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Lorca earthquake 'caused by groundwater extraction'


BBC News
Mon, 22 Oct 2012 06:36 UTC
Image

The relatively modest Magnitude 5.1 quake resulted in extensive damage and nine deaths
Scientists studying the fault beneath the Spanish city of Lorca say that groundwater removal may be implicated in a deadly 2011 earthquake there.

Detailed surface maps from satellite studies allowed them to infer which parts of the ground moved where.

They report in Nature Geoscience that those shifts correlate with locations where water has been drained for years.

The study highlights how human activity such as drainage or borehole drilling can have far-reaching seismic effects.
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Attention

UK facing hunger epidemic as food price increases make bread, coffee and fresh fruit luxury items for most

Rebecca Smithers and Fiona Harvey
The Guardian
Fri, 12 Oct 2012 06:03 UTC
Image
© David Cole/Alamy
Collapse of the global food supply is inevitable, says the UN
Affordability is now the key factor for grocery shoppers, with ethical considerations least important

It was the £1.99 Tesco chicken that, four years ago, came to symbolise cheap supermarket food and helped to galvanise consumers into questioning the provenance and economics of the staple items in their shopping basket.

In its new branch in Saxmundham - the Suffolk market town that even longer ago famously fought off plans for an out-of-town Tesco superstore - the £4 fresh chickens in the chiller cabinet are being ignored by the late afternoon shoppers who are favouring items covered in "reduced" stickers.

Among them is mother-of-two Jackie Long, who has popped in on her way home from work and picked up a 2.5kg bag of Maris Piper potatoes which has been further discounted to 95p. "They'll last another week, mashed, chipped and in stews," she says. "I do my main weekly shop at the Co-op but this is on my way home and around teatime they tend to slash the prices. I have really noticed prices going up in the last six months, particularly of things like bread, coffee and fresh fruit. They've all become a bit of a luxury."
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Dominoes

UN warns of looming worldwide food crisis in 2013: Collapse of global food supply inevitable

John Vidal
The Guardian
Sat, 13 Oct 2012 05:38 UTC
Image
World grain reserves are so dangerously low that severe weather in the United States or other food-exporting countries could trigger a major hunger crisis next year, the United Nations has warned.

Failing harvests in the US, Ukraine and other countries this year have eroded reserves to their lowest level since 1974. The US, which has experienced record heatwaves and droughts in 2012, now holds in reserve a historically low 6.5% of the maize that it expects to consume in the next year, says the UN.

"We've not been producing as much as we are consuming. That is why stocks are being run down. Supplies are now very tight across the world and reserves are at a very low level, leaving no room for unexpected events next year," said Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior economist with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). With food consumption exceeding the amount grown for six of the past 11 years, countries have run down reserves from an average of 107 days of consumption 10 years ago to under 74 days recently.
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Cloud Precipitation

UK farmers lament "worst year in living memory" for food production

Fiona Harvey and Rebecca Smithers
The Guardian
Sun, 21 Oct 2012 05:32 UTC
Image
"It's been the worst year in living memory," says Jonathan Lukies, who farms 288 hectares (720 acres) of arable and fruit orchards near Stansted, Essex. "It was horrific."

This year's weather has been a rollercoaster for British farmers that most now just want to forget. With a record drought afflicting most of England in the early spring - one so severe it prompted a series of emergency meetings with government - farmers desperately needed above-average rainfall to replenish the soil for planting. Their prayers for rain were answered - but in the worst possible way, with the wettest early summer ever recorded, followed by a near-sunless summer and torrential downpours in many areas late in the growing season.

This combination of extreme weather was disastrous for staple crops such as wheat and vegetables, first putting off growth and then washing out crops and preventing them from ripening.
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Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.2 - WNW of Sola, Vanuatu


US Geological Survey
Sat, 20 Oct 2012 22:00 UTC
Vanuatu Quake_201012
© USGS
Event Time
2012-10-20 23:00:32 UTC
2012-10-21 10:00:32 UTC+11:00 at epicenter

Location
13.565°S 166.601°E depth=35.6km (22.1mi)

Nearby Cities
108km (67mi) WNW of Sola, Vanuatu
226km (140mi) NNW of Luganville, Vanuatu
496km (308mi) NNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu
816km (507mi) N of We, New Caledonia
857km (533mi) ESE of Honiara, Solomon Islands

Technical Details
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Cloud Grey

Dust storm in north Oklahoma shuts down interstate and causes multiple car wrecks

Justin Juozapavicius
Associated Press
Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:00 UTC
Image

The rear of a car sits on top of another following a crash on Interstate 35 on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012, near Blackwell, Okla. A massive dust storm swirling reddish-brown clouds over northern Oklahoma
Tulsa - A massive dust storm swirling reddish-brown clouds over northern Oklahoma triggered a multi-vehicle accident along a major interstate Thursday, forcing police to shut down part of the heavily traveled roadway amid near blackout conditions.

In a scene reminiscent of the Dust Bowl days, choking dust suspended on strong wind gusts shrouded Interstate 35, which links Dallas and Oklahoma City to Kansas City, Mo. Video from television station helicopters showed the four-lane highway virtually disappearing into billowing dust on the harsh landscape near Blackwell, plus dozens of vehicles scattered in the median and on the shoulders.

