Earth ChangesS


Attention

4.8 earthquake hits Uttarakhand, India


ndtv.com
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 08:31 UTC
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Mild tremors were felt in parts of Uttarakhand this afternoon as an earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter Scale hit Pithoragarh district on the India-Nepal border and adjoining areas.

The earthquake, which struck at around 2.57 pm, had a latitude of 29.7 degree north, a longitude of 80.3 degree east and a depth of 33 km, the MeT office in Dehradun said.

There is, however, no report of any damage to life and property from the area so far.

Source: Press Trust of India
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Bizarro Earth

Bizarre snowy froth returns to Bellandur Lake in Bangalore, India


BBC News
Mon, 28 Sep 2015 22:19 UTC
Bangalore Pollution_1
© Debasish GhoshThe foam rises so high that it flows into the neighbourhoods around the lake.
Is it snowing in India's tropical southern city of Bangalore?

The picture above would certainly make you think so.

Unfortunately, the reality is quite different: what looks like snow is actually harmful snow-white froth that floats up from the city's largest lake and spills over into neighbouring areas.

Over the years, the 9,000-acre Bellandur lake in India's technology capital has been polluted by chemicals and sewage.

IT professional Debasish Ghosh has been taking pictures of the lake of "harmful snowy froth" for months now. Here is a selection of his pictures.

Comment: This has apparently been happening for a number of years on this lake, although this year the 'froth' became utterly 'other-worldly': it's thicker and smellier than ever, and it even caught fire!

This is what the 'froth' looked like in April this year:


And here it is on fire in May:


Most everyone is assuming that this is caused by untreated sewage pouring into the lake as a result of mismanagement of the city's explosive growth in recent years. There was a mass fish kill in a nearby lake in 2011. The following report in The Hindu attributes the froth's 'rotten eggs' sulphur smell to methane:
Utterly puzzled by the phenomena Siddaramaiah, Regional Officer (Bommanahalli division) of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), said this was the first time in the city that froth or debris on top of the lake was reported to have instantaneously combusted.

"We believe it is because of methane build up along the surface. Sewage has been following into the lake, and a layer of oil and froth - which is caused by accumulating chemicals from detergents and cleaners - had formed. In one area, methane gas had started to accumulate within the froth. This is a highly combustible gas, and it must have caught on fire," he said.
While methane is a by-product of sewage, untreated sewage does not typically result in such 'fiery froth'. Given the hundreds of instances of unusual methane outgassing we've collected from around the world over the last decade, we naturally wonder if this 'froth' phenomenon may be the result of - or at least significantly amplified by - methane outgassing coming from below, either directly or tangentially related to the global increase in seismic activity.

After all, if geysers of methane can erupt on a golf course in Ontario, and methane gas pockets can surface then detonate and leave behind incredible crater-holes in Siberia, anything is possible on our changing planet.

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Snowflake

Spain registers first snowfall of season high in the Sierra Nevada


thelocal.es
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 19:26 UTC
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Sierra Nevada
Just a few days before the start of October, the first snowflakes have fallen in Spain, on Europe's most southerly ski resort.

Summer is well and truly over in Spain, and winter sports fans are getting excited as the first snowflakes fall in one of the country's best ski resorts.

Spanish ski resorts: Eight of the best

The Sierra Nevada ski station in Granada, southern Spain, recorded its first snowfall on Monday and posted a series of videos and photographs, welcoming the wintery weather.
Breve vídeo grabado esta mañana en el corazón de #SierraNevada mientras nevaba #Monodenieve #Winteriscoming pic.twitter.com/Z8TloVbaZa

— Sierra Nevada (@websierranevada) September 28, 2015
The highest points of the ski resort - the most southerly in Europe and Spain's highest with peaks of 3,300m - were sprinkled with a fresh snowfall on Monday (see video above).
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Ice Cube

Route through Northwest Passage in Arctic still too thick with ice for regular shipping

Anthony Watts
Whats Up With That?
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 00:00 UTC
From YORK UNIVERSITY and the "paging Dr. Peter Wadhams" department...

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© WikipediaNorthwest passage routes
Despite climate change, sea ice in the (NWP) remains too thick and treacherous for it to be a regular commercial Arctic shipping route for many decades, according to new research out of York University.

Prior to this research, there was little information about the thickness of sea ice in the NWP, which meanders through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Yet, next to ice coverage and type, sea ice thickness plays the most important role in assessing shipping hazards and predicting ice break-up.
"While everyone only looks at ice extent or area, because it is so easy to do with satellites, we study ice thickness, which is important to assess overall changes of ice volume, and helps to understand why and where the ice is most vulnerable to summer melt," says lead researcher York Professor Christian Haas, the Canada Research Chair for Arctic Sea Ice Geophysics.

Comment: Could the thickness of the sea ice described be connected to the following?

Surprising cold 'blob' found in the North Atlantic Ocean - astute climate scientists worried

Why is NOAA altering weather data ahead of the UN climate change meeting?

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Attention

Department of Fish and Game investigating black bear attack in Dry Valley, Idaho


localnews8.com
Mon, 28 Sep 2015 17:19 UTC
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© MGN OnlineStock photo of black bear
Idaho Department of Fish and Game is investigating a report of a black bear attack on a member of a hunting party over the weekend.

The attack occurred on Sunday, September 27 in the Dry Valley Area in southeast Idaho approximately 14 miles northeast of Soda Springs. One person was hurt in the attack. They were treated at Caribou Memorial Hospital in Soda Springs and released.

Biologists and officers with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game are currently investigating the incident.

Black bear attacks on humans are unusual. Records show this is the first such attack by a black bear in southeast Idaho since 2002.
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Attention

Woman injured in rare black bear attack near Kalispell, Montana

Laura Zuckerman
Reuters
Mon, 28 Sep 2015 16:38 UTC
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Black bear
An elderly woman has been hospitalized with serious injuries she suffered in a rare attack by a black bear outside her rural home near the city of Kalispell in northwestern Montana, wildlife managers said on Monday.

Few details were immediately available about the incident, which happened on Sunday afternoon near a lake west of Kalispell where dozens of black bears are known to roam but have rarely, if ever, attacked a human, Montana wildlife officials said.

"Black bears just don't attack, as a rule," said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks warden Charles Bartos.

Wildlife managers are investigating and have set traps in hopes of capturing and killing the bear responsible, said agency spokesman John Fraley. He said he was not aware of another such case in his 24 years with the department.

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Sun

Sun halo in San Francisco, California opening act for super blood moon


CBS News - San Francisco
Mon, 28 Sep 2015 16:43 UTC
KPIX 5 Morning Weather Anchor Roberta Gonzales answers the questions you never get to ask on-air.
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© CBSTwo images of the halo seen around the sun, September 27, 2015.
Q: Hey Roberta, did you see the super moon lunar eclipse? Brian Cain; Hayward

A: Yes I did! But did YOU see yesterday's "halo" around the sun?

I was running in the San Jose Rock and Roll Marathon yesterday when I looked up (probably gasping for air!) and saw the prettiest halo around the sun! Did you see it?

Officially, scientists refer to a ring or circle of light around the sun or moon, a halo. What makes a halo around the sun or moon?

Well, there's an old weather saying, "ring around the moon means rain soon". That's not necessarily true. The true part is, high cirrus clouds often come before a storm. And if you look at my photos, those wispy looking clouds are cirrus clouds. They are high and thin and usually located around 20,000 feet in elevation. The cool thing about cirrus clouds, is they contain millions and millions of ice crystals! A halo forms because of the refraction (splitting of light) and reflection (glints of light) from these ice crystals.

What I love about a halo is, because of the positioning of the ice crystals and an individual's positioning looking up, everyone sees a halo differently. So my halo yesterday was different than the one you probably saw. Just think about it, your own personal halo!
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Attention

Glacial river flood under way in Iceland


Iceland Monitor
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 16:04 UTC
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© Jón Grét­ar Sig­urðssonEast cauldron of Skaftá.
The Icelandic Met Office has just announced that a flood of the Skaftá glacier river in Iceland's mighty Vatnajökull glacier has begun.

Flood water is reportedly discharging from the east cauldron of Skjaftá. According to an IMO Facebook post, floods from the east cauldron are bigger and rarer than floods from the west cauldron.

The last time a similar event occurred was in June 2010.

Experts predict water flows of 1,300-1,400 m3/s. The flood has not yet reached the IMO's first measuring station, so no exact figures are yet available.

The flood should take 48 hours to hit the national ring-road. Bridges are not considered to be at risk, but some roads may be flooded.
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Cloud Precipitation

Hundreds displaced by floods in Tamale, Ghana

Mildred Europa Taylor
Pulse
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 15:53 UTC
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Hundreds displaced by floods in Tamale
The heavy rains, which lasted for about an hour and half, flooded homes of the residents and destroyed many properties.

Hundreds of residents in Bilpela and Kalariga, suburbs of Tamale have been left homeless and cut off from the rest of Tamale after torrential rains swept through the Northern Region capital.

The heavy rains, which lasted for about an hour and half, flooded homes of the residents and destroyed many properties.

Residents have attributed the latest floods to an abandoned road project, even though this is not the first time the communities have been flooded

Some residents told Joy News the flood could have been prevented had the abandoned road project - which has an accompanying drainage system - been completed.
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Bizarro Earth

Taiwan ravaged by super-typhoon Dujuan leaving half-a-million without power


RT
Tue, 29 Sep 2015 14:51 UTC

'Super typhoon' Dujuan, which has been sweeping across northern Taiwan, has killed two people and displaced 12,000, while also cutting electricity to about half a million Taiwanese. More than 300 people have been injured.

The storm also hit the Chinese coastal city of Putian on Tuesday morning, according to Xinhua, but no reports of damage followed.

In Taiwan, flying debris was thrown about like paper, with gusts of wind so strong they knocked people off their feet, tore up trees and smashed windows. Multiple landslides were also registered.
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