Earth ChangesS


Seismograph

Shallow earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hits near Yongle, China

chart
6.5 magnitude earthquake 180 km from Jiangyou, Sichuan, China

2017-08-08 13:19:49 UTC

USGS page: M 6.5 - 36km W of Yongle, China
USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist
Reports from the public: 10 people

10 km depth

Seismograph

5.3 magnitude earthquake hits near Bodrum in Turkey

Turkey earthquake
© USGS
A 5.3-magnitude earthquake has struck around 14 kilometers from the popular tourist city of Bodrum, Turkey, the US Geological Survey reports.

Tuesday's quake comes less than three weeks after a 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck in the Mediterranean Sea near Turkey and the Greek islands. The quake triggered a mini tsunami which flooded some areas.

The magnitude of 5.3 was reported by Turkish Boğaziçi University's Kandilli Observatory, which specializes in earthquake research. However, there are conflicting reports that the magnitude was 4.9, according to the Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) of Turkey.

Objects can be seen crashing to the floor in CCTV footage apparently taken at the moment the quake struck the Turkish coast.

Attention

Shark attacks snorkeler off Marsa Alam, Egypt

Shark attacks
Marsa Alam beach was closed for 48 hours after a shark attacked a 20-year-old Austrian tourist Christine Schachinger while snorkeling Saturday morning in the Red Sea.

Schachinger was rushed to a private hospital in Marsa Alam, a popular tourist spot located in the eastern south of Egypt, and received treatment on her right leg. She was later transferred to Austria for further medical treatment.

"There is no threat to the Austrian tourist's life," medical sources in the Red Sea governorate reported.

Although shark attacks are not common in Egypt, environmentalists say certain actions on the part of divers and swimmers may provoke attacks.

The Society for the Rescue and Protection of the Environment of the Red Sea warns against feeding sharks.

Cloud Precipitation

Torrential rains, floods kill 8 in Pakistan

Raging river in Pakistan
Raging river in Pakistan
At least eight people were killed and several others injured as fresh rains and floods wreaked havoc in Gilgit-Baltistan yesterday.

According to Gilgit-Baltistan Disaster Management Authority, five people including 4 students were killed and others injured in rain-related incidents in Sadpara, the tribal area of Skardu.

The floodwaters also washed away a bridge and 4 hotels in Sadpara area.

Five roads of the valley including Dusi Road were washed away by floods creating hardships for hundreds of the tourists in the valley.

According to local people and police, the flood hit Goner area of Diamer district in which three people including a woman were killed and several others injured. Flood torrents damaged many link roads, bridges and cultivated land.


Bizarro Earth

Flesh-eating 'sea fleas' savage Australian teen's legs in bloody feeding frenzy

flesh eating sea fleas
© Museums Victoria / FacebookThe flesh-eaters were identified as lysianassid amphipods, a type of scavenging crustacean, commonly known as “sea fleas.”
A young Australian man took a dip in the ocean to soothe his legs after a day of playing football but was horrified when he returned to the beach to find his legs bleeding uncontrollably from what appeared to be thousands of tiny bites.

Sam Kanizay, 16, spent Saturday evening unwinding at Dendy Street Beach in Brighton, Melbourne when he got the fright of his life. He didn't notice anything was wrong at first as the water was so cold - temperatures reached as low as three degrees Celsius (37°F) last week.

"When he got out, he described having sand on his legs, so he went back in the water," his father Jarrod Kanizay told the AAP.

"He went back to his shoes and what he found was blood on his legs... They ate through Sam's skin and made it bleed profusely."


Magnify

Mysterious hybrid strain of anthrax is killing chimps & spreading to other species in the African Rainforest

anthrax
© Joachim Puls/filmsalz
A strange breed of anthrax bacterium killed more than half of the dead chimps analysed in new research from Africa - and scientists say the fatal infection could wipe out the local chimp population in the Ivory Coast.

As grave as the findings are, the greater implications of the Bacillus cereus biovar anthracis (Bcbva) bacterium could be that its infection vector isn't just limited to chimps - with researchers unexpectedly finding the strain had also killed animals from numerous other species.

