Earth ChangesS


Satellite

A Mysterious Sprite Photographed by ISS Astronaut


LiveScience
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 21:20 UTC
Strange Lightning
© NASA Earth Observatory A strange type of lightning called a sprite that occurs above thunderstorms and extends to the edge of space was photographed by an astronaut aboard the space station on April 30th, 2012.
Near the edge of space, sprites and elves dance, but there's nothing mythical about them.

Sprites and elves are reddish, ultrafast bursts of electricity that are born near the edge of space, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) up in the atmosphere. Sprites are jellyfish-shaped, starting as balls of light that stream downward, whereas elves take the shape of ring-like halos.

One sprite was captured with a digital camera by Expedition 31 astronauts aboard the International Space Station as it traveled over Myanmar on April 30.

Scientists first captured images of sprites and elves dancing above thunderstorms in the late '80s and early '90s. Pilots actually saw them decades earlier, but since they flicker in and out of existence so quickly, the sightings couldn't be verified.
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Stop

Animal Deaths: Welsh Government To Investigate Unexplained Swan Deaths


The Huffington Post
Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:50 UTC
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© Press AssociationCardiff is home to around 200 swans
An investigation is under way after the mysterious deaths of 30 swans in Cardiff.

Officials say the animals died within a three-week period and the cause is unknown.

The Welsh capital has a population of around 200 of the birds, which are often seen in Roath Park and Cardiff Bay.

Cardiff Council has confirmed these two locations, both popular with families, were predominantly affected.

Although bird flu has not been diagnosed, as a precautionary measure, people finding dead swans are advised not to touch them.

The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) said the Welsh Government was looking into the matter.

A statement by the AHVLA said: "Reports of increased levels of mortality amongst wild swans in the Cardiff area are being investigated.
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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Left 20-Meter Crack in Mount Fuji


The Japan Times
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© KYODOOpening up: In a photo taken in March 2011, a crack can be seen near a shrine at the Fifth Station of Mount Fuji. Experts say it is unlikely to be a sign of an impending eruption or any other abnormality.
Kofu, Yamanashi Pref. - A 20-meter-long crack was found halfway up Mount Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit on March 15, 2011, centered around eastern Shizuoka Prefecture, local authorities revealed Tuesday.

They ruled out the possibility of an eruption.

"No abnormalities have been observed regarding Mount Fuji and the mountain shows no signs of an eruption," an official at the Meteorological Agency said, indicating the crack was caused not by volcanic activity but by the temblor.
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Fish

Heat Wave or Outgassing? Thousands of Dead Fish in Minnesota Lakes


Associated Press
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 20:54 UTC
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Albert Lea, Minn. - The recent heat wave is blamed for killing thousands of fish in several southern Minnesota lakes.

Most of the lakes are shallow, and thus more susceptible to summer fish kills, and most of the fish were northern pike, which prefer cold water.

Affected waters include Geneva Lake north of Albert Lea, where Department of Natural Resources officials say several thousand northerns probably died, and Fountain Lake in Albert Lea, where hundreds of northerns floated up last weekend.

Jack Lauer, the regional fisheries manager in New Ulm, says he's heard of about 10 to 15 affected lakes. He says populations will recover.

Henry Drewes, the regional fisheries manager for northwestern Minnesota, says some waters around Alexandria have also seen fish kills, including Lake Christina and the Pomme de Terre (pom-duh-TAIR') River.

Comment: Is it the heat, or outgassing from the destabilized planet?

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Cloud Lightning

Devastating India floods kill threatened rhinos


Agence France-Presse
Mon, 09 Jul 2012 17:15 UTC
Image
© Bobosh_t/FlickrOne-horned rhino.
Devastating floods in northeast India have killed around 600 animals in the region's largest wildlife park, including more than a dozen threatened one-horned rhinos, officials said July 9. "Most of the animals either drowned or were mown down by speeding vehicles when they tried to flee the heavy flooding," said S.K. Bora, director of 430-square-kilometre (165-square-mile) Kaziranga National Park in Assam state. "The water level is now receding, but the vast majority of animals that fled the park are yet to return," he told AFP by telephone.

According to Bora, various species of deer accounted for more than 500 of the animal victims, which also included 14 rhinos and two elephant calves. Assam has been the focus of severe regional flooding in recent weeks, triggered by heavy monsoon rains that caused the Brahmaputra river to burst its banks, inundating large areas of the state.
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Bizarro Earth

Russia continues to bury the dead, clean up after floods in Krasnodar

Nataliya Vasilyeva and Sergey Ponomarev
MSNBC
Mon, 09 Jul 2012 17:08 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Ignat KozlovA local resident stands at a flooded house in Krimsk, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) south of Moscow, Russia, Sunday, July 8, 2012. The death toll from severe flooding in the Black Sea region of southern Russia has risen to at least 150.
Authorities failed to properly warn residents in the Black Sea region of floods that killed at least 171 people and left others scrambling for safety, Russia's emergencies minister acknowledged Monday, adding to public outrage fueled by widespread mistrust of the government. Monday has been declared a national day of mourning in Russia. Families of the flood victims were beginning to bury the dead in the hard-hit town of Krymsk, where torrential rain and flooding turned streets into swirling muddy rivers, inundated thousands of homes and forced people to flee from their beds in the middle of the night. Nearly 19,000 people have lost all their belongings.

