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This Quicktime clip shows video from a thermal camera looking into the vent cavity at Halema'uma'u around 3pm today. The video is shown at x4 speed. At the beginning of the clip, the lava level is at a high stand, with slowly migrating crustal plates and little spattering. Eventually, small scale spattering begins in the northeast corner of the pond, accompanied by vigorous degassing. As the violent spattering disrupts the surface crust, the lava level falls as the gas volume is released. In this example, the lava level dropped about 30 meters (100 feet).
© Gather.comYellowstone Volcano
In February 2010 scientists monitoring the seismic readings in the area revealed that the activity had doubled over the last year... and that the rumblings were getting closer to the surface of the Earth. What to do?
Make a super cool HD movie about it!
At least, that's what SyFy is doing. They've decided to shoot a scripted story about the eruption and its effects on the North American continent - and the rest of the world.
In this clip from FYI the science is explained a little better. It seems that a giant plug of solid rock has been holding back the giant magma flow underneath Yellowstone. If it dislodges the plume would destroy everything within 100 square miles and the ash cloud could cause nuclear winter around the globe.
So when the film comes out, just remember... it's only a movie!
On Tuesday, "oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster hit Mississippi shores for the first time," covering about two miles of Petit Bois Island's beach. As ThinkProgress noted, the appearance of oil onshore led Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour to shift his upbeat rhetoric about the approaching oil, acknowledging that "this could turn out to be something catastrophic and terrible." But after Barbour visited Petit Bois Island yesterday and saw that the oil that came ashore had "been washed away by storms," he returned to the positive spin, saying, "I don't think the island was hurt one iota." Barbour even downplayed concerns about animals being suffocated by the oil in the ocean, comparing it to humans being covered in toothpaste:
In recent weeks, reporters and photographers for major news organizations around the country have been speaking out about the attempts by BP to prevent them from getting a first-hand look at the Gulf Coast oil spill. A CBS News crew was threatened with arrest when it tried to photograph the spill, and a BP representative in Louisiana told a Mother Jones reporter that she couldn't visit the Elmer's Island Wildlife Refuge without a BP escort.
On Monday, journalists from the New York Daily News were also "escorted away from a public beach on Elmer's Island bycops who said they were taking orders from BP." However, they managed to get a covert tour of the Queen Bess barrier island from a BP contractor who is fed up with the oil company's attempt to cover up the disaster:
"There is a lot of coverup for BP. They specifically informed us that they don't want these pictures of the dead animals. They know the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence. It's important to me that people know the truth about what's going on here," the contractor said.
"The things I've seen: They just aren't right. All the life out here is just full of oil. I'm going to show you what BP never showed the President." [...]
The grasses by the shore were littered with tarred marine life, some dead and others struggling under a thick coating of crude.
"When you see some of the things I've seen, it would make you sick," the contractor said. "No living creature should endure that kind of suffering."
© Peter Lawson/Eastnews Press Agency LtdPlague: The bench and ground is covered in a silk-like web cocooning caterpillars at Southend Cemetery
The scene at Southend Cemetery in Essex is straight out of a horror film with silken threads draped over trees, plants and gravestones.
It has been caused by an invasion of thousands of bird cherry ermine moth caterpillars who have created a vast web-like nest.
Nova Bickmore, 69, could not believe the sight when she visited her father's grave.
She said: 'There were thousand upon thousand of caterpillars and a silk web all over the trees, which had no leaves left.
'Some of the caterpillars were hanging down from the trees and others were all over the floor.
'It was a really ghostly scene.' In their caterpillar stage, the bugs, known as web worms, weave leaves of trees together and eat them from their nests.
North Florida residents report finding carcasses.
A rash of fish kills centered on the St. Johns River - several involving redfish - is puzzling fishermen, outdoorsmen and state scientists looking for a cause.
Six people told a state agency Tuesday they found dead or dying fish in Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties, with death tolls ranging from eight fish to as many as 100.
More accounts continued Wednesday.
Five people said they found dead redfish, a relatively large and hearty fish, although some counted other dead species as well.
"They're just everywhere," said Tom Williams of Orange Park. "We have other fish here on our dock. Little guys, and mullets and some other fish. None of them have died, just the reds."
A rash of fish kills centered on the St. Johns River - several involving redfish - is puzzling fishermen, outdoorsmen and state scientists looking for a cause.
Six people told a state agency Tuesday they found dead or dying fish in Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties, with death tolls ranging from eight fish to as many as 100.
More accounts continued Wednesday.
Five people said they found dead redfish, a relatively large and hearty fish, although some counted other dead species as well.
"They're just everywhere," said Tom Williams of Orange Park. "We have other fish here on our dock. Little guys, and mullets and some other fish. None of them have died, just the reds."
© European Pressphoto AgencyFlooding in the eastern Czech Republic
The flooding area covered the East of Germany, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Europe faced the flood challenge in May.
Poland was the country which suffered most of all.
There the flood killed at least 15 people.
After a breather of barely several days, new flood concerns are emerging again in central Europe as many victims of the May flooding haven't yet managed to move back into their damaged homes.
Hungary is expecting five days of rain, thunderstorms and strong winds. Due to heavy rainfall, a village in western Hungary was sealed off by the police and traffic was diverted or stopped on several roads as mud and fallen trees block traffic.
A newly completed section of the M6 highway - connecting the capital city Budapest with the southern city Pecs - caved in as the water washed away the ground under the street.
Hungary is expecting five days of rain, thunderstorms and strong winds. Due to heavy rainfall, a village in western Hungary was sealed off by the police and traffic was diverted or stopped on several roads as mud and fallen trees block traffic.
A newly completed section of the M6 highway - connecting the capital city Budapest with the southern city Pecs - caved in as the water washed away the ground under the street.
A young sperm whale has died after it was stranded on a North Carolina beach this week.
The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va., reports the 15-foot whale was seen struggling in the ocean before it was stranded south of Avon Pier on Hatteras Island.
The animal died Monday afternoon.
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission specialist Karen Clark says the whale appeared thinner than normal.
The animals are classified as endangered and commonly are seen swimming off the Outer Banks.
The whale was buried on the beach Tuesday.
The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va., reports the 15-foot whale was seen struggling in the ocean before it was stranded south of Avon Pier on Hatteras Island.
The animal died Monday afternoon.
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission specialist Karen Clark says the whale appeared thinner than normal.
The animals are classified as endangered and commonly are seen swimming off the Outer Banks.
The whale was buried on the beach Tuesday.
It's not a question of "if," forecasters say.
It's a question of where heavy thunderstorms will form today in the Carolinas.
Yet another day of slow-moving storms is expected, with another threat of flash flooding and dangerous lightning strikes.
This is in the wake of Wednesday evening's storms, which pounded southern Mecklenburg and western Union counties, causing flooding and several cases in which houses were struck by lightning.
Earlier in the day, thunderstorms dropped heavy rain on portions of Stanly, Anson, Richmond and Montgomery counties, causing brief flash flooding there.
It's a question of where heavy thunderstorms will form today in the Carolinas.
Yet another day of slow-moving storms is expected, with another threat of flash flooding and dangerous lightning strikes.
This is in the wake of Wednesday evening's storms, which pounded southern Mecklenburg and western Union counties, causing flooding and several cases in which houses were struck by lightning.
Earlier in the day, thunderstorms dropped heavy rain on portions of Stanly, Anson, Richmond and Montgomery counties, causing brief flash flooding there.