"To our surprise, almost 40 percent of all animal deaths in Taï National Park we investigated were attributable to anthrax," says virologist Emmanuel Couacy-Hymann from the Ivorian Animal Health Institute.

Ice Cube

New satellite images show Antarctica's 1 trillion ton iceberg in stunning detail

Larsen C shelf in Antarctica
© Deimos Imaging / UrtheCast Company
In mid-July, one of the largest icebergs ever recorded broke free from the Larsen C shelf in Antarctica. New satellite pictures captured by Deimos Imaging show the floating ice fortress in stunning detail.

The gigantic iceberg, the third largest ever recorded, broke free from the southernmost continent sometime between July 10-12 and is now adrift off the coast.

Given the catchy name A68, the iceberg is some 5,800 square kilometers in size, making it twice the size of Luxembourg and almost four times larger than the Greater London area.

Snowflake Cold

As Aussie Bureau of Meteorology orders end to data tampering, temperature readings plunge

Thredbo
© The Sydney Morning HeraldThredbo
Recorded temperatures at the Bureau­ of Meteorology's Thredbo Top automatic weather station have dropped below -10C in the past week, after action was taken to make the facility "fit for ­purpose".

A record of the Thredbo Top station for 3am on Wednesday shows a temperature reading of -10.6C. This compares with the BoM's monthly highlights for June and July, both showing a low of -9.6C.

The BoM said it had taken immed­iate action to replace the Thredbo station after concerns were raised that very low temperatures were not making it onto the official record. Controversy has dogged the bureau's automatic weather station network since Goulburn man Lance Pigeon saw a -10.4C reading on the BoM's website on July 2 automatically adjust to -10C, then disappear.

Later independent monitoring of the Thredbo Top station by scientist Jennifer Marohasy showed a recording of -10.6C ­vanish from the record.

BoM initially claimed the adjustments were part of its quality control procedures. But bureau chief executive Andrew Johnson later told Environment Minister Josh­ Frydenberg that investigations had found a number of cold-weather stations were not "fit for purpose" and would be replaced.

Comment: So...the smartcards did it. Why would national meteorology trackers have smartcards in their temperature reader and then 'not know about it'. This is official weather data collected and tracked for the country, for the world...and it has a smartcard. That is a real headscratcher unless there was a manmade global warming parameter and a reason to round off, cut off, change, erase data that didn't meet the target, as in distortion to fit false facts.

See also: Study reports temperature adjustments account for 'nearly all of the warming' in climate data


Cloud Precipitation

Ussuriysk goes under water after torrential rains in Russia's Far East

Water covers the streets of Ussuriysk, August 7, 2017
© Vitaliy Ankov / SputnikWater covers the streets of Ussuriysk, August 7, 2017.
People in the Far Eastern city of Ussuriysk woke up to find the streets deep in water and floating cars after torrential rain pounded the area for a day. People took to social media to share dramatic photos and videos showing the submerged city.

Torrential rains started pounding Ussuriysk and surrounding villages in the Primorsky Krai region on Sunday. By Monday morning, the streets had become rivers and cars can be seen almost fully submerged.

Local authorities declared a state of emergency on Monday.

As of 8pm local time on Monday (10am GMT), more than nine thousand people said that their homes suffered from electricity cuts because of flooding, according to local authorities.

Eagle

Symbolism? Lobster fishermen rescue one-eyed bald eagle from the ocean near Schoodic Island, Maine

Overreach?
Overreach?
A lobster boat crew in Maine rescued a one-eyed eagle they spotting swimming near their boat in the Atlantic Ocean.

John Chipman Jr., who shared photos and videos of the eagle on his Instagram account, said he and his crew mates spotted the one-eyed raptor doing a breast-stroke through the water near their boat July 27.

Chipman said he and his fellow fishermen used a raft made from a personal flotation device, some plywood, and rope to fish the eagle out of the water.

The video shows the soggy eagle is eventually able to take off and fly away.