Earth ChangesS


Cloud Precipitation

Tropical Cyclone Bingiza Hits Madagascar

Tropical Cyclone Bingiza
© NASATropical Cyclone Bingiza.
Tropical Cyclone Bingiza made landfall on Madagascar on Feb. 14, 2011.

The U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that, as of about noon Madagascar time on Feb. 14, Bingiza had maximum sustained winds of 98 mph (155 kilometers per hour) and gusts up to 120 mph (195 kph).

NASA's Terra satellite captured this image of Bingiza at 10:00 a.m. local time on Feb. 13, 2011. In the image, Bingiza's eye approaches northern Madagascar, and a spiral arm grazes Antananarivo.

Although Bingiza would weaken somewhat over land, the storm was expected to re-strengthen after passing over northern Madagascar, thanks to high sea surface temperatures, according to a NASA statement. The JTWC forecast that, on the western side of Madagascar, the storm would travel southward, roughly tracing the island's west coast.

Igloo

Gigantic Icelandic Volcano Could Plunge Europe Into Immediate Ice Age...

Volcano Lightning
© Salem-News.com
A plethora of scientists have come out in the past 12 months warning about the signs of an impending Ice Age.

Another mammoth Icelandic volcano, Baroarbunga, is ready to erupt. This one could dwarf the Eyjafjallajokull glacier volcano that blew in 2010 causing havoc throughout Europe.

That's the word that's streaming out of the northern island nation as geophysicists around the globe hold their breaths to see what will happen next.

The Eyjafjallajokull eruption galvanized Europe and stunned the world with its unrelenting ferocity. It caused billions of dollars in loss, paralyzed European air travel and caused food and other commodities to spike upwards.

Worried experts warn that this eruption could be much, much worse.

Eyjafjallajokull Radar Image
© UnknownStrange illusion from Eyjafjallajokull that blew in 2010: Iceland Volcano: Radar Pictures of the Craters.
University of Iceland geophysicists have warned of a significant rise in seismic activity in the area of Vatnajökull, the largest of Iceland's glaciers. A swarm of earthquakes has erupted signaling the likely eruption of Bardarbunga, Iceland's second biggest volcano and one that sits directly above a major lava conduit.

Baroarbunga, a stratovolcano towering 6,600 feet, is part of the island nation's largest volcanic system. The huge volcano's crater covers 43 square miles and is completely encased under glacial ice.

Attention

Sri Lanka: Floods destroy over a third of rice harvest

Grain
© Amantha Perera/IRINFood prices have increased after the floods
Sri Lanka will lose over one million tons from its upcoming paddy harvest due to recent flooding, officials say.

"We expected a yield of around 2.75 million metric tons from the harvest due in March to April," Kulugammanne Karunathileke, secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, told IRIN. "After the heavy rains we will only get around 1.75 million."

Karunathileke, the highest ranking official at the ministry, said the country had expected a bumper crop - until flooding, which began in January, left some paddy fields under water for up to 11 days. The worst-hit areas are in the eastern districts of Ampara, Batticaloa, Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee and the north-central district of Anuradhapura.

Together they account for over 1.2m tons of the harvest.

Igloo

In Mississippi, snow-plowing tractors no match for latest winter storm

Snow and cold records are falling across the South as another winter storm blankets parts of Mississippi with half a foot of snow. One mayor admits he might have to buy a plow.

Mississippi Snow
© Bruce Newman/Oxford Eagle/APStudents sled on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford on Wednesday.
As yet another major winter storm broke the all-time winter snowfall record in the northern Mississippi town of Booneville Wednesday, Mayor Joe Eaton found himself staring at some unusual challenges for a place where the annual average temperature is 60 degrees.

After a 10-inch snowfall in late January and another three inches Wednesday, his troubles include keeping out-of-school kids from getting into trouble with their all-terrain vehicles as well as finding money in the budget to upgrade his makeshift snow removal equipment.

Coming off a colder-than-average winter in 2010, this season's record-setting cold and snow is supplying the citizens of Dixie with a new appreciation for what their Yankee brethren deal with on a more regular basis.

Bizarro Earth

More Deep-Sea Vents Discovered

Deep Sea Vents
© NOC/SOESPreviously unknown deep-sea volcanic vents have been discovered in the Southern Ocean.
Scientists aboard the Royal Research Ship James Cook have discovered a new set of deep-sea volcanic vents in the chilly waters of the Southern Ocean. The discovery is the fourth made by the research team in three years, which suggests that deep-sea vents may be more common in our oceans than previously thought.

