Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

US: Missouri River floodwaters taking more farmland


Reuters
Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:48 UTC
An aerial view of a farm near Rock Port,
© Reuters/Lane HickenbottomAn aerial view of a farm near Rock Port, Missouri submerged in Missouri River flood waters June 24, 2011.
Kansas City, Missouri - The swollen Missouri River was swamping more farmland in Missouri on Wednesday as federal officials began to prepare for a gradual reduction in water releases from a key dam starting later in July.

Residents from Montana through Missouri have built flood barriers and evacuated homes for more than a thousand miles over the last two months as melting snow and heavy rains overwhelmed six reservoirs on the Upper Missouri River.

Federal officials have released water from the dams at double previous record rates, straining levees through the North and South Dakota capitals down along the borders of Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas and across Missouri.
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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Offshore Valparaiso, Chile


USGS
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:07 UTC
Chile Qukae_160711
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time
Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 00:26:13 UTC

Friday, July 15, 2011 at 08:26:13 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location
33.798°S, 72.074°W

Depth
22.9 km (14.2 miles)

Region
OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

Distances
47 km (29 miles) WSW of San Antonio, Valparaiso, Chile

94 km (58 miles) SSW of Valparaiso, Valparaiso, Chile

128 km (79 miles) WNW of Rancagua, Libertador O'Higgins, Chile

136 km (84 miles) WSW of SANTIAGO, Region Metropolitana, Chile
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Igloo

China: Snow Covers Sichuan State Highway 318 in Summer


NTD Television
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 14:41 UTC

While people in other regions of China, are enduring the hot summer, a bizarre scene of drifting snow covered the Zheduo Mountain section of the Sichuan State Highway 318 on Wednesday.

The snowfall measured more than 12 inches deep. The temperature was less than 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Heavy snow and fog almost paralyzed traffic on the state highway - as vehicles moved bumper to bumper on the snow-covered road.

While the snowfall was creating a traffic jam, some people enjoyed the unusual sight, and got out of their cars to take pictures.

Tourist: "I came from Nanjing City of Jiangsu Province. I've come to Sichuan for a tour. I never saw snow in July. It is indeed rare. Even in winter, I rarely saw snow in Nanjing."

Meteorologists offer two reasons for the sudden snowfall in summer. The first is the altitude of Zheduo Mountain, which is more than 13,000 feet high. The second reason is the continuous rain with low temperatures in the region.
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Bizarro Earth

U.S.: Oil-covered birds spark oil spill search


UPI
Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:04 UTC
Image
© UPI/A.J. SiscoOil-coated pelicans, like this one found after the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, have been found on California beaches

Santa Barbara, California -- The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a possible oil spill after five brown pelicans were found covered with oil on California beaches, officials said.

The Coast Guard said a seabird rehabilitation worker found the first two birds near Santa Barbara Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Three more birds were discovered at another beach Wednesday, but two of them subsequently died.
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Bizarro Earth

US: California Hit By Earthquake Swarm

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 08:38 UTC
More than fifty earthquakes have shaken the US State of California in the 14-hour period up to 2:00 p.m. GMT (6:00 a.m. PDT) Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The quakes occurred throughout the Pacific coastal state, including the Greater Los Angeles area, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay area. The majority of the earthquakes ranged between 2-4 magnitude. Other areas to experience earth tremors include Holtville, Pinnacles, Johnville, Valle Vista, La Jolla, Anderson Springs, Hawthorns, Anza, The Geysers, San Carlos, Hemet and Keene.
Image
© USGS
Earthquake swarms are events where a local area experiences sequences of many earthquakes striking in a relatively short period of time. The length of time used to define the swarm itself varies, but the United States Geological Survey (USGS) points out that an event may be on the order of days, weeks, or months. They are differentiated from earthquakes succeeded by a series of aftershocks by the observation that no single earthquake in the sequence is obviously the main shock. Earthquake swarms also are one of the events typically preceding eruptions of volcanoes.
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Blackbox

Scripps researchers discover new force driving Earth's tectonic plates


Terra Daily / SPX
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 08:33 UTC
Image
© Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San DiegoReconstruction of the Indo-Atlantic Ocean at 63 million years, during the time of the superfast motion of India which Scripps scientists attribute to the force of the Reunion plume head. The arrows show the relative convergence rate of Africa (black arrows) and India (dark blue) relative to Eurasia before, during and after (from left to right) the period of maximum plume head force. The jagged red and brown lines northeast of India show two possible positions of the trench (the subduction zone) between India and Eurasia depending on whether the India-Eurasia collision occurred at 52 million years or 43 million years.
Bringing fresh insight into long-standing debates about how powerful geological forces shape the planet, from earthquake ruptures to mountain formations, scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego have identified a new mechanism driving Earth's massive tectonic plates.

Scientists who study tectonic motions have known for decades that the ongoing "pull" and "push" movements of the plates are responsible for sculpting continental features around the planet. Volcanoes, for example, are generally located at areas where plates are moving apart or coming together.

