Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Drought catastrophe stalks Australia's food bowl

Rob Taylor
Reuters
Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:49 UTC
But years of drought, which some blame on global warming, have savagely depleted the huge dams built 60 years ago to hold the snow melt from the Australian alps and push it hundreds of kilometers inland to the parched west for farm irrigation.

The Murray-Darling normally provides 90 percent of Australia's irrigated crops and A$22 billion ($18.1 billion) worth of agricultural exports to Asia and the Middle East.

©Unknown
Murray-Darling Basin.

But with some crops now just 10 days from failure, farmers are to receive no water at all for irrigation through the summer, while others will get a fraction of their regular entitlement to keep alive vital plantings like citrus trees and grapevines.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

NASA Study Says Global Warming Will Bring More Violent Storms To U.S.

Nidhi Sharma
AHN
Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:52 UTC
U.S. space agency NASA has predicted more violent storms and tornadoes for the United States as the global warming continues to make the earth's climate warm.

The latest forecast was predicted by a new climate model developed at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies by researchers Tony Del Genio, Mao-Sung Yao and Jeff Jonas.

"The strongest thunderstorms, the strongest severe storms and tornadoes are likely to happen more often and be stronger," Associated Press quotes Del Genio as saying.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Coastal reef being destroyed by algae off Costa Rica

John McPhaul
Independent Online
Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:14 UTC
A tropical algae thriving on fertilisers from hotel golf courses and badly treated sewage is killing one of Costa Rica's most important coastal reefs, scientists say.

The green, feather-like algae is spreading along the reefs of Culebra Bay in Costa Rica's north-western Gulf of Papagayo, a popular scuba diving spot and home to a rare species of coral. The algae blocks the sunlight and suffocates the reefs.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Parts of Costa Rica experience record rains

Amanda Roberson
Tico Times
Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:11 UTC
Intense rain that destroyed roofs, walls and a dike in the Central Valley and Southern Zone Monday also broke national records, according to National Meteorological Institute (IMN) meteorologist Max Mena.

In the northern suburb of Tibás, about 80 millimeters of rain fell in one hour, at least 10 centimeters more than the national record, he said. The rest of the San José area as well as the Southern Zone also experienced rain so intense it turned some roads into muddy rivers, damaging homes and infrastructure.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Earthquake shakes Adirondack region; no injuries, damage reported


AP
Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:03 UTC
A minor earthquake shook the Adirondack Mountains on Wednesday night.

The 3.2 magnitude temblor, one of several to hit the Northeast recently, happened just before midnight. Its epicenter was about eight miles northeast of Tupper Lake in the central Adirondacks, according to the U. S. Geological Survey Web site.

©USGS
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Volcano Erupts On Ecuador's Galapagos Islands

Preciosa Dumlao
AHN
Thu, 30 Aug 2007 20:58 UTC
Ecuador's Geophysics Institute reported a volcano has erupted on the deserted Fernandina Island, Ecuador's Galapagos Island Wednesday.

According to the National Galapagos Park authorities, the eruption started at 4:50 p.m. local time, Tuesday, followed by a 5.2 magnitude volcanic earthquake. The earthquake struck in the Beagle sector of Isabella island on the western flank of the volcano Darwin. No injuries has been recorded.

©Unknown
Read More...
Info

Giant web creates bug buzz in Texas

Bill Hanna
star-telegram.com
Wed, 29 Aug 2007 20:40 UTC
If you hate creepy-crawlies, you might want to avoid Lake Tawakoni State Park where a 200-yard stretch along a nature trail has been blanketed by a sprawling spider web that has engulfed seven large trees, dozens of bushes and even the weedy ground.

But if you hate mosquitoes, you might just love this bizarre web.

©STAR-TELEGRAM / Tom Pennington
Lake Tawakoni State Park rangers Mike McCord, left, and Freddie Gowin monitor the growth of a giant communal spider web at the park Tuesday. The web, rare for Texas, has formed over the past several weeks.
Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Update! Phoenix to Set Heat Record: 29 Days of 110+

Robert Roy Britt
LiveScience.com
Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:49 UTC
The forecasted high here today is 111 degrees. If the mercury hits that mark, the city will set a record for the most days in a year above 110 degrees, at 29.

The record was tied yesterday when the high hit 111.
Read More...
Bell

Mobile phones used to call owls

Roger Highfield
The Telegraph
Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:23 UTC
A professor has taken to ringing owls on his mobile phone. What is most remarkable is that they return his calls in a project that could revolutionise surveys of wild bird populations.

©Telegraph
Great horned owl: The study is sticking with owls because calls at night are cheaper
Read More...
Question

How Snakes Survive Starvation


University of Arkansas
Wed, 29 Aug 2007 07:12 UTC
Starving snakes employ novel survival strategies not seen before in vertebrates, according to research conducted by a University of Arkansas biologist. These findings could be used in conservation strategies to determine the health of snake populations.

"These animals take energy reduction to a whole new level," said Marshall McCue, a graduate student in biological sciences in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. He reported his findings in the journal Zoology.
Read More...