Earth ChangesS


Fish

Thousands of dead fish surfacing in Quad City Area, Illinois

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© Sara Anderson Fish Kill at Hennepin Canal
A walk along the peaceful bike path off the Hennepin Canal in Milan, Illinois looks like something out of a horror film.

Thousands of dead fish have washed up on shore as of Sunday, March 30, 2014.

Believe it or not, Iowa Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Jeff Harrison says it's normal.

"This happens after every winter. When we have so many days with cold temperatures, the snow covers the ice on these ponds and rivers. Sunlight then can't penetrate into the water. That means oxygen is lacking for fish in the water," Harrison said.

Heart

Killer elephant halts rampage to save baby girl trapped by rubble, India

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© Getty Images
A killer tusker elephant - a wild elephant with tusks - was on a rampage through a West Bengal village on Monday when it stopped to carefully unearth a crying baby girl beneath the rubble of the house it had begun to demolish.

The 10-month-old's father, Dipak Mahato, told the Times of India that he and his wife were having dinner at about 8pm when they heard a "cracking sound" and a huge crash from the bedroom.

"We ran over and were shocked to see the wall in pieces and a tusker standing over our baby," Mr Mahato said.

"She was crying and there were huge chunks of the wall lying all around and on the cot. The tusker started moving away but when our child started crying again, it returned and used its trunk to remove the debris."

Snowflake

After heavy snowfall more than 10,000 snowploughs put to work removing snow in Moscow

Snowfall in Moscow
© ITAR-TASS/Mikhail Dzhaparidze
Heavy snowfall brought to Moscow Region by a cyclone covered the Russian capital with more than ten centimeters of snow overnight to Tuesday.

Snowfall will last until the noon on Tuesday, so, Moscow mayor's office ask drivers not to drive in the city without extraordinary reasons and to take public transport that operates without any breaks. Despite early morning the traffic in the city is already intensive. According to Internet resources, traffic situation will deteriorate in the next few hours.

More than 10,000 snowploughs are working on the roads. "Special machinery has treated the roads with anti-icing agents at 11.00 pm Moscow time on Monday and went out for snow removal at night," the mayor's office noted, adding that now "an army" of street sweepers is cleaning up walkways leading to the metro, social facilities and public transport stops.

The mayor's office asked drivers to take work of utility workers with attention and observe parking rules and road signs.

A wave cyclone formed slightly to the north of Tver, a Volga River city situated 158 kilometres away from Moscow, triggered the spring snowfall. Snowfall will be getting weaker and coming to a close, as it is moving south-eastwards in the course of the day. The air temperature in the Russian capital is minus four degrees Celsius, conditions for slippery roads and snow drifts persist.

Cloud Precipitation

IPCC: More hunger, floods, conflict and mass migration ahead due to climate change

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© David Ryder/Getty ImagesSearch-and-rescue crews work in and around flood waters caused by the Oso mudslide on March 29, 2014 in Oso, Wash. A new climate change report predicts flooding will become more common as the planet warms.
Soaring carbon emissions will amplify the risk of conflict, hunger, floods and mass migration this century, the UN's expert panel said Monday in a landmark report on the impact of climate change.

Left unchecked, greenhouse gas emissions may cost trillions of dollars in damage to property and ecosystems, and in bills for shoring up climate defences, it said, adding the impact would increase with every additional degree that temperatures rise.

"Increasing magnitudes of warming increase the likelihood of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts," a summary said, in a stark message to policymakers.

The report is the second chapter of the fifth assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), set up in 1988 to provide neutral, science-based guidance to governments.

Comment:
Ice age cometh: No warming left to deny... Global cooling takes over... CET annual mean temperature plunges 1°C since 2000
SOTT Talk Radio: Climate Change, Food Shortages and the Future


Cloud Lightning

Plane is struck by THREE lightning bolts at once over Birmingham, UK

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Thunderstruck: These huge bolts of electricity struck the KLM flight as it came in to land over Birmingham
A bright flash of light and booming noises in a cramped seat thousands of feet in the air would be enough to put off even the most hardened fliers.

But passengers landing at Birmingham airport on Friday afternoon were led by example as their captain coolly steered them through three lightning blasts and left it until afterwards to calmly explain what happened.

Passengers spoke of a 'massive bang' as one of the bolts struck the body of the KLM service from Amsterdam, but the blasts had no effect on the landing, which proceeded as normal to touch down at 4.30pm.


Cloud Lightning

Giant hailstorms and heavy rain kill at least 16 people in China

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Destruction: This factory workshop was completely destroyed when giant hailstones hit the area of Dongguan in southern China's Guangxi province
Heavy storms and giant hailstones have left at least 16 people dead and caused widespread property damage in southern China.

The poor weather has lasted more than a week, bringing landslides and flooding - particularly in the autonomous Guangxi province, which borders Vietnam.

Local authorities say at least 16 people have been killed, although that figure is likely to rise as the true extent of the devastation cannot be fully assessed until the poor weather subsides.

Yesterday the Civil Affairs Department of Guangxi said at least 70 houses had collapsed, with another 1,716 badly damaged, and more than 2,000 hectares of crops destroyed.

Local weather forecasts said heavy rain and hail is expected to continue to hit parts of Guangxi over the next few days, before subsiding in the latter half of this week.

Landslide and flood warnings are likely to remain in place well into next week.

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No protection: A roof in Dongguan is covered in holes after giant hailstones crashed through the ceiling

Attention

Rare albino baby dolphin surfaces in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina

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A dolphin was filmed in the Ashley River in January that might have been the young white dolphin seen in Wappoo Creek the past few weeks.
A rare animal might be hunting with its mother in Charleston Harbor - an albino dolphin.

A young white dolphin has surfaced near the Wappoo Creek bridge on Folly Road most afternoons the past few weeks, wowing spectators, including diners at the Charleston Crab House, who jump from their seats to the window and deck outside.

"They go crazy. They scream," said owner John Keener. "It runs right alongside its mom all the time."

Jim Mossman, a videographer for the city of Charleston, inadvertently might have shot a video of the baby in January, while capturing a pod in the Ashley River near the West Ashley Bikeway. The smaller dolphin's coloring drew him, he said. "I don't think I've ever seen a baby dolphin, much less a white one."

An albino dolphin is an eye-catcher, but the animal will have a tough go in the wild. Still, its appearance is a heart-warmer in a year when a virus has been decimating the population. More than 1,000 dolphin have died so far, more than 100 in South Carolina alone. And a second wave of the virus-caused deaths is expected as waters warm.

Attention

Total of dead dolphins increases to 5 in Beaufort County, South Carolina

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Two more dolphins have been found dead off Beaufort County shores this weekend, bringing the total since March 17 to five.

The dolphins were reported Saturday and Sunday, according to Wayne McFee, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, at Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island and Sands Beach in Port Royal, respectively.

Employees from the S.C. Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Charleston, were on their way to Beaufort County on Monday morning to retrieve the animals.

Three previous dolphins deaths have been reported in recent weeks.

A bottlenose dolphin washed ashore March 17 on Hilton Head Island between Sea Pines and Marriott's Grande Ocean Resort and died before marine biologists could reach it. That was an older male, and had a heart condition and probable pneumonia.

Attention

Dead Bryde's whale found on beach in Plover Cove, Hong Kong

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Marine experts are dwarfed by the whale
The bloated carcass of a whale the length of a bus has been found at a remote beach in the New Territories' northeastern tip.

The 10.8-metre-long animal, found beached in an inner bay off Hung Shek Mun, in Plover Cove Country Park, was thought to be a female Bryde's whale.

When marine experts arrived yesterday morning, the rotting carcass was lying partially submerged in the shallow water, giving off a stench. It had a number of cuts on its body.

Arrow Down

Sinkhole opens up in Chelmsford and at other locations in Massachusetts

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Firefighter George Ryan examines the sinkhole at Brian Road and Boston Road.

Heavy rains were causing flooding and sinkholes in many parts of Massachusetts Sunday.

Flooding prompted local and state police to close a number of roads and highways Sunday morning. On parts of Memorial Drive near the Longfellow Bridge, police were warning drivers to be aware of large puddles of water.

South of Boston, Mass. State Police reported that amps from Route 195 east and westbound were closed to Route 18 due to flooding. Route 18 itself had flooded in New Bedford, and police closed it between Route195 and Route 6, reopening the southbound side at around 12:30 p.m.

In Freetown, the ramp from Chase Road to Route 140 in was closed as well because of flooding.