Earth ChangesS


Sun

New telescopes see magnetic flux ropes on Sun (which can't possibly affect Earths climate)

Joanne Nova
JoNova
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 01:56 UTC
A new telescope has peered into the Sun to see solar magnetic flux ropes for the first time. Severe flux rope twists have been described as being like "earthquakes" on the sun, and are linked to eruptions of large solar flares that change magnetic fields, and cause radiation and energetic particles to rain on Earth.

We don't know much about solar magnetic flux ropes. We know they affect space weather, but thanks to climate experts we already "know" they can't possibly, ever in a million years, affect Earth's weather. Even though we've only just been able to see them and have no long term data on them, we have Global Circulation Climate models (which don't include these solar factors), so we have 95% certainty that none of the particles, fields or radiation changes have much impact on Earth. They might fritz satellites, electronics and communications, but Earth's atmosphere has no electrical component (wink), and the models "work" (kinda, sorta, apart from "the pause", the arctic, the ocean, the antarctic, and the holocene) without any of this fuzzy solar stuff. Got that? Repeat after me. The Sun does not affect Earth's climate. (Good boys and girls. You are fit for a government grant.)
Magnetic flux rope
© Chang LiuFine details of a magnetic flux rope captured by the New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory for Solar Active Region 11817 on 2013 August 11. The structure is further demonstrated by the 3-D magnetic modeling based the observations of Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board Solar Dynamic Observatory.
Science Daily: Scientists at NJIT's Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) have captured the first high-resolution images of the flaring magnetic structures known as solar flux ropes at their point of origin in the Sun's chromosphere.

Flux ropes are bundles of magnetic fields that together rotate and twist around a common axis, driven by motions in the photosphere, a high-density layer of the Sun's atmosphere below the solar corona and chromosphere.
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Attention

Second dead dolphin washes ashore in a week in Mumbai, India

Diksha Punjabi
mid-day.com
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 19:48 UTC
Image
The dolphin was taken to Bombay Veterinary College for a post-mortem and then cremated yesterday
While BMC had dumped the dead mammal, found last week, in the Deonar dumping yard, they took nearly 15 hours to clear the body found on Monday; officials said the body was stuck between the rocks and was difficult to remove

More people, perhaps, have seen dolphins in the city in the past week or so, than they might've seen in their entire lifetime. Another dead dolphin washed ashore Marine Drive on Monday, and this time, the civic body took nearly 15 hours to lift its body from the rocks.

The five-foot creature was spotted at 8 pm, on the rocks opposite the NCPA building. Locals informed the authorities and soon, officials from the Solid Waste Management of the A ward and the Marine Drive police reached the spot.
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Bizarro Earth

Chile volcano: Cloud of ash and gas spew into sky as Calbuco erupts again

Sam Webb
Mirror
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 18:33 UTC
Calbuco volcano erupts again
© Carlos Vera/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Calbuco volcano erupted again Thursday, releasing a large column of ash into the air just over a week after it spectacularly roared to life following half a century of inactivity.
The Chilean volcano that erupted spectacularly twice last week is causing more chaos after once again spewing a cloud of ash and gas into the sky

Calbuco began erupting again today, sending a massive plume of smoke into the clear blue sky.

The volcano spewed over 200 million tonnes of ash last week, coating nearby towns, wrecking the local salmon industry, and forcing the cancellation of flights as far as Buenos Aires, some 870 miles away.
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Attention

Pet monkey enters neighbourhood houses and attacks children in Nigeria


Leadership
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 19:06 UTC
Image
The three children who suffered serious injuries following an unexpected attack by a monkey in Illado, Ikorodu, Lagos, are receiving treatment at the Shallom Hospital in the area, the Police in Lagos said on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the children, attacked on Tuesday, are eight-year-old girl, Funmilayo Gbadegeshin, two siblings Roda and Emmanuel Alombo.

Eyewitnesses told NAN that the monkey is owned by one Mrs Daniel, popularly known as "Iya Ibeji' who also resides in Illado also.

Mr Babatunde Oyesola, one of the residents, who said he witnessed the incident, told NAN that the monkey left the owner's house and went into the Gbadegeshin's home.

It attacked Funmilayo right in the parents' home as she just returned from school.

He added that after the she was rescued and was rushed to a nearby hospital the monkey moved to another house belonging to Mr Alombo to attack Roda and Emmanuel.

The children had just returned from school also.
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Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.7 - 125km SSW of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea


US Geological Survey
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 18:07 UTC
Kokopo Quake_300415
© USGS
Time
  1. 2015-04-30 10:45:05 (UTC)
  2. Times in other timezones
Nearby Cities
  1. 125km (78mi) SSW of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea
  2. 186km (116mi) E of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea
  3. 331km (206mi) SSE of Kavieng, Papua New Guinea
  4. 421km (262mi) WNW of Arawa, Papua New Guinea
  5. 680km (423mi) NE of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
Scientific Data
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Attention

Portents and signs: Calf born with 2 heads at Florida farm

Ben Hooper
upi.com
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 17:05 UTC
Image
© WLS-TVA two-headed calf
Dwight Crews said the two-headed calf is the first he's seen in 60 years of raising cattle.

A Florida farmer said he was shocked when one of his cows gave birth to a living two-headed calf, but experts said the calf is unlikely to live for very long.

Dwight Crews, a Baker County farmer who has been raising cattle for more than 60 years, said it was clear right away that the calf born Sunday was unusual.

"A two-headed calf! I can not believe it," Crews told WJXT-TV. "I've heard of them, but I've never seen one. This is my first one."

