Earth ChangesS


Fish

Horrific prehistoric fish landed off the Norway coast

This unusual specimen might look like something out of a horror movie, but it proved to be one of the highlights of Peter Bailey's most recent trip to the prolific waters off the north of Norway.
wolf fish
Peter Bailey with the ugly, prehistoric wolf fish

The prehistoric-looking wolf fish, which pulled the scales around to 16lb 15oz, is one of the biggest landed on rod and line so far this year.

It was caught on a baited pirk when Peter braved strong winds and snow in an area around Kokelv - which is perhaps better known for producing monster cod to well over 70lb in recent months.

Sun

Halo around the sun Friday

halo,sun

Friday afternoon from about noon to 1 p.m. some folks in west central Minnesota looked up in the sky and saw a mysterious halo around the sun.

"What does it mean?" observers inquired.

"It's an angel," one person commented.

"Nah, it's some scientific thing," said another.

"I think it's God," declared another.

Meteor

SOTT Focus: New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection

This article was first published in issue 13, volume 1 / 2011 of The Dot Connector Magazine, official publication of Sott.net.
"Comets are vile stars. Every time they appear in the south, they wipe out the old and establish the new. Fish grow sick, crops fail, Emperors and common people die, and men go to war. The people hate life and don't even want to speak of it." -Li Ch'un Feng, Director, Chinese Imperial Astronomical Bureau, 648, A.D.
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In 2007, a meteorite fell in Puno, Southeastern Perú. José Macharé - scientist of the Geologic, Mining and Metallurgic Institute in Perú - said that the space rock fell near a muddy area by Lake Titicaca, making the water boil for around ten minutes, and mixing with the soil and emanating a gray cloud, the components of which remain unknown. Having discarded radioactive poisons, this toxic cloud is said to have caused headaches and respiratory problems in at least 200 persons from a population of 1500 inhabitants. Other than this event, how often do we hear about people getting sick due to a rock coming from space? How about birds, fish or other animals? Ancient astrologers cite comets as ill omens of death and famine, but are there any other causes other than the ones due to physical/mechanical consequences of comet impact devastation in our fragile environment of which we should be aware?

As a physician, I usually concentrate strictly on medical and health-related issues, not history or catastrophism. However, like so many other people, I see signs of atmospheric changes on our planet which, according to many experts, may well be due to increasing comet dust loading. When I read about increasing reports of fireballs all around the world, and I know that these factors must have an effect on the health of individuals and societies, it motivates me to do the research to find the connections so that I am better prepared for what may lie in our future. If our planet is entering a new cometary bombardment cycle, and if these comets harbor new species of microbes unknown to mankind's collective immunological systems (as may well be the case), then being forewarned is being forearmed.

According to the late Sir Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe of the University of Wales at Cardiff, viruses can be distributed throughout space by dust in the debris stream of comets. Then as Earth passes though the stream, the dust and viruses load our atmosphere, where they can stay suspended for years until gravity pulls them down. They compare numerous plagues throughout our history which coincide with cometary bodies in our skies. These researchers are certain that germs causing plagues and epidemics come from space.

In a letter to Lancet [1],Wickramasinghe explains that a small amount of a virus introduced into the stratosphere could make a first tentative fallout east of the great mountain range of the Himalayas, where the stratosphere is thinnest, followed by sporadic deposits in neighboring areas. Could this explain why new strains of the influenza virus that are capable of engendering epidemics, and which are caused by radical genetic mutations, usually originate in Asia? Wickramasinghe argues that if the virus is only minimally infective, the subsequent course of its global progress will depend on stratospheric transport and mixing, leading to a fallout continuing seasonally over a few years; even if all reasonable attempts are made to contain an infective spread, the appearance of new foci almost anywhere is a possibility.

Comment: See also:

Black Death found to be Ebola-like virus

New Light on the Black Death: The Cosmic Connection

Related:

Happy New Year 2014?

SOTT Talk Radio show #70: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?


Fish

More Frequent Whale Strandings Has Experts on Edge

Image
© NOAA via Flickr CC
In the last few years, there has been an unexplained spike in the number of whales washing ashore. While the National Marine Fisheries Service has declared an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, it's more than just oil spills that are causing increased strandings worldwide. And experts are worried.

The numbers of beached whales have been gradually rising, peaking in 2009 with 46 whales coming ashore, and The Department of Environment and Conservation is conducting an investigation into what could be causing the rise, reports ABC news.

It could be anything from nutrition issues to sonar that drives whales off course, disorients them, or can even cause internal damage. While there has been a rash of strandings in Florida, including at least 15 pilot whales that washed ashore this week in the Florida keys, experts are quick to point out that the BP gulf oil spill is a possible cause, but not the only factor. Earth Times points out that, "A number of recent strandings in other regions happened well before the Deepwater spill occurred. In March 2009, 194 whales and a small dolphin pod became stranded on the coast of Tasmania, and most did not survive. The previous November, 150 pilot whales died in another mass stranding in Tasmania... In February 2011, 107 whales died on the coast of New Zealand."

Comment: It's astonishing that this - ahem - "journalist" doesn't go the distance and draw the obvious conclusion that whales, other sea life, and humans on the shores, are sickening and dying from the BP oil spill.


