Earth ChangesS


Attention

5.5 magnitude earthquake hits Goldfields, Australia - largest in 28 years


Perth Now
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 07:14 UTC
Goldfields, Australia
© Geoscience AustraliaA 5.6 magnitude earthquake has been recorded in the WA Goldfields town of Norseman.
Tremors were felt in Perth after WA's biggest earthquake in almost 30 years struck the Goldfields on Friday.

Geoscience Australia recorded a magnitude 5.6 earthquake south-east of Norseman at 5.40pm.
Tremors were felt in Perth and Esperance, but no reports of damage so far. Norseman Hotel worker Angie Hogan fled outside the 1930s pub when the "bar moved".

"The earth moved," she said. "The whole bar just moved. I had to run outside. There is no damage, but I'm still shaking. That's biggest earthquake we've had."

The earthquake's epicentre was 16km below the surface. Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Jonathan Bathgate said it was the biggest onshore earthquake recorded in WA since a magnitude 5.7 quake near Derby in 1988.

A seismogram of the earthquake which struck the Goldfields. The seismometer was recorded from Forrest on the Nullabor about 500km to the East of the epicentre. Supplied by Geoscience Australia
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Red Flag

Covered in ash: Chinstrap penguins threatened by volcanic eruption

Greg Uyeno
Live Science
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 10:01 UTC
chinstrap penguins
© Pete Bucktrout, British Antarctic SurveyVolcanic ash threatens an enormous colony of chinstrap penguins.

The hatcheries of migratory penguins can be magical places, full of fluffy chicks and doting parents. But things are less picturesque when you add volcanic ash to the mix. A volcano on the northernmost island of an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean has been spewing ash and smoke since March, threatening one of the largest colonies of penguins in the world, according to a new study.

Zavodovski Island, one of the South Sandwich Islands, is uninhabited by humans, but it is home to more than 1 million chinstrap penguins, according to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). BAS researchers found the volcanic eruption via satellite imagery and fishermen from nearby South Georgia were able to photograph ash blowing eastward across the island over penguin-nesting grounds.

"We donꞌt know what impact the ash will have on the penguins," Peter Fretwell, a geographer with the BAS, said in a statement. "If it has been heavy and widespread it may have a serious effect on the population."

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Cheeseburger

Fast food binges from garbage dumps turning bears into 'couch potatoes'

Andy Coghlan
New Scientist
Tue, 05 Jul 2016 00:00 UTC
Foraging for rubbish
© Laurent Geslin/NaturePL.comForaging for rubbish

Garbage dumps are turning bears into couch potatoes. A survey of brown bears in north-east Turkey has revealed how visiting a dump has completely changed local bears' lifestyles. Bears that visited the dump became more sedentary, no longer migrating and foraging over the same distance as those that didn't.

"It's surprising that two substantially distinct lifestyles can develop and coexist within a small and isolated subpopulation," says Gabriele Cozzi of the University of Zurich in Switzerland. This is a first for brown bears, he says, although such differences have been found within groups of black bears.

Cozzi and his team radio-tagged 16 bears, then followed their movement for an average of 10 months, and up to 20 months. They found that the 10 "dump bears" - seven males and three females - did not stray far from the dump, except to hibernate during the winter.

By contrast, the six bears - three males and three females - that never visited the dump ventured far and wide. These bears migrated an average of 165 kilometres each year in search of food, especially in the period before hibernation, when they were probably "fattening up".

Comment: Urban Black Bears 'Live Fast, Die Young'

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Cloud Precipitation

Devastating storms hit Extremadura, Spain; crops destroyed by hurricane winds and hail


Spanish News Today
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 16:11 UTC
Floodwater in Spain
© EFE
Crops destroyed in Extremadura by hurricane winds and hailstorms

Much of Spain was affected by a string of thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday, with thunder and lightning accompanied by sometimes heavy rain and hailstorms on an axis running from the south-west of the country through to central northern areas.

Some of the worst of the weather was suffered in the region of Extremadura, where rain, hailstorms and hurricane-force winds destroyed crops over an area of 10,000 hectares in the Vegas Altas and La Serena areas. At the same time streets were flooded in the province of Badajoz (see image taken in the municipality of Villanueva de la Serena) in what the Mayor of Villanueva, Miguel Ángel Gallardo, described as "the perfect storm".
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Attention

Pod of rare whales spotted off the coast of Dunedin, New Zealand


stuff.co.nz
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 15:49 UTC
A rare Shepherd's Beaked Whale spotted from a University of Otago Research vessel In late June.
© University of OtagoA rare Shepherd's Beaked Whale spotted from a University of Otago Research vessel In late June.
A pod of rare whales was spotted off Dunedin's coast - the first such sighting in New Zealand waters.

The Shepherd's Beaked Whales were spotted from a University of Otago Research vessel in late June.

