Almost a week after Japan was struck by twin disasters, images continue to appear showing the scale of the tsunami. ITN's Louisa James describes the rescue of one woman, plucked to safety as the water surged through Sendai.
Earth Changes
© Todd Binger
Published in Science, the study is the most comprehensive of its kind ever undertaken.
Other authors include Swinburne University oceanographers Professor Alex Babanin and Dr Stefan Zieger.
"Careful analysis of satellite data shows that extreme oceanic wind speeds and ocean wave heights have increased dramatically over the last 23 years," Professor Young said.
"Off the southern coast of Australia, the highest one per cent of waves have increased in height from approximately five metres to almost six metres over the last 20 years"
"Extreme conditions are where we are seeing the largest increases, but mean conditions are also going up.
"Extreme wind speeds have increased over most of the globe by approximately 10 per cent over the last 20 years, or 0.5 per cent every year.
"Extreme wave heights have increased by an average of seven per cent over the last 20 years, or 0.25 per cent a year in equatorial regions and 0.5 per cent a year in higher latitudes.
Recipe for a rainbow: Add bright sunlight to raindrops and voila!--a beautiful band of multi-colors arcs across the sky. With such an ingredient list, you might suppose that rainbows can only be seen during the day, yet last night Ethan Tweedie of Kamuela, Hawaii, recorded this spectacular example long after dark:
"It was a moonbow," explains Tweedie. The bright moon played the role of sun, illuminating nightime raindrops falling through the damp Hawaiian air. "I've been trying to photograph a moonbow for a long time. Last night I was driving back from the Volcano there it was!"
Tweedie's long exposure revealed something even more rare: a secondary moonbow. It's the faint 'bow arciing above the brighter primary. Primary rainbows are caused by single reflections inside raindrops; secondary bows are caused by double reflections. It was a night to remember, indeed.
© Ethan Tweedie
Location: Kamuela Hawaii
Image Taken: Mar 24, 2011
Location: Kamuela Hawaii
Image Taken: Mar 24, 2011
Tweedie's long exposure revealed something even more rare: a secondary moonbow. It's the faint 'bow arciing above the brighter primary. Primary rainbows are caused by single reflections inside raindrops; secondary bows are caused by double reflections. It was a night to remember, indeed.
Northern California is looking a lot like Tornado Alley these days.
Just north of Sacramento, two reported weak tornadoes struck this week in Colusa County, which did not have a single tornado report from 1950 to 2010, according to the Weather Channel. Colusa has now had three reported tornadoes this year and four in the past five months. That's some serious action for a state that averages about five tornadoes per year.
No witnesses saw the touchdown of yesterday's (March 23) reported EF-0 tornado - the weakest ranking with winds between 65 and 85 mph (105 and 137 kph) - but people did see a funnel cloud and six homes reported damage, the Sacramento Bee reported. Another funnel cloud was captured on YouTube on Monday (March 21).
© News4Jax
Thousands of fish turn up dead in the lake at Hannah Park. Scientists say golden algae caused the fish kill.
Thousands of fish turn up dead in the lake at Hannah Park. Scientists say golden algae caused the fish kill.
Atlantic Beach, Florida -- Dozens of dead fish have risen to the surface at a lake in Hanna Park. The floating fish have produced a foul smell and an eerie site.
"I've seen a couple of people biking around, but as soon as they get to this area, they turn right back around," visitor Heather Lenier said.
The sight and smell is enough to keep people away from the lake.
Scientists said an outbreak of golden algae is responsible for the death of thousands of fish. The algae is producing a toxic chemical. When fish come in contact with the tainted water, their blood cells literally explode.
"Those cells that carry oxygen are being ruptured," biologist Dana Morton said. "Oxygen is not getting to the fish, and the fish look like they are suffocating, which they really are."
Morton said that as harmful as the algae is for fish, it is harmless for humans.
