Earth ChangesS


Question

Norway: Northern Lights, Unprovoked


Space Weather
Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:04 UTC
Sometimes auroras just happen. On March 28th in Norway, a spectacular band of Northern Lights arced across the sky unprovoked by any significant gust of solar wind. Fredrik Broms sends this picture from Kvaløya:

Aurora
© Fredrik BromsImage Taken: Mar. 29, 2011
Location: Kvaløya, Norway
"These very beautiful and gentle auroras painted the sky and snowy landscape in green," says Broms. "With the auroras forming a band from east to west and the Milky Way stretching over the sky in the same direction now during spring, I beheld a double band of celestial wonders. Later in the night, pulsating auroras appeared over most of the sky, most prominent right above my head."
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Bizarro Earth

Florida: Dead Baby Dolphin on Innerarity Point

Debbie Williams
WKRG
Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:51 UTC
Image
Another dead dolphin has washed up in our area, this time just across the state line in Perdido Bay on Innerarity Point. But we may have a better understanding of what's taking so long to figure out why the dolphins are dying.

Innerarity Point, Florida - "I looked and saw a baby porpoise, a terrible sight to see."

What started as a normal Tuesday morning for Chris McCune, "I came out to have my coffee, practice, play my guitar and write some songs."

That all changed when he looked down the beach.

Eleanor Milford saw it too. "I've been hearing about it but I didn't expect to see it in my own backyard and I hope we get some answers."
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Fish

New South Wales: Second fish kill in as many months

Ken Warren
Manning River Times
Wed, 30 Mar 2011 20:38 UTC
Image

Dead mullet have been found floating on the surface of a Taree waterway for the second time in less than two months.

The fish could be seen at the wetland near Nulama Village at Taree North yesterday, also the site of a similar fish kill in February.

The heat and subsequent loss of oxygen from the water was blamed on that occasion but does not seem likely this time due to the much milder weather conditions.

Some of the fish were found on the banks of the wetland, suggesting they may have jumped from the water.

Experts from the Department of Fisheries were not available for comment yesterday.
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Bizarro Earth

Sea Turtle Deaths Anger Mississippi Residents

Robbie Kistner
The Huffington Post
Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:20 UTC
dead, turtle
© Shirley Tillman

As a resident of coastal Mississippi for more than 30 years, Shirley Tillman is used to seeing a few drum fish, sea gulls or jelly fish wash up on nearby sandy shores. It's a fact of life living by the sea. But in the past few weeks Shirley has come across something she's never seen before; dead sea turtles washing up on beaches near spring break vacationers.

They are part of a growing number of dead fish, animals and birds she and other Mississippi residents have photographed washing in with the tides in recent weeks. For Shirley, a trip to the beach no longer provides the same relaxing refuge as before.

"It's very upsetting," says Shirley, a grandmother and wife of a Pass Christian home builder. "I have never found anything like this until after the oil spill. It used to be if you found a dead dolphin or turtle it was front page news around here. Now it's no big deal."
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Fish

More Dead Sealife Continues to Plague U.S. Beaches

Elena Arteaga
KTSM TV
Tue, 29 Mar 2011 05:58 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Alabama - Months after the hundreds of birds fell dead from the sky and after thousands of dead fish, crabs, sardines, dolphins, and whales washed ashore worldwide, more dead fish washed ashore in Alabama, and a dead whale washed ashore in Virginia.

There's still no cause for the hundreds of dead fish that were found dead along the gulf shores over the weekend. They were also found along the gulf state pier Saturday morning. Park officials said it was unusual to see spade fish in that area this early in the year. The dead sigh spanned about three miles of shoreline.

The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries will take the fish in for testing.
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Bizarro Earth

Best of the Web: Natural disasters will increase: British report


CBC News
Mon, 28 Mar 2011 08:45 UTC
Image
© British Department for International DevelopmentThe British government has highlighted the areas of the world most likely to be made unstable as a result of environmental stress.
Major disasters like the Japanese earthquake and tsunami or Pakistan's floods are likely to become more frequent, and global governments must prepare for an uncertain future, according to a British report.

