Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Australia: Worst Dust Storm on Record Blankets Sydney, Disrupts Transport

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© Kate Geraghty
An outback dust storm swept across eastern Australia and blanketed Sydney on Wednesday, disrupting transport and placing health authorities on alert for widespread respiratory illness. The dust blacked out the outback mining town of Broken Hill on Tuesday, forcing one mine to shut down, and then swept east, shrouding Sydney in a red glow on Wednesday morning.

International flights were diverted from Sydney, ferries on Sydney Harbour were suspended and commuter motorists warned to take care on roads as visibility was dramatically reduced. Health authorities urged people with asthma or breathing difficulties to stay indoors. The dust set off smoke alarms in some buildings in Sydney's central business district.

Cloud Lightning

US: 7 Dead; 1 Missing In Metro Atlanta Floods

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The death toll in Southeast flooding has reached seven after rescuers found the body of a 15-year-old boy in northwest Georgia following days of heavy rain that turned docile creeks into surging rivers.

The teen's body was found in the Chattooga River on Tuesday morning.

In Dawson County, the sheriff said they are searching for the body of a missing college student who is believed drowned. The sheriff said a group of friends were playing in the water Monday night at the Gold Creek Golf Club in a small pond. A male did not come out of the water.

The Hall County dive team is responding to Dawson County to assist. Officials said they are classifying it as a recovery effort.

Bizarro Earth

Google Earth Application Maps Carbon's Course

co2 and google earth
© Tyler Erickson and Google EarthA Google Earth application reveals carbon dioxide in the lowest part of the atmosphere close to Earth's surface (green tracks) and carbon dioxide at higher altitudes that are immune from ground influences (red tracks).
Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words, particularly when the picture is used to illustrate science. Technology is giving us better pictures every day, and one of them is helping a NASA-funded scientist and her team to explain the behavior of a greenhouse gas.

Google Earth -- the digital globe on which computer users can fly around the planet and zoom in on key features -- is attracting attention in scientific communities and aiding public communication about carbon dioxide. Recently Google held a contest to present scientific results using KML, a data format used by Google Earth.

"I tried to think of a complex data set that would have public relevance," said Tyler Erickson, a geospatial researcher at the Michigan Tech Research Institute in Ann Arbor.

Bizarro Earth

India: Earthquake Magnitude 6.1 - Bhutan

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© USGS
Date-Time:
Monday, September 21, 2009 at 08:53:05 UTC

Monday, September 21, 2009 at 02:53:05 PM at epicenter

Location:
27.351°N, 91.425°E

Depth:
10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program

Distances:
135 km (85 miles) NNW of Gauhati, Assam, India

180 km (110 miles) E of THIMPHU, Bhutan

610 km (380 miles) NNE of Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, India

1410 km (870 miles) E of NEW DELHI, Delhi, India

Magnify

New Species Discovered On Whale Skeletons

Whale
© Craig R SmithWhen a whale dies, it sinks to the seafloor and becomes food for an entire ecosystem.
When a whale dies, it sinks to the seafloor and becomes food for an entire ecosystem. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have discovered previously unknown species that feed only on dead whales -- and have used DNA technology to show that the species diversity in our oceans may be higher than previously thought.

Dead whales constitute an unpredictable food source - it is impossible to know when and where a whale is going to die, and when it does, the food source does not last forever. Nevertheless, some marine species have specialised in feeding on whale cadavers.

Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Magnitude 5.1 in Mexico felt in California and Arizona

A moderate earthquake in northern Mexico was felt from San Diego to Arizona, but no injuries or damage were reported.

Seismologist Dale Grant of the U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-5.1 quake struck just before 4 p.m. Saturday. It was centered about 25 miles southeast of Calexico, Calif., and 23 miles southeast of Mexicali, Mexico, at a depth of 6.2 miles.

Several aftershocks followed, the largest a magnitude-4.2 about two hours after the initial quake.

The USGS has received reports of people feeling the quake from 120 miles west of the epicenter in San Diego to 60 miles east in Yuma, Arizona.

Bizarro Earth

Venezuela: Earthquake Magnitude 4.8 - Sucre

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 23:10:01 UTC

Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 11:10:01 PM at epicenter

Location:
10.671°N, 62.597°W

Depth:
80.7 km (50.1 miles)

Distances:
30 km (15 miles) WNW of Guiria, Venezuela

70 km (45 miles) E of Carupano, Venezuela

120 km (75 miles) W of PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad

475 km (295 miles) E of CARACAS, Venezuela

Bizarro Earth

Italy: Earthquake Magnitude 4.3 - Central Italy

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Sunday, September 20, 2009 at 03:50:16 UTC

Sunday, September 20, 2009 at 05:50:16 AM at epicenter

Location:
43.482°N, 13.410°E

Depth:
24 km (14.9 miles)

Distances:
20 km (10 miles) SSW of Ancona, Italy

90 km (55 miles) ESE of SAN MARINO

95 km (60 miles) ENE of Perugia, Italy

195 km (120 miles) NNE of ROME, Italy

Bizarro Earth

China: Earthquake Magnitude 5.4 - Sichuan-Gansu Border Region

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 08:54:16 UTC

Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 04:54:16 PM at epicenter

Location:
32.835°N, 105.562°E

Depth:
10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program

Region:
SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REGION, CHINA

Distances:
50 km (30 miles) NNW of Guangyuan, Sichuan, China

140 km (85 miles) W of Hanzhong, Shaanxi, China

375 km (235 miles) NNW of Chongqing, Chongqing, China

1245 km (780 miles) SW of BEIJING, Beijing, China

Bizarro Earth

Mexico: Earthquake Magnitude 5.1 - Baja, California

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 22:55:17 UTC

Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 03:55:17 PM at epicenter

Location:
32.368°N, 115.262°W

Depth:
10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program

Region:
Baja California, Mexico

Distances:
17 km (10 miles) WNW (302°) from Guadalupe Victoria, Baja California, Mexico

37 km (23 miles) SSE (148°) from Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico

41 km (25 miles) SSE (147°) from Calexico, CA

166 km (103 miles) E (96°) from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico