Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Lightning and flooding shatter another Irish summer

Shane Hickey & Brendan Farrelly
Irish Independent
Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:17 UTC
Image
© Collins Photo AgencyStaff sweep up glass after a window fell off the H&M store near St Stephen's Green in Dublin.
A pane of glass from a department store window crashed to the ground during a burst of freak weather in Dublin city centre yesterday.

Severe downpours of rain along with thunder and lightning hit areas around the country yesterday evening in an unexpected spate of severe conditions.

In one incident, Dublin Fire Brigade shut off part of a busy pedestrian thoroughfare in the capital after a pane of glass crashed to the ground from a department store.

Part of the area immediately around the H&M store beside St Stephen's Green shopping centre was closed off as staff members cleaned up the shattered glass, which is believed to have come from the third floor of the building. However, nobody was injured.

Comment: Funnel Cloud captured on Forth Mountain, just outside Wexford Town on the 22nd of July 2010 at 14:51 GMT



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Better Earth

Shock as Ice Block Smashes Through English Roof


UK Independent
Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:15 UTC
Image
© Solent News Vince Foote stands next to the damaged ceiling
A couple had a shock after a huge block of ice crashed through their roof as they slept.

Flat-owner Vince Foote and his wife were asleep when the ice, believed to have fallen from an aircraft, smashed a 2ft hole just before 2am.

Tiles and debris were scattered 30ft due to the impact at Summerdale Court in Chichester, West Sussex, officials at West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said.

Mr Foote said: "I thought at first it was thunder and I got up to investigate. I tried to open the spare bedroom door and it wouldn't move.

"When I forced it open, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There was an enormous hole in both the roof and bedroom ceiling and there were great chunks of ice everywhere.
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Bizarro Earth

Jordan River too polluted for baptisms


Terra Daily / Agence France-Presse
Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:11 UTC
Image
© Unknown
An environmental group on Wednesday called for a halt to baptisms in the Jordan River where tradition holds that Jesus was baptised, saying the waters there were dangerously polluted.

"Friends of the Earth Middle East call on regional authorities to halt baptism in the lower Jordan River until water quality standards for tourism activities there are met," said a statement from the group.

The group issued the call following media reports that Israel's health ministry had urged the tourism ministry to stop people bathing in the river, saying it posed a health risk.

In recent years the flow of the river has slowed to a dirty trickle as fresh water running into the river has been replaced with sewage.

"Sadly, the lower Jordan River has long suffered from severe mismanagement with the diversion of 98 percent of its fresh water by Israel, Syria and Jordan and the discharge of untreated sewage, agricultural run-off, saline water and fish pond effluent in its place," the statement said.
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Bizarro Earth

China floods deadliest in 10 years, conditions set to worsen


Terra Daily / Agence-France Presse
Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:52 UTC
Image
© UnknownFlooding has plagued 75% of the country
Flooding in China that has killed more than 700 people this year is the deadliest in a decade and looks set to worsen as the country gets deeper into typhoon season, the government warned Wednesday.

But officials, in the first high-level press briefing on weeks of deadly flooding plaguing much of the country's southern half, said a disaster on the scale of historic 1998 flooding on the Yangtze River would likely be averted.

A total of 701 people have died so far this year in flooding that has also left 347 people missing, Liu Ning, head of the country's flood control authority and vice minister of water resources, told reporters.

He said the annual rainy season would continue at least through August, and that more downpours were expected, further straining reservoirs and other water control projects, especially as the East Asian typhoon season has just begun.
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Better Earth

Expedition To Mid-Cayman Rise Identifies Unusual Variety Of Deep Sea Vents


Terra Daily / SPX
Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:57 UTC
Image
© Yale UniversityDeep sea hydrothermal vents.
The first expedition to search for deep-sea hydrothermal vents along the Mid-Cayman Rise has turned up three distinct types of hydrothermal venting, reports an interdisciplinary team led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The work was conducted as part of a NASA-funded effort to search extreme environments for geologic, biologic, and chemical clues to the origins and evolution of life. Hydrothermal activity occurs on spreading centers all around the world.

However, the diversity of the newly discovered vent types, their geologic settings and their relative geographic isolation make the Mid-Cayman Rise a unique environment in the world's ocean.

