Earth ChangesS


Better Earth

Arctic ice-cap loss twice the size of France: research

The Arctic ice cap has shrunk by an area twice the size of France's land mass over the last two years, the Paris-based National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) said Wednesday.

Nuke

Drought Could Force Nuke-Plant Shutdowns

Lake Norman, North Carolina - Nuclear reactors across the Southeast could be forced to throttle back or temporarily shut down later this year because drought is drying up the rivers and lakes that supply power plants with the awesome amounts of cooling water they need to operate.

Ambulance

Dead Migratory Birds in Cooch Behar West Bengal

In Cooch Behar district, the district's animal resources department sources said deaths of chicken were reported at Khalisamari of Mathabhanga-I block. ARD sources in the district said that bird deaths were reported from four blocks out of 12. These were Dinhata-I, Cooch Behar-I, Mathabhanga-I and Mekhliganj. In Haribhanga of Cooch Behar-I, carcasses of 10 migratory birds were found yesterday. The samples were sent to Kolkata.

Bizarro Earth

Russian scientist says Earth could soon face new Ice Age

Temperatures on Earth have stabilized in the past decade, and the planet should brace itself for a new Ice Age rather than global warming, a Russian scientist said in an interview with RIA Novosti Tuesday.

Stop

WWF calls for moratorium on oil exploration in Arctic

Global conservation group WWF called on Tuesday for a moratorium on all new oil exploration in the Arctic, insisting that the environmental risks to the sensitive eco system there were too great.

"The WWF is formally calling for a moratorium on new oil and gas development in the Arctic," Neil Hamilton, director of the group's Arctic programme, said at a conference in northern Norway on environmental challenges in the polar region.

©Unknown

Newspaper

Newly Discovered Active Fault Building New Dalmatian Islands Off Croatian Coast

A newly identified fault that runs under the Adriatic Sea is actively building more of the famously beautiful Dalmatian Islands and Dinaride Mountains of Croatia, according to a new research report. Geologists had previously believed that the Dalmatian Islands and the Dinaride Mountains had stopped growing 20 to 30 million years ago.

From a region northwest of Dubrovnik, the new fault runs northwest at least 200 km (124 miles) under the sea floor.

©Richard A. Bennett
This old fortress in Dubrovnik sits on top of an Eocene thrust fault which is visible in the photo. The newly discovered active thrust fault lies not far offshore.

Bug

The lowdown on topsoil: It's disappearing

Disappearing dirt rivals global warming as an environmental threat

The planet is getting skinned.

While many worry about the potential consequences of atmospheric warming, a few experts are trying to call attention to another global crisis quietly taking place under our feet.

Call it the thin brown line. Dirt. On average, the planet is covered with little more than 3 feet of topsoil -- the shallow skin of nutrient-rich matter that sustains most of our food and appears to play a critical role in supporting life on Earth.

Snowman

Cold, snow kills 300 people in Afghanistan

More than 320 people and thousands of livestock have been killed in Afghanistan this month in freezing weather and the heaviest snowfalls for 15 years, the country's disaster authority said Monday.

The latest figure from Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority is triple that issued by the agency five days ago.

The hardest-hit areas have been in the western province of Herat and its neighbouring provinces of Farah, Badghis and Nimroz -- all remote and mountainous regions near the Iranian border, the authority said.

©Unknown

Snowman

Deadly snowfall disrupts China New Year travel

At least 21 people have been killed in east-central China by freezing temperatures and heavy snow that have disrupted the annual New Year travel rush, state media said Monday.

Eleven people were killed and 51 injured when an overloaded bus rolled off an icy road in eastern Anhui province late Sunday near Mingguang city, Xinhua news agency said.

It said the passengers were mostly migrant workers returning home to celebrate the Spring Festival on February 7, China's most important holiday.

The driver of the bus has been arrested for carrying 72 passengers, 21 more than allowed, it said.

©Unknown

Evil Rays

Two earthquakes occur in Sakhalin and Kuriles, no victims

Two earthquakes occurred in Sakhalin and Kuriles over the past 24 hours.

According to a report of the press service of the Far Eastern Regional Centre of the Ministry for Emergency Situations, one earthquake was registered in the area of the port of Kholmsk (western coast of Sakhalin). The epicentre was situated under the bottom of the Tatar Strait at a depth of 33 kilometres, an earthquake with the three-point magnitude was felt in Kholmsk and the village of Pravda of the Kholmsk region, there are no victims or destructions.