Earth ChangesS


Nuke

Threat to Japan's Food Chain Multiplies as Radiation Spreads

Aya Takada
Bloomberg
Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:10 UTC
Packs of beef
© Tomohiro Ohsumi/BloombergPacks of beef are displayed for sale in a supermarket in Fukushima prefecture, Japan.
Radiation threats to Japan's food chain are multiplying as cesium emissions from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant spread more widely, moving from hay to cattle to beef.

Hay contaminated with as much as 690,000 becquerels a kilogram, compared with a government safety standard of 300 becquerels, has been fed to cattle. Beef with unsafe levels of the radioactive element was detected in four prefectures, the health ministry said July 23.

Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano has said officials were unaware of the risk that rice farmers might ship tainted hay to cattle growers. That highlights the government's inability to think ahead and to act, said Mariko Sano, secretary general for Shufuren, a housewives organization in Tokyo.

"The government is so slow to move," Sano said. "They've done little to ensure food safety."
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Radar

US, California: Small earthquake hits Los Angeles area; no damage


The Examiner
Sat, 23 Jul 2011 04:41 UTC
A small earthquake has hit the Los Angeles area, but there have been no reports of damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-3.3 temblor struck just after midnight Saturday. It hit 13 miles south of the Los Angeles Civic Center at a depth of about 10 miles.

Matt Spence with the Los Angeles Fire Department says no injuries or damages have been reported.

Source: The Associated Press
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Arrow Up

Australia: Freak weather forces waterfall to flow UPWARDS in extreme 75mph winds


The Daily Mail
Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:01 UTC
Extreme weather has been battering Australia this week.

Winds have become so strong that waterfalls have been blown upwards.

The strong winds, which are seriously affecting the waterways of southern Australia, have gone up to 75mph.

Image
© BBCExtreme: Winds in southern Australia are so strong that even waterfalls have been affected
Earlier this week, Sydney saw a month's worth of rain falling in just one day, according to the BBC.

Although the ferries which hundreds of commuters rely on have kept running, they have provided rocky rides for those brave enough to keep travelling on them.
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Bizarro Earth

Australia: Another dugong death

David Sparks
The Observer
Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:50 UTC
dudong
© ContributedThis dead dugong was found on Witt Island by Clive Last, who is increasing worried by marine animal deaths in Gladstone Harbour

Another dead dugong has been found in Gladstone Harbour, and the man who found it wants some answers.

Clive Last, who in May discovered a dead dolphin on Turtle Island, was shocked on Friday afternoon when he found the body of a dead dugong on Witt Island.

Mr Last is wary of suggestions marine animal deaths this year can be attributed to boat strikes and net fishing. He said those explanations didn't match his observations on the harbour.
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Bizarro Earth

Japan: Earthquake Magnitude 6.2 - Near the East Coast of Honshu


USGS
Sun, 24 Jul 2011 15:01 UTC
Honshu Quake_240711
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 18:51:25 UTC

Monday, July 25, 2011 at 03:51:25 AM at epicenter

Location:
37.758°N, 141.540°E

Depth:
35.6 km (22.1 miles)

Region
NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Distances:
79 km (49 miles) SE (133°) from Sendai, Honshu, Japan

94 km (59 miles) E (88°) from Fukushima, Honshu, Japan

95 km (59 miles) NE (36°) from Iwaki, Honshu, Japan

282 km (175 miles) NE (34°) from TOKYO, Japan
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Bizarro Earth

Alaskan Volcano Eruption Warning Threatening Air Travel


redOrbit
Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:37 UTC
Cleveland Volcano
© GeoEye 2010This GeoEye IKONOS image shows a faint plume issuing from Cleveland Volcano at 2:31 PM on September 14, 2010. Red in this image highlights areas of vegetation detected by the near-infrared channel.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory has issued an eruption advisory for a remote volcano in the Aleutian Islands which, according to various media reports, lies underneath a major American flight route.

According to the Daily Mail, the volcano in question--5,676-foot tall Mount Cleveland (also known as Cleveland Volcano) on the western end of the island of Chuhinadak--"could be poised for its first big eruption in ten years," which has experts anticipating that "it could erupt at any moment, spewing ash clouds up to 20,000 feet above sea level with little further warning."

Yereth Rosen of Reuters reports that "thermal anomalies" had been detected via satellite on Thursday, and that the volcano, which is located approximately 940 miles southwest of Anchorage, "could erupt with little further warning."