The Shepherd's Beaked Whale, Tasmacetus shepherdii, is one of the least known cetaceans in the world, and was previously known from only nine confirmed sightings in the world of live members of the species, and 55 strandings of dead whales.

Dr Will Rayment, from Otago's Department of Marine Science, led a survey expedition of the submarine canyons off the Otago coast aboard the vessel Polaris II.

"There have previously been no confirmed sightings in New Zealand waters, although New Zealand is the world's stranding hotspot for the species."
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Attention

Shark bites woman multiple times off Melbourne Beach, Florida; 5th recent attack for the area

Chris Bonanno
Florida Today
Wed, 06 Jul 2016 12:45 UTC
Shark attacks
A woman suffered injuries consistent with shark bites Wednesday afternoon in unincorporated Melbourne Beach, according to Brevard County Fire Rescue.

The woman suffered a bite on her buttocks and thigh and a deeper bite on her left hand and wrist area, Chief Mark Schollmeyer said. She also saw the animal.

The unidentified 42-year-old woman is from New Jersey, according to Brevard County Ocean Lifeguard Division chief Eisen Witcher.

The 3:30 p.m. incident took place near 2999 S. Highway A1A about a quarter-mile from a lifeguard tower.

The attack appears to be the fifth confirmed shark bite to take place off Brevard's 72-mile shoreline this year.

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Snowflake

'It is July, right?': Snow forecast in the northwest U.S. this weekend

Jason Samenow
Washington Post
Thu, 07 Jul 2016 11:41 UTC
Fresh snow on Mt. Hood, OR on June 16th, 2016.
© Timberline lodgeFresh snow on Mt. Hood, OR on June 16th, 2016.
At the height of summer, snow is forecast to blanket the high terrain of the northwestern U.S. this weekend and early next week.

"It is July right?" asks the National Weather Service forecast office in Medford, Ore., which then advises: "Get ready for a significant change . . . Snow levels will drop down to 6000 ft. Saturday night and 1-3 inches will be possible in the high Cascades above 6000 ft., including Crater Lake Rim."

The fresh snow is sure to delight summer skiers on Mount Hood, where skiing is possible year-round. "Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood is still open daily and they'll be having themselves a nice mini powder day tomorrow [Saturday]," writes the ski portal SnowBrains.com.

Snow is forecast continuously through Monday on Washington state's Mount Rainier, which ascends to 14,410 feet.
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Cloud Lightning

Lightning kills 7 buffaloes in India


The Times of India
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 11:08 UTC
Lightning
Seven buffaloes were killed by lightning strikes in a jungle above Bhanara village of Manali late on Tuesday night, said sources.

However, the owner of the buffaloes got to know about this only on Wednesday morning. Roshal Lal, a resident of Mandi district , said he was sleeping in his tent near the pasture, when the lightning occurred during a thunderstorm.
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Fish

Rare deep sea oarfish found on beach in South Africa


Mossel Bay Avertiser
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 10:49 UTC
Campers at the Hartenbos Caravan Park came across an oarfish on the beach yesterday.
© Rhoda da SilvaCampers at the Hartenbos Caravan Park came across an oarfish on the beach yesterday.
Campers at the Hartenbos Caravan Park came across an oarfish on the beach yesterday.

Antonia Pereira da Silva says it was high tide at around 16:00 when he saw the 1.3m long oarfish coming out with the surf.

Oarfish are large, greatly elongated, pelagic lampriform fish belonging to the small family Regalecidae.

This type of fish is rarely seen.

A marine biologist from Oceans Research in Mossel Bay, Dr Enrico Genarri, urges residents to report any other findings of oarfish in the area.

"It will be best to keep the fish in shallow water. Our team will then tag the fish and release it. This will be crucial for our team to obtain more information about this rare fish."

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Boat

128 dead, scores missing with 1.34 million evacuated; 41,000 houses destroyed as Biblical floods hit China

Gary Walton
The Big Wobble
Wed, 06 Jul 2016 07:08 UTC
China flood
© newsinfo.inquirer.net
Heavy rain has left 128 people dead and 42 others missing in five days, figures from the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed on Tuesday. Rain since June 30 has led to the collapse of 41,000 houses and forced the evacuation of more than 1.34 million people, mostly along the Yangtze River and its tributaries.

Nearly 600,000 people are in urgent need of basic living assistance, with 23.3 million threatened by floods. The rain has destroyed 295,200 hectares of crops. Floods and landslides are also affecting telecommunication and electricity facilities, halting or delaying traffic in some regions. The ministry estimated total economic losses of 38.2 billion yuan (5.7 billion U.S. dollars).

The ministry and the National Commission for Disaster Relief started a level-four emergency response in Hunan and Guizhou on Tuesday afternoon and sent teams to help relief work. Guizhou has been one of the worst-hit provinces, with 44 dead and 20 missing in floods and landslides.


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