Earth Changes
New branch revealed in latest data from ice shelf
The rift in the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica now has a second branch, which is moving in the direction of the ice front, Swansea University researchers revealed after studying the latest satellite data. The main rift in Larsen C, which is likely to lead to one of the largest icebergs ever recorded, is currently 180 km long. The new branch of the rift is 15 km long.
Last year, researchers from the UK's Project Midas, led by Swansea University, reported that the rift was growing fast. Now, just 20km of ice is keeping the 5,000 sq km piece from floating away.
According to the Icelandic Met Office the earthquakes are not related to Mt. Hekla and are not a sign that an eruption is imminent. No injuries or property damage has been reported.
Comment: A shallow earthquake of 5.8 magnitude was registered in the Scotia Sea (South Atlantic) on the same day.

A man walks past an abandoned car on a flooded residential street in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, May 4, 2017. Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for much of Quebec.
The Quebec government says Canadian Forces personnel have been enlisted to help battle the floodwaters in that province, where the storm is most severe.
More than 130 communities there have been hit by flooding and some 700 people have abandoned their homes.
Environment Canada says a massive system is slowly drenching much of Ontario, the Maritimes and Quebec. Record precipitation levels — with double to triple the seasonal norms for rainfall — have threatened to trigger widespread flooding in those areas.
Rainfall advisories were lifted for Montreal and Toronto early Saturday.
However, elsewhere in Quebec, along the Gaspé Peninsula, Environment Canada warns up to an additional 100 millimetres could fall.
Comment: See these related articles for more information:
- Global cloud cover changes caused by increases in galactic cosmic rays not CO2
- Record rain and snow as Cosmic Rays increase; biased media only focuses on heat
- Physicists claim more evidence for link between cosmic rays and cloud formation
- Study: Solar activity has a direct impact on Earth's cloud cover
- Cloud mystery: Climate change and cosmic rays
- Cosmic rays reaching Earth increased 13% since 2015

The clearly defined narrow cloud is believed to be cause by the Helm wind - a result of the geograph of the fells - and was seen by thousands of people as it drifted over Cumbria
Known as Helm Bar, the 'roll cloud' formation stretched across the sky above Carlisle, Cumbria.
Extreme weather conditions which are unique to the highest point of the Pennines created the striking tube-shaped cloud.
The helm bar cloud formation is only said to end when the direction of the wind changes again.
A similar incident occurred in 2011, when the beautiful beaches of San Francisco Bay were choked with the fetid corpses of leopard sharks. Similar die-offs have been reported going back to 1967.
"I look at it as a 50-year-old shark murder mystery, and we are hopefully closing in on the killer," said California Department of Fish and Wildlife senior fish pathologist Mark Okihiro to Bay Nature, a California conservation group.
The Sheriff's Office identified the woman as 59-year-old Jane Marie Egle, who lived in a home near the Bent Creek Forest.
Egle had visible cuts on her body that are consistent with an animal attack, but her exact cause of death had not been determined by Friday, said Natalie Bailey, spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office.
The county's Animal Services Division responded to the residence around 5:20 p.m. Monday after receiving a call for assistance.
When deputies arrived, Egle was lying on the floor unresponsive inside her home, Bailey said. An aggressive dog, a South African Boerboel, was also in the home and would not allow anyone inside.
In Jessore, two people and a cow were killed at Nishchintpur village of Jhikargachha upazila after being struck by a thunderbolt.
The deceased are Yunus Ali, 25, son of Akbar Ali, and Jasimuddin, son of Tajuddin.
Masud Karim, officer-in-charge of Jhikargachha police station, said the lightning struck them while they were going to a field in the morning.

The Fuego volcano is seen from Alotenango municipality, Sacatepequez department, about 30 km southwest of Guatemala City, as it erupts on May 5, 2017.
Guatemala's volcanic monitor, Insivumeh, said in a statement that thick columns of ash reached between 34,000 feet and 37,000 feet above sea level, amid loud explosions and extended new lava flows.
According to Insivumeh's statement, ash was swept more than 12 miles towards the south, southwest and west and fell in the areas of San Pedro Yepocapa, Sangre de Cristo, Panimache I and II.
Local media reported that the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred) has not yet reported damages after the explosion, which is the fourth so far this year.
The volcano is located about 30 miles southwest of the Guatemalan capital.

Workers and wine growers light heaters early in the morning, to protect vineyards from frost damage outside Chablis, France
Temperatures plunged below freezing in late April, hurting shoots already well-developed because of earlier mild weather.
Winegrowers have used candles, heaters and even the down-draft from helicopters to try to save crops.
"It's a frost like we haven't seen since 1991," Paul-Francois Vranken, chief executive officer of Vranken-Pommery Monopole told Bloomberg, adding that winemakers "are worried."
April's frost damage spread across Europe's wine-producing regions, but France was worst affected.
According to the Bordeaux wine federation FGVB, frost affected as much as 60 percent of the Bordeaux wine-growing areas and will cut the volume of the 2017 vintage by as much as 40 percent. Some Bordeaux chateaus say they lost almost everything.












Comment: Our planet is in constant alteration and flux. This rapid, significant and observable event is part of the bigger changes that are now upon us.