Earth ChangesS


Radar

Yellowstone hit by swarm of earthquakes

Howard Pankratz
Denver Post
Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:21 UTC
Yellowstone National Park has been rattled by more than 250 earthquakes in the past two days following a period of 11 months of quiet seismic activity in the park.

The quakes have been gaining strength, with a 3.1 tremor recorded at 11:03 a.m. today. A 2.9 quake was recorded at 12:38 p.m.

Prof. Robert B. Smith, a geophysicist at the University of Utah and one of the leading experts on earthquake and volcanic activity at Yellowstone, said that the activity is a "notable swarm."

"The swarm is located about 10 miles northwest of Old Faithful, Wyo., and nine miles southeast of West Yellowstone, Montana," said Smith.
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Igloo

Florida: Thousands of Snook Fish Dead in Cold Snap's Wake

Del Milligan
The Ledger
Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:27 UTC
Snook fish
© Stacey Lynn Brown
Thousands of dead snook are belly up on the surface in the Tampa Bay area and around the southern half of Florida, with hundreds more still floating up off the bottom along both coasts as the thermometer rises.

"If you went around and looked at some of these fish, you would cry," said Capt. Scott Moore of Anna Maria.

The coldest water temperatures in Tampa Bay since 1989 took a heavy toll on the tropical snook, which died when the water stayed in the low 50s and upper 40s for 10 straight days.
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Arrow Up

Met Office computer accused of 'warm bias' by BBC weatherman


Mail on Sunday
Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:40 UTC
A BBC weather forecaster has suggested that the Met Office's super-computer has a 'warm bias' which has stopped it predicting bitterly cold spells like the one we have just endured.

Paul Hudson said the error may have crept into the computer's climate model as a result of successive years of milder weather.

His claim was rejected by the Met Office but other experts said there could be flaws in the system, which was first developed 50 years ago.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Earthquake Magnitude 4.1 - New Mexico


US Geological Survey
Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:47 UTC
Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Monday, January 18, 2010 at 08:41:08 UTC

Monday, January 18, 2010 at 01:41:08 AM at epicenter

Location:
36.862°N, 104.721°W

Depth:
5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program

Distances:
25 km (16 miles) W (261°) from Raton, NM

33 km (20 miles) SSW (196°) from Cokedale, CO

33 km (21 miles) SSW (212°) from Starkville, CO

157 km (97 miles) S (183°) from Pueblo, CO

319 km (198 miles) S (176°) from Denver, CO
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Bizarro Earth

Deep 6-Magnitude Quake Shakes Guatemala


UPI
Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:23 UTC
A strong, but deep earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 was reported 60 miles southeast of Guatemala City Monday.
Guatemala 6.0 Magnitude Earthquake Map
© US Geological SurveyMagnitude 6.0 Earthquake - Guatemala (10-degree Map Centered at 15°N,90°W)

The U.S. Geological Survey said in a written announcement that the shaker was centered 24 miles west-southwest of Ahuachapin, El Salvador.
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Better Earth

Best of the Web: World misled over Himalayan glacier meltdown

Jonathan Leake and Chris Hastings
The Sunday Times
Sun, 17 Jan 2010 10:39 UTC
Image

A warning that climate change will melt most of the Himalayan glaciers by 2035 is likely to be retracted after a series of scientific blunders by the United Nations body that issued it.

Two years ago the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a benchmark report that was claimed to incorporate the latest and most detailed research into the impact of global warming. A central claim was the world's glaciers were melting so fast that those in the Himalayas could vanish by 2035.

In the past few days the scientists behind the warning have admitted that it was based on a news story in the New Scientist, a popular science journal, published eight years before the IPCC's 2007 report.

It has also emerged that the New Scientist report was itself based on a short telephone interview with Syed Hasnain, a little-known Indian scientist then based at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi.

Comment: How much more evidence do we need that rather than "blunders" it is deliberate fudging and misrepresentation of climate data that is behind the erroneous claims that our planet is heating up and that it is due to human-based carbon emissions

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Heart - Black

Anger at Austrian avalanche experiment with pigs


Terra Daily / Agence France-Presse
Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:28 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Animal rights groups on Thursday condemned as "bizarre" and "macabre" an experiment in Austria in which 29 live pigs were to be buried under masses of snow to study human survival chances in avalanches.

Several organisations threatened legal action against the Innsbruck Medical University, western Austria, and the emergency medicine centre in Bolzano, northern Italy, which organised the experiment.

Hermann Brugger, who is leading the study, said the pigs were sedated and the authorities had given their approval.

Scientists want to study the effect of air pockets that form under snow during avalanches on victims' survival chances.
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Better Earth

Flooding rains bring rare waterfalls to Australia's Uluru


Terra Daily / Agence France-Presse
Sat, 16 Jan 2010 20:24 UTC
Image
© UnknownIconic monolith Uluru, or Ayers Rocks
Heavy rains which flooded parts of Australia's vast desert centre have brought rare waterfalls spilling from the iconic monolith Uluru, or Ayers Rocks, officials said Saturday.

The deluge, which swept across much of the continent's east after a tropical cyclone last month, prompted a wave of green in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, home to the giant red rock.

"It's something that a lot of people actually wouldn't experience, seeing the park at this time of year when it is green and the plants are really shooting and the flowers are coming out," said park manager Christine Burke.

"It's a very exciting time at the park now to see what happens after we have a good rain and it looks beautiful," she told state radio.

Situated near the centre of the semi-arid Sturt Desert, Uluru typically receives little more than 12 inches of rain a year, and January is its hottest, driest month, with temperatures topping to 45 degrees Celsius (113 F).
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Igloo

No skiing at Scottish resort -- too much snow


Agence France-Presse
Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:17 UTC
Image
© UnknownCairngorm Mountain
Skiers found the slopes at a Scottish resort closed on Friday, not because the snow was sparse, but rather there was too much of it, the resort's managers said.

Cairngorm Mountain in northeast Scotland more often deals with a lack of snow but this year it is grappling with a different problem -- 185 centimetres (73 inches) of snow since Christmas in the worst bout of winter weather since the 1970s.

Resort staff toiled all day Thursday to clear snow, but they arrived back Friday to find their hard work was in vain after strong winds blew snow across access roads, creating 15 foot (4.6 metre) high drifts.

"We have come in this morning and it feels like groundhog day -- all our work yesterday has been filled in again," said Colin Matthew, the head of ski patrol.

"The mountain and all facilities, access roads and car parks will be closed today to allow digging out after major drifting during the storm," he said.
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Bizarro Earth

Greece: Earthquake Magnitude 4.9 Dodecanese Islands


US Geological Survey
Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:58 UTC
Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 20:16:05 UTC

Sunday, January 17, 2010 at 10:16:05 PM at epicenter

Location:
35.314°N, 27.608°E

Depth:
27.3 km (17.0 miles)

Distances:
135 km (85 miles) SSW of Rodos, Dodecanese Islands, Greece

220 km (135 miles) E of Iraklion, Crete, Greece

220 km (140 miles) SSW of Mugla, Turkey

455 km (285 miles) SE of ATHENS, Greece
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