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Chile declares environmental emergency from smog due to driest weather in over 40 years

Anthony Esposito
Reuters
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 01:12 UTC
smog santiago
© AFP
Santiago is covered by smog despite contingency measures taken by the authorities
Chilean authorities declared an environmental emergency for the Santiago metropolitan region for Monday, forcing more than 900 industries to temporarily shut down and about 40 percent of the capital's 1.7 million cars off the roads.

"We're currently facing unusual conditions, with one of the driest Junes in over 40 years as well as really bad air circulation conditions in the Santiago valley in recent days, which boosts the concentration of contamination," the Environment Ministry said in a statement.

The emergency, the first since 1999, will be in place for 24 hours and can be extended further if authorities deem conditions have not improved.

The Environment Ministry could not immediately provide Reuters with a list of what industries will be forced to suspend operations on Monday.
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Arrow Up

Heat wave kills over 130 in Pakistan


Aljazeera
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 05:16 UTC
Pakistan heatwave
© AFP
Edhi Welfare Organisation, Pakistan's largest charity, said their mortuary had been packed to capacity due to heatwave-related deaths.
A heatwave in Pakistan's largest city Karachi and other districts of southern Sindh province has killed at least 130 people, health officials have said.

Sindh province's Health Secretary Saeed Mangnejo told AFP news agency that the provincial government had imposed a state of emergency at all hospitals, cancelling leave for doctors and other medical staff and increasing stocks of medical supplies.

The southern port city of Karachi saw temperatures reach as high as 45 degrees Celsius on Saturday, just short of an all-time high of 47C in June 1979.

Dr Seemin Jamali, the head of the emergency department at state-run Jinnah Hospital said more than 100 people had died at the hospital.
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Bug

Capitol Hill abuzz after 15,000 honey bees gather at Senate entrance

Ted Barrett
cnn.com
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 12:40 UTC
Image

A swarm of bees took to the main Senate entrance of the U.S. Capitol Building on Friday, frightening onlookers before they were captured.
In an unusual sight on Capitol Hill Friday afternoon, beekeepers were called in to capture and remove about 15,000 honey bees that had swarmed around the main Senate entrance of the U.S. Capitol Building, frightening onlookers before landing in a tree.

Three volunteer beekeepers, including one who is a top congressional aide, worked carefully but without protective suits to capture the queen and her thousands of offspring.

The bees had been out of their nest in search of a new, larger home, according to Rachel Perry of Capitol Bee Care, an organization that works to protect honey bee colonies that, for a variety of reasons, are dying off in large numbers. Wearing just a scarf hanging over her head, Perry sat patiently beneath the tree luring the bees into a hole in a medium-sized cardboard box that was sealed with gaffers tape, gently nudging with a brush the last stragglers inside.
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Dominoes

Magnitude 6.0 earthquake hits east of Ndoi Island, Fiji


US Geological Survey
Sun, 21 Jun 2015 21:28 UTC
Image
© USGS
20.457°S 178.351°W depth=561.4 km (348.8 mi)
Time
  1. 2015-06-21 21:28:16 (UTC)
  2. 2015-06-21 17:28:16 (UTC-04:00) in your timezone
  3. Times in other timezones

Nearby Cities
  1. 42km (26mi) ENE of Ndoi Island, Fiji
  2. 336km (209mi) WNW of Nuku'alofa, Tonga
  3. 423km (263mi) SE of Suva, Fiji
  4. 507km (315mi) SSE of Lambasa, Fiji
  5. 533km (331mi) SE of Nadi, Fiji
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Sun

Celestial halo captured over Gloucestershire, UK


gloucestershire.co.uk
Thu, 18 Jun 2015 20:36 UTC
Image
© Vickie Haines
But.. but.. where's the crock of gold?

These beautiful pictures show a rainbow.

But possibly no rainbow you've ever seen before.

Vicki Haines took a couple of pictures of a rainbow entirely circling the sun form her back garden in Tewkesbury

And nearby in Bishop's Cleeve Lesley Cairns also captured the celestial phenomenon, known as a halo.

It is caused by the presence of high cirrus clouds containing ice crystals which are refracting the sun's light and causing the appearance of the rainbow halo.

Sometimes a halo can also be seen around the moon and the legend is: 'a ring around the moon means rain will come soon.'

Which is all very well, but what about the leprechauns? (Is it leprechauns with rainbows, we might be a bit mixed up.)
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Fire

Twelve most dangerous volcanoes that could erupt at any time

Carolyn Williams
Weather.com
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 08:44 UTC
Volcanoes are one of nature's deadliest and destructive forces, able to maim and destroy within seconds and without warning.

