Earth ChangesS

Chess

Australian MP: Humans not causing climate change


Australian Associated Press
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:28 UTC
An opposition MP says humans are not causing climate change, and pointed to Adolf Hitler as an example of how scientists can be wrong.

Liberal MP Dennis Jensen's comments come days after his leader Malcolm Turnbull promised a greener climate change policy than the government's.

Dr Jensen cast doubt on the apparent scientific consensus that humans are affecting the climate.

"Albert Einstein was very much criticised by Hitler, and Hitler actually had a group of 100 top scientists in Germany write a book called 100 scientists against Einstein," Dr Jensen told reporters in Canberra.
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Snowman

Japanese scientists: Global warming isn't man-made

Andrew Orlowski
The Register
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:10 UTC
Japanese scientists have made a dramatic break with the UN and Western-backed hypothesis of climate change in a new report from its Energy Commission.

Three of the five researchers disagree with the UN's IPCC view that recent warming is primarily the consequence of man-made industrial emissions of greenhouse gases. Remarkably, the subtle and nuanced language typical in such reports has been set aside.

One of the five contributors compares computer climate modelling to ancient astrology. Others castigate the paucity of the US ground temperature data set used to support the hypothesis, and declare that the unambiguous warming trend from the mid-part of the 20th Century has ceased.

The report by Japan Society of Energy and Resources (JSER) is astonishing rebuke to international pressure, and a vote of confidence in Japan's native marine and astronomical research. Publicly-funded science in the West uniformly backs the hypothesis that industrial influence is primarily responsible for climate change, although fissures have appeared recently. Only one of the five top Japanese scientists commissioned here concurs with the man-made global warming hypothesis.
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Bizarro Earth

4.8 Earthquake Rattles Surigao del Sur

Mike U. Crismundo
Tempo
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:00 UTC
Residents of Surigao del Sur, a province in Mindanao facing the Pacific Ocean, went into panic when a 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck Wednesday afternoon, raising fears of a tsunami.

But Officials of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) reported yesterday that no one was reported hurt and that the tremor caused no damage in the province.

State seismologists reported that what struck at 3:51 p.m. Wednesday was an undersea quake located some 80 kilometers east-northeast of Butuan City with a depth of 80.7 kilometers.
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Bizarro Earth

4.1 Earthquake Rattles Nerves in Southwest Oregon


KTVL Channel 10
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:45 UTC
An early morning earthquake measuring 4.1 in intensity rattled nerves from Williams to Gold Beach to south of Coos Bay Thursday.

The USGS reported the earthquake at 1:52 a.m. with an epicenter 23 miles below ground about 30 miles west-northwest of Grants Pass. According to USGS Web sites, it was most strongly felt in a cluster around Grants Pass from Glendale to Williams and Rogue River. Reports also came in from Brookings, Gold Beach and Coquille.

The epicenter was in a remote mountainous area of few residents. No damage or injuries have been reported.
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Bizarro Earth

Effects of Tambora Volcanic Eruption on Iberian Peninsula Studied for First Time


Science Centric
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:30 UTC
An international team of scientists has presented the first-ever evaluation of the impact of the 1816 eruption of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia on the Iberian Peninsula. Historical documents and observations by Spanish and Portuguese stations have shown that emissions of gas and particulates from the volcano limited the effect of solar radiation in Spain, where temperatures that summer did not rise above 15 C.

The Tambora volcano in Indonesia erupted in April 1815, but North America and Europe did not notice its effects until months later. In 1816, known as 'the year without a summer,' gases, ashes and dust arrived over the Iberian Peninsular and reached the stratosphere, where they remained long enough to create 'an enormous sun filter.'

These are the findings of a study by an international team, with Spanish participation, which have been published in the latest issue of the prestigious International Journal of Climatology.
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Bizarro Earth

Study Finds Hemlock Trees Dying Rapidly, Affecting Forest Carbon Cycle


EurekAlert!
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:00 UTC
New research by U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists and partners suggests the hemlock woolly adelgid is killing hemlock trees faster than expected in the southern Appalachians and rapidly altering the carbon cycle of these forests. SRS researchers and cooperators from the University of Georgia published the findings in the most recent issue of the journal Ecosystems.

