Earth ChangesS

Cloud Lightning

Record Breaking Rain in India

Rain in March? Figures of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) suggest that it is extremely unusual. The state recorded 86.4 millimetres rainfall during the week ending March 26, 5,760 % more than weekly rainfall that is typical of this month.

Star

Spain: Driest Winter on Record

Spain's government on Friday unveiled new measures to relieve the impact of the driest winter in memory, including diverting water between regions to ensure supplies to 2.5 million people in the parched southeast.

Bizarro Earth

New Zealand volcano erupting - under water



Monowai volcano
©Unknown

You wouldn't know it but a large volcano eruption is taking place in New Zealand. It's not visible because Monowai is completely underwater - north of the Kermadec Islands, and is about 1500 metres deep.

Bizarro Earth

Russia: Volcano Karymsky Erupts on Kamchatka

The volcano is belching steam and ash 7 kilometers high. Rock falls were seen on the slopes.

Another volcano - Karymsky located 140 km north from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - started eruption on Kamchatka. For one day seismologists have detected nearly 100 separate shocks.

Bizarro Earth

American West Heating Nearly Twice As Fast As Rest Of World, New Analysis Shows

The American West is heating up more rapidly than the rest of the world, according to a new analysis of the most recent federal government temperature figures. The news is especially bad for some of the nation's fastest growing cities, which receive water from the drought-stricken Colorado River. The average temperature rise in the Southwest's largest river basin was more than double the average global increase, likely spelling even more parched conditions.

Colorado River, Utah
©iStockphoto/Eric Foltz
Colorado River, Utah. The West's most pronounced temperature increase is in the Colorado River basin, which has warmed more than twice as much as the global average, with effects that put at risk a major water supply.

Arrow Down

Austrian glaciers shrink the most in five years

Austria's glaciers retreated more than 22 metres (24 yards) on average last year, in the biggest shrinking for five years, the country's Alpine Club said Saturday.

"All glaciers experienced melting and retreated... an average of 22.2 metres" in the 2006-2007 period, the Alpine Club said, citing measurements of 93 glaciers by its specialists who blamed milder than normal temperatures.

The record was on the Weisssee Ferner glacier in the Oetztal range of southwest Austria, which shrank 96.5 metres, while two more glaciers in the south retreated by 87 and 84 metres respectively.

Evil Rays

Earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia felt in Penang, Maleysia

A 6.5-magnitude earthquake which struck Sumatra in Indonesia early today was felt in Penang, the Malaysian Meteorological Department said.

Frog

Zoologists Unlock New Secrets About Frog Deaths

New research from zoologists at Southern Illinois University Carbondale opens a bigger window to understanding a deadly fungus that is killing off frogs throughout Central and South America, and that could threaten amphibian populations in North America as well.


Evil Rays

Lima: Two earthquakes hit Peru's capital city

Two earthquakes, one a magnitude 4.4 and the other a 5.4, which were felt across Peru's capital and throughout the province of Lima, struck Peru's coast early Saturday morning, said the U.S. Geological Survey.

The first occurred at approximately 1:41 a.m. and was not perceived by many of Lima's citizens.

The second, however, which was felt at 7:51 a.m., alarmed many and caused people in the country's capital to dart out of their homes and business establishments.

Sherlock

US: Additional evidence of wolverine found in the Tahoe National Forest

During ongoing investigations by an Oregon State University graduate student, the Forest Service, and California Department of Fish and Game (DFG), two additional wolverine photographs were captured this past week. A variety of hair, track and scat samples were also sent for analysis to determine if these were from a wolverine. After the initial photograph of a wolverine was taken by a remote camera on Feb. 28, 2008, in the Tahoe National Forest, researchers, biologists and volunteers intensified the search for more detections in the same general area, north of Truckee, Calif.

Image
©US Forest Service and Oregon State University
Side view of a wolverine photographed in California's Tahoe National Forest by a remote-controlled camera. A wolverine was first photographed on the national forest on Feb. 28, 2008, the first scientific confirmation of the animal's presence in California since the 1920s.