Earth ChangesS


Bulb

Canada: The lowly honeybee deserves a lot more attention

Five years after the mysterious mass deaths of honeybees began, bees keep dying, yet in many ways the mystery seems as deep as ever.

Why can't we solve this, in a country with Canada's scientific resources?

Bees are important to anyone who wants food on the table. It's easy to forget this. Once, wild bees pollinated flowers and fruit trees across the continent. But the Europeans brought honeybees, and these have taken over the job.

Bizarro Earth

Australia: Severe hailstorm batters Perth

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© WAtoday
The biggest storm to hit Perth in 50 years has caused massive destruction across the city.

Within a couple of hours of the storm passing through, more than 150,000 homes were without power, residents flooded Fire and Emergency Services helplines desperate for assistance, roads were underwater and traffic in some areas was at a standstill.

Almost 100 sets of traffic lights were out and planes were stranded at both Perth airports.

The State Emergency Service has had reports of structural damage to several major hospitals and aged care facilities, and these cases were the priority.

A landslide through Kings Park down to Mounts Bay Road has buried and crushed two cars, with police unable to confirm whether there were any occupants inside. The cars were in parking bays, so police are hopeful nobody was inside.

Igloo

US: More Snow Falling In Oklahoma, Arkansas. Spring Blizzard

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© APA robin perches on plowed snow and ice Saturday, March 20, 2010, in Lawrence, Kansas
More snow was falling Sunday as part of a powerful storm blowing through Oklahoma and the southern Plains on the first weekend of spring.

The National Weather Service said there was moderate to heavy snow across northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas, with some places reporting 8 to 12 inches of snow. The snow and rain was expected to end later Sunday.

Authorities have attributed at least four deaths in four states to the weather. Police in Arlington, Texas, said ice on an interstate caused an accident Sunday involving five vehicles and two 18-wheelers. One of the 18-wheelers fell on another vehicle, killing one person.

Bizarro Earth

Worst-ever dust storm from China hits Taiwan

Taipei - The worst-ever dust storms from China forced air quality in Northern Taiwan sharply down Sunday, the Environmental Protection Administration said.

A total of 24 observation stations across the island recorded more than 1,000 micrograms of dust per cubic meter and a further ten showed values at damaging levels, according to the EPA. Skies turned a yellowish grey as there was no rain to wash away the dust, the Central Weather Bureau said.

The worst levels of pollution were recorded on the island of Matsu close to the coast of China's Fujian Province, in Keelung on the North Coast and in several Taipei City districts, EPA official Chu Yu-chi said.

Doctors advised people to limit outside activities to the barest minimum, and to wear masks or even goggles when riding a motorcycle. Patients suffering from breathing problems even before the storm should wait a few days until after it had left before resuming normal outside activities, reports said.

The number of patients recording breathing problems increased by 20 percent to 30 percent because of irritation by the dust, reports said. People wearing contact lenses felt irritation of the eyes, according to media reports quoting physicians.

The storms expanded to Central and Southern Taiwan during Sunday afternoon, especially in areas close to the coast, the EPA said. Visibility in Taitung on the southeast coast was reduced to 5 kilometers, according to reports.

Bizarro Earth

Rapid Increases in Tree Growth Found in U.S.

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© Michele HoganTrees in Maryland.
Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Earthwatch met in Panama from Mar. 1-5 to present mid-term research results from the HSBC Climate Partnership, a five-year initiative to identify and respond to the impacts of climate change. The program is supported financially by HSBC and involves a global team of bank employees -- 'climate champions' -- in vital forest research.

The first-ever research program of its kind has so far:
  • Found rapid increases in tree growth in the forest around the Smithsonian's Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Maryland, USA, a finding attributed to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and longer growing seasons, published in PNAS.
  • Proposed a novel biodiversity theory relating stress and seed-size published in PNAS.
  • Examined the effects a changing climate in forests is having on white-tailed deer, mice and even mosquitoes.
  • Addressed the lack of a reliable method for estimating the carbon storage capability of secondary forests on a landscape scale by assessing how measurements from airborne LiDAR and other remote sensing technologies relate to ground-based measurements.
  • Reviewed how human disturbance changes the way forests take up carbon in diverse environments.
Researchers working in broadleaf forest plots near Oxford, England, Atlantic rainforests in Southern Brazil and subtropical forests near Gutianshan Nature Reserve in China, as well as the SERC site in Maryland, have been putting HSBC employees to work.