Bizarro Earth

Levee blast means lost year for Missouri farmers

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© The Associated Press / Jeff RobersonIn this photo made May 3, 2011, a farm is seen surrounded by floodwater near New Madrid, Mo. When the Army Corps of Engineers intentionally broke a clay levee holding back the rising Mississippi River, muddy water came pouring over Missouri farmland and raised fears that the fertile soil would be rendered unusable for months if not years. But soil experts say the long-term damage may not be so bad for farming and some land could even get planted with soybeans later this summer.
Blasting open a levee and submerging more than 200 square miles of Missouri farmland has likely gouged away fertile topsoil, deposited mountains of debris to clear and may even hamper farming in some places for years, experts say.

The planned explosions this week to ease the Mississippi River flooding threatening the town of Cairo, Ill., appear to have succeeded - but their effect on the farmland, where wheat, corn and soybeans are grown, could take months or even years to become clear. The Missouri Farm Bureau said the damage will likely exceed $100 million for this year alone.

"Where the breach is, water just roars through and scours the ground. It's like pouring water in a sand pile. There is that deep crevice that's created," said John Hawkins, a spokesman for the Illinois Farm Bureau. "For some farmers, it could take a generation to recoup that area."

The issue is vital to farmers and the state of Missouri, whose attorney general repeatedly tried to block the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' plan to break the levee. Opponents of the move argued it would leave the farmland buried under feet of sand and silt, rendering it useless for years.

It's still not clear how much damage the intentional flooding will cause and how farmers will be compensated for losses to the land and roughly 100 houses scattered through the area. Experts said the extent of the damage can't be accurately assessed until the floodwaters recede, and that likely will take months.

Phoenix

US: Volcano Watch: Kilauea activity update

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© USGS/HVOThe floor of Pu`u `Ō `ō crater continues its slow rise as lava pours out of a new vent at the base of the east wall. The height of the floor has risen 20 m (66 ft) over the past two weeks.
Lava erupted continuously within Pu'u 'O'o over the past week, feeding a small lava lake in the center of the crater. Changes in eruptive output commonly resulted in overflows from the lake that slowly built up the crater floor, which is about 70 m (230 ft) below the east rim of Pu'u 'O'o. No lava is erupting outside the crater.

A small, stable lava lake was also present deep within the Halema'uma'u Overlook vent during the past week. Volcanic gas emissions remain elevated, resulting in relatively high concentrations of sulfur dioxide downwind.

Bizarro Earth

U.S.: Corps keeps fighting flood waters

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Sinkeston, Missouri, - The floodway is open, but the fight isn't over for the Corps of Engineers.

Following the completion of the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway at 2:35 p.m. May 5, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials said they will continue to monitor the floodway and fight rising waters along the Mississippi River watershed.

"This floodfight is not over," Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, Mississippi River Commission President, said. "We have hundreds of engineers working right now in the field fighting floods. Our goal is to reduce risk to people living behind our levees."

Cloud Lightning

US: Mississippi floods force evacuations near Memphis

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© Reuters/Mark Wilson/U.S. Navy/HandoutAn aerial photograph shows flooding at Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tennessee, in this photograph taken May 2 and released May 3, 2010.
The rising Mississippi river lapped over downtown Memphis streets on Thursday as a massive wall of water threatened to unleash near record flooding all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Water lapped over Riverside Drive and onto Beale Street in Memphis, and threatened some homes on Mud Island, a community of about 5,000 residents with a river theme park. The island connects to downtown Memphis by a bridge and causeway.

Emergency officials in Millington near Memphis were "going door-to-door, asking people to leave," according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

Cloud Lightning

US: Tennessee mayor tries to avoid panic in flood zone

Residents from Illinois to Louisiana are bracing for flooding as high water keeps rolling down the Mississippi River, threatening to swamp communities and farmland.

Among the places already affected by the rising flood waters is Dyersburg, Tenn.

On "The Early Show" Friday, John Holden, the town's mayor, said it's preparing for what could be the worst flooding since 1927.


Bizarro Earth

US: 16 Whales Mysteriously Stranded in Florida Keys

Pilot Whale
© Adam Li / NOAA Photo LibraryPilot whale.

It's not yet clear why more than 16 pilot whales became stranded in the lower Florida Keys on Thursday, but the list of possible reasons is long -- and includes the whales' social nature.

Pilot whales live in groups called pods that consist of between 15 and 50 animals, and mass strandings like this one have happened before. Most recently, in 2003, about 25 pilot whales became stranded in the Keys, according to Anne Biddle, media relations director for the Marine Mammal Institute, which is responding to the stranding.

"They tend to strand in pods, they stick together, if one is sick, the whole pod is going to strand," Biddle told LiveScience. The whales are stranded in shallow water, and veterinarians are assessing them to determine if all or a couple are sick, she said.

Pilot whales are toothed whales that can grow to be between 14 and 17 feet (4.3 to 5.2 meters). They live in warm, tropical waters, according to Biddle.

There are many potential causes -- including diseases, parasites, loud noise, toxins or simple confusion -- so figuring out what is responsible for the mass stranding can be challenging, according to Chris Parsons, a professor at George Mason University who has tracked mass whale strandings around the world.