Earth ChangesS


Attention

Hurricane Hits China Food Factory, 4 Killed

Li river China
© AFP/File, XinhuaThe Li river runs through China's southwestern city of Guilin which has been hit by a landslide after heavy rain
A hurricane struck the Foshan City in Guangdong Province in southern China for the second time in a month on Friday, killing 4 people and injuring 17 others.

The storm was located in a 2,000-square meter food factory in the Foshan City, which has damaged walls and sheds, besides killing many workers, said reports.

Nuke

Deadly Silence on Fukushima

Fukushima plant
© n/a
I received the following email a few days ago from a Russian nuclear physicist friend who is an expert on the kinds of gases being released at Fukushima. Here is what he wrote:
"About Japan: the problem is that the reactor uses "dirty" fuel. It is a combination of plutonium and uranium (MOX).
I suspect that the old fuel rods have bean spread out due to the explosion and the surrounding area is contaminated with plutonium which means you can never return to this place again.

It is like a new Tchernobyl. Personally, I am not surprised that the authority has not informed people about this".
I have been following the Fukushima story very closely since the earthquake and devastating tsunami. I have asked scientists I know, nuclear physicists and others about where they find real information. I have also watched as the news has virtually disappeared. There is something extremely disturbing going on and having lived through the media blackout in France back in April and early May 1986, and speaking to doctors who are deeply concerned by the dramatic increase in cancers appearing at very young ages, it is obvious that information is being held back. We are still told not to eat mushrooms and truffles from parts of Europe, not wild boar and reindeer from Germany and Finland 25 years later.

Bizarro Earth

Tungurahua continues to erupt, Taal grows increasingly restless, explosions on Etna (and more)

The light at the end of the finals tunnel has appeared - only one set of papers (where I posed to my volcanoes class the question "if someone asked you 'why bother monitoring volcanoes?', how would you respond?") to grade now. There hasn't been a lot of new eruption news, but there has been a lot of news of simmering volcanoes and threats from volcanoes after eruption. However, we'll start with one that is actively erupting.

Image
© UnknownTungurahua in Ecuador erupting during the first week of May, 2011.
Ecuador: Tungurahua continues with its largest eruption since 1999 (video) - and thanks to the bevy of news that Eruptions reader Kirby has sent me, there is a lot to cover. The Instituto Geofisico has put the volcano on Orange Alert status after strombolian activity produced 2-7km / 6,500-23,000 foot ash plumes and a constant sound of explosions/rumbling. The volcano is putting on an impressive show at the summit, with incandescent blocks cascading down the upper flanks of the volcano (see top left), some of which are apparently the size of cars. IG geologists have been quoted as saying the volcano is showing signs of "increased pressure", but the details are scarce. Crop and livestock damage due to the ash in the villages around Tungurahua has been extensive, and now the government will purchase new lands for refugees to move that are a safe distance from the volcano. Even with all this activity, Tungurahua did not stop people from voting in Ecuador.

Cloud Lightning

Lawsuits Filed to Protect Today's Youth from Climate Change

Image
© flickr.com
In what could be a groundbreaking approach to using the legal system to prompt action on climate change, attorneys are in the process of filing lawsuits in every state in the US, on behalf of young people whose futures will be affected by global warming. The effort, which is moving forward in courts in all fifty states as well as the District of Columbia, is a project of the youth-focused climate action group iMatter and its partner organizations. If attorneys fighting on behalf of their young plaintiffs are successful, they could establish the atmosphere as a legally recognized "public trust" that cannot be overloaded with greenhouse gases by one generation at the expense of all future generations.

According to the public trust doctrine - a legal concept that dates back to the days of the Roman Empire and which was recognized in England under the charter of the Magna Carta - certain public resources must be left accessible to everyone and can not be privatized for use by only a relatively small segment of the population. The US Supreme Court validated the public trust concept in the United States in an 1892 case, involving use of the Chicago harbor.

Comment: Excerpt from
Forget About Global Warming: We're One Step From Extinction! by Laura Knight-Jadczyk

One final point. There have been reports that Earth is not the only planet being hit by "global warming". Might it be possible that this apparently widespread change of "climate" in the solar system is linked to an incoming comet cloud? We do not know and are sorely lacking in the means to acquire data to refine or reject the working hypothesis. Perhaps someone else out there does have the means. Whatever the explanation for a generalized warming of several planets, it is clear that we know very little about the fundamental mechanisms behind it. We are a speck in the universe, a drop in an ocean more vast, more complex, and more mysterious than we can imagine.


