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Cloud Lightning

Work on oil leak stopped by developing storm; cap may have to be opened


Al.com
Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:12 UTC
oil leak cap
© AP Photo/BP PLC
This image taken from video provided by BP PLC at 15:13 CDT shows that oil has stopped flowing from the new 75-ton cap atop the site of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday, July 15, 2010. A developing storm has brought a stop to work on plugging the well fueling the Gulf oil spill.

New Orleans, Lousiana -- A storm brewing in the Caribbean brought the deep-sea effort to plug the ruptured oil well to a near standstill Wednesday just as BP was getting tantalizingly close to going in for the kill.

Work on the relief well -- now just days from completion -- was suspended, and the cap that has been keeping the oil bottled up since last week may have to be reopened, allowing crude to gush into the sea again for days, said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government's point man on the crisis.
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Heart - Black

Poachers Kill Last Female Rhino in South African Park for Prized Horn

Alex Duval Smith
The Observer
Sun, 18 Jul 2010 07:00 UTC
The last rhinoceros
© Reuters
The last rhinoceros cow in Krugersdorp park, South Africa, bled to death on Wednesday after poachers hacked off her horn.
Record levels of poaching are endangering survival of rhinoceros in South Africa

South African wildlife experts are calling for urgent action against poachers after the last female rhinoceros in a popular game reserve near Johannesburg bled to death after having its horn hacked off.

Wildlife officials say poaching for the prized horns has now reached an all-time high. "Last year, 129 rhinos were killed for their horns in South Africa. This year, we have already had 136 deaths," said Japie Mostert, chief game ranger at the 1,500-hectare Krugersdorp game reserve.

The gang used tranquilliser guns and a helicopter to bring down the nine-year-old rhino cow. Her distraught calf was moved to a nearby estate where it was introduced to two other orphaned white rhinos.
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Igloo

Baby boomer marmots fatten up with climate change

Wendy Zukerman
New Scientist
Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:41 UTC
Image
© Inklein/CC 3.0
Life sure is good
The good times have been rolling for Colorado's baby-boomer marmots. They've been getting fatter and their population has been swelling - but the news is not all good. The changes seem to be caused by the warming climate.

A team led by Daniel Blumstein of the University of California, Los Angeles, have been monitoring the yellow-bellied marmots of Colorado's Upper East river for over three decades. Blumstein recently realised the population had exploded. "It's boom time in this region," he says.

Looking at records with Arpat Ozgul of Imperial College London, he saw that marmot numbers had been fairly stable since the mid-1970s, but in 2001 they suddenly began growing by an average of 14.2 marmots per year. Between 1976 and 2001 the population had gained an average of 0.56 marmots per year.

When the team analysed the body mass figures of 1190 marmots collected between 1976 and 2008, they found another trend. Again, weights were relatively stable up until around 2000, and rose sharply after that. "They're getting fatter," says Blumstein.

Comment: Perhaps the marmots read this article by Laura Knight-Jadczyk: Fire and Ice - The Day After Tomorrow

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Cloud Lightning

Northeast Kentucky deluged by rain, flooding

Mark Morgenstein
CNN
Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:24 UTC
Kentucky flooding
© Unknown
Pike County residents clean up after the flooding.
Up to half a foot of torrential rain in northeastern Kentucky has led to swift-water rescues, propelled a truck into a tree and washed away homes and businesses -- and more severe weather is on the way.

"We're trying to get a hold on this. It's just awful," said Brandon Roberts, a spokesman for the Pike County judge executive, the top elected official in the county. "It's so bad. ... It's so bad. People might not even be aware it's raining. They're a hundred yards away from where they used to be."

Roberts said Wednesday that floodwater had washed "well over 200 homes," including a brick house, off their foundations. He added that the water picked up a Ford F-350 truck and carried it into a tree.

CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said there was an even a higher chance of thunderstorms and heavy rain in the region Wednesday than there was Tuesday. Some parts of Kentucky were under flood advisories, and over the next few days, some locations could get 2 more inches of rain, he said.

