Earth ChangesS


Attention

Paddling family of three attacked by a beaver in Austria


thelocal.at
Fri, 08 Aug 2014 12:45 UTC
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© Cheryl Reynolds/Worth a DamMaybe not as cute as he looks?
A swimming trip in Schwechat, Lower Austria took a nasty turn for a family when they were attacked by a vicious beaver.

Presumably because it was defending its territory or its young, the beaver attacked a woman and her two daughters, along with their pet dog, whilst they were paddling in the Schwechat river.

Even when they ran out of the river and onto dry land it pursued them and bit their dog, taking a chunk of fur.

The family were enjoying the cool water when they saw what they assumed was a small tree trunk floating past. But as their dog sniffed it, it turned out to be an angry beaver, who immediately went into attack mode.

The mother took her children out of the water - but the beaver followed them onto dry land and thumped its tail on the ground in a threatening manner.
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Attention

Stromboli volcano erupts, Italy


thelocal.it
Fri, 08 Aug 2014 12:24 UTC
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© Jonas Wiesand
Tourist trips to Stromboli have been cancelled this week as a volcanic eruption overwhelms the island, a tour agency for the Aeolian islands told The Local.

Stromboli, an island volcano north of Sicily, starting erupting on Wednesday afternoon, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) said.

Tourist trips have been cancelled as the volcano remains "too active", a spokesperson for the Eolnet agency for the Aeolian Islands told The Local. Excursions may resume on Monday, depending on how the eruption plays out over the weekend.
Stromboli erupting, awestruck doesn't quite do it justice. So close I could feel the heat. pic.twitter.com/Da7JVK579U
- Jonas Wiesand (@jonaswiesand) August 8, 2014
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Cloud Precipitation

Hail the size of golf and tennis balls pummels Calgary area, Canada


CBC
Thu, 07 Aug 2014 08:46 UTC
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© @erind11/TwitterGolf ball-sized hail struck suddenly in Airdrie, north of Calgary, Thursday afternoon.

Airdrie hail storm likely caused 'gustnado' in Calgary, officials say

Environment Canada says incident was not a tornado but rather a spout from an Airdrie storm

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a - "gustnado?"While police say they did receive several reports of a tornado touching down east of Métis Trail and north of Stoney Trail, Environment Canada says the incident was rather a gustnado, or spout from a nearby storm system battering Airdrie.

The weather agency says the storm system was not over Calgary at the time of the incident and the spiral winds likely came from the nearby storm.Det. Dale Seddon with the Calgary Police Service says the incident didn't cause any damage and hit a grassy area.


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© Sarah BuistGolf ball-sized hail in Airdrie has caused damage to some vehicles and properties in the area.
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Bizarro Earth

Giant jellyfish spotted in the Adriatic for first time since Second World War

Nick Squires
The Telegraph, UK
Thu, 07 Aug 2014 03:58 UTC
Giant Jellyfish
© Gigi Paderni/ANSAThe bizarre but beautiful creature was first discovered off the coast of Dalmatia in the 1880s by a German naturalist, Ernst Haeckel.
A giant, fuchsia-pink jellyfish has been spotted in the Adriatic Sea for the first time in 70 years.

The Drymonema dalmatinum, which can grow to more than three feet in diameter, was photographed by amateur divers off the northern coast of Italy.

It is one of the rarest jellyfish to occur in the Mediterranean and had not been documented in the Adriatic since 1945.

The bizarre but beautiful creature derives its Latin name from the fact that it was first discovered off the coast of Dalmatia in the 1880s by a German naturalist, Ernst Haeckel.
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Pirates

Monsanto's 'cure' for world hunger is cursing the global food supply

Sayer Ji
Greenmedinfo.com
Sun, 03 Aug 2014 17:49 UTC
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What if the very GM agricultural system that Monsanto claims will help to solve the problem of world hunger depends on a chemical that kills the very pollinator upon which approximately 70% of world's food supply now depends?

A new study published in the Journal of Experimental Biology titled, "Effects of field-realistic doses of glyphosate on honeybee appetitive behavior," establishes a link between the world's most popular herbicide - aka Roundup - and the dramatic decline in honeybee (Apis mellifera) populations in North American and Europe that lead to the coining of the term 'colony collapse disorder' (CCD) in late 2006 to describe the phenomena.[1]

Comment: Read the following articles to understand WHY colony collapse in bee populations poses serious concerns for the planet as a whole:

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Bizarro Earth

4.5 Magnitude earthquake rattles Hawaii's Big Island

Hunter Bishop
Big Island Now
Thu, 07 Aug 2014 15:32 UTC
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© NSW
A magnitude-4.5 earthquake struck the Big Island at 6:24 a.m. today, the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported.

The earthquake was located beneath the Island of Hawaiʻi and no damaging tsunami was generated.

