Earth ChangesS


Snakes in Suits

'If you buy a house on a flood plain you know the risks': Environment Agency boss Lord Smith blames flooded families for damage to their homes

Mark Duell, Tom Kelly, Daniel Martin and Emily Davies
The Daily Mail
Tue, 11 Feb 2014 11:31 UTC
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Devastation: Water surrounds flooded properties in the village of Moorland on the Somerset Levels near Bridgwater.
  • 16 severe flood warnings remain in place - two in Somerset and 14 along the River Thames in Berkshire and Surrey
  • More than 300 other flood warnings and alerts have been issued in the South East, South West and the Midlands
  • Homeowners who've already had to evacuate their homes have pleaded for troops to stop looters raiding properties
  • EA chief: 'Anyone who builds in a flood plain or buys a property in a flood plain needs to think about the flood risk'
Lord Smith has appeared to suggest developers and buyers of homes in flood plains must take their share of the blame for the flooding crisis.

The embattled Environment Agency chairman, who is a former Labour Cabinet minister, has risked fresh controversy over his comments.

He said: 'Anyone who builds in a flood plain, anyone who buys a property in a flood plain, needs to think about the flood risk.'

David Cameron, who is struggling to contain a Cabinet war over the official response to the floods, has refused to rule out sacking Lord Smith.

He pledged 'no restraints' on disaster spending as Labour accused ministers of 'fighting like rats in a sack' in an unedifying blame game with the EA.
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Cloud Lightning

Seabird wreck in the Channel Islands, UK


birdsontheedge.org
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 13:48 UTC
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The last two weeks have been marked by a run of storms in the Atlantic that have brought very high winds and seemingly endless rainfall. At first we worried about the weather's impacts on the land with widescale flooding in southern England. How would landbirds find enough food if the ground became saturated and the rain prevented them from foraging. Even our garden birds were suffering.

At the same time our coasts were being battered with high winds and huge waves. As defences were being breached, seawater was coming inland and would impact on plant communities and eventually their associated birds. Then, last week we started to see exactly what the storms were also doing to our seabird populations. North-west Europe has many millions of seabirds and the majority of these winter out in the Atlantic. We could only guess what it must be like out there for small birds that need to be able to dive for fish in roaring seas and winds up to 100 mph.
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Ice Cube

'Jet stream shift' could prompt harsher winters: U.S. scientists

Jean-Louis Santini
Yahoo! News
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 00:00 UTC
Lake Michigan in Chicago
© AFP Photo/Scott OlsonIce forms along the shore of Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois as temperatures hovered around -10 degrees on January 28, 2014
A warmer Arctic could permanently affect the pattern of the high-altitude polar jet stream, resulting in longer and colder winters over North America and northern Europe, US scientists say.

The jet stream, a ribbon of high altitude, high-speed wind in northern latitudes that blows from west to east, is formed when the cold Arctic air clashes with warmer air from further south.

The greater the difference in temperature, the faster the jet stream moves.

According to Jennifer Francis, a climate expert at Rutgers University, the Arctic air has warmed in recent years as a result of melting polar ice caps, meaning there is now less of a difference in temperatures when it hits air from lower latitudes.

"The jet stream is a very fast moving river of air over our head," she said Saturday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

"But over the past two decades the jet stream has weakened. This is something we can measure," she said.

Comment: Melting Ice caps?. Readers may be interested in the following articles.

CryoSat shows Arctic sea ice volume up 50% from last year

How the global warming whopper is being buried under a jillion pounds of Arctic ice

Read More...
Music

'Independence Day alien invasion hits Coventry' - residents baffled by mystery loud droning noise during storms

Simon Gilbert
Mirror, UK
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 13:51 UTC
Independence Day
© 20th Century FoxAlien invasion in Coventry? Loud droning has been heard during the storms
A mystery loud droning noise 'like Independence Day' has been reported in the skies above Coventry.

The sounds - compared to something out of the hit blockbuster film about alien invasion - have been audible during recent stormy weather.

