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Comet ISON to blame? Texas rocked by 16 earthquakes in last 3 weeks


RT
Fri, 29 Nov 2013 03:55 UTC
Horizontal well in West Texas
© Reuters / Terry Wade
A rig contracted by Apache Corp drills a horizontal well in a search for oil and natural gas in the Wolfcamp shale located in the Permian Basin in West Texas
Northern Texas towns are experiencing an intense string of earthquakes - the last of which was one of the most powerful in 5 years. As unusual tremors have been going on for over 3 weeks now, many suspect fracking might be to blame.

On Thursday, the region experienced two tremors, with one of them registering 3.6 magnitude, 55 km west of the town of Azle at 07:58:36 GMT, as recorded by the US Geological Service, and the other 2.8 at 08:41:07 GMT, with the epicenter not far from the first one. USGS records show that the 3.6 tremor was one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region in 5 years.

"It sounded like a sonic boom, and then the house started shaking," Keith Krayer, a local resident who felt the effects of the quake, told RT.

Krayer said he had no doubt the quake was sparked by fracking. "When they frack, they inject all that water and chemicals into the ground, then they pump it back up and separate the gas from the water, then they have to dispose of that water 13,000 feet down. It causes the plates to slip, the lubrication from the water."

Residents like Krayer are having their nerves put to the test as the region chalked up its 16th this month. In the last four days, there have been six recorded quakes.
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Bizarro Earth

A rare sight: Etna eruption visible from Malta


Sott.net
Thu, 28 Nov 2013 00:11 UTC
Image
© Roberto Cassar
People in Naxxar, Madliena, Mellieha and in Gozo said this evening that they could (faintly) see the latest eruption of Mt Etna in Sicily.

The distance between Mount Etna and the tiny island state of Malta is about 312 km and this is indeed a very rare sight. During explosive Etna eruptions in the past Malta has suffered from ash plumes fallout on several occasions.

In 2002 Mount Etna made a heavy physical presence in Malta when ash from the volcano crossed the Mediterranean and coated the country in an insidious film of black fine dust after a volcanic plume was swept there by north to north easterly winds from Sicily.

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Attention

Deformities, sickness and livestock deaths: The real cost of GM animal feed?

Andrew Wasley
The Ecologist
Thu, 28 Nov 2013 14:55 UTC
Image

Danish pig farmer Ib Pedersen is convinced that GM animal feed, and the glyphosate herbicide in particular, is responsible for deformities and other defects in pigs
Much of our meat and dairy produce is made from animals raised on GM feeds. Alarming new claims suggest that the GM diet is affecting animal health - prompting fears over human safety. Andrew Wasley reports ...

At first glance the frozen bundles could be mistaken for conventional joints of meat. But as Ib Pedersen, a Danish pig farmer, lifts them carefully out of the freezer it becomes apparent they are in fact whole piglets - some horribly deformed, with growths or other abnormalities, others stunted.

This is the result, Pedersen claims, of feeding the animals a diet containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Or more specifically, he believes, feed made from GM soya and sprayed with the controversial herbicide glyphosate.

Pedersen, who produces 13,000 pigs a year and supplies Europe's largest pork company Danish Crown, says he became so alarmed at the apparent levels of deformity, sickness, deaths, and poor productivity he was witnessing in his animals that he decided to experiment by changing their diet from GM to non-GM feed.

The results, he says, were remarkable: "When using GM feed I saw symptoms of bloat, stomach ulcers, high rates of diarrhoea, pigs born with the deformities ... but when I switched [to non GM feed] these problems went away, some within a matter of days."

The farmer says that not only has the switch in diet improved the visible health of the pigs, it has made the farm more profitable, with less medicine use and higher productivity. "Less abortions, more piglets born in each litter, and breeding animals living longer." He also maintains that man hours have been reduced, with less cleaning needed and fewer complications with the animals.

Inside the farmhouse, piles of paperwork are laid out across a vast table; print outs, reports, statistics, scientific research, correspondence. Pedersen shows me photos he says are of animals adversely affected by the GM feed - there's more piglets with spinal deformities, their back legs dragging on the ground; others have visible problems with their faces, limbs or tails. There's even a siamese twin - two animals joined at the head.
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Snowflake

Valdez in Alaska continued to break November weather records last week.

Lee Revis
Valdez Star
Thu, 28 Nov 2013 14:34 UTC
Weird weather prompted road closures
Richardson Highway was shut Friday between milepost 12-82
Image
© Valdez Star
Freezing rain on top of ice and snow, combined with wind, and well - you name it - prompted DOT to close the Richardson Highway from Mile 12 to 82 Friday, citing adverse weather conditions.
Valdez continued to break November weather records last week.

According to the National Weather Service, Valdez received 14.7 inches of snow Sunday, breaking the old November 24 record of 10.4 inches set in 1993.

But record-breaking events aside, areas of Prince William Sound and the Copper Basin received a heavy dose of brutal weather conditions last week which eventually prompted the closure of the Richardson Highway Friday from Mileposts 12 - 82.

Last Wednesday, after temperatures dipped under 40 degrees below zero in the Glennallen area, the weather service issued a freezing rain advisory for last Thursday night through Friday.

"Warm air aloft will spread over cold air at the surface late Thursday night leading to freezing rain through Friday evening," the weather service said. "Cold air will move back in and allow precipitation to change back to all snow Friday night."

The advisory was well timed, as the weather produced blinding road conditions, with water on top of ice, snow, snow drifts, snow on ice and numerous other safety hazards.

Freezing rain was also reported in the Alpine Woods subdivision Thursday night, with one area resident reporting freezing rain falling with a home weather station thermometer reading 15 degrees above zero.