"This was probably the highest risk expedition I have ever undertaken," said chief scientist Chris German, a WHOI geochemist who has pioneered the use of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to search for hydrothermal vent sites.
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Igloo

"Cold snap" claims dozen of lives in parts of Latin America - Snow Covered Beaches


Agence France-Presse
Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:51 UTC
Image
© AFPThe snow covers a beach in Mar del Plata, Argentina, 400km south Buenos Aires on July 15, 2010. An unusual cold spell lashes the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) with temperatures next to 0°C.
A cold snap across a swathe of Latin America has left dozens dead across several countries, as the region shivers through its winter season.

In Argentina, 33 people died as polar air sent temperatures down to around minus 14 Celsius (seven degrees Fahrenheit) in the center of the country.

Many of the victims of the chilly weather in Argentina were homeless people who died on the streets of the capital city Buenos Aires.

In Paraguay, the Health Ministry reported nine people died of hypothermia and another three were killed after inhaling toxic fumes from coal-burning ovens.

The Rural Association of Paraguay estimated that 1,000 cattle died in the freezing temperatures, particularly in the north of the country, while the country's meteorological authorities warned cold weather and rain were expected to continue for the rest of the week.
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Bizarro Earth

Heatwave fuels massive algae bloom in Baltic Sea


The Local
Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:50 UTC
Image
© Unknown
A blue-green algae bloom the size of Germany has formed in the Baltic Sea, threatening marine life and even posing a danger to humans, authorities warned this week.

The prolonged heat and lack of wind or storms has given the cyanobacteria the chance to form the largest carpet since 2005, covering about 377,000 square kilometres of the sea's surface - roughly Germany's entire land area.

The Office for Environment, Nature and Geology in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania dispatched an observation ship on Thursday to take water measurements. The results were expected to be released Friday.

But early indications were that the algae consisted of the types Anabaena and Nodularia.

"The types are potentially toxic and can cause skin inflammtion," said Karin Stein, head of the environmental analysis departments.
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Umbrella

Pakistan: Torrential rains unleash death, destruction across country


Dunya News
Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:18 UTC
pakistan, flood
Heavy rains are continued across the country unleashing death and disturbing the normal routine, Dunya News reported on Thursday.

The number of those died in the rain-related incidents in various parts of the country has been risen to 39 with fear of more causalities. Heavy rains lashed Lahore for the third consecutive day paralyzing life and deluging the low-lying areas, which resulted into long snarl-ups. Met office recorded 61mm rain in the metropolis today.

A 24-year-old cyclist electrocuted to death in Lahore, while 5 hurt as roof caved in in Ravi Road. Five people including two women and as many children injured as a wall collapsed due to incessant rain in Jalal Pur Bhattian. Two labourers died in Okara due to electric shocks; a couple died in Gujranwala as the roof of their house caved in. Three people trapped under debris of a roof in Gujrat; 8 hurt in Faisalabad wall collapse. Four people have been killed while 15 others injured in rain-related incidents in Dera Ismail Khan (DIK) and Tank.
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Umbrella

Kenya: Mombasa hit by freak rainstorm

Wolfgang H. Thome
eTurboNews.com
Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:50 UTC
Image
© ETN/Image via blogspot.com
A downpour of biblical proportions hit Mombasa, Kenya's coastal city, last weekend, flooding sections of the city - a phenomenon, considering that the city actually is built on an island connected to the mainland by the Makupa causeway and is supposed to drain the water straight into the Indian Ocean.

Some parts of the city were knee-deep under water, gradually even displacing parked cars. The ensuing floods caused havoc for businesses at level ground, with hawkers and street vendors scrambling to rescue their wares from being swept away.
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Bizarro Earth

Vanuatu: Earthquake Magnitude 6.2


USGS
Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:28 UTC
Vanuatu_220710
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 05:04:01 UTC

Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 04:04:01 PM at epicenter

Location:
15.153°S, 168.185°E

Depth:
35.2 km (21.9 miles)

Region:
VANUATU

Distances:
121 km (75 miles) ENE (70°) from Santo (Luganville), Vanuatu

289 km (180 miles) N (358°) from PORT-VILA, Vanuatu

2084 km (1295 miles) NE (52°) from Brisbane, Australia
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