"A major eruption could disrupt international air travel because Cleveland Volcano, like others in the Aleutians, lies directly below the commercial airline flight path between North America and Asia, said John Power, scientist-in-charge at the Alaska Volcano Observatory," Rosen added.
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Camera

NASA catches 3 tropical cyclones at 1 time


Physorg
Fri, 22 Jul 2011 06:45 UTC
Nasa captures 3 cyclones
© NASA/NOAAIn this infrared image from the GOES-13 satellite on July 22 at 0845 UTC (4:45 a.m. EDT) Bret and Cindy are in the Atlantic, Low#1 (from a tropical wave) is in the Caribbean and Hurricane Dora is in the eastern Pacific, off the coast of Mexico.
It's not often that a satellite can capture an image of more than one tropical cyclone, but the GOES-13 satellite managed to get 3 tropical cyclones in two ocean basins in one image today. Bret and his "sister" Cindy are racing through the North Atlantic, while another area tries to develop far to their south. "Cousin" Dora is still a hurricane in the eastern Pacific.

An infrared image taken on July 22 at 0845 UTC (4:45 a.m. EDT), GOES-13 captured Tropical Depression Bret, Tropical Storm Cindy in the north Atlantic and low pressure area associated with a tropical wave in the Caribbean and Hurricane Dora is in the eastern Pacific, off the coast of Mexico. Cindy is 910 miles west-northwest of the Azores and Bret 295 miles northwest of Bermuda.

NASA's GOES Project issued an infrared image of both Bret and Cindy today from the GOES-13 satellite, which is operated by NOAA. The NASA GOES Project is housed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. and uses GOES-13 data from NOAA to create images and animations.

Bret Being Battered

During the morning of July 22 Bret has sped up on his track through the north Atlantic and weakened. Bret is being battered by winds and cooler waters.

Bret was a tropical depression at 8 a.m. EDT on July 22, with maximum sustained winds near 35 mph (55 kmh). He was speeding to the northeast near 21 mph (33 kmh). By noon (EDT) Bret had degenerated into a low pressure area. His center was near 37.7N and 64.2 W, about 375 miles north of Bermuda.
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Stop

Canada: Mud, rocks, trees slide onto Trans-Canada in British Columbia closing road for days


The Canadian Press
Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:00 UTC
A large mudslide has closed the Trans-Canada Highway between Lake Louise, Alta. and Golden, B.C.

Parks Canada spokesman Mark Merchant says mud, rock and large trees poured onto the highway late Friday night near the spot where the road overlooks the Spiral Tunnels on the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Merchant says no one was injured, but provincial officials in B.C. say the highway will likely remain closed until Sunday afternoon.

He says the slide likely occurred because the area has received a lot of rain lately.

Traffic is being detoured south on Highway 93, which has reopened after being closed Friday due to a fatal crash that involved a fuel tanker.

Last month, a woman was injured when her car was caught in a mudslide on the Trans-Canada between Hope and Chilliwack.
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Bizarro Earth

Canary Islands Government Monitors El Hierro Earthquake Swarm


Irish Weather Online
Sat, 23 Jul 2011 21:35 UTC
The Canary Islands Government has said it is monitoring an earthquake swarm on the small island of El Hierro where in excess of 400 tremors of low magnitude have been recorded in the past four days.

On Friday, the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Government Security Canary convened the first ever meeting of the Steering Committee and Volcanic Monitoring, reflected in the Specific Plan Protection Civil and Emergency for Volcanic Risk, given what it described "the significant increase in seismic activity".

Image
© Google EarthLocation of tremors on El Hierro
A statement (translated from Spanish) issued following the meeting outlined: "This committee met this morning (Friday) at the headquarters of the Directorate General Security and Emergency Tenerife, established after the assessment of information gathered from seismic and volcanological last July 17 by the National Geographic Institute (IGN) and Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands, the situation is total normal for the green light for the information population, activating mechanisms for monitoring and oversight needed to coordinate the actions of self civil population and information contained in the Plan."
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Bizarro Earth

US: Heavy Rainstorms are Chicago's Latest Weather Nightmare


Chicago Tribune
Sat, 23 Jul 2011 15:01 UTC
Heavy Rains in Chicago
© Robert Kozloff / Chicago TribuneA tow truck prepares to hook up a stranded car on the feeder ramp from I-90/94 to I-290 and the Congress Parkway downtown.
Those looking for some kind of a break from the heat of the last week got it overnight -- a rainstorm that dropped temperatures into the low 70s. But like the heat wave that preceded it, this rainstorm was anything but ordinary.

According to ChicagoWeatherCenter, the total rainfall at O'Hare -- 6.91 inches as of about 6:50 a.m. -- is the largest single-day rainfall since records began in 1871. The highest previous daily total was 6.64 inches on Sept. 12, 2008. And more rain is on the way.

There were rainfall totals as high as 7 inches as the storm moved noisily through the Chicago area after midnight, resulting in flash flood warnings from the National Weather Service and enough flooded roads and highways to make life miserable for passengers headed to or from O'Hare International Airport and make a mess of traffic overnight and into Saturday morning.

The north side got the brunt of the rain, with O'Hare International airport getting 5.53 inches in two hours, according to ChicagoWeathercenter.com. Some other totals of note reported by the Weather Center: 6.41 inches in Glenview, 5.4 inches in Arlington Heights and 5.49 inches in Elk Grove Village.
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