Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Drought blankets Beijing in thick, yellow dust storm‎; South Korea issues warning

Image
© Xinhuanet
Bejing - Beijingers woke up Saturday to find the Chinese capital blanketed in yellow dust, as a sandstorm caused by a severe drought in the north and in Mongolia swept into the city.

The storm, which earlier buffeted parts of northeastern China, brought strong winds and cut visibility in the capital.

Authorities issued a rare level five pollution warning, signalling hazardous conditions, and urged residents to stay indoors.

Sandstorms frequently hit the arid north of China in the spring, when temperatures start to rise, stirring up clouds of dust that can travel across China, to South Korea and Japan and even as far as the United States.

Bizarro Earth

Dormant since 1821, Volcano Erupts in Southern Iceland

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© AP Photo/Ragnar AxelssonMolten lava vents from a rupture near the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in Iceland, as a volcano erupts early Sunday March 21, 2010, seen in this aerial photo.
Reykjavik - A volcano erupted near a glacier in southern Iceland, shooting ash and molten lava into the air and forcing the evacuation Sunday of hundreds of people from nearby villages.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, but a state of emergency was declared and scientists feared the eruption could trigger a larger and potentially more dangerous eruption at the Katla volcano.

Saturday's eruption, which occurred just before midnight (2000 EDT, 8 p.m. EDT), came weeks after a series of small earthquakes. Television footage showed lava flows along the fissure.

"This was a rather small and peaceful eruption but we are concerned that it could trigger an eruption at the nearby Katla volcano, a vicious volcano that could cause both local and global damage," said Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland's Institute of Earth Science.

Comment: On February 5, 2010 we saw Pacific Ocean Volcano Erupts, on February 11, 2010 Montserrat Volcano Shoots Ash 9 Miles into Sky and: Undersea Volcanic Activity Contributing To Cooling.


Cloud Lightning

Australia: Cyclone Causes Extensive Flooding In Queensland

Flooding is likely to continue in northern Queensland state after tropical cyclone Ului hit the coast early on Sunday morning, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said Sunday.

At least 60,000 homes are without power and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said initial reports suggest the damage is moderate-to-severe, although it's too early to assess the full extent of the damage, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on its Web site.

Heavy rainfall and flooding are likely to continue about coastal and adjacent inland areas between Bowen and St Lawrence, the Bureau said. The cyclone is weakening rapidly and is expected to be downgraded below cyclone strength this afternoon, it said.

Bizarro Earth

Undersea Volcanic Activity Contributing To Cooling

Undersea volcanic activity appears to provide a dampening influence on global warming as the seabed eruptions create nutrient-rich water that feeds carbon dioxide-eating plants.

Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, Australian and French scientists show that hydrothermal vents around underwater volcanoes in the Southern Ocean spew iron.

After billowing to near the surface, the mineral allows single-cell organisms called phytoplankton to bloom, soaking up the greenhouse gas in the process. The world's oceans are thought to remove 20 percent to 25 percent of the atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by human activities.

Comment: Here is a link to video of the West Mata Deep-Sea Volcanic Eruption recorded in May 2009.


Bizarro Earth

Rain in quake-devastated Haiti causes panic

Haiti tent camp flooded
© Ramon Espinosa | Associated PressHeavy rain flooded this camp of homeless earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, yesterday. Screaming residents were swept into eddies, and latrines overflowed.
One of the heaviest rainfalls since Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake swamped homeless camps yesterday, sweeping screaming residents into eddies of water, overflowing latrines and panicking thousands.

The overnight downpour sent water coursing down the slopes of a former golf course that now serves as a temporary home for about 45,000 people.

There were no reports of deaths in the camp, a town-size maze of blue, orange and silver tarps behind the country club used by the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division as a forward-operating base.

But the deluge terrified families who just two months ago survived the collapse of their homes in the magnitude 7 earthquake and are struggling to make do in tent-and-tarp camps that officials have repeatedly said must be relocated.

Target

Magnitude 5.3 quake hits Guatemala; no damage

A magnitude 5.3 quake struck in Guatemala on Saturday, about 60 miles (97 km) from the country's border with Mexico, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, Reuters reported.

The quake was centered about 53 miles (85 km) north-northeast of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, at a depth of 51 miles (82 km), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Bizarro Earth

Cuba: Earthquake Magnitude 5.6 Offshore

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© USGS
Date-Time:
Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 18:08:09 UTC

Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 01:08:09 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
19.731°N, 75.279°W

Depth:
17.2 km (10.7 miles)

Region:
CUBA REGION

Distances:
45 km (30 miles) S of Guantanamo, Cuba

65 km (40 miles) ESE of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba

825 km (510 miles) ESE of HAVANA, Cuba

840 km (520 miles) SE of Miami, Florida

Better Earth

Seabird evolved head feathers as sensory device

Attracting the opposite sex is not the only reason some birds have elaborate head ornamentation. Avoiding things that might bump your head in the dark is also important, at least for crested and whiskered auklets - seabirds famed for their decorative head feathers.


Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 6.2 - New Ireland Region, Papua New Guinea

Papua Earthquake
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Saturday, March 20, 2010 at 14:00:51 UTC

Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 12:00:51 AM at epicenter

Location:
3.380°S, 152.231°E

Depth:
423.5 km (263.2 miles)

Distances:
95 km (60 miles) N of Rabaul, New Britain, PNG

150 km (95 miles) NW of Taron, New Ireland, PNG

870 km (540 miles) NE of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea

2670 km (1660 miles) N of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia

Better Earth

Orangutans can swim - we've got pictures to prove it

Orangutans normally steer clear of water. In the wild they rarely go near rivers and lakes, to avoid the crocodiles and snakes that lurk there. So it came as a surprise to conservationists when a group of orphaned orangutans that had been relocated to Kaja Island in Borneo started getting wet for all sorts of reasons: one pair was even seen having sex in water.

"My guess is that the male chose the location because there was less chance of him being interrupted by other, more dominant males," says Anne Russon of York University in Toronto, Canada.

Swimming

"Orangutans are famous for their fear of water," says Russon. "They have high body densities and can't help but sink." They're such lousy swimmers that some zoos have stopped surrounding enclosures with moats - too many orangutans have drowned.

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© Anne Russon
"One day we saw an adolescent orangutan called Sif wade into deep water, hunker down and then lunge forward making simple paddling movements with her arms and legs," says Russon. "It was kind of like a bad dog paddle." Sif didn't get all that far - about a metre.