Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

"Noah's Flood" Not Rooted in Reality, After All?

The ancient flood that some scientists think gave rise to the Noah story may not have been quite so biblical in proportion, a new study says.

Noah Flood
© Melik Baghdasaryan/APSome believe that Noah's Ark came to rest on Turkey's Mount Ararat.
Researchers generally agree that, during a warming period about 9,400 years ago, an onrush of seawater from the Mediterranean spurred a connection with the Black Sea, then a largely freshwater lake. That flood turned the lake into a rapidly rising sea.

A previous theory said the Black Sea rose up to 195 feet (60 meters), possibly burying villages and spawning the tale of Noah's flood and other inundation folklore.

But the new study - largely focused on relatively undisturbed underwater fossils - suggests a rise of no more than 30 feet (10 meters).

Bizarro Earth

Canada: Small Quake Felt Near Vancouver

Residents of a Vancouver, British Columbia, suburb reported feeling a small earthquake, officials said Sunday.

The temblor, measured at 2.1 on the Richter scale, struck Langley, British Columbia, at 9:23 p.m. Saturday, Canwest News Service reported. It was centered approximately 3 miles north-northwest of the community.

Umbrella

Australia: Rain and flash floods continue across North Queensland

Australia Floods 1
© Pete McGeeFloodwaters surround the north west Queensland town of Karumba
Heavy rain continues to fall causing more flash flooding and damage in north Queensland.

The rain has eased in Ingham but the floodwaters remain high as the monsoon trough moves south. Ingham has been flooded for seven days.

Residents had begun to clean-up on Friday but heavy rain pushed water back up yesterday. The Herbert River peaked at 12.25 metres last night and has been steady since.

Phoenix

Nature Fights Back: Australia's worst bushfire disaster claims 84 lives

Australia Fires 1
© AAP/Andrew BrownbillNothing but rubble - more than 500 homes were lost at Kinglake
The death toll from horrific bushfires across Victoria this weekend has reached 84, surpassing the number of people who perished in the 1983 Ash Wednesday blazes.

More than 700 homes have been lost in what is being described as 'Hell on Earth', and it is feared the death toll will pass 100.

Bizarro Earth

Planetary Abnormalities - The End is Nigh?

Are the climatic changes a sign of troubles ahead?

The title of this article may seem a little dramatic, but you have to admit, we are seeing some unusual changes just lately.

Global Warming has been a "hot" subject for some years now, yet many have rightly pointed out that some parts of the planet have seen unusually cold weather. Britain has just experienced its heaviest snow fall in 18 years, an event that has only been seen twice in almost 50 years.

Snowman

Ganahl debunks global warming

Just when you thought it was safe to assume that everyone had pretty much accepted climate change and moved on, here comes rogue NBC 4 chief meteorologist Jym Ganahl to blow your freaking mind.

"Just wait 5 or 10 years, and it will be very obvious. They'll have egg on their faces," Ganahl said this week of global warming advocates.

The "global warming hoax" is an obvious fallacy, Ganahl said in a YouTube video posted Jan. 23.

In the video, taped at a meet-up of the Ohio Freedom Alliance, Ganahl chats with Dave, the self-proclaimed No. 1 biker talk show host on radio, and - still odder - Robert Wagner, a former candidate for the 15th congressional district.

Although global warming is clearly "a fallacy," Ganahl told the dudes, "It is remarkable how many people are being led like sheep in the wrong direction."

Evoking Orwellian mind-control power of the media, Ganahl said it's remarkable how easy it is to panic the unwashed masses.

Info

Death toll in Australian fires rises to 25

Image
© Unknown

Sydney - Police say the death toll from wildfires that swept southeastern Australia has risen to 25 people.

More than a dozen blazes burned unchecked Saturday in three states, with temperatures soaring and high winds fanning flames.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe told the Nine television network on Sunday that 25 deaths had been confirmed and that officials believe that number will rise further as police reach further into the fire zone.

