Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Highest flood level in 300 years hits Emmental, Switzerland


Swissinfo.ch
Fri, 25 Jul 2014 14:11 UTC
Emmental flood 2014 Switzerland
© 20min
Torrential rains in the Emmental region caused the Emme river to overflow its banks on Thursday, causing massive flooding in the area. Statistically, this level of flooding takes place just once in 300 years, the environment ministry reported.

The rain began early Thursday morning, with more than 100 litres per square metre falling within hours. The already soaked ground in the region around the farming village of Schangnau was unable to absorb the precipitation, resulting in mudslides and huge amounts of water that flooded many of the structures in the mostly rural area.

There were no injuries to people, but three goats and around 100 chickens were killed. Two old wooden bridges were washed away, and parts of Schangnau were cut off.

The army and emergency services were called in to help clean up the area, and were working around the clock, Bern cantonal police reported.

Video footage from Swiss public television, SRF, showed how the area looked on Thursday.

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Attention

Chinese river turns blood-red over a couple of hours

Moar Kardoudi
Sploid
Fri, 25 Jul 2014 06:57 UTC
Image
The residents of Wenzhou, China, woke up last Thursday to discover that the inner city river had turned blood-red. Everyone is puzzled, as this has never happened before and nobody knows the cause yet. China Radio International reports:
Inspectors from the Wenzhou Environmental Protection Bureau are taking samples and analyzing the cause of the incident.

The villagers pointed out that there wasn't a chemical plant along the upper stream.

Local residents say the river was flowing normally at 4am, but it started to redden at around 6am, and in no time at all had turned as crimson as blood.

Comment: A set of rivers turning blood-red in recent years:

Yet another European river turns 'blood' red overnight, this time in Northampton, UK 06 Jan 2014

Another European river turns 'blood' red overnight, this time in Slovakia! 03 Dec 2013

River turns blood red overnight in The Netherlands, 01 Nov 2013

Waters at Bondi Beach, Australia turn blood red, 28 Nov 2012

Yangtze River turns red, 07 Sep 2012

Lebanon: Beirut River mysteriously runs blood red, 16 Feb 2012

Texas Lake Turns Blood-Red, 01 Aug 2011

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Bad Guys

Researchers find alarming link between declining wildlife and human conflict


Rt.com
Fri, 25 Jul 2014 11:47 UTC
dead elephant
© AFP Photo / Sabah Wildlife Department

Researchers at UC Berkeley have found an alarming correlation between a decline in wildlife and human conflict. As human activity directly threatens animals, their declining numbers introduce drastic changes to our way of life.

The July 24 paper in the journal Science is "about recognizing wildlife decline as a source of social conflict rather than a symptom," lead author, Justin Brashares of UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, explains.

Two of the main reasons for this decline are seen to be the loss of natural habitat and changing climate - both attributed largely to human habitat expansion. Our population has doubled over the past 40 years.

"Billions of people rely directly and indirectly on wild sources of meat for income and sustenance, and this resource is declining. It's not surprising that the loss of this critical piece of human livelihoods has huge social consequences," Brashares says.

Animal numbers are falling. For example, less fish to catch leads to an increase in efforts spent trying to harvest them. This increases the need for manpower, much of which these days is provided by children; this in turn increases the number working for, or even sold to fishing boats to work 18-20 hour-a-day shifts at sea.

Comment: While human conflict and encroachment upon wildlife habitats is indeed impacting wildlife numbers, the earth is currently undergoing massive changes which is now one of the prime reasons that species of many kinds are being decimated. For an idea of just how much is really impacting the globe see the SOTT map below which shows some of the global events that have occurred in just the last month.



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Ice Cube

Antarctic sea ice extent July 24 2014 - breaks daily record by 240,000 sq km


sunshinehours.wordpress.com
Thu, 24 Jul 2014 06:52 UTC
Image
Antarctic Sea Ice Extent is 1,102,000 sq km above the 1981-2010 mean

That smashes the previous daily record by 240,000 sq km. And is also the 126th daily record for the year.
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Bizarro Earth

Flashback Horrific flash flood captured on video at Lai Chau, Vietnam


Youtube
Sat, 07 Jun 2014 02:59 UTC
Image
Due to heavy rains lasting about 14 hours on the 5th June, at km59+820 Highway 12, Lai Chau province, flash floods happened causing 20.000m3 of mud and soil flowing down onto the road, cutting off Highway 12 connecting the two provinces of Lai Chau and Dien Bien. According to representatives of Hung Hai building company, which is working on the construction and renovation upgrade to Highway 12, very fast and powerful flash floods have swept away the roadbed of the bridge Nam Pon and swept away two houses from the upstream along with equipment, machinery down the river, including the 60-ton ferry, 16-ton roller, temporary housing, etc. It caused an estimated 3 billion dong in damage and caused local congestion between Lai Chau-Dien Bien, fortunately no damage to people. As soon as the incident occurs, the construction company has conducted a road blockade, informed the media. Initially, the vehicles from Dien Bien province will temporarily go towards Nua-Sin Ho in Lai Chau and vice versa.
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Sun

Water shortage: Colorado river groundwater disappearing at 'shocking' rate

Becky Oskin
Live Science
Thu, 24 Jul 2014 17:13 UTC
Image
A ring of light-colored rock shows how much the water level has dropped at Nevada's Lake Mead.

