The National Weather Service in Honolulu has issued a winter storm warning for the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa until 6 a.m. Wednesday (Feb 22) for elevations above 8,000 feet. A winter storm warning means significant amounts of snow, sleet and ice are expected or is occuring. Strong winds are also possible.
Sleet, snow and freezing rain will make for hazardous conditions for drivers and hikers. An additional three to four inches of snowfall is expected this afternoon and evening.
Time-lapse movie of Mauna Loa. This panorama is a composite of a five images from a temporary research camera positioned on the north rim of Mokuʻāweoweo, the summit caldera of Mauna Loa volcano. If you look carefully around early morning or late evening, you may see a few thermal areas emitting steam. Images courtesy of USGS
Earth Changes
© USGS
"I live on a main highway and five miles from the reported epicenter," Rhonda Brack, a manager at Tasters Restaurant in East Prairie, told msnbc.com. "It sounded like a semi-truck and it rattled my windows and it rattled my house."
She said the magnitude 4.0 earthquake has been the hot topic of conversation since the popular breakfast and coffee house opened up at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday.
"We're no strangers to quakes, but this one was different," Brack said. "We had one four years ago and that one rolled. This one was straight underneath us and lasted for 30 seconds or so. It reminded you of lightning."
U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist John Bellini said the rural farming community of East Prairie is known for its seismic activity.
At least 20 people suffered slight injuries on their toes and fingers when they were attacked by carnivorous fish as they were bathing in a river in southern Brazil, authorities reported Monday.
The attack occurred Sunday afternoon at two different spots on the Toropi river, which runs through the central part of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.
The bathers were attacked by a school of "palometas", a species of carnivorous fish native to South America's Southern Cone.
The attack occurred Sunday afternoon at two different spots on the Toropi river, which runs through the central part of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.
The bathers were attacked by a school of "palometas", a species of carnivorous fish native to South America's Southern Cone.
© USGS
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 09:58:43 UTC
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 03:58:43 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location:
36.850°N, 89.409°W
Depth:
5 km (3.1 miles)
Region:
SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI
Distances:
16 km (9 miles) ESE of Sikeston, Missouri
27 km (16 miles) SW of Cairo, Illinois
197 km (122 miles) NNE of Memphis, Tennessee
310 km (192 miles) SE of JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri
As far a flowering pot plants go, the Silene stenophylla plant sitting in a corner of a Russian laboratory will not win many awards. The one award it will win, however, is pretty impressive: The most ancient, viable, multi-cellular, living organism on Earth.
The Silene stenophylla was brought back to life using seeds buried by squirrels in Siberian permafrost more than 30,000 years ago. The seeds have been held in suspended animation by the cold, which has served as a 'frozen gene pool', scientists say.
The Silene stenophylla was brought back to life using seeds buried by squirrels in Siberian permafrost more than 30,000 years ago. The seeds have been held in suspended animation by the cold, which has served as a 'frozen gene pool', scientists say.
© National News and Pictures
Still growing strong: After 30,500 years buried in permanently frozen soil, the Silene stenophylla bore fruit and bloomed petite white flowers
Still growing strong: After 30,500 years buried in permanently frozen soil, the Silene stenophylla bore fruit and bloomed petite white flowers
Belgrade - Ice floes up to one metre (three feet) thick smashed into hundreds of boats on the River Danube near Belgrade as a thaw set in, sinking a floating restaurant, officials and witnesses said Monday.
Barges also broke adrift under the pressure of the ice as it melted and broke up following a rise in temperature at the end of a two-week cold snap that killed hundreds of people across Europe.
"Hundreds of small boats were damaged or sunk, while almost 90 percent of rafts were moved up to 20 metres (yards) downstream," Zoran Matic of the Belgrade water company told AFP.
Barges also broke adrift under the pressure of the ice as it melted and broke up following a rise in temperature at the end of a two-week cold snap that killed hundreds of people across Europe.
