© US Geological Survey
Location 42.349°N, 13.405°E
Depth 13.1 km (8.1 miles)
Distances 70 km (40 miles) W of Pescara, Italy
90 km (55 miles) NE of ROME, Italy
120 km (75 miles) SE of Perugia, Italy
145 km (90 miles) S of Ancona, Italy
Earth Changes
Location 42.349°N, 13.405°E
Depth 13.1 km (8.1 miles)
Distances 70 km (40 miles) W of Pescara, Italy
90 km (55 miles) NE of ROME, Italy
120 km (75 miles) SE of Perugia, Italy
145 km (90 miles) S of Ancona, Italy
© US Geological Survey
Location 46.088°N, 151.498°E
Depth 34 km (21.1 miles) set by location program
Distances 300 km (185 miles) ENE of Kuril'sk, Kuril Islands
615 km (380 miles) SW of Severo-Kuril'sk, Kuril Islands, Russia
1515 km (940 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan
7155 km (4440 miles) NE of MOSCOW, Russia
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Manitoba's biggest city of Winnipeg will defend itself against the Red River's highest crest without its prized floodway, an C$858 million ($692 million) ditch designed to channel floodwater around the provincial capital.
Backhoes and specialized ice-breaking machines have instead assembled along the river as the first of two crests, caused by ice jams on the north-flowing river, hits Winnipeg as early as Tuesday.
Backhoes and specialized ice-breaking machines have instead assembled along the river as the first of two crests, caused by ice jams on the north-flowing river, hits Winnipeg as early as Tuesday.
Aquarium staff have unearthed a 'giant sea' worm that was attacking coral reef and prize fish.
The 4ft long monster, named Barry, had launched a sustained attack on the reef in a display tank at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium over recent months.
Workers at the Cornwall-based attraction had been left scratching their heads as to why the coral had been left devastated and - in some cases - cut in half.
The 4ft long monster, named Barry, had launched a sustained attack on the reef in a display tank at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium over recent months.
Workers at the Cornwall-based attraction had been left scratching their heads as to why the coral had been left devastated and - in some cases - cut in half.
U.S. study finds widespread, high concentrations near Southern California and Chicago, as well as Alaska.
Flame-retardant chemicals that have been linked to reproductive and neurological problems in animals have seeped into coastal environments even in remote regions and have been found in high concentrations off populated areas such as Chicago and Southern California, a federal study revealed Tuesday.
"This is a wake-up call for Americans concerned about the health of our coastal waters and their personal health," said John H. Dunnigan, assistant administrator of the National Ocean Service, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which released the report.
Flame-retardant chemicals that have been linked to reproductive and neurological problems in animals have seeped into coastal environments even in remote regions and have been found in high concentrations off populated areas such as Chicago and Southern California, a federal study revealed Tuesday.
"This is a wake-up call for Americans concerned about the health of our coastal waters and their personal health," said John H. Dunnigan, assistant administrator of the National Ocean Service, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which released the report.
The speed at which a hurricane progresses across the ocean may help forecasters predict which areas are at risk from flooding by storm surges.
When hurricanes strike, flooding causes more damage than the wind, and kills more people. To predict the severity of a surge, forecasters tend to rely on factors such as the size and the intensity of the storm. Now Joao Rego and Chunyan Li of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge have calculated that a hurricane's forward speed influences the peak height and inland "reach" of surges.
The pair fed measurements from 30 sites in Louisiana and Texas hit by hurricane Rita in 2005 into a computer model that relates the severity of a surge to the hurricane's speed of travel. When they raised the speed in their model to the maximum realistic value, the peak of the surge was 7 per cent higher than Rita's, and the volume of water pushed inland fell by up to 40 per cent. This meant areas close to the coast were hit harder, but sites further inland were left unscathed. For the slowest storms, the opposite happened: peak surge was lower, but inland reach increased (Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: link).
When hurricanes strike, flooding causes more damage than the wind, and kills more people. To predict the severity of a surge, forecasters tend to rely on factors such as the size and the intensity of the storm. Now Joao Rego and Chunyan Li of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge have calculated that a hurricane's forward speed influences the peak height and inland "reach" of surges.
The pair fed measurements from 30 sites in Louisiana and Texas hit by hurricane Rita in 2005 into a computer model that relates the severity of a surge to the hurricane's speed of travel. When they raised the speed in their model to the maximum realistic value, the peak of the surge was 7 per cent higher than Rita's, and the volume of water pushed inland fell by up to 40 per cent. This meant areas close to the coast were hit harder, but sites further inland were left unscathed. For the slowest storms, the opposite happened: peak surge was lower, but inland reach increased (Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: link).
On the face of it, what Nico Michiels did was rather pointless and a bit dangerous. Michiels, an evolutionary ecologist from the University of Tübingen in Germany, spends part of each year in Egypt where he dives in the Red Sea, observing life on its coral reefs. In September 2007 he decided to find out how far red light could penetrate the depths, so he attached a piece of red filter foil to his dive mask and began to descend. In theory, once he reached about 15 metres, he should have been plunged into darkness. Instead, something totally unexpected happened.
Like any experienced diver, Michiels knew that seawater selectively absorbs longer wavelengths of light so that somewhere below about 10 to 15 metres - depending on the clarity of the water - red light is all but extinguished, and anything that looks red at the surface fades to grey or black. His red filter would block out all wavelengths except red, revealing the depth at which red disappeared on this particular reef. Sure enough, 20 metres down it was as dark as night and quite disorienting. "All the fish disappeared. With no light from the surface they were effectively black and had become invisible," he says. But it didn't stay black for long. "Then I saw a group of gobies with bright red eyes lit up against the background. After that red spots began to show up all over the reef."
© Unknown
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said at a news conference in L'Aquila, the region's capital and close to the quake's epicenter, that about 1,500 people had been injured when the earthquake, measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, struck in the early hours.
He added that the death toll "topped 50 people," but it was likely to rise as rescuers continue their search of the debris.
© Unknown
Mr Giuliani told locals to evacuate their houses and posted a video on YouTube in which he said a build-up of radon gas around the seismically active area suggested a major earthquake was imminent.
Several tremors had been felt in the medieval city of L'Aquila, around 60 miles east of Rome, from mid-January onwards, and vans with loudspeakers had driven around the city spreading the warning.
But instead of heeding Mr Giuliani's warnings, the local authorities reported him to police for "spreading alarm" and he was told to remove his findings from the internet.
The predicted earthquake hit L'Aquila at 3.32am local time today, killing at least 90 people and leaving up to 50,000 homeless.
© Associated Press/Pier Paolo Cito
Firefighters remove debris in the city of L'Aquila, after a strong earthquake rocked central Italy, early Monday, April 6, 2009
Firefighters remove debris in the city of L'Aquila, after a strong earthquake rocked central Italy, early Monday, April 6, 2009
The early Monday temblor was centered in the Abruzzo region's capital l'Aquila, about 95 Kilometers (60miles) northeast of the capital Rome at a depth of 10 kilometers, according to the US Geological Survey.
Among the dead are an elderly woman and a baby girl who were crushed in a building in the medieval town of Fossa and four other children who died in l'Aquila when their house collapsed, local media reports said.
Police also confirmed that five other people were killed in the small town of Castelnuovo.
