Earth Changes
BEIJING - Flood waters are testing the safety of China's massive Three Gorges Dam and raising water levels on its longest river, the Yangtze, after weeks of flooding that have killed about 700 people, state media said on Tuesday.
Lightning can strike twice. Just ask Don Frick.
Frick says he survived his second lightning strike Friday - 27 years to the day of his first - and emerged a bit shaken, with only a burned zipper and a hole in the back of his jeans.
Frick says he survived his second lightning strike Friday - 27 years to the day of his first - and emerged a bit shaken, with only a burned zipper and a hole in the back of his jeans.
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It is summer in this reindeer-herding village in northern Russia and with not an iceberg in sight, residents are acquiring a taste for bathing in the local river.
"We used to have ice on the river all year round. The warming process is speeding up," said the worried head of the state-controlled reindeer company at Kanchalan, Arkady Makhushkin.
"The reindeers' health is suffering. Their meat isn't so tasty," he said, explaining that the animals had to be herded greater distances to find cooler grazing grounds in upland areas.
Showers, occasionally heavy, thunderstorms and blasts of wind reaching 45 mph, are forecast in the Republics of Altai, Buryatia, the Chita, the Irkutsk, the Kemerovo, the Tomsk Regions and the Altai Territory.
Heavy showers are also expected in the central and southern districts of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Hail and thunderstorms are possible, along with blasts of wind reaching 35-45 mph.
According to Siberian Regional Center of Ministry for Emergencies, the heaviest storm is forecast in the Republics of Tuva and Khakassia, where heavy showers, thunderstorms, hail, and blasts of wind reaching 60 mph, are expected.
Heavy showers are also expected in the central and southern districts of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Hail and thunderstorms are possible, along with blasts of wind reaching 35-45 mph.
According to Siberian Regional Center of Ministry for Emergencies, the heaviest storm is forecast in the Republics of Tuva and Khakassia, where heavy showers, thunderstorms, hail, and blasts of wind reaching 60 mph, are expected.
Climate change linked to the contraction of wetlands at the source of China's two longest rivers, the Yangtze and the Yellow River, has reduced the volume of water flowing in the rivers, said Chinese scientists. Scientists from the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) studied changes over the past 40 years to the wetlands on the cold Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in west China where the two rivers have their source.
Analyzing aerial photos and satellite remote sensing figures, they found that the wetlands on the plateau have shrunk more than 10 percent over the past four decades. The wetlands at the origin of the Yangtze River suffered the most, contracting by 29 percent.
Analyzing aerial photos and satellite remote sensing figures, they found that the wetlands on the plateau have shrunk more than 10 percent over the past four decades. The wetlands at the origin of the Yangtze River suffered the most, contracting by 29 percent.
About twice as many Atlantic hurricanes form each year on average than a century ago, according to a new statistical analysis of hurricanes and tropical storms in the north Atlantic. The study concludes that warmer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and altered wind patterns associated with global climate change are fueling much of the increase.
The study, by Greg Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Peter Webster of Georgia Institute of Technology, will be published online July 30 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.
"These numbers are a strong indication that climate change is a major factor in the increasing number of Atlantic hurricanes," says Holland.
The analysis identifies three periods since 1900, separated by sharp transitions, during which the average number of hurricanes and tropical storms increased dramatically and then remained elevated and relatively steady. The first period, between 1900 and 1930, saw an average of six Atlantic tropical cyclones (or major storms), of which four were hurricanes and two were tropical storms. From 1930 to 1940, the annual average increased to 10, consisting of five hurricanes and five tropical storms. In the final study period, from 1995 to 2005, the average reached 15, of which eight were hurricanes and seven were tropical storms.
The study, by Greg Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Peter Webster of Georgia Institute of Technology, will be published online July 30 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.
"These numbers are a strong indication that climate change is a major factor in the increasing number of Atlantic hurricanes," says Holland.
The analysis identifies three periods since 1900, separated by sharp transitions, during which the average number of hurricanes and tropical storms increased dramatically and then remained elevated and relatively steady. The first period, between 1900 and 1930, saw an average of six Atlantic tropical cyclones (or major storms), of which four were hurricanes and two were tropical storms. From 1930 to 1940, the annual average increased to 10, consisting of five hurricanes and five tropical storms. In the final study period, from 1995 to 2005, the average reached 15, of which eight were hurricanes and seven were tropical storms.
The Fire Service said last night that it had managed to control a wildfire that broke out in the northern Athens suburb of Stamata yesterday before it reached homes and business premises.
Deaths from floods, lightning and landslides across China this summer have reached nearly 700, state media said on Monday, with experts warning that global warming is likely to fuel more violent weather.
Over the weekend alone, fierce storms and hail killed 17 people across four provinces.
Over the weekend alone, fierce storms and hail killed 17 people across four provinces.
The disappearance of large numbers of U.S. honeybees is so odd that it's attracted Ian Lipkin. Since last fall, beekeepers in at least 35 states have reported colonies that shrank rapidly for no apparent reason. Adult bees just go missing, leaving behind young bees in need of tending. This colony-collapse disorder (CCD), as it's now called, has got bee researchers coast to coast stirred up and looking for causes and remedies.
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| Honeybees pollinating crops (here, canola) add an estimated 5 billion to U.S. agriculture by boosting yields and quality. Hence the concern when beekeepers in most states (inset) reported mysterious colony collapses. |
Something seems amiss with mighty Superior, the deepest and coldest of the Great Lakes, which together hold nearly 20 per cent of the world's fresh surface water.
Superior's surface area is roughly the same as South Carolina's, the biggest of any freshwater lake on Earth. It's deep enough to hold all the other Great Lakes plus three additional Lake Eries. Yet over the past year, its level has ebbed to the lowest point in eight decades and will set a record this fall if, as expected, it dips 7.6 more centimetres.
Its average temperature has surged about 4.5 degrees Farenheit since 1979, significantly above the 2.7-degree rise in the region's air temperature during the same period. That's no small deal for a freshwater sea that was created from glacial melt as the Ice Age ended and remains chilly in all seasons.
