Earth ChangesS


Question

Dead dolphin, fish and crustaceans washed ashore in Malaysia, cause unknown


The Borneo Post
Sat, 18 Mar 2017 14:52 UTC
The dead dolphin and other marine life washed ashore at Luak
The dead dolphin and other marine life washed ashore at Luak
A dolphin believed to be an adult male Fineless Porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides) locally known as Lumba-lumba was among dead marine creatures washed ashore since last Monday.

Oswald Braken Tisen from Sarawak Marine Mammal Stranding Network (SMMSN) said a staff of a club house - Beach Republic at Luak - found the carcass of the 1.39 metre dolphin at the beach between the club house and the nearby Luak Esplanade.

"Swift action was taken by the Department of Forestry, Miri and Sarawak Forestry Corporation , SFC Miri and other members of the Network upon knowing about the incidence this morning," he said when contacted by the Borneo Post yesterday.
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Attention

Bodyboarder bitten by shark in New South Wales, Australia

Andrew Pearson
Illawarra Mercury
Sun, 19 Mar 2017 12:27 UTC
Shark attacks
A Spanish tourist has had a lucky escape after he was bitten on the bottom by a shark while boogie-boarding at The Farm on Sunday evening.

Gonzalo Mompo Fernandez was with a group of other tourists at the popular Killalea State Park surfing spot when the incident happened about 6.30pm.

The 30-year-old received small puncture wounds to his backside, but didn't require medical treatment.

"We were paddling for a wave, or just going over the lip of a wave, and then the shark's come up the back and tried to grab hold of his arse,"Jordan Hirst, who was with Gonzalo at the time, told the Mercury.

"He's tried to bash it off and it kept swimming up ... a few guys saw the tail like splashing around.

"The shark was pushing itself on top of him. He was on a boogie board, so like lying down with his feet in the water, and it's come up the back and the tail's been smashing him on the leg."
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Seismograph

Shallow 4.0-magnitude earthquake jolts Islamabad, Pakistan


Pakistan Today
Tue, 21 Mar 2017 12:14 UTC
GRAPH
A 4.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Islamabad, Rawalpindi and surrounding areas on Tuesday, Pakistan Meteorological Department reported.

"The epicentre of the quake was near Hazro, Punjab and occurred at a depth of 12km," PMD said on Twitter.
An Earth Quake Originated on 10:57PST
Magnitude: 4.0
Depth: 12 Km
Lat: 33.89N
Lon: 72.54E
Epicenter: Near Hazro Punjab #Earthquake

— Pak Met Department (@pmdgov) March 21, 2017
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Eye 2

Two people attacked by crocodiles in Queensland, Australia; one fatality


Sky News
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 11:30 UTC
Adult male saltwater crocodile underwater, where it can remain completely motionless for at least an hour.
© Adam BrittonAdult male saltwater crocodile underwater, where it can remain completely motionless for at least an hour.
There are renewed calls for a widespread cull of crocodiles in north Queensland after a spearfisherman was killed and a teenager mauled in waters around Innisfail.

Warren Hughes, 35, went missing on Saturday, and a search was sparked after his dinghy and speargun were found off Palmer Point, just north of Innisfail.

Water police pulled his body from the waters south of Palmer Point around 8am on Monday and say initial investigations suggest he was taken by a large crocodile.

It's believed to be the second crocodile attack in two days in far north Queensland.

Comment: Another report from Queensland state in the same time frame as that above: Call for croc cull after dogs taken by reptiles in three separate attacks:
A woman whose dog was attacked by a crocodile north of Port Douglas is calling for a cull before more lives are taken by the dangerous reptiles.

Rangers are investigating reports of three separate attacks on dogs in the Port Douglas and Daintree on Friday.

A dog was reportedly attacked while walking with its owner along the southern end of Four Mile Beach late Friday night.

Two other dogs were also attacked by crocodiles at Cow Bay and at Rocky Point.


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Bizarro Earth

Deadly 'Seiche' waves hit Dayyer, Iran


The Watchers
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 06:54 UTC
Deadly Seiche waves smash Dayyer, Iran
© MEHR News Agency / Mehdi RoozbazarDeadly Seiche waves smash Dayyer, Iran on March 19, 2017.
18 people were injured and 6 are still missing after a natural phenomenon called "Seiche" hit the Iranian port city of Dayyer, Bushehr province. The event left behind flooded homes and significant infrastructural damage.

Governor Hamzeh E'temad said giant waves smashed the port city at 08:10 local time on March 19, 2017, injuring 18 people and killing at least 1. Six people are still missing, according to Deputy Governor Namdar Darvishi.