Attention

New Zealand: Fears Bee Colony Collapse Has Arrived

honeybee
© 1999, MC Cassine
Beekeepers fear an alarming phenomenon that is wiping out bees and leading to reduced food crops around the world has reached New Zealand.

Colony collapse disorder has caused American beekeepers to report losses of up to 90 per cent in some cases, prompting fears of crop shortages.

Honeybees are the planet's most effective pollinators, and industry leaders in New Zealand are calling for an investigation into the problem.

National Beekeepers Association joint chief executive Daniel Paul said reports coming in to the group were causing concern.

In the past six months, it had received reports of significant bee losses - up to 30 per cent in some places.

"It's significant enough to make us sit up and take notice."

Clock

Bolivia: Does the central Andean backarc have the potential for a great earthquake?

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© Ben Brooks, SOEST/UHMBen Brooks, 'O. Ozcacha and Todd Ericksen stand next to one of the GPS stations that was used in the study.
The region east of the central Andes Mountains has the potential for larger scale earthquakes than previously expected, according to a new study posted online in the May 8th edition of Nature Geoscience. Previous research had set the maximum expected earthquake size to be magnitude 7.5, based on the relatively quiet history of seismicity in that area. This new study by researchers from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) and colleagues contradicts that limit and instead suggests that the region could see quakes with magnitudes 8.7 to 8.9.

Benjamin Brooks, Associate Researcher in the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology in the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at UHM and colleagues used GPS data to map movement of the Earth's surface in the Subandean margin, along the eastern flank of the Andes Mountains. They report a sharp decrease in surface velocity from west to east. "We relate GPS surface movements to the subsurface via deformation models", says Brooks. "In this case, we use a simple elastic model of slip on a buried dislocation (fault) and do millions of Monte Carlo simulations to determine probability distributions for the model parameters (like slip, width, depth, dip, etc.)." From these data, the researchers conclude that the shallow section in the east of the region is currently locked in place over a length of about 100 km, allowing stress to build up as the tectonic plates in the region slowly move against each other. Rupture of the entire locked section by one earthquake could result in shaking of magnitudes up to 8.9, they estimate.

This project is a long-term collaborative effort between UHM, Ohio State University, Arizona State University, the Bolivian Instituto Geografico Militar (IGM), the Bolivian Seismological Observatory (Observatorio San Calixto), the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (Argentina), and University of Memphis. The project's general name is the Central and Southern Andes Project (CAP).

Cloud Lightning

Tropical Storm Hits Philippines, 9 Dead

Tropical storm Aere
© Bullit MarquezDeadly storm: An officer directs traffic as motorists negotiate a flooded highway in the Philippines. Tropical storm Aere has killed nine and forced thousands from their homes.
Tropical storm Aere slammed into the eastern Philippine coast on Sunday, bringing heavy rains and landslides that have so far killed nine people and forced thousands to leave their homes.

The Philippines' state weather bureau said Aere made landfall over the island of Catanduanes before noon and moved northwest over the main island of Luzon.

Sun

US: Mother's Day Heat Wave for Kansas

A heat wave in May? It will certainly feel like summer across Kansas this Mother's Day, as afternoon high temperatures soar into the 90s. The warmest temperatures will top out in the middle and upper 90s across southwest Kansas. A high fire danger is expected this afternoon and evening, for western Kansas and critical fire weather warnings have been issued. If you're curious, record highs for today and tomorrow are in the middle and upper 90s across southcentral Kansas, so we will get close (Wichita Mid-Continent Airport record high for today 97 set in 1989).

Igloo

US: Mother's Day Gift? Winter Storm Warnings Issued for Billings Region, Montana

A strong storm system is expected to move across the region late Sunday, bringing rain to lower elevations and lots of snow to the mountains through Tuesday.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning from midnight Sunday to 6 p.m Tuesday.

From 1 to 2 feet of snow may fall in the Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains, Bighorn Mountains and Crazy Mountains.

Attention

US: Historic Floods Along the Mississippi

The Mississippi River is a disaster on the move. It's expected to crest in Memphis by Wednesday at or near record highs.


Memphis is getting ready. As the waters of the Mississippi River continue to rise, the city is bracing for a flood the likes of which most have never known.