Walls of flame roared across southeastern Australia on Saturday, razing scores of homes along with forests and farmland in the sunburned country's worst wildfire disaster in a quarter century. At least 14 people died and the toll could rise to more than 40, police said.

Witnesses described seeing trees exploding and skies raining ash as some of the hottest temperatures on record combined with raging winds to create perfect conditions for uncontrollable blazes.

Ambulance

1 dead, 100-plus rescued from Lake Erie ice floe

Image
© AP Photo/Madalyn RuggieroRescue workers walk across frozen Lake Erie as they return to shore at Crane Creek State Park in Oak Harbor, Mich., after rescuing a number of fishermen stranded on a slab of ice about 1,000 yards off shore, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2009. The Coast Guard said there were no immediate reports of injuries in the rescue effort.

Columbus - More than 100 people were rescued Saturday from a miles-wide slab of ice that floated away from the Ohio shoreline of Lake Erie, authorities said.

One person died, said Ottawa County Sheriff Bob Bratton. He said 100 to 125 others were rescued by late afternoon.

Several ships and helicopters from Toledo and Marblehead, and from Detroit, were sent to rescue the people from the ice floe.

Authorities said fishermen apparently used wooden pallets to create a bridge over a crack in the ice so they could go farther out on the lake. But the planks fell into the water when the ice shifted, stranding the fishermen about 1,000 yards off shore.

Ice on western sections of Lake Erie is up to 2 feet thick, National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Randel said. He said it started to crack as temperatures rose above freezing this weekend and wind gusting to 35 mph pushed on the ice.

Stormtrooper

Best of the Web: Snow is consistent with global warming, UK scientists and media on vacation in D'Nile

Britain may be in the grip of the coldest winter for 30 years and grappling with up to a foot of snow in some places but the extreme weather is entirely consistent with global warming, claim scientists.
Snowbound Britain 2009
© unknown

Temperatures for December and January were consistently 1.8 F ( 1 C) lower than the average of 41 F (5 C)and 37 F (3C) respectively and more snow fell in London this week than since the 1960s.

But despite this extreme weather, scientists say that the current cold snap does not mean that climate change is going into reverse. In fact, the surprise with which we have greeted the extreme conditions only reinforces how our climate has changed over the years.

A study by the Met Office which went back 350 years shows that such extreme weather now only occurs every 20 years. Back in the pre-industrial days of Charles Dickens, it was a much more regular occurrence - hitting the country on average every five years or so. During that time global temperatures have risen by 1.7 F (0.8 C), studies have shown.


Comment: Pay careful attention here to the total snowjob that this article and these scientists are trying to pull off.

The horrible winter and cold weather does not mean anything other than we have gotten so used to warm balmy winters from all that man made global warming.
"It only reinforces how our climate has changed over the years."
That's quite the scientific analysis is it not? If the public only understood how simple it all is!

Back in the good ole days of Charles Dickens, now that's when things were really rough. Hmmm? Let's see, when did Charles Dickens live? Charles Dickens: February 7, 1812 to June 9, 1870.

Isn't that around the Dalton Minimum?
Maunder and Dalton minimums
© Wikimedia Commons

What a coincidence that they would choose a baseline comparison of a period that was known to be very cold due to low sunspot activity?


Frog

Tree frogs help flag up biological hotspots

Image
© Ana CarnavalHypsilboas faber, from Natividade de Serra, Brazil

Conservationists racing to catalogue and protect biodiversity before it vanishes could look to the past for guidance. A new study suggests they should focus on areas where climate has remained relatively stable over many thousands of years, allowing diversity to flourish.

Biologists have long known of the existence of biodiversity hotspots, regions of the Earth that are especially rich in species. But many of these hotspots - for example, the Atlantic forests of Brazil - are in remote tropical areas and have received relatively little study, leaving conservationists at a loss as to where they should direct their efforts.