"I've never seen anything like this," said Jodi Palmer, a dispatcher with the Kay County Sheriff's Office. "In this area alone, the dirt is blowing because we've been in a drought. I think from the drought everything's so dry and the wind is high."

The highway patrol said the dust storm caused a multi-car accident, and local police said nearly three dozen cars and tractor-trailers were involved. Blackwell Police Chief Fred LeValley said nine people were injured, but there were no fatalities.
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Comet 2

Blood rain heads for southern Sweden


The Local
Sat, 20 Oct 2012 08:30 UTC
Blood Rain
© The Local
Sweden could be hit by the meteorological phenomenon "blood rain" over the weekend, so-called due to its distinct red hue, according to forecasters.

"It is difficult to say but southern Sweden could well be in the danger zone," said Joakim Langner at Sweden's Meteorological Institute (SMHI) to the Aftonbladet daily.

Blood rain is a weather phenomenon first noted in literature in Homer's Iliad in the 8th century BC. Until the 17th century it was widely believed that the red rain from the sky was in fact blood and thus a bad omen.

However scientists now believe that the rain's distinct colour is caused by the accumulation of dust and particles gathered from the Sahara desert.

According to forecasters in Denmark, the country is set to get doused on Saturday with southern Sweden in line for a blood red shower later over the weekend.

The phenomenon is however far from unheard of in Sweden. According to Joakim Langner it occurs around every five years in Sweden, although is most commonly seen in the spring.

Langner explained that the blood rain poses no danger to the public, beyond leaving a stain on garden furniture and vehicles.

Whether the colour of the coming rains remains uncertain, SMHI is certain that it stands to be a wet weekend. Southern and western Sweden will be hit first, with the rainy from pushing up through Svealand as the weekend progresses.
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Boat

Winter floods are on the way to Devon and Cornwall


thisisnorthdevon.co.uk
Sat, 20 Oct 2012 03:16 UTC
Devon cornwall winter floods
© Northcliffe Media
The soggy aftermath of Britain's record-breaking wet summer will increase the risk of winter floods, say experts.

Months of monsoon-like weather has left the ground unusually waterlogged for the time of year.

Under the present conditions, any spell of heavy rain might be enough to cause further serious flooding like that which swamped many homes and businesses this summer in the Westcountry and across Britain.

In contrast to last winter's drought, November to April is traditionally the wettest time of year, when soils around most of the country are close to saturation. Much of the land in the Westcountry remains usually waterlogged for the time of year - putting areas of the region under further risk of flooding.

Homeowners and businesses have been warned to prepare for more flooding misery in the region. About a month's worth of rain has already fallen in Devon and Cornwall during the first half of October.

Helen Chivers, of the Exeter-based Met Office, said: "The ground is very saturated following the unusually wet summer. Therefore at the moment there is a heightened risk of flooding.

"But things can change very quickly and we are expecting a lot of dry weather over the next week."

She said the Met Office does not expect an "unusual" period of rain over the month.

Average rainfall nationwide in November is 144mm.
      Read More...
Info

Three quarters of rats in parts of West 'resistant to poison'


BBC News
Wed, 17 Oct 2012 00:29 UTC
Rats
© BBC
About 75% of rats in the West have built up a resistance to poisons.

An increasing number of rats in areas of the west of England are mutating to become more resistant to commonly sold poisons, a university study has found.

Scientists at Huddersfield University said about 75% of rats in Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire had built up a resistance.

The most serious mutations have affected rats in Bath and Wiltshire.

Experts have blamed the rise on the incorrect use of poisons where dosages which are too low have been used.

Rats which are resistant to the poison are fattened up by the bait. Those that survive then mate with other resistant rats, allowing a generation of rats resistant to existing poisons to build up.

Mutations have previously been found in many parts of the UK but the Huddersfield University study is the first time the extent of resistance has been measured in the West.
      Read More...
Sun

Town consumed by fire shows drought, wind danger persist this fall

Miguel Llanos
NBC News
Fri, 19 Oct 2012 18:10 UTC
Image
© Bryan Horwath/The Dickinson Press/AP
A firefighter examines the flames as a fire sweeps through Bucyrus, N.D., on Wednesday night
When a grassfire destroyed most of tiny Bucyrus, N.D., this week, the "perfect firestorm" of conditions served as a reminder that the long-term drought, combined with unpredictable winds, makes for severe fire danger across the central U.S., even in the middle of autumn.

Four homes and 20 other structures were lost after the fire broke out Wednesday afternoon. Fanned by winds up to 70 mph, it consumed at least 6,000 acres and traveled 10 miles by Thursday morning, The Dickinson Press reported.

"This is like a nightmare," Linda Wiskus told The Dickinson Press. "I wouldn't wish this on anyone. ... We had about 15 minutes to get what we could. I grabbed a safe, a pair of jeans and some socks - I didn't have time to get anything else."

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but Bucyrus is in a county that's been in continued drought since October 2011, Adnan Akyuz, North Dakota's state climatologist, told NBC News. Conditions got even worse starting Oct. 2.

"When you combine warm, dry and windy conditions, it creates a perfect setting for elevated fire danger," Akyuz noted. Adding drought to that mix, he said, "makes it more dangerous conditions for fire."
      Read More...
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