Earth ChangesS


Cow

Fountains of methane 1,000m across erupt from Arctic ice


DailyMail.Co.Uk
Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:53 UTC
  • 'Methane fields on a scale not seen before' - researcher
  • More than 100 fountains, but could be 'thousands'
  • Could cause rapid climate change
The Russian research vessel Academician Lavrentiev conducted a survey of 10,000 square miles of sea off the coast of eastern Siberia.

They made a terrifying discovery - huge plumes of methane bubbles rising to the surface from the seabed.

'We found more than 100 fountains, some more than a kilometre across,' said Dr Igor Semiletov, 'These are methane fields on a scale not seen before. The emissions went directly into the atmosphere.'
Image
Far East Siberia: The melting of 'permafrost' under the sea has led to huge releases of methane - far more abrupt and intense than anything on land

Comment: The following links may put this information into perspective.
Forget About Global Warming: We're One Step From Extinction!
Fire and Ice: The Day After Tomorrow

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Bizarro Earth

Record 67-foot wave recorded off Irish coast


The Guardian
Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:17 UTC
Image
© Niall Carson/PAWaves in Dublin Bay as storms batter Ireland and the UK.
The biggest wave ever to hit Irish shores - 20.4 metres (67ft) high - has been recorded, meteorologists have revealed.

The wave was measured at a special buoy off the Donegal coast on Tuesday as a force ten storm raged.

Meteorologists at Met Eireann said the data, sent from about 60 miles from the Irish coast, provided evidence of the most severe weather conditions it has encountered that distance offshore.

"At 14.00 today the M4 weather buoy off the Donegal coast recorded a maximum wave height of 20.4 metres which is the highest maximum wave recorded in Irish waters," Met Eireann reported.

At Malin Head, the most northerly tip of Ireland, wind gusting to 87mph (140km/h) was recorded.

Elsewhere, the Irish coastguard has urged people to stay off exposed coasts, cliffs, piers, harbour walls, beaches and promenades during this week's forecast stormy weather.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Two more earthquakes reported in Maine

Alli Knothe
Boston.com
Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:24 UTC
The central coast of Maine was hit by two small earthquakes at nearly the same moment Monday night.

The earthquakes, which measured 2.3 and 1.9 on the Richter scale, occurred about a second apart, at 11:41 p.m. The epicenters were about 4 miles apart in an area of Hancock County near Ellsworth and Searsport, according to a preliminary earthquake report released by the United States Geological Survey.

More than 25 people have logged on to the USGS website so far to say they felt the quakes. Four reports came from the town of Blue Hill, where one epicenter was located. Ten reports came from the town of Sedgewick, the second epicenter.

"I thought a big giant tree had crashed into my house," said Shari Whelan, a resident of Sedgewick who works as a general manager at the Barncastle Hotel and Restaurant in Blue Hill. Whelan said she was watching television when the house began to shake and she heard a "boom," that sounded like thunder.
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Bizarro Earth

UK faces days of battering winds and blizzards

Peter Walker
The Guardian
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:22 UTC
Image
© Daniel Gilfeather / Rex FeaturesWaves batter a promenade in Ayrshire.
Met Office predicts 'classic winter weather - the sort we've forgotten all about' as parts of UK see driving rain and gales

Much of the UK faces several days of battering winds and localised blizzards as a pair of particularly severe weather systems pass over the country.

The bad weather claimed a life on Tuesday night when an HGV driver was killed in a collision involving two cars and three lorries on the M5 in Gloucestershire, police said.

Many parts of England and Wales experienced gales and driving rain on Monday night. The UK's former ambassador to Venezuela and Chile had to be rescued by firefighters after a tree crashed through the roof of his family home in Winchester, Hampshire. Emergency services said 65-year-old Richard Wilkinson had an extremely lucky escape after the 18m (59ft) tree crushed the bungalow. "I was between sleeping and awake, listening to the storm outside when there was an enormous crash like the Eiffel Tower falling into the Crystal Palace," he said.

With winds gusting up to 70mph, Hampshire police said they had received more than 200 calls about flooding and fallen trees over 24 hours.
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Arrow Down

South Africa, Johannesburg: Car Swallowed By Sink Hole

Phakamile Hlubi
Eyewitness News
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Susan Mottrami/iWNThe pothole in Fouurways that Orla Meaker fell victim to.
A Fourways woman escaped serious injury on Monday morning, when her car fell into a massive hole in the middle of the road as she was driving.

Orla Meaker was on the road in the early hours of the morning when her car was suddenly swallowed up by a gaping hole on Kingfisher Drive.