Monday has been declared a national day of mourning in Russia. Families of the flood victims were beginning to bury the dead in the hard-hit town of Krymsk, where torrential rain and flooding turned streets into swirling muddy rivers, inundated thousands of homes and forced people to flee from their beds in the middle of the night. Nearly 19,000 people have lost all their belongings.

The Emergencies Ministry said it sent warnings out by text message, but some local residents said they never received the alerts. Ministry head Vladimir Puchkov acknowledged under pressure that they were insufficient to reach everyone on time.

"A system to warn the residents was set up," Puchkov said at a government meeting where he was grilled by the deputy prime minister about the early Saturday flood. "But, unfortunately, not everyone was warned early enough."

Additional images
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Bug

Rasberry crazy ants starting to appear in Williamson and Travis counties, Texas

Claire Osborn
Statesman.com
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:35 UTC
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© David J. Phillip/APExterminator Tom Rasberry lets his namesake crazy ants crawl on his arm in 2008. The ants don't bite, but they can cause more trouble than fire ants.

There's a new ant in town, and wherever it goes, fire ants start disappearing. It also doesn't sting or bite. But don't get excited yet. The Rasberry crazy ant which showed up in Travis County and Round Rock this fall swarms into homes by the hundreds of thousands in search of food.

In the Houston area, where the ants are much more prevalent, they have already made some homeowners miserable, said Roger Gold, professor of entomology at Texas A&M University.

"People that have them said they wish they had the fire ants back," he said. "We have pictures of families sweeping them up with brooms where there are piles of ants. ... They can get into AC systems and short them out."

When the ants get electrocuted they produce a pheromone that causes other ants to rush in, Gold said, leading to so many ants in the electrical system that it shorts out. An infestation of the ants temporarily shut down a Pasadena chemical plant, causing a $1 million loss, he said.

"They have huge populations made up of hundreds of thousands to multiple millions," Gold said.
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Cloud Lightning

Flash Flood Warning - Texas community absorbs 10 inches of rain in a few hours

Nick Valencia
CNN
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:31 UTC
A community just outside of Austin, Texas, was pounded by about 10 inches of rain over a few hours early Tuesday, causing flash floods and leaving at least 15 residences surrounded by water, a Texas emergency management official told CNN.

Webberville, Texas, near the western edge of Bastrop County, received about 10 inches of rain starting around 5 a.m., according to Mike Fisher, the county's emergency management coordinator.

"Residents at the end of the subdivision are our concern right now, if anybody's home," Fisher said around midmorning, before the water started receding.

At least four residences were evacuated, but it was unclear how many people were affected by the flooding, he said.

"It was a slow-moving thunderstorm that came through in that one particular little spot of Webberville," Fisher said.

By 12:30 p.m. the water had receded and everything was "back to normal," said Sue Cerf of emergency management department. No one was injured, she said.
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Cloud Lightning

Torrential Rain - Scotland put on weather alert as heavy rain and floods are set to cause chaos


Daily Record
Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:27 UTC
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© UnknownParts of Edinburgh have already been flooded this week
Torrential rain could chaos traffic chaos and flooding across Scotland in the next 36 hours - with Edinburgh and East Lothian set to be hit hardest.

The Met Office have issued rain alerts for most of Scotland, including an Amber Warning of likely flooding covering South West Scotland and the Lothian and Borders area.

The Scottish Environmental Portection Agency say Edinburgh and East Lothian in particular could be badly hit on Wednesday as river levels rise.

A Yellow Warning of potential flooding has also been issued for Central, Tayside, Fife and Strathclyde.

Transport Minister Keith Brown said: "Unfortunately some of those communities who were caught up in the heavy rain in over Edinburgh and the Lothians at the weekend are now being warned to expect more testing conditions over the next 24 to 36 hours.
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Snowflake

Cold snap in Chile kills 16 homeless persons


bbc.co.uk
Mon, 09 Jul 2012 14:07 UTC
chile, homeless person
© ReutersPeople sleeping on the streets are being encouraged to seek shelter
Freezing temperatures in central and southern Chile have led to the deaths of 16 homeless people so far this year, officials say.

The latest deaths were at the weekend when two victims were found in the capital, Santiago.

Temperatures in some parts of the city dropped to -8C, but forecasters said the cold snap was set to ease.
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