Using an underwater camera system, the researchers saw slender mineral spires three metres tall, with shimmering hot water gushing from their peaks, and gossamer-like white mats of bacteria coating their sides. The vents are at a depth of 520 metres in a newly-discovered seafloor crater close to the South Sandwich Islands, a remote group of islands around 500 kilometres south-east of South Georgia.

"When we caught the first glimpse of the vents, the excitement was almost overwhelming," says Leigh Marsh, a University of Southampton PhD student who was on scientific watch at the time of the discovery.

Deep-sea vents are hot springs on the seafloor, where mineral-rich water nourishes lush colonies of microbes and deep-sea animals. In the three decades since scientists first encountered vents in the Pacific, around 250 have been discovered worldwide. Most have been found on a chain of undersea volcanoes called the mid-ocean ridge, however, and very few are known in the Antarctic.

Eagle

One of America's Oldest Bald Eagles Gets Electrocuted

Image
It spent 25 years successfully avoiding aeroplanes, animal traps and all the other pitfalls of flying.

But one of the top ten oldest birds ever recorded has sadly met an unfortunate fate - electrocution on a telegraph pole.

The Kodiak Island bald eagle died in Alaska after hitting a utility pole's crossbar last month.

The mature wild bird's discovery has provoked much interest among raptor biologists, after a band on its leg revealed it is the second-oldest bald eagle documented in Alaska.

Biologists have no other way of confirming mature wild eagle ages other than on recovered bands.

'Based on the bird-banding record that I've seen, it would be one of the top ten oldest birds ever recorded,' Kodiak Island wildlife biologist Robin Corcoran said.

Comment: From a symbolic point of view, this would appear to be a stark warning to the USA and the world. From what we suspect of the effects of comets on the solar system and planet - electrical phenomena and major earth changes - THE symbol of the USA lying dead from electrocution says it all.


Bizarro Earth

US: Earthquake Magnitude 4.3 - Mount St. Helen's Area

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 18:35:25 UTC

Monday, February 14, 2011 at 10:35:25 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
46.279°N, 122.215°W

Depth:
5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program

Region:
MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON

Distances:
9 km (6 miles) NNW (343°) from Mount St. Helens Volcano, WA

31 km (20 miles) S (171°) from Morton, WA

35 km (22 miles) SE (143°) from Mossyrock, WA

59 km (37 miles) ENE (75°) from Longview, WA

78 km (48 miles) NNE (23°) from Vancouver, WA

Bizarro Earth

Germany: Earthquake Magnitude 4.2 - West of Frankfurt

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 12:43:10 UTC

Monday, February 14, 2011 at 01:43:10 PM at epicenter

Location:
50.388°N, 7.881°E

Depth:
5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program

Region:
GERMANY

Distances:
65 km (40 miles) WNW of Frankfurt am Main, Germany
90 km (55 miles) SE of Cologne, Germany
130 km (80 miles) SSE of Dortmund, Germany
450 km (280 miles) WSW of BERLIN, Germany

Bizarro Earth

Morocco: Earthquake Magnitude 4.5 - Southeast of Beni Mellal

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 06:02:55 UTC

Monday, February 14, 2011 at 06:02:55 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
31.976°N, 6.070°W

Depth:
9.9 km (6.2 miles) set by location program

Region:
MOROCCO

Distances:
55 km (35 miles) SE of Beni Mellal, Morocco

125 km (80 miles) SE of Khouribga, Morocco

160 km (100 miles) W of Er-Rachidia, Morocco

240 km (145 miles) SSE of RABAT, Morocco

Arrow Down

20,000 bees die in Canadian museum

Image
© AFP
Ottawa - A Canadian museum launched an investigation on Friday into the sudden death of 20 000 bees on display in a glass encased hive.

"All 20 000 bees died within 48 hours," Amanda Fruci, publicist for the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, told AFP.

"The cause is being investigated but we know for sure that it wasn't colony collapse syndrome because that involves bees leaving a hive and never coming back, and in this case they all died in the hive."

In normal times, bee communities naturally lose around five percent of their numbers.

But with the syndrome known as colony collapse disorder (CDD), a third, half - sometimes even 90% or all - of the insects can be wiped out.

In the United States, government figures released last year showed a 29% drop in beehives in 2009, coming on the heels of declines of 36 and 32% in 2008 and 2007.

Mysterious decimation of bee populations have also been reported in Europe, Japan and elsewhere in recent years, threatening agricultural crops that depend on the honey-making insects for pollination.