Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Rapidly Inflating Volcano Creates Growing Mystery

Andrea Mustain
OurAmazingPlanet
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:13 UTC
Uturuncu
© Noah FinneganHow long has this been going on? Uturuncu, a Bolivian volcano that is inflating at an incredible rate.
Should anyone ever decide to make a show called "CSI: Geology," a group of scientists studying a mysterious and rapidly inflating South American volcano have got the perfect storyline.

Researchers from several universities are essentially working as geological detectives, using a suite of tools to piece together the restive peak's past in order to understand what it is doing now, and better diagnose what may lie ahead.

It's a mystery they've yet to solve.

Uturuncu is a nearly 20,000-foot-high (6,000 meters) volcano in southwest Bolivia. Scientists recently discovered the volcano is inflating with astonishing speed.

"I call this 'volcano forensics,' because we're using so many different techniques to understand this phenomenon," said Oregon State University professor Shan de Silva, a volcanologist on the research team.
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Igloo

Sudden winter weather causes nightmare in Bulgaria


The Extinction Protocol
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:22 UTC
A sudden onset of harsh winter conditions caused transport chaos in Bulgaria on Tuesday, with one man freezing to death, eight people missing in mountains, 600 villages without power and schools closed. A 73-year-old man chopping wood in southeastern Bulgaria died on the way to hospital after being snowbound overnight along with 15 other Roma, including eight children, authorities said.

Image
© Unknown
Six hikers including two children plus two rescue workers were missing in the Balkan mountain range near the eastern city of Sliven, where a tempest blew over trees and fences, even lifting roofs off buildings. Hundreds of vehicles including lorries without winter tyres were stranded along mountain roads, while two trains carrying 100 people were stuck in snowdrifts 10 hours after setting off.
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Arrow Down

Sudden winter weather causes Bulgarian mayhem


Agence France-Presse
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:25 UTC
Image
© AA Heavy snowfall has closed down the roads in Bulgaria, causing huge traffic jams.
A sudden onset of harsh winter conditions caused transport chaos in Bulgaria on Tuesday, with one man freezing to death, eight people missing in mountains, 600 villages without power and schools closed.

A 73-year-old man chopping wood in southeastern Bulgaria died on the way to hospital after being snowbound overnight along with 15 other Roma, including eight children, authorities said.

Six hikers including two children plus two rescue workers were missing in the Balkan mountain range near the eastern city of Sliven, where a tempest blew over trees and fences, even lifting roofs off buildings.
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Cloud Lightning

US: 20-25 foot waves forecast for ... Chicago


MSNBC
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:41 UTC
A high wind warning goes into effect for the Chicago area Wednesday afternoon, and the city could see waves of up to 25 feet along the city's Lake Michigan coast.

Gusts up to 60 mph could lead to a replay of the high waves that knocked down runners and bikers last month along the lakefront (link). Chicago Police closed the lakefront path that day, and on Wednesday they again warned people to stay away.

Milwaukee, along Lake Michigan to Chicago's north, also is expected to see high winds and waves. By 7 a.m. CT, waves were splashing onto the lower portion of the path between North Avenue and Oak Street Beach in Chicago. The Weather Channel reported that today's winds could be strong enough to topple trees and power lines, resulting in some potential power outages. The winds and rain could also cause hazardous road conditions, the forecast said
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Cloud Lightning

US: Homes damaged as likely tornado hits Florida

Julia Bagg & Brian Hamacher
NBCMIAMI.com
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:30 UTC
'It sounded like a train heading into ... the side of the house,' one resident says

Image
© J Pat Carter/APHarold Wilson inspects his Sunrise, Fla., neighborhood Wednesday, after a possible tornado damaged homes in the area.
Storm survey teams from the National Weather Service were expected to tour areas of West Broward in southern Florida Wednesday, after reports that a possible tornado touched down Tuesday night.

Residents in one Sunrise neighborhood were waking up to debris-strewn lawns after the storm hit shortly after 10 p.m. in the area of Northwest 8th Street and 133rd Avenue, according to fire department officials.

Officials said between 16 and 20 homes were damaged or destroyed in the area, and residents said one house was knocked to the ground. Trees were uprooted, roofs ripped off homes and at least a couple people suffered minor injuries.

