Over 20 sinkholes have opened up in the ground since last September.
The cave-ins, which range in size, have seen houses collapse and rivers run dry. And there is never any warning as to where and when the sinkhole occur.
Earth Changes
Over 20 sinkholes have opened up in the ground since last September.
The cave-ins, which range in size, have seen houses collapse and rivers run dry. And there is never any warning as to where and when the sinkhole occur.
© AFP Photo
The flanks of the Stromboli volcano north of Sicily spews lava towards the sea on January 14, 2013 after one of Europe's most active volanoes churned into activity. Spectacular lava flows and smoke from an active volcano on the Italian island of Stromboli on Monday sparked fear among inhabitants but geophysicists said the situation was under control.
The flanks of the Stromboli volcano north of Sicily spews lava towards the sea on January 14, 2013 after one of Europe's most active volanoes churned into activity. Spectacular lava flows and smoke from an active volcano on the Italian island of Stromboli on Monday sparked fear among inhabitants but geophysicists said the situation was under control.
Stromboli is part of the seven-island Eolian Archipelago just off Sicily in southern Italy.
The volcano is active but on Monday there was a particularly powerful eruption and sustained lava flows following four days of heightened activity.
© NASA
All climate scientists agree that the sun affects Earth's climate to some extent. They only disagree about whether or not the effect form the sun is minor compared to man-made causes.
© Unknown
When I told the December 2012 UN climate summit in Doha that there had been no warming for at least 16 years, the furious delegates howled me down.
The UN later edited the videotape to remove the howling. The delegates were furious not because I was speaking out of turn (they did not know that at the time) but because the truth was inconvenient.
The earthquake, about 10 to 12 kilometres from Wynyard, hit at 7.21am (AEDT) on Sunday, sending short and sharp tremors to nearby Burnie and as far away as Launceston, said Geoscience Australia seismologist Jonathan Bathgate.
Mr Bathgate said the agency received around 100 calls from residents who felt the tremors.
"It's been fairly widely-felt across that section of Tasmania," he said.
"They generally hear a loud noise and feel a sharp, sudden jolt.
"The phones have been just ringing constantly.
"I think it woke a few people up."
© Dreamstime
Dozens of record highs were set or tied from Ontario through Florida on Saturday while record lows were found throughout the West. Additional records have been broken as of Sunday afternoon, especially over the mid-Atlantic into western New England.
Below is a list of selected official record high temperatures from Saturday:
- Montgomery, Ala. - 80 degrees broke the previous record of 76 from 1950.
- Tampa, Fla. - 83 degrees broke the previous record of 82 from 1989.
- Atlanta, Ga. - 76 degrees broke the previous record of 71 from 1995.
- Alpena, Mich. - 57 degrees broke the record of 49 from 2005.
- Bradford, Pa. - 53 degrees broke the record of 50 from 2006.
- Bluefield, W.V. - 72 degrees broke the record of 68 from 2005.
- Ottawa, Ontario - 45 degrees broke the record of 42 from 1932.
- Toronto, Ontario - 55 degrees broke the record of 49 from 2006.
- Columbia, S.C. - 82 degrees broke the record of 74 from 2005.
© Richard Herrmann / Seapics.com
Bluefin tuna.
Bluefin tuna.
Populations of bluefin tuna in the western Pacific Ocean are down by nearly 97 percent from pre-fishing levels, according to a stock assessment by researchers.
"We found the Pacific bluefin stock is being overfished," said Steve Teo, a fisheries biologist at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif., who was involved in the assessment.
The news comes a few days after an enormous, 489-pound (222-kilogram) tuna fetched $1.76 million at a Japanese auction, the Associated Press reported. Strong demand for tuna, primarily for use in sushi, has driven increased harvesting of the fish. Over the past 15 years, its population in the western Pacific has steadily declined and is now at or near an all-time low, Teo told LiveScience.
There are currently no catch limits for tuna in the western Pacific. About 90 percent of the fish that are caught are juveniles, according to the stock assessment.
Amanda Nickson, director of global tuna conservation for the Pew Environment Group, called for a temporary halt to fishing. "We think the most responsible thing to do is to suspend the fishery until we can put measures in place that will ensure that the population decline is reversed," Nickson said.
She called on the governments of the countries that harvest the fish - including Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Mexico and the United States - to do something about the tuna's plummeting numbers.
Preliminary readings are reporting a M5.7 to M5.9 earthquake
The epicenter was located in the middle of the Gulf which means that both coasts (Baja California and Mexico) will have been shaken but will normally not have damage or injuries.
© Wikimedia Commons
A hot spot is visible on MODIS satellite data. For the moment, no precise other information about the nature of the eruption is available, as the island is remote and most of its population had been relocated after the last major activity in 2004.
Air pollution in the Chinese capital has hit dangerous marks, reaching beyond the permissible level of pollution on the local environmental center's scale. Beijing residents are recommended to stay indoors by local authorities.
The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center has reported the rising of air-quality indices since Friday in many parts of the city.
A warning scrolled across the monitoring center's website says that the density of PM 2.5 had reached 700 micrograms per cubic meter in many parts of Beijing and that the polluted air was expected to linger for the next three days.
The index indicates the level of airborne PM 2.5 particulates, at which particle matters are considered the most harmful to health. Air is considered good when the index is at 50 or below, but hazardous with a reading between 301 and 500, when people are warned to avoid outdoor physical activities.
The city's authorities have blamed a lack of wind and foggy conditions for the high concentration of air pollutants.
"It is expected that air pollution in Beijing will remain heavy during the daytime today... people are advised to stay indoors as much as possible," China's state TV quoted Beijing's environmental protection center as saying on Friday.
