Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 6.4 - Near The East Coast of Honshu, Japan


USGS
Sun, 04 Jul 2010 22:42 UTC
Japan Earthquake_04072010
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Sunday, July 04, 2010 at 21:55:51 UTC

Monday, July 05, 2010 at 06:55:51 AM at epicenter

Location:
39.705°N, 142.523°E

Depth:
23.7 km (14.7 miles)

Region:
NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

Distances:
120 km (75 miles) E of Morioka, Honshu, Japan

125 km (80 miles) SE of Hachinohe, Honshu, Japan

195 km (120 miles) SE of Aomori, Honshu, Japan

510 km (315 miles) NNE of TOKYO, Japan
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The EU's Response to Global Warming is a Costly Mistake

Bjorn Lomborg
The Telegraph
Sun, 04 Jul 2010 03:19 UTC
The Day after Tomorrow1
© EPAAlarmist bells ringing: a scene from The Day after Tomorrow.
European leaders have a lot to deal with. The financial crisis has prompted several national stimulus packages and a joint effort to keep Greece afloat, while the EU is in danger of being outstripped by other economies that are growing faster, producing more efficiently and at lower costs.

One bright spot is that politicians remain committed to responding to global warming. Unfortunately, their plans do not withstand scrutiny. New research shows that the EU's "20/20/20" policy, which aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 (and ensure 20 per cent renewable energy), will cost hundreds of billions of euros but yield only tiny benefits. The UK alone will be hit to the tune of an annual 35 billion euros (£28 billion).

As a cost-benefit analysis by the climate-change economist Richard Tol shows, any single regional carbon-reduction scheme will have a very small effect on emissions and temperature rises across the globe. That's not an argument against ever implementing one: but it means that it's crucial that the numbers stack up.
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Binoculars

"Slippers" Help Crane Chick with Curled Toes Walk


The Telegraph
Sun, 04 Jul 2010 09:30 UTC
Image
© SWNSThe baby African Crowned Crane is walking tall after being fitted with green slippers
A baby African Crowned Crane is walking tall after carers fitted it with bright green slippers - to straighten its curled toes.

The tiny hand-reared chick was born with a slight defect which meant toes on both feet were not developing as they should.

Keepers at Paradise Park in Hayle, Cornwall, fitted the slippers in a bid to 'straighten things out' - and now the one inch high rare bird is walking tall.

Curator David Woolcock said: ''For the first few days we put small bandages on the chicks toes as they were slightly curled, and this just helped straightened things out.

''The chick is doing very well and is currently off show, although can sometimes be seen on the grass in front of Glanmor House at the centre of the park as keepers take the chick for a walk to help strengthen those legs.''
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Attention

Oil Found in Gulf Crabs Raises New Food Chain Fears

Geoff Pender
McClatchy Newspapers
Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00 UTC

University scientists have spotted the first indications oil is entering the Gulf seafood chain - in crab larvae - and one expert warns the effect on fisheries could last "years, probably not a matter of months" and affect many species.

Scientists with the University of Southern Mississippi and Tulane University in New Orleans have found droplets of oil in the larvae of blue crabs and fiddler crabs sampled from Louisiana to Pensacola, Fla. The news comes as blobs of oil and tar continue to wash ashore in Mississippi in patches, with crews in chartreuse vests out cleaning beaches all along the coast on Thursday, and as state and federal fisheries from Louisiana to Florida are closed by the BP oil disaster.

"I think we will see this enter the food chain in a lot of ways - for plankton feeders, like menhaden, they are going to just actively take it in," said Harriet Perry, director of the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. "Fish are going to feed on (crab larvae). We have also just started seeing it on the fins of small, larval fish - their fins were encased in oil. That limits their mobility, so that makes them easy prey for other species. The oil's going to get into the food chain in a lot of ways."
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Attention

It's Not Just BP's Oil in the Gulf That Threatens World's Oceans

Les Blumenthal
McClatchy Newspapers
Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:00 UTC

A sobering new report warns that the oceans face a "fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation" not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, sea and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather.

The report, in Science magazine, brings together dozens of studies that collectively paint a dismal picture of deteriorating ocean health.

"This is further evidence we are well on our way to the next great extinction event," said Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland in Australia and a co-author of the report.
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Blackbox

Feds Taking the Weekend Off in Oil Fight?

Jay Vise
WWL
Fri, 02 Jul 2010 07:30 UTC
Image
© AP Photo
One local official is voicing his frustration over what he calls a "nine-to-five" attitude by some federal authorities in the face of the oil disaster.

