Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Mild earthquake rattles Chicago area

Image
© Stacey Wescott/TribuneThis farm field on Plank Road in Elgin near Hampshire was the epicenter of an overnight earthquake in Illinois, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
A mild earthquake shook northern Illinois this morning.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported a 3.8-magnitude quake at 3:59:33 a.m. centered in a farm field on Plank Road in Elgin near Hampshire and 3.1 miles underground. Initially, it had reported the magnitude as 4.3 with an epicenter about 5.5 miles east of Sycamore.

The quake was felt over a wide area -- from Wisconsin to Tennessee -- but there were no reports of any damage so far, according to the Kane County and DeKalb County sheriff's departments, which are closest to the epicenter.

"We got hundreds of calls," said DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott. "But we have no reports of damage or injuries."

The magnitude and epicenter were revised after the U.S. Geological Survey studied the "wave forms" from the quake, said Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist with the geological survey in Golden, Colo.

Fish

Florida's Wildlife Freezing to Death

Image
© Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation CommissionMore than 200 manatees have washed ashore since January, and carcasses are still turning up.
Manatees, sea turtles and fish in the Sunshine State are dying in record numbers because of the unusually long cold snap.

With temperature in central Florida dipping down again this week, conservationists are bracing for more animal and plant deaths due to unusually long winter cold snaps that have resulted in record wildlife losses.

Manatees have been among the hardest hit, with over 200 killed in January alone, and carcasses continuing to wash ashore. The highest number of manatee deaths for a single calendar year in Florida waters is 429, so local officials are closely monitoring these endangered marine mammals.

"Manatees can experience what is known as cold stress syndrome when they are exposed to water below 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degree Celsius) for long periods," Florida's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute spokesperson Carli Segelson told Discovery News. "This can result in death, or weaken manatees, leaving them more vulnerable to other health issues later."

Igloo

Climate Modification Schemes: Are Mad Scientists Trying to Induce an Ice Age?

Image
© Kathleen Smith/LLNL A schematic representation of various geoengineering and carbon storage proposals: are such schemes selected on the basis that they assist in precipitating an Ice Age?
If human activities could change climate, why not change it on purpose, to suit us better? From 1945 into the 1970s, much effort went into studies of weather modification. American entrepreneurs tried cloud-seeding to enhance local rainfall, Russian scientists offered fabulous schemes of planetary engineering, and military agencies secretly explored "climatological warfare." The hopes and fears promoted basic research on climate change by raising large sums of government money and a few provocative ideas. In the mid 1970s the visionary projects were abandoned. Research turned instead to controversial "geoengineering" schemes for interventions that might restrain global warming if it started to become unbearable.
"Intervention in atmospheric and climatic matters . . . will unfold on a scale difficult to imagine at present. . . . this will merge each nation's affairs with those of every other, more thoroughly than the threat of a nuclear or any other war would have done." - John von Neumann1

Comment: Given that global warming has not in fact been happening, and presuming the chief scientists involved in these military geo-engineering projects are aware of this fact to one degree or another, what does that tell us about the real objective behind the drive to "counter the effects of global warming" while blaming ordinary humanity?


Snowman

Croatian Scientist Warns Ice Age Could Start in Five Years

A top scientist in Croatia has warned Europe to prepare for an ice age instead of talking about global warming.

Physician Vladimir Paar suggests one would not need to cross the sea when travelling from Ireland or UK to Croatia via the rest of Europe.

"A majority of Europe will be under ice, including Germany, Poland, France, Austria, Slovakia and part of Slovenia", Paar said in an interview on Croatian news website Index.

Snowman

US: Enough already: Snow breaks mid-Atlantic records

Washington - Worst winter ever? The second blizzard in less than a week buried the most populous stretch of the East Coast under nearly a foot of snow Wednesday, breaking records for the snowiest winter and demoralizing millions of people still trying to dig out from the previous storm.

Conditions in the nation's capital were so bad that even plows were advised to get off the roads, and forecasters were eyeing a third storm that could be brewing for next week.