"The tornado just went right through, right through the house. It's basically knocked down everywhere," said Alec Katz. "People's fences are on top of roofs, everything, It's crazy."
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Bizarro Earth

US: Spate of quakes around Mount Rainier


Seattle Times / Associated Press
Wed, 19 Oct 2011 10:42 UTC
Scientists in Washington state say there has been a spate of earthquakes around Mount Rainier in recent weeks but that it isn't a concern.

Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network's Bill Steele says the activity is normal. But he says scientists are watching the volcano a closer because of two quakes recorded Friday. The first was a 3.4 magnitude quake that struck west of the mountain near Ashford. It was followed about an hour later with a 2.9 magnitude quake under the volcano.

Image
© Erik KlemettiA view of Washington's Mt. Rainier in the evening sun in 2005.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Huge Haboob Hits Lubbock, Texas


OurAmazingPlanet
Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:08 UTC
Dust Storm
© SomeFineFella/YouTubeA screenshot of a video that Sandy Clem shot as the haboob swept over Lubbock.
A giant dust storm known as a haboob swept through Lubbock, Texas, on Monday, blotting out the sun and turning everything a hazy copper.

The 8,000-foot-tall (2,400 meters) dust cloud knocked down trees and power lines, sparked small wildfires and damaged a hangar at the local airport, reported the Los Angeles Times.

Jerald Meadows, a meteorologist based in Lubbock, told the L.A. Times that smaller haboobs of around 1,000 feet (305 m) in height are fairly common in the area, but that yesterday's whopper was "fairly rare." He attributed the storm to the dry condition in the area, which have plagued most of Texas this year, and strong cold front with whipping winds that moved in from the Rockies. The storm traveled at an estimated 75 mph (120 kph).

Haboob is Arabic for "strong wind."
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Bizarro Earth

An Unusual Phenomenon: Vanishing Arctic Lakes

Genalyn.C
International Business Times
Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:30 UTC
Polar Bears
© Reuters / IBTimes Staff ReporterResearchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Aarhus University have warned that polar bear species as primary predators are ailing as industrial pollutants get absorbed in the Arctic Ocean food chain.
A new and strange phenomenon is baffling scientists. This is the case of the vanishing lakes in the northern part of the Arctic which can have an impact on local wildlife and human populations, researchers said.

Canada lost some 1.2 percent of its water surface or 6700 square kilometers between 2000 to 2009 as revealed in a satellite survey of the 1.3 million lakes stretching from coast to coast, according to the International Arctic Research Center in Fairbanks, Alaska,

"It's an important finding. We need to find out what's driving it," says Larry Hinzman, director of the research center.

Previous surveys showed that there had been shrinking Arctic lakes, but only in the southern-most part of the Arctic. But the new survey, carried out by Mark Carroll at the University of Maryland in College Park found that the reverse is happening: it is the northern lakes that appears to be shrinking.
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Bizarro Earth

Iceland: Earthquake swarm in Tjörnes Fracture Zone

Jón Frímann
Iceland Volcano and Earthquake Blog
Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:16 UTC
Today (18 October, 2011) at 08:53 UTC a earthquake swarm started in TFZ. So far this earthquake swarm is small in nature, only about dozen earthquakes so far. But the largest earthquakes have been with the size of ML3.6 according to IMO automatic earthquake detection system (called SIL). There is a good chance that this earthquake swarm is going to continue for the next few hours. But it is hard to know that for sure at the moment.

Image
© Iceland Met OfficeThe area with the earthquake activity in Tjörnes Fracture Zone (TFZ).
There are no volcanoes in the area where this earthquake swarm is taking place.
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Bizarro Earth

Papua New Guinea - Earthquake Magnitude 6.0


US Geological Survey
Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:47 UTC
PNG Quake_181011
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 05:05:04 UTC

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 03:05:04 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
5.886°S, 150.994°E

Depth:
9.9 km (6.2 miles)

Region:
NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Distances:
100 km (62 miles) ESE of Kimbe, New Britain, PNG

163 km (101 miles) ENE of Kandrian, New Britain, PNG

576 km (357 miles) NE of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea

2401 km (1491 miles) N of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
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