Earth ChangesS


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Avalanche blocks tunnel in Northern Italy: 6 thousand people isolated

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6 thousand people remained isolated after an avalanche in the Aosta Valley hit a tunnel in the municipality of Gaby, in the province of Aosta. The tunnel is located on regional road 44 in the Lys valley and, due to the fall of an impressive snow avalanche, it has been closed for a few hours now. The two municipalities further upstream are completely isolated from the rest of the region.

Italy is currently affected by a strong wave of bad weather. Cyclone Fedra gives no respite in the North, where, on Monday 4 March 2024, the orange alert has already been triggered, in particular in Piedmont and Emilia Romagna.


Fire

Volcano on uninhabited Galapagos island erupts, sends lava flowing to sea

In this photo released by Galapagos National, La Cumbre volcano erupts a the Fernandina Island, in Galรกpagos Islands, Ecuador. Sunday, March 3, 2024.
© Galapagos National ParkIn this photo released by Galapagos National, La Cumbre volcano erupts a the Fernandina Island, in Galรกpagos Islands, Ecuador. Sunday, March 3, 2024.
A volcano on an uninhabited island in the Galapagos has begun erupting, lighting up the nighttime sky as lava tumbled down its sides toward the sea.

The La Cumbre volcano on Fernandina island began erupting Saturday around midnight in what officials with Ecuador's Geophysical Institute said could be its largest eruption since 2017. The 1,476-meter (4,842-foot) volcano last erupted in 2020.

Images shared on social media taken by visitors to the Galapagos show the volcano profiled against a crimson red sky.

While the eruption posed no risk to humans, the island is home to a number of species, including iguanas, penguins and flightless cormorants. In 2019, scientists found on the island a giant tortoise not seen in more than a century and had been feared extinct.

The La Cumbre volcano is one of the most active in the Galapagos Island chain, which is famous throughout the world for helping 19th century British scientist Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution.

Source: AP


Arrow Down

Rockfall after heavy rain in two sections of the Central Highway in Peru

The rock slide caused extensive damage.
The rock slide caused extensive damage.
The Deviandes concessionaire has ordered the total closure of the road from Corcona to Casapalca, so drivers are urged to take alternative routes.

The heavy rains that have fallen in recent days have caused heavy rocks to fall in two sections of the Central Highway, an important road that connects Lima with the mountains.

The RPP correspondent in Junรญn reported that one of the avalanches was recorded at kilometer 97 of the Central Highway, in the Cacray sector, belonging to the district of San Mateo, province of Huarochirรญ.


Seismograph

Major mag. 6.7 earthquake - Macquarie Island Region

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A very strong magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurred under the sea 462 km (287 mi) from Australia in the early morning of Monday, Mar 4, 2024 at 3.16 am local time (GMT +11). The quake had a very shallow depth of 10 km (6 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so).

EARTHQUAKE DETAILS

Date & time Mar 3, 2024 16:16:51 UTC
Local time at epicenter Monday, Mar 4, 2024, at 03:16 am (GMT +11)
Status Confirmed
Magnitude 6.7
Depth 10.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude 58.9042ยฐS / 159.1636ยฐE Australia

Cloud Precipitation

California and Nevada are battered by monster 'life-threatening' blizzard

california nevada blizzard
© GettyWorkers clear train tracks as snow falls north of Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains during a powerful winter storm, March 2, 2024
145mph winds and tornado warnings force ski resorts to shut amid avalanche fears

California authorities shut down 100 miles of Interstate 80 on Friday as the biggest snow storm of the season bore down on the Sierra Nevada.

Residents were urged to take shelter and stay off roads as they prepared for up to 10 feet of snow in some areas and damaging winds up to 145mph.

'AAANNNDD WE'RE CLOSED!!' the California Highway Patrol posted on X, saying the closure was due to 'spin outs, high winds, and low visibility. No estimated time of reopening the freeway.'

Authorities closed the interstate in both directions after 5pm on a day when the majority of more than a dozen ski resorts around Lake Tahoe were closed, a tornado touched down in central California and visitors to Yosemite National Park were told to leave.

Cloud Precipitation

Rain kills at least 37 within 48 hours in Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa worst hit

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At least 37 people were killed in rain-related incidents across Pakistan in the past 48 hours, authorities said on Sunday.

The rains that have swept across Pakistan have led to the collapse of houses and triggered landslides that blocked roads, particularly in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, they said.

At least 27 people, mostly children, reportedly died in rain-related incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan since Thursday night, the provincial disaster management authority said.


Info

Weird dent in Earth's magnetic field is messing with auroras in the Southern Hemisphere

The South Atlantic Anomaly makes a section of the southern aurora weaker and likely dimmer.
Aurora Southern
© Skyimages via Getty ImagesAurora seen above Queenstown, New Zealand. Researchers have discovered a huge dent in Earth's magnetic field weakens the southern lights.
A bizarre dent in Earth's magnetic field above the southern Atlantic Ocean weakens the southern lights, new research finds.

The South Atlantic Anomaly is a large, oval-shaped region over South America and the southern Atlantic Ocean where Earth's magnetic field is weakest. The anomaly is already well known for allowing charged particles from the sun to dip close to Earth's surface, exposing satellites orbiting above to high levels of ionizing radiation, according to NASA.

Now, a study published Feb. 8 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters finds that this weak region also affects the southern aurora, the glowing lights in the upper atmosphere that can be seen at high latitudes. The southern lights occur over and around Antarctica and are the equivalent of the northern lights that dance over the Arctic and Subarctic.

Auroras are caused by solar particles interacting with gas molecules in Earth's atmosphere and are usually considered largely under the control of the sun, said Zhi-Yang Liu, first author of the study and a researcher at the Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology at Peking University in China. But the new research highlights the two-way nature of the relationship, Liu told Live Science in an email.

Cloud Precipitation

Heavy rains bring floods to Peru at the end of February

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Heavy rains and storms led to streams reaching critical levels that caused flash floods in Piura, northern Peru, on Thursday (Feb 29).


Cow

Farmer killed in gaur attack in Tamil Nadu, India

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A farmer was killed in an attack by a gaur at the foothills of Yercaud here on Friday.

A forest officer identified the deceased as P Madhayyan, 42, of Thathanur village near Veeranam.

He said the incident occurred in the early hours of Friday, when Madhayyan visited his agricultural farm at the foothills of Yercaud.

"When he cried for help, people in the vicinity rushed to his rescue.

However, Madhayyan succumbed to his severe injuries on the spot." When alerted, police visited the spot and sent his body for postmortem. Forest officers, meanwhile, urged the villagers to exercise caution while visiting their farms at the foothills and forest fringes before dawn and after dusk.

Doberman

4-year-old dies from dog attack in North Central Illinois

dog attack
A 4-year-old child died on Thursday afternoon following a dog mauling in Ogle County, according to WREX, the NBC affiliate in Rockford.

At around 4:40 p.m. that day, the Ogle County Sheriff's Department received a 911 call regarding a child who had been attacked by a dog in Monroe Center, a village of about 400 residents. Monroe Center is located approximately 19 miles south of Rockford.

The child was rushed to an area hospital and pronounced dead from their injuries. An investigation into the attack remains underway.