Roberts said that in a twisted way, more heavy rain could help cleanup efforts by clearing roads and driveways of accumulated mud and debris.
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Bizarro Earth

Indonesia: Earthquake Magnitude 6.1 - North of Halmahera


USGS
Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:58 UTC
Indonesia Earthquake_210710
© USGS
Earthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 09:16:04 UTC

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 06:16:04 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
3.037°N, 128.214°E

Depth:
102 km (63.4 miles) set by location program

Region:
NORTH OF HALMAHERA, INDONESIA

Distances:
265 km (165 miles) NNE of Ternate, Moluccas, Indonesia

410 km (255 miles) ENE of Manado, Sulawesi, Indonesia

1500 km (930 miles) SSE of MANILA, Philippines

2580 km (1600 miles) ENE of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia
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Bizarro Earth

Aquatic Dead Zones


Terra Daily / SPX
Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:03 UTC
Image
© Unknown
The size and number of marine dead zones-areas where the deep water is so low in dissolved oxygen that sea creatures can't survive-have grown explosively in the past half-century. Red circles on this map show the location and size of many of our planet's dead zones. Black dots show where dead zones have been observed, but their size is unknown.

It's no coincidence that dead zones occur downriver of places where human population density is high (darkest brown). Some of the fertilizer we apply to crops is washed into streams and rivers. Fertilizer-laden runoff triggers explosive planktonic algae growth in coastal areas.

The algae die and rain down into deep waters, where their remains are like fertilizer for microbes. The microbes decompose the organic matter, using up the oxygen. Mass killing of fish and other sea life often results.

Satellites can observe changes in the way the ocean surface reflects and absorbs sunlight when the water holds a lot of particles of organic matter. Darker blues in this image show higher concentrations of particulate organic matter, an indication of the overly fertile waters that can culminate in dead zones.
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Cloud Precipitation

More than 700 dead and 650,000 homes destroyed in Chinese floods


CNN
Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:24 UTC
Image
© Xinhua
Soldiers transfer people trapped by flood water on a rubber boat in Guang'an, Southwest China's Sichuan Province on July 19, 2010.
Torrential flooding across much of the nation has left 701 dead and hundreds missing, China's vice minister of water resources said.

At least 347 people are missing, Liu Ning told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday.

Ninety-percent of the casualties were caused by mountain floods, mudslides and landslides triggered by heavy downpours. About 645,500 houses had collapsed, he said.

More than 230 rivers were above warning levels; 25 of them saw their highest levels ever, he said.

More than 100 cities flooded, he said.

Liu cited torrential downpours between June 13 and June 27, and heavy rain on July 8 in southern China as particularly damaging.

"In southern China, the rainfall is 30 to 100 percent higher than the historical average," he said.
      Read More...
Meteor

Ice Crystals on the Rise: Stunning 'Sun Dog' Spotted from Bournemouth Beach, England


Daily Mail
Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:24 UTC
sun dog halo ice crystals
© BN&PS
Bournemouth photographer Chris Skone-Roberts captured this amazing 'sun dog' hovering over the seaside town yesterday.
It looks like a giant eye gazing down from the heavens.

But the spectacular sight of the sun surrounded by a mysterious halo is known as a 'sun dog'.

The phenomenon, which had beachgoers in Bournemouth gazing at the sky yesterday, occurs when sunlight is refracted by hexagonal-shaped ice crystals in high and cirrus clouds - and is quite common.


Comment: It is interesting to note that a competing version of this story actually classifies this as a "rare phenomenon"


This picture was taken from Bournemouth beach in Dorset by photographer Chris Skone-Roberts.

The phenonemen is officially called a pathelia but is also known as a 'halo' or 'mock sun'.
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Cow Skull

US: Kansas heat wave has killed 2,000 cattle

Bob Burgdorfer
Reuters
Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:38 UTC
cow
© Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
A cow looks out of its stall during an agricultural exhibition near the village of Liavonavichi, some 10 km (6 miles) north of the capital Minsk, June 10, 2010.

Chicago - The intense heat and humidity that blanketed central Kansas since late last week have killed more than 2,000 cattle and one state official called the heat-related losses the worst in his 17 years on the job.

However, conditions for the cattle improved somewhat on Tuesday as the humidity has decreased and the wind has picked up, state and feedlot sources said.

Kansas is the third largest cattle state with more than 2 million cattle in feedlots.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Papua New Guinea: Earthquake Magnitude 6.3 - New Britain Region


USGS
Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:47 UTC
Papua Earthquake_200710
© USGS
Earthquake Location
Date-Time:
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 19:18:23 UTC

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 05:18:23 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
5.917°S, 150.681°E

Depth:
35.9 km (22.3 miles)

Region:
NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Distances:
70 km (45 miles) SE of Kimbe, New Britain, PNG

130 km (80 miles) ENE of Kandrian, New Britain, PNG

550 km (340 miles) NE of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea

2400 km (1490 miles) N of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
      Read More...
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