Apparently the 3m sinkhole had been caused by a burst water pipe which had eroded a section of the road overnight.

Meaker says her car may be damaged beyond repair.

"I'd say it's very bad. I'm not an expert but some of the gentlemen here guess that the gearbox is gone and the whole thing is a serious mess."
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Info

US, Tennessee: Sinkhole Swallows Pool, Nears House


Elizabethton Star
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC
A sinkhole has drained a family's swimming pool in Erwin and was growing in size.

Homeowner Brad Thelen said the noise of the sinkhole opening under the in-ground pool awakened his wife Chemene on Wednesday night, according to The Johnson City Press.

The hole was about 10 feet across Thursday afternoon. By Thursday evening, it had tripled in size and was not far from the Thelans' home. The family removed valuables and was staying with relatives until the sinkhole stabilized.

A playground at Love Chapel Elementary School, adjacent to the family's property, was roped off until seismologists examine the hole.

Source: The Associated Press
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Arrow Down

US, New Hampshire:150-foot Manchester sinkhole swallows car

Pat Grossmith
Union Leader
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC
Image
© Pat GrossmithManchester firefighters work to remove a car from a sinkhole at the intersection of North and Beech Streets in Manchester on Monday morning
A red Kia was swept into a huge sinkhole at the intersection of North and Beech streets Monday morning when a 12-inch, cast iron water main let go.

Water shot 6 feet into the air and dislodged 10-pound boulders, according to Kevin Clancy of 860-862 Beech St.

"It was wild," he said. His wife heard a "boom" and he looked out the window to see a car stuck in a sink hole, water shooting into the air and large rocks being thrown uphill.

Initially, he said, the car's front tires were in the hole, but "then the whole street fell in."

The entire car sank a few feet into the hole, which stretched across one lane of North Street for about 150 feet. Police closed a portion of Beech Street and North Street, and about 30 homes on Beech Street were without water until mid-afternoon.

Police said the driver thought it was a puddle and drove through it, ending up in the sink hole.
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Bizarro Earth

Papua New Guinea - Earthquake Magnitude 7.1


US Geological Survey
Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:22 UTC
PG Quake_141211
© USGSEarthquake Location.
Date-Time
Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 05:04:57 UTC

Wednesday, December 14, 2011 at 03:04:57 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location
7.518°S, 146.767°E

Depth
121.2 km (75.3 miles)

Region
EASTERN NEW GUINEA REG, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Distances
89 km (55 miles) SSW of Lae, New Guinea, PNG

123 km (76 miles) ENE of Kerema, New Guinea, PNG

221 km (137 miles) NNW of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea

2308 km (1434 miles) NNW of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
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Bizarro Earth

Indonesia - Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Minahasa, Sulawesi


US Geological Survey
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 02:20 UTC
Indon Quake_131211
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 07:52:12 UTC

Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 03:52:12 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location
0.071°S, 123.102°E

Depth
160.9 km (100.0 miles)

Region
SULAWESI, INDONESIA

Distances
68 km (42 miles) S of Gorontalo, Sulawesi, Indonesia

260 km (161 miles) SW of Manado, Sulawesi, Indonesia

978 km (607 miles) NNW of DILI, Timor-Leste

1615 km (1003 miles) NNW of DARWIN, Northern Territory, Australia
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Nuke

Fukushima: The Real Cause of Nuclear Crisis


The Japan Times
Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:08 UTC
fukushima on fire
© n/a
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), the operator of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Station, has been insisting that the culprit that caused the nuclear crisis was the huge tsunami that hit the plant after the March 11 earthquake. But evidence is mounting that the meltdown at the nuclear power plant was actually caused by the earthquake itself.

According to a science journalist well versed in the matter, Tepco is afraid that if the earthquake were to be determined as the direct cause of the accident, the government would have to review its quake-resistance standards completely, which in turn would delay by years the resumption of the operation of existing nuclear power stations that are suspended currently due to regular inspections.

The journalist is Mitsuhiko Tanaka, formerly with Babcock-Hitachi K.K. as an engineer responsible for designing the pressure vessel for the No. 4 reactor at the ill-fated Fukushima nuclear plant.

He says if the earthquake caused the damage to the plumbing, leading to a "loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA)" in which vaporized coolant gushed into the containment building from the damaged piping, an entirely new problem - "vulnerability to earthquake resistance of the nuclear reactor's core structure" - would surface and that this will require a total review of the government's safety standards for nuclear power plants in Japan, which is quite frequently hit by earthquakes.
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