Welcome to Sott.net
Wed, 03 Nov 2021
The World for People who Think

Earth Changes
Map

Binoculars

Bird watchers flock to Portland, UK after a rare Arctic Brunnich's Guillemot spotted

Rachel Stretton
Dorset Echo
Sat, 28 Dec 2013 10:34 UTC
Image
© Debby Saunders
The Brunnich's Guillemot
Bird lovers are flocking to Portland after a rare Arctic visitor was spotted in the harbour.

Hundreds of people from all over the country headed to Portland Marina to get a glimpse of a Brunnich's Guillemot (or Thick-billed Murre ) which is usually found in colder, northern climates including Russia and Norway.

Crowds of enthusiasts are still there today trying to photograph the bird.

Debby Saunders, of Portland, first saw the vagrant, which is believed to have been blown off course in the recent bad weather, on Boxing Day.

She said: "It is really exciting. It is the first time this species has been seen this far south in the UK."

Debby was bird watching with her husband Pete when she saw the Brunnich's in the distance.

Comment: See also: Ice Age Cometh: Snowy Owl invasion coming in North America?

Maine experiencing a Canadian owl invasion

Incredible Hawk Owl invasion in Estonia!

Huge Snowy Owl invasion becomes official in Canada and U.S.

Thousands of Hawk Owls descend on Finland as food in northern Russia runs out

Ice Age Cometh: Unprecedented influx of Arctic Ivory Gulls into UK

      Read More...
Ice Cube

Antarctic rescue mission by Chinese icebreaker faces setback


South China Morning Post
Sat, 28 Dec 2013 08:30 UTC
MV Akademik Shokalskiy, a Russian scientific research vessel
© AFP
The MV Akademik Shokalskiy, a Russian scientific research vessel, awaits rescue while trapped in the ice off Antarctica.

A Chinese icebreaker en route to rescue a ship trapped in Antarctic ice was forced to turn back on Saturday after being unable to push its way through the heavy sea ice.

The Snow Dragon icebreaker came within 11 kilometres of the Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been stuck since Christmas Eve, but had to retreat after the ice became too thick, said expedition spokesman Alvin Stone.

The Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been on a research expedition to Antarctica, got stuck on Tuesday after a blizzard's whipping winds pushed the sea ice around the ship, freezing it in place. The ship wasn't in danger of sinking, and there are weeks' worth of supplies for the 74 scientists, tourists and crew on board, but the vessel cannot move.

Comment: The expedition is being led by Chris Turney, "climate scientist", who has "set up a carbon refining company called Carbonscape which has developed technology to fix carbon from the atmosphere and make a host of green bi-products, helping reduce greenhouse gas levels." The purpose of the expedition is "to discover and communicate the environmental changes taking place in the south."

As Anthony Watts remarks, Antarctic Sea Ice is more than 2 standard deviations above normal:

Antarctic seaice
© NSIDC
Will the good climate change professor, Chris Turney take note of the "environmental changes taking place in the south", or will he go home and seek comfort in the climate change models based on the GIGO principle (Garbage In, Garbage Out), that predict the melting of the polar regions?

      Read More...
Ice Cube

Update! Chinese icebreaker cancels rescue mission to save expedition in Antarctica 'because sea ice is too thick'

Alok Jha
The Guardian
Sat, 28 Dec 2013 08:17 UTC
Image
© Laurence Topham for the Guardian
The Chinese icebreaker Xue Long has had to abandon its rescue mission of the Akademik Shokalskiy
The Guardian's man on the icebound vessel reports on the freezing conditions as the expedition waits for assistance

Cape de la Motte, East Antarctica: the Xue Long appeared as a dot on the horizon, against a bright blue sky, to the starboard side of our ice-locked ship just after dinnertime on Friday evening, local time.

After two days of intense blizzards, with biting cold that had forced us to spend all our time below decks, the break in the weather and the approaching rescue had put the crew and passengers of the MV Akademik Shokalskiy in good spirits.

With temperatures at a pleasantly bearable -1C, some of the crew went on to the ice surrounding the ship in all directions and killed time by making igloos. The rest remained on board and watched the Chinese icebreaker through binoculars as it appeared to make steady progress, silently zigzagging through the ice, from the upper deck of the ship.

