It's a modern-day climate scuffle William Herschel would recognize. He should. He helped trigger it.
In 1801, the eminent British astronomer reported that when sunspots dotted the sun's surface, grain prices fell. When sunspots waned, prices rose.
He suggested that shifts in grain prices were a stand-in for shifts in climate. Large numbers of sunspots led to a warmer sun, he reasoned. With more warmth reaching Earth, crop yields would increase, depressing grain prices.
With that, a 200-year hunt began for links between shifts in the sun's output and changes in climate.
Earth Changes
It is suggested that the postulated interstellar cloud should encounter the solar system at some unspecified time in the 'near' future and might have a drastic influence on terrestrial climate in the next 10,000 years.
Helicopter pilot Harvey Hutton, who knows Mount Aspiring National Park well, said he was completing a venison recovery operation about 7.30am yesterday when he discovered half a mountainside had collapsed and a lake had formed behind the slip.
"It's the first major one (slip) I've seen and probably the biggest in my lifetime," Hutton said.
He believed the lake was at least 50m deep and would need to be filled a bit more before it overflowed.
"It's the first major one (slip) I've seen and probably the biggest in my lifetime," Hutton said.
He believed the lake was at least 50m deep and would need to be filled a bit more before it overflowed.
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| ©DOC |
| A massive slip in Mount Aspiring National Park has created a new lake, thought to be about 2km long and at least at least 50m deep. |
Antarctica's Dry Valleys are among the most desolate places on the planet. Here, no plants cling to the slopes, no small mammals scurry among the scree. The freeze-dried landscapes, with their rocks chiselled by the wind, seem utterly lifeless. When Captain Scott first chanced upon their craggy peaks and troughs in 1905, he labelled them the "valleys of the dead".
Now, a little more than a hundred years on from Scott's exhibition, US scientists have discovered that the icy landscapes may not be so barren after all. Microbiologists from New Jersey have chanced upon tiny frozen organisms that have remained alive for millions of years, embedded in some of the oldest ice on the planet.
Now, a little more than a hundred years on from Scott's exhibition, US scientists have discovered that the icy landscapes may not be so barren after all. Microbiologists from New Jersey have chanced upon tiny frozen organisms that have remained alive for millions of years, embedded in some of the oldest ice on the planet.
Five days of continuous torrential rains have left four people dead and displaced thousands in Brazil, government and media say.
Rivers overflowed and flooded 58 cities and towns across the far-southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, the state's Civil Defense Agency said in a statement.
Rivers overflowed and flooded 58 cities and towns across the far-southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, the state's Civil Defense Agency said in a statement.
Temperatures around Greater Cleveland hit 88 degrees Tuesday, tying a 107-year-old record.
The normal high for this time of year is 69 degrees. But National Weather Service meteorologist Walter Fitzgerald said hot air circulating clockwise out of the Gulf of Mexico led to the record-tying temperatures.
The last time Cleveland hit 88 degrees on Sept. 25, Germany had a kaiser, Russia had a czar and the United States had Ohioan William McKinley as president.
The normal high for this time of year is 69 degrees. But National Weather Service meteorologist Walter Fitzgerald said hot air circulating clockwise out of the Gulf of Mexico led to the record-tying temperatures.
The last time Cleveland hit 88 degrees on Sept. 25, Germany had a kaiser, Russia had a czar and the United States had Ohioan William McKinley as president.
Yesterday's low of 35 degrees at Toledo Express Airport tied the record low for Sept. 16 that was set in 1966, the National Weather Service said.
The record was tied with a 7 a.m. reading.
Similar temperatures prevailed throughout the region, but temperatures remained balmy enough - barely - for flowers, tomatoes, and soybeans to survive.
The record was tied with a 7 a.m. reading.
Similar temperatures prevailed throughout the region, but temperatures remained balmy enough - barely - for flowers, tomatoes, and soybeans to survive.
National Weather Service reported a temperature of 82.9 degrees at 2 p.m. Tuesday, breaking the record high temperature for the date of 81 degrees set in 1970.
After a record-setting spring and summer, Mother Nature decided to make it a hat trick yesterday.
With the temperature reaching as high as 33 in Toronto, not only did the city have the warmest Sept. 25 on record (the old standard, in 1958, was 28.3), it was the highest temperature for any fall day dating back to the beginning of record keeping in 1840.
With the temperature reaching as high as 33 in Toronto, not only did the city have the warmest Sept. 25 on record (the old standard, in 1958, was 28.3), it was the highest temperature for any fall day dating back to the beginning of record keeping in 1840.
For all of us on the Gulf Coast, lightning is nothing new. But many people have never seen a lightning trench as visually compelling as one we heard about at a local family cemetary.
This story first began after the Labor Day Weekend. The strike left behind the mysterious trench that has family members checking for any damage to their families graves.
This story first began after the Labor Day Weekend. The strike left behind the mysterious trench that has family members checking for any damage to their families graves.
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| ©Alan Sealls, WKRG-TV |
| Lightning trench in West Mobile created when lightning struck tree, travelled down to ground and then horizonatally just below ground surface. |
