Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Prehistoric East African Volcano Roars to Life


Earth Week
Sat, 18 Jun 2011 18:23 UTC
Image
© NASANASA's Aqua satellite captured Nabro's ash plume blowing westward into Ethiopia on Wednesday.
Eritrea's long-dormant Nabro volcano burst to life for the first time in recorded history, belching plumes of ash near the border with Ethiopia.

Air transport was disrupted in the immediate region, and briefly threatened to stream into airways of the Middle East.
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Cloud Lightning

Heavy Rains Kill 11 in India, Six Trawlers Missing


Monsters and Critics.com
Sat, 18 Jun 2011 02:36 UTC
New Delhi - At least 11 people died and six fishing boats carrying around 100 fishermen were missing as monsoon rains lashed India's eastern coastal state of West Bengal, officials said Saturday.

The heavy downpour which began on Friday inundated the main city of Kolkata and disrupted road and rail traffic across the state.

Kolkata received 154 millimetres of rainfall on Friday, the highest for the city on any single day in June in the last decade.

Boats had been pressed into service to rescue people in some waterlogged areas, officials said.

'At least 11 people have been killed in rain-related accidents including landslides and house-collapses in West Bengal over the past 24 hours,' Monoj Das, an officer at Kolkata's main police control room said.
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Umbrella

India: Heavy rains lash Chandigarh, surrounding areas


Mangalorean.com
Sat, 18 Jun 2011 13:43 UTC
Chandigarh, June 18, Intermittent spells of moderate to heavy rain Saturday morning, accompanied by strong winds and thunder, brought welcome relief from summer heat to Chandigarh and its surrounding areas.

Heavy rains lashed Chandigarh and various parts of Punjab and Haryana Saturday morning, bringing down the mercury in this region.

Chandigarh recorded a minimum temperature of 22.2 degrees Celsius Saturday morning, which was five notches below normal. Besides, this centrally administered city recorded a rainfall of 36.2 mm in the last 24 hours.

"We had light rainfall in various parts of this region Friday night and heavy showers this morning. This trend is going on for the last couple of days. Whenever mercury starts soaring, we have rainfall to bring it down. This is due to the movement of western disturbances over this region," a met official told IANS here.

"We are expecting similar conditions to continue for the next four-five days. Though this is not unusual, the frequency of showers has increased in June this time. We are expecting the actual monsoon to arrive in this part of the country by the end of this month," he added.
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© Yahoo Maps
Punjab's Amritsar city recorded a minimum temperature of 23.4 degrees Celsius Saturday morning while Patiala (12.6 mm rainfall) and Ludhiana (27.6 mm rainfall) settled at a low of 23.3 and 21.7 degrees Celsius, respectively.

In Haryana, Ambala received heavy rainfall of 63.5 mm and recorded a minimum temperature of 22.8 degrees Celsius. On the other hand, Hisar recorded a minimum temperature of 27.1 degrees Celsius.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Montana - 2011 Breaks Great Falls' 11-Year Flood Cycle

Richard Ecke
greatfallstribune.com
Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Google maps
Eleven seems to be a magic number for Great Falls and high water.

Three of the worst floods in the Electric City in the last 60 years occurred in 1953, 1964 and 1975. Each year was 11 years apart in succession.

Superstitious people figured the year 1986 would be a flood year, but it wasn't. During the 1980s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversaw construction of the new dike in Great Falls.

Eleven years after 1986, the Sun River saw record high water for the district in 1997, said West Great Falls Flood Commissioner Sandy Mares. That year, high water reached 3,318.5 feet above sea level where the Watson Coulee drainage runs into the Sun River at 27th Street S.W.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Melting Snowpack May Cause Floods in Yosemite National Park

Mark Grossi
The Fresno Bee
Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:25 UTC
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© Craig Kohlruss/The Fresno BeeYosemite Falls and the swollen Merced River and make a scenic photo for a visitor on Monday, June 13, in Yosemite Valley.
The rising Merced River today may force some Yosemite Valley campers to higher ground, the National Park Service says.

As June temperatures climb, the near-record snowpack is melting faster, which may cause flooding in Yosemite National Park for several days, according to the federal River Forecast Center.

The problem is not expected to damage buildings, but flooding might force officials to re-route traffic on Southside Drive.

Park officials say they are telling more than 1,600 campers near the river about the risk.

"We don't know how many people might be affected," said park spokesman Scott Gediman. "We will move people to safer sites, depending on where the water goes."
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Cloud Lightning

India: Heavy rains uproot trees, disrupt traffic


Times of India
Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:59 UTC
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© Unknown
Ranchi: Three passengers travelling in an auto rickshaw had a miraculous escape when one of them noticed a tree falling on their vehicle as heavy rain uprooted trees and disrupted traffic in many parts of the state capital since Friday morning.

Officials of local Met office said the city received around 25.6mm of rain from 8am to 5.30pm.

"The city will continue to receive good rainfall and there will be strong wind in the coming days," an official said. The worst-hit locality of the city was Doranda and Hinoo. However there was no casualty.

Ajay Kumar, a resident of Hinoo, said around six trees were uprooted in the area because of strong wind and rain. "A truck driver lost control and rammed into a tree uprooting it. The vehicle also damaged the tree," said Kumar.

Kumar, who was in a nearby bus stand when the tree fell on the auto rickshaw, said the vehicle had just stopped to pick up passengers when the accident took place.

"One of the passengers, who had to alight there, noticed that the tree was falling on the vehicle and raised the alarm. Two passengers along with the driver quickly moved out of the auto," he added. Clogged drains that overflowed on roads worsened the situation.

Sources in Doranda police station said they had to face tough time in clearing the road to ensure traffic movement. "State revenue and land reforms minister Mathura Prasad Mahato also got stuck in the traffic jam for a while," said police.

Since most drains are clogged and civic workers have gone on a strike, some of the traders installed a temporary structure over the drain so that customers do not have to wade through water to reach their shops.
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Cloud Lightning

Fishermen go missing as heavy rains lash Bengal


IBN Live
Sat, 18 Jun 2011 07:47 UTC
Kolkata: Thirty-three trawlers and over 500 fishermen have gone missing as heavy rain continued to lash West Bengal. Only three trawlers have been traced by now and one of them is in Bangladesh.
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The state government has appealed to the coast guard and Navy for assistance in the search operations.
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© Unknown
Howrah, Kolkata and South 24 Paraganas have been affected. The rough weather has left roads and railway tracks waterlogged.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has delayed her visit to Delhi because of the emergency.

"We can't anticipate nature's fury, but we are doing our best to handle the situation. As for the missing fishermen, we are monitoring the situation. Even if these fishermen have strayed into Bangladesh, we've told the Bangladeshi authorities that they should not be harassed, and once the rain subsides, they should be able to come back," Mamata said.
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Attention

Serious horse disease dourine returns to Europe


Horse Welfare News
Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:15 UTC
horses
© Unknown
International horse charity World Horse Welfare has been made aware of two outbreaks of the serious equine disease dourine in Europe. Evidence of the disease has been reported in Catania and Sicily and World Horse Welfare is monitoring the situation closely.

According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which announced the outbreaks, no horses can be exported from Sicily for at least six months, and they recommend that horse owners and keepers of breeding animals understand the clinical signs for dourine. Dourine is a notifiable disease, so if you suspect your horse might have contracted it then you are legally obliged to notify your local Animal Health Office.

Defra reported that one of the affected horses was humanely euthanized while the second was still alive, but critically ill, at the time of notification (27 May 2011).
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Video

Synthetic Sea - Plastics in the Pacific Ocean


youtube
Fri, 06 May 2011 22:00 UTC

Captain Charles Moore describes the marine debris research he has conducted on behalf of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation over the past 12 years.

Current concerns include the ubiquitous presence of endocrine disrupting
synthetics in the marine environment, with pollutant loads being transferred up the food chain to haunt fish, cetaceans and humans.

Comment: To learn more about the synthetic sea and how the ocean has become The Biggest Dump in the World, read the following articles:

What is the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch?
Pacific Ocean garbage patch worries researchers
Huge Garbage Patch Found in Atlantic Too
Antarctic Garbage Patch Coming?
New garbage patch discovered in Indian Ocean
The world's rubbish dump stretches from Hawaii to Japan
A Passion to Clean up the Pacific Ocean's Great 'Garbage Patch'

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Phoenix

US: High heat, strong winds still threaten Western wildfires

David Sanders
Associated Press
Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:13 UTC
Albuquerque, New Mexico - Gusty winds and high temperatures are hampering firefighters trying to protect homes, a popular national park and tinder dry patches of forest from several wildfires burning throughout the Southwest.
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