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Bizarro Earth

India: 16 dolphins washed ashore dead in Pondy

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Puducherry: Sixteen long-nosed dolphins were washed ashore dead at three places along the Puducherry coast on Monday. It has raised concern among environmentalists as it is the 20th instance in 16 months of protected marine mammals being washed ashore dead or alive.

On an average, about 250 dolphins are washed shore dead or alive every year, said Dr R S Lal Mohan, retired principal scientist of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI).

A group of fishermen in Pudukuppam in the Union territory spotted five dead dolphins on the shore on Monday morning and alerted the forest and fisheries department officials. A few hours later, fishermen from neighbouring hamlets also informed them about 11 more dead dolphins found at two other places.

Nuke

Japan's Nuclear Volcano Erupts

Fukushima plant
© NHK
Shares plunged across Europe and Asia on Tuesday as the crisis at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant deepened and Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency raised the atomic alert level to its highest rating. Conditions at the stricken facility have steadily deteriorated and now the station is intermittently spewing lethal amounts of radiation into the atmosphere and around the world. A French nuclear group has warned that children and pregnant mothers should protect themselves from the fallout. According to Euractiv:
"The risks associated with iodine-131 contamination in Europe are no longer "negligible," according to CRIIRAD, a French research body on radioactivity. The NGO is advising pregnant women and infants against "risky behaviour," such as consuming fresh milk or vegetables with large leaves."

Radar

Scientists warn of years of aftershocks in Japan, and risks on other faults

Japan won't stop shaking. One month after the horrific March 11 earthquake and tsunami, the island was rattled anew by aftershocks: A magnitude-6.6 quake on Monday was followed by a 6.3 quake on Tuesday.

Monday's quake was strong enough to knock out electricity briefly at the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant.

Four days earlier, a magnitude-7.1 quake led to four deaths and widespread power outages. With soldiers still looking for the bodies of thousands of people who vanished a month ago, Japan is coping with the painful reality that it sits in a seismic bull's eye.

Now scientists are warning that the March 11 event not only will lead to years of aftershocks but also might have increased the risk of a major quake on an adjacent fault. A new calculation by American and Japanese scientists concluded that the March 11 event heightened the strain on a number of faults bracketing the ruptured segment of the Japan Trench.

Bizarro Earth

US: Yellowstone volcanic plume much larger than expected

Yellowstone National Park hosts a variety of hot springs and geysers, all powered by a plume of molten rock under its surface. At times in the past, that plume has powered activity that was quite a bit less scenic: massive eruptions that have been capable of covering roughly half of North America with ash. Thus, understanding the structure and evolution of this hotspot has an immense practical value. Now, thanks to an array of sensors funded by the National Science Foundation and some new computing techniques, some researchers have produced a new image of the plume, one that suggests the area of elevated temperatures is much larger than previously suspected.

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© AGUThe MT data (left) shows a larger mantle plume than that visible in seismic data.
Yellowstone sits on the same sort of mantle plume that powers the Hawaiian volcanoes. Since it's located in the middle of a continental plate, however, the behavior is quite different. Instead of relatively steady flows of molten rock, mid-continent hotspots tend to produce rare, explosive eruptions. Yellowstone's major eruptions have been separated by hundreds of thousands of years, and have packed an astonishing punch, with each eruption being thousands of times more potent than Mt. St. Helens.

Past imaging efforts have used seismic waves to detect the border between molten and solid rock. These have indicated that the mantle plume originates somewhere deep under Idaho and slopes eastward as it rises to meet the surface under Wyoming.

Bizarro Earth

US: Possible Seven Wisconsin Tornadoes May Be Record

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - A powerful storm system that moved through the nation's midsection over the weekend caused what may be a record-breaking seven tornadoes in Wisconsin, officials said Monday.

"It's one of the most significant tornado outbreaks in April," said Rich Mamrosh, meteorologist for the National Weather Service. He said if confirmed, the number of Sunday night storms may have broken a record for a single day in April in the state -- the previous record was six.

Mamrosh said a strong low pressure system moved from South Dakota to northern Wisconsin Sunday, moving warm, moist air into the state, which was followed by a cold front, producing the storms.

A tornado in Merrill in the north-central portion of the state causing widespread damage to homes and businesses, said Captain Scott Krause of the Merrill Fire Department. Three people were taken to area hospitals.

Storms caused damage in other portions of the Midwest and south over the weekend. Iowa governor Terry Branstad declared a state of emergency after a storm Saturday that destroyed over half the town of Mapleton, but left no one seriously injured among its 1,200 residents, according to local law enforcement.

