Significant reductions in mercury emissions will be necessary just to stabilize current levels of the toxic element in the environment, according to new research from a team led by Harvard University.

Surface reservoirs, such as soil, air and water, hold an enormous amount of mercury from past pollution going back thousands of years. Scientists believe it will continue to persist in the ocean and accumulate in fish for decades to centuries.

"It's easier said than done, but we're advocating for aggressive reductions, and sooner rather than later," says Helen Amos, a PhD candidate in Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The findings of this study were published in a recent issue of Global Biogeochemical Cycles.

Amos worked with a team of researchers from the the Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) to collect historical data concerning mercury emissions as far back as 2,000 BC. The team has also been building environmental models of mercury cycling that captures the interactions between the atmosphere, oceans and land.

Most of the mercury emitted to the environment ends up in the ocean within a few decades, the model reveals. The mercury remains in the ocean from centuries to millennia. Currently, emissions of mercury are mainly from coal-fired power plants and artisanal gold mining. The mercury is thrown into the air, rained down into lakes, absorbed by the soil and carried by rivers, eventually finding its way to the sea. Once there, aquatic microbes convert it to methylmercury, the organic compound that accumulates in fish, finds its way to our dinner plates, and has been associated with neurological and cardiovascular damage.

Because of an unusually cold spring and an insect shortage this summer, conservationists are concerned bat numbers could continue to suffer this year. Based on the latest figures from Britain's National Bat Monitoring Programme (NBMP), the annual bat breeding season got off to a slow start due to unseasonable weather earlier this year.

Dr. Kate Barlow, Head of Monitoring at the Bat Conservation Trust, said, "After 2 years of long, wet, winters and a particularly late and cold start to summer this year, the outlook isn't too promising for our bats. The most recent results from the National Bat Monitoring Programme showed that there were fewer bats were counted in 2012 than in 2011 for most species monitored."

Dr. Barlow added that 2013 saw the coldest March in 50 years and summer got off to such a late start many of the species are struggling. "This year Britain's bats need all the help they get," she said.

Further adding to the bat recovery struggle is the fact that winged insect numbers are also down. So on top of a cold spring and delayed summer, several species may face shortages in food supply, especially those that rely on moths, according to a National Trust report released last month.

In this post you get a compilation of these weird noises from the sky that we were used to listen in 2012 just before the Maya calender ended! Are they back now?
Strange Sounds from the sky in Curitiba Brazil - July 9 2013

The recorder of the video had always a foot back from videos of strange sounds coming from the sky as they seemed to be haoxes. This until he witnesses the phenomenon on July 9 2013. The metallic echoeing and rumbling noise started around 3 am and lasted intermittently for approximately one hour. At the beginning, it sound very similar to a bell. He has never listened to something like this since he is around (lots of years). Sometimes, the sound was very loud and scary, without any specific direction, but coming from above, from the sky. The sky is very frightning, is terrible!

Thanks to an especially wet Fourth of July, rain has remained a topic of conversation in the Atlanta area, where we don't seem to be getting a break. But there's always a question of perception vs. truth when it comes to weather. Has it really rained as much as it has seemed here?

In the case of 2013 weather, the truth is this: It has rained in near record volumes in the metro Atlanta area, according to the National Weather Service. We had more rain through July 8 this year than we had in all of 2012. Same is true for all of 2011.

Let's look at the stats, courtesy of Keith Stellman, meteorologist in charge at the Peachtree City-based weather service. Atlanta is on pace to have its wettest year ever. These records, by the way, extend back to 1879. Through July 8, the official site at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport recorded 41.28 inches of rain. At that pace, Atlanta would reach 79.72 inches by December 31, eclipsing the highest marks to date -- 71.18 in 1948 and 69.43 in 2009. The 2009 year was pushed by a "once in 500 years flood" that crippled the city for a week in September.

But of course, that's only pace and assumes rain at the same frequency and volume, which may be unlikely. Because the pace and volume have indeed been extraordinary.

"If we simply get average rainfall the remainder of the year and no more rain in July, we will get into the top 10 wettest years on record with 61 inches of rain," said Stellman. In addition, there are only seven years on record that have had more rain through July than we have had in Atlanta, and that's with 2013 records only through July 8.

A violent electrical storm was the cause of a bush fire this morning in the province of Almeria. Fire planes have been working since dawn to extinguish six points of fire that are still burning being fanned by strong winds in the area.