Arrow Down

Avalanches near Afghan capital kill over 60

Image
© Bullit Marquez/Associated PressAfghan commuters walk after emerging from the Salang Tunnel in this 2002 file photo, taken two days after a similar avalanche killed four people.

Rescuers locate hundreds of injured in mountain pass.

Avalanches in a mountain pass north of Kabul have killed at least 60 people and injured more than 400, Afghan officials say.

The avalanches Monday followed heavy snow in the Salang Pass that links the Afghan capital with the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Rescuers worked through the night to save 430 injured, with 180 taken by coalition helicopters to Bagram Airbase for medical treatment, the Defence Ministry said. The remaining 250 people were treated at a local hospital.

Interior Minister Hanif Atmar said Tuesday that rescuers have already recovered 24 bodies, but fear more than 40 others have already died. Some 2,500 people have already been rescued from their snow-blocked vehicles, he said.

Cloud Lightning

More Snow Likely to Cripple Major U.S. Cities

Image
© Unknown
A major snow storm is sweeping through the US Mid-Atlantic region where plows still haven't touched some roads, resulting in closed schools, stranded people, and government closings.

The storm hit the Midwest part of the US early Tuesday, shutting down schools and greeting commuters with slick, slushy roads from Indianapolis to Chicago.

Powerful wind and snow were expected to crawl into the Mid-Atlantic States by the afternoon, expected to leave as much as 20 inches of new snow in the Washington, DC area and about18 inches in another major metropolitan area of Philadelphia by Wednesday night.

Parts of these regions were already buried under nearly 3 feet of record snow that fell throughout the Washington area last Friday and Saturday.

Bizarro Earth

Los Angeles foothill suburbs dig out after mudslides

Image
© AP Photo/Mike MeadowsA Los Angeles County Fire Department Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) member, carries a 91-year-old woman from her flood-damaged home on Ocean View Boulevard Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010 in La Canada Flintridge, Calif.
Crews waded through thigh-high mud to check for gas leaks and survey damage in the foothills north of Los Angeles Sunday as evacuated residents waited to find out if they could return to their homes and start digging out.

Forty-three homes in La Canada Flintridge were damaged and 500 more evacuated Saturday after mud and water overflowed basins and surged into streets, taking furniture, cars and concrete barriers with it. About 70 homes remained evacuated Sunday morning.

"In my 20 years of fire service, this is the first time I've seen this much devastation caused by a weather system," Los Angeles County Fire Battalion Chief Mike Brown said while walking past suburban homes with thigh-deep mud in their yards.

Los Angeles County public works crews were using bulldozers and other heavy machinery to move boulders, scoop out catch basins and clear roads.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the area Sunday, stopping to talk to reporters in front of a house where flowing mud left a mark on the wall at least 5 feet above the ground.

Bizarro Earth

Japan: Earthquake Magnitude 6.4 - Southwestern Ryukyu Ilands

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Sunday, February 07, 2010 at 06:10:00 UTC

Sunday, February 07, 2010 at 03:10:00 PM at epicenter

Location:
23.472°N, 123.713°E

Depth:
16.5 km (10.3 miles) (poorly constrained)

Distances:
115 km (70 miles) SSW of Ishigaki-jima, Ryukyu Islands, Japan

225 km (140 miles) ESE of Hua-lien, Taiwan

225 km (140 miles) ESE of Su-ao, Taiwan

2055 km (1280 miles) SW of TOKYO, Japan

Cloud Lightning

Snowmaggedon brings Washington DC to a standstill: heaviest snowfall in US history predicted

Image
Heaviest snowfall on record forecast as second severe blizzard causes deaths and disruption in eastern US

A massive blizzard dubbed "Snowmageddon" by president Barack Obama is causing chaos in the eastern US, with parts of the region buried under more than 20in [50cm] of snow.

Washington DC has already seen more than 10in settle in what forecasters have warned could be the heaviest snowfall in the American capital since records began, with 2.5ft or more predicted.

Parts of Maryland and West Virginia are already buried under more than 20in and forecasters have said up to 2in of snow could fall per hour across the eastern part of the country today.

Authorities have blamed the storm for hundreds of accidents, including the deaths of a father and son in Virginia when they were struck by a tractor trailer.