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NOAA Predicts Solar Cycle 24


SpaceWeather
Fri, 08 May 2009 19:58 UTC
Sunspots May 06, 2009
© SOHO / MIDI

A new active period of Earth-threatening solar storms will be the weakest since 1928 and its peak is still four years away, after a slow start last December, predicts an international panel of experts led by NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center. Even so, Earth could get hit by a devastating solar storm at any time, with potential damages from the most severe level of storm exceeding $1 trillion. NASA funds the prediction panel.

Solar storms are eruptions of energy and matter that escape from the sun and may head toward Earth, where even a weak storm can damage satellites and power grids, disrupting communications, the electric power supply and GPS. A single strong blast of solar wind can threaten national security, transportation, financial services and other essential functions.

The panel predicts the upcoming Solar Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with 90 sunspots per day, averaged over a month. If the prediction proves true, Solar Cycle 24 will be the weakest cycle since number 16, which peaked at 78 daily sunspots in 1928, and ninth weakest since the 1750s, when numbered cycles began.
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Bizarro Earth

5.3 Earthquake hits Indonesia


Xinhua
Fri, 08 May 2009 18:00 UTC
An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale rocked South Aceh district of Aceh province, Indonesia, on Friday, but there was no reports of casualties and material losses.

The quake which took place at 20:19 p.m. local time caused panic and citizens rushed out their homes, said the national Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said.

The epicenter of the quake was located at 42 km southeast of Tapaktuan, capital of the South Aceh district.
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Attention

New Zealand: Storm stumps forecasters

Paul Gorman
Stuff,co.nz
Tue, 05 May 2009 03:50 UTC
Weather forecasters admit the finer details of the approaching storm have them at a loss.

The advances of science, multimillion-dollar technology and computer modelling allow them to say the shape and timing of the system is becoming clearer, but they cannot pinpoint the location of the worst of the expected rain, snow and gales.

MetService severe-weather forecaster Allister Gorman said there was no doubt a big low-pressure system would cover New Zealand from Sunday.
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Binoculars

Australia: White kangaroo spotted near Mount Burr


The Border Watch
Thu, 07 May 2009 22:10 UTC
A rare white kangaroo was seen near Mount Burr just after dawn on Monday.

It is believed to have been an albino and was spotted at 6.45am.

The kangaroo was seen near the junction of the Millicent-Mount Burr Road and the road leading to the Mount Burr golf course.

This area is well known for having a high density of kangaroos and they are often seen at dawn and dusk.

The sighting was by made by two workmen who were traveling to Millicent in a vehicle.
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Info

Australia: Spider invasion in Bowen

Daniel Bateman
Townsville Bulletin
Wed, 06 May 2009 21:19 UTC
Whistling Spider
© Unknown
A bird-eating spider found at a Bowen business
In a scene that could almost be out of a B-grade monster movie, giant spiders have invaded Bowen.

For about six weeks, residents have reported seeing huge bird-eating spiders crawling around their backyards and gardens.

Amalgamated Pest Control Bowen pest technician Audy Geiszler took this incredible photo of one of the spiders he caught wandering across the garden of a restaurant near the town's centre.

Mr Geiszler estimated its body alone was 5cm long, a specimen declared 'especially large' by the Queensland Museum. Most grow to be the size of a man's hand.
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Attention

UN IPCC Scientist: 'No convincing scientific arguments to support claim that increases in greenhouse gases are harmful to the climate'

Marc Morano
Climate Depot
Tue, 05 May 2009 04:42 UTC
Selected excerpts from UN IPCC scientist's recent testimony.