The zone affected is scrubland with little vegetation and quite a distance from the nearest populated area in the Huercal-Overa region.

Javier Madrid who is co-ordinating the work by INFOCA said that there was no risk to homes or people but that some families had been evacuated as a safety precaution.

According to the authorities, last night's storm caused over 2,000 lightening strikes which set off three major fires in Turre, Mojacar and Huercal Overa.

Toronto-area residents mopped up Tuesday after a record-breaking storm and driving wind caused flash floods which set cars afloat, stranded rail commuters and caused widespread power outages in Canada's largest city.

"It is really, probably the most intense, wettest moment in Toronto's history," Environment Canada senior climatologist David Philips said.

Phillips said two separate storm cells moved over the city at the same time, and then stalled over Toronto for hours.

"It's almost like Toronto was a target with a bull's eye," he said.

Pearson International Airport reported 12.6 centimeters (4.96 inches) of rain throughout Monday, breaking the previous single-day rainfall record for the city set back on Oct. 15, 1954, when Hurricane Hazel dumped 121 millimeters (4.76 inches) of rain.

Gallery

Flooding in western China, the worst in 50 years for some areas, triggered a landslide Wednesday that buried about 30 people, trapped hundreds in a highway tunnel and destroyed a high-profile memorial to a devastating 2008 earthquake.
Meanwhile, to the northeast, at least 12 workers were killed when a violent rainstorm caused the collapse of an unfinished coal mine workshop they were building, said a statement from the city government of Jinzhong, where the accident occurred. The accident Tuesday night came amid heavy rain and high winds across a swath of northern China, including the capital, Beijing.

There was no immediate word on the chances of survival for the 30 or so people buried in the landslide in the city of Dujiangyan in Sichuan province, but rescue workers with search dogs rushed to the area, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

State-run China Central Television said hundreds of people were trapped in a highway tunnel between Dujiangyan and Wenchuan - the epicenter of the earthquake five years ago that left 90,000 people dead or missing. Authorities were not able to make contact with the people, the report said.

A large waterspout has come ashore over the coastline of Oldsmar in Florida, to the amazement of onlookers who captured the phenomenon on video.

Residents of the Tampa Bay area of Florida were amazed to see a huge column of water hovering over their homes on Monday.

The waterspout came over the coastline of Oldsmar before hitting land and becoming a tornado.

Cleanup crews worked quickly and, by Tuesday afternoon the only signs of damage were an uprooted mailbox, and knocked down tree branches. No injuries were reported.

"I was so excited, I just wanted to see this thing," said David Necker, who recorded video on his mobile phone before and after driving away from his house in case the waterspout caused significant damage. "I couldn't believe it. Fifteen years living here, and it's the first time I've ever seen anything so incredible."

Abram Carawan was also mesmerised by the sight and posted this video clip of it on YouTube.

The National Weather Service has confirmed that isolated thunderstorms in the Tampa Bay area produced the waterspout. Generally, waterspouts are tornados that occur over water in which a continuous vortex, sometimes hundreds of metres high, extends from a cloud to the water surface.

Three people were pulled from a raging river but six others remained missing following a bridge collapse Tuesday in mountainous western China amid heavy flooding that has forced thousands to evacuate their homes.

The official Xinhua News Agency said one sedan, three minivans and one SUV fell into the torrent when the more than 40-year-old Qinglian bridge broke apart just before noon in the city of Jiangyou in the western province of Sichuan.

Fire crews worked Tuesday to stop two large Nevada wildfires advancing through rugged mountain areas, including one that billowed smoke visible from downtown Las Vegas and another southwest of Reno, while administrators added resources and began looking to the weather to help contain flames.

Fifty firefighters were added to the lines on the Carpenter 1 Fire on Mount Charleston northwest of Las Vegas, bringing to more than 800 the number of personnel battling a blaze identified as the top priority in the West, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Jay Nichols said.
"We've got a fire running from 11,000 feet to about 5,000 feet," Nichols said of the elevation of the blaze sparked by lightning July 1 and still just 15 percent contained eight days later. He said some of the increase in the fire size was due to backfires set to burn forest fuel and protect homes.

The fire area of almost 31 square miles was nearly the size of Manhattan. It charred pinion, juniper and bristlecone pine forest in steep territory and crept to within about a mile about 400 homes in mountain hamlets. More than 500 residents and another 98 teenagers at a youth correctional camp remained evacuated since the weekend. State highways into the area are closed.