Earth Changes

Astronaut spies mount Etna eruption from space

Megan Gannon
Space.com
Mon, 28 Oct 2013 17:55 UTC

© Karen L. Nyberg (via Twitter as @AstroKaren)
NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg snapped a picture of ash billowing from Mount Etna on Oct. 26, 2013.

NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg spied a plume of ash from the volcano trailing over Sicily from her post aboard the International Space Station on Saturday (Oct. 26).

She posted a photo of the phenomenon on Twitter, writing: "Our view of Mount Etna erupting. October 26."

At 10,900 feet (3,329 meters), Italy's Mount Etna is Europe's tallest volcano and one of the world's most active. Though it is almost continuously spewing gas or lava, the last major eruption at Mount Etna was in 1992.

Mount Etna's latest spurt of activity over the weekend sent a bright stream of lava shooting into the air, while ash clouds could be seen across much of eastern Sicily, according to the BBC. The haze forced the nearest airport and airspace to close temporarily, but none of the mountain towns that surround the volatile peak had to be evacuated, the BBC reported.

Earlier this year, Nyberg's Canadian colleague, astronaut Chris Hadfield, snapped a picture of ash spewing from Mount Etna while he was on board the space station after one of the volcano's paroxysms (short, violent bursts of activity).

Earth's mysterious gamma ray flashes

Stuart Gray
ABC Science
Fri, 18 Oct 2013 00:01 UTC

Electron avalanches could be generating some of the highest energy radiation bursts ever discovered on Earth.

The study in Geophysical Research Letters, suggests bursts known as terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGF), are possibly produced by dark lightning generated by an avalanche of electrons.

TGFs were first detected by chance by NASA's Earth-orbiting Compton gamma ray telescope in 1994.

Compton was searching for gamma ray bursts from exploding stars in deep space, when it unexpectedly began detecting very strong bursts of high energy x-rays and gamma rays, coming from Earth.

"These bursts last about a thousandth of a second, so they're very short and they're very bright," says the study's lead author Professor Joseph Dwyer of the Florida Institute of Technology.

"In fact they're so bright, that they temporarily blind spacecraft."

The flashes were originally thought to be coming from the top of Earth's atmosphere, but spacecraft measurements and energy modelling show they're coming from altitudes below 20 kilometres.

"People now know they're coming from deeper down, from thunderstorms at about the same altitudes where aircraft fly," says Dwyer.

"We've been struggling to figure out how thunderstorms could generate these flashes."

Snow leaves thousands without power in Russia

Robert
IceAgeNow.info
Sun, 27 Oct 2013 13:01 UTC

Nearly 17 thousand people were left without electricity in the Sakhalin region (Russia's Far East, a big island north of Japan) as a result of wet snow on the wires that disconnected the power lines. This was reported today by the Ministry of Emergencies. Power lines are currently under emergency repair work. (10-27-2013)

Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for this link

270,000 UK homes lose electricity amid St Jude storm

Agence France-Presse via Yahoo News
Mon, 28 Oct 2013 09:03 UTC

Travel chaos prevented thousands from reaching work across Britain on Monday and 270,000 homes were without electricity as the St Jude storm unleashed winds of almost 100 mph across swathes of the country.

A 17-year-old girl died after a tree fell onto the static caravan where she was sleeping in Hever, southeast England, and a man in his 50s died when a tree fell on his car in Watford, north of London, police said.

The rough conditions at sea forced rescuers to suspend the search for a 14-year-old boy who was washed out to sea from a beach in East Sussex on England's south coast on Sunday.

More than 450 people were stranded for several hours on two ferries outside the port of Dover after it was closed to sea traffic, as huge waves lashed the coastline on both sides of the Channel.

At least 100 trees fell across railway lines in the south east, Network Rail said.

Unusual radar activity over Huntsville, Alabama attributed to military test

Jeanna Bryner
Live Science
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 14:48 UTC

On June 4, meteorologists in Huntsville, Ala., noticed a "blob" on their radar screen that looked like a strong thunderstorm, despite the fact the sun was shining and not a drop of rain could be found within a few hundred miles. After some sleuthing, and several wacky explanations, the scientists have identified the culprit.