Reports have described a loud noise in the sky which lasted around one minute and was heard by residents in Whitley, Walsgrave, Stoke and Wyken. Mitch Wise, 19, from Walsgrave, said the noise was so loud he could hear it inside his house despite all the windows and doors being closed.

He said: "I did think it sounded like something out of Independence Day, that kind of noise.

"I was just in my bedroom when I heard this loud noise outside my house. I looked outside my window, but I couldn't see anything.

"I saw two guys looking up to the sky outside. It was scary!

"I thought it was thunder at first but it was too long to be that or a jet.

"It was like a loud droning noise that lasted about a minute. I was just confused, I couldn't work out what it was.

"It was a lot louder than a lorry going past. It was loud with all the windows closed, but when I opened them it was really loud."

Another reader told the Coventry Telegraph the noise sounded like a hurricane.
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Clipboard

Corrupt Science: Global-Warming slowdown due to Pacific winds, bogus study shows

Alex Morales
Bloomberg News
Sat, 01 Feb 2014 13:00 UTC
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© Unknown
Stronger Pacific Ocean winds may help explain the slowdown in the rate of global warming since the turn of the century, scientists said.

More powerful winds in the past 20 years may be forcing warmer seas deeper and bringing cooler water to the surface, 10 researchers from the U.S. and Australia said today in the journal Nature. That has cooled the average global temperature by as much as 0.2 degree Celsius (0.36 Fahrenheit) since 2001.

Scientists have been trying to find out why the rate of global warming has eased in the past 20 years while greenhouse-gas emissions have surged to a record. Today's paper elaborates on a theory that deep seas are absorbing more warmth by explaining how that heat could be getting there.

"The net effect of these anomalous winds is a cooling in the 2012 global average surface air temperature of 0.1 - 0.2 degree Celsius, which can account for much of the hiatus in surface warming observed since 2001," the researchers wrote. They're led by Matthew England, a professor of oceanography at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said in September that the average temperature since 1998 has increased at less than half the rate since 1951. The world has warmed by an average 0.05 degree per decade since 1998, compared with the 1951-2012 average of 0.12 degree a decade, the UNIPCC said.

Comment:
Forget About Global Warming: We're One Step From Extinction!
Climate Change Swindlers and the Political Agenda

Read more in the Comets and Catastrophe series section of Sott.net

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Attention

Boy dies in wild elephant attack in Malaysia

Syed Azhar
The Star (Malaysia)
Sun, 16 Feb 2014 11:05 UTC
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Fellow villagers had warned rubber tapper Wan Mahmood Wan Noh to be careful when he ferried his wife and child on a motorcycle because a wild elephant was roaming the Kampung Bukit Perawas area.

A sudden encounter with the beast yesterday proved tragic when he lost his four-year-old son.

Little Wan Aidit Nasrullah was killed after the elephant rammed the motorcycle he was riding with his parents while on their way to tap rubber.

Recalling the morning tragedy, Wan Aidit's mother, Rezamawati Che Mat Bidin, 37, said her husband had braked and the motorcycle screeched to a stop when an elephant suddenly appeared in front of them.

"He then did a quick U-turn. The elephant charged and rammed the motorcycle.
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Binoculars

Thousands of Arctic songbirds invade Ohio farmstead

Jim McCormac
jimmccormac.blogspot.co.uk
Sun, 09 Feb 2014 10:14 UTC
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A tsunami of Snow Buntings

At first blush, this rural farmhouse may not appear to harbor what may be the most extraordinary bird feeding operation in Ohio. But indeed it does. If there is anything out there that rivals this in terms of sheer numbers, and the atypical "feeder" species involved, I am unaware of it.

I visited this Delaware County residence yesterday, after being tipped off to the amazing assemblage of birds by Dick Miller, whose sister and brother-in-law, Mike and Becky Jordan, reside in the home. Mike and Becky have been very gracious in extending their hospitality to visitors, including your narrator, which is much appreciated!

I'm not going to post their address on the Internet, but Mike and Becky do welcome birders who would like to witness the phenomenon that unfolds in the following photos. If you would like to visit, just send me an email at: jimmccormac35@gmail.com, and I'll pass along the pertinent information.


