Earth Changes

Toxic haze threatens millions in southeast Asia, as Indonesia's wildfires continue

Christopher Woolf
PRI
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 16:00 UTC

© Hugo Hudoyoko/EPA
An Indonesian woman rides a motorbike amid thick haze in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan province, Indonesia.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is cutting short his visit to the US to deal with a growing environmental crisis back home.

Wildfires across the length of his country over the last few months have thrown up huge clouds of smoke that now hang over much of southeast Asia, from Malaysia and Singapore, across Indonesia, to Papua New Guinea.

The Indonesian Disaster Agency estimates 500,000 people have developed respiratory problems since the fires began in July. Millions of people are dealing with smoke levels roughly 10 times the level the World Health Organization considers hazardous.

"It's hard for people to imagine how serious this is," says Nigel Sizer, forests director for the World Resources Institute, an environmental research group in Washington. Sizer was in Indonesia for the summer and is heading back next week.

"This is literally almost off the charts in terms of air quality," adds Sizer. "It's like you're staring through thick bonfire smoke day after day. ... It's an extraordinary situation."

Comment: According to researchers some of the noxious components of the smoke include: ozone, carbon monoxide, cyanide, ammonia and formaldehyde, which is "extremely hazardous" for health, prompting child evacuation plans to be prepared.

Martin Wooster, Professor of Earth Observation Science at King's College London and National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) states:

"I've visited quite a few sites of biomass burning during my 10 years or so of research in the area. And I can certainly say this is the worst situation I've ever encountered for biomass burning or any form of combustion in a natural environment,"

All over the world we are witnessing extensive wildfires, which in some regions have been described as "unprecedented". The National Interagency Fire Center has described the 2015 wildfire season in the United States as a record breaker.

Could some of these wildfires have been fueled from outgassing, then possibly 'sparked' by an increase in atmospheric electric discharge events, such as lightning strikes and other 'cosmic' ignition sources? See also:

Study: Wildfire seasons are more destructive and lasting longer almost everywhere on Earth

Record-breaking swarm of earthquakes hit California city

Stephanie Pappas
Live science
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 17:07 UTC

A whopping 408 earthquakes have hit San Ramon, California, in the past two weeks, including 11 in one 24-hour stretch.

This record-breaking earthquake swarm is nothing to fear, however, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Periods of tectonic unrest are common in the area and probably don't presage a larger quake, the USGS said.

Most of the quakes affecting this Bay Area city are tiny. The one that kicked off the swarm at 8:50 a.m. Pacific Time on Oct. 13 was a mere magnitude 0.8. People don't usually feel earthquakes until they reach a magnitude of 2.5; quakes between magnitude 2.5 and 5.4 can be felt but rarely cause much damage. Most of the quakes occur at depths of 5 to 6 miles (8 to 9.7 kilometers).

A handful of the San Ramon quakes have rattled locals, including a magnitude-3.6 quake that hit on Oct. 19 and a magnitude-3.1 quake recorded on Oct. 27, both causing weak to light shaking in the East Bay (the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay area). Between 11:30 a.m. PT on Oct. 22 and 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 23, 11 quakes hit the area. Five were between magnitudes of 2.0 and 2.9, and one was a magnitude 3.2.

Whale carcass washes up on beach in Lincolnshire, UK

Grimbsy Telegraph
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 19:43 UTC

Six team members from the Mablethorpe Coastguard were called out after the carcass was first spotted.

A warning has been issued to the public not to approach a dead whale which has washed up on a Lincolnshire beach.

Coastal experts have confirmed that the large brown carcass spotted on the beach at Huttoft is a whale, but cannot yet identify which species it is.

However they have warned that the carcass could leak bodily fluids which are harmful to dogs.

A maritime operations officer for the east coast and Humber, said: "The local [coastguard] team has been out to the whale.

Magnitude 4.3 earthquake recorded near Wanaka, New Zealand

Che Baker
stuff.co.nz
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 16:50 UTC

The earthquake struck about 25 km north-west of Wanaka on the South Island.

A magnitude 4.3 earthquake has struck 30 km north-west of Wanaka at 11.14am on Tuesday.

GeoNet reported the earthquake at a depth of 15km at first, which was updated to a much shallower 3km depth.

It was first reported as being 'moderate', which has since been changed to 'strong'.

Within 40 minutes of the quake there had been almost 160 'felt it' reports on the website. Most reporting it being 'light' intensity.

