Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Severe weather warning for Victoria, Austrailia

Thomas O'Byrne
The Age
Mon, 16 Sep 2013 08:35 UTC
Victorians are being urged to batten down because severe thunderstorms, strong winds and heavy rain are predicted to hit areas across the state.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned that thundstorms could strike Melbourne "at any time", with residents in the state's west facing flash floods, hailstones and strong winds.

A senior forecaster at the weather bureau, Scott Williams, warned that thunderstorms could hit Melbourne "at any time" on Monday afternoon or evening.

In addition to the storm risk, Mr Williams said sporadic storms and steady rain would continue to lash large areas of the state.

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Recycle

Wrong: Al Gore predicted Arctic summer ice could disappear in 2013

Barbara Hollingsworth
CNS News
Mon, 16 Sep 2013 08:09 UTC
A 2007 prediction that summer in the North Pole could be "ice-free by 2013" that was cited by former Vice President Al Gore in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech has proven to be off... by 920,000 square miles.

In his Dec. 10, 2007 "Earth has a fever" speech, Gore referred to a prediction by U.S. climate scientist Wieslaw Maslowski that the Arctic's summer ice could "completely disappear" by 2013 due to global warming caused by carbon emissions.

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Bizarro Earth

Study: Rare condors harmed by DDT


The Associated Press
Mon, 16 Sep 2013 00:25 UTC
In the coastal redwoods of central California, scientists trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the reproductive problems of dozens of endangered condors think they have uncovered the culprit: the long-banned pesticide DDT.

Kelly Sorenson, executive director of Ventana Wildlife Society and a co-author of a new study on Big Sur-area condors, says researchers who spent six years studying their reproductive problems have "established a strong link" to DDT in the birds' food: dead sea lions.

The peer-reviewed paper is being published this month in the University of California journal The Condor.

The soaring scavengers were reintroduced to Big Sur in 1997 after a century-long absence and quickly started eating dead marine mammals, whose blubber often has high levels of DDT, a pesticide banned in 1972.
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Bizarro Earth

Bacterial outbreak roils Massachusetts oyster industry

Jay Lindsay
Associated Press
Mon, 16 Sep 2013 00:37 UTC
Oysters
© AP Photo/Stephan Savoia
Boston - A mystery of sorts threatens to stunt Massachusetts' small but growing oyster industry after illnesses linked to bacterial contamination forced the state to shut down beds for the first time ever.

The culprit is the Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacterium, which has occurred in state waters since the 1960s. Theories abound about the recent increase in illnesses linked to Massachusetts - but those are only theories.

"Honestly, I'm confused by the whole thing," said Don Merry, an oyster grower from Duxbury, where oyster beds have been closed.

Average monthly daytime water temperatures in the region rarely approach the 81 degrees believed to be the threshold that triggers dangerous Vibrio growth. Rising average water temperatures locally, while not reaching that threshold, could be causing environmental changes that cause strains of Vibrio to thrive, said Suzanne Condon, associate commissioner of the Department of Health.

In addition, virulent Vibrio strains that aren't as temperature-sensitive may have been carried from overseas in ships' ballast water in the past decade, said the state's chief shellfish biologist, Michael Hickey.

Meanwhile, it has been only six years since states were required to federally report Vibrio illnesses. So testing for it is relatively slow and underdeveloped and can't yet predict, for instance, if outbreaks are coming, Hickey said.

The bacterium causes gastrointestinal problems, including vomiting and cramping, but the illness is generally severe only in people with weakened immune systems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the U.S. has about 4,500 cases of Vibrio infection annually.
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Bizarro Earth

Thousands evacuated as typhoon Man-yi hits Japan


Agence France-Presse
Mon, 16 Sep 2013 02:22 UTC
Typhoon Man-yi
© Agence France-PressePeople gather to wait for flight resumption at Haneda airport in Tokyo. Almost 300,000 households were told to evacuate after Typhoon Man-yi hit central Japan.
Typhoon Man-yi hit central Japan Monday, with almost 300,000 households told to evacuate and fears the storm could go on to hit the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

The typhoon made landfall in Toyohashi, Aichi prefecture, shortly before 8am local time, packing gusts of up to 162 kilometres per hour, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Public broadcaster NHK said four people were missing due to landslides or floods, while at least 65 people were injured and more than 860 houses flooded.

The typhoon was moving north-northeast at a speed of 55 kilometres per hour, with the eye of the storm passing within 50 kilometres north of the capital at around noon.
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Igloo

Ancient trees emerge from frozen forest 'tomb'

Mary Catharine Martin
Juneau Empire
Fri, 13 Sep 2013 00:02 UTC
Frozen Forest
© Abby Lowell/Juneau EmpireThe stump of an ancient tree is visible at the base of the Mendenhall Glacier in July of 2013. UAS Professor of Geology and Environmental Science Program Coordinator Cathy Connor said she and her team have found the trees to be between 1,400 and 1,200 years old. The oldest she’s tested are around 2,350 years old. She’s also dated some at around 1,870 to 2,000 years old.
The Mendenhall Glacier's recession is unveiling the remains of ancient forests that have remained frozen beneath the ice for up to 2,350 years.

UAS Professor of Geology and Environmental Science Program Coordinator Cathy Connor said she and others have been tracking the emergence of the forests' remains. Some stumps and logs can be found in the moraines around the west side of the glacier. Some remain vertical, frozen to the ground in ice caves. Some are scoured smooth; some still have their bark. All are packed with silt in the outer layers.

