Earth ChangesS


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Indonesia raises alert level on Java volcano: volcanology office

Indonesian authorities raised the alert level on a volcano near the country's third largest city, the state volcanology office said Thursday.

"Since April 16, 2008, at 12:00 am (0500 GMT), we have upgraded the alert level of (Mount) Papandayan to 'vigilance' (level two)," a statement on the volcanology office's website said.

The alert level for the mountain, near the city of Bandung, is now two rungs below that for an impending eruption.

Papandayan rises 2,665 metres (8,743 feet) above sea level and is 51 kilometres (31.5 miles) southeast of Bandung city, which has a population of three million, while the greater Bandung area is home to about 4.5 million.

Cloud Lightning

Extreme Ocean Storms Have Become More Frequent Over Past Three Decades, Study Of Tiny Tremors Shows

Data from faint earth tremors caused by wind-driven ocean waves -- often dismissed as "background noise" at seismographic stations around the world -- suggest extreme ocean storms have become more frequent over the past three decades. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other prominent researchers have predicted that stronger and more frequent storms may occur as a result of global warming trends. The tiny tremors, or microseisms, offer a new way to discover whether these predictions are already coming true, said Richard Aster, a geophysics professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

wind-driven ocean waves
©iStockphoto/Eric Gevaert
Data from faint earth tremors caused by wind-driven ocean waves -- often dismissed as "background noise" at seismographic stations around the world -- suggest extreme ocean storms have become more frequent over the past three decades.

Cloud Lightning

Three killed, 40 missing as typhoon Neoguri hits south China

Three people were killed and 40 fishermen including 22 Vietnamese went missing after typhoon Neoguri hit south China on the weekend, national media said on Monday.

Two of the victims, an 80-year-old woman and an 11-year-old girl, died in a mudslide in Shenzhen on Sunday, and the third was killed in Zhuhai by an aluminum sheet that was blown off a roof by high winds, Xinhua news agency reported.

Hourglass

Mysterious Flow Turns Yard Into Pond

A Longwood, Florida family's yard looks more like a pond as water surges from a mysterious hole on Monday.

Snowman

Moose multiplying in Scandinavia

Oslo, Norway -- Biologists say there are now record numbers of moose in Scandinavia -- the greatest population since the Ice Age.

By the end of the 20th century, there were 30 times as many moose as there had been 100 years earlier, Aftenposten reports. The number of collisions between moose and trains, trucks and cars was also a record this winter.

Hourglass

Loggerhead turtles on decline in Florida

Tampa, Fla. -- The number of loggerhead sea turtle nests is on the decline throughout Florida, indicating a potential threat to the animals, wildlife experts say.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission official Anne Meylan said 4,692 of the 45,084 loggerhead nests counted last year in Florida are now gone, an alarming development for wildlife officials, The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune said Saturday.

Roses

Why flowers have lost their scent

Pollution is dulling the scent of flowers and impeding some of the most basic processes of nature, disrupting insect life and imperilling food supplies, a new study suggests.

Evil Rays

4.5 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Illinois Continuing Series

A 4.5-magnitude tremor struck southern Illinois on Monday continuing the series of aftershocks initiated by the 5.2 earthquake which hit the region Friday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) informed.

Phoenix

US: Forest Fire Scorches 3,000 Acres in Ulster Park

A fast-moving forest fire that twice jumped trenches dug to hold it back has scorched 3,000 acres of the Minnewaska State Park Preserve near New Paltz, N.Y., an official said on Sunday.

Only minor injuries were reported in the fire, which started on Thursday in the northeast quadrant of the park, about 90 miles north of New York City in Ulster County.

But residents of a nearby hamlet have been told to prepare for evacuation, said Yancey Roy, a spokesman for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Cloud Lightning

Tornadoes hit Maryland, US

Two tornadoes ripped through the Maryland suburbs of Washington yesterday, part of a weather system that sparked fires, spawned hail and flooded roads around the state.

Afternoon reports of severe weather in Charles and Prince George's counties were confirmed as tornadoes late last night by the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va. No injuries were reported.