Earth ChangesS


Frog

Mass die off of frogs in the Curragh, Ireland


Leinster Leader
Thu, 27 Feb 2014 08:47 UTC
Image
Dead Frogs found at a lake in the Curragh
Hundreds of dead frogs have been reportedly found in a lake in the Curragh.

Water samples were collected yesterday after an estimated 250 to 300 dead or dying frogs were found in the area writes Paula Campbell.

An overnight analysis of the water sampled by the Herpetological Society of Ireland returned results that are within the normal range for a healthy habitat however.

The primary symptoms of the frogs discovered were dry, crackly skin around the neck area. There was also red discolouration in the skin of some of the frogs, known as common frogs, in what has been described as a 'mass die off' of the frogs in the lake.

There are a number of possible causes of this huge frog die-off including being a target for rats during the spawning seasons as they become an easy target because the are worn out after all the frog reproduction.
Read More...
Info

800 turtles found dead on Nellore beach, India

P. Oppili
The Hindu
Wed, 26 Feb 2014 08:31 UTC
Image
More than 800 Olive Ridley turtles, which came to lay eggs on the beaches of Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, have died, it was reported on Tuesday.

N.V. Sivarama Prasad, District Forest Officer, Nellore, said such large-scale deaths of Olive Ridley turtles had not been reported from the Andhra Pradesh coast in the recent past. The deaths were caused mainly by the use of trawl nets by fishermen. Local fishermen used only gill nets, which did not pose a threat to the turtles.

The area from where the deaths were reported is rich in biodiversity, which attracts large number of Olive Ridley turtles to lay eggs, he said. The forest department had created awareness among fishermen through the State Institute of Fisheries, Kakinada.

Fishermen had been advised to use the turtle-excluding device to reduce the death of Olive Ridleys.
Read More...
Pyramid

20,000 more crops stored in Svalbard Seedbank, bringing total to 820,000


The Local, Norway
Wed, 26 Feb 2014 21:28 UTC
Svalbard Global Seed Vault
© Global Crop Diversity TrustThe seeds are delivered the the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on Wednesday.

Over 20,000 crops originating from over 100 countries arrived in Svalbard on Wednesday to be put in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) in time for its sixth anniversary.

The samples included a university collection of barley from earthquake-rattled Japan; an untamed assortment of wild relatives of rice, maize and wheat; exotic red okra from Tennessee; and, from Brazil, a humble bean that launched a national cuisine. The new delivery brings the total number of samples stored deep beneath the rock to 820,619, giving agricultural systems worldwide insurance against natural or manmade disasters.

The crops arrived on the tenth anniversary of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which maintains the seed vault, along with the Norwegian government and the Nordic Genetic Resources Centre.

"We are particularly excited to be welcoming our first seed deposits from Japan, which has been very active globally in the preservation of a wide array of crop species," Marie Haga, the Crop Trust's executive director, said in a statement. "Each and every single deposit into the vault provides an option for the future."
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Researchers receive grant to study mysterious Georgia coastal phenomenon

Lauren McDonald
The Red and Black
Wed, 26 Feb 2014 21:03 UTC
James Hollibaugh
© UGA Photography ServiceJames Hollibaugh is the Distinguished Research Professor of Marine Sciences at UGA.

The sudden population explosion of a single-celled organism named Thaumarchaeota in the coastal waters of the Southeastern United States baffled scientists.

Researchers at the University of Georgia have received a $727,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study this phenomenon and its implications.

James Hollibaugh, a distinguished research professor of marine sciences, is the principal investigator for the project. He said the Georgia coast is an ideal place to do this research.

"So there's something interesting and hopefully informative going on on the Georgia coast that makes it a key place to study this," he said.

"[The Thaumarchaeota] seem to behave differently than at the other places that have been studied in more detail. So we're trying to figure out what it is about water quality or the oceanography of the Georgia coast that leads to these bloom dynamics."

Bradley Tolar, a graduate student in microbiology from Ocean Springs, Miss., has been involved in the research. He said the purpose of the three-year project that will be funded by the grant is to learn more about the organism.

"We're studying a group of organisms that are relatively poorly understood," Tolar said. "There are a few labs around the world that are studying them.

Basically, they were discovered in 2005, so we know more than we did then, but it's still not a lot. If you look at all the single-celled organisms in the ocean, this one group makes up 20 percent."
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Prize animals injured in Amberley, New Zealand tornado

Emily Spink
The Press
Wed, 26 Feb 2014 20:49 UTC
tornado injures animals
© Jan SwarbrickSunday's tornado has left rural animals in the worst-hit areas on antibotics, traumatised and even lost.
Sunday's tornado has left rural animals in the worst-hit areas injured and traumatised.

Jan Swarbrick was out feeding her dogs and putting the chooks away when the twister tore through her Amberley property.

''The sky was just evil. It was the most unbelievable sky I have ever seen in my life.''

Within seconds, the ''black funnel'' of the tornado was just 200 metres away from Swarbrick.

As she ran for a shed, willow tree branches lashed her face and body. Once inside, branches continued ''smashing'' against the shed.

''I thought any moment it's going to go.''

While it would have only lasted for a few seconds, it was one of the most horrifying things of her life, Swarbrick said.

From inside the shed, she watched as an 850kg horse float and a ''big drum'' were sent flying into a paddock, spooking the three horses grazing nearby.

