Earth ChangesS


Bad Guys

British government warned by Met Office that supercold was coming, winter forecast kept secret from public

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© Gareth Fuller/PAAshford International station in Kent on December 1st 2010
The Met Office knew that Britain was facing an early and exceptionally cold winter but failed to warn the public, hampering preparations for some of the coldest weather on record.

In October the forecaster privately warned the Government - with whom it has a contract - that Britain was likely to face an extremely cold winter.

It kept the prediction secret, however, after facing severe criticism over the accuracy of its long-term forecasts.

The Met Office eventually issued a public warning about the early onset of winter a month later, just days before snow and ice covered much of Britain and temperatures plummeted to the lowest on record.

Motoring organisations and passenger groups said yesterday that the delay hampered preparations for winter.

It has also been disclosed that the BBC has decided to publish independent assessments of the Met Office's performance on its website.

Bizarro Earth

Quebec Bird Deaths Stump Wildlife Officials

Dead Pigeons
© Daniel Mallard/QMI AgencySylvain Turmel is wondering why he’s been picking up dead pigeons for more than two weeks on his farm in Saint-Augustine-de-Desmaures.

Montreal - More than 80 pigeons have keeled over and died at a farm near Quebec City for unknown reasons, the latest in a string of mysterious animal deaths around the world.

Environmental officials in the province say there's no connection to a similar case in Arkansas, but Sylvain Turmel is wondering why he's been picking up dead pigeons for more than two weeks on his farm in Saint-Augustine-de-Desmaures.

The first dead bird was found on Dec.18. He's since found more bodies on his roof and inside the barn.

"I was stunned," he said.

"I went to see my tenant to ask whether he'd been feeding them poison. He ended helping me pick up 25 corpses. In the time it took us to collect them, five more had fallen. Authorities thought it might be gas. But that's not possible."

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said tests are currently being performed at the animal pathology lab in the provincial capital.

"The cause right now isn't known," said Nicolas Begin. "It's not related to what happened in the U.S. (But) we don't see this sort of thing every day and we're treating this as a serious matter."

Igloo

US: Winter storm bringing more snow to blizzard-weary North

times square
© Reuters/Lucas JacksonSnow falling in Times Square, January 7, 2011.
Snow fell across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states on Friday, bringing several inches of fresh accumulation to a region that has scarcely dug out from the Christmas weekend blizzard.

The latest winter storm will drop snow from the Great Lakes east to the Atlantic seaboard and New England throughout Friday and into early Saturday, forecasters said.

The Northeast could see one to five inches of snow from Maryland north into Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut, forecasters said. Two to four inches accumulation was likely in New York City, they said.

Bizarro Earth

Dead birds and fish could be linked to Magnetic North Pole

magnetic north pole, map
© Mnh.edu The Magnetic North Pole is moving rapidly toward Russia.
In the wake of recent bird and fish kills around the world, scientists say the cause of the seemingly bizarre incidents could be linked to activity of the Magnetic North Pole.

As of Friday, Jan. 7, millions of fish and crabs have washed-up in the United States, Brazil, England New Zealand. Thousands of dead birds have fallen out of the sky in Italy, Sweden and at least three states.

Experts haven't pinpointed an exact cause of the kills, however, a score of theories has been presented. If the Magnetic North Pole is to blame, it could explain the phenomenon and put an end to speculation that aliens have landed, the end of the world is upon us, and that the government is conducting secret tests in the waters and skies.

According to experts, a gigantic magnetic field, known as the Magnetic North Pole, has been rapidly moving toward Russia at about 25, or more, miles per year. Some scientists claim that the pole is currently in a stage where it is flipping.

Eye 1

At least nine incidents of mass animal deaths across the globe

  • Blue stain believed to be sign of poisoning or hypoxia - lack of oxygen that is precursor to altitude sickness
  • Cold weather and overbreeding blamed for deaths of two 2million fish in Chesapeake Bay
  • Disease behind deaths of 100,000 fish in Arkansas River
  • At least nine incidents of mass animal deaths across the globe
  • Hundreds of confused birds plummeted to their deaths in multiple locations in the U.S.
  • Rapid movement of Magnetic North Pole towards Russia may have caused bird deaths
Thousands of dead collared doves rained down on roofs and cars in an Italian town in the latest in a growing spate of mass animal deaths across the globe.

Residents in Faenza described the birds falling to the ground like 'little Christmas balls' with strange blue stains on their beaks.

Initial tests on up to 8,000 of the doves indicated that the blue stain could have been caused by poisoning or hypoxia.

Question

Nacreous Cloud Alert

Auroras aren't the only colors in the polar sky. Observers around the Arctic Circle are reporting vivid, iridescent nacreous clouds, which form in the stratosphere during the coldest months of northern winter. "Once seen they are never forgotten," says Marketa Stanczykova who photographed these specimens outside Reykjavik, Iceland, on Jan. 4th. Another onlooker in Reykjavik, Albert Jakobsson, describes how "the beautiful colors played in the clouds and kept going for about one and half hour after sunset."