As we waited, penguins, apparently confused by the sudden appearance of a solid mass caused by the compacting of ice floes around our vessel, wandered past at regular intervals, looking for the shoreline.

Comment: Global warming? Antarctica hit a new all-time coldest temperature record of -135 degrees Fahrenheit TWICE in last three years

      Read More...
Cloud Precipitation

Weather caused late deliveries for Christmas - Senator calls for refunds from shipping companies

Natalie DiBlasio and Beau Zimmer
USA Today
Thu, 26 Dec 2013 12:22 UTC
Thousands of UPS packages will arrive after Christmas
Image
© Mark Lennihan/AP
For the Allan family in Clearwater, Fla., Chicago beef is an annual holiday tradition. The family orders Christmas dinner shipped in every year from the famed Portillo's Restaurant.

"It's a big deal," said Jan Allan. "It's something to us that's special for our family. It's not something we can get in Florida."

She was planning a dinner party for 20 friends and family. When the food didn't arrive by early Christmas Eve, she was worried.

"I became concerned and tried to check the tracking number," said Allan.

It turned out the Allans were among thousands of families that didn't get their Christmas package by Christmas.

For the first time this year, UPS took on more overnight packages than it could deliver. The company apologized to customers, blaming bad winter weather in the South and a surge in online shopping.

The apology didn't go far with people on social media, which exploded with complaints about UPS and FedEx from customers furious about empty spots under their trees.

Most complaints were directed at UPS, which issued statements on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day acknowledging that the company was overwhelmed by unexpected volume and some packages were delayed until after the holiday.
      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

USGS: Earthquake Magnitude 5.4 - 31km NW of Frontera Spain


US Geological Survey
Fri, 27 Dec 2013 15:25 UTC
Image
Event Time:
013-12-27 17:46:06 UTC
2013-12-27 17:46:06 UTC+00:00 at epicenter

Location:
27.915°N 18.271°W depth=22.8km (14.2mi)

Nearby Cities:
31km (19mi) NW of Frontera, Spain
89km (55mi) SSW of Los Llanos de Aridane, Spain
98km (61mi) SSW of Santa Cruz de la Palma, Spain
148km (92mi) WSW of Santiago del Teide, Spain
507km (315mi) W of Laayoune / El Aaiun, Western Sahara

Technical Data


Comment: New eruption may be brewing at El Hierro volcano

      Read More...
Cloud Lightning

Wales weather: Winds of 109mph recorded as more bad weather sweeps in

Cathy Owen
Western Mail
Fri, 27 Dec 2013 15:04 UTC
Emergency services have been dealing with fallen trees, floods and roofs being blown off homes and garages

Image

A fallen tree closes the road between Groeslon and Carmel near Caernarfon
Thousands of homes were left without power today as the latest wave of bad weather hit Wales.

Widespread gales swept in last night and lasted much of the day, with the worst-hit areas being in north-west Wales.

Speeds of 109mph were recorded in Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula and fire crews had to make safe a structure on Tenby's South Parade.

Wind speeds also reached 85mph in Capel Curig, Snowdonia, 71mph at Pembrey, 62mph at Milford Haven and 52mph in Cardiff.

Thousands of homes and businesses were without power.

An estimated 4,500 homes on Anglesey and 2,500 in Gwynedd were without electricity after the storms struck.

Pockets were also affected in northeast Wales.
      Read More...
Wreath

Alps avalanches leave four people dead after heavy snowfalls

Kim Willsher
The Guardian
Fri, 27 Dec 2013 14:15 UTC
Avalanche in St. Moritz
© Giancarlo Cattaneo/EPA
Experts examine the spot where an avalanche began near St Moritz, Switzerland, killing one person.
A series of avalanches in the Alps on Friday left four people dead, including a young Irishman, and several other skiers seriously injured, according to mountain rescue teams.

Off-piste skiers have been warned there may be further avalanches this weekend.

Seven skiers were swept away when avalanches hit the popular resorts of Val-Thorens, Courchevel, La Clusaz and Serre-Chevalier.

One man, reportedly a French mountain worker, aged 50, died in Courchevel as he tried to reach his chalet refuge with his son, when the pair were "surprised by an avalanche", mountain rescue services said. The son was saved, but his father died. In a separate incident at Serre-Chevalier, a second skier, described as between 15 and 20 years of age, died in hospital after being buried in snow after an avalanche reportedly under the ski lifts.

Comment: It would be normal in reporting such an incident that the avalanches were due to very heavy snowfall in the last few days, with some places receiving up to 1.5 meter of snow (5 feet). It is likely due to the fact that the Guardian has betted so heavily on the AGW horse that all information to the contrary is ignored. Here is the snow map for the last 3 days with numbers in centimeters:
snow map for Switzerland
© WSL-Institut für Schnee- und Lawinenforschung SLF
Fresh snow in the last 3 days. Last updated 27.12.2013, 09:31


      Read More...
Bizarro Earth

New eruption may be brewing at El Hierro volcano

Becky Oskin
LiveScience
Fri, 27 Dec 2013 13:08 UTC
El Hierro island
© NASA Earth Observatory
El Hierro island.
Two years after a new underwater volcano appeared offshore of El Hierro in the Canary Islands, earthquake swarms and a sudden change in height suggest a new eruption is brewing near the island's villages, officials announced today (Dec. 27).

After the announcement, one of the largest temblors ever recorded at the volcanic island, a magnitude-5.1 earthquake, struck offshore of El Hierro at 12:46 p.m. ET (5:46 p.m. local time) today, the National Geographic Institute reported. Residents on the island reported strong shaking, and the quake was felt throughout the Canary Islands, according to news reports. The earthquake's epicenter was 9 miles (15 kilometers) deep.

Before the earthquake struck early this afternoon, the island's volcano monitoring agency, Pelvolca, had raised the volcanic eruption risk for El Hierro to "yellow." This warning means that activity is increasing at the volcano, but no eruption is imminent. A similar burst of activity prompted a yellow warning in June 2012, but the volcano soon quieted down.
      Read More...
Butterfly

Why are monarch butterflies disappearing?

Allie Goorick
The Weather Channel
Fri, 27 Dec 2013 12:53 UTC
Monarch Butterflies
© Wikipedia/Agunther
In recent years, scientists have noticed a disturbing drop in the number of monarchs wintering in Mexico.
Every November, around the same time that Mexico remembers lost loved ones during their Day of the Dead celebration, millions of monarch butterflies descend on Mexico's forests in their annual migration from North America. That's why, in Mexican tradition, monarchs are said to house the souls of the dead returning to earth, PBS reports.

But these days, fewer souls seem to be making the journey.

In recent years, scientists have noticed a disturbing drop in the number of monarchs wintering in Mexico, a trend that could mean that monarchs' remarkable trek may be coming to an end.

Historically, the striking orange butterflies, which are native to the U.S. and Canada, embark on an amazing and somewhat mysterious migration, flying up to 2,800 miles to the forests of central Mexico to hibernate in a 30-by-60 square-foot area that they have never been to before, according to the Washington Post. In the Oyamel fir forests, millions of the stunning butterflies cover the trees in colonies that once spanned nearly 52 acres.

Lincoln Brower, a professor of biology at Sweet Briar College, told the Washington Post that last year, the monarch colonies spanned less than 3 acres, a record low.
      Read More...
Eagle

Update: Unexplained bald eagle deaths in Utah rises to 20

Laura Zuckerman
news.yahoo.com
Fri, 27 Dec 2013 13:27 UTC
Image

The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah has been caring for sick bald eagles since the beginning of the month, each of them succumbing to a mystery illness.
The tally of unexplained bald eagle deaths in Utah this month rose to 20 on Thursday as state wildlife officials looked for possible links to diseases suspected in a coinciding die-off of thousands of shore birds around the Great Salt Lake.

Since December 1, state wildlife specialists have documented a growing number of bald eagles of varying ages succumbing to an unexplained ailment that crippled them with leg paralysis and tremors before they died.

The eagle deaths have been concentrated in the northern and central parts of Utah at a time when the federally protected raptors have migrated to their wintering grounds in the Rockies.

Necropsies, the animal equivalent of autopsy examinations, have yet to pinpoint what is killing the eagles, but scientists now believe a disease rather than a toxin is the culprit, said Leslie McFarlane, Utah wildlife disease coordinator.

"It appears to be more disease-related since we're seeing birds with neurological symptoms and enlarged hearts. That doesn't rule out all toxins, but it shortens the list of suspects," she said.
      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts