Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Indonesia: Earthquake Magnitude 6.3 - Halmahera

Indon Quake_081010
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Friday, October 08, 2010 at 05:43:10 UTC

Friday, October 08, 2010 at 02:43:10 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
2.754°N, 128.198°E

Depth:
144.9 km (90.0 miles)

Region:
HALMAHERA, INDONESIA

Distances:
235 km (145 miles) NNE of Ternate, Moluccas, Indonesia

400 km (245 miles) ENE of Manado, Sulawesi, Indonesia

1530 km (950 miles) SSE of MANILA, Philippines

2565 km (1600 miles) ENE of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia

Bizarro Earth

Alaska: Earthquake Magnitude 6.1 - Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Island

Alaska Quake2_081010
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Friday, October 08, 2010 at 03:49:11 UTC

Thursday, October 07, 2010 at 06:49:11 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
51.499°N, 175.261°W

Depth:
35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program

Region:
ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA

Distances:
105 km (65 miles) ESE of Adak, Alaska

105 km (65 miles) SW of Atka, Alaska

1890 km (1170 miles) WSW of Anchorage, Alaska

2685 km (1670 miles) W of JUNEAU, Alaska

Binoculars

Malaysia: Monkey Steals Baby from Living Room

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© Rex FeaturesMalaysian authorities have battled a booming macaque population in cities.
A newborn baby girl has died after being snatched from her family's living room by a monkey.

The four-day-old infant has been left alone for just a few minutes when she disappeared.

Her body was found shortly later outside the home in central Negri Sembilan state, Malaysia's Star and the New Straits Times newspaper reported.

The baby, who was found by her mother and grandmother, had bite marks on her neck and face.

Her father was quoted as saying a macaque monkey had been seen roaming near the house in recent weeks.

The baby's grandmother said that she was in the kitchen when the infant, who had not yet been named by her parents, was snatched.

Bizarro Earth

Hungary: Toxic red sludge has reached the Danube

toxic red sludge
© AP

Kolontar, Hungary - The toxic red sludge that burst out of a Hungarian factory's reservoir reached the mighty Danube on Thursday after wreaking havoc on smaller rivers and creeks, and downstream nations rushed to test their waters.

The European Union and environmental officials fear an environmental catastrophe affecting half a dozen nations if the red sludge, a waste product of making aluminum, contaminates the Danube, Europe's second-longest river.

Officials from Croatia, Serbia and Romania were taking river samples every few hours Thursday but hoping that the Danube's huge water volume would blunt the impact of the spill.

Bizarro Earth

Large crevice confuses Michigan residents

A large crevice, stretching almost two football fields, suddenly appeared in the woods near Birch Creek

Menominee Township -- It's a geological phenomenon that has both authorities and Menominee Township residents scratching their heads. A large crevice, stretching almost two football fields, suddenly appeared in the woods near Birch Creek earlier this week.

"I don't know really. It just looks like a giant crack in the ground," said young spectator and local resident, Ashley Armbrust. "I don't know what happened."

The 150-yard crevice is puzzling local residents. Some areas are up to five feet deep and a few feet across. The ground even rose up several feet in some areas around the crevice, causing trees to lean on both sides. Like the spectators, property owners feel the whole thing is just confusing.

"I told the kids we had an earthquake and they laughed at me, then after they looked at it, they say I don't know," said property owner, Eileen Heider.

Binoculars

Three Men Rescued After Boat "Sunk by Whale"

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© AP PhotoEach year whales migrate up the coast of Western Australia to give birth in warm tropical waters before returning to Antarctica at the end of spring
Three men have been rescued from the sea off Western Australia after their boat sunk when it struck a whale.

The trio, aged 24, 48 and 50, sent out a mayday in the middle of the night after their 46-foot timber vessel started taking on water.

Moments later they were forced to abandon the boat. The group, one of whom could not swim, spent four hours clinging to an ice box in choppy seas before they were rescued.

"They hit something hard, solid, they suspect it's a whale," senior sergeant Greg Trew of WA Water Police told the Australian Associated Press.

The men, who were wearing life-jackets, set off an emergency beacon, which helped an oil rig crew that had come to their rescue spot them in heavy seas.

Bizarro Earth

Hungary sludge flood called 'ecological disaster'

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© AP Photo/Bela SzandelszkyA Hungarian soldier wearing a chemical protection gear walks through a street flooded by toxic in the town of Devecser, Hungary, Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2010. Monday's flooding was caused by the rupture of a red sludge reservoir at an alumina plant in western Hungary and has affected seven towns near the Ajkai Timfoldgyar plant in the town of Ajka, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Budapest.
Devecser - Hungary declared a state of emergency in three counties Tuesday after a flood of toxic red sludge from an alumina plant engulfed several towns and burned people through their clothes. One official called it "an ecological disaster" that may threaten the Danube and other key rivers.

The toll rose to four dead, six missing and at least 120 people injured after a reservoir failed Monday at the Ajkai Timfoldgyar plant in Ajka, a town 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Budapest, the capital.

Several hundred tons of plaster were being poured into the Marcal River to bind the toxic sludge and prevent it from flowing on, the National Disaster Management Directorate said.

So far, about 35.3 million cubic feet (1 million cubic meters) of sludge has leaked from the reservoir, affecting an estimated 15.4 square miles (40 square kilometers), Environmental Affairs State Secretary Zoltan Illes told the state news wire MTI.

Illes called the flood an "ecological catastrophe" and said the sludge could reach the Raba and Danube rivers. He suspended activity at the plant and ordered the company to repair the damaged reservoir.

Sheeple

New Zealand - Snow hits farmers big time

sheep
© Unknown
Following a reasonably benign winter, the Southland region of New Zealand (NZ) has in the past week been hit by "the worst spring storm in living memory" according to the NZ Herald.

Six days of blizzards have caused deaths among new lambs numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and raised concern over the welfare of ewes yet to lamb.

Besides the effect of the cold weather itself, the continued snowfall has not allowed snow on the ground to thaw, making it much harder for stock to feed.

This makes ewes about to lamb particularly susceptible to metabolic illnesses from a lack of nutrients.

Reportedly, lamb mortality in the area may be as high as 15% for some farmers. With average prices for lambs expected to be around NZ$80/head this season (NZ Herald), the financial loss to NZ producers will be significant, estimated to exceed NZ$50 million (NZ Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry).

Source: MLA.com

Cloud Lightning

Coldest winter in 1,000 years on its way

After the record heat wave this summer, Russia's weather seems to have acquired a taste for the extreme.

Forecasters say this winter could be the coldest Europe has seen in the last 1,000 years.
Image

The change is reportedly connected with the speed of the Gulf Stream, which has shrunk in half in just the last couple of years. Polish scientists say that it means the stream will not be able to compensate for the cold from the Arctic winds. According to them, when the stream is completely stopped, a new Ice Age will begin in Europe.

So far, the results have been lower temperatures: for example, in Central Russia, they are a couple of degrees below the norm.

"Although the forecast for the next month is only 70 percent accurate, I find the cold winter scenario quite likely," Vadim Zavodchenkov, a leading specialist at the Fobos weather center, told RT. "We will be able to judge with more certainty come November. As for last summer's heat, the statistical models that meteorologists use to draw up long-term forecasts aren't able to predict an anomaly like that."

Red Flag

Report Casts World's Rivers in 'Crisis State'

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© Barry CarlsenThe world's rivers, the single largest renewable water resource for humans and a crucible of aquatic biodiversity, are in a crisis of ominous proportions, according to a new global analysis.
The world's rivers are in crisis, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Limnology and the City College of New York (CCNY) that is published in the Sept. 30, 2010 issue of the scientific journal Nature. The study, led by UW-Madison limnologist and professor of zoology Peter McIntyre and CCNY modeler Charles Vörösmarty, combines, for the first time, indices of water security and biodiversity for all of the world's rivers, many of which are severely degraded due to issues of pollution, water diversion and introduced species.

The report, published today in the journal Nature, is the first to simultaneously account for the effects of such things as pollution, dam building, agricultural runoff, the conversion of wetlands and the introduction of exotic species on the health of the world's rivers.

The resulting portrait of the global riverine environment, according to the scientists who conducted the analysis, is grim. It reveals that nearly 80 percent of the world's human population lives in areas where river waters are highly threatened posing a major threat to human water security and resulting in aquatic environments where thousands of species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction.