Earth ChangesS


Compass

SOTT Focus: Pole Shift? Look to the Skies!

Earth Magnetosphere
© unknown
In my previous article, "And They March...", I touched on the possibility that the mass death of blackbirds over Beebe, Arkansas was caused by the shockwave from an airbursting bolide or comet fragment. While that explanation seemed to fit with the facts in that specific case, it is clearly apparent that these animal die-offs are now a global phenomenon; and airbursting comets are not the cause of death in all cases. Furthermore, the animals dying are of very diverse types. Everything from cows to octopuses, to crickets are dying in large swaths in disparate regions around the globe. While animal-specific diseases and viruses may be responsible in some cases, there is clearly some larger process at work here that nobody in the mainstream has really grasped.

Shortly after I wrote this article, Niall Bradley mentioned in his article, "Procession of the Damned...", the possibility of these mass animal deaths being caused by magnetic changes. Apparently he's not the only one with magnetic changes in mind. A quick glance at the Google trends for the phrase "pole shift" over the last 12 months (and beyond) shows a big ol' hockey stick, shooting straight through the roof right after the new year!

Pole Shift Trend 12 Months
© Sott.netLast 12 months for the phrase "pole shift" on Google Trends.
Pole Shift Trends 30 Days
© Sott.netThe last 30 days for the phrase "pole shift" on Google Trends.

So while the geomagnetic field hasn't significantly shifted yet, it appears something has shifted in the minds of the public about such a possibility. In fact, here on SOTT.net we recently carried a story, "Shift of Earth's Magnetic North Pole Impacts Tampa Airport" which, according to our webmaster, and to our general surprise, was the most popular article on the site that day. The Tampa airport article simply states that the Tampa airport authorities are having to repaint one of their runways because it is no longer aligned with true magnetic north. No big deal, right?

But come to think of it, if a tiny magnetic (likely localized) shift is enough to throw a spanner in the works of air travel, I can't even imagine the chaos that would ensue during a complete magnetic reversal. As we'll see below, hindered air travel will probably be the least of our worries.

Bizarro Earth

US: Earthquake Magnitude 3.5 - Sedona, AZ

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:

Sunday, January 23, 2011 at 12:16:47 UTC

Sunday, January 23, 2011 at 05:16:47 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
34.872°N, 112.058°W

Depth:
5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program

Region:
ARIZONA

Distances:
25 km (15 miles) W of Sedona, Arizona

50 km (30 miles) SW of Flagstaff, Arizona

55 km (35 miles) NE of Prescott, Arizona

160 km (100 miles) N of PHOENIX, Arizona

Fish

Ireland: Hundreds of fish die in County Antrim river

dead,fish antrim,river
© BBC

Hundreds of fish have been found dead in the Six Mile Water river in County Antrim.

Billy Robinson from Ballynure Angling Club walked a few miles alongside the river on Sunday afternoon.

He said he has seen dead fish from Duck bridge right up towards Ballyclare.

"There are quite a few dead trout, from small fish, up to fish weighing three quarters of a pound to a pound in weight, so it seems to be a total fish kill," he said.

"I'm looking over the bridge at the moment and there must be around 30 or 40 fish dead in the space of a few yards."

Bizarro Earth

New Zealand: Quake shook house 'like dog with a bone'

Image
© File photo / Mark Mitchell
Roofing contractor Tony Stuart awoke today wondering how much more damage his house could absorb in the "shake rattle and roll" of the latest earthquake aftershock to hit Christchurch.

The 5.1 scale aftershock hit at 6.03am today and was centred 10km south-west of Christchurch at a depth of 10km.

There were few immediate reports of damage but Mr Stuart, who lives in the Cashmere Hills, said "the whole house was shaking on its foundations.

"The whole house just shakes like a dog with a bone. The whole house just shakes, rattles and rolls."

He said this morning's aftershock lasted about 15 seconds.

"I've had enough of them, I am sick and tired of them."

He said he was noticing more damage in his house all the time.

"It is amazing... the violence and how bad a house can shake. It's the noise and everything shakes and rattles and you wonder what sort of force causes this."

Stop

Flashback UK: M45 shut for hours by freezing rain

The UK M45 motorway was shut for several hours by the Highways Agency for safety reasons after freezing rain fell.

Officials said the decision to shut the motorway, in Warwickshire and Northamptonshire, was taken after two minor collisions early on Sunday.

