Changes measured by the Swarm satellite show that our magnetic field is weakening 10 times faster than originally predicted, especially over the Western Hemisphere

Earth's magnetic field, which protects the planet from huge blasts of deadly solar radiation, has been weakening over the past six months, according to data collected by a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite array called Swarm.

The biggest weak spots in the magnetic field - which extends 370,000 miles (600,000 kilometers) above the planet's surface - have sprung up over the Western Hemisphere, while the field has strengthened over areas like the southern Indian Ocean, according to the magnetometers onboard the Swarm satellites - three separate satellites floating in tandem.

The scientists who conducted the study are still unsure why the magnetic field is weakening, but one likely reason is that Earth's magnetic poles are getting ready to flip, said Rune Floberghagen, the ESA's Swarm mission manager. In fact, the data suggest magnetic north is moving toward Siberia.

"Such a flip is not instantaneous, but would take many hundred if not a few thousand years," Floberghagen told Live Science. "They have happened many times in the past."[50 Amazing Facts About Planet Earth]

Scientists already know that magnetic north shifts. Once every few hundred thousand years the magnetic poles flip so that a compass would point south instead of north. While changes in magnetic field strength are part of this normal flipping cycle, data from Swarm have shown the field is starting to weaken faster than in the past. Previously, researchers estimated the field was weakening about 5 percent per century, but the new data revealed the field is actually weakening at 5 percent per decade, or 10 times faster than thought. As such, rather than the full flip occurring in about 2,000 years, as was predicted, the new data suggest it could happen sooner.

An immature Pacific loon was seen at Seal Rocks along the coast in Rye on Saturday and Sunday.

This bird normally spends its summers in the Arctic making it a rare sighting in New Hampshire. It is also listed in Roger Tory Peterson's Field Guide to the Birds East of the Rockies as an Arctic loon.

It was reported as part of the New Hampshire Audubon's Rare Bird Alert for Tuesday, July 15.

A dead humpback whale has washed ashore at Blacks Beach this morning.

It is believed that it is the same whale that was seen in the water yesterday.

Sharks were seen feeding off the whale at Blacks Beach yesterday afternoon.

The dead whale was been spotted in waters close to shore at Blacks Beach, a National Parks department spokesman said.


"A number of sharks are feeding on the carcass and rangers in attendance are urging the public to refrain from boating or swimming in the area for safety," the spokesman said.

"There is no clear indication of a cause for the whale's death.

Residents are asked to stay away from the area.

Just scan down this list! It's amazing. Feels like October in Oklahoma, Iowa, Alabama, Michigan, Ohio, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Mississippi, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Kansas, even Manitoba. Have you seen much about this in the mainstream media?

Cold front brings record-breaking temperatures to Oklahoma City

Temperatures in Oklahoma City climbed only to 72 degrees Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. The record for the coolest high temperature for July 16 in Oklahoma City was 74 degrees, set in 1967, according to National Weather Service records.

Cold front brings record-breaking temperatures to Oklahoma City on Wednesday

Record low temperature for Sioux City, Iowa

The National Weather Service recorded a low of 49 degrees at Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, breaking the old record of 50 degrees set in 1976.

After record low, Sioux City to see warming trend

Cold Breaks 128-Year Record in Mobile - Huntsville ties 69-year-old record low

Forecasters say Mobile, Alabama, has broken a 128-year-old record with a low temperature of 64 F, one degree cooler than the low of 65 F set in 1886. Meanwhile, Huntsville tied a record low for the date of 59 degrees set in 1945. In fact, temperatures ranged from the mid- to upper 50s across north Alabama.

Cold temps break 128-year record in Mobile

After moving over extreme northern Hainan China Friday afternoon, local time, the eye of Super Typhoon Rammasun will crash into the Leizhou Peninsula early Friday evening.

Rammasun, packing winds of 155 mph with higher gusts, is expected to make landfall again as the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane early Friday evening, local time.

Rammasun will likely bring widespread winds of over 100 mph to northern Hainan Island on Friday afternoon and Friday night (local time) with higher gusts. Widespread wind damage is expected across northern Hainan, as well as the Leizhou Peninsula to the north.

