Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Hurricane Omar takes aim at Caribbean islands

Miami -- Hurricane Omar is gaining strength as it moves northeast, a day after drenching islands in the southeastern Caribbean.

Omar's maximum sustained winds early today were near 80 mph.
Hurricane Omar path
© Los Angeles Times

Bizarro Earth

Bad weather was good for Alaska glaciers

Mass Balance: For decades, summer snow loss has exceeded winter snowfall.

Unusually large amounts of winter snow were followed by unusually chill temperatures in June, July and August.

Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 3.9 Earthquake - Texas Panhandle

Earthquake Details
Magnitude 3.8
Date-Time

* Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 03:07:27 UTC
* Monday, October 13, 2008 at 10:07:27 PM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Texas Panhandle Region
© USGSTexas Panhandle Region

Location 35.760°N, 100.704°W
Depth 5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program
Region TEXAS PANHANDLE REGION
Distances

* 9 km (6 miles) NW (322°) from Miami, TX
* 33 km (21 miles) WSW (240°) from Canadian, TX
* 34 km (21 miles) NE (44°) from Pampa, TX
* 121 km (75 miles) ENE (59°) from Amarillo, TX
* 488 km (303 miles) NW (314°) from Dallas, TX

Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 4.9 Earthquake - Greece

Earthquake Details
Magnitude 4.9
Date-Time

* Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 02:06:38 UTC
* Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 05:06:38 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Greece
© USGSGreece

Location 38.755°N, 23.569°E
Depth 25.8 km (16.0 miles) (poorly constrained)
Region GREECE
Distances 85 km (55 miles) N of ATHENS, Greece

140 km (85 miles) SE of Larisa, Greece
170 km (105 miles) ENE of Patras, Greece
215 km (135 miles) SSE of Thessaloniki, Greece
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 9.4 km (5.8 miles); depth +/- 28.3 km (17.6 miles)

Parameters NST= 40, Nph= 40, Dmin=428.1 km, Rmss=1.18 sec, Gp= 61°,
M-type=body magnitude (Mb), Version=7

Ambulance

US Update: Wildfires force frantic evacuations near Los Angeles; 2 die

Los Angeles - Two huge wildfires driven by strong Santa Ana winds burned into neighborhoods near Los Angeles on Monday, forcing frantic evacuations on smoke- and traffic-choked highways, destroying homes and causing at least two deaths.
LA Fire 101308
© AP Photo/Dan SteinbergTraffic snakes up a road as residents flee their hillside homes during a fast moving, wind driven brush fire in the Sylmar area of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008. Intense Santa Ana winds swept into Southern California Monday morning and whipped up a 3,000-acre wildfire, forcing the closure of a major freeway during rush hour and burning mobile homes and industrial buildings.

Around sunset, residents were warned to stay on alert during the night and winds more than 60 mph were forecast.

More than 1,000 firefighters and nine water-dropping aircraft battled the 4,700-acre Marek Fire at the northeast end of the San Fernando Valley, and the 5,000-acre Sesnon Fire at the west end.

Winds blew up to 45 mph with gusts reaching 70 mph at midday. They were forecast to diminish in the evening before roaring over 60 mph after 11 p.m.

"This fire has the real potential of moving from where it is now ... as far as Pacific Coast (Highway)," said Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman.

Fish

Atlantic Wolffish: Fearsome Fish That Deserve Protection?

The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and others have just filed* a scientific petition with the federal government seeking endangered species protection for the Atlantic wolffish, a fish threatened with extinction due to years of overharvesting and habitat loss due to modern fishing gear. If the petition is successful, this will be the first listing of a marine fish as an endangered in New England.
wolffish
© Conservation Law FoundationWith a long eel-like tail and a mouth full of large canine teeth, the wolffish (Anarhichas lupus) is one of New England 's most unique ocean fish species and also one of the most endangered.

With a long eel-like tail and a mouth full of large canine teeth, the wolffish (Anarhichas lupus) is one of New England 's most unique ocean fish species and also one of the most endangered. CLF's petition cites federal and independent scientific studies that show, over the past twenty years, dramatic declines in wolffish population and destruction of the deep underwater habitat that the fish needs to successfully reproduce and survive.

Arrow Down

In A Last 'Stronghold' For Endangered Chimpanzees, Survey Finds Drastic Decline

In a population survey of West African chimpanzees living in Côte d'Ivoire, researchers estimate that this endangered subspecies has dropped in numbers by a whopping 90 percent since the last survey was conducted 18 years ago. The few remaining chimpanzees are now highly fragmented, with only one viable population living in Taï National Park, according to a report in the October 14th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.

This alarming decline in a country that had been considered one of the final strongholds for West African chimps suggests that their status should be raised to critically endangered, said Geneviève Campbell of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

The booming human population in Côte d'Ivoire is probably responsible for the chimpanzees' demise.

Snowman

Boise Idaho gets earliest snow on record

Boise snow
© Shawn Raecke/ Idaho Statesmani
Big snow flakes fell early Friday evening, turning Downtown Boise into a giant snow globe for people on their way home from work.

The snow caught many people off guard, including this bicyclist heading down Idaho Street between 8th and 9th around 5:45 p.m. Across the Treasure Valley, tree branches heavy with wet, snow-covered leaves fell on power lines, causing scattered power outages.

Fish

DNA test proves it -- baby shark has no father

RICHMOND, Virginia -- Scientists have confirmed the second case of a "virgin birth" in a shark.

Bizarro Earth

Eruption of 3 volcanoes has scientists asking questions

How likely is it that three neighboring volcanoes would all erupt at the same time -- as the Kasatochi, Okmok and Cleveland volcanoes in the Aleutians did this summer?

About as likely as a storm that only appears once in a thousand years, says Anchorage volcanologist Peter Cervelli, who'll deliver a paper on the subject this winter to the American Geophysical Union.

In other words, seldom enough that Cervelli is now exploring the question of whether Alaska's triple eruption was only a coincidence involving three independent volcanoes or whether it was triggered by some common mechanism.