IPCC reviewer and climate researcher and chemist Dr. Vincent Gray of New Zealand is an expert reviewer on every single draft of the IPCC reports going back to 1990 and author of The Greenhouse Delusion: A Critique of "Climate Change 2001. Dr. Gray's research is featured on page 155 of the 2009 edition of the 255-page "U.S. Senate Minority Report Update: More Than 700 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims"

Below are selected excerpts of his testimony before New Zealand's Committee for the Emissions Trading Scheme Review May 5, 2009:

I am an experienced research chemist, with a PhD from Cambridge 1946, and a long research career in the UK, France, Canada, New Zealand and China. I have over 100 scientific publications, many of them on climate science, which I have studied intensively for the past 18 years.

I have been an Expert Reviewer for the IPCC Reports since the beginning in 1990.I submitted 1,898 comments to the last (fourth) Working Group I (Science) Report.

I was recently invited to the Beijing Climate Center as a Visiting Scholar and I recently lectured to a Conference in New York.

I have reluctantly concluded, after detailed study of the evidence presented by the IPCC, that there are no convincing scientific arguments to support the claim that increases in greenhouse gases are harmful to the climate. [...]
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Bell

Climate Model Predictions: It's Time for a Reality Check

Dr. Roy Spencer
DrRoySpencer.com
Sat, 02 May 2009 04:21 UTC
The fear of anthropogenic global warming is based almost entirely upon computerized climate model simulations of how the global atmosphere will respond to slowly increasing carbon dioxide concentrations. There are now over 20 models being tracked by the IPCC, and they project levels of warming ranging from pretty significant to catastrophic by late in this century. The following graph shows an example of those models' forecasts based upon assumed increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide this century.
IPCC AR4 Climate Projections
© Dr. Roy Spencer

While there is considerable spread among the models, it can be seen that all of them now produce levels of global warming that can not be ignored.

But what is the basis for such large amounts of warming? Is it because we know CO2 is a greenhouse gas, and so increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 will cause warming? NO!...virtually everyone now agrees that the direct warming effect from extra CO2 is relatively small - too small to be of much practical concern.
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Frog

Over 200 New Amphibians Found in Madagascar


National Geographic news
Wed, 06 May 2009 15:42 UTC
Highlighting a "vast underestimation" of Madagascar's natural riches, up to 221 new species of amphibians have been found on the island country, including the frog Boophis ulftunni, pictured. The find nearly doubles the number of known amphibians in Madagascar, a new study says.
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Info

Two Brown Bear Populations In Spain In Danger of Extinction Have Been Isolated For Past 50 Years


Science Daily
Wed, 06 May 2009 16:35 UTC
Image
© Raphael Quinet/Creative Commons
The situation of bears in the Iberian Peninsula is critical.
The situation of bears in the Iberian Peninsula is critical. Researchers from the University of Oviedo (UO) and the Superior Council of Scientific Research (SCSR) have performed a genetic identification based on the analysis of stools and hair of brown bears (Ursus arctos) from the Cantabrian mountain range, gathered between 2004 and 2006.

The non-invasive analysis of 146 samples has allowed for the identification of 39 bears in the western sub-population, and 9 in the eastern one, so as to show the genetic structure of the population. In order to obtain the individual genotypes of the bears, scientists have employed 18 micro-satellite markers in a joint fashion, and a sex marker with high-class genetic technology.
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Fish

'Sobering' Decline Of Caribbean's Big Fish, Fisheries: Overfishing Deemed Most Likely Cause


Science Daily
Wed, 06 May 2009 16:21 UTC
Image
© Dean Grubbs
Sharks and other large predatory fish become rare on Caribbean reefs near large human populations.
Sharks, barracuda and other large predatory fishes disappear on Caribbean coral reefs as human populations rise, endangering the region's marine food web and ultimately its reefs and fisheries, according to a sweeping study by researcher Chris Stallings of The Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory.

While other scientists working in the Caribbean have observed the declines of large predators for decades, the comprehensive work by Stallings documents the ominous patterns in far more detail at a much greater geographic scale than any other research to date.

"Seeing evidence of this ecological and economic travesty played out across the entire Caribbean is truly sobering," said Associate Professor John Bruno of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who served as the PLoS One academic editor for Stallings' new paper.
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