Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Global airline luggage delays climb in 2010 due to volcano and bad winter storms

After two years of improved baggage handling, airlines slipped last year in getting passengers' checked luggage to arrive on time.

European airlines led the decline, while U.S. carriers actually saw a slight improvement.

Worldwide, 29.4 million bags last year didn't arrive on the same flight as their owners, according to SITA, an aviation communications and technology provider. That's 12.07 mishandled bags for every 1,000 passengers, a six per cent increase over 2009.

Cloud Lightning

Wintry Storm Aims April Fool's Day Punch at U.S. Northeast

A winter storm watch has been issued for eastern New York, parts of northern New Jersey and most of New England, where much as 12 inches of snow may fall by week's end, according to the National Weather Service.

The system will be the second to move through the area this week, said Lauren Nash, a weather service meteorologist in Upton, New York. The first will arrive tonight and may bring light snow to areas north of New York City, she said.

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Spring storm batters New Orleans area

A powerful spring storm packing hail, heavy rain and strong winds caused extensive damage just south of New Orleans, Tuesday evening, authorities said.

Maj. John Marie with the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's department said the heaviest damage was reported between Harvey and Belle Chasse. The Belle Chasse Ferry recorded 100-mph winds around 7:30 p.m. (8:30 p.m. ET), he said.

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Eruption Creates New Lava Lake in Hawaiian Volcano

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© HVO/USGSIt's baaa-aack! Lava has returned to the Pu`u `Ō `ō crater on Mount Kilauea.
Lava has newly erupted inside a volcanic crater that collapsed several weeks ago - and hours before a nearby spectacular fissure eruption - on Mount Kilauea.

The new lava lake is inside the Pu'u 'Ō 'ō crater on the Hawaiian volcano. The fresh lava arrived almost 20 days after the crater floor collapsed on March 5 and almost 16 days after the Kamoamoa fissure eruption to the west on March 9. [In Images: Hawaii's Mount Kilauea Erupts.]

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Vog and Ash from Ambrym Volcano, Vanuatu

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© NASA Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team
The Ambrym Volcano was billowing vog and ash on March 28, 2011 at 02:55 UTC, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image.

Igloo

US: Near-record Sierra snow good news to parched California

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© unknown
Chris Rivest's father sent him from San Francisco to the family vacation cabin near the Sierra Nevada crest with a seemingly simple chore - clear it and the driveway of snow.

Easy for him to say. When Rivest arrived earlier this week at the cabin near Soda Springs, about 90 miles northeast of Sacramento, the snow was so deep it nearly touched the power lines crossing in front of the cabin. Snow was piled at least 10 feet high on top of the deck of the A-frame home.

"My dad wants me to clear the deck," the ponytailed 21-year-old said Monday, as he labored to clear the driveway with a snow blower. "How do I even begin to do that? Where would I put the snow? This is absurd."

Absurdly deep is how Sierra residents and travelers might describe this season's snowfall, which is setting records at some ski resorts and nearing records at official gauging stations.

The last round of storms that blew across much of the 400-mile-long range during the weekend added several feet to what has become a snowpack of historic proportions, and one that promises an end to California's lingering drought.

After state water officials release the results of their latest snow survey Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to officially declare the drought over, said Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the governor's office. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought in June 2008 and a state of emergency because of low water levels in February 2009.

Bizarro Earth

UK Government Asked to Investigate New Pesticide Link to Bee Decline

pollen bee
© Getty ImagesA bee collects pollen from a flower in Kew Gardens
The Government is being asked to investigate a possible link between a new generation of pesticides and the decline of honey bees. It is suspected that the chemicals may be impairing the insects' ability to defend themselves against harmful parasites through grooming.

The Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, will have to answer a question in the Commons from the former Home Office minister David Hanson about whether the Government will investigate if the effect of neonicotinoids on the grooming behaviour of bees is similar to its effect on termites.

The pesticides, neonicotinoids, made by the German agribusiness giant Bayer and rapidly spreading in use, are known to be fatal to termites by damaging their ability to groom themselves and thus remove the spores of harmful fungi.

In a leaflet promoting an anti-termite insecticide, Premise 200SC, sold in Asia, the company says it is the direct effect on the insects' grooming abilities of the neonicotinoid active ingredient, imidacloprid, which eventually kills them. Now bee campaigners in Britain want to know if this mechanism could also be at work on European honey bees and other pollinating insects which are rapidly declining in numbers.

Question

Norway: Northern Lights, Unprovoked

Sometimes auroras just happen. On March 28th in Norway, a spectacular band of Northern Lights arced across the sky unprovoked by any significant gust of solar wind. Fredrik Broms sends this picture from Kvaløya:

Aurora
© Fredrik BromsImage Taken: Mar. 29, 2011
Location: Kvaløya, Norway
"These very beautiful and gentle auroras painted the sky and snowy landscape in green," says Broms. "With the auroras forming a band from east to west and the Milky Way stretching over the sky in the same direction now during spring, I beheld a double band of celestial wonders. Later in the night, pulsating auroras appeared over most of the sky, most prominent right above my head."

Bizarro Earth

Florida: Dead Baby Dolphin on Innerarity Point

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Another dead dolphin has washed up in our area, this time just across the state line in Perdido Bay on Innerarity Point. But we may have a better understanding of what's taking so long to figure out why the dolphins are dying.

Innerarity Point, Florida - "I looked and saw a baby porpoise, a terrible sight to see."

What started as a normal Tuesday morning for Chris McCune, "I came out to have my coffee, practice, play my guitar and write some songs."

That all changed when he looked down the beach.

Eleanor Milford saw it too. "I've been hearing about it but I didn't expect to see it in my own backyard and I hope we get some answers."

Fish

New South Wales: Second fish kill in as many months

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Dead mullet have been found floating on the surface of a Taree waterway for the second time in less than two months.

The fish could be seen at the wetland near Nulama Village at Taree North yesterday, also the site of a similar fish kill in February.

The heat and subsequent loss of oxygen from the water was blamed on that occasion but does not seem likely this time due to the much milder weather conditions.

Some of the fish were found on the banks of the wetland, suggesting they may have jumped from the water.

Experts from the Department of Fisheries were not available for comment yesterday.