Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

North Korea 'Preparing for Eruption of Mt. Baekdu'


The Chosunilbo
Sat, 12 Feb 2011 14:11 UTC
Mt. Baekdu
© Newsis

North Korea has started preparing for a possible eruption of Mt. Baekdu, Radio Free Asia reported Wednesday. Quoting sources in Ryanggang Province, North Korea, the station said two geography professors of Kim Jung-suk University of Education involved in a Mt. Baekdu expedition team have recently been to Pyongyang to attend a seminar on Mt. Baekdu volcanic activity.

They said there were two evacuation drills in Samjiyon, Taehongdan and Pochon, Ryanggang Province since last fall.

The radio station said fears of an eruption were also behind the sudden suspension of the Mt. Baekdu tourism railroad project, slated for completion by 2012, and that of a mammoth tourism and athletics facility for winter sports nearby, to be completed the same year.
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Attention

Louisiana: Hundreds of dead birds discovered in Lake Charles

Brandon Richards
KPLC 7 News
Thu, 10 Feb 2011 10:37 UTC
Dead Birds Louisiana
© KPLC 7 NewsHundreds of dead birds discovered in Lake Charles

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is trying to figure out what caused the death of hundreds of birds in south Lake Charles.

The birds were discovered on Thursday morning.

More than 100 birds were scattered across Lake Street between Gauthier and Tank Farm Road; another hundred were found on Lincoln Road, about a mile away.

Kori Legleu, a biologist with Wildlife and Fisheries, identified the birds as Tree Swallows, a kind of bird that travels in tight flocks.

Legleu said the birds, which are common in Southwest Louisiana, were likely flying erratically when some of them were struck by passing vehicles.
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Attention

Twin Quakes Strike Off Philippines


ABC News
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:02 UTC
Two big earthquakes struck under the Celebes Sea between the Philippines and Indonesia late on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said.

The biggest quake, measured at 6.7 magnitude, hit 330 kilometres from the town of General Santos on the Philippine island of Mindanao, and roughly the same distance from Manado on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

It was 512 kilometres deep, the USGS said.

It came two minutes after a 6.5-magnitude quake a few kilometres away and at a similar depth.

The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, based in Hawaii, did not issue a tsunami warning following the earthquakes.

The area is part of the Pacific's so-called Ring of Fire, a zone of frequent tectonic activity where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are common.
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Bug

Australia: Giant locusts threaten NSW crops


Herald Sun
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:30 UTC
Locust
© Unknown

A RARE, giant breed of locusts has the potential to destroy crops in NSW overnight, the State Government says.

The spur-throated locusts is a mainly tropical species found in Queensland and the Northern Territory but warm and humid weather has drawn them into NSW.

Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan says the Government has a plan of attack to help northwestern NSW farmers control the largest outbreak in 40 years.

"The much larger spur-throated locust is a ferocious eater and can completely destroy a crop overnight," Mr Whan said in a statement.

"Insecticides are now being made available to farmers to control densely-populated spur-throated locust nymphs on their properties."

Rangers are also being deployed to help farmers identify the creatures, which have a spur or throat peg between their front legs.
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Attention

Monaco: Three 'mini-quakes' hit the the Cote d'Azur


The Riviera Times
Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:12 UTC
Monaco Port
© The Riveria TimesThe quakes happened around the coast of Monaco
Just days after a minor earthquake was recorded off the coast of Menton, three further tremors have been registered in Monaco.

The Geo-Azur Laboratory confirmed that the first of these latest rumbles was registered at around 10.32am on the 8th February and hit 2.3 on the richter scale. The second, felt at about 2.02pm, had increased to 2.4 in its maginitude and finally came the third and strongest quake, which reached 2.8 ML.

Although the fire department in Menton did not receive any emergency calls at the time of the first minor tremor, several residents in Monaco, from Fontviellle and Monte-Carlo in particular, phoned police two days ago to find out what was happening.

Jena Luc Berenguer, Professor of the European Center of Valbonne, told press that the seismologists who recorded the movement under the Mediterranean Sea are not sure if all four were caused by the same fracture in the sea bed or if there is any link between the Menton and Monaco tremors at all. He added that although it is impossible to make any predictions, there was no great cause for concern at present. In fact if the technology was not in place to register signs of these 'mini-quakes', most of the region's residents would not be aware that they were even happening.
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Attention

Hawaii: Second earthquake hits Big Island in two days


Hawaii News Now
Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:19 UTC
A magnitude 2.6 earthquake shook the Big Island at about 8:37 a.m. Thursday, the second small earthquake to hit the island in as many days.

The epicenter of the quake was at a depth of 1.7 miles and 5 miles from the town of Volcano, according to the U.S. Geological Survey website, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on the Big Island.

On Wednesday, a quake registered a magnitude 3.0 and occurred about 2 miles south of the Kilauea summit.
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Cloud Lightning

Tropical Cyclone Threat to Madagascar

Jim Andrews
AccuWeather.com
Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:22 UTC
Madagascar Cyclone Bingiza
© Joint Typhoon Warning CenterTropical Cyclone Bingiza east of northern Madagascar early on February 10, 2011
Tropical Cyclone Bingiza poses the threat of damaging wind and flooding rain to the southwestern Indian Ocean island of Madagascar.