Crew said the female calf, which his daughter dubbed Annabel, has trouble standing up, but she has been feeding from a bottle. He said the calf's other mouth moves when one mouth is suckling.


Comment: See also these other reports since the end of March:

Portents and signs: 5-legged lamb born in Wales

Portents and signs: Baby born with eight limbs in India

Portents and signs: Lamb born with face like an 'angry old man' in Dagestan

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Cloud Grey

Record April low temperatures logged overnight in parts of Northern Territory, Australia

Xavier La Canna
weatherzone.com.au
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 13:09 UTC
Image
© ABC licensedA weather map released at 3:30am (CST) highlights temperatures in Australia during the early hours of April 30.
People in parts of the Northern Territory have experienced the coolest night of the year so far, with new record lows for April expected to be recorded in several places.

At 6:00am (CST) the temperature at Middle Point, 66 kilometres south-west of Darwin, was down to 13.1 Celsius, making it the coldest April temperature ever recorded at the site.

The temperature in Alice Springs was a chilly 1.7C overnight, making it the coolest night so far this year and fractionally above its coldest-ever recorded April temperature of 1.4C.

Bureau of Meteorology acting senior forecaster Billy Lynch said he expected it would have been an April record in several parts of the Top End overnight.

"It is just an indication that we are getting off to a really good start to the Dry Season," Mr Lynch said.

The low temperatures were also affecting Darwin, where it got down to 20.5C, making it the coolest night of the year so far.

But the record low overnight at Middle Point was still above the coolest temperature ever recorded in Darwin, which was just 10.4C in July 1942.
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Ice Cube

Harsh winter kills 29% of blue crabs in Chesapeake Bay

Darryl Fears
Washington Post
Mon, 27 Apr 2015 12:55 UTC
Image
© Alyssa A. Botelho/The Washington PostA bushel of "Number 1" male blue crabs, the largest crabs that the watermen sell.
For the second straight year, a harsh winter killed more than a quarter of adult blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay.

But a baywide survey of the crab population released Monday said there was encouraging news in spite of the blow. The overall population of the beleaguered crustacean climbed modestly from a catastrophic low last year.

The yearly winter dredge survey conducted by Virginia and Maryland marine scientists estimates that 411 million crabs are in the main stem of the bay and its tributaries, a 38 percent increase from last year's critically low population.

Officials at Virginia's Marine Resources Commission greeted the news as a positive sign but said it's probably not enough to lift strict limits on the numbers of blue crabs that can be commercially fished.
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Attention

US North West submarine volcano 'Axial Seamount' likely just erupted, say stunned scientists

Sandi Doughton
Seattle Times
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 20:59 UTC
A seismometer
A seismometer is deployed on the underwater Axial Volcano in 2014.

A new seafloor observatory operated by the University of Washington is providing unprecedented detail about the possible eruption of a submarine volcano off the Northwest coast.

More than 80 scientists from around the world gathered in Seattle last week to discuss a thrilling development: For the first time, seafloor instruments were providing a real-time look at the most active, submarine volcano off the Northwest coast — and all signs indicated it might erupt soon.

But even the researchers most closely monitoring Axial Seamount were stunned by what happened next.

Beginning Thursday, April 23 — the day after the workshop ended — the new sensors recorded 8,000 small earthquakes in a 24-hour period. The volcano's caldera, which had been swelling rapidly from an influx of magma, collapsed like a deflated balloon.


Comment: At a similar time to the devastating Nepalese earthquake and the massive eruption of the Calbuco volcano in Chile.


"All the alarm bells were going off," said Oregon State University volcanologist Bill Chadwick, who along with a colleague predicted last year that the volcano would erupt in 2015. "It was very exciting."

Scientists are still debating whether to describe what transpired as an eruption, which means molten rock flowed onto the seafloor. No instruments were destroyed and there was no obvious temperature spike, so the magma might have oozed into subterranean fissures, forming what's called a dike.

Chadwick is among those who suspect lava did burst out, probably north of where the new instruments are clustered. "This was a major event," he said. "A lot of magma moved, and that makes a lot of us think it had to erupt somewhere."

The only way to find out for sure is to visit the site with a research vessel, which he and his colleagues will do this summer.

Axial seamount, submarine volcano
© Kelly Shea / The Seattle Times

Comment: The vast majority of our planetary volcanoes are under water, so called 'submarine volcanoes' (perhaps up to one million of them). Although their eruptions are normally difficult to detect, the significant increase of fish die off's and strange migratory behaviour of marine life could be considered a potential sign of such activity (another cause being methane outgassing).

With the number of known volcanic eruptions on land rapidly increasing worldwide, as the number of volcanoes erupting right now is greater than the 20th century's YEARLY average, a comparable escalation in activity of their under water counterparts seems probable.

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Arrow Down

Massive 100-metre sinkhole leaves Ukrainian villagers terrified after reports it has swallowed up homes

Simon Tomlinson
Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 29 Apr 2015 18:02 UTC
Image
Swallowed up: This huge sinkhole measuring around 100m wide by 60m deep has appeared in the village of Solotvino in the Zakarpatska Oblast region of western Ukraine
Spanning 100 metres across and some 60 metres deep, this gigantic hole could be a meteor crater.

But it's understood to have been caused by something far closer to home - humble salt.

Terrified residents fear their homes will soon vanish after it suddenly opened up in their Ukrainian village, reportedly swallowing seven houses in the process.

Now they are demanding the government act to either stop the hole getting even bigger or move them to a new, safer location.

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