Wes Thelen, HVO's Seismic Network Manager, said the earthquake was centered about four miles east-northeast of Kawaihae and nine miles west-northwest of Waimea, at a depth of 10.4 miles.

The USGS "Did you feel it?" Web site received more than 145 felt reports within an hour of the earthquake, HVO said. Only light shaking was reported. Most reports were posted from the Islands of Hawai'i and Maui. There were also a few reports from the Kahuku and Hickam areas on Oʻahu, over 155 miles from the epicenter, HVO reported.

Over the past 50 years, the area around Kawaihae has experienced 11 earthquakes greater than magnitude-4.0, including today's event, at depths of 6 - 12 miles. Deep earthquakes in this region are most likely caused by structural adjustments within the Earth's crust to accommodate the heavy load of Mauna Kea and surrounding volcanoes. Today's earthquake is in the general region of the 2006 Māhukona earthquake, but is not close enough to the 2006 event to be an aftershock of it.

Comment: And they have this to deal with as well: Hawaii in the path of two hurricanes, first hurricane in 22 years

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Attention

Mysterious noises emanating from volcano in Iceland

Paul Fontaine
grapevine.is
Thu, 07 Aug 2014 15:35 UTC
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Strange rumblings coming from the tuya Herðubreið are confounding observers as to their possible source.

Vísir reports that visitors to the mesa-shaped volcano in northeast Iceland have been unable to determine if the persistent rumblings coming from Herðubreið are being caused by an avalanche, landslide, or something else entirely. Rangers around Herðubreið were the first to announce the rumblings, which lasted about 30 seconds.

Yesterday, Icelandic rescuers who had been searching for a group of French tourists found them at the foot of Herðubreið safe and sound, although they said there had been an avalanche. News of the avalanche was reported, but upon further inspection, no evidence of an avalanche could be found - except for the rumbling.

Avalanches have been reported from mountains all over Iceland recently, which is highly unusual for the summer months. Tómas Jóhannesson, a meteorologist at the Met Office, told reporters that they intend to get to the bottom of the mystery.
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Cloud Lightning

Powerful lightning strike sinks Swedish sailboat


thelocal.se
Thu, 07 Aug 2014 14:38 UTC
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© File photo: Rob Faulkner/Flickr
A sailboat in Stockholm sank on Thursday morning after it was hit by lightning, the latest chapter of Sweden's wild summer weather.

Powerful thunderstorms in the counties of Stockholm and Uppsala left thousands of households without power on Thursday morning. Multiple incidents of flooding and other alarms related to the weather have also been reported.

But the most dramatic scene was found in Saltsjöbaden, just outside of Stockholm.

"It was an unmanned boat moored in the lake," Björn Wrandel at the Sea Rescue Centre told news agency TT. "Apparently the lightning struck a huge hole in the boat and it sank incredibly quickly."

No one was injured in the incident.

Sweden's weather agency has issued a warning for extreme thunderstorms in Stockholm and Uppsala during the morning.
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Cloud Precipitation

Grapes and other crops damaged by intense hailstorm in Hector, New York

Jeff Murray
Star Gazette
Wed, 06 Aug 2014 13:16 UTC
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© MICHAEL J. FITZGERALD / CORRESPONDENT PHOTORiesling grapes were split by hail on Tuesday at Sawmill Creek in Hector.
An isolated but intense hailstorm caused serious damage to grapes and other crops in the Hector area Tuesday.

The storm swept in about 3:30 p.m. and brought high winds, hail and heavy rain.

Some vineyards were minimally affected by the storm, but others weren't as lucky.

"I was at my other job at Hazlitt (1852 Vineyards) when the storm hit. My kids were home at the time. They said they saw some hail that was golf ball size," said Fred Wickham, owner of Tango Oaks Farm in Hector.

"I went out late (Tuesday) and did a crop assessment. In addition to wine grapes, I grow peaches that I sell fresh. They were already compromised by the excessively long and cold winter. It's 100 percent loss on the peaches. They were pulverized by the hail.
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Cloud Lightning

Deadly floods return to Serbia and Bosnia


BBC
Wed, 06 Aug 2014 18:14 UTC
Bosnia flooding
© APMany bridges have been damaged or swept away by rivers bursting their banks.
At least one person has reportedly been killed as floods hit Serbia and Bosnia, three months after heavy flooding killed almost 80 people in the region.

The latest floods, caused by heavy rains, have damaged roads, bridges and hundreds of homes in western Serbia and in central and northern Bosnia.

Floods in the same area in May affected nearly two million people and caused billions of euros of damage.

Many of the victims criticised the official response at the time.

Local media in Serbia say a man, aged 65, drowned after floodwaters swept through his home in Banja Koviljaca, in the west of the country.

Bosnia flooding2
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