Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

'Very, very big' Typhoon Bopha hits Philippines, killing 27 people and destroying homes

Jethro Mullen
CNN
Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:58 UTC
An intense typhoon thumped into the southern Philippines on Tuesday, destroying homes, setting off a landslide and killing more than two dozen people, authorities said. Typhoon Bopha struck the large southern island of Mindanao, which is rarely in the direct path of tropical cyclones, fueling fears that it could be as devastating as a storm that killed more than 1,200 people there almost a year ago.

Bopha, the most powerful typhoon to hit Mindanao in decades, had top winds of 175 kph (110 mph) as it came ashore over the city of Baganga early Tuesday. Millions of people, many of whom live in remote and unprepared communities, were in the storm's path, Philippine authorities and aid groups said.


Watch: iReporter captures Typhoon aftermath in southern Philippines
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Radar

4.3 magnitude earthquake rattles Slovenia


Austrian Independent
Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:39 UTC
An earthquake measuring 4.3 on the Richter scale rattled central and eastern Slovenia early on Monday morning. Epicentre of the quake was the village of Gornji Grad, some 30 km north-east of Ljubljana, the local Environmental Agency (ARSO) said.

The quake was powerful enough to be felt across the border in Carinthia according to the Austrian earthquake monitoring organisation which is part of the Austrian Weather Institute (ZAMG).

In a press release ZAMG said the earthquake had been most strongly felt in the Klagenfurt region.

There was no immediate reports of any damage or about anybody injured.
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Radar

4.8-Magnitude earthquake shakes Bulgaria's Black Sea coast


novinite.com
Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:36 UTC
An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.8 on the Richter Scale has been registered along Bulgaria's northeast coast in the Black Sea.

The earthquake struck at 8:58 EET, with an epicenter located 21 km east of the town of Kavarna, at a depth of 2 km, the Mediterranean Seismology Center reported, as cited by BTA.

The tremor led the residents of the northeastern Bulgarian town of Shabla to leave their homes but according to Shabla Mayor Rayna Bardareva, there was no panic, as cited by Darik Radio.

Bardareva had no data about injured persons or damages caused by the new tremor.

Monday night's earthquake off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast is the second in the past 24 hours, as a 2.6-magnitude earthquake was registered 45 km southeast of Varna Sunday night.

The newest earthquake near Shabla had roughly the same magnitude as the 4.7-magnitude earthquake that hit the town in the summer of 2009 causing material damages.
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Better Earth

Sydney's Malabar beach glows blue following red algae invasion


News.com.au
Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:03 UTC
After the eastern beaches coastline resembled the Red Sea last Tuesday, the "night lantern" visited Sydney's Malabar beach that evening. These photos have not been digitally enhanced - in fact, photographer Dr David Psaila said the water was an even more spectacular colour blue than that shown in these images, the Southern Courier reports. "The organism responsible, Noctiluca Scintillans known as "night lantern" is very aptly named, as it will luminesce a bright blue when it is disturbed by waves," he said. The Chifley scientist said the red algae that crept along the east coast last week contained a chemical called luciferin which was a common protein found in bioluminescent animals.
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© David Psaila
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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Magnitude 5.8 rattles Anchorage, Alaska


The Extinction Protocol
Mon, 03 Dec 2012 07:58 UTC
Image
© USGS
A magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska on Monday, close to the city of Anchorage, rattling buildings and knocking bric-a-brac from shelves, but no serious damage or injuries were reported. The tremor, initially reported as a magnitude 5.7, struck at 4:42 p.m. (8:42 p.m. EST) 25 miles west of Anchorage, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake, relatively shallow at a depth of 33.1 miles, was widely felt in Anchorage, according to Guy Urban, a geophysicist for the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska."

