© Strange Sounds
Crazy sky and weird sounds.
Earth Changes
© Subhankar Banerjee
Baby Starfish, Olympic National Park.
Baby Starfish, Olympic National Park.
If you've been paying attention to what's happening to the nonhuman life forms with which we share this planet, you've likely heard the term "the Sixth Extinction." If not, look it up. After all, a superb environmental reporter, Elizabeth Kolbert, has already gotten a Pulitzer Prize for writing a book with that title.
Whether the sixth mass species extinction of Earth's history is already (or not quite yet) underway may still be debatable, but it's clear enough that something's going on, something that may prove even more devastating than a mass of species extinctions: the full-scale winnowing of vast populations of the planet's invertebrates, vertebrates, and plants. Think of it, to introduce an even broader term, as a wave of "biological annihilation" that includes possible species extinctions on a mass scale, but also massive species die-offs and various kinds of massacres.
Someday, such a planetary winnowing may prove to be the most tragic of all the grim stories of human history now playing out on this planet, even if to date it's gotten far less attention than the dangers of climate change. In the end, it may prove more difficult to mitigate than global warming. Decarbonizing the global economy, however hard, won't be harder or more improbable than the kind of wholesale restructuring of modern life and institutions that would prevent species annihilation from continuing.
With that in mind, come along with me on a topsy-turvy journey through the animal and plant kingdoms to learn a bit more about the most consequential global challenge of our time.
Flachauwinkl, Austria
It's been a remarkable week in the Alps with one of the biggest early December snowfalls in memory covering wide areas of the region. Resorts reported up to 80cm of snow falling in 24 hours in some cases and up to 1.4 metres of snow accumulating in others. Most of the snow fell between Saturday and Wednesday with the most intense period for many on Sunday and Monday.
AUSTRIA It's been an incredible week for fresh snow in Austria with the little resort of Flachauwinkl (50/150cm) topping the 7-day snowfall table with a remarkable 140cm (a few inches under five feet) of snowfall. Much of that fell between Sunday and Tuesday too. Plenty of internationally better-known ski centres saw big accumulations as well Saalbach 50/60cm - it may need to update its depth totals) also reported 140cm, 90cm (three feet) of that arriving over three days. Zell am See (0/115cm) got 116cm. Most other Austrian resorts reported 50-100cm so it's not difficult to report the conditions almost everywhere are âpowder' as shown in our snowfinder tool.
© vexels.com
U have to turn sound up, powers that be turned it down.
File photo
An innocent rain shower in Jinghaxiang, Yunnan, suddenly turned into a hailstorm at around six in the afternoon of December 9th.
Local agricultural production areas suffered severe damage, and local farmers suffered severe losses.
© AFP/Getty Images
Overall seabird numbers have dropped massively since the middle of the 20th century
Overall seabird numbers have dropped massively since the middle of the 20th century
Populations have dropped by up to 70 per cent since the middle of the 20th century, experts said.
This is partly due to habitat destruction and pollution, but the new research led by the University of Aberdeen, has revealed that pressure from fishing has played a major role in this decline.
Scientists compared two time periods - 1970 to 1989 and 1990 to 2010 - to assess the degree of competition seabirds faced for prey species such as anchovy, mackerel and squid.
The team then estimated the annual consumption of those prey species for nearly 300 varieties of seabird, based on population counts and models.
© Tom Purdy
Amazing light pillars appear over Beloit, Wisconsin.
Amazing light pillars appear over Beloit, Wisconsin.
The National Weather Service (NWS) reported over five hours of freezing fog in that area, which create the perfect conditions for light pillars.
Light pillars are an optical phenomenon caused when light is refracted by ice crystals. These lights tend to take on the color of the light source.
"They appear as beams of light to the observer. It is usually caused by street lights. However, any source of light can create a light pillar given proper conditions," AccuWeather Meteorologist David Samuhel said.
For ice crystals to form, the conditions need to be extremely calm and cold, without wind. For the light pillars to show, the ice crystals need to be near the ground.
"Typically, ice crystals are small enough to remain suspended in the air and only form when temperatures are below zero [F]," Samuhel said. "In most instances, temperatures are minus 10 to 20 degrees or colder."
© google maps
A 4.4. magnitude earthquake has struck parts of Tennessee, Georgia and the Carolinas and seismographs have also recorded a secondary shock in the area.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) traced the earthquake to Decatur, Tennessee, but it has been felt in neighboring states too.
The convulsion occurred along the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which is along the Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi state lines.
Comment: A reminder that the New Madrid Seismic Zone is one of the areas around the world to keep on eye on for the potential of a Major earthquake:
- New Madrid fault zone alive and active
- Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Are the New Madrid and Alaskan fault zones waking?
- Geologists try to map potential seismic hazard risks of New Madrid region of US
- Why is Wal-Mart preparing for a major earthquake on The New Madrid Fault?
- Another major earthquake on New Madrid is inevitable - geologists say it's only a matter of time
- 1811-12 New Madrid Earthquakes, A NEO Connection?
- FEMA Requests Millions of Rations For 'Catastrophic Disaster In New Madrid Fault System'
© NBC
Some residents say the booms are so loud, they even shake homes in the northwest suburb.
"The house shakes, the windows shake," said resident Colleen Roberg.
The noises have been heard at various hours of the day, but particularly overnight.
"They've become louder," said Sue Webb, president of the Southwest Area Neighbors group.
The SWAN group said residents have suspected two bridges as the possible cause of the booms - the Route 31 bridge that runs over Route 20 and the Route 20 bridge the crosses over the Fox River.
You don't see this every day on Sand Mountain! Sure, we get halos, sundogs, and arcs in the sky on a weekly basis, but we rarely see them at ground level here in Alabama. This 22º halo from Peggy Ponds in Albertville on Tuesday, December 11th is quite a find.
Why so rare?
Halos, sundogs, and arcs form when sunlight is refracted through ice crystals. Those crystals are hexagonal plates that look something like this:
As the sunlight bends into the spectrum upon exit from the plate, it shows off the optical phenomenon we see as a ring around the Sun or Moon.
On Tuesday, we had freezing fog that was precipitating out small ice crystals that were shaped like this. The closest description I can find to what we observed is from the Arctic and Antarctic: diamond dust.
Halos, sundogs, and arcs form when sunlight is refracted through ice crystals. Those crystals are hexagonal plates that look something like this:
© WHNT
On Tuesday, we had freezing fog that was precipitating out small ice crystals that were shaped like this. The closest description I can find to what we observed is from the Arctic and Antarctic: diamond dust.
Comment: Clearly our atmosphere is showing signs of serious change - evidently it's becoming colder: