Earth Changes
A sinkhole that officials filled over the weekend in The Villages has reopened.
A skim boat filled with dead fish from Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
Alex DeMetrick reports what triggered the sudden die-off is still guesswork.
The city moved fast to remove the die-off, with skim boats collecting hauls more commonly seen on commercial fishing boats and as menhaden and shad died from the Inner Harbor out to the Key Bridge.
"And some of them were struggling at the surface, looking like they were trying to catch their breath. It was sad to see; it was just so widespread," said John Tapscott, Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
© EPA
In the port town of Senigallia, streets were submerged and cars were seen floating in filthy water.
In the port town of Senigallia, streets were submerged and cars were seen floating in filthy water.
The port town of Senigallia, on the Adriatic coast, was the worst hit when the River Cesano burst its banks.
Streets were submerged and cars were seen floating in the filthy water.
The man who has been confirmed dead is believed to have been suffering from a heart condition, but the ambulance was unable to reach him due to the flooded roads.
More rain is expected in the region over the next few days, but the heaviest rain is expected to move southwards, across the southern parts of Le Marche and the Abruzzo province.
While the United States Geological Survey (USGS) is sparing no effort to fill a rapidly widening sinkhole in Florida since Apr. 23, India's Geological Survey has closed its field station in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands where sinkholes have sprung up all over as an aftermath of the 2004 Asian tsunami.
The administration in this popular tourist destination in the Bay of Bengal may be prepared for another tsunami. But it seems clueless about these holes in the ground that can sometimes cave in or lead to other geological events like hot springs, water spouts, natural gas emissions or even cracks in the subterranean magma chambers.
Islanders told IPS that sinkholes have appeared all over Nicobar. Whether that is also the case with the Andamans remains a matter of speculation as there is no official documentation of it, nor did the administration facilitate this writer's photo assignment to visit the geologically volatile islands.
IPS discovered and photographed sinkholes in three Nicobar Islands - Car Nicobar, Kamorta and Campbell Bay.
© Malini Shankar/IPS
A sinkhole is widening in Car Nicobar, but the authorities are clueless about its potential dangers.
A sinkhole is widening in Car Nicobar, but the authorities are clueless about its potential dangers.
Islanders told IPS that sinkholes have appeared all over Nicobar. Whether that is also the case with the Andamans remains a matter of speculation as there is no official documentation of it, nor did the administration facilitate this writer's photo assignment to visit the geologically volatile islands.
IPS discovered and photographed sinkholes in three Nicobar Islands - Car Nicobar, Kamorta and Campbell Bay.
Signs of the Times in April 2014
The fourth installment in our new monthly series, the following video compiles footage of 'signs of the times' from around the world during April 2014 - 'earth changes', extreme weather and planetary upheaval.
Highlights this month include: wildfires breaking out in places where it subsequently snowed, the largest tornado outbreak of the season in the U.S., the mother of all sinkholes (or was it a landslide?) opening up in downtown Baltimore... and a new one for the record books: the highest number of strong earthquakes recorded globally for one month.
Hold on to your seats!...
Watch on Sott.net's Vimeo Channel for those who can't view Youtube videos:
Knowledge protects, ignorance endangers
© Bruce Mactavish
Ross's Gull at Torbay, Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland
Ross's Gull at Torbay, Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland
He says birders looking for rarities are watching the weather. He says these winds are the most interesting because that's how European birds wind up here.
Montevecchi says for birds blown off course, Newfoundland is a welcome rest for them before they get back on their way.
He says a lot of the birds probably don't make it, and perish in the ocean. But for the ones who do, they get a chance to refuel. He says they most likely do get back on track after they rest.
© National Weather Service
Strong winds on Lake Superior pushed a mass of ice against homes and outhouses in the Keweenaw Peninsula along Big Traverse Bay on Monday, April 28.
Strong winds on Lake Superior pushed a mass of ice against homes and outhouses in the Keweenaw Peninsula along Big Traverse Bay on Monday, April 28.
Dave Petrovich, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Negaunee Township, said outbuildings and other structures along Big Traverse Bay were damaged Monday, April 28, when easterly winds stronger than 27 mph pushed the ice mass to shore.
"It was moving this mass of ice westward, not very fast mind you, but inexorably when it got to the eastern shores," Petrovich said. "The ice itself was not like the thick ice skating rink ice that you would imagine on a lake."
Petrovich said the slow and steady ice formation called ice shelving isn't unheard of - there have been other recent formations in Gladstone that moved into a city park, he said - but it is rare for Lake Superior, which was still about over 60 percent covered when the ice mass formed.
"They happen quite regularly when the conditions are like this," Petrovich said. "In recent history we've not had as much ice."
© NASA photo
A photo of Lake Superior taken on April 20 with NASA’s Aqua satellite shows an ice-coverage level of about 67 percent.
A photo of Lake Superior taken on April 20 with NASA’s Aqua satellite shows an ice-coverage level of about 67 percent.
Seven lakers bore through gloppy ice and passed under the Aerial Lift Bridge during the noon hour. It was a sign of how slow-going things have been on the lake because of lingering ice and, earlier this week, gale warnings. Strong wind blew in ice from the eastern part of the lake, and areas off shorelines 15 miles north and south of Duluth were cluttered with a soup of ice, tree trunks and other detritus.
"It's fun," said a hustling Beth Duncan at the Lake Superior Maritime Visitors Center, near the lift bridge in Canal Park. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers park ranger was on the loudspeakers inside and out, calling out facts about each ship for the few dozen boat watchers braving a pelting rain and the handful inside the museum. The Canadian ship Thunder Bay had just passed through - the third ship in 15 minutes - and she was gathering information on four more ships lined up in the distance, painted with mist and fog.
She said it was unique that seven ships in succession slipped into Duluth. It was more like a Tall Ships festival than everyday shipping business.
"As a result of an unexpected snowfall, which hit the mountainous regions of Adjara on April 22 affected 200 hectares of vineyards, 650 hectares of walnut (of which 120 grow large varieties), as well as 600 hectares and 650 hectares of persimmon stone fruits (tkemali,)" said Bolkvadze.
According to Bolkvadze, 70 percent of those vineyards under the snow will not yield this year, walnuts will give only 20 % of the expected yield, and the persimmon do not even ripen - the trees are just green leaves.
Adjara is an autonomous republic in the southwestern corner of Georgia, bordered by Turkey to the south and the eastern end of the Black Sea.Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for this link.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The hectare is defined as 10,000 square metres (100 m by 100 m). An acre is about 0.4047 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.
© Carl Moore/courtesy of NOAA
Goblin shark
Goblin shark
Shrimp fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico have caught a goblin shark - a species so rare that one has not been seen for 10 years.
The 18ft-long pink predator was caught in a shrimp net off Key West, Florida.
The crew were shocked to find the prehistoric-looking shark thrashing around with the rest of the haul.
It has a long snout hiding racks of sharp teeth and is often called a "living fossil".
Thought to swim in the deep water of Japan and the Gulf, it is only the second known sighting in the area.