Some people in Anchorage said some things fell off the shelves," he told Reuters, adding that the center was unaware of any severe property damage or anyone being hurt. Quakes of similar strength are fairly common in Alaska, one of the most seismically active parts of the United States. - Reuters
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Bizarro Earth

Energetic earthquake swarm reported at California's Coso Volcanic Field


The Extinction Protocol
Tue, 04 Dec 2012 07:54 UTC
Image
An energetic earthquake swarm centered beneath rhyolite domes in the Coso Volcanic Field (CA) continues, with over 20 earthquakes ranging between M1 and M3 so far today. Many smaller events (hundreds) are recorded as well. The swarm initiated on 27 November and has included earthquakes as large as M3.7. The Coso Volcanic Field is located in Inyo County, California, at the western edge of the Basin and Range geologic province and northern region of the Mojave Desert.

The Coso Volcanic Field is one of the most seismically active regions in the United States, producing dozens of tremors in the M1 and M2 range each week. Tremors in the M3 range occur at a rate of 2-6 per month and M4 quakes occur two-three times each year. Recent activity in the M5 range happened in 1996 and 1998 when tremors of M5.3, M5.1, M5.2, and M5.0 occurred with a day of each other.
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Blue Planet

November 2012: Super-storms, freak tornadoes, heavy flooding, strong earthquakes and seas turning red

fidockave213
Youtube
Sun, 02 Dec 2012 17:14 UTC
Super-storms, freak tornadoes, heavy flooding, strong earthquakes and seas turning red... another month of earth changes on the Big Blue Marble.

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Cloud Lightning

'Life threatening' historic 'Super Typhoon' Bopha smashes into Philippines


Common Dreams
Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:24 UTC
Bopha
© Weather Underground
'Most southerly typhoon ever recorded in the Western Pacific' expected to bring 'life-threatening impacts'

Historic and potentially catastrophic Super Typhoon Bopha has made a direct hit on the southern Philippines on Tuesday morning, raising fears the impacts of the storm may be far worse than a much weaker 2011 storm that killed over 1200 people.

The powerful storm made landfall at 3:45 PM EST on Monday, 4:45 AM Tuesday local time.

The Category 5 Super Typhoon has sustained winds of over 161 mph - gusting to 195 mph - and is the most southerly typhoon ever recorded in the Western Pacific. AccuWeather reports it "is expected to bring life-threatening impacts."
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Bizarro Earth

Russian Far East holds seismic hazards threatening Pacific Rim

Vince Stricherz
Washington.edu
Mon, 03 Dec 2012 12:43 UTC
Image
© NASAThe 2009 eruption of Sarychev Peak volcano in the Kuril Islands was captured in this photograph from the International Space Station.
For decades, a source of powerful earthquakes and volcanic activity on the Pacific Rim was shrouded in secrecy, as the Soviet government kept outsiders away from what is now referred to as the Russian Far East. But research in the last 20 years has shown that the Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands are a seismic and volcanic hotbed, with a potential to trigger tsunamis that pose a risk to the rest of the Pacific Basin.

The 2009 eruption of Sarychev Peak volcano in the Kuril Islands was captured in this photograph from the International Space Station.

A magnitude 9 earthquake in that region in 1952 caused significant damage elsewhere on the Pacific Rim, and even less-powerful quakes have had effects throughout the Pacific Basin.

"There's not a large population in the Russian Far East, but it's obviously important to the people who live there. Thousands of people were killed in tsunamis because of the earthquake in 1952. And tsunamis don't stay home," said Jody Bourgeois, a University of Washington professor of Earth and space sciences.
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Sun

Erratic swings of jet stream leaves southern U.S. baking in record December heat, November brings record highs without rainfall

Allie Kolechta
The Daily Texan
Mon, 03 Dec 2012 12:38 UTC
High temperatures in the Austin area have already broken records during December, after November also brought record high temperatures and, for the first time in decades, no rain in Austin for the entire month. Austin saw no measurable rainfall in November, according to reports compiled on the Austin-Bergstrom Airport Area by the National Weather Service Southern Region Headquarters. According to the report, this is the first year Austin has had only trace amounts of rainfall in the month of November since 1970, more than four decades ago.
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Record highs were set on Nov. 1 at 88 degrees and Nov. 3 at 87 degrees. High temperatures reached into the 80s on 15 days in November, and lows never reached freezing. The most days it has reached 80 degrees in the area in November was in 1931, with 17 days in the 80s.
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