For MEHR News Agency, the head of Bushehr's Persian Gulf Oceanography Centre Ehsan Abedi said the reason behind the giant waves and sea overflow is a natural phenomenon called Seiche. The effect is caused by resonances in a body of water that has been disturbed by one or more of a number of factors, most often meteorological effects (wind and atmospheric pressure variations), seismic activity or by tsunamis.

Seiches are often imperceptible to the naked eye, and observers in boats on the surface may not notice that a seiche is occurring due to the extremely long wavelengths. They can be considered long period or infragravity waves, which are due to subharmonic nonlinear wave interaction with the wind waves, have periods longer than the accompanying wind-generated waves.

Heavy rain and strong winds caused dangerous conditions in the sea, sinking a number of fishing boats.

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Seismograph

Trinidad jolted by strong shallow tremor of magnitude 4.9


Jamaica Observer
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 20:39 UTC
GRAPH
An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.9 jolted Trinidad and Tobago on Monday but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The Seismic Research centre (SRC) of the University of the West Indies (UWI), said that the quake, which occurred at 3:01 pm (local time) had a depth of 10 kilometres.

It said felt in Port of Spain and Arima as well as in Scarborough, the capital of Tobago.

The location of the quake was given as Latitude 11.26N and Longitude: 60.92W.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills farmer in Cambodia; third such death within a week

Ros Chanveasna
Khmer Times
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 20:21 UTC
LIGHTNING
Lightning struck and killed a woman on Saturday afternoon as she was farming in heavy rain in Battambang province's Phnom Prek district.

Thoy Sok, 34, was struck at about 2:30pm during an unseasonal dry-season storm, the National Police website said yesterday.

"She died in her rice field instantly," it said.

On Friday, two separate lightning strikes killed a woman and injured three, one critically, in Battambang province.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning bolt kills man in Garo Hills, India


The Shillong Times
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 20:07 UTC
LIGHTNING
Hailstorm lashed a large part of Garo Hills killing one person and damaging houses

In West Garo Hills, Rajabala constituency is the worst-affected with early reports indicating 14 villages being affected by the storm.

A village elder from Nikikona Jhalupara village in Selsella block, identified as Gobindo Seal, was killed when lightning struck him while attempting to herd his cattle to the cowshed.

Local MLA and parliamentary secretary for water resources Ashahel D. Shira visited the area. He asked district officials to visit the affected parts, assess the damages and ensure compensation.

Comment: See also: Lightning not commonly seen in India during March kills 6

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Question

Cause of 'boom' in northern Kentucky remains a mystery

Mary Ann Kearns
The Ledger Independent
Wed, 15 Mar 2017 16:38 UTC
Mystery boom
A loud boom which rattled windows and shook buildings in the Augusta area of Bracken County on Wednesday at about 10:20 a.m., has yet to be identified.

A spokesperson for East Kentucky Power Cooperative's Spurlock Station on Kentucky 8 in Mason County said there was nothing at the plant which would have caused the noise. Nick Comer of EKP said the boom did not originate at the power plant.

The boom was also heard in Brooksville and Minerva and there were reports of it also being heard in Georgetown, Ohio. A possible explanation was a "sonic boom," caused by an aircraft flying over and breaking the sound barrier. In fact, some reports from Georgetown indicate low flying aircraft were spotted at the time of the noise.

Laura McGowan, a public affairs officer with Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, said she contacted the 180th Fighter Wing Ohio Air National Guard, and they determined it wasn't caused by one of their aircraft. A public affairs officer at Rickenbacker Air Force Base in Columbus, Ohio, where the Ohio Air National Guard is headquartered, also denied responsibility, saying the group does not have an aircraft capable of causing a sonic boom.

There were also no reports of an explosion at any of the area limestone mines and the United States Geological Survey did not record any earthquakes in the area at the time of the boom.

Comment: An unexplained boom was also reported just 1 week prior, two hours south in Shelby County, Kentucky.

Mysterious boom radiates through northern Kentucky county

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Seismograph

Shallow magnitude 6.0 quake strikes off the Solomon Islands


Solomon Times
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 13:50 UTC
An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 hit off the Solomon Islands in the early hours of Monday.(Representative image)
An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 hit off the Solomon Islands in the early hours of Monday.(Representative image)
A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit off the Solomon Islands in the early hours of Monday, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake struck at 02:43 am local time at a depth of 4.0 kilometres (2.5 miles), some 170 kilometres north-northeast of the capital city Honiara, the USGS said. No tsunami warning was issued.

The Solomon Islands are part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a zone of tectonic activity known for frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions.

UTS Geotechnical and Earthquake Engineering senior lecturer Behzad Fatahi said the Ring of Fire "looks like broken eggshells".
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