Comment: See also : Rare Arctic bird turns up in Darwin, Australia

UK storms bring in rare Arctic gulls to Pembrokeshire

Storm blows Canadian bird 3,000 miles on to Tyrone lough, Northern Ireland

Bird watchers flock to Portland, UK after a rare Arctic Brunnich's Guillemot spotted

Ice Age Cometh: Snowy Owl invasion coming in North America?

Maine experiencing a Canadian owl invasion

Incredible Hawk Owl invasion in Estonia!

Huge Snowy Owl invasion becomes official in Canada and U.S.

Thousands of Hawk Owls descend on Finland as food in northern Russia runs out

Ice Age Cometh: Unprecedented influx of Arctic Ivory Gulls into UK

Read More...
Attention

Magmatic intrusion in Mammoth Mountain, Long Valley, California

Robert Felix
iceagenow.info
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 04:06 UTC
A number of earthquakes shake the mountain.

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Mammoth Mountain, California
In California there has been a quake swarm at Mammoth mountain that has been going for more than a week. No Eruption yet, but plenty of quakes.

California's Long Valley caldera, near Mammoth Mountain, is the largest supervolcano on the planet, says Alessandro Decet. In the last week it has recorded a few earthquakes, with the most intense a magnitude 3.0. Since everything is still mild in intensity, no alarm or status change was issued. However, the earthquakes are increasingly shallow, signaling that magma may be about to get closer to the surface.
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Cloud Lightning

No, global warming did NOT cause the storms, says one of the Met Office's most senior experts

David Rose
Daily Mail, UK
Sat, 15 Feb 2014 03:39 UTC
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Firing line: A storm passes over Britain on the 'conveyor belt' last week
  • Mat Collins, Exeter University Professor in climate systems, said storms driven by jet stream that has been 'stuck' further south than usual
  • He told The Mail on Sunday there is 'no evidence that global warming can cause the jet stream to get stuck in the way it has this winter'
  • Appears to contradict Met Office chief scientist Dame Julia Slingo
One of the Met Office's most senior experts yesterday made a dramatic intervention in the climate change debate by insisting there is no link between the storms that have battered Britain and global warming.

Mat Collins, a Professor in climate systems at Exeter University, said the storms have been driven by the jet stream - the high-speed current of air that girdles the globe - which has been 'stuck' further south than usual.

Professor Collins told The Mail on Sunday: 'There is no evidence that global warming can cause the jet stream to get stuck in the way it has this winter. If this is due to climate change, it is outside our knowledge.'

His statement carries particular significance because he is an internationally acknowledged expert on climate computer models and forecasts, and his university post is jointly funded by the Met Office.

Prof Collins is also a senior adviser - a 'co-ordinating lead author' - for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). His statement appears to contradict Met Office chief scientist Dame Julia Slingo.
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Mat Collins, a Professor in climate systems at Exeter University, said the storms have been driven by the jet stream
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Airplane

Relentless Snow and Ice: U.S. airlines canceled record number of flights

Scott Mayerowitz
Fox News - DC
Fri, 14 Feb 2014 16:49 UTC
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© Business Insider
The relentless snow and ice storms this winter have led to the highest number of flight cancellations in more than 25 years, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

U.S. airlines have canceled more than 75,000 domestic flights since Dec. 1, including more than 14,000 this week. That's 5.5 percent of the 1.37 million flights scheduled during that period, according calculations based on information provided by flight tracking site FlightAware.

It's the highest total number and highest percent of cancellations since at least the winter of 1987-1988, when the Department of Transportation first started collecting cancellation data.

The nation's air traffic system was still recovering Friday from the latest bout of bad weather. Flights were taking off again but thousands of passengers weren't.

"This year is off to a brutal start for airlines and travelers," says FlightAware CEO Daniel Baker. "Not only is each storm causing tens of thousands of cancellations, but there's been a lot of them."

And February still has two weeks left.

Mother Nature isn't entirely to blame. A mix of cost-cutting measures and new government regulations has made airlines more likely to cancel flights and leave fliers scrambling to get to their destination.
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