Earth ChangesS


Igloo

Soul-destroying cold and snow brings China to standstill: lowest temperatures in 50 years


Press TV
Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:52 UTC
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© UnknownAn ice-frosted bus in the Chinese capital tells the story of the coldest spell in Beijing in over 50 years.
Heavy snowfall has wrought havoc on the Chinese transport system, clogging highways and stranding thousands for 48 hours and 1,400 rail passengers in Inner Mongolia, state media said Tuesday.

On Sunday, a snowfall of 10 millimeters was reported in the southern suburbs of Beijing where, according to the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, temperatures have fallen to their lowest in some 50 years.

Drivers slept in their vehicles for two nights after getting stuck on Tuesday on a highway outside the Chinese capital, where a 20-kilometer-long bumper-to-bumper traffic was reported, AFP reported.
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Bizarro Earth

Swiss Avalanches Kill 5; 3 Missing Beneath Snow

Franks Johns
The Associated Press
Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:05 UTC
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© AP Photo/Peter KlaunzerTheo Maurer, chief instructor of Alpine Rescue Switzerland, left, talks on his mobile phone as a rescue helicopter of the Swiss emergency service Rega prepares for takeoff from the Diemtig Valley, in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland.
Avalanches killed five people in the Swiss Alps over the weekend, and bad weather prevented rescuers from reaching three skiers who apparently remained trapped under the snow on Monday, officials said.

Two of the avalanches occurred in central Switzerland on Sunday, the first hitting a group of skiers, the second the rescuers who came to their aid. A third avalanche buried two skiers in southern Switzerland.

Bad weather conditions meant rescuers had to call off foot and helicopter searches in central Switzerland on Monday for two Swiss and a German missing in the Diemtig Valley, 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of the capital, Bern, said regional police chief Otto von Almen.
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Gear

Best of the Web: Flashback 1922: "Extra, Extra, Read all about it! Arctic Ocean Getting Warm; Seals Perish, Glaciers and Icebergs Melt!"


Watts Up With That?
Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:14 UTC
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© Maksim-ThePeoplesCube.com
Roger Carr recently wrote in comments:
Help Wanted: I am trying to purchase (or plunder) a full copy of this story, mentioned here on this forum:
A Washington, D.C. resident John Lockwood was conducting research at the Library of Congress and came across an intriguing headline in the Nov. 2, 1922 edition of The Washington Post: 'Arctic Ocean Getting Warm; Seals Vanish and Icebergs Melt'.

The article mentions "great masses of ice have now been replaced by moraines of earth and stones," and "at many points well-known glaciers have entirely disappeared."
The original source of the story resurfacing recently was from an Inside the Beltway column of August 14th, 2007. The newspaper article was located in the Library of Congress archives by James Lockwood.
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Snowman

Climategate: One Must Ignore 200 Years of Observations to Believe in AGW

David J. Bellamy
Pajamas Media
Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:36 UTC
David Bellamy
A summary of the compendium of evidence refuting manmade global warming.

There is no evidence of carbon dioxide being a poison, or that it is capable of causing a warming Armageddon. What follows is a summary of the proof - straight from real science, peer-reviewed over the past 232 years by legions of physicists, thanks to Newton's Principia.

Remember the famous picture of Miss Marilyn Monroe with her skirt blown high? Even at the age of 76, when I see this picture my temperature goes up - followed by the amount of carbon dioxide I exhale. Never the other way 'round. Now, thanks to the study of a series of ice cores, this appears to be an inconvenient truth for the global warming industry.
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Arrow Down

Flashback Ocean drift disruption may chill Europe


BBC
Thu, 25 Nov 1999 15:29 UTC
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© planetforlife.comGreat Ocean Conveyor Belt
Scientists have found evidence that the Atlantic Ocean current which gives Europe its mild climate is being disrupted.

If it stopped, then the temperatures in western Europe would plunge by five degrees Celsius, creating bitter winters. The culprit for the changes could, ironically, be global warming.

The current, called the North Atlantic Drift, brings warm water northwards from the Gulf Stream. It is being disrupted by a growing amount of freshwater entering the Arctic Ocean, reports New Scientist magazine.
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Star

Ray of Creation: Cosmic radiation and tree growth patterns linked


Watts Up With That?
Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:53 UTC
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© NASAPhotograph by Jason A.C. Brock of Roundtimber, Texas.
Here's a surprise. The growth of trees in Britain appears to correlate to cosmic ray intensity. University of Edinburgh researchers have found that trees are growing faster when high levels of cosmic radiation arrive from space. This may also correlate to the Interplanetary Magnetic Field which tends to modulate Galactic Cosmic Rays. The discover lends credence to Svensmark's work on GCR to cloud cover correlation by demonstrating yet another tangible effect.

The researchers made the discovery studying how growth rings of spruce trees changed over the past half a century.

Here's the kicker: the variation in cosmic rays affected the tree growth more than changes in temperature or precipitation.

The study is published in the scientific journal New Phytologist.

A relationship between galactic cosmic radiation and tree rings

Sigrid Dengel, Dominik Aeby and John Grace

Institute of Atmospheric and Environmental Science, School of GeoSciences, Crew Building, University of Edinburgh, EH9 3JN, UK
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Snowman

Britain facing coldest winter for 30 years and temperatures could reach -18

Emily Nash
Mirror.co.uk
Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:29 UTC
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Freezing Britain is facing its coldest winter in three decades with temperatures as low as -18C.
Weathermen yesterday predicted at least 15 days of icy hell with the deepest layers of snow for years in some parts.

The freeze will cause travel chaos for millions returning to work today after Christmas. And charities warned the big chill would put many pensioners at risk.

The Met Office said: "It will be very cold over the next days with severe night frosts and snow. Temperatures could well be in the range of -12C, even -18."

If the Arctic conditions continue through January it will be the coldest winter since the big freeze of 1978/79.
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Igloo

Twisted logic? "Global Warming could bring colder UK winters"

Penny Palmer
BBC
Thu, 13 Nov 2003 14:13 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Britain could be heading for a "big freeze" if global warming switches off an important ocean current in the Atlantic, some scientists say.

Britain is kept relatively mild in the winter by the warm air blanket brought to us from the tropics by a branch of the Gulf Stream.

But if global warming continues to melt major ice sheets, that supply of warm air could come to an abrupt end, according to a number of experts.

The Gulf Stream relies on a sensitive "conveyer belt" action, which could be "switched off" - quite suddenly - if it becomes diluted by fresh water from the melting ice-sheets, they claim.
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Bizarro Earth

Moderate earthquake hits Philippines


Agence France Presse
Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:09 UTC
A moderate, 5.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the southern Philippine island of Mindanao early today, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

There was no immediate tsunami warning.

The quake struck at 5.38am(8.38am AEDT) and was centred 102km southeast of Davao, on Mindanao island, at a depth of 46km, the USGS said.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre did not issue any tsunami warning.
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Bizarro Earth

4.3-magnitude earthquake hits New Zealand North Island


Xinhua
Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:58 UTC
An earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale struck New Zealand North Island's Gisborne area early Monday.

The quake occurred at 5:01 a.m. local time (16:01 GMT Sunday) and was centered 30 km southeast of Gisborne at a depth of 40 km, New Zealand's Institute of Geological and Nuclear Science reported.
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