Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Philippines: Taal volcano residents urged to voluntarily evacuate


ABS-CBN News
Sat, 09 Apr 2011 10:13 UTC
The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Center has started informing residents--especially children, elderly and the disabled--living near Taal volcano to voluntarily evacuate.

This after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) raised Taal volcano's alert level status to 2 after it showed increased seismic activity on Saturday.

Local and foreign tourists were advised not trek the volcano or go on boat riding around the lake.

"The public is also advice not to venture into the Daang Kastila Trail and Mt. Tabaro as steam explosion may occur not to mention the presence of toxic gas," reported Sarita Kare of ABS-CBN Southern Tagalog.
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Bizarro Earth

US: 50 Birds Fall Dead Into Kansas Yard


The Associated Press
Fri, 08 Apr 2011 20:43 UTC
Sterling, Kansas - A central Kansas family hopes to learn what caused the deaths of dozens of birds that fell from trees outside their house.

Elizabeth Stange says it started with one or two birds tumbling to the ground Thursday afternoon, followed by dozens more. The Sterling woman told KWCH-TV that the birds all died within minutes of each other.

By evening, Stange says, she and her family collected about 50 birds from their driveway and yard.

Stange says a local veterinarian told her the birds probably ate something poisonous. But a few were sent to Kansas State University for a closer look.

At one point, Stange's family worried about leaving the house for fear of being hit by a falling bird. She calls the episode bizarre.
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Sun

Arctic Auroras: Beautiful Images of the Solar Wind lighting up the Arctic Circle


SpaceWeather.com
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:35 UTC
The onset of spring has brought a growing twilight to the night skies of the Arctic. The sky may be bright, but the auroras are even brighter. Here is the view from northern Norway after "nightfall" on April 5th:

Image
© Øystein Ingvaldsen
Photographer Øystein Ingvaldsen of Bø in Vesterålen was taking a late walk at the time of the display. "I did not expect to see Northern Lights," he says "but suddenly they appeared. This is the first time I have photographed auroras and a sunset all at once."

More Arctic lights are in the offing. A solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, and NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% - 25% chance of high-latitude geomagnetic activity during the next 24 hours. Aurora alerts are available here.
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Bizarro Earth

Canada's Next Big Quake: It's Overdue - And We Aren't Ready

Jerry Thompson
The Globe and Mail, Canada
Fri, 08 Apr 2011 21:11 UTC
Cascadia Subduction Zone
© PS

Drive west across the rocky spine of Vancouver Island along rutted logging roads to the fishing village of Bamfield and stand on the splendid beach at Pachena Bay.

Look out across the surly, roiling Pacific and try to picture a crack in the ocean floor, a tectonic fault known as the Cascadia subduction zone that runs south 1,300 kilometres to Cape Mendocino, the most westerly point in California.

Now imagine a chilly winter's night more than three centuries ago when that fault ripped apart in a deadly, magnitude 9 earthquake.

People of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation, asleep in their longhouses just above the high-tide mark, were jolted awake. The violent shaking of the earth lasted several minutes and left the houses intact. Their occupants survived, but what they could not see out in the dark was a rapidly falling tide.

A dark force was sucking the sea out of Pachena Bay, leaving the sands dry - but only momentarily - as a mountainous wave gathered strength. Suddenly it crashed like a battering ram against the shore, hurtling back into the bay so quickly that the people had no time to reach their canoes.

Everyone died, according to neighbouring villagers who witnessed the tragedy from homes built high on a nearby hill, a story passed down through the generations to the current chief, Robert Dennis, who told me.

Roughly eight hours later, the back side of that killer wave hit the coast of Japan, more than 7,000 kilometres away.
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Bizarro Earth

Japan - Earthquake Magnitude 6.1 - Kyushu


USGS
Sat, 09 Apr 2011 12:13 UTC
Kyushu Quake_090411
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Saturday, April 09, 2011 at 12:57:49 UTC

Saturday, April 09, 2011 at 09:57:49 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
30.013°N, 131.810°E

Depth:
21.3 km (13.2 miles)

Region:
KYUSHU, JAPAN

Distances:
212 km (131 miles) S of Miyazaki, Kyushu, Japan

213 km (132 miles) SE of Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan

948 km (589 miles) SSE of SEOUL, South Korea

973 km (604 miles) SW of TOKYO, Japan
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Bizarro Earth

Best of the Web: Earthquakes in Japan, Chile, Haiti: Are We In An Age Of Giant Quakes?