As the glacier advanced, it snapped off the tops of the trees in its path, Connor said. The stumps were buried - and protected - in gravel.

Now, as the glacier melts, the melt water carves out paths in that gravel, revealing the remains of the trees.

The most recent stumps she's dated emerging from the Mendenhall are between 1,400 and 1,200 years old. The oldest she's tested are around 2,350 years old. She's also dated some at around 1,870 to 2,000 years old.

"We're seeing the Mendenhall wax and wane through time a little bit," Connor said.

She anticipates the trees are spruce, although that hasn't yet been scientifically verified.
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Windsock

Hurricane Ingrid and tropical storm Manuel converge on Mexico


Guardian
Sun, 15 Sep 2013 21:17 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Nasa/GOES Project/Handout Satellite image of Ingrid on September 13, before the tropical storm strengthened into a hurricane.
Several thousand people evacuated on Gulf Coast as storms threaten flash floods and mudslides

Ingrid strengthened on Saturday after becoming Mexico's second hurricane of the Atlantic storm season, prompting the evacuation of several thousand people while an increasingly powerful tropical storm Manuel threatened to become a hurricane as well, dumping rains that could cause flash floods and mudslides as it nears landfall on Sunday.

On Saturday evening, Hurricane Ingrid was packing maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph). The storm was centered about 185 miles (300 km) east of Tampico, Mexico and moving north at 7 mph (11 km).

The US National Hurricane Center in Miami said that if Ingrid stays on the forecast track, it is likely to reach the coast of Mexico on Monday. A hurricane warning was in effect from Cabo Rojo to La Pesca.

In Tamaulipas state to the north, where Ingrid is expected to make landfall, the government said in a statement that Independence Day festivities were cancelled in the cities of Tampico, Madero and Altamira. The September 15 and 16 celebrations commemorate Mexico's battle of independence from Spain.
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Bizarro Earth

Indonesian volcano erupts, forcing thousands to flee

I Made Sentana
The Wall Street Journal
Sun, 15 Sep 2013 16:52 UTC
Mt Sinabung
© Sky NewsMount Sinabung spews ash and hot lava as it erupts near a mosque in Karo district, Indonesia's north Sumatra province. The volcano had been dormant for nearly 100 years.
Indonesian authorities said 3,710 villagers in North Sumatra have been evacuated after a volcano erupted early Sunday.

Mount Sinabung, located in Karo Regency, spewed volcanic ash and small pebbles into the air, showering nearby villages, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

"The villagers voluntarily left their villages after the eruption," Mr.Nugroho said. He added there was no report of deaths nor serious damage.

He said local authorities, with the help of the armed forces and the police, have are helping the villagers who had to flee. Mount Sinabung last erupted in September 2010 after being dormant for around 100 years. Around 12,000 villagers were evacuated during the eruption three years ago.

"The characteristics of Mount Sinabung eruptions are relatively unknown because it was dormant for around 100 years before the 2010 eruptions," Mr. Nugroho noted.

Mount Sinabung's eruption is the latest in recent volcanic activity in Indonesia. Two volcanoes erupted in central Indonesia last month. Indonesia has many active volcanoes because its many islands are on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire.
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Attention

What a difference a year makes! Space image shows the devastating impact of flooding


The Siberian Times
Sun, 15 Sep 2013 16:33 UTC
Image
© Russian Emergencies MinistryThe flooding has caused severe damage to the Russian Far East for more than a month with Khabarovsk region the worst-hit.
The swollen Amur River reached a depth of 910cm near Komsomolsk-on-Amur on Sunday, with fears it could hit 940cm, the highest since records began 120 years ago.

Recent days have seen students from the Emergencies Ministry literally holding back the tide, a human wall keeping in place containment booms to save the city, as our picture shows. Some have needed treatment for exposure to cold.

High winds of 15 metres per second produced high waves and made the task of rescuers even more difficult as they seek to prevent the bursting of a dam protecting the city of 264,000.

On Sunday Mi-8 helicopters were flying concrete slabs onto the dam to strengthen the barricades.
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Info

Global warming is just half what we said: World's top climate scientists admit computers got the effects of greenhouse gases wrong

Dave Rose
The Daily Mail, UK
Sat, 14 Sep 2013 13:55 UTC
  • Leaked report reveals the world is warming at half the rate claimed by IPCC in 2007
  • Scientists accept their computers 'may have exaggerated'
A leaked copy of the world's most authoritative climate study reveals scientific forecasts of imminent doom were drastically wrong.

The Mail on Sunday has obtained the final draft of a report to be published later this month by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the ultimate watchdog whose massive, six-yearly 'assessments' are accepted by environmentalists, politicians and experts as the gospel of climate science.

They are cited worldwide to justify swingeing fossil fuel taxes and subsidies for 'renewable' energy.

Yet the leaked report makes the extraordinary concession that the world has been warming at only just over half the rate claimed by the IPCC in its last assessment, published in 2007.

Back then, it said that the planet was warming at a rate of 0.2C every decade - a figure it claimed was in line with the forecasts made by computer climate models.

But the new report says the true figure since 1951 has been only 0.12C per decade - a rate far below even the lowest computer prediction.
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