4.3 earthquake hits near Crete, Greece

Anastassios Adamopoulos
Greek Reporter
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 16:42 UTC

An earthquake measuring 4.3 on the richter scale hit the Southern Aegean sea, just north of the Greek island of Crete, on Tuesday afternoon.

The centre of the earthquake was in the Aegean Sea, around 44 kilometres north of the Cretan city of Chania according to the Institute of Geodynamics. The depth of the earthquake is estimated at 30 kilometres.

The earthquake lasted for a few seconds and there have not been reports of any injuries or damages in Crete thus far, according to Greek media reports.

Crete is Greece's largest island and the country's most southern land point.

3 successive hail storms hit Western Australia's eastern Wheatbelt, wreak havoc, destroy crops

Tara de Landgrafft
abc.net.au
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 16:18 UTC

Hailstorm ruins crops

Crops have been destroyed in Western Australia's eastern Wheatbelt this weekend with a night of successive hail storms.

Three separate bouts of hail hit the town of Southern Cross and the surrounding farming district on Sunday night, wreaking havoc on crops ripe for harvest.

It was the second hail storm in as many weeks to dash the hopes of farmers at the end of what had been a relatively good season.

Agronomist Gary Kenwood of Southern Cross owns the only farm supply store in town.

Waterspout of over 100m high filmed off Vietnam

Linh Nhat
Vietnam Net
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 16:04 UTC

Tornado of over one hundred meters frightens Vung Tau tourists

This is the second time a waterspout has been seen in Vung Tau. The first was reported in May in the sea of Long Hai.

In August, a waterspout was also witnessed in the Hai Phong northern port city and the southern province of Kien Giang.

A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex that occurs over a body of water. They are connected to a towering cumuliform cloud or a cumulonimbus cloud. In the common form, it is a non-supercell tornado over water.

Waterspouts have a five-part life cycle: formation of a dark spot on the water surface, spiral pattern on the water surface, formation of a spray ring, development of the visible condensation funnel, and ultimately decay.

Ms. Le Thi Xuan Lan, from the Hydro-meteorological Observatory of the Southern Region, said that in Vietnam, this phenomenon usually occurs at the beginning and during the rainy season and more in the south than the north, particularly in the sea of Rach Gia - Kien Giang - Tho Chu. However, waterspouts in Vietnam are not too strong.

Heavy snowfall hits large swath of north China

cctv-america.com
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 14:20 UTC

Heavy snow hits large swath of north China

Heavy snow has blanketed a large swath of north China on Monday, Oct 26th, disturbing traffic but bringing beautiful winter scenery.

A snowstorm hit Mohe, China's northernmost county in Heilongjiang Province, from early morning on Monday.

The depth of snow reached 8 centimeters (3.14 inches) by 17:00 and the heavy snow brought the visibility down to less than 100 meters (328 feet) as well. Vehicles have to slow down on snow-covered roads, while the local sanitation department dispatched snowplows to clear up the roads.

Offshore mud volcano erupts off Taman Peninsula, Russia

RT
Tue, 27 Oct 2015 01:10 UTC

An abandoned autumn beach looking out on the Sea of Azov became a popular sightseeing attraction over the weekend, after mother nature created an incredible mud volcano, which formed a wide, flat island just a few dozen meters away from the shore.

Spewing a slurry made of water and gases mixed with sand and dirt, the mud volcano shot several meters into the air as it started forming an artificial island on Sunday, just off the coast of the Taman Peninsula.

The act of nature was recorded by local beach strollers who witnessed the mud volcano, most typically formed after hot water below the earth's surface begins to blend with mineral deposits, pushing the mixture to the surface. But unlike an actual volcano, the muddy imitation produces no lava.

Comment: Another sign of Earth 'opening up'? See also:

Afghanistan earthquake death toll nears 300

9news.com.au
Mon, 26 Oct 2015 21:04 UTC

© Hazrat Ali Bacha/Reuters
A resident walks past the rubble of a house after it was damaged by an earthquake in Mingora, Swat, Pakistan, on Monday.

Nearly 280 people were killed when a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake centred in the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan ripped across South Asia, toppling buildings, triggering stampedes and knocking out communication lines.

The full scale of Monday's disaster and human toll was unclear when night fell over the remote and rugged terrain as authorities in Pakistan and Afghanistan rushed to mount rescue efforts.

In the most horrifying tragedy to emerge so far from the quake, 12 young Afghan girls were crushed to death in a stampede as they tried to flee their shaking school building.

The bulk of the casualties were reported from Pakistan, where 214 people were killed and more than 1800 injured, disaster management authorities said.