© Agence France-Presse
A rising toll and damage across both sides of the Burma Thailand border has followed the quake
A rising toll and damage across both sides of the Burma Thailand border has followed the quake
It happened at 1355 GMT on Thursday and was centred about 70 miles (110 km) from the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai, the US Geological Survey said.
It was felt 800km to the south in the Thai capital Bangkok, and in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi.
The quake was shallow, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10km). There are fears the casualties could be much higher.
© Unknown
Almost on que, the Japan Meteorological Agency has confirmed the rain to be pollen after receiving hundreds of calls from concerned citizens.
The ''yellow rain'' seen Wednesday in the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo was caused by pollen, not radioactive materials as many residents had worried, the Japan Meteorological Agency said Thursday, reported the Japan Times.
That's right, according to so called experts, enough pollen to cause hundreds to report their findings, rained down on Tokyo at the same time as a devastating nuclear disaster has released high levels of radiation at least 20km from the nuclear plant.
This explanation has reminded many of the yellow rain that hit after the Chernobyl disaster.
Experts call it a winter-kill. Onlookers call it devastating. Thousands of fish - much more than originally thought - are now dead in Ravenna Lake.
Game and Parks officials said the extended ice and snow coverage this year blocked the sun and killed aquatic plants. Without plants producing enough oxygen an estimated 3800 fish suffocated.
The massive amount of algae you see may also have been a factor.
Nebraska Game and Parks Commissioners said they'll decide what to do next in April.
Game and Parks officials said the extended ice and snow coverage this year blocked the sun and killed aquatic plants. Without plants producing enough oxygen an estimated 3800 fish suffocated.
The massive amount of algae you see may also have been a factor.
Nebraska Game and Parks Commissioners said they'll decide what to do next in April.
An estimated 352,000 pounds of lead from leftover mine pollution has washed into Lake Coeur d'Alene in northern Idaho, an official with the U.S. Geological Survey says.
Hydrologist Greg Clark said the lead washed into the lake on Jan. 18 as a result of a rain-on-snow event that caused flooding.
"We haven't seen those kinds of flows in quite a while," Clark, an associate director of the Idaho Water Science Center in Boise, told The Spokesman-Review. "We end up with a lot of metals - lead in particular - transported to the lake during those types of events."
The newspaper reports in a story published Thursday that's the weight equivalent of about 70 pickups.
The lead is left over from a century of mining. The Environmental Protection Agency last summer proposed cleaning up 300 old mine sites and contaminated groundwater areas in the region.
But Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, other elected officials and area residents say the $1.3 billion price is too high and the cleanup will take too long.
Hydrologist Greg Clark said the lead washed into the lake on Jan. 18 as a result of a rain-on-snow event that caused flooding.
"We haven't seen those kinds of flows in quite a while," Clark, an associate director of the Idaho Water Science Center in Boise, told The Spokesman-Review. "We end up with a lot of metals - lead in particular - transported to the lake during those types of events."
The newspaper reports in a story published Thursday that's the weight equivalent of about 70 pickups.
The lead is left over from a century of mining. The Environmental Protection Agency last summer proposed cleaning up 300 old mine sites and contaminated groundwater areas in the region.
But Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, other elected officials and area residents say the $1.3 billion price is too high and the cleanup will take too long.
© NOAA
Sulfur Dioxide Plume Erupts from Vanuatu Volcano
Sulfur Dioxide Plume Erupts from Vanuatu Volcano
© NOAA
Wide View of Sulfur Dioxide Plume Erupting from Vanuatu Volcano
Wide View of Sulfur Dioxide Plume Erupting from Vanuatu Volcano
These advisories are critical for air quality monitoring, but even more so for diverting air traffic in the impacted areas. Volcanic ash, if ingested by jet engines can cause significant damage, and even loss of the aircraft. It is estimated that NOAA's ash monitoring saves the aviation industry between $100 and 200 million per year. The Mt Yasur volcano is situated in the Wellington (New Zealand) VAAC, but NOAA SAB processes and monitors plumes from many volcanoes around the world who's ash might enter the WVAAC airspace.