Scripps scientists Steve Cande and Dave Stegman have now discovered a new force that drives plate tectonics: Plumes of hot magma pushing up from Earth's deep interior. Their research is published in the July 7 issue of the journal Nature.
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Bizarro Earth

Indonesia: Lokon volcano erupts near Tomohon


Straits Times / AFP
Fri, 15 Jul 2011 08:25 UTC
Image
© AFPThe Lokon volcano erupts near Tomohon on July 15, 2011.
An Indonesian volcano erupted late on Thursday, spewing rocks, lava and ash hundreds of metres into the air, an official said, three days after its alert status was raised to the highest level.

There has been a significant rise in volcanic activity at Mount Lokon on Sulawesi island since June 9, prompting hundreds of people to evacuate the area.

'There was a big eruption around 10.31pm local time (1531 GMT, 11.31pm Singapore time), which saw ash, sand and rocks thrown 1,500m into the air,' government volcanologist Kristianto told AFP.

Grass and shrubs in an area stretching 500m around the volcano were on fire but there was no immediate danger to people living nearby, he said. The volcano's status was raised to its highest red alert level after it spewed ash 500m into the air over the weekend, leading to a 3.5km evacuation zone being established in case of a bigger eruption.
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Bizarro Earth

Another Blast of Heat to Hit U.S.

Karin Matz
Reuters
Thu, 14 Jul 2011 17:23 UTC
Image
© Reuters/Lucas JacksonChildren cool off in the fountain inside of Washington Square Park on a hot summer day in New York July 12, 2011.
A massive heat wave is expected to develop over much of the central and eastern United States beginning on Friday with heat index values that could reach 115 degrees.

The big story for the coming weekend will be the building heat," said Jim Keeney, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "It looks like it's going to be a long-term heat wave."

In the thick of the heat wave is Oklahoma where Governor Mary Fallin asked Oklahomans to pray for rain this Sunday.

"The power of prayer is a wonderful thing, and I would ask every Oklahoman to look to a greater power this weekend and ask for rain," Fallin said in a news release on Thursday.

Fallin on Thursday also issued a ban on outdoor burning for the western half of the state because of the extreme drought conditions.

"The number of wildfires we have had over the last few months is extremely tough on our state firefighters," Fallin said.
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Umbrella

US, Colorado: More severe weather for the Front Range


The Gazette
Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:45 UTC
Image
© Helen H. Richardson / The Denver PostMonica Savage of Ft. Lauderdale takes pictures of an approaching storm near Denver International Airport.
More severe weather hit the Denver area and eastern Colorado Thursday, unleashing heavy rain on already-soaked areas and adding to the debris and mud that closed canyon roads west of Boulder.

A rock slide closed a lane of a highway in the mountains west of Boulder, where crews were still trying to clear mud from roads after up to 1.3 inches of rain pounded the area Wednesday night. State transportation officials said most of the rocks were small and no one was injured.

Some roads were closed again Thursday afternoon and an evacuation center was reopened at a YMCA. A flash flood warning was issued for the area where a wildfire burned away vegetation on thousands of acres last fall.

Two large surges of flood water in Boulder Creek Wednesday night prompted warnings to people to get to high ground. No serious flooding occurred.

Several counties in north-central Colorado and the Denver area were under a severe thunderstorm watch Thursday. Sheets of rain swept through Denver and the suburbs as evening rush hour started. Cars were partially submerged in spots where water backed up and water gushed through normally dry gulches.

Property owners were still assessing the hail damage from Wednesday night's storms.

State Farm Insurance said it expects to get about 6,500 auto claims and 4,000 home claims. Damage includes broken windshields and roof and siding damage.
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Cloud Lightning

Severe weather hits the Netherlands


Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Thu, 14 Jul 2011 04:30 UTC
The Dutch national weather centre (KNMI) is warning of severe gusts of wind and heavy rainfall affecting large areas of the Netherlands today. Winds have already wreaked havoc across the country and caused delays at Schiphol Airport.

Twenty flights were cancelled Thursday, according to an airport spokesperson. Further delays are expected as the stormy weather continues.

Southern, central and eastern areas of the Netherlands have been put on yellow alert. Coastal areas have been on yellow alert since Wednesday evening. Yellow alerts are issued when 25 to 50 mm of rainfall is expected with wind gusts of up to 80 kilometres per hour.

In The Hague, the danger of those gusts became all too apparent after a 51-year-old woman was hosptialised in critical condition after a being hit by a wind-swept tree. A 19-year-old boy was also injured in the accident.

Winds are threatening to send a 60 meter tall chimney on the Rotterdam Keileweg to the ground. Police have cleared out a radius of 100 metres around the area in case the tower collapses.

Conversely, the ANWB automobile association says traffic has so far not been too badly affected by the unseasonal weather.
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