"Our operational meteorologist spotted it on radar immediately and initially thought he was caught off-guard by a pop-up thunderstorm that wasn't in the forecast," Matthew Havin, data services manager at weather technology company Baron Services, told LiveScience in an email. "Soon after that point we had numerous people from around Huntsville (and even other meteorologists from other states) calling and e-mailing us trying to determine what was going on at the time."

And some of the theories put forth to explain the mysterious blob were doozies, from the conspiracy theory that it was the result of a top-secret ground-based transmitter to interference from a nearby utilities substation. [See Images of the Mysterious Radar Blob]

Comment: When a mainstream source like Live Science willingly researches something that in different circumstences would vehemently criticize, we have to wonder if the real answer for the mysterious blob lies elsewhere.

19 killed as Odisha flood situation remains grim

The Hindu
Sun, 27 Oct 2013 15:14 UTC

© PTI
Residents of Raghunath Pur crossing a waterlogged road after torrential rain on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

The flood situation in Odisha continued to remain grim on Sunday, mainly in worst-hit Ganjam district, as the death toll rose to 19.

"All the deaths were due to wall collapse and drowning," Special Relief Commissioner P.K. Mohapatra said.

The low pressured induced rains led to fresh floods in Budhabalang river in Mayurbhanj district with water gushing into district headquarters town of Baripada and 50 villages, official source said.

In Khurda district, breaches occurred near Patapur, Manikapur, Achutarajpur and Srinibaspur of Banapur area after the Salia Dam overflowed, the sources said.

The very heavy rainfall damaged 96 distribution transformers of the Central Electricity Supply in the district.

A population of 16.50 lakh people were affected in 10 districts, as over 60 villages remained marooned in worst-hit Ganjam, the sources said.

The state government was hopeful that the situation would improve soon as the severity of the week - long rains had started declining in most areas.

"Though most parts of coastal Odisha are experiencing rain, the intensity has reduced and the situation will gradually improve," Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Surya Narayan Patro said.

In a sign of relief to the people of Ganjam, major rivers like Rusikulya, Godahada and Vansadhara were now flowing below the danger mark.

Comment: 1 lakh is 100,000, so 16.50 lakh is 1,65 million

Britain awaits worst storm in five years

Sam Jones
The Guardian
Sun, 27 Oct 2013 11:17 UTC

© Craig Shepheard/Demotix/Corbis
Flooding in St Albans last week: the Met Office is predicting that 20-40mm of rain could fall overnight.

The worst storm in five years is forecast to hit England and Wales on Sunday night, bringing heavy rain, high winds and the threat of flooding and travel chaos.

Winds of more than 80mph could leave a trail of destruction across large parts of the UK, knocking down trees and causing major structural damage and power cuts.

The storm, named after St Jude - the patron saint of lost causes whose feast day is on Monday - will develop over the Atlantic and is expected to hit the south-west late on Sunday, before moving north-east across England and southern Wales.

David Cameron said he had spoken to the organisations responsible for public safety during the storm. The prime minister wrote on Twitter: "I've just chaired a call with various government departments and agencies to hear about all the plans to ensure people are protected from tonight's storm."

The weather system is expected to have moved out over the North Sea by Monday lunchtime, leaving strong breezes in its wake.

With the Met Office predicting that 20-40mm of rain could fall within six to nine hours overnight, insurance companies are advising households to protect themselves and their property.

Comment: The headline and article from The Guardian sounds a little alarmist. If 20-40 mm of rain within a six to nine hour period is a cause for flooding and major upset, then it is more a sign of a failing infrastructure than of a severe storm.
Or comparison, in Japan the other day 850 mm of rain fell within 24 hours:
Japan's shocking, deadly deluge from Typhoon Wipha: 33 inches of rain in 24 hours

Mount Etna erupts, shuts down Italian airport

Rebekah Marcarelli
Headlines & Global News
Sat, 26 Oct 2013 14:27 UTC

Europe's most active volcano shot sparks, flames, and ash into Italy's sky Saturday.

Mount Etna erupts relatively frequently, but the volcano has not had a major eruption since 1992. Saturday's eruption sent a wall of ash so high into the air it could be seen through most of eastern Sicily, the Associated Press reported.

The eruption just before dawn forced the Catania airport to shut down the surrounding airspace. The order was lifted only a few hours later.

No evacuations were necessary as a result of the eruption. There were not fatalities reported, a the Wall Street Journal reported.

The volcano has been famous throughout history. The ancient Greeks believed it was the home of Vulcan, the god of fire. When Mt. Etna erupted the Greeks believed it was because Vulcan was creating weapons for the the god of war, Mars, LiveScience reported.

Mount Etna also sent lava hundreds of feet into the air in January of 2011.

Signs of change in October 2013

HawkkeyDavis Channel
YouTube
Wed, 23 Oct 2013 11:01 UTC

© AP Photo/NSW Rural Fire Service, James Morris
Firefighters are battling scores of wildfires in southeastern Australia as authorities evacuate national parks and warned that hot, dry and windy conditions were combining to raise the threat to its highest alert level.

Dozens of typhoons and cyclones slamming into Southeast Asia, Japan and India, record heat and hundreds of wildfires in Australia, record snow and rainfall in the Northern and Midwestern US states, mile-wide tornadoes in Nebraska, hundreds of dead dolphins washing up all along the U.S. Atlantic coast, a powerful earthquake in the Philippines... these are just some of the extreme weather and geological events that took place around the world in October 2013.

This series does not imply the world is ending! This video series just documents extreme weather and geological events that are leading to bigger Earth Changes. If you are following the series, then you are paying attention to the signs.

Music Used:
Xtortion Audio - Tournique
Position Music Abandoned freedom

Escaped snake found in Walthamstow, London temple

Amelia Burr
thisislocallondon.co.uk
Fri, 25 Oct 2013 08:57 UTC

The snake is being looked after at a specialist centre

The hunt is on for the owner of a snake discovered in a temple.

Master Wang, master of the I-Kuan Tao temple in Orford Road, Walthamstow, spotted the brightly-coloured red corn snake slithering down the stairs on Wednesday.

The red corn snake can grow up to six feet in length and swallow prey such as rats and birds whole.

Master Wang, whose wife suffers from a snake phobia, managed to entice the animal into a plastic bottle, which he pierced with air holes and filled with food before calling the RSPCA.

Mrs Wang has a phobia of snakes, forcing her to stay upstairs all day.

The snake was then taken to a specialist reptile centre where it will live until the owner or a new home is found.

Jasmin Ong, 35, was attending a feng shui class at the temple on Wednesday and identified the snake before putting posters up around the area appealing for information.

"It was a bit of a shock. The temple master's wife is terrified of snakes so she had to stay upstairs all day," she said.

I-Kuan Tao is a non-religious temple which shares teaching from Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism, as well as running classes on yoga and feng shui.

If you have any information, call the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.

We haven't hit November yet. And then comes December. Stay strong folks!! Get cleaned up!!

LindaMay

Got a lot of banning to do now if songs have to only contain official, literal, "truths" I reckon.

Neizvestno

We must believe lies as truth or face the consequences. I am not sure if I can assimilate into the Brave New World.

nuggatron

This figure is such an obvious parody and insult of the voters, I don't know why the whole deepfake administration was not court-martialled and...

codis

Only space aliens or pedojewzskies would abuse a child at school: [Link]

Jibrish

Earth Changes

Astronaut spies mount Etna eruption from space

Earth's mysterious gamma ray flashes

Snow leaves thousands without power in Russia

270,000 UK homes lose electricity amid St Jude storm

Unusual radar activity over Huntsville, Alabama attributed to military test

19 killed as Odisha flood situation remains grim

Britain awaits worst storm in five years

Mount Etna erupts, shuts down Italian airport

Signs of change in October 2013

Escaped snake found in Walthamstow, London temple

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