Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Colorado: Dust Covers High Country, Creates Danger

Stan Bush
CBS 4 Denver
Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:13 UTC
Summit County - The high country is covered in a layer of dust after it blew in from Arizona. It was caused by a huge dust storm.

Experts say the layer of dust has created a very unstable situation in the snowpack and it might even have a long-lasting effect.
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Bizarro Earth

Oaxaca, Mexico: Earthquake Magnitude 4.7


US Geological Survey
Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:31 UTC
Image
© USGS
Date-Time Tuesday, April 07, 2009 at 21:49:33 UTC

Tuesday, April 07, 2009 at 04:49:33 PM at epicenter

Location 16.450°N, 96.398°W

Depth 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program

Distances 75 km (45 miles) SSE of Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico

90 km (55 miles) N of Puerto Angel, Oaxaca, Mexico

130 km (80 miles) WNW of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, Mexico

440 km (275 miles) SE of MEXICO CITY, D.F., Mexico
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X

Italy earthquake: stricken L'Aquila suffers again as aftershocks hit

John Hooper
Guardian
Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:21 UTC
Image
© Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images Dome of the damaged cathedral in Piazza Duomo in L'Aquila
A powerful aftershock tonight brought two apartment blocks crashing down in the stricken city of L'Aquila, causing panic among rescue workers and survivors of Monday's deadly earthquake.

Chunks of masonry fell from other damaged buildings, and the tremor - measured by the US Geological Survey at magnitude 5.6 - was felt as far away as Rome. Within minutes the city resounded again to the scream of sirens as police and rescue workers rushed to the scene.

Meanwhile rescue workers were preparing to carry out what one called a "surgical operation" on a collapsed building in the centre of L'Aquila in the hope of saving the lives of four missing students.
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Bizarro Earth

Northern Japan: Earthquake Magnitude 6.6


People's Daily
Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:18 UTC
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 jolted northern Japan on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The focus of the quake, which occurred at 13:24 p.m., was some 10 kilometers underground in the Chishima-retto region in Hokkaido. There were no reports of injuries or damage. No tsunami warning was issued.
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Bizarro Earth

Central Italy: Earthquake Magnitude 5.6


US Geological Survey
Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:37 UTC
Image
© US Geological Survey
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 at 07:47:38 PM at epicenter

Location 42.349°N, 13.405°E

Depth 13.1 km (8.1 miles)

Distances 70 km (40 miles) W of Pescara, Italy

90 km (55 miles) NE of ROME, Italy

120 km (75 miles) SE of Perugia, Italy

145 km (90 miles) S of Ancona, Italy
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Bizarro Earth

Kuril Islands Earthquake Magnitude 6.9


US Geological Survey
Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:54 UTC
Image
© US Geological Survey
Tuesday, April 07, 2009 at 04:23:33 PM at epicenter

Location 46.088°N, 151.498°E

Depth 34 km (21.1 miles) set by location program

Distances 300 km (185 miles) ENE of Kuril'sk, Kuril Islands

615 km (380 miles) SW of Severo-Kuril'sk, Kuril Islands, Russia

1515 km (940 miles) NE of TOKYO, Japan

7155 km (4440 miles) NE of MOSCOW, Russia
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Binoculars

Red River floodwaters head to Canadian province

Rod Nickel
Reuters
Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:26 UTC
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Manitoba's biggest city of Winnipeg will defend itself against the Red River's highest crest without its prized floodway, an C$858 million ($692 million) ditch designed to channel floodwater around the provincial capital.

Backhoes and specialized ice-breaking machines have instead assembled along the river as the first of two crests, caused by ice jams on the north-flowing river, hits Winnipeg as early as Tuesday.
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Fish

Huge Sea Worm Captured in Britain


Daily Mail (UK)
Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:27 UTC
Aquarium staff have unearthed a 'giant sea' worm that was attacking coral reef and prize fish.

The 4ft long monster, named Barry, had launched a sustained attack on the reef in a display tank at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium over recent months.

Workers at the Cornwall-based attraction had been left scratching their heads as to why the coral had been left devastated and - in some cases - cut in half.
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Red Flag

Concerns Raised About Coastal Levels Of Flame-Retardant Chemicals

Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times
Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:12 UTC
U.S. study finds widespread, high concentrations near Southern California and Chicago, as well as Alaska.

Flame-retardant chemicals that have been linked to reproductive and neurological problems in animals have seeped into coastal environments even in remote regions and have been found in high concentrations off populated areas such as Chicago and Southern California, a federal study revealed Tuesday.

"This is a wake-up call for Americans concerned about the health of our coastal waters and their personal health," said John H. Dunnigan, assistant administrator of the National Ocean Service, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which released the report.
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Cloud Lightning

Hurricane speed reveals where storm surges will strike


New Scientist
Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:50 UTC
The speed at which a hurricane progresses across the ocean may help forecasters predict which areas are at risk from flooding by storm surges.

When hurricanes strike, flooding causes more damage than the wind, and kills more people. To predict the severity of a surge, forecasters tend to rely on factors such as the size and the intensity of the storm. Now Joao Rego and Chunyan Li of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge have calculated that a hurricane's forward speed influences the peak height and inland "reach" of surges.

The pair fed measurements from 30 sites in Louisiana and Texas hit by hurricane Rita in 2005 into a computer model that relates the severity of a surge to the hurricane's speed of travel. When they raised the speed in their model to the maximum realistic value, the peak of the surge was 7 per cent higher than Rita's, and the volume of water pushed inland fell by up to 40 per cent. This meant areas close to the coast were hit harder, but sites further inland were left unscathed. For the slowest storms, the opposite happened: peak surge was lower, but inland reach increased (Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: link).
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