Earth ChangesS


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Coming Next Week: Colony Collapse Disorder Breakthrough

The first break in the CCD mystery is about to be released.

Researchers at Penn State, the USDA and Columbia University have had a research paper accepted by Science magazine that outlines the first published information on a possible cause of Colony Collapse Disorder ... commonly known as CCD. But Science and for the most part the researchers are being tight-lipped about what's in that paper. The secrecy surrounding this research has been extraordinary and some of the activities of the researchers has left us scratching our heads.

Cloud Lightning

Felix becomes Category 5 hurricane

ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Hurricane Felix rapidly strengthened into a dangerous Category 5 storm Sunday and churned its way into the open waters of the Caribbean Sea after toppling trees and flooding some homes on a cluster of Dutch islands.

Felix was packing winds of up to 165 mph as it headed west, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. It was projected to skirt Honduras' coastline on Tuesday before slamming into Belize on Wednesday.

©AP Photo/Pedro Diaz
Water floods a street after the heavy rains of Hurricane Felix passed over Oranjestad, Aruba, Sunday, Sept. 2, 2007.

Bizarro Earth

Southland, California Rattled By 4.7 Earthquake

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake -- centered under the Santa Ana mountain range -- shook southern California at 10:29 Sunday morning.

Geologists confirmed preliminary automated reports that the earthquake's epicenter was eight miles west-northwest of the Riverside County city of Lake Elsinore and about 50 miles southwest of the Los Angeles Civic Center.

©USGS

Attention

Powerful monsoon storms knock out power in Yuma

About 600 people remained without power Sunday morning following powerful monsoon thunderstorms that rolled through Yuma.



©The Republic
Lightning flashes above Maricopa, Ariz. Saturday night.


Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake Strikes off Solomon Islands

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 struck beneath the Pacific Ocean off the Solomon Islands, the U.S. Geological Survey said today on its Web site.

The earthquake hit 96 kilometers (60 miles) south of Lata, Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomon Islands at 12:05 p.m. local time, the Web site said. It occurred at a depth of 35 kilometers, it said.

©USGS

Bell

Magnitude 6.3 - GULF OF CALIFORNIA

Magnitude 6.3
Date-Time

Saturday, September 01, 2007 at 19:14:22 UTC


Location 24.788°N, 109.727°W
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region GULF OF CALIFORNIA
Distances

* 90 km (56 miles) NE (40°) from La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
* 133 km (83 miles) SW (215°) from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico
* 137 km (85 miles) SSW (204°) from Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico
* 1116 km (694 miles) SE (139°) from Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico


Cloud Lightning

Felix becomes hurricane in Caribbean

Hurricane Felix gathered strength Saturday and pounded Grenada with heavy rains and winds, snapping small boats loose from their moorings and toppling utility poles on its route toward the Caribbean island of Aruba.

The storm was upgraded from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane Saturday evening, with sustained maximum winds near 75 mph. It was expected to strengthen even further as its outer bands started lashing the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao overnight. All three islands were under a hurricane watch.

Info

Virus threatens Mediterranean dolphins

Dozens of dead dolphins washing up along the Mediterranean coast have alerted environmentalists to a virus they fear will become an epidemic, El Mundo newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The region's striped dolphins, a protected species, are being infected with a virus which has not been identified and has so far killed several dozen animals along the coast and may spread, the report said, quoting environmental experts.

Cloud Lightning

California's Baking Temperatures Spur Heat Advisory, Power Use

California's central and southern regions are baking in a late summer season heat wave that's knocked out power in some areas and left others sweltering in temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit this week.

A hot-air mass is settling over California's Central Valley, while moisture surging north will increase humidity, the National Weather Service in Hanford, California, said in a heat advisory posted earlier today. The heat index, a measure of temperature and humidity that represents how hot it feels, will remain above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) through tomorrow before cooler air moves into the region, the service said.

Cloud Lightning

Tropical Storm Felix forms in Caribbean

Tropical storm warnings have been issued for for the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St. Vincent, the Grenadines and Grenada. Felix also threatens Venezuela's northern coast.

At 4 a.m. CST, the center of Tropical Storm Felix was located about 30 miles northwest of Grenada.

©TSR