Paddy Ashdown, a member of the British House of Lords and ex-United Nations high representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, said rich nations must help poorer countries to build up their defences against disasters.

In a government report published Monday, he said scientists believe recent natural disasters were not an aberration, but "the beginnings of a new kind of future in which mega-disasters are going to be more frequent."

"The scale, frequency and severity of rapid onset humanitarian disasters will continue to grow in the coming years, and at an accelerating pace," said the report issued by the International Development ministry.

Ashdown said a lack of prior support for Haiti and Pakistan worsened the impact of recent events.
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Eye 1

Dead whale washes up in Virginia Beach


FOX 43
Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:53 UTC
dead whale

Virgina Beach, Virginia - A dead whale, approximately 35-40 feet in length, was found washed up on the beach in Sandbridge Sunday morning.

The Virginia Aquarium's Stranding Response Team responded to the scene to secure the animal to the beach so it didn't get washed back into the ocean, said Virginia Aquarium spokesperson Joan Barns.

Barns told WAVY.com that the whale is known as a Sei (say) whale and is not very common for the area, although they do show up from time to time in local waters.

The Virginia Aquarium will conduct a necropsy (animal autopsy) on the whale tomorrow morning at low tide to determine a cause of death. Samples will be taken from the animal and sent to various institutions for general research purposes as well, said Barns.

Arrangements have been made by the Virginia Aquarium with the City of Virginia Beach to remove the whale from the beach on Monday.

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Fish

Dead fish litter beach at Alabama pier

Paige Malone
WALA
Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:38 UTC
Gulf Shores, Alabama - Laura Pfizenmayer walks the beach in Gulf Shores every morning. On Saturday, she was shocked with what she found.


"When we came down we saw dead fish. They were everywhere. I mean you don't have to find them. You can turn around and see them. They were everywhere," said Pfizenmayer.

Charles Kelly with the Gulf State Pier said they are spadefish and only spadefish. This causes him to worry
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Bizarro Earth

India: Yellow Rain in Hebri Causes Curiosity and Concern


Mangalorean
Mon, 28 Mar 2011 01:55 UTC
Yellow rain
© Mangalorean.com

Karkala - A rare phenomenon of yellow rainfall has occurred in and around Hebri here on Sunday, March 27 at about 6-15 in the evening.

It was concentrated in Ikkodlu, Bandimath and Jatkal villages near Hebri, said the residents, adding that it happened only within an extent of five kilometres, which included two kilometres of forest area. They also said it had a foul smell. Drops landing on vehicles and foliage have left yellow patches. It created not only curiosity but caution among the public, who wondered if it was not acid rain.

A farm belonging to Praveen Shetty of Sitanadi village provided clear evidence of the yellow rainfall. A car parked in front of his house and plants and trees around bear yellow patches.

Perhaps because it was an unexpected and brief happening, no one could make an attempt to collect any sample for analysis. Some experts say such colour in rain is caused by contamination by nitrates from sources like fertilizers. It could have been sourced from either atmosphere or some heavy industry. It is difficult to arrive at a firm conclusion without a proper laboratory analysis, they further say.
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Heart - Black

US: The New England Aquarium reports 6 dead dolphins found in a week


NECN.com
Sun, 27 Mar 2011 21:22 UTC
dead dolphin
© Unknown

Boston - The New England Aquarium says six dolphins have turned up dead on Massachusetts beaches.

The most recent was as 4-foot long, dark grey harbor porpoise that washed up with the overnight high tide on Revere Beach Saturday The aquarium says its rescue biologists handled seven harbor porpoises in a week on the Massachusetts coast.

One was found alive and is doing well at the University of New England's Marine Animal Rescue Center in Biddeford, Maine.

Despite the number of dead porpoises found in the short time, Aquarium officials say it appears to be seasonal. The harbor porpoises that were found were yearlings that were underweight and probably were only recently weaned from their mothers in the early winter.

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