Nacreous Clouds
© Albert Jakobsson
Both images above and below taken with Nikon D200, 18-200mm lens, ISO 100, 1/45s, f10 exposure.

Fish

Australia's Goulburn River: Dirty Water Leads to Fish Deaths

dead fish
© Glenn MilneJohn Ross, 5, checks out a dead cod in the Murray River near Wemen.
Ten billion litres of environmental water will be released into the lower Goulburn River in a bid to clean up the river and protect native fish, the Department of Sustainability and Environment said yesterday.

But locals say the move is too little too late. People at Mildura and Robinvale are reporting fish up to 1m floating belly up down the river and crayfish climbing up river banks to breathe.

Jodie Ross, who runs the general store in Wemen, southeast of Mildura, said the black water started in Swan Hill and reached Wemen on New Year's Day. She said the dying fish were a devastating sight for river communities.

"We are seeing hundreds of dead fish floating by and even the live ones are coming up to the top as though they are very weak," she said.

Ms Ross said the river bank was lined with dead shrimp and yabbies.

Fish

Officials: Lake Meredith fish kill blamed on algae, not connected to worldwide animal deaths

A mass fish kill that prompted Lubbock officials to add a chemical to city water was being blamed on a toxic algae bloom - and certainly not being connected to recent reports of mass animal deaths around the country, officials said Thursday.

Between 10,000 and 20,000 gizzard shad were found dead last week in Lake Meredith, prompting Lubbock officials to continue adding a chemical to Lubbock water to prevent a possible fishy odor from reaching Hub City faucets. The fish kill triggered state officials to investigate the mass deaths.

The likely culprit: golden algae, a water-dwelling organism that, under certain conditions, can release a toxin fatal to fish, said Charlie Munger, a district supervisor for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

Munger said low water levels at Lake Meredith likely increased salinity and PH levels in the dwindling lake. That chemical imbalance, along with cold temperatures, likely was enough to affect the algae's ability to survive and trigger its defense mechanism - releasing toxin to kill other organisms to provide nutrients.

Question

US: Chesapeake Bay fish death toll hits 2 million, cold weather being blamed

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© Associated Press / Charles PoukishThis Jan. 3, 2011 photo provided by the Maryland Department of the Environment shows dead fish, mostly spot, along with a few small croaker, at Northwest Creek on Kent Island in Stevensville. Maryland officials say an estimated two million fish have been reported dead south of the Bay Bridge since last week.
Biologists see no indication that water quality or pollution played a role in death of 2 million spot fish

It could be two weeks before state officials know for certain what killed an estimated 2 million fish in the Chesapeake Bay. Or, they may never find out the exact cause.

Biologists with the Maryland Department of the Environment sent tissue samples from the fish, mostly juvenile spot 3- to 6-inches long, to state labs to pinpoint the reason they died. But for now, they believe a rapid drop in temperature in December caused cold-water stress, said MDE spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus.

Stoltzfus said there are no indications that water quality or pollution contributed to the kill, but the tissue samples will be analyzed for contaminants. Samples also will be sent to the Department of Natural Resources for bacteria analysis. However, she cautioned that "most, if not all, of the fish may be too decomposed to expect meaningful results."

The bay's surface water temperature late last month - 32.9 degrees--was the coldest in 25 years, according to state records. Historical lows were recorded at 13 locations on the bay, from the mouth of the Elk River to Rock Hall and Kent Island to Point Lookout. Spot have little tolerance for temperatures below 35.6 degrees.

USA

Best of the Web: Fracking The Life Out of Arkansas and Beyond

Arkansas
© FoodFreedom Wordpress.com
The last four months of 2010, nearly 500 earthquakes rattled Guy, Arkansas.[1] The entire state experienced 38 quakes in 2009.[2] The spike in quake frequency precedes and coincides with the 100,000 dead fish on a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River that included Roseville Township on December 30. The next night, 5,000 red-winged blackbirds and starlings dropped dead out of the sky in Beebe.[3] Hydraulic fracturing is the most likely culprit for all three events, as it causes earthquakes with a resultant release of toxins into the environment.[4]

A close look at Arkansas' history of earthquakes and drilling reveals a shocking surge in quake frequency following advanced drilling. The number of quakes in 2010 nearly equals all of Arkansas' quakes for the entire 20th century. The oil and gas industry denies any correlation, but the advent of hydrofracking followed by earthquakes is a story repeated across the nation. It isn't going to stop any time soon, either. Fracking has gone global.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) pumps water and chemicals into the ground at a pressurized rate exceeding what the bedrock can withstand, resulting in a microquake that produces rock fractures. Though initiated in 1947, technological advances now allow horizontal fracturing, vastly increasing oil and gas collection.[5] In 1996, shale-gas production in the U.S. accounted for 2 percent of all domestic natural gas production, reports Christopher Bateman in Vanity Fair. "Some industry analysts predict shale gas will represent a full half of total domestic gas production within 10 years."[6] In 2000, U.S. gas reserve estimates stood at 177 trillion cubic feet, but ramped up to 245 tcf in 2008. These new technologies prompt experts to increase global gas reserve estimates ninefold.[7]