Becky Ham
ABC News, US
Fri, 08 Apr 2011 00:43 UTC
The devastating 2004 Indonesian tsunami, with its death toll of as many as 250,000 people, was caused by the first magnitude-9.0 earthquake since 1967. A succession of smaller but still destructive tremors in Haiti, Chile, and New Zealand -- surpassed by this year's magnitude-9.0 quake in Japan -- has some researchers wondering whether the number of large earthquakes is on the rise.

An earthquake represents the abrupt release of seismic strain that has built up over the years as plates of the Earth's crust slowly grind and catch against each other. Giant earthquakes live up to their fearsome name. The biggest ever recorded was the magnitude-9.5 Chile earthquake of 1960. It accounts for about a quarter of the total seismic strain released worldwide since 1900. In just three minutes, the recent quake in Japan unleashed one-twentieth of that global total according to geophysicist Richard Aster at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro.



The Indonesian quake "reinvigorated interest in these giants," said Aster, who is also president of the Seismological Society of America. The Chile and Japan earthquakes -- along with a magnitude-9.2 quake in Alaska in 1964 -- also triggered catastrophic tsunamis.

After a lull in large quakes in the 1980s and 1990s, we may now be in the middle of a new age of large earthquakes, Aster added.
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Fish

Dead Fish Piling Up In State's Ponds, Lakes


WFSB.com
Fri, 08 Apr 2011 22:57 UTC
dead fish

Wethersfield Connecticut -- A rough winter is causing a smelly spring. Dead fish are popping up in ponds and reservoirs across Connecticut, and while it's a natural occurrence, it's more widespread thanks to this year's winter weather.

Wethersfield's 1860 reservoir is a picturesque place and serene spot. For Nate Wierzbicki, it's his back yard.

"If I'm home, I'm out there," Wierzbicki said. "If I'm free I'll be out there catching some sun and some bass."
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Alarm Clock

Best of the Web: Wild And Crazy 2011: 10 History-Shattering Events That Have Shaken The Financial World To The Core


End of the American dream
Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:51 UTC
Image
2011 has already had more history-shattering events than almost any other year since World War 2. Revolutions have swept the Middle East and much of Africa, a new war has erupted in Libya, Japan has experienced an unprecedented tsunami and a horrific nuclear crisis, the price of oil is skyrocketing, multiple nations in Europe are experiencing a financial meltdown and budget issues have pushed the U.S. government to the verge of a shutdown. In past years, it always seemed like there was time to "catch our breath" between each major crisis, but now huge events are striking in rapid-fire succession. We live at a time when wars, rumors of wars, natural disasters, bizarre occurrences and major financial problems are becoming so common that they hardly shock us anymore. 2011 truly has been one wild and crazy year, and the world is literally being transformed right in front of our eyes.

For a moment, let's review some of the history-shattering events that we have witnessed this year so far and the impact that they have had on the financial world....
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Bizarro Earth

Germany: Sandstorm Causes Deadly Autobahn Crash


Spiegel Online
Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:54 UTC
Autobahn Pileup
© DPASeveral people have been killed in a mass pileup on a German autobahn apparently caused by a sandstorm. More than 40 vehicles were involved in the accident on the A19 highway near Rostock, with dozens of people injured. In total, 40 vehicles were involved in the pileup, with many catching fire.
Several people were killed and dozens more injured after a mass pileup on a German autobahn involving up to 80 vehicles Friday. The accident, which took place on the A19 highway near Rostock in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, was apparently caused by a sandstorm.

Police reported Friday night that at least eight people died. Around 97 were believed to have been injured, with scores requiring hospital treatment. According to medical facilities in Rostock, Güstrow and Bad Doberan, victims had mostly suffered broken bones, bruises, sprains and head injuries.

Comment: Update: German news report on the bizarre sandstorm:



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Bizarro Earth

5.2-magnitude quake jolts Philippines

Nicolas Asfouri
Agence France-Presse
Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:02 UTC
Image
© Agence France-PresseA quake reading on a seismograph. A moderate 5.2-magnitude earthquake jolted the Philippines early Saturday, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or tsunami warnings issued
A moderate 5.2-magnitude earthquake jolted the Philippines early Saturday, seismologists said, but there were no immediate reports of damage or tsunami warnings issued.

The earthquake struck at 2:29 am (18:29 GMT) around 105 kilometres (65 miles) southwest of Olongapo on the Philippines' Luzon island and 125 kms southwest of the capital Manila, the US Geological Survey said.

It hit at a relatively shallow depth of 24 kms (15 miles), the USGS said.

People in the Philippines have been nervous about a potential killer quake following the devastating ones to have hit Japan and New Zealand recently.
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