Bizarro Earth

US: 2 Earthquakes Recorded in Central Oklahoma

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© USGS
The U.S. Geological Survey reports recording two earthquakes in central Oklahoma.

A 3.7 magnitude quake was recorded near Prague in Lincoln County about 8:35 p.m. Sunday and a 2.8 magnitude quake was recorded in the same area just after 4:15 a.m. Monday.

No injuries or damage are reported.

The survey says people as far away as Tulsa and Claremore reported feeling the 3.7 quake. Quakes of magnitude 2.5 to 3 are generally the smallest felt by people.

According to the USGS, there were 3 earthquakes: 3.8, 2.8 and 2.7.

Snowman

Heavy snowstorm paralyzes traffic in Russian Far East

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk - A heavy snowstorm has paralyzed traffic on Russia's
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© RIA Novosti, Сергей Красноухов
Far Eastern island of Sakhalin, regional transportation authorities reported on Sunday.

The cyclone, which approached from the Yellow Sea, hit the Pacific island on Sunday morning with winds up of to 25 meters per second and heavy snow, creating the danger of avalanches in the island's south, the transportation authorities said.

The cyclone has partially interrupted air communication with Sakhalin while the ferry service between the island and the mainland has been suspended, the transportation authorities said.

Igloo

China: More than 10,000 houses collapse as rainstorm and blizzard hit Xinjiang

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© XinhuanetXinjiang is hit by blizzard and rainstorm.
More than 11,000 houses have collapsed in Yining County, the most seriously damaged area by blizzard and rainstorm in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local authorities said Sunday.

The county government has sent 950 tents of its 1,000 emergency tents to the residents who have lost their dwellings. It also has provided plastic cloth for others to protect their houses, an official said.

Some residents have been moved to the offices of local governments and schools, as there are not enough tents and plastic cloth.

Xinjiang has suffered the most serious snowstorms in six decades since last December, which seriously affected at least 1.88 million people in Xinjiang after houses collapsed and livestock were killed.

As temperature rises, the snow has been melting and some houses were flooded.

Tacheng City in northwest Xinjiang has suffered from melted snow in its E'min, Tuoli and Yumin counties as temperature rose to 18.1 Celsius degrees last Wednesday, which affected 60,000 people and caused 5,000 houses to collapse.

Magic Hat

Amazongate II - Seeing REDD

The Amazon - a "green gold-rush"

The WWF and other green campaign groups talking up the destruction of the Amazon rainforests are among those who stand to make billions of dollars from the scare. This "green gold-rush" involves taking control of huge tracts of rainforest supposedly to stop them being chopped down, and selling carbon credits gained from carbon dioxide emissions they claim will be "saved".

Backed by a $30 million grant from the World Bank, the WWF has already partnered in a pilot scheme to manage 20 million acres in Brazil. If their plans get the go-ahead in Mexico at the end of the year, the forests will be worth over $60 billion in "carbon credits", paid for by consumers in "rich" countries through their electricity bills and in increased prices for goods and services.

Bomb

Seventeen volcanoes in Indonesia on alert status

Bandung -- Some 17 of the 18 volcanoes in Indonesia are declared to be on alert status (level II), based on the result of monitoring by the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center (PVMBG) of the Geological Agency.

"These volcanoes have been declared on alert status due to their volcanic activities, but the Ibu volcano in West Halmahera only on third level alert status," said the Bandung PVMBG chief Dr. Surono, here Friday.

The Ibu volcano is still on third alert status declared on August 5, 2009.

In mid February 2010, PVMBG has raised the alert status of Mount Talang in Sumatra and Mount Karangetang in Sulawesi from standby (level III) to alert status (level II).

The Mount Bromo in East Java has been declared on alert status on Sept. 18, 2006.

Other intensively monitored volcanoes are Gunung Batur, Kaba, Anak Krakatoa, Semeru, Slamet, Sangeang Api, Rinjani Rokatenda, Soputan, Dukono, Gamalama, Papandayan, Lokon and Kerinci volcanoes.

Despite the alert status, these mountains are still safe to be visited as long as the safety signs in tourism sites are closely heeded.

The PVMBG chief also reminded that the community and visitors not to get near to the crater within a radius of one kilometer due to it the dangerous toxic gas emissions.