused to apologise in the interview with the Guardian for the erroneous claim that global warming could melt Himalayan glaciers by 2035. The Nobel-winning panel has faced fierce criticism over the mistake - which has been discredited by glaciologists and is being withdrawn - and the controversy has given fresh ammunition to climate sceptics. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202351-IPCC-Chairman-Refuses-to-Apologise-for-Himalayan-Glaciers-Debacle Wed, 03 Feb 2010 06:26:39 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202332-Honeybees-are-Modern-Day-Canaries-in-Coal-Mines Over the past three years, more than 50 billion honeybees have died. Scientists understand the causes and now we need everyone to lend a helping hand. The humble honeybee has been inextricably linked to humankind since prehistoric times - at first we were drawn to this remarkable creature because of its sweet honey. Honey is to a bee what electricity is for humans - energy. One teaspoon of honey weighing 21 grams contains 16 grams of sugar or 60 calories, and it took 12 bees their entire foraging lives, combined flying time of about 6,000 miles, to produce 21 grams of honey. To understand the importance of honeybees, consider that every third bite on your plate is a result of their primary role on the planet as pollinators - the most important group on Earth. Honeybees contribute at least $44 billion a year to the U.S. economy by pollinating crops such as almonds, apples, avocados, blueberries, broccoli, canola, carrot seeds, cherries, citrus, cranberries, cucumbers, grapes, lettuce, macadamizes, melons, peaches, plums, pumpkins, onion seeds, squash, sunflowers, kiwis, tomatoes and zucchinis, to name a few; alfalfa and clover for beef and dairy industries; cotton for our clothes; honey, candles and medicines. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202332-Honeybees-are-Modern-Day-Canaries-in-Coal-Mines Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:42:28 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202323-More-than-1-200-tiny-quakes-hit-Yellowstone-Park Cheyenne, Wyoming. - Yellowstone National Park is shaking again, but jitters seem few so far. Over eight days, more than 1,270 mostly tiny earthquakes have struck between Old Faithful and West Yellowstone. The strongest dozen or so have ranged between magnitudes 3.0 and 3.8. That's strong enough to feel - barely. The vast majority have been too weak to be felt even nearby. Likewise, online chatter about an imminent volcanic eruption in Yellowstone hasn't really picked up compared with the attention that a similar quake swarm drew just over a year ago. "Perhaps we have done a better job in the past year or so helping the public understand that earthquake swarms are not unusual in Yellowstone," park spokesman Al Nash said Monday. The largest quakes in the current swarm have included two of magnitude 3.1 and one of magnitude 3.0 late Sunday and early Monday, according to the University of Utah, which helps monitor seismic activity in Yellowstone. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202323-More-than-1-200-tiny-quakes-hit-Yellowstone-Park Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:05:23 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202312-Scientists-warn-solar-activity-could-hit-London-2012-Olympic-Games Scientists today warned that a peak in the solar activity due in 2012 could disrupt television and internet networks during the London Olympic Games. Speaking ahead of the launch of Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory next week, mission scientists said that the sun was due to hit a peak in its eleven-year cycle in 2012. "The Olympics could be bang in the middle of a solar maximum," said Professor Richard Harrison, of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in Oxfordshire and a co-investigator on the mission. It has long been known that surges in solar activity can cause disruption in satellite and terrestrial communications systems, but until now it has been almost impossible to predict solar storms in advance. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202312-Scientists-warn-solar-activity-could-hit-London-2012-Olympic-Games Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:21:42 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202299-Scotland-records-coldest-winter Scotland has suffered some of the coldest winter months in almost 100 years, the Met Office has confirmed. By combining the temperatures of January and December it showed they were the coldest since 1914 - the year data started being logged. Elsewhere, it was the coldest December and January in Northern Ireland since 1962/63 and the coldest in England and Wales since 1981/82. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202299-Scotland-records-coldest-winter Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:44:53 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202295-New-Zealand-Teen-Fights-Off-Shark-with-Body-Board A teenage New Zealand girl bitten by a shark bashed it over the head with her body board until it let her go, she said. Lydia Ward, 14, was in waist-deep water with her brother on Monday at Oreti Beach on the country's South Island when the shark - believed to be a broad-nosed seven gill shark - grabbed her hip. She said she did not notice the shark until the attack was under way. "I saw my brother's face and turned to the side and saw this large gray thing in the water so I just hit it on the head with a boogie board," Ward told National Radio, adding that she had read about a surfer who fought off a shark attack with her board. "That's what she did, and that's what you're meant to do." http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202295-New-Zealand-Teen-Fights-Off-Shark-with-Body-Board Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:43:46 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202287-Leaked-climate-change-emails-scientist-hid-data-flaws Key study by East Anglia professor Phil Jones was based on suspect figures Phil Jones, the beleaguered British climate scientist at the centre of the leaked emails controversy, is facing fresh claims that he sought to hide problems in key temperature data on which some of his work was based. A Guardian investigation of thousands of emails and documents apparently hacked from the University of East Anglia's climatic research unit has found evidence that a series of measurements from Chinese weather stations were seriously flawed and that documents relating to them could not be produced. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202287-Leaked-climate-change-emails-scientist-hid-data-flaws Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:50:01 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202286-Can-you-see-what-it-is-yet-How-a-flock-of-starlings-can-look-just-like-a-bird-a-duck-and-even-a-turtle Flocks of starlings are renowned for forming a variety of shapes in the sky. But on this occasion they must have been overcome by vanity - and created a giant starling for us ground-dwellers to admire. The countless creatures created the awesome display by using the winter breeze as the low-setting sun caused the sky to glow red. The amazing spectacle was spotted over Taunton, Somerset. Elsewhere, starlings created a bizarre image of a rubber duck in the sky as they flew in formation across Britain. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202286-Can-you-see-what-it-is-yet-How-a-flock-of-starlings-can-look-just-like-a-bird-a-duck-and-even-a-turtle Tue, 02 Feb 2010 07:40:38 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202284-Proof-of-warming-is-melting-rapidly President Obama picked an odd time to remind people he's in league with the global-warming alarmists. He did so in his State of the Union address. He put in a pitch for his economy-hobbling, government-expanding global-warming "cap-and-trade" plan. This in the very same speech in which he declared he's focusing anew on creating jobs and reining in bureaucracy. Odder yet, Obama also took the occasion to declare, as he has before, that science is on the side of global-warming alarmism. Such an assertion has never been more in doubt than right now. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202284-Proof-of-warming-is-melting-rapidly Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:36:50 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202283-Amazongate-new-evidence-of-the-IPCC-s-failures It is now six weeks since I launched an investigation, with my colleague Richard North, into the affairs of Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the hugely influential body which for 20 years has been the central driver of worldwide alarm about global warming. Since then the story has grown almost daily, leading to worldwide calls for Dr Pachauri's resignation. But increasingly this has also widened out to question the authority of the IPCC itself. Contrary to the tendentious claim that its reports represent a "consensus of the world's top 2,500 climate scientists" (most of its contributors are not climate experts at all), it has now emerged, for instance, that one of the more widely quoted scare stories from its 2007 report was drawn from the work of a British "green activist" who occasionally writes as a freelance for The Guardian and The Independent. Last week I reported on "Glaciergate", the scandal which has forced the IPCC's top officials, led by Dr Pachauri, to disown a claim originating from an Indian glaciologist, Dr Syed Husnain, that the Himalayan glaciers could vanish by 2035. What has made this reckless claim in the IPCC's 2007 report even more embarrassing was the fact that Dr Husnain, as we revealed, was then employed by Dr Pachauri's own Delhi-based Energy and Resources Institute (Teri). His baseless scaremongering about the Himalayas helped to win Teri a share in two lucrative research contracts, one funded by the EU. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202283-Amazongate-new-evidence-of-the-IPCC-s-failures Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:33:14 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202268-Genetically-Modified-Forest-Planned-for-U-S-Southeast International Paper and MeadWestvaco are planning to transform plantation forests of the southeastern U.S. by replacing native pine with genetically engineered eucalyptus By adopting eucalyptus as a tree stock, the United States would simply be catching up with countries like Brazil, which has leveraged vast tree plantations in recent decades to pivot from a net wood importer to an exporter. While the South saw a rise in pine plantations during this time, pine cannot compete with eucalyptus for sheer growth rate, the company says. "The United States is behind the game on this," said Les Pearson, ArborGen's director of regulatory affairs. "Lots of countries around the world have been growing eucalyptus for many decades." Indeed, primarily because of competition from South America, demand for traditional American tree pulp has gone slack. This sagging industry could allow up to 10 million acres in the Southeast to be repurposed for fast-growing eucalyptuses, according to corporate estimates. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202268-Genetically-Modified-Forest-Planned-for-U-S-Southeast Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:01:38 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202258-Simulated-volcanic-eruptions-to-block-sun A geoengineering project to block the sun by simulating volcanic eruptions would be 100 times cheaper than cutting greenhouse gas emissions, climate change scientists said. A global plan to put man-made particles into the atmosphere to deflect the Sun's heat would rapidly lower global temperatures until cuts in carbon dioxide emissions took effect, they argued. Comment: That's all what we need - to rapidly lower global temperatures. Are they not low enough already?? Coral in Florida Keys suffers lethal hit from cold Freezing weather causes more chaos in northern Europe Temperatures as low as minus 34 as fresh cold snap hits Europe It's summer in Australia... and it's snowing! "México is a Gigantic Refrigerator" http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202258-Simulated-volcanic-eruptions-to-block-sun Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:35:28 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202229-Mild-Quakes-hit-Southern-Mindanao Cotabato City - A mild earthquake hit southern Mindanao early Sunday, the second in 48 hours, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said. No one was reported injured or property damaged in the 4.8 magnitude tremor that occurred at 7:26 a.m. Phivolcs monitored the center of the earthquake at 106 kilometers south-east of Gen. Santos City with a depth of 196 kilometers. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202229-Mild-Quakes-hit-Southern-Mindanao Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:18:25 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202224-US-Hundreds-of-Quakes-Are-Rattling-Yellowstone Denver - In the last two weeks, more than 100 mostly tiny earthquakes a day, on average, have rattled a remote area of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, putting scientists who monitor the park's strange and volatile geology on alert. Researchers say that for now, the earthquake cluster, or swarm - the second-largest ever recorded in the park - is more a cause for curiosity than alarm. The quake zone, about 10 miles northwest of the Old Faithful geyser, has shown little indication, they said, of building toward a larger event, like a volcanic eruption of the type that last ravaged the Yellowstone region tens of thousands of years ago. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202224-US-Hundreds-of-Quakes-Are-Rattling-Yellowstone Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:03:05 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202222-US-Deadly-fish-virus-now-found-in-all-Great-Lakes A deadly fish virus that was first discovered in the Northeast in 2005 has been found for the first time in fish from Lake Superior, report Cornell researchers. That means that the virus has now been documented in all of the Great Lakes. The viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus ( VHSV ), which causes fatal anemia and hemorrhaging in many fish species, poses no threat to humans, said Paul Bowser, professor of aquatic animal medicine at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202222-US-Deadly-fish-virus-now-found-in-all-Great-Lakes Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:50:26 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202214-EU-Farmers-Face-Genetic-Contamination-of-Seeds Berlin - Biodiversity, already decaying fast as a result of climate change and intensive farming, is under further threat by genetic modification (GM) of seeds, says a leading German ecological activist. Genetic modification of seeds is dangerous, "since it is at the beginning of the agricultural chain, and can spread all over," says Benedikt Haerlin, former campaign manager at the environmental organisation Greenpeace and former member of the European Parliament. Haerlin now leads the global 'Save our Seeds' campaign in cooperation with some 300 environmental organisations across Europe. The campaign is currently calling attention to plans by the European Commission (EC) to tolerate "accidental or technically unavoidable" contamination of conventional seed with GM varieties. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202214-EU-Farmers-Face-Genetic-Contamination-of-Seeds Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:00:51 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202179-Snow-causes-havoc-for-motorists-in-the-UK-again Heavy snow has returned to parts of Britain, causing disruption to motorists and forcing the cancellation of some sports fixtures. Drivers had to battle icy conditions and road closures as snow hit parts of the North East overnight. There were five separate crashes on Bonemill Lane in Sunderland and police were forced to close the road for an hour and a half. And an icy road surface led to a three-vehicle collision at a roundabout near Crowther Road in the city. Nobody was injured in any of the incidents, police said. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202179-Snow-causes-havoc-for-motorists-in-the-UK-again Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:18:23 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202177-IPCC-claims-are-based-on-student-dissertations-and-elitist-WWF-propaganda The United Nations' expert panel on climate change based claims about ice disappearing from the world's mountain tops on a student's dissertation and an article in a mountaineering magazine. The revelation will cause fresh embarrassment for the The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which had to issue a humiliating apology earlier this month over inaccurate statements about global warming. The IPCC's remit is to provide an authoritative assessment of scientific evidence on climate change. In its most recent report, it stated that observed reductions in mountain ice in the Andes, Alps and Africa was being caused by global warming, citing two papers as the source of the information. However, it can be revealed that one of the sources quoted was a feature article published in a popular magazine for climbers which was based on anecdotal evidence from mountaineers about the changes they were witnessing on the mountainsides around them. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202177-IPCC-claims-are-based-on-student-dissertations-and-elitist-WWF-propaganda Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:58:56 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202173-Moderate-Quake-hits-China-s-Sichuan-Province-USGS Beijing - A moderate 5.2-magnitude quake hit the Chinese province of Sichuan on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The tremor struck at 5:37 am (2137 GMT Saturday) at a depth of 18 kilometres (11 miles) with an epicentre 36 kilometres (22 miles) southeast of the city of Suining in Sichuan, southern China, the USGS said. An 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan in May 2008, leaving nearly 87,000 people dead or missing and more than five million others homeless. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202173-Moderate-Quake-hits-China-s-Sichuan-Province-USGS Sat, 30 Jan 2010 20:45:07 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202167-Coral-in-Florida-Keys-suffers-lethal-hit-from-cold Bitter cold this month may have wiped out many of the shallow water corals in the Keys. Scientists have only begun assessments, with dive teams looking for "bleaching" that is a telltale indicator of temperature stress in sensitive corals, but initial reports are bleak. The impact could extend from Key Largo through the Dry Tortugas west of Key West, a vast expanse that covers some of the prettiest and healthiest reefs in North America. Given the depth and duration of frigid weather, Meaghan Johnson, marine science coordinator for The Nature Conservancy, expected to see losses. But she was stunned by what she saw when diving a patch reef 2.5 miles off Harry Harris Park in Key Largo. Star and brain corals, large species that can take hundreds of years to grow, were as white and lifeless as bones, frozen to death. There were also dead sea turtles, eels and parrotfish littering the bottom. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202167-Coral-in-Florida-Keys-suffers-lethal-hit-from-cold Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:58:57 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202164-Hamburg-put-on-ice-as-Alster-lake-freezes The deep freeze hitting Germany this winter has frozen Hamburg's Alster Lake for the first time in over a decade. Jeff Kavanagh laces up his skates to go for a spin. It's not every day you see a man with a bike in the middle of a canal in the northern port city of Hamburg - particularly one on his hands and knees, taking a large hammer to the ice separating him from the freezing cold water below. "Just checking it's thick enough to keep cycling," he calls out to concerned passers-by. A middle-aged woman clad in a substantial amount of fur grumbles that it is too dangerous to walk on the canals, that warm water beneath the ice is thinning it out. Paying her no attention and having satisfied himself that it is indeed thick enough, the ice-cyclist clambers back on his bike and pedals off. Shaking her head, the woman announces that she's off to the Alster, Hamburg's picturesque inner-city lake. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202164-Hamburg-put-on-ice-as-Alster-lake-freezes Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:14:41 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202163-Freezing-weather-causes-more-chaos-in-northern-Europe In freezing Germany, snow, high winds and icy roads led to over 300 traffic accidents in one state alone and brought transport systems to a halt. Bad weather also prompted authorities to shut roads in the north, while in some areas railways stopped operating. In the northwestern state of North Rhine-Wesphalia, one person was killed and more than 40 were injured in more than 300 accidents from Friday night through Saturday, police said. Slippery roads claimed the lives of two other people involved in separate accidents in the southern state of Bavaria. Meanwhile, Mecklenburg West Pomerania, a northern state blanketed by heavy snow since mid-December, is believed to be the worst affected by the flurry. Public transit was made impossible in the city of Rostock, hit by 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow overnight. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202163-Freezing-weather-causes-more-chaos-in-northern-Europe Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:08:31 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202158-Lightning-Strike-Grounds-Florida-Bound-Plane-in-Alabama Montgomery - An airport official says a U.S. Airways flight was struck by lightning on its way to Florida, forcing the plane and its passengers to divert to Alabama. Montgomery Regional Airport spokeswoman Lynn Cox said Saturday that the flight was grounded after 9:30 p.m. Friday in Montgomery, where the passengers had been given overnight accommodations. Cox says a replacement plane had not arrived Saturday. She says some passengers arranged rental cars to continue on to Pensacola. Cox says she was not aware of any injuries. Cox did not know how many passengers were on board or where the flight originated. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202158-Lightning-Strike-Grounds-Florida-Bound-Plane-in-Alabama Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:39:27 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202144-Snow-causes-German-traffic-chaos-with-three-deaths Heavy snow and high winds have caused traffic chaos across Germany with 300 accidents overnight in one region alone and at least three deaths nationwide. One death was reported in North Rhine-Westphalia in the north-west while Bavaria in the south saw two deaths. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202144-Snow-causes-German-traffic-chaos-with-three-deaths Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:35:48 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202105-Ozone-Hole-Healing-Could-Cause-Further-Climate-Warming The hole in the ozone layer is now steadily closing, but its repair could actually increase warming in the southern hemisphere, according to scientists at the University of Leeds. The Antarctic ozone hole was once regarded as one of the biggest environmental threats, but the discovery of a previously undiscovered feedback shows that it has instead helped to shield this region from carbon-induced warming over the past two decades. High-speed winds in the area beneath the hole have led to the formation of brighter summertime clouds, which reflect more of the sun's powerful rays. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202105-Ozone-Hole-Healing-Could-Cause-Further-Climate-Warming Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:08:52 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202083-Strong-quake-reported-in-South-Pacific An earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale on Friday rattled deep waters near the South Pacific island of Vanuatu. US monitors said the quake had struck east of the island, reporting no human or material losses. It also did not prompt any tsunami alerts. Vanuatu, located east of Australia, was in early October rocked by several earthquakes of up to 7.8 in magnitude. Last September, a magnitude-8 earthquake triggered a massive tsunami in the region. The destructive waves hit the villages and resorts on the island nations of Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga, killing 184 people. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202083-Strong-quake-reported-in-South-Pacific Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:01:53 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202079-Another-Cloud-to-be-Appreciated João Luís (thank you!) points this interesting video that appears to show some iridescence and general awesomeness. The description on Youtube does not seem very credible, but the language spoken does seem to suggest it comes from Indonesia. We have already presented some clouds of wonder here in Forgetomori, mainly pileus clouds, but this looks like a different phenomenon. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202079-Another-Cloud-to-be-Appreciated Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:06:19 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202052-Damage-Control-NOAA-claims-water-vapor-slowed-recent-global-warming-trend- A sudden and unexplained drop in the amount of water vapor present high in the atmosphere almost a decade ago has substantially slowed the rate of warming at Earth's surface in recent years, scientists say. In late 2000 and early 2001, concentrations of water vapor in a narrow slice of the lower stratosphere dropped by 0.5 parts per million, or about 10 percent, and have remained relatively stable since then. Because the decline was noted by several types of instruments, including some on satellites and others lofted on balloons, the sharp decrease is presumed to be real, says Karen Rosenlof, a meteorologist at NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. And because water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas, the decline has slowed the increase of global temperatures, Rosenlof, Susan Solomon, also of NOAA in Boulder, and their colleagues report online January 28 and in an upcoming Science. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202052-Damage-Control-NOAA-claims-water-vapor-slowed-recent-global-warming-trend- Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:40:25 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202040-Scientists-in-Stolen-E-mail-Scandal-Hid-Climate-Data The university at the centre of the climate change row over stolen e-mails broke the law by refusing to hand over its raw data for public scrutiny. The University of East Anglia breached the Freedom of Information Act by refusing to comply with requests for data concerning claims by its scientists that man-made emissions were causing global warming. The Information Commissioner's Office decided that UEA failed in its duties under the Act but said that it could not prosecute those involved because the complaint was made too late, The Times has learnt. The ICO is now seeking to change the law to allow prosecutions if a complaint is made more than six months after a breach. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202040-Scientists-in-Stolen-E-mail-Scandal-Hid-Climate-Data Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:15:45 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202022-Better-Food-Makes-High-Latitude-Animals-Bigger New solution to 163-year old puzzle? New research suggests that animals living at high latitudes grow better than their counterparts closer to the equator because higher-latitude vegetation is more nutritious. The study, published in the February issue of The American Naturalist, presents a novel explanation for Bergmann's Rule, the observation that animals tend to be bigger at higher latitudes. Ever since Christian Bergmann made his observation about latitude and size in 1847, scientists have been trying to explain it. The traditional explanation is that body temperature is the driving force. Because larger animals have less surface area compared to overall body mass, they don't lose heat as readily as smaller animals. That would give big animals an advantage at high latitudes where temperatures are generally colder. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202022-Better-Food-Makes-High-Latitude-Animals-Bigger Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:25:37 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202011-A-New-Kind-Of-Lightning-Discovered When volcano seismologist Stephen McNutt at the University of Alaska Fairbanks's Geophysical Institute saw strange spikes in the seismic data from the Mount Spurr eruption in 1992, he had no idea that his research was about to take an electrifying turn. "The seismometers were actually picking up lightning strikes," said McNutt. "I knew that I had to reach out to the physicists studying lightning." With McNutt's curiosity about volcanic lightning sparked, he teamed up with physicist and electrical engineer Ronald Thomas and Sonja Behnke, a graduate student in atmospheric physics at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, N.M. for a unique collaboration in order to learn more about volcanic lighting. When the Mount Redoubt volcano started making seismic noise in January 2009, McNutt alerted Thomas and Behnke that this would be a great opportunity to capture some new volcanic lightning data. By the time the volcano erupted in March, the team had four Lightning Mapping Arrays set up to monitor the lightning from the eruption. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/202011-A-New-Kind-Of-Lightning-Discovered Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:48:39 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/201982-7-killed-2-500-stuck-in-Peru-mudslide Heavy rains accompanied by mudslide have killed seven people while trapping more than 2,500 tourists, who were visiting the renowned Machu Picchu ruins in Peru. According to emergency services by late Tuesday, the rescue team managed to airlift 125 foreign tourists from the historic site to safer places, leaving back many others in frustration and distress. Around 1,900 tourists were stranded in nearby Aguas Calientes and 670 more on the Inca Trail, a narrow Andean passage up to Machu Picchu that takes four days to complete and which was cut in several places by landslides. "People are sleeping in the street square, they are sleeping in gyms, in schools, on trains, in makeshift tents. People are just distressed," Julie Nemcich, 29, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from Aguas Calientes, AFP reported. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/201982-7-killed-2-500-stuck-in-Peru-mudslide Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:05:14 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/201959-US-Winter-snow-totals-trudge-deep-into-records The last time there was more snow in Des Moines in December and January, the world was emerging from a several-hundred-year era of cold temperatures dubbed the "Little Ice Age." Des Moines received 6.4 inches of snow Monday at the airport, pushing the total snowfall since Dec. 1 in the city to 41.4 inches. That topped the 37.2 inches in Des Moines during the same period in 1897-1898. The record snowfall for Des Moines in December and January is 50.2 inches in 1885-86. Elwynn Taylor, Iowa State University Extension climatologist, said the world was coming out of the Little Ice Age in the 1880s. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/201959-US-Winter-snow-totals-trudge-deep-into-records Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:06:41 -0500 http://www.sott.net/articles/show/201847-UN-Climate-Chief-Refuses-to-Resign-Over-Glacier-Report-Error The head of the UN panel on climate change has brushed aside suggestions that he should resign in the wake of a row over a false report on the threat of global warming. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently admitted it made a mistake in its 2007 assessment of the rates of glacier melting in the Himalayas. "I am not going to stand down, I am going to stand up," the BBC quoted Rajendra Pachauri as saying. The IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report in 2007 said that Himalayan glaciers were receding at an unprecedented speed and could melt to a fifth of current levels by 2035. The statement was widely disputed by the global scientific community. http://www.sott.net/articles/show/201847-UN-Climate-Chief-Refuses-to-Resign-Over-Glacier-Report-Error Tue, 26 Jan 2010 11:32:12 -0500