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Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Bonin Islands, Japan Region


US Geological Survey
Sat, 26 May 2012 18:14 UTC
Japan Quake_260512
© USGS
Date-Time
Saturday, May 26, 2012 at 21:48:09 UTC

Sunday, May 27, 2012 at 07:48:09 AM at epicenterTime of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location
26.876°N, 140.214°E

Depth
472.6 km (293.7 miles)

Region
BONIN ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION

Distances
201 km (124 miles) W of Chichi-shima, Bonin Islands, Japan

255 km (158 miles) NNW of Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, Japan

694 km (431 miles) S of Hachijo-jima, Izu Islands, Japan

979 km (608 miles) S of TOKYO, Japan
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Attention

Thousands of Shellfish Found Dead in Peru


Agence France Presse
Sat, 26 May 2012 17:52 UTC
Dead Shellfish
© SPH

Thousands of crustaceans were found dead off the coast of Lima following the mystery mass death of dolphins and pelicans, the Peruvian Navy said Friday.

The cause of death is under investigation, said Industry and Fishing Minister Gladys Triveno, warning that "it would be premature to give a reason for this phenomenon."

The Navy said it presented a report on the find to the Agency of Environmental Evaluation and Control to determine the cause.

Biologist Yuri Hooker of Cayetano Heredia University said the species found on Pucusana Beach, 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Lima, was a type of red krill about three centimeters (1.2 inches) long.

"They live mostly along the coast of Chile up to the coast of northern Peru. What is happening is that these crustaceans are being affected by the warming of Pacific waters in the north of the country," he said, adding that the phenomenon occurs "with some frequency."
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Igloo

Perth's Coldest May Night in 98 Years

Kristy Symonds
PerthNow
Fri, 25 May 2012 07:48 UTC
Frosty Perth
© PerthNowFROSTY: Ice on the grass at Allanson, near Collie in the South West, were the temperature plunged to around -3C overnight.
Perth has shivered through its coldest May night in 98 years with the temperature dropping to 1.3C, while Jandakot dipped below zero.

Bureau of Meteorology spokesman, Neil Bennett, said Perth's overnight low equalled the record temperature set on May 11, 1914 at 7am this morning.

Mr Bennett said the chill was caused by a "very large" high pressure system sitting on the south coast of WA which produced clear skies, which meant sunny days but a lack of cloud cover to slow the cooling down overnight.

"With no clouds and light winds, the cooling down is going off at its maximum rate," Mr Bennett said.

Jandakot recorded -0.6C at 5.49am, the only spot in the metropolitan area to fall below zero, while several centres in the South West also dipped below zero.

Early risers in Jandakot and Bibra Lake had to scrape the ice off car windscreens before they left for work and lawns were covered in a layer of frost.
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Bizarro Earth

Hundreds of Endangered Antelopes Dying in Kazakhstan


Indo-Asian News Service
Fri, 25 May 2012 18:26 UTC
Antelopes
© Zee News
Astana: A massive wave of deaths has been reported among the endangered saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan. Around 540 carcasses of the animal has been found in the country, RIA Novosti reported Thursday.

According to the Kazakh agriculture ministry, the carcasses were found in the Kostanai region.

"Aviation monitoring today (Thursday) discovered a new concentration of saiga deaths with the approximate number of dead animals reaching beyond 400," the ministry said.

Last year, at least 12,000 saiga antelopes died in Kazakhstan, presumably from pasteurellosis infection and from overeating. In November 2010, Kazakhstan introduced a ban on saiga hunting.

The latest statistics put the number of saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan at 85,500. The country spends $800,000 annually to prevent the deaths.

Saiga were virtually exterminated in the 1920s but then their numbers increased in the 1950s. The animals mostly became endangered because of hunting and the high demand for their horns in traditional Chinese medicine.

Saiga are also found in Russia's Kalmykia region and in Mongolia.
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Phoenix

Clouds of Smoke, Ash from Forest Fire Lead to State of Emergency in Timmins


The Canadian Press
Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© The Canadian PressA forest fire burns near Timmins, Ont. on Thursday, May 24, 2012.
Canada: Timmins, Ontario - A raging forest fire that's spewing smoke and ash toward Timmins has jumped Highway 144 southwest of the northern Ontario city.

And fire crews report a new fire on Highway 101 southwest of Timmins has forced the evacuation of the Old Mill campground.

The city of 43,000 is under a state of emergency and officials are on high alert.

Mayor Tom Laughren says more than 225 people have been evacuated from rural communities including Hydro Bay, Kamiskotia Highway and Cooks Lake.

Many have sought shelter with the Red Cross, while others are staying with friends or family.

That's in addition to an evacuation order for the nearby Mattagami First Nation that saw 118 residents relocate to Kapuskasing.