Jefferson Councilman Chris Roberts says the parish has a plan to build rock levees to help keep oil out of inland waterways like Barataria Bay.

Roberts told WWL First News that after they submitted the proposal to the Army Corps of Engineers last week, Corps officials said last Friday that discussion on the plan would have to be put on hold until the following Monday, because the Corps office would be closed for the weekend.

"Whoever reviews permits, and whatever departments and stakeholders and agencies need to give approval for this...should be working around the clock, just like the people are that are trying to get this oil picked up," Roberts said.

According to Roberts, after cooling their heels for the weekend, parish officials are still awaiting an answer. He says, however, he would be very surprised to get a response over the long federal holiday weekend to come.
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Attention

Hopes Ride on Giant Oil Skimmer in Gulf of Mexico

Tom Breen
The Associated Press
Sun, 04 Jul 2010 04:00 UTC
Image
© AP Photo/Dave MartinA boat carrying oil cleanup workers heads out from Dauphin Island, Ala., Saturday, July 3, 2010.
The latest hopes are riding on a massive new skimmer to clean oil from near the spewing well in the Gulf of Mexico, while a local Louisiana parish's plan to block the slick has been rejected by federal officials.

A 48-hour test of the Taiwanese vessel dubbed A Whale began Saturday and was to continue through Sunday.

TMT Shipping created what is billed as the world's largest oil skimmer by converting an oil tanker after the April 20 explosion sent millions of gallons of crude spilling into the Gulf.

The vessel was expected to cruise a 25-square-mile test site just north of the Macondo/Deepwater well site, company officials said.
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Binoculars

US: July Snow Falls on Mt. Washington

Jeff Fish
The Boston Globe
Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:08 UTC
Image
© Mount Washington ObservatoryThe observatory posted this picture of the snow on its website.
Ignoring the calendar, which showed the beginning of the month of July, a dusting of snow fell Thursday on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, startling tourists and forcing the closure of the road to the top.

"It's not extraordinary, but it's definitely interesting," said Stacey Kawecki, a meteorologist for the Mount Washington Observatory.

Mount Washington, the Northeast's highest peak at 6,288 feet, has recorded snow in every month. The last time it was recorded in July was 2007.

The snow fell from about 8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. and then from 10 a.m. to noon, Kawecki said.

It was "about 35 degrees and there was a thick and soupy fog. Visibility was about 100 feet and ice was starting to form on the windows. Then I saw big, fat, floppy flakes hitting the windows," Kawecki said.
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Attention

Gulf Oil Spill Likely to Reach Florida Keys, Miami, Report Says

Richard Simon and Molly Hennessy-Fiske
The Los Angeles Times
Sat, 03 Jul 2010 06:00 UTC
Image
© Carolyn Cole/The Los Angeles TimesControlled burns are conducted in the Gulf of Mexico on June 19. Wildlife groups took legal action on concerns that turtles were also being incinerated in the cleanup tactic.
Those shorelines will probably see tar balls in the months ahead, NOAA finds. Also, skimming boats prepare to go back to work, and efforts to help turtles and migrating birds are announced.

Hundreds of skimming boats prepared Friday to return to calmer gulf waters in the wake of Hurricane Alex and resume cleanup of the massive BP oil spill, which scientists now predict is likely to reach the Florida Keys and Miami in the months ahead.

Using computer simulations based on 15 years of wind and ocean current data, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report Friday showing a 61% to 80% chance of the oil spill reaching within 20 miles of the coasts of the Florida Keys, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, mostly likely in the form of weathered tar balls.

Shorelines with the greatest chance of being soiled by oil - 81% to 100% - stretch from the Mississippi River Delta to the western Florida Panhandle, NOAA scientists said in a statement on its projections for the next four months.
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Attention

US: Coast Guard Shark Advisory for Northeast


MyFox: New York
Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:15 UTC
Image
© hermanusbackpackersA great white shark
Great white sharks seen off Cape Cod

The U.S. Coast Guard is warning boaters in the Northeast to watch out for sharks this holiday weekend. Authorities have confirmed the presence of great white sharks off the coast of Massachusetts, but the Coast Guard has issued a shark advisory for the entire Northeast coast.

"Predation is not generally a concern for boaters and paddlers in Northeast waters," said Al Johnson, of the First Coast Guard District, based in Boston. "But I have no doubt that a great white shark that swims into your comfort zone would surely find a splashing paddle or dangling hand inviting. I also expect that same passing shark would spend little time differentiating between boater, paddler and prey."

In recent years, sharks seen off the New England coast have been between 6 and 15 feet long. These sharks can capsize a small boat or kayak, the Coast Guard said.
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