Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Geophysicists look into cause of earthquake outbreak in Central Oklahoma

Evan Anderson
News 9
Mon, 11 Nov 2013 21:12 UTC
Oklahoma Earthquake
© News9.com
Edmond - It's the question being asked across the state. Why are so many earthquakes rocking Oklahoma? Four hit Edmond Monday.

The answer may come from California.

A group of geophysicists are studying what they're calling "induced earthquakes," or quakes caused by human activity. The number of earthquakes to hit parts of Oklahoma have skyrocketed since 2009.

"It was a little unnerving," said North Edmond resident, Ken Janz.

The number of earthquakes felt over the last few years in Oklahoma have without a doubt been unusual. But, for Edmond resident Ken Janz and his family, it's almost becoming the norm.

The latest earthquake was a 3.3 magnitude around 3:15 Monday afternoon outside Edmond.

"It didn't sound like the last earthquake I was in, it was more just a loud boom, house shook momentarily," said Janz. "I thought maybe a tree or something had fallen over and hit the house."

"We've been aware of earthquakes caused by human activity for many, many, years," said California Research Geophysicist, Justin Rubinstein.
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Bizarro Earth

Sinkhole eats part of Wentworth on South Side

Jon Seidel
Chicago Sun-Times.com
Mon, 11 Nov 2013 11:36 UTC

At first Christopher Carpenter was confused when his neighbor knocked on his door Sunday night to ask if he had water in his basement.

"I was asking her, 'Why would you ask me, you know, something like that?'" Carpenter said.

But then he looked outside - and saw water shooting up out of his grass in "about four different places" in the 12400 block of Wentworth.

"It looked like Buckingham Fountain," Carpenter said.

And later, after he called the water department, he said he was standing outside with his sister, daughter, niece and nephew when the west side of Wentworth in front of his home began to cave in. He said "it was like a big boom."

"They all started screaming and yelling and running," Carpenter said. "And it did kind of scare me as well."
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Attention

Dolphin virus outbreak in Atlantic is deadliest ever


The Times of India
Mon, 11 Nov 2013 13:42 UTC
Image
© AFPA mother and juvenile bottlenose dolphin.
The deadliest known outbreak of a measles-like virus in bottlenose dolphins has killed a record number of the animals along the US Atlantic coast since July, officials said Friday.

A total of 753 bottlenose dolphins have washed up from New York to Florida from July 1 until November 3, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

That is more than 10 times the number of dolphins that would typically turn up dead along East Coast beaches, said Teri Rowles, program coordinator of the NOAA Fisheries Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program.

"Historic averages for this same time frame, same geographic area is only 74, so you get an idea of the scope," she told reporters.

The death toll is also higher than the more than 740 strandings in the last major Atlantic morbillivirus outbreak in 1987-1988.

And they have come in a much shorter time period, leading officials to anticipate this event could get much worse.

"It is expected that the confirmed mortalities will be higher," said Rowles.
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Info

Sea turtle deaths alarming Central America

Carlos Mario Marquez
newsdaily.com
Sun, 10 Nov 2013 13:29 UTC
Image
© Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia CommonsOlive ridley sea turtle
Hundreds of sea turtles are washing up dead on the beaches of Central America and scientists don't know why.

One hypothesis is that the killer is a potent neurotoxin that can be produced by algae during red tides, which are large accumulations of algae that turn sea water red or brown.

The puzzling thing, though, is that red tides have come and gone before without taking such a deadly toll on turtles.

Making things worse, some of the turtles dying are from endangered species.

In El Salvador, for instance, from late September to the middle of October, 114 sea turtles were discovered dead on Pacific coast beaches, according to the environment ministry.
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Bizarro Earth

Pet deer partially blinds owner during attack


CBS Atlanta
Fri, 08 Nov 2013 21:31 UTC
Image
MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
An Alabama man was charged with illegally keeping seven deer as pets, including a buck that mauled and partially blinded him, wildlife officials said Friday.

On Oct. 30, Julius Dunsmore entered a fenced pen on his property in Marshall County in the northern part of the state and was attacked by a nine-point buck. Dunsmore said the deer lifted him up on its antlers and carried him 30 feet. One antler punctured his face and severed the optic nerve to an eye. He also suffered puncture wounds in his rib cage, hips and legs.

Dunsmore said he will never again keep deer as pets. His injuries will require several surgeries.

"People need to know that these things are dangerous," he said. "You never know when they are going to turn."
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Cloud Lightning

Typhoon Haiyan nears Vietnam, 600,000 evacuated: officials


The International News
Sun, 10 Nov 2013 14:32 UTC
Image
More than 600,000 people were evacuated as super typhoon Haiyan veered towards Vietnam, authorities said Sunday, after the storm smashed through the Philippines killing thousands and causing widespread devastation.