Credit: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
As the Southwest's drought has worsened in the last decade, making surface water scarce, millions of people are drawing more heavily on underground water supplies. The water is coming out faster than it's being replenished, a new study finds.

Between December 2004 and November 2013, more than 75 percent of the water lost in the Colorado River Basin was from groundwater, according to the study. The region has been in a drought since 2000, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The results show that groundwater is already being used to fill the gap between the demands of the region's millions of residents and farmers, and the available surface water supply, the researchers said. [Dry and Drying: See Images of Drought]

Comment: For another recent report on this important issue see here

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Bizarro Earth

Disturbing NASA study shows water reserves in western US being drained underground


RT
Fri, 25 Jul 2014 21:08 UTC
As droughts have ravaged the western US for over a decade, much of the water loss has come from underground resources in the Colorado River Basin, a new study has found. The water loss may pose a greater threat to the West than previously thought.
western US water shortage
© Reuters / David Becker
The study by NASA and the University of California, Irvine found that more than 75 percent of the water loss in the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin since late 2004 came from underground resources. It is the first time researchers have quantified the amount that groundwater contributes to the water needs of western states, NASA said.

The research team measured the change in water mass monthly from December 2004 to November 2013, using data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission to track changes in the mass of the Colorado River Basin. Changes in water mass are related to changes in water amount on and below the surface.
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Cloud Lightning

Tornado kills 3 in Virginia campground


WFAA8
Thu, 24 Jul 2014 10:03 UTC
Virginia tornado
© Jay Diem/Eastern Shore News/APA tractor trailer truck lies on its side in the median of US Route 13 in Cheriton, Va. while a fire engine responds to a nearby campground after a severe storm passed through the area, Thursday.
Three people died after a tornado touched down Thursday in an Eastern Shore campground, Virginia emergency officials said.

More than two dozen people were injured and were transported to area hospitals, said emergency officials responding to Cherrystone Family Camping & RV Resort.

More than 1,300 vacationers were at the campground when the storm hit. The tow of Cape Charles, just south of the campground, has about the same number of year-round residents.

The area around the campground where the twister touched down was under a tornado warning at the time, according to the National Weather Service. Weather service radar had shown a waterspout over Chesapeake Bay a little before 9 a.m. ET that prompted the alert.
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Bizarro Earth

Swimmers banned on Lake Michigan as cold front could bring 15 foot waves


Huffington Post Chicago
Wed, 23 Jul 2014 11:49 UTC
waves lake michigan
Waves Prompt Warning For Lakefront Visitors, Beach Closures. July 23, 2013 6:55 AM. Waves pound the Lake Michigan shoreline in Chicago.
Visitors to Chicago's lakefront on Tuesday will need to be careful, the National Weather Service is warning.

According to the NWS, swimmers should stay away from the city's beaches and runners and bicyclists using the lakefront path should be extra cautious.

A cold front and strong winds moving over the warm waters of Lake Michigan will bring "rogue" waves that could be as high as 15 feet, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The waves are dangerous in that they could sweep even experienced swimmers out into the water.

The Chicago Park District already issued swim bans at seven of the city's beaches -- all on the Far North Side -- as of Monday afternoon: Fargo, Howard, Jarvis, Juneway, Leone, Loyola and Rogers, DNAinfo Chicago reports.

The front is also bringing cooler temperatures into the city on the heels of the first heat wave of the year. The Chicago Weather Center reports Tuesday's high will only hit the upper 70s and Wednesday will be slightly cooler than that.
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Alarm Clock

Fracking fears after highest number of earthquakes in a decade hits the UK

David Wells
Western Morning News
Thu, 24 Jul 2014 13:10 UTC
Earthquake in Kent
© Getty ImagesFile image from Kent earthquake in 2007
An increasing number of earthquakes have been recorded in the UK, official figures show.

The highest level of detections in the last decade is set to be registered for 2014, with 100 earthquakes already recorded in the first three months of the year and 149 in total up until July.

This compares to 154 throughout 2013, 64 in 2006 and 111 reported in 2005, 2007 and 2011.

One small tremor, which centred on Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands earlier this month.

The quake had a magnitude measuring 4.2, making it the largest in the region for almost 90 years and the tremors were felt all along the south coast of England.

The tremor was reported to have registered on British Geological Survey monitoring station equipment in Exeter, Devon.

Environmental activists fear the Government's desire to exploit shale gas reserves in rocks beneath the UK will cause small earthquakes.

But ministers believe the technique used to tap into the potential supplies - known as fracking - will bring down energy bills and create thousands of jobs.
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