Earth ChangesS


Beaker

UK: Yellow Foam Washed Up on Bournemouth Shore

A strange substance found on Bournemouth shore is similar to that washed up on Hayling Island beaches.

The bright yellow foam, which tests reveal is 80 per cent castor oil, caused several beach closures in Hampshire and Sussex.

Seafront Development Manager Chris Saunders said: "Our Seafront Cleansing team spent yesterday removing a majority of the material.

"We are working closely with the Environment Agency, and Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and will continue to monitor the situation closely."

Fish

Queensland Flood Waters Threaten Great Barrier Reef

Image
© Norman Kuring/Ocean Color Web/NASANASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of the Queensland coast on 4 January. It shows a thick plume of sediment emerging from the Burdekin river mouth and heading for the Great Barrier Reef
Flood waters in Brisbane reached a 4.46-metre peak at 5.30 am local time today - lower than the 5.2-metre peak predicted earlier this week. By noon, the Bureau of Meteorology reported that the Brisbane river was at 3.91 metres and steady.

But with an offshore cyclone now forecast, Reuters reports that further floods are feared - and Brisbane already faces a clean-up operation that may last for months, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

As things stand, 15 people are now confirmed dead, and a further 61 people remain missing, reports Australia's Broadcasting Corporation. The environmental implications of the floods are also likely to be profound.

A week ago, fears of a plague of crocodiles and snakes - including venomous taipans, brown snakes and red-bellied blacks - in the Queensland area made the news.

Fish

Queensland Flood: Bull Sharks Spotted Swimming Down The Main Street In Goodna - 30km From The Coast

Bull Shark
© The Daily TelegraphThe bull shark is a shallow water creature, and can tolerate fresh waters.

Two bull sharks have reportedly been spotted swimming down the main street of a flooded Queensland town, 30km inland.

Butcher Steven Bateman spotted two bull sharks swimming near his Goodna shop yesterday - one of several reports of a sharks in Goodna's main street.

Ipswich local councillor Paul Tully confirmed it was a bizarre but true story out of Queensland's flood disaster.

"It would have swum several kilometres in from the river, across Evan Marginson Park and the motorway,'' Cr Tully told The Queensland Times.

"It's definitely a first for Goodna, to have a shark in the main street.

"I know Steve (Bateman) and he wouldn't say he saw a shark unless he really saw one."

Igloo

New Englanders Dig Out After Snowstorm

New England Blizzard January 2010
© Jessica Hill/Associated PressRoy Williams of Westfield, Massachusetts, shovels snow from in front of his car on a ramp to Interstate 91 south during a winter storm in Windsor, Connecticut, on Wednesday.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick lifted a state of emergency Thursday, one day after blizzard conditions pounded his state and created hazardous travel conditions across New England.

Hundreds of schools remained closed in Massachusetts as crews continued to clear snow and to salt icy roadways, according to state Emergency Management spokesman Peter Judge.

The state's 250 National Guardsmen -- who were mobilized as a precautionary measure on Wednesday -- were relieved from duty by Thursday morning, Judge said.

Delta Air Lines canceled more than 200 Delta and Delta Connection flights in an effort to minimize delays, the airline said. It had canceled 1,300 flights Wednesday because of the storm.

Amtrak, which had suspended rail service between New York City and points north, resumed full service by Thursday morning, according to Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole.


Sun

Strange Phenomenon: Sun rises two days early in Greenland, sparks fear

Image
© Unknown

The sun has arrived two days early in Greenland according to KNR Radio. It usually rises on January 13th but for some reason rose on 1/11/11 this year.

Inhabitants from the area appeared worried when witnessing the strange phenomenon. "The sun is not supposed to be here until January 13th, something isn't right" a 74 year old local reported to KBR radio. [1]

Some scientist believe the melting of ice sheets is what caused the phenomenon. "The constellation of the stars has not changed and if it did the data of Earth's axis and rotation would be monitored minute by minute all over the world," said Wolfgang Lenhardt, head of the geophysics department at the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG).

Bizarro Earth

Mysterious Infection is Killing B.C. Salmon

Sockeye Salmon
© John Lehmann/The Globe and MailA male sockeye salmon attacks another male as they make their way up the Adams River at Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park north of Chase B.C. October 12, 2010.
Large numbers of sockeye salmon are dying in the Fraser River, before spawning, because of a mysterious virus, new research suggests.

Historical records show that some fish always die en route to their spawning beds, but since the early 1990s the problem has become increasingly acute - with more than two million fish dying in some years. Researchers have long puzzled over what was causing the seemingly healthy fish to suddenly stop swimming and turn belly up.

