Earth Changes
A wildfire sparked in the Coconino National Forest Friday afternoon is expected to grow to 150 acres, officials said.
The Fisher Fire is burning timber on slopes near Fisher Point in Walnut Canyon, approximately six miles southeast of Flagstaff, said Heather Noel, acting public affairs officer for the U.S. Forest Service
PHOTOS: Wildfire burns in Fisher Canyon in Coconino National Forest.
The fire was reported around 3 p.m. on Friday.As of 9 p.m., the fire remained at zero percent contained.
The Coconino National Forest tweeted that 60 fire personnel were battling the 85-acre fire and would be working into the night.
The increased risks from some of these cataclysmic forces are seen in the latest round of large tremors striking the globe which are occurring at depths greater than what is normally observed with most recent large earthquakes. Chile's 8.2 earthquake occurred at a depth of 20 km, and the 7.7 magnitude earthquake which followed erupted much deeper at a depth of 31 km. The 7.1 magnitude earthquake which struck Papua New Guinea on April 11 occurred at a depth of 50 km and the 6.6 which struck Nicaragua on the same day was recorded at a depth of 138 km.
© USGS
2014-04-11 20:29:15 UTC
2014-04-11 14:29:15 UTC-06:00 at epicenter
Location
11.710°N 85.963°W depth=138.6km (86.1mi)
Nearby Cities
11km (7mi) ESE of Nandaime, Nicaragua
20km (12mi) SSE of Diriomo, Nicaragua
24km (15mi) S of Granada, Nicaragua
30km (19mi) ESE of Jinotepe, Nicaragua
56km (35mi) SSE of Managua, Nicaragua
Technical Details
According to the Eagle Pass Daily News, Enrique Galindo, 41, was discovered unconscious outside a home. Galindo was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Law enforcement authorities believe Galindo may have been stung hundreds of times.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Africanized honey bees, known colloquially as "killer bees," can be highly defensive around their nests and swarm more frequently than other honey bees.
Sonny Krout of Abolish Pest & Wildlife Control in San Antonio said the spring and summer is when bees will attack people.
"A lot of times, people are out mowing their lawn, they didn't know there was a colony or even on a neighbor's property," Krout said. "They just come swarming at them and all of the sudden, they attacked out of nowhere. It happens quite a bit."
© AP Photo/Jackson Hole News & Guide, Angus M. Thuermer Jr.
Kristin Livingstone, right, watches her evacuated hillside neighborhood after spending a night away from her home because of danger from a potential landslide in Jackson, Wyo., on Thursday. Brendon Newton, left, gets in touch with others at an assembly point in a parking lot across the street from the threatened slope. Dozens of Jackson residents who were evacuated after land began shifting on the hillside.
Kristin Livingstone, right, watches her evacuated hillside neighborhood after spending a night away from her home because of danger from a potential landslide in Jackson, Wyo., on Thursday. Brendon Newton, left, gets in touch with others at an assembly point in a parking lot across the street from the threatened slope. Dozens of Jackson residents who were evacuated after land began shifting on the hillside.
They also had an eye on the weather, hoping no rain or snow triggers a sudden, massive release of dirt and rock. Forecasters predicted a 20 to 30 percent chance of rain and snow this weekend.
People remained evacuated, since Wednesday, from 46 houses and apartment units. Authorities were escorting people back to their homes, temporarily, to fetch belongings.
"We're just wanting to make sure we have everyone out in case there's some kind of catastrophic release of the hillside," Assistant Town Manager Roxanne Robinson said Thursday. "Even if it continues to be slow, it's going to be disruptive for access."
© University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, New Bolton Center
Dead bottlenose dolphins at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, New Bolton Center
Dead bottlenose dolphins at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, New Bolton Center
"It's still ongoing," said Blair Mase, NOAA Southeast region marine mammal stranding coordinator, who is based in Miami.
The migratory stock of dolphins is starting to move north and "we still have dolphins stranding at above-average rates" in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia, she said.
In the Florida area, the strandings are "slowing down a little bit, which is good," she said.
According to NOAA Fisheries, the toll of dead bottlenose dolphins from New York to Florida has risen to 1,204 from July 1 to April 6.
That's preliminary data. And the death toll is 62 percent higher than during the last major die-off in 1987-88 and 6.7 times higher than the 2007 to 2012 norm for July 1 to April 6, according to calculations.
© Thinkstock
A NASA mission called Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere, or AIM, was launched in 2007 to observe noctilucent clouds, but it currently only has a view of the clouds near the poles. Now scientists have gathered information from several other missions, past and present, and combined it with computer simulations to systematically show that the presence of these bright shining clouds have indeed increased in areas between 40 and 50 degrees north latitude, a region which covers the northern third of the United Sates and the lowest parts of Canada. The research was published online in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres on March 18, 2014.
"Noctilucent clouds occur at altitudes of 50 miles above the surface - so high that they can reflect light from the sun back down to Earth," said James Russell, an atmospheric and planetary scientist at Hampton University in Hampton, Va., and first author on the paper. "AIM and other research has shown that in order for the clouds to form, three things are needed: very cold temperatures, water vapor and meteoric dust. The meteoric dust provides sites that the water vapor can cling to until the cold temperatures cause water ice to form."
© USGS
2014-04-11 08:16:48 UTC
2014-04-11 18:16:48 UTC+10:00 at epicenter
Location
6.855°S 155.017°E depth=39.4km (24.5mi)
Nearby Cities
78km (48mi) SW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea
91km (57mi) SW of Arawa, Papua New Guinea
411km (255mi) SE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea
558km (347mi) ESE of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea
613km (381mi) WNW of Honiara, Solomon Islands
Technical details
© USGS
2014-04-11 07:07:21 UTC
2014-04-11 18:07:21 UTC+11:00 at epicenter
Location
6.625°S 155.064°E depth=50.0km (31.1mi)
Nearby Cities
57km (35mi) SW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea
69km (43mi) SW of Arawa, Papua New Guinea
399km (248mi) SE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea
557km (346mi) ESE of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea
621km (386mi) WNW of Honiara, Solomon Islands
Scientific data
© CSIRO
CSIRO field studies included the use of floating chambers to capture and measure the gas emitted from the Condamine River.
CSIRO field studies included the use of floating chambers to capture and measure the gas emitted from the Condamine River.
After two years and a "considerable sum'' invested, coal seam gas company Origin has released a scientific report that has four theories but still cannot quite pin down the mystery.
CSG could not be scientifically ruled out by the study but is just one of the myriad factors raised that could be contributing.
The bubbling occurs along a 5km stretch of the river, near Chinchilla, where coal seam gas is plentiful, but the source has always been a mystery and an issue of local debate ranging from rotting vegetation to CSG fracking.
Local folklore tells of at least one of the seeps that may have been occurring for decades while others were spotted by farmers soon after heavy flooding subsided in February 2012.