© AFP
People try to salvage their boats among big chunks of ice on the Danube River in Zemun near Belgrade on February 20, 2012.
People try to salvage their boats among big chunks of ice on the Danube River in Zemun near Belgrade on February 20, 2012.
© Ko Sasaki / The New York Times
Fishing boats and other debris are dispersed at the Oharai Port after a tsunami struck the area following Friday's massive earthquake in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan, March 12, 2011.
Fishing boats and other debris are dispersed at the Oharai Port after a tsunami struck the area following Friday's massive earthquake in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan, March 12, 2011.
In the age of constant crisis coverage, it is easy to forget that disasters don't just end once the cameras move on. On the contrary, they morph into new situations, sometimes improved, but often more complex and severe. In the case of Japan's earthquake-tsunami-nuclear catastrophe, part of that tripartite disaster floated out to sea as debris where it has been drifting for months to destinations unknown.
According to Japan's Ministry of Environment's Waste Management Division, the 9.0 magnitude temblor and tsunami generated some 25 million tons of debris in total, literally sucking the lives of thousands of people and their belongings out to sea. Since last March, the remains of destroyed buildings, vehicles, broken furniture, fishing boats, nets and miscellaneous flotsam has been adrift in the north Pacific vastness. But how much was pulled into the ocean and where it will end up, no one can really say for sure.
Scientists and experts in Canada and the United States and, in particular, the Hawaiian islands, recognizing the potential for a fourth leg to Japan's triple disaster, are trying to forecast a possible debris path as they prepare for what could be headed their way.
© Gurizada Kamalova
Rare Dalmatian pelicans, a threatened species, are dying of cold and hunger amid freezing weather in Russia's usually warm Dagestan, where the birds are currently wintering.
Temperatures of minus 20-30 degrees Celsius have swept Russia's southern latitudes, coating the Caspian Sea in a thick layer of sea ice. Some 500 Dalmatian pelicans out of the total population in Russia of about 1,400 were forced to take refuge at a shipyard on the Caspian Sea near Dagestan's capital Makhachkala.
According to information from the Dagestansky Nature Preserve, about 16 pelicans have died from hunger and cold on the Caspian shores of Dagestan.
An adult Dalmatian pelican requires at least 2.5 kg of fish daily, but the giant birds are unable to feed themselves from the ice-covered sea.
© AVO/USGS
Kanaga Volcano - Viewed from the west with Mt Moffet, Adak and Great Sitkin in the background.
Kanaga Volcano - Viewed from the west with Mt Moffet, Adak and Great Sitkin in the background.
Kanaga Volcano, located near the port city of Adak, experienced a tremor Saturday morning followed by more seismic activity for about an hour, said the Alaska Volcano Observatory. This activity follows more of the same at Mount Cleveland, which threatens to make life troubling for Alaskans.
Last erupting in 1994 and 1995 Kanaga saw significant ash plumes near the community of Adak and disrupted air traffic due to continuing low-level activity and cloudy conditions, which prevented visual approaches to the local air field.
Adak is a former Navy station that has about 330 residents, a state-owned airport left over from US Navy operations, a seafood processing plant and numerous maritime-service operations.
Mount Cleveland's observatory reported a new 200-foot-diameter lava dome building near its summit according to Alaska Volcano Observatory. "There have been no observations of ash emissions or explosive activity during this current lava eruption."
According to the scientist, our planet began to "get cold" in the 1990s. The new ice age will last at least two centuries, with its peak in 2055.
It is interesting, that the same date was chosen by the supporters of the theory of global warming. According to them, in 2055 the Earth will start to "boil".
The expected decrease in temperature may have to become the fifth over the past nine centuries, reports Hydrometeorological Center of Russia. Experts call this phenomenon the "little ice age", it was observed in the XII, XV, XVII, XIX centuries. This cyclicity makes the theory of upcoming cold weather in XXI century look like truth.
Source: vmdaily.ru