The week before, Valdez set several daily snow records for November, after experiencing a very warm October that was nearly free of snow.
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Igloo

Arctic winds and heavy snowfall hitting Italy

Robert Felix
Ice Age Now
Thu, 28 Nov 2013 14:05 UTC
Snow on car
© Unknown
One-and-a-half meters of snow in some places.

"We have snow at 100 meters (330 ft) in the southern part of the peninsula, and one dead due to the cold," says geologist Mirco Poletto in Italy.

"Snow in the Marche and Puglia, and a snow alert Romagna. Abruzzo buried under the snow. Schools closed in many municipalities. Whitewashed also Foggiano. Snow falling in L'Aquila."

Arctic cold air invading Italy from the Adriatic regions. Snowfalls are underway at very low elevations (100m) of Marche, Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia and Basilicata, and the situation is expected to get worse during the afternoon and evening. At night, all regions of the Adriatic from Rimini to Puglia will be affected by snowfalls at low altitudes , even as rain mixed with snow even along the coast of Abruzzo. Wednesday begins in the north with cold -5 ° C, while snowfall will continue at low altitudes over the entire Adriatic coast and also Umbria .
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Stop

Bubble trouble for East Siberian Arctic Shelf: Increasing storminess and rapid sea-ice retreat cause increased methane fluxes from the sea


The Siberian Times
Wed, 27 Nov 2013 13:09 UTC
Image
© resilientearth.com
'Increasing storminess and rapid sea-ice retreat causing increased methane fluxes from the sea are a possible new climate-change-driven processes'.
Scientists used sonar-derived observations of bubble flux and measurements of seawater methane levels to monitor the emission of methane from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf to the overlying ocean, reported a study published online this week in Nature Geoscience.

Large amounts of methane, generated by the degradation of submarine permafrost over thousands of years, are escaping the East Siberian Shelf, according to Natalia Shakhova from the University of Alaska and colleagues.

'Bubbles escaping from the sea floor carry large amounts of methane into the overlying ocean', it was reported. 'Furthermore, they observed that concentrations of methane in the sea water fell significantly following the passage of two storms, suggesting that storms help transport of methane to the atmosphere, where it acts as a potent greenhouse gas.'

Their findings 'have important implications for atmospheric emissions of methane from all Arctic seas that are underlain with subsea permafrost', state the authors. 'Increasing storminess and rapid sea-ice retreat causing increased methane fluxes from the sea are a possible new climate-change-driven processes.'
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Ice Cube

Forget global warming: Heavy ice delays Australian Antarctic icebreaker Aurora Australis for second year in a row


ABC News
Mon, 25 Nov 2013 21:09 UTC
Image

Aurora Australis in sea ice
The summer Australian Antarctic Division program will have to be modified because its icebreaker the Aurora Australis has been delayed in heavy ice. The ship was due to return to Hobart more than a week ago after a resupply mission, but it is still navigating through heavy ice about 180 nautical miles off the Davis research station.

Antarctic Division director Tony Fleming says there is no risk of the crew's food or water running low. He says some open water was spotted from the air a couple of days ago but there is heavy ice between the ship and the break in the ice.

Dr Fleming says one ship voyage will have to be dropped because of the delay.
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Cloud Lightning

Hundreds of dead seabirds wash ashore on Alaska island in Bering Sea

Alex Demarban
Alaska Dispatch
Tue, 26 Nov 2013 15:27 UTC
Image
© Joanne Goldby / cc via flickr
The common murre was among the species of dead seabirds that recently washed ashore on St. Lawrence Island.

Nature's cold brutality apparently marked hundreds -- and perhaps thousands -- of seabirds for death following storms that slammed into Western Alaska earlier this month and littered stretches of St. Lawrence Island with the carcasses of crested auklets, murres, ducks and other birds.

Facebook alarmists feared Fukushima radiation was to blame for the deaths that began appearing last week, but an expert said the island between Russia and the Alaska mainland is too far north for that to be possible. And Savoonga residents who walked the beaches to calculate the carnage said they're convinced this fall's powerful winter storms are the real culprit.

Residents in the village of Gambell -- about 40 miles west of Savoonga on the island -- also found dead birds near their village, said Peter Bente, a wildlife biologist with the state Fish and Game.
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Info

16 migrating dolphins wash up dead in northeast Florida


NBC Miami
Wed, 27 Nov 2013 14:37 UTC
Dead dolphins were found on beaches from Volusia County to Jacksonville between Saturday and Monday.

Image
© SeaWorld
Wildlife officials say at least 16 dead dolphins have washed up on northeast Florida beaches.
Wildlife officials say at least 16 dead dolphins have washed up on northeast Florida beaches.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported dead dolphins were found on beaches from Volusia County to Jacksonville between Saturday and Monday.

Volusia County Beach Safety and Ocean Rescue spokeswoman Tammy Marris says five dolphins were collected Monday, including two in Volusia County. She says the water was "pretty rough" because of high winds in the area.

In addition, NOAA fisheries spokeswoman Allison Garrett says 11 other dolphins were recovered over the weekend.

Federal officials fear the morbillivirus would make its way to Florida as dolphins migrate south. Garrett says all the dolphins found over the weekend appeared to have symptoms of the virus.
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Attention

Giant deepwater oarfish washing up on California shores: Harbingers of death!

TheKajaMartin
Youtube
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 14:24 UTC
Rare Giant Oarfish are washing up on California shores. Now, according to the Japanese, these fish are warnings of impending earthquakes! Which California is definitely past due for!


Comment: See also:

Waiting for the big one: giant oarfish start shock waves in LA

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