"I think the next 48 to 72 hours, from a fire perspective, as it relates to Timmins, will be critical," the mayor said Friday.

Laughren said he hopes the skies will clear up enough to allow water bombers to take on the flames.
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Bizarro Earth

Black Sea Ecologists Alarmed By Dolphin Deaths

Claire Bigg, Mariyat Shapsug
Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty
Thu, 24 May 2012 15:29 UTC
Dead Dolphin
© EPAAn increasingly common sight on Russia's and Ukraine's Black Sea coast.

Hardly a day goes by in Sochi, Russia's picturesque Black Sea resort, without a dead dolphin washing up on the beach.

With the tourist season just kicking off, the unexplained deaths have yet to draw much scrutiny.

But environmentalists are increasingly alarmed. The dolphin carcasses are also turning into a real holiday spoiler for vacationers drawn to the region's scenic beaches and pristine vistas.

Russian tourist Aida Kobzh was shocked to discover a group of dead dolphins last week at her local beach in Sochi.

"Everyone stood there and stared at the dead little dolphins lying belly up. Poor creatures!" Kobzh says. "There were some on the beach but also in the water, they were floating there, dead.
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Cloud Lightning

Hurricane Bud heading for area near Puerto Vallarta


MSNBC
Fri, 25 May 2012 09:37 UTC
Hurricane Bud lost some strength as it moved closer to Mexico's Pacific Coast and was forecast to hit land south of the popular tourist town of Puerto Vallarta Friday night, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

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Bizarro Earth

5.6 earthquake which jolted Bulgaria was strongest since 1858, and the aftershocks continue


Novinite.com
Tue, 22 May 2012 08:54 UTC
The earthquake that the Bulgarian capital Sofia experienced at 3 am on Tuesday has been the strongest in its history since 1858, i.e. in 154 years, historical records indicate.
Image
© Lost BulgariaA file photo shows destruction from the 1928 earthquake in Chirpan; the small Bulgarian town was hit by another quake in 1942.
On Tuesday, Bulgaria's territory saw over 60 weak aftershocks after the 5.8-5.9-magnitude it experienced early Tuesday morning, according to the Geophysics Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

All of the 60 aftershocks had magnitudes of over 1 on the Richter scale, and their epicenters were around the western Bulgarian city of Pernik, where the initial earthquake hit at about 2:58 am on Tuesday. Some of the major aftershocks had a magnitude of 4.2-4.7, and were felt in Pernik and Sofia.

On September 30, 1858, when the future Bulgarian capital was still only a provincial town in the Ottoman Empire, it suffered an earthquake that had an estimated magnitude of 6.6-7.0 on the Richter Scale, damaging some 80% of its buildings.
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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Magnitude 4.8 shakes nervous Christchurch, sending shoppers fleeing into the streets


The Australian
Fri, 25 May 2012 08:45 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Nervous shoppers fled into the streets when a 4.7-magnitude earthquake rattled the New Zealand city of Christchurch, halting rebuilding work following last year's tremor that killed 185.

These were no immediate reports of damage or injuries and police and ambulance services said they had received no calls for assistance.

The quake struck at 12.44pm (AEST) at a shallow depth of eight kilometres about 25 kilometres east of New Zealand's second largest city, the US Geological Survey said.

The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, which is overseeing reconstruction after the deadly 6.3 tremor in February last year, said it suspended demolition work in the city centre as a precaution.

Christchurch has experienced thousands of aftershocks in the past 18 months, delaying efforts to rebuild and further unsettling residents.
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Nuke

Original radiation released by Fukushima 2.5 times higher than what TEPCO told public


The New York Times
Fri, 25 May 2012 08:42 UTC
Image
© Unknown
The amount of radioactive materials released in the first days of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was almost two and a half times the initial estimate by Japanese safety regulators, the operator of the crippled plant said in a report released on Thursday.

The operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, said the meltdowns it believes took place at three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant released about 900,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances into the air during March 2011. The accident, which followed an earthquake and a tsunami, occurred on March 11.

The latest estimate was based on measurements suggesting the amount of iodine-131 released by the nuclear accident was much larger than previous estimates, the utility said in the report. Iodine-131 is a fast-decaying radioactive substance produced by fission that takes place inside a nuclear reactor. It has a half-life of eight days and can cause thyroid cancer.

It is difficult to judge the health effects of the larger-than-reported release, since even the latest number is an estimate, and it does not clarify how much exposure people received or continue to receive from contaminated soil and food. Experts have been divided on the health impacts since the disaster because the studies of assessing radiation risks are based mainly on a different type of exposure - the large doses delivered quickly by the atomic bombs in Japan in 1945.
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