Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

US: Missourians keep fighting flood waters

St. Louis - Flood-weary residents were hard hit again by high water in parts of southern Missouri in recent days, resulting in reports Monday of one death and dozens of damaged and water-logged homes.

In Hartville in south-central Missouri, a 43-year-old man died when driving near the flooded Gasconade River on Friday. Parts of Branson's lake shore were cleaning up after 28 homes flooded, out of 49 homes that were evacuated last week on Lake Taneycomo.

In southeast Missouri, a levee break flooded dozens of homes outside of Poplar Bluff over the weekend, some of them flooding for the second time in about a month.

And it may not be over yet - the Corps of Engineers said it is closely monitoring lakes in the entire White River basin, including those in Missouri, that have reached or are near capacity.

Bell

US: Flood waters rise in Rock county, Wisconsin

The recent rains aren't helping lower river water levels in Rock county.

Sheriff's deputies are making frequent checks of the Rock and Sugar rivers as days of flooding conditions turn into weeks. Checks Monday morning show a weekend of rising water with the Rock river at Newville a foot-and-a-half above flood-stage, the Rock river at Indianford just over the banks, and the Rock river at Afton two-feet above flood stage. The Sugar river in Avon Township has also swelled topping the five-foot flood stage by a foot-and-a-half over the weekend.

Cloud Lightning

Boy, 8 rescued from storm drain

County firefighters rescued an 8-year-old boy from a storm drain outside a Crownsville church yesterday after he got stuck trying to retrieve a lost ball.

child_recsue
©Eddie M. Harris/The Capital
A child was rescued by firefighters yesterday after he was partially stuck in a storm drain in front of South Shore Baptist Church on Herald Harbor Road at about 10:45 a.m. It took only a few minutes to free the 8-year-old.

Cloud Lightning

Earthquake shakes Indonesia's West Southeast Maluku District

An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale shook West Southeast Maluku (MTB) District, Maluku Province, on Monday at 12.15 am Western Indonesian Time (WIB).

Telescope

Flashback The Tagish Lake Meteorite: "Like Sampling the Surface of a Comet"

A scientific consortium of 4 universities and NASA is now trying to uncover the debris and sample the early solar system's unique chemistry.

tagish1
©University Calgary
Close-up of Tagish Lake fragile carbon porousity.

Telescope

Lonar crater in India , Almost Lunar



Lonar Crater in India
©SPACE.com

NASA's Terra satellite acquired this image of Lonar Crater in India, using the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument. This astrobleme (a space-caused earth blemish) is located in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra State, India.

Cloud Lightning

UK: Family flees as bolt of lightning hits home

A shaken mother and daughter told of their miraculous escape after a lightning strike blew an enormous hole in their roof. Power to their street was also cut after the bolt hit a transformer opposite the house in a freak Fen storm.

Melissa Bullen and her 13-year-old daughter Kayleigh were in the kitchen at the time they heard a bang like "a sonic boom" followed by a bright flash. A socket flew out of the wall and hit Mrs Bullen (37) with such force, it left an a red burn on her arm.

Better Earth

Kilauea Volcano Explodes Again

Kilauea Volcano has exploded again. Officials say a small explosion that sent rocks more than 200 feet up onto the rim of the volcano's main Halemaumau crater occurred Wednesday night, hours before the park reopened.

The park was evacuated Tuesday and remained closed Wednesday because of elevated sulfur dioxide emissions.

Bulb

Theory of the month: global cooling



Global cooling
©Unknown
Theory of the month: global cooling

This week, I continued to fill my unwelcome extra wheelie bin with the newspapers I used to take to the recycling centre myself and paid the first of this year's council tax, which has doubled in a decade. Some £50 of this has gone to provide the aforesaid wheelie bin and there are about 20,000 like it in the Craven area of the Yorkshire Dales alone.

I bought a new (cheap) watch which came with a printed warning that should I need a new battery, I must take the old one to the council tip for recycling - a battery which is smaller than a 5p piece.

Bizarro Earth

Global Cooling or Global Warming - Which Is It and How Can We Know?

There is huge disagreement in the scientific community about global warming. Researchers on either side have no trouble finding data to support their chosen theory. Recent climatic events highlight the importance of not over interpreting short-term data - temperature fluctuations either up or down. The environmental alarmists who have been overstating connections between extreme weather conditions and a man-made warming trend are on the opposite side of other researchers who are sounding the warning bell about global cooling. Both sides of the issue must be careful to avoid distortion of facts to support beliefs.

The key to interpretation is long-term trends. To focus on a few years or months of climatic data and present any evidence of either cooling or warming as been called a waste of time and perhaps even a harmful distraction.