The peak U.S. tornado season lasts from March until early July, the period when warm, humid air often has to thrust upward against cool, dry air.

Nuke

Japan Raises Nuke Crisis Severity to Match Chernobyl

Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
© Air Photo Service Co. Ltd., JapanMarch 20, 2011 aerial photo taken by a small unmanned drone of damaged Unit 4, left, and Unit 3 of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
Japan's nuclear regulators raised the severity level of the crisis at a stricken nuclear plant Tuesday to rank it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, citing the amount of radiation released in the accident.

The regulators said the rating was being raised from 5 to 7 - the highest level on an international scale overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency. However, there was no sign of any significant change at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.

The new ranking signifies a "major accident" with "wider consequences" than the previous level, according to the Vienna-based IAEA.

"We have upgraded the severity level to 7 as the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water and the ocean," said Minoru Oogoda of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

Cloud Lightning

I-29 closed indefinitely north of Fargo because of flooding

fargo,flood
© MPR Photo/Ann Arbor Miller
A stretch of Interstate Hwy. 29 will remain closed indefinitely north of Fargo, where overland floodwaters are running 8 inches deep across its driving lanes.

North Dakota Gov. John Dalrymple, in Fargo during the continuing flood emergency, said it would remain closed indefinitely. The highway is closed between Fargo and Hillsboro, nearly 40 miles to the north.

Dalrymple and other officials indicated that the flood crisis had moved from Fargo and Moorhead, where the Red River crested Saturday, to outlying areas to the north, downstream. Several people were evacuated from rural homes over the weekend and emergency agencies remained on alert for more Monday.

Nuke

Japan expands nuclear evacuation zone as new quake hits

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© Unknown
Japan on Monday expanded the evacuation zone around its crippled nuclear plant because of high levels of accumulated radiation, as a strong aftershock rattled the area one month after a quake and tsunami sparked the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

A magnitude 7.1 tremor shook buildings in Tokyo and a wide swathe of eastern Japan on Monday evening, triggering a small tsunami alert. NHK state television said it caused the off-site power supply for two damaged reactors to shut down.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the aftershock struck 38 km (24 miles) west of the city of Iwaki, at a depth of 13 km (8 miles).

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which operates the plant, said workers had stopped pouring cooling water on reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 at Fukushima.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said villages and towns outside the 20 km (12 mile) evacuation zone that have had more accumulated radiation would be evacuated. Children, pregnant women, and hospitalized patients should stay out of some areas 20-30 km from the Fukushima nuclear complex, he added.

Bizarro Earth

Italy: New Eruption Started at Italy's Etna

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© RavingWebcam capture of Etna on April 10, 2011. The new lava flow can be seen on the upper right-hand slope of the volcano.
Another quick weekend post!

Etna has sprung back to life as April opens, with new eruptions from the Southeast Crater Cone. Friday and Saturday (April 8-9), the Italian volcano produced some ash and a 3-km lava flow, but then quieted. However, the seismicity under the volcano continued and late tonight into today (April 10), Etna starting producing small strombolian explosions from the Southeast Crater Cone (see below). You can check out a full description of the renewed activity on the INGV-Catania website (written by, surprise, Dr. Boris Behncke - be sure to follow him on Twitter for all sorts of updates). This is now the third eruption at Etna since the beginning of 2011. Eruptions reader Pgen Pgen also posted a timelapse of some of the April 9-10 activity at Etna.

Bizarro Earth

7.1 aftershock hits Japan

A warning for a small wave is issued on the one-month anniversary of the giant quake and tsunami.

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© Kyodo NewsSurvivors in Miyako, Japan, observe a moment of silence in the rubble exactly a month after a massive earthquake and tsunami.
A strong earthquake rattled Japan's northeast Monday and sparked a fresh tsunami alert on the one-month anniversary of the massive temblor and wave that devastated the northeastern coast and unleashed a still-unfolding nuclear crisis.

The 7.1-magnitude aftershock briefly forced Tokyo's main international airport to close both of its runways. The epicenter was just inland and about 100 miles north of Tokyo. The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex said the latest quake had no impact on the plant.

A warning was issued for a three-foot tsunami, the same as for after an aftershock that shook the northeast coast last week. That quake generated no tsunami.

People at a large electronics store in the northeastern city of Sendai screamed and ran outside, though the shaking made it hard to move around. Mothers grabbed their children, and windows shook. After a minute or two, people returned to the store.