"The study marks the first time that scientists have tracked the short-term effects hemlock woolly adelgid infestations are having on the forest carbon cycle," said Chelcy Ford, SRS ecologist and co-author of the paper.

Eastern hemlock, a keystone species in the streamside forests of the southern Appalachian region, is already experiencing widespread decline and mortality because of hemlock woolly adelgid (a tiny nonnative insect) infestation. The pest has the potential to kill most of the region's hemlock trees within the next decade. As a native evergreen capable of maintaining year-round transpiration rates, hemlock plays an important role in the ecology and hydrology of mountain ecosystems. Hemlock forests provide critical habitat for birds and other animals; their shade helps maintain the cool water temperatures required by trout and other aquatic organisms in mountain streams.
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Better Earth

Yellowstone Park geology remains mysterious

Jessica Mayrer
GreatFallsTribune.com
Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:53 UTC
When Hank Heasler first visited Yellowstone National Park as a little boy, he stared at the bubbles rising up from green- and orange-ringed mud pots, colored by heat-loving bacteria that thrive in water recycled through deep underground aquifers.

"I just remember being fascinated," he said. "I always wanted to know more."

Heasler is now Yellowstone Park's geologist, one of the primary scientists responsible for tracking movement around one of the largest volcanos in North America.

It's a constant challenge, figuring out the park's ever-shifting geological puzzle, he said.

"I'm still excited," he said.

Comment: Though Heasler admits that "science can't yet explain all of the park's geological quirks" and that there so many things they don't yet understand about Yellowstone's geology, he is quick to reassure the reader that "a volcanic eruption doesn't appear to be imminent". Is this an attempt to sooth people's fears after the recent swarm of earthquakes in the area?

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Bizarro Earth

Canada: Quakes Shake Kirkland Lake

Rick Owen
The Sudbury Star
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:00 UTC
The earth did in fact move this week in Kirkland Lake as three earthquakes just southwest of town shook the town.

Natural Resources Canada has a seismic measuring station north of Kirkland Lake that recorded the earthquakes. The first happened at 7:58 p. m. Monday and registered 3.4 on the Richter Scale, the second occurred at 8:10 p. m. and registered 2.0 and third took place at 8:21 registering 1.7

Natural Resources Canada equipment is not able to determine the exact locations of the earthquakes and in this case has a plus or minus accuracy of five kilometers. NRC estimates the earthquakes took place two kilo-metres southwest of Kirkland Lake.

While more data would have to be studied to determine how deep the seismic events were NRC seismologist Janet Drysdale said with the data they have studied it is probable the seismic events were five kilometers or deeper.
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Bizarro Earth

Small Earthquake Rocks Eastern Oklahoma


News-Talk 1520 KOKC
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:00 UTC
A small earthquake has rattled an area near Savanna, Oklahoma.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude three-point-three quake hit at 10:14 p.m. Central time, Wednesday evening.

The epicenter was six miles west northwest of Savanna, a town that sits on the edge of a massive ammunition storage depot near McAlester.

No damage has been reported.
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Fish

Indonesia's Psychedelic Fish Named a New Species

Robin McDowell
The Associated Press
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:22 UTC
Fish
© AP Photo/seaphotos.com, David Hall, HOA recently discovered fish named "psychedelica" is shown in the waters off Ambon island, Indonesia.
A funky, psychedelic fish that bounces on the ocean floor like a rubber ball has been classified as a new species, a scientific journal reported.

The frogfish - which has a swirl of tan and peach zebra stripes that extend from its aqua eyes to its tail - was initially discovered by scuba diving instructors working for a tour operator a year ago in shallow waters off Ambon island in eastern Indonesia.

The operator contacted Ted Pietsch, lead author of a paper published in this month's edition of Copeia, the journal of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, who submitted DNA work identifying it as a new species.
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