Hundreds of thousands have been forced to evacuate with over 1 million people in total affected in China as heavy rainstorms batter Hunan and Guizhou provinces, with reports of several deaths and mass destruction.

Some 720,000 people from 240 townships in Hunan are now affected, the provincial flood control headquarters said on Tuesday, Xinhua reports. At least 460 homes have been destroyed and 149,400 residents have been relocated.

The ancient town of Fenghang was flooded with more than 120,000 locals and tourists evacuated since Monday night. Multiple temporary settlements have been set up to cater for the displaced people. Power supply in the region has also been cut off, prompting the local hydrographical bureau to issue a red alert, at 10:10 am local time.

The crater on the Yamal Peninsula was caused by aliens, a meteorite, a stray missile, or an explosive gas cocktail released due to global warming, according to various theories in recent days.

Images of the remarkable phenomenon have gone round the world since The Siberian Times highlighted helicopter images of the giant hole earlier this week.

The first expedition to the scene - the scientists have just returned - took these epic pictures of the hole, including the darkening pattern on the inner rim.


Now they are using Russian satellite pictures to fix the moment when it suddenly formed.

They found the crater - around up to 70 metres deep - has an icy lake at its bottom, and water is cascading down its eroding permafrost walls.

It is not as wide as aerial estimates which suggested between 50 and 100 metres.

Earthquake risk assessments can seem pretty abstract at first glance, with their "percent probabilities" and "peak ground accelerations." But the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS's) national hazard maps, updated periodically, pack a powerful punch: Insurance companies and city planners rely heavily on the maps, which influence billions of dollars in construction every year. Today, USGS scientists released the most recent earthquake hazard assessments for the country. Although the picture hasn't changed much on a national scale since the last report in 2008, the devil is in the details, the report's authors say - and some areas in the country are now considered to be at higher risk for powerful quakes than once thought.

The best-known earthquake zones - California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Intermountain West - still dominate the hazard picture. Farther east, hot spots around the New Madrid Seismic Zone in the center of the country and Charleston, South Carolina, reflect the memory of powerful historical quakes (in 1811 to 1812 and 1886, respectively). But, in fact, all 50 states have the potential for earthquakes, and damaging ground shaking could happen in 42 of the 50 states within 50 years, the new report suggests. Of those, 16 states, all of which have had earthquakes of at least magnitude 6 in historical times, are considered highly likely to experience damaging ground shaking.

To assess the risk of where and how often future earthquakes will occur, and how hard the ground will shake, scientists are constantly seeking new data from these regions and using them to develop new ways of modeling ground motion, says Mark Petersen, a seismologist at USGS in Golden, Colorado, and the lead author of the new report. Among the latest temblors incorporated into the assessment is the 2011 5.8-magnitude Virginia earthquake, which "helped us understand better ground shaking in the central and eastern United States," Petersen says. New data also came from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which in 2010 published its own risk assessment for earthquake damage to its power plants in the central and eastern United States. These all suggest the region has the potential to experience an even more powerful quake.

After record-challenging chill this week, temperatures could rebound to their highest level of the summer so far in parts of the North Central states next week.

A forecast shift in the jet stream will set into motion a marked temperature turnaround this weekend into next week over portions of the northern Plains and Midwest. The jet stream is a river of high-speed winds high above the ground that guides storms and air masses along.

Low-lying south Florida, at the front line of climate change in the US, will be swallowed as sea levels rise. Astonishingly, the population is growing, house prices are rising and building goes on. The problem is the city is run by climate change deniers
A drive through the sticky Florida heat into Alton Road in Miami Beach can be an unexpectedly awkward business. Most of the boulevard, which runs north through the heart of the resort's most opulent palm-fringed real estate, has been reduced to a single lane that is hemmed in by bollards, road-closed signs, diggers, trucks, workmen, stacks of giant concrete cylinders and mounds of grey, foul-smelling earth.

It is an unedifying experience but an illuminating one - for this once glamorous thoroughfare, a few blocks from Miami Beach's art deco waterfront and its white beaches, has taken on an unexpected role. It now lies on the front line of America's battle against climate change and the rise in sea levels that it has triggered.

"Climate change is no longer viewed as a future threat round here," says atmosphere expert Professor Ben Kirtman, of the University of Miami. "It is something that we are having to deal with today."