The M45 was shut at about 0500 GMT to allow salt spreading to take place and it reopened westbound at about 0950 GMT and eastbound at 1030 GMT.

The agency said the motorway had been treated overnight.

Life Preserver

New Zealand: Storm pounds North Island

New Zealand flood
© Benjamin EitelbergAuckland, Kohimarama Road
Walls of sandbags are being erected as dozens of Auckland house owners prepare for a second bout of flooding in 24 hours.

The Auckland Civil Defence emergency coordination centre has been activated and controller Clive Manley says the region will continue to be affected by gales.

Residents of Herald Island are bracing for another surge of water at high tide.

About 30 Herald Island properties were evacuated and properties in Maratai, Leigh, Clevedon, Beachlands and Sandspit were flooded by intense rain which hit the city last night.

Manley says those areas are likely to be flooded again during high tide at midnight.

He has sent workers to shore up the Herald Is properties with sandbags.

"Those properties will remain evacuated overnight. People will keep away from those areas."

The weather has cut power in Remuera and in Mt Wellington, while in west Auckland, residents at Piha, Titirangi and Henderson have been without electricity.

Vector says it has been working on fixing the fault, but some areas may be without power because of damage to service lines.

Igloo

Video: U.S. shivers from season's coldest weather

Bitter cold grips most of U.S. Currently the North Eastern United States and as many as 32 Eastern States are seeing heavy winter snow. Temperatures in many states are seeing double digit negative temperatures.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Roses

Vietnam: Cold Ruins Peach Blossom Harvest

Vietnamese farmer w/ peach trees
© VNA/VNS/Thanh HaFarmers in Nhat Tan gardens in Ha Noi's Tay Ho District get peach trees ready for market. Local growers worry that the cold will prevent trees from producing blossoms in time for Tet.
Ha Noi - Horticulturalist Tran Tien Dung feels sad as he looks around his garden of 500 peach-blossom trees. More than half show no sign of being able to open their gorgeous red or pink flowers for Tet.

It is a poignant reminder for Dung, and all Hanoians, of the remarkable cold spell that is hovering over the north. The image of Tet with its banh chung xanh (green bean cake) and hoa dao do (red peach blossoms) has been engraved in their minds.

Peach flowers are believed to bring wealth and luck - and to chase away evil spirits. But this is not the case for Nhat Tan peach-flower village, the best known in the north, which has 30ha of peach trees in all sizes.

This year, there are many growers like Dung who are facing failure brought on by the bitter weather which hit the north in early January.

"In 20 years, this is the first time the weather has turned this cold. Most of the trees will be lucky to survive, let alone produce flowers," said Dung.

Bizarro Earth

US: Shallow 4.3 and 3.8 Magnitude Earthquakes hit Hawthorne NV within minutes of each other

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Saturday, January 22, 2011 at 17:29:25 UTC

Saturday, January 22, 2011 at 09:29:25 AM at epicenter

Location:
38.527°N, 118.407°W

Depth:
5.8 km (3.6 miles)

Region:
NEVADA

Distances:
19 km (12 miles) E (89°) from Hawthorne, NV

20 km (12 miles) W (277°) from Luning, NV

24 km (15 miles) SSW (203°) from Midway, NV

266 km (166 miles) E (90°) from Sacramento, CA

Comment: These are relatively shallow earthquakes. Perhaps they have to do with the Army Depot in Hawthorne that drills frequently in the area for geothermal energy. See page 2 of this link for the map of the rather impressive US Military Geothermal Resource locations across the US.


Radar

Best of the Web: Alarming NOAA Data Supports Observations of North Pole's Rapid Shift

Image
© Modern Survival Blog
The NOAA National Geophysical Data Center maintains a data set of annual magnetic north pole coordinates going back to the year 1590, derived from early measurements from ships logs to modern day techniques.

Noting that there has been lots of reporting of pole shift lately, to the point where the phenomenon is actually causing real-world issues such as temporary airport closures, a deeper investigation was in order.

After transferring 420 years of north pole position data from the NOAA Geo Data Center, configuring it to fit in an Excel spreadsheet, adding a complicated formula to determine exact distance between 2 sets of latitude-longitude coordinates, applying the formula to each data point in the series, and then finally plotting it all in a visual graph, it is alarming to discover the amount of pole shift just over the past 10 to 20 years.