Earth ChangesS


Eye 1

279 Manatees die of 'cold chill' in Florida

manatees
© APManatees congregate around a power-plant's warm-water discharge flow in Florida last December.
What's more depressing than 2 million dead baby fish? Try 279 floating manatees - and not floating in the good way.

Florida officials are blaming the manatee deaths of last year on "cold chill," the same weather condition that Maryland scientists think was responsible for the recent huge fish kill in the Chesapeake Bay. The frigid waters also killed 21 manatee newborns.

Adding in the deaths due to cold, a total of 767 manatees perished in Florida in 2010. It was the deadliest year on record for the canal-cows, according to Martine DeWit, a state veterinarian.

Manatees suffering from the extreme cold don't seem to expire in a forgiving numbness. Says the AP:

[I]f they don't find warm water, lesions form on their body, similar to frostbite. The animals die from infection stemming from weakened immune systems or hypothermia, DeWit said.

Fish

Thousands of Dead Fish Wash Ashore on Folly Beach South Carolina

dead fish, south carolina
© Annie O'Brien
A nationwide scare involving mass deaths of fish and birds has now hit ground locally. A giant fish kill has occurred at Folly Beach, and according to a report by The Post and Courier, one standing at the end of the pier can see a seemingly never ending line of dead fish in both directions.

Officials with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) have confirmed that thousands of dead fish washed ashore behind the former Holiday Inn at Folly Beach and say the fish are all of the same species -- Menhaden.

"We're still waiting to see if DNR can come up with some kind of a clue as to why this happened." Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin said.

If the Fish are not washed away by the tide, Folly Officials will be responsible for the clean up.

Bill Troy was out for his morning jog when he noticed thousands of the silver sided fish washed up on the shore.

Attention

Australia: Victoria Farmers Prepare for Next Locust Plague

Victoria's farmers are preparing for a "second generation" of the locust plague that has swarmed across the state since spring. Hundreds of rural landowners across northern and western Victoria have reported locust egg beds of up to 15 metres long.

The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has had about 430 reports of locust egg beds, which, once hatched, will become the "second generation" of the locust plague. DPI state locust controller John Balfour said most of the reports of egg beds were across the north, central and Wimmera areas of the state, with some reported in other areas.

"The current concentration of egg beds is across the Horsham, Ararat, Stawell areas, through to Castlemaine, Bendigo and then on through Shepparton and further east towards Rutherglen and Wodonga," Mr Balfour told AAP.

The egg beds can be up to 15 metres long, consisting of eggs laid by the plague of locusts that have swarmed across Victoria since spring. A farmer in Katunga, in the state's central north, has also reported the first hatching of a second generation egg bed.

Footprints

Tar Balls Continue to Plague Alabama's Shores

Alabama tar ball clean up
© NBCClean up crews scoop tar balls off of Fort Morgan beach in Alabama.
After taking a break for the holidays, oil spill cleanup crews returned to find thousands of tar balls awash on Alabama's shores.

"Being off ten days like we were, got a little catch up to do here," said Wilber Ledet, project manager with CrowderGulf.

Ledet said as soon as his crews remove the tar balls on the north side of Fort Morgan, replacements find their way ashore.

"We get a beach clean, and we're thinking it's done," he said. "And a good wind comes back, and there it is again."

Question

The 10 Leading Theories For Dead Birds And Fish

As the mainstream media attempts to downplay the latest die-off event, which has now gone global, it is worthwhile to keep track of the story lines. Feel free to add your own to the comments section, and we will update accordingly.

Mainstream Explanations: Lightning, hail, mid-air collision, power lines, and New Year fireworks for the birds . . . but disease for the fish. This is even rolling eyes in the mainstream media. Birds are incredibly sensitive to their environment (think canary in the coal mine), and the thought that they were caught by surprise, or that they "fowled" up their flight pattern is patently ridiculous. And where are the roasted birds from this lightning strike? And what about fish dying in the same region? Just a "disease" coincidence. One mainstream headline has to be enshrined as the saddest attempt at sensationalism, while revealing an obvious natural conclusion Falling Birds Likely Died From Massive Trauma. Really?

Meteor showers: We are in a period of intense seasonal meteor showers, and several perennial YouTubers reported hearing sonic booms in the area that could have indicated a local shock wave. This would be one non-conspiratorial, natural cause that actually makes sense, but it is hard to connect to both birds and fish, unless it produced a disabling frequency. There were indeed other sound anomalies according to the report highlighted above.

Igloo

Little Ice Age? NASA Satellite Reveals Snow-Covered Ireland

Image
© NASA Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team, Jeff SchmaltzThe Emerald Isle was swathed in white on December 22, 2010, when the MODIS instrument aboard the Terra satellite passed overhead, capturing this true-color image.
The Mid-Atlantic and northeastern U.S. were not the only areas dealing with holiday snowfall.

Ireland [usually] enjoys a "temperate ocean climate" (Cfb) based on the Koopen climate classification system. Such climates normally enjoy cool, cloud-covered summers and mild winters. Ireland's climate is also [usually] moderated by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, which flows off the western shore. Snow commonly falls only in the highest elevations; dustings may occur elsewhere a few times each year. Significant accumulations anywhere in the country are rare.

The winter of 2009-2010 was unusually cold and snowy. Called "The Big Freeze" by the British media, it brought widespread transportation problems, school closings, power failures and twenty five deaths. A low of -22.3°C (-8.1°F) was recorded on January 8, 2010, making it the coldest winter since 1978/79.

Igloo

India shivers in deadly cold snap: dozens killed

Image
© Associated PressIndian-administered Kashmir has been hardest hit by the cold weather
An intense spell of cold weather has disrupted life across northern India, reportedly claiming two dozen lives.

The capital, Delhi, has been badly hit by the cold snap, along with Indian-administered Kashmir, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

In Leh in Kashmir, temperatures dropped to -23.6C - this winter's lowest - on Sunday, weather officials said.

Delhi, which is experiencing one of its coldest winters in years, has been hit by thick fog which disrupted flights.

Sunday was Delhi's coldest day this winter with temperatures dipping to 7.8C - cold by the standards of the Indian capital.

Indian homes rarely have central heating - a regular feature in buildings in the West.

Eye 1

Dead birds in Sweden killed by 'external blows'

dead birds

A large number of dead birds were found in the city of Falkoping, Sweden, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to a press release on the website of the Swedish National Veterinary Institute.

Autopsies were peformed on five of the birds. The institute said they died due to "sudden, hard external blows," according to the press release. They had no signs of infection or other illnesses, and there were no external signs indicating what killed them.

"We have determined that the birds have died from severe internal bleedings caused by external blows," said the Institute's Marianne Elvander.

Eye 1

Dead Birds in China: Birds continue to fall around the world - may be a precursor to reversal of poles

dead birds, china
© unknown
Online Translation

On January 2 in cities and towns of Arkansas, more than 1,000 blackbirds fell to the ground from the sky, and they were dead! The American Wildlife Service is confused why the birds fell out of the sky.

Yesterday morning, the king master was walking to work when an eagle suddenly hit him and died. Birds dropping from the sky, such a small probability event, happened most recently in Geleshan, sporadically, and continued for months. These birds out of the sky is only the beginning, now even the eagle is falling. Residents are beginning to feel unrest and scared.

At the Forestry University in Harbin, thousands of sparrows were found in the woods near death, said to be frozen to death.

We know that birds navigate by the Earth's magnetic field - if the magnetic field changes, birds may fall. That migratory birds rely on the body's "biological compass" to determine direction is an "open secret", but it is not clear how birds perceive the magnetic field.

Better Earth

Shift of Earth's Magnetic North Pole Impacts Tampa Airport

Tampa Airport
© Tampa Bay OnlineRunway changes are needed to account for the moving magnetic pole, which is nearing Russia at 40 miles per year.

Scientists say the magnetic north pole is moving toward Russia and the fallout has reached -- of all places -- Tampa International Airport.

The airport has closed its primary runway until Jan. 13 to repaint the numeric designators at each end and change taxiway signage to account for the shift in location of the Earth's magnetic north.

The closure of the west parallel runway will result in more activity on the east parallel runway and more noise for residential areas of south Tampa.

The busiest runway will be re-designated 19R/1L on aviation charts. It's been 18R/36L, indicating its alignment along the 180-degree approach from the north and the 360-degree approach from the south.

Later this month, the airport's east parallel runway and the seldom used east-west runway will be closed to change signage to their new designations.

The Federal Aviation Administration required the runway designation change to account for what a National Geographic News report described as a gradual shift of the Earth's magnetic pole at nearly 40 miles a year toward Russia because of magnetic changes in the core of the planet.