Earth ChangesS


Bad Guys

British parliamentary whitewash: "Fragile" Phil Jones cleared of manipulating the data after just one day


FoxNews.com
Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:22 UTC
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A first investigation into e-mails leaked from one of the world's leading climate research centers has largely vindicated the scientists involved -- although it was based on just a single day of testimony.

London - A first investigation into e-mails leaked from one of the world's leading climate research centers has largely vindicated the scientists involved -- although it was based on just a single day of testimony.

Comment: Wow, they investigated the thousands of emails detailing evidence of fraud in just one day! This must set a new speed-reading record?

The House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee said Wednesday that they'd seen no evidence to support charges that the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit or its director, Phil Jones, had tampered with data or perverted the peer review process to exaggerate the threat of global warming -- two of the most serious criticisms levied against the climatologist and his colleagues.

In their report, the committee said that, as far as it was able to ascertain, "the scientific reputation of Professor Jones and CRU remains intact," adding that nothing in the more than 1,000 stolen e-mails, or the controversy kicked up by their publication, challenged scientific consensus that "global warming is happening and that it is induced by human activity."

Comment: And that report will no doubt vindicate Jones et al also.

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Bizarro Earth

NASA Data Worse Than Climate-Gate Data, Space Agency Admits

Blake Snow
Fox News
Tue, 30 Mar 2010 08:21 UTC
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© NASA GISSMaps from NASA's GISS reveal temperatures where no data exist, thanks to mathematical extrapolation of data.
NASA was able to put a man on the moon, but the space agency can't tell you what the temperature was when it did. By its own admission, NASA's temperature records are in even worse shape than the besmirched Climate-gate data.

E-mail messages obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that NASA concluded that its own climate findings were inferior to those maintained by both the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) -- the scandalized source of the leaked Climate-gate e-mails -- and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center.

The e-mails from 2007 reveal that when a USA Today reporter asked if NASA's data "was more accurate" than other climate-change data sets, NASA's Dr. Reto A. Ruedy replied with an unequivocal no. He said "the National Climatic Data Center's procedure of only using the best stations is more accurate," admitting that some of his own procedures led to less accurate readings.

"My recommendation to you is to continue using NCDC's data for the U.S. means and [East Anglia] data for the global means," Ruedy told the reporter.
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Hourglass

Gulf Stream is Not Slowing Down, Says NASA

David Derbyshire
Mail Online
Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:59 UTC
Fears that global warming will shut down the Gulf Stream and plunge Britain into a mini-ice age are unfounded, a study shows.

There is no evidence the phenomenon - which brings a constant flow of warm water and mild weather to northern Europe - has slowed down over the past 20 years, climate scientists say.

'The changes we're seeing in overturning strength are probably part of a natural cycle,' said researcher Josh Willis, from Nasa.
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Cloud Lightning

300 rescued from blizzards in Ireland


Irish Independent
Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:37 UTC
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Heavy snow and winds caused overnight chaos in parts of the North with up to 300 people rescued from a mountain road after conditions overwhelmed vehicles.

The blizzard cut electricity to around 50,000 homes, while snowdrifts and fallen trees closed a large number of roads.

The police, coastguard, mountain rescue and Department of Environment launched a joint rescue operation after motorists became stranded when 3ft-high snowdrifts swept across the mountainous Glenshane Pass, a main route between Belfast and Derry.

Two evacuation centres were set up in Maghera and Dungiven in Co Derry to house the stranded, including schoolchildren whose bus had to be abandoned.
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Frog

Study Suggests Toads Can Detect Coming Earthquakes

Jill Lawless
The Associated Press
Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:28 UTC
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© AP Photo/Matt RourkeA toad is illuminated in blue light before being safely escorted across the road during its spring breeding migration in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia.
When it comes to predicting earthquakes, toads - warts and all - may be an asset.

British researchers said Wednesday that they observed a mass exodus of toads from a breeding site in Italy five days before a major tremor struck, suggesting the amphibians may be able to sense environmental changes, imperceptible to humans, that foretell a coming quake.

Since ancient times, anecdotes and folklore have linked unusual animal behavior to cataclysmic events like earthquakes, but hard evidence has been scarce. A new study by researchers from the Open University is one of the first to document animal behavior before, during and after an earthquake.

The scientists were studying the common toad - bufo bufo - at a breeding colony in central Italy when they noticed a sharp decline in the number of animals at the site. Days later, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit, killing hundreds of people and badly damaging the town of L'Aquila.
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Meteor

Volcano tsunami could sink southern Italy 'at any time'


UK Telegraph
Mon, 29 Mar 2010 09:34 UTC
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The undersea Marsili, 9,800ft (3,000m) tall and located some 90 miles (150km) southwest of Naples, has not erupted since the start of recorded history
Europe's largest undersea volcano could disintegrate and unleash a tsunami that would engulf southern Italy "at any time", a prominent volcanologist has warned.

The Marsili volcano, which is bursting with magma, has "fragile walls" that could collapse, Enzo Boschi told the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"It could even happen tomorrow," said Mr Boschi, president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).

"Our latest research shows that the volcano is not structurally solid, its walls are fragile, the magma chamber is of sizeable dimensions," he said.

"All that tells us that the volcano is active and could begin erupting at any time."

The event would result in "a strong tsunami that could strike the coasts of Campania, Calabria and Sicily," Mr Boschi said.

The undersea Marsili, 9,800ft (3,000m) tall and located some 90 miles (150km) southwest of Naples, has not erupted since the start of recorded history.
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Bizarro Earth

Quake strikes in Indian Ocean


CNN
Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:30 UTC
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 struck near the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake hit at 10:24 p.m. local time Tuesday, about 135 miles (215 km) from Port Blair, a city in the Andaman Islands, which is part of India, the agency said. The epicenter was about 250 miles (405 km) from Pathein, Myanmar, it said.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there is no threat of a destructive widespread tsunami, according to historical earthquake and tsunami data, . However, the center warned that a "very small" possibility exists "of a local tsunami that could affect coasts" no more than 62 miles (100 km) from the epicenter.
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Cloud Lightning

Rhode Island flooding: 'Worst is still yet to come'


CNN
Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:19 UTC
Battered by a rainstorm that shut down roads, forced evacuations and prompted President Obama to declare a state of emergency, Rhode Island may be in for more misery Wednesday.

"We have some historic flooding going on in places we've never had flooding before," said Cranston, Rhode Island, police Lt. Stephen Antonucci. "We have numerous streets that are closed, and they're telling us the worst is still yet to come."

All eyes were on the Pawtuxet River, which runs through Cranston. The river stood at 20.64 feet as of about 7 a.m. ET -- nearly 12 feet above flood stage of 9 feet. It is forecast to crest at 20.7 feet Wednesday morning, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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Snowman

Colder than Moscow: Britain is battered by blizzards and gale-force winds


Daily Mail
Wed, 31 Mar 2010 08:21 UTC
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© PAOops: A Stirling council gritting lorry got stuck in the snow after trying to pass an abandoned animal feed lorry which was itself stuck near Carronbridge, central Scotland
Parts of Britain were waking up under several inches of snow today as a flash of winter weather in spring made some areas colder than Moscow.

Up to 48,000 homes were without power as blizzards, gale-force winds and torrential rain hit both Scotland and Northern Ireland, knocking down power lines and causing widespread transport havoc.

In the worst-hit part of the province, around 300 people - including children on a school bus - had to be rescued from vehicles trapped in snow overnight on the Glenshane Pass near Londonderry.

While some parts of the UK were below freezing, temperatures in Moscow reached a mild 13c (55f).
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Blackbox

A killer in the bat cave

Shaoni Bhattacharya
New Scientist
Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:23 UTC
Corpse upon corpse they lie, a carpet of emaciated, fungus-ridden carcasses. Where once healthy animals hung in slumber from the cave roof, now there is a mass grave on the floor. It is a scene that is repeated throughout the eastern US, from Vermont to West Virginia. America's bats are in crisis, under threat from a mysterious killer.

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