The animals suffered terrible cuts as they were sent into fences, however all three horses were on the mend following vet checks.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Pacific atoll regrows new islands despite sea level rise

Jamie Morton
The New Zealand Herald
Thu, 20 Feb 2014 20:48 UTC
Pacific Atoll
© The New Zealand HeraldThe images show the remarkable changes that have occurred in the Nadikdik Atoll, in the southern Marshall Islands, between 1945 and 2010.
New research has shown the remarkable rebirth of a Pacific atoll devastated by a typhoon over a century ago.

The University of Auckland study, published in the journal Geomorphology, highlights the dynamism of island systems of the Pacific over relatively short periods of time.

Dr Murray Ford and Professor Paul Kench investigated the changes that have taken place in Nadikdik Atoll, in the southern Marshall Islands, since 1905, when large sections of reef islands were overwashed and destroyed following a major typhoon.

Aerial images of the island had shown significant recovery even between the end of World War 2 and 2010.

In the space of just 61 years, one island grew from an embryonic deposit to a full vegetated and stable island, while a number of previously discrete islands had agglomerated and formed a single larger island.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Small tornado downs trees in Maryland


Source
Wed, 26 Feb 2014 20:45 UTC
Image
© Reid SilvermanCiff Lewallen of California takes pictures of the damage to his house Friday in the Wildewood neighborhood from a downed tree as a result of storm damage.
A tornado cut an 18-mile path across central St. Mary's and into southern Calvert County shortly after midday Friday, toppling trees, causing some power outages and delaying the planned early dismissal of students from St. Mary's public schools.

No injuries or substantial property damage was reported from the storm, rated by the National Weather Service as the minimum in intensity for a tornado, with wind speeds of 65 to 85 mph.

The storm's track in St. Mary's included Breton Beach Road south of Leonardtown, and proceeded from there to Fairgrounds Road near three county schools, Wildewood Parkway in California and across Route 235 toward the Patuxent River, according to Bob Kelly, St. Mary's director of emergency services and technology.

"It came through quick, and our recovery was quick," Kelly said, through the response by volunteer firefighters, county public works employees and utility crews.

Weather alerts that morning escalated from a tornado watch to a severe thunderstorm warning, before the 12:31 p.m. tornado warning that triggered an emergency call to all of the county's schools, including the three in the storm's path - Leonardtown High School, Leonardtown Middle School and the Dr. James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.1 - 138km NNW of Amukta Island, Alaska


US Geological Survey
Wed, 26 Feb 2014 15:47 UTC
Amukta Island Quake_260214
© USGS
Event Time
2014-02-26 21:13:40 UTC
2014-02-26 10:13:40 UTC-11:00 at epicenter

Location
53.679°N 171.837°W depth=264.7km (164.5mi)

Nearby Cities
138km (86mi) NNW of Amukta Island, Alaska
1371km (852mi) SSE of Anadyr', Russia
1550km (963mi) WSW of Anchorage, Alaska
1578km (981mi) WSW of Knik-Fairview, Alaska
2321km (1442mi) W of Whitehorse, Canada

Technical Details
Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Southern California prepares for the one-two storm punch

Jonathan Lloyd
NBC News 4
Wed, 26 Feb 2014 12:07 UTC
Image
© Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesA small pool of water is surrounded by dried and cracked earth that was the bottom of the Almaden Reservoir on January 28, 2014 in San Jose, California. Now in its third straight year of drought conditions, California is experiencing its driest year on record, dating back 119 years, and reservoirs throughout the state have low water levels.
The rain comes amid a drought emergency and after the driest year on record in California

Residents in foothill neighborhoods under the threat of mudslides and flooding surrounded homes with sandbags this week as communities prepared for Southern California's first significant winter storm in months.

The storm brings the possibility of mudslides in areas burned by wildfires, but also much-needed rain -- and snow in the mountains -- after the state's driest year on record. Two storms will usher moisture into the region, moving down from Northern California Wednesday morning before bringing about a half-inch to an inch of rain to Southern California.

The heaviest rain Wednesday is expected after the evening commute and into the overnight hours. The more powerful of the two storms will arrive Thursday at about 7 p.m. and bring up to 2 inches of rain in central and southern valleys, 2 to 4 inches in foothill areas and 6 inches of rain in some mountains.

Showers are expected to continue into Saturday.

Flash flooding is possible in some foothill areas below burn areas, including the hills that burned in January's Colby fire above Glendora.
Read More...
Camera

NASA image shows Polar Vortex plunging southward into U.S.

Lori Cuthbert
Discovery News
Tue, 18 Feb 2014 03:50 UTC
Image
© NASA
NASA today released this image of the polar vortex, the weird atmospheric twitch that flooded into the United States last month. The purple wavy line above that wanders down from the Arctic shows the below-average temperatures that set cold records in many states.

From NASA's Facebook page:

"The Big Chill - Blistering cold air from the Arctic plunged southward this winter, breaking U.S. temperature records. A persistent pattern of winds spins high above the Arctic in winter. The winds, known as the polar vortex, typically blow in a fairly tight circular formation. But in late December 2013 and early January 2014, the winds loosened and frigid Arctic air spilled farther south than usual, deep into the continental United States. On Jan. 6, 2014, alone, approximately 50 daily record low temperatures were set, from Colorado to Alabama to New York, according to the National Weather Service. In some places temperatures were 40 degrees Fahrenheit colder than average."
Read More...