Houses in Austria were buried under a thick blanket of snow, as the BBC's Rebecca Donovan reports.
Earth Changes
Large parts of Europe have been hit by severe weather, with snow, rain and high winds causing disruption in several countries.
Houses in Austria were buried under a thick blanket of snow, as the BBC's Rebecca Donovan reports.
Houses in Austria were buried under a thick blanket of snow, as the BBC's Rebecca Donovan reports.
Record snowfall in the north of Italy has left some people trapped in their homes.
Villagers in Madesimo had to dig their way out of their properties after several days of wintery weather.
Rebecca Donovan reports.
Villagers in Madesimo had to dig their way out of their properties after several days of wintery weather.
Rebecca Donovan reports.
Marine biologist Tom Quigley stands over the dead whale.
Scientists from the Central Caribbean Marine Institute have taken measurements and collected tissue samples from the whale in an effort to confirm the identification of the species.
The Gervais beaked whale is not uncommon in Caribbean waters, though they are elusive and rarely seen.
According to Samantha Hamilton of CCMI, the whale, which measured roughly 12 feet and resembles a large dolphin, is the most commonly stranded in North America.
She said whale strandings typically occur when the animal is sick or in response to environmental cues, such as toxic red tides.
Whales have also been known to strand themselves en masse, when one member of a pod beaches. Whale strandings have been recorded throughout history, though more recently military sonar had been highlighted as a potential cause of beaked whales beaching themselves.
© NOAA
The whale was seen in the West Loch area.
Marine officials say it was a 12-foot-long adult pygmy sperm whale.
It weighed between 800 and 1,000 pounds.
"The cause of death is likely not going to be determined. The whale carcass was unfortunately very decomposed, but they will look at what is remaining of the whale and try to determine a cause of death," said NOAA Regional Marine Mammal Health and Response Manager David Schofield.
Officials say pygmy sperm whales are hard to study at sea because they stay far away from boats.
he image of this whale was captured by a Saudi man who took video of the beached animal.
A 15-meter whale was found beached off the southwest corner of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Residents and fishermen found the dead whale washed ashore in the southern province of Jazan.
A video of the dead beached whale shows signs of decomposition and markings from other sea animals eating away at the whale.
A similar incident occurred in 2012 when a 12-meter whale, which reportedly travelled from the Indian Ocean, was found dead in the same area.
Measurements from ESA's CryoSat satellite show that the volume of Arctic sea ice has significantly increased this past autumn.
The volume of ice measured this autumn is about 50% higher compared to last year. In October 2013, CryoSat measured about 9000 cubic km of sea ice - a notable increase compared to 6000 cubic km in October 2012.
See evolution:
Over the last few decades, satellites have shown a downward trend in the area of Arctic Ocean covered by ice. However, the actual volume of sea ice has proven difficult to determine because it moves around and so its thickness can change.
The volume of ice measured this autumn is about 50% higher compared to last year. In October 2013, CryoSat measured about 9000 cubic km of sea ice - a notable increase compared to 6000 cubic km in October 2012.
See evolution:
© US Geological Survey
2014-02-07 08:40:13 UTC
2014-02-07 19:40:13 UTC+11:00 at epicenter
2014-02-07 09:40:13 UTC+01:00 system time
Location
15.060°S 167.339°E depth=117.7km (73.2mi)
Nearby Cities
31km (19mi) E of Port-Olry, Vanuatu
55km (34mi) NNE of Luganville, Vanuatu
314km (195mi) NNW of Port-Vila, Vanuatu
648km (403mi) N of We, New Caledonia
789km (490mi) N of Paita, New Caledonia
Technical data
© AP / Themba Hadebe
Smoke and a rockfall had hampered searchers struggling to find any survivors after fire broke out 1.7 kilometres underground at the Doornkop mine around 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Harmony company said in a statement. The mine is 30 kilometres west of Johannesburg.
On Wednesday morning, rescue teams located eight other miners who had sought refuge from the fire and brought all of them to the surface within several hours. On Thursday morning, Harmony announced the discovery of eight bodies.
Dazzling green fireball filmed above Belgium, January 2014
2014 has stated with a bang, literally, with a surge of loud booms being heard and felt throughout much of North America. But then again, didn't the last few years start this way? This video includes strange and extreme weather, geological and cosmic events, covering most of the month of January. Things aren't looking good for certain few heavily populated areas...
© The Verge
The river and reservoir sit beside Duke Energy's Dan River Steam Station, a coal-fired power plant in Eden, North Carolina. The station was decommissioned in 2012, but Duke Energy has not finished closing its ash basin, which is around 27 acres in size (pictured above).
"We're working closely with local, state and federal authorities," Keith Trent, Duke Energy's executive vice president, said in a statement on Tuesday. "Company leaders, engineers, scientists, environmental specialists, industry experts and plant personnel assembled at the site have been working around the clock to safely devise both short- and long-term solutions, as well as to continually monitor the effects of the release."
Comment: More photos available here at the original source of this story.