Early Thursday morning, EST, the center of the new tropical cyclone lay about 580 miles, or 930 km, northeast of Antananarivo. Highest sustained winds were estimated by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center to be 45 knots, or almost 85 km/h. T.C. Bingiza was nearly stationary.

Forecasters at AccuWeather.com believe that T.C. Bingiza will strengthen and drift mostly southwestward over open water through at least Saturday. Thereafter, a landfall on eastern Madagascar could take place. Faster movement than anticipated would make the landfall threat earlier than currently forecast.

If Bingiza were to veer southeastward, on the other hand, it could ultimately threaten the Mascarene Islands of La Reunion and Mauritius. However, this scenario would take several days to unfold.
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Fish

Massive Fish Die Off In The Whangamarino Wetlands of New Zealand


Voxy.co.nz
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 05:05 UTC
Image
© UnknownWhangamarino wetland
The deaths of thousands of fish over the past week in the Whangamarino wetland have been caused by very low levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, The Department of Conservation [DOC] says.

Department spokesperson Kevin Hutchinson said numerous reports had come in from concerned residents and wetland users about the deaths, numbering possibly in the hundreds of thousands. While most are pests such as koi carp and catfish, native species mullet, bullies and eels have also been found dead.

"The drought at the end of 2010 exposed large areas of the wetland and rapid plant growth occurred in areas usually under water. High rainfall in January compounded by the baked dry ground in the catchment meant water rapidly ran off into the wetland and water levels remained consistently high for about three consecutive weeks."

Kevin Hutchinson says the decomposing plant matter started a bacterial process which depletes oxygen in the water. The warm humid weather experienced over summer has kept water temperatures and thus enhancing bacterial growth. Tests conducted with an oxygen meter by DOC rangers yesterday confirmed the very low levels of oxygen present in the water.
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Question

Something Is Rotten Across States: US Officials Search For Source Of Strange Odor


WBAL Baltimore
Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:29 UTC
Reports Received In Prince George's, Frederick, Montgomery Counties.

Maryland and West Virginia officials said they've had no luck finding the source of a mysterious odor reported in both states.

MEMA director Richard Muth told WBAL-AM on Thursday that the number of reports about the smell had decreased but that the investigation continues.

West Virginia's state director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management said Maryland authorities alerted his office about a possible gas leak Wednesday.

Jimmy Gianato said people in Maryland were calling to report they'd smelled mercaptan. That's the substance added to natural gas to make it smell like rotten eggs.

Gianato said the state Department of Environmental Protection checked with gas facilities and pipelines on the West Virginia side, but no one reported any leaks.
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Magic Wand

Best of the Web: The Shiny Harbingers of Change, More Frequent and Brighter: Mysterious Noctilucent Clouds As Seen from Space

Nancy Atkinson
Universe Today
Wed, 09 Feb 2011 06:31 UTC
Mysterious "night shining" or noctilucent clouds are beautiful to behold, and are usually seen during the summertime, appearing at sunset. They are thin, wavy ice clouds that form at very high altitudes and reflect sunlight long after the Sun has dropped below the horizon. Scientists don't know exactly why they form, but continue to observe them - both from Earth and from space. These images were taken by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA's Aura satellite.

Image
© NASPolar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) observed by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the Aura satellite. Maps by Robert Simmon
Also called polar mesospheric clouds, they are puzzling scientists with their recent dramatic changes. They used to be considered rare, but now the clouds are growing brighter, are seen more frequently, are visible at lower and lower latitudes than ever before, and - as these satellite image reveal - they are now even appearing during the day.

Comment: The article mentions Matthew DeLand's measurements of a long-term trend towards more and brighter noctilucent clouds linking to rising greenhouse gases. And we would like to clarify, just in case there is anyone left who's not been paying attention, that it has nothing to do with Global Warming.

What we suspect has really been happening, based on our research thus far, is that the upper atmosphere is cooling because it is being loaded with comet dust, which shows up in the form of noctilucent clouds and other upper atmospheric formations. The comet dust is electrically charged which is causing the earth's rotation to slow marginally. The slowing of the rotation is reducing the magnetic field, opening earth to more dangerous cosmic radiation and stimulating more volcanism. The volcanism under the sea is heating the sea water which is heating the lower atmosphere and loading it with moisture. The moisture hits the cooler upper atmosphere and contributes to a deadly mix that inevitably leads to an Ice Age, preceded for a short period by a rapid increase of greenhouse gases and "hot pockets" in the lower atmosphere, heavy rains, hail, snow, and floods.

Expect this trend to continue but don't believe in "man-made Global Warming". Whatever warming there has been, it's really a prelude to the way Ice Ages begin. Let's hope that there aren't any catastrophically large chunks in that stream of comet dust cycling through our solar system.

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