"We have evacuated more than 174,000 households, which is equivalent to
more than 600,000 people," an official report by Vietnam's flood and storm control department said Sunday.

The storm is expected to strike on Monday morning after changing course
prompting mass evacuations in northern Nghe An province around 230 kilometres (145 miles) from the captial Hanoi, the update said.

However, many of the estimated 200,000 evacuated in four central provinces on Saturday have been allowed to return to their homes.

Haiyan "is quickly moving north and northwest, travelling at a speed of up to 35 kilometres per hour", the country's weather bureau added in a statement.

The weather system -- one of the most intense typhoons on record when it
tore into the Philippines -- has weakened over the South China Sea and is expected to hit as a weaker category 1 storm, meteorologists added.
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Snowflake

Record snowfall recorded in Spokane, Washington


The Spokesman-Review
Wed, 06 Nov 2013 11:24 UTC
man shoveling car
© Colin Mulvany
Spokane International Airport received 1.9 inches of snow Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. The total was enough to snap a 66-year-old daily record by the slimmest of margins.

Before Tuesday, the most snow Spokane had officially received on Nov. 5 was 1.8 inches in 1947, according to National Weather Service records. The snowfall, which was timed perfectly to make the morning commute miserable for many motorists, tapered off around 2 p.m.

Forecasters expect temperatures to remain high enough to keep flakes away for the rest of the week, though chances for rain remain through Sunday. Showers on Thursday could grow heavy at times, with between a quarter- to half-inch of rain expected throughout the day.

Temperatures through Sunday should be in the mid- to upper-40s for highs and near freezing at night, forecasters say.
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Snowflake

Record breaking snowfall in Sioux Falls, SD


Associated Press
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 04:53 UTC
Sioux Falls
© UnknownSioux Falls
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- weather system that crossed southern South Dakota set snowfall records in Rapid City and Sioux Falls. The National Weather Service says 3.1 inches of snow fell at the Rapid City airport on Tuesday, breaking the 2008 record for the date of 1 inch.

Sioux Falls got 5.7 inches of snow, breaking that city's record for the date of 1.5 inches set in 1959. Some parts of southern South Dakota got even higher amounts of snow, but it was expected to start melting on Wednesday.

The weather service forecast called for high temperatures from the mid-30s to the mid-40s.
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Windsock

Typhoon Haiyan: Philippines deadliest recorded natural disaster


The Times of India
Sun, 10 Nov 2013 08:59 UTC
Image
© NASASuper typhoon Haiyan, seen from NASA's Aqua satellite.
A super typhoon that destroyed entire towns across the Philippines is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, authorities said on Sunday, which would make it the country's deadliest recorded natural disaster.

The horrifying new feared death toll from Super Typhoon Haiyan came as the United States pledged military help in the relief effort and as countless survivors across a huge swathe of the country remained without aid for a third day.

Ten thousand people were believed to have been killed in the worst-hit province on Leyte, regional police chief Elmer Soria told reporters in Tacloban, the devastated provincial capital.

"We had a meeting last night with the governor and, based on the government's estimates, initially there are 10,000 casualties (dead). About 70 to 80 percent of the houses and structures along the typhoon's path were destroyed," Soria said.
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Cloud Lightning

'It's like the end of the world': Typhoon Haiyan feared to have killed ten thousand Filipinos in one of the most powerful storms ever recorded

Becky Evans
The Daily Mail, UK
Sun, 10 Nov 2013 08:45 UTC
  • Typhoon Haiyan was a maximum category-five storm with ground winds of up to 235mph
  • Authorities say the death toll could be 10,000 in the city of Tacloban, Leyte, alone
  • Around four million people are said to have been affected, according to the the country's national disaster agency
  • Bodies were seen floating in flooded streets and survivors said the aftermath is like the 2004 Tsunami
  • 800,000 evacuated before gales whipped up 19ft waves that battered the islands of Leyte and Samar
  • Hundreds of thousands of people in South East Asia have been evacuated and moved to shelters
  • UN says 2.5m people are in need of food aid and UNICEF have estimated 1.5 m children live in affected areas
  • Vietnam authorities moved 883,000 people in 11 central provinces to safe zones, government said
  • Trees and billboards blown down in China on Sunday when the typhoon landed

Image
10,000 people have been killed in super typhoon Haiyan that hit the central Philippines on Friday, according to a police chief in the area
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