Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Volcanic Activity Forces Airlines to Cancel Flights to Indonesian Capital

Image
© AP PhotoPassengers enter a terminal as an information screen shows cancelled international flights at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010.
Mount Merapi - International airlines cancelled flights into Indonesia's capital Saturday after a volcano hundreds of kilometres to the east unleashed its most powerful eruption in a century, incinerating villagers as they fled a searing gas cloud.

The number of people killed by Mount Merapi in the past two weeks climbed to 138, as a tiny hospital at the foot of the mountain struggled to cope with survivors, some with burns on up to 95 per cent of their bodies.

The only sign of life in one man, whose eyes were milky grey in colour and never blinked, was the shallow rising and falling of his chest. Others, their lungs choked with abrasive volcanic ash, struggled to breathe.

Indonesia's most volatile mountain unleashed a surge of searing gas, rocks and debris Friday that raced down its slopes at highway speeds, mowing down the slope-side village of Bronggang and leaving a trail of charred corpses in its path.

Better Earth

Extinct bears found underwater

Image
© Guillermo de Anda Alanis/Yucatan Autonomous University
Underwater archaeologists have discovered the skulls of four Arctotherium - a genus of short-faced bear that went extinct 11,300 years ago - 42 metres down in a submerged cave on the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico.

The 25-30 cm long skulls belong to two adult bears - one of each sex - and two bears that had not reached full maturity. Guillermo de Anda Alanis and his team from the Yucatan Autonomous University discovered them whilst diving in a cavern. Skeletal remains of five humans were also found nearby. Dating of the human skeletons will establish if the two finds are related.

The skulls will force a rethink of bear biogeography in the Americas - Arctotherium was previously known to only reside in South America. The only representative of the short-faced bear family alive today is the spectacled bear of Venezuela.

Nuke

Washington, US: Radioactive Rabbit Waste Found At Ex-Nuclear Facility

Image
© Stoiber
Rabbit droppings found in southeast Washington contain a radioactive material.

The animal waste was found within 100 yards of a facility recently demolished as part of the environmental cleanup at the Hanford Site. The 586-square-mile site produced nuclear materials for the U.S. government from the 1940s until the late '80s.

Bizarro Earth

Cascading volcanic ash sets homes ablaze

Mount Merapi
© Beawiharta / ReutersMount Merapi volcano spews smoke as seen from Sidorejo village in Klaten, near the ancient city of Yogyakarta, on Nov. 3. The latest eruption was the biggest yet, causing evacuees to move their shelters even further from the mountain.
Mount Merapi, Indonesia - A deadly surge of blistering gases cascaded down the slopes of Indonesia's most volatile volcano Friday, torching houses in one mountainside village. At least 48 people were killed in the latest inferno and scores of others injured.

Men with ash-covered faces streamed down Mount Merapi on motorcycles followed by truckloads of women and crying children, following the massive eruption just before midnight Friday.

Even staff at the mountain's main monitoring post were told to move farther from the glowing crater.

Hospital spokesman Heru Nugroho said 48 bodies were brought in after the inferno. More than 65 others were injured, many of them critically.

Cloud Lightning

Costa Rica landslide kills at least 20 as storm hits

Costa Rica landslide
© ReutersVolunteers search for landslide victims in the San Antonio de Escazu district
A landslide in Costa Rica caused by heavy rain has killed at least 20 people in a suburb of the capital, San Jose, officials say.

A number of people are still missing following the landslide in the western district of San Antonio de Escazu.

A hillside gave way, sending tons of rock and earth onto the houses below.

The Costa Rican government is considering declaring a national emergency.

Cloud Lightning

Cholera-Hit Haiti Braces for Looming Storm

Haiti
© AFPHaitian refugees await word of Caribbean storm Tomas at a tent city in Port-au-Prince
Haiti reeled from a spike in cholera deaths as authorities planned mass evacuations from squalid tent cities ahead of a major storm set to lash the Americas' poorest nation beginning Thursday.

Tropical Storm Tomas was barreling toward Haiti, threatening a direct hit early Friday as a hurricane bringing "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides over mountainous terrain," according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

A hurricane warning was issued, which means hurricane conditions are expected in the affected area within 24 to 36 hours, while tropical storm-force winds and rain were expected to buffet the Caribbean nation from late Thursday.

"These conditions make outside preparations difficult or dangerous, and preparations to protect life and property should be rushed to completion," the Miami-based center warned.

Bizarro Earth

Tonga: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - 3th Nov 10

Tonga Quake_031110
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, November 03, 2010 at 23:34:44 UTC

Thursday, November 04, 2010 at 12:34:44 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
20.440°S, 174.290°W

Depth:
33.2 km (20.6 miles)

Region:
TONGA

Distances:
120 km (75 miles) NE of NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga

200 km (125 miles) S of Neiafu, Tonga

460 km (285 miles) E of Ndoi Island, Fiji

2100 km (1310 miles) NNE of Auckland, New Zealand

Radar

Indonesia volcano shoots new blast; 21 more rumble

Image
© ReutersMount Merapi volcano spews smoke as seen from Deles village in Klaten, near the ancient city of Yogyakarta.
Mount Merapi, Indonesia - Deafening explosions of hot gas rattled evacuees miles (kilometers) from an Indonesian volcano Monday, the latest eruption in a deadly week. The country reported increased rumblings at 21 other active volcanoes, raising questions about what's causing the uptick along some of the world's most volatile fault lines.

No casualties were reported in Mount Merapi's new blast, which came as Indonesia struggles to respond to an earthquake-generated tsunami that devastated a remote chain of islands. The two disasters unfolding on opposite ends of the country have killed nearly 500 people and strained the government's emergency response network. In both events, the military has been called in to help.

Snowman

Australia: Adelaide's Coldest October in Seven Years

Despite below average rain Adelaide had it's wettest October in five years, it was also the coldest in seven years, according to weatherzone.com.au.

The city only managed 28mm, 17mm short of the monthly average, but still wetter than any of the previous four Octobers.

A large area covering South Australia's Central and South East districts had a similar month, wetter than any of the last four Octobers but still drier than average. Coonawarra failed to reach half their monthly average of 47mm, only gaining 20mm.

Bizarro Earth

Indonesia: Earthquake Magnitude 6.0 - Near the South Coast of Papua

Papua Quake_031110
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Wednesday, November 03, 2010 at 11:18:16 UTC

Wednesday, November 03, 2010 at 08:18:16 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
4.614°S, 134.040°E

Depth:
14.8 km (9.2 miles) set by location program

Region:
NEAR THE SOUTH COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA

Distances:
130 km (80 miles) N of Dobo, Kepulauan Aru, Indonesia

270 km (170 miles) WSW of Enarotali, Papua, Indonesia

930 km (580 miles) NNE of DARWIN, Northern Territory, Australia

3015 km (1870 miles) E of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia