Earth Changes

200-plus Arctic lakes seeping methane gas discovered

The Siberian Times.
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 15:40 UTC

Lakes in the area of Bovanenkovo and Kruzenshternskoye areas (pink outlines) in the Landsat-8 image (a - visible colors, b - infrared synthesis).

© Vasily Bogoyavlensky
Lakes in the area of Bovanenkovo and Kruzenshternskoye areas (pink outlines) in the Landsat-8 image (a - visible colors, b - infrared synthesis).

Space pictures show the blue-tinted lakes formed in depressions caused by thawing permafrost on the Yamal and Gydan peninsulas.

A feature of these thermokarst lakes are craters or funnels in the sediment on the floor through which they are haemorrhaging methane. These pockmarks are similar to those found on the floors of the great oceans.

Scientists say these leaks are year round in lakes where carbon processing and methane emission occur even at temperatures close to zero degrees Celcius. Detailed study of satellite data from 2015-16 has identified more than 200 lakes which are seen as an active source of methane emissions.

The gas is of both a biochemical nature, the result of microbial activity released by permafrost thawing, and catagenesis, formed in deep ground layers.

Galapagos penguin parents found feeding their grown offspring

Xinhua
Mon, 27 Mar 2017 15:35 UTC

Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus)

A research team has found that fully grown Galapagos penguins who have fledged or left the nest continue to beg their parents for food, and sometimes, parents oblige and feed their adult offspring. It seems that humans are not alone in continuing to support offspring who have "left the nest."

"Through field seasons over the years when we were observing penguin behavior in the Galapagos Islands, we saw these isolated instances of adults feeding individuals who had obviously fledged and left the nest," said University of Washington biology professor Dee Boersma. "And now we've collected enough field observations to say that post-fledging parental care is a normal -- though probably rare -- part of Galapagos penguin behavior."

In a paper published online in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, the team led by Boersma, who has studied Galapagos penguins for more than four decades, reported observing five instances of post-fledging parental care during detailed field observations of wild Galapagos penguins from February 2006 to July 2015. Newly fledged adults, called fledglings, are about 60 days old and sport a distinct appearance due to their lightly colored feet and cheeks, as well as a relatively new and spotless coat of adult plumage.

Large sinkhole nearly swallows truck in San Diego, California

ABC 10 News
Mon, 27 Mar 2017 15:24 UTC

Emergency crews responded to a sinkhole Saturday morning in Otay Mesa West that was apparently caused by an underground water main break, according to police.

San Diego police officers were called to the 1300 block of Del Sol Lane shortly after 11 a.m., where a truck had fallen into a sinkhole, according to Sgt. Ray Battrick. But the driver was able to get his truck out of the hole and was not injured.

A fire hydrant nearby was also affected, shooting a large fountain of water into the air before city work crews responded and shut it off, Battrick said. Water was shut off in the area so crews could repair the water main.

Deep sinkhole opens up on road in Nanning, China

Yahoo! News
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 15:18 UTC

A dramatic video has emerged from China of huge sinkhole opened on a road in Nanning, Guangxi Province.

The footage, shot on Friday, shows a two-metre-deep and three-metre-wide sinkhole which opened after a bus drove over the road.

According to local news, the road suddenly collapsed when the bus passed by and the rear wheels got trapped in the sinkhole.

The bus driver managed to drive out of the hole and no one injured.

Earthquake Magnitude 6.1 - 66km W of Attu Station, Alaska

US Geological Survey
Mon, 27 Mar 2017 15:00 UTC

Magnitude: 6.1

Location: 52.798°N 172.199°E± 6.7 km

Depth: 10.0 km± 1.8

Origin Time: 2017-03-27 10:50:19.270 UTC

USGS data

Deaths of 33 reptiles at Tennessee zoo attributed to 'environmental cause'

Andrew Capps
Knoxville News Sentinel
Mon, 27 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC

© Zoo Knoxville
A black head python receives medical treatment after an event that left 33 reptiles dead at Zoo Knoxville on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.

Zoo Knoxville officials said Saturday that 33 reptiles died at the zoo, including rare and endangered species, from an unknown event earlier in the week.

Zoo workers found 30 snakes and a lizard, all housed in the same building in the zoo's reptile area, dead on Wednesday morning. The zoo's animal clinic and veterinarians from the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine were called in to investigate. The surviving animals were evacuated from the building.

Lisa New, president and CEO of Zoo Knoxville, said Sunday night that the zoo believes the deaths were not due to disease but "an environmental cause," although additional autopsy results are pending.

Strange trumpet-like sound recorded in Nottingham, UK

Alice Evans
Daily Mail
Sun, 26 Mar 2017 10:20 UTC

A couple's quiet night in was ruined when they were spooked by loud, unexplained noises that lasted 40 minutes.

Calvin Kirlew, 24, and his partner, listened in 'shock' as trumpet-like sounds blared across the night sky in Nottingham, East Midlands.

A video of the sounds has left viewers baffled after Calvin uploaded it to his Facebook page on Tuesday evening.

In the short clip Mr Kirlew said: 'We've been hearing these noises outside for about five, ten minutes.'

Then the freaked-out marketing worker was interrupted by a loud sound, similar to a a trumpet, which can be heard at several different pitches.

He said: 'What the f*** is it?'

Magnitude 5.3 earthquake rattles Darwin, Australia after striking 600 km away in Banda Sea

Xavier La Canna
ABC Online
Sun, 26 Mar 2017 23:00 UTC

An earthquake that struck this morning in the Banda Sea has rattled parts of Darwin but is unlikely to have caused any damage.

The magnitude 5.3 quake hit in the Banda Sea at a depth of 96 kilometres, about 600 kilometres north of Darwin.

Many people were asleep when it rattled parts of the city at 4:44am (ACST), but several people contacted ABC Radio Darwin to say they felt it.

Australia was a long way from the zone where damage was expected from the quake, according to information from Geoscience Australia.

Geoscience Australia seismologist Eddie Leask said quakes in the Banda Sea were often felt in Darwin.

"We had about 50 in that area over the last year and about 15 of those were felt in Darwin," Mr Leask told ABC Radio Darwin.

Japan issues eruption warning for undersea volcano off Aogashima Island

The Japan Times
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 07:01 UTC

Deadly eruption of Beyonesu Rocks, Japan in 1952

The Meteorological Agency on Friday warned that an underwater volcano about 400 km south of Tokyo could erupt soon, spurring the Japan Coast Guard to issue an alert to ships in the area.Coast guard aircraft found that the color of the ocean surface recently changed apparently due to volcanic activity in the Beyonesu Rocks about 65 km south-southeast of Aogashima Island, part of the Izu Island chain off Tokyo, the agency said.

But an eruption is unlikely to seriously affect any of the inhabited islands, including Aogashima, the agency said.If the eruption occurs around the Beyonesu Rocks, it will be the first since 1970, where a change of color in the ocean was last observed in 1988, the agency said.In 1952, an eruption in the area killed 31 crew members of a coast guard ship.