Recently, Chile's Calbuco volcano erupted twice, prompting a large evacuation, and fears were ignited after experts revealed Indonesia's Mount Sinaburg may soon erupt.

Hundreds of volcanoes dot the globe, but only a handful are known for their particularly violent pasts. Some of these infamous peaks have caused mass casualties; others have destroyed whole cities.

Here are 12 of the world's most dangerous volcanoes, which could erupt at any time, and a brief history of their explosive power.

1. Cumbre Vieja Volcano - La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain
Image
© Wikimedia Commons/Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center
Satellite photo of Caldera de Taburiente and Cumbre Vieja, La Palma, Canary Islands.
A future eruption of Cumbre Vieja could be catastrophic. Geological evidence revealed failure of the volcano's west flank is possible, according to Volcano Live, and would result in a massive tsunami "which would cover the whole Atlantic Ocean." The mountain is the Canary Islands' most active volcano.

Comment: Are we ready for the next volcanic catastrophe?

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Rainbow

'Fire rainbow' spotted over Saint John, New Brunswick

Peter Coade
cbc.ca
Fri, 19 Jun 2015 13:42 UTC
Image
© Misty Dawn/Facebook
Fire rainbow - taken over east Saint John.
A rare weather phenomenon known as "fire rainbow" was spotted over Saint John from several people in the region.

Peter Coade, a CBC meteorologist, said fire rainbow is a rare phenomenon that is formally known as circumhorizontal arc.

Coade said the colourful cloud formation requires very specific conditions to be in place.

"When the sun is very high in the sky, sunlight entering flat, hexagon shaped ice crystals gets split into individual colours just like in a prism," he said.

"The conditions required are very precise - the sun has to be at an elevation of 58° or greater, there must be high altitude cirrus clouds with plate-shaped ice crystals and sunlight has to enter the ice crystals at a specific angle."
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Arrow Up

Japan's Shindake volcano erupts twice in 20 days


Japan Times
Thu, 18 Jun 2015 18:50 UTC
Image

Mt Shindake
Mount Shindake rumbled back to life Thursday as a second eruption rocked Kuchinoerabu Island off Kagoshima Prefecture shortly past noon, the Meteorological Agency said.

The scale of the volcano's first eruption in 20 days was smaller than its May 29 blast but apparently took from 12:17 p.m. to around 12:47 p.m. to complete, the weather agency said.

Initially, the agency had difficulty confirming the eruption because of bad weather, but a Japan Coast Guard vessel reportedly confirmed seeing small rocks falling while on patrol about 9 km east of the volcano.

The eruption follows the volcano's mighty blast in May, which forced the sparsely populated island's residents to flee to neighboring Yakushima Island. Although the agency had said volcanic activity on Kuchinoerabu had halted since last month's blast, earthquakes started rattling the area earlier this week, with 10 on Tuesday, 31 on Wednesday and seven by 9 a.m. Thursday, the agency said.

Kuchinoerabu's eruption alert remains at 5, the highest level, and residents in the area have been warned to remain alert for further eruptions.
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Windsock

Waterspout seen off Majorca, Spain


Accuweather
Sun, 21 Jun 2015 17:25 UTC
Image
A waterspout observed in Covas d'Arta, Majorca, an island in Spain taken June 17.

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Info

Pakistan's fishing methods leave 12,000 dolphins dead annually

Ibriz Sheikh
plenglish.com
Mon, 15 Jun 2015 15:19 UTC
Image
© WWF-Pakistan
12,000 dolphins are killed annually in Pakistan waters
Pakistani waters can no longer be deemed safe for dolphins as a staggering 12,000 dolphins are killed annually as a result of tuna gillnet operations along the coast.

A recent study conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan) and funded by the Australian Marine Mammal Centre, found that dolphins were frequently getting enmeshed in tuna gillnets due to Pakistan's fishing practices.

The study- An Assessment of Cetacean Mortality in the Tuna Fisheries of Pakistan ,found that the use of tuna gillnets in fishing practice was marred with high bycatch of dolphins, turtles and other cetaceans; due to operations which are non compliant to United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) regulations which prohibit the use of large scale driftnets on high seas.

Tuna fishing in Pakistan is based on large scale gillnets which increases the interaction between dolphins and the gillnet. Between Iran and Pakistan, it is estimated that there are more than 7,000 operational gillnets.

With approximately 500 vessels dedicated to catching tuna along the coast, the length of the gillnet was observed to be longer than 2.5 kilometres, much higher than the average, and large scale gillnetting is more harmful to non-target species especially cetaceans.
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