A large team of researchers from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans and three Canadian universities has now found most of the fish that die before spawning have a common "genomic signature" - or a pattern that shows changes have taken place in an array of genes activated to fight infection.

"Our hypothesis is that the genomic signal associated with elevated mortality is in response to a virus infecting fish before river entry and that persists to the spawning areas," says the report published in the journal Science on Thursday.

Studies on the spawning grounds show more than 70 per cent of the salmon that died before spawning had the genomic signature.

Igloo

Weatherspace Prediction: Arctic blast will hit Midwest next week, the Northeast a week after

Image

Since early this month, TheWeatherSpace.com has been predicting an arctic blast for half of the United States, far colder than anything seen this winter yet, and it looks like it is coming.

According to our meteorologist's analysis and report today, cold air coming out of Western Canada will dip directly into the United States next week, bringing the coldest air through the Canada and North Dakota border by January 17th, with -30F temperatures expected.

Temperatures are expected to be below zero, even at -10F or lower a day or two after in areas like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Northern Missouri, Eastern Nebraska, and Iowa.

A week after, around January 24th, The Northeastern United States may have temperatures well below zero for even a daytime high as the polar vortex moves through Eastern Canada.

This is a dangerous situation coming up, which will lead to many deaths in anyone exposed to this cold for a short period of time over a large area of the Upper part of the Central and Eastern United States.

Comment: SOTT can't validate predictions made by The Weatherspace.com, but we are certainly interested in monitoring their track record.


Cloud Lightning

Brazil Flood Death Toll Rises to 443, More Feared

Brazil flood/truck in water
© Reuters/Bruno DomingosA partially submerged vehicle is seen after a landslide in Teresopolis, Jan 13, 2011.
Rescue workers dug desperately for survivors on Thursday and struggled to reach areas cut off by floods and landslides that have killed at least 443 people in one of Brazil's deadliest natural disasters in decades.

Torrents of mud and water set off by heavy rains left a trail of destruction through the mountainous Serrana region near the city of Rio de Janeiro, toppling houses, buckling roads and burying entire families as they slept.

"It's like an earthquake struck some areas," said Jorge Mario, the mayor of Teresopolis, where 185 people were killed and scores more were feared dead.

"The death toll is going to climb a lot. There are a lot of people buried who can't get help because rescue teams can't get there," Mario said, adding that three of the town's neighborhoods were destroyed by the flooding.

The mudslides swept away the homes of rich and poor alike in and around Teresopolis and other towns, likely causing billions of dollars in damage. But the brunt of the disaster was borne by poorer rural residents in houses built in risky areas without formal planning permission.

The floods have not affected Brazil's main export crops -- soy, sugar cane, oranges and coffee -- although they could push up local food prices further as the small Serrana region is an important producer of fruit and vegetables for the Rio metropolitan area.

Television images showed rescuers trying to haul residents from raging floodwaters, and going through the ruins of homes in search of survivors, often finding only corpses. One success came when a 6-month-old baby was rescued alive from the rubble of a house, drawing thunderous cheers from residents.

Bizarro Earth

US: More Aftershocks Rattle Monterey County Following 4.5 Magnitude Earthquake

Image
© USGS
The U.S. Geological Survey reported another pair of magnitude 3.0 and larger earthquakes struck Wednesday evening near Monterey County, less than a day after a 4.5-magnitude tremor and numerous aftershocks rattled the region.

The largest earthquakes this evening - one with a magnitude of 3.7 and the other with a magnitude of 3.9 - shook an area seven miles west of Prunedale at 7:54 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively.

Since Wednesday morning, that area of the hills bordering Monterey and San Benito counties has experienced 27 earthquakes following the magnitude 4.5 quake that punctuated the day's seismic activity.

That tremor struck near Fremont Peak State Park at 12:51 a.m., according to the USGS, and had a depth of 1.8 miles. The epicenter was located 10 miles east-southeast of Prunedale and 45 miles south-southeast of San Jose.

Most of the aftershocks had a magnitude between 1.1 and 2.9, but four of the 27 measured 3.0 or larger.

Bizarro Earth

Sicily: Spectacular Night Footage of Mount Etna Eruption

Europe's highest active volcano, Mount Etna has begun spewing lava again. The Sicilian volcano sent bright orange balls of lava straight up into the air and a steady glowing orange flow ran down its side. According to the ANSA news agency, flames went hundreds of metres into the air and could be seen from the nearby towns of Catania and Taormina.