Earth ChangesS


Light Sabers

First manta ray born in captivity is killed


Gulf Times / AFP
Fri, 22 Jun 2007 10:32 UTC
The world's first manta ray ever born in captivity has died at an aquarium in southern Japan after being attacked by its father, officials said yeserday.

The baby manta, a female about 1.9m wide, was born last Saturday at the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, drawing worldwide attention.

But it was found dead early yesterday, according to Minoru Toda, a spokesman for the aquarium on the subtropical island of Okinawa.

"I have never seen such a thing but the father manta ray kept chasing the newborn baby from behind. The baby looked stunned and bumped into walls at times," Toda said.
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Cloud Lightning

Northern Territories: Vast record breaking tropical rain band

Rebecca Lodin
Weatherzone
Wed, 20 Jun 2007 18:00 UTC
A massive cloud band has caused an unprecedented event, with record rain and cool days across much of Australia's Northern Territories.
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Snowman

Queensland: Record breaking cold snap continues

Matt Pearce
Weatherzone
Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:01 UTC
Many parts of Queensland experienced their coldest day on record yesterday, and the cold snap is continuing today, according to Weatherzone

The most significant records were broken across inland Queensland, where Boulia had a top of just nine degrees, its coldest day in 119 years of records. Richmond, in northwestern Queensland, reached just 13 degrees, its coldest June day in 115 years of records.

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Red Flag

Quake hits Venezuela, Colombia, no damage reported


Reuters
Wed, 20 Jun 2007 17:32 UTC
A quake shook Venezuela and Colombia on Wednesday but there were no reports of damage, including to any of Venezuela's vital oil operations, officials said.

The quake, which hit northeastern Colombia and southwestern Venezuela, should not produce any significant damage because of its size and depth, Herbert Rendon, a Venezuelan seismological official said in a telephone interview.
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Cloud Lightning

Indonesia mud flow causes living room geyser

Heri Retnowati
Reuters
Wed, 20 Jun 2007 13:50 UTC
Huge bursts of water have been shooting out of the ground in homes and at least one abandoned restaurant hundreds of meters away from swathes of land submerged by a mud volcano on Indonesia's Java island.

Experts say the bursts are caused by underground pressure linked to torrents of mud gushing out of a drilling site near the industrial suburb of Sidoarjo in East Java for more than a year.
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Cloud Lightning

Bangladesh faces "unusual" monsoon, fears flooding

Masud Karim
Reuters
Sun, 17 Jun 2007 13:47 UTC
Flood-prone Bangladesh is bracing for an unusual and unpredictable monsoon this year, with environment experts and officials blaming global warming, melting Himalayan glaciers, silted rivers and unplanned roads.

Heavy rains last week triggered landslides in the southern port city of Chittagong, burying at least 128 people alive.

Floods caused by days of torrential rain, described by weather officials as unusually heavy and devastating, inundated at least a dozen out of Bangladesh's 64 administrative districts.
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Question

Florida: Marine Officials Warn Of Biting Dolphins


Local6
Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:30 UTC
Marine researchers are warning about a growing number of dolphin bite cases in Sarasota County, according to a Local 6 News report.

Florida experts said wild dolphins are becoming more aggressive because boaters are feeding them.

"It seems reasonable to understand why you wouldn't feed a bear or something more dangerous-appearing, but these are wild animals," dolphin researcher Jason Allen said. "They are wild animals with lots of sharp teeth."
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Better Earth

Freak winter is Europe's warmest for 700 years

Catherine Brahic
NewScientist.com news service
Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:26 UTC
Last autumn-winter season was Europe's warmest for more than 700 years, researchers say.

The last time Europeans saw similar temperatures to the autumn and winter of 2006-07, they were eating strawberries at Christmas in 1289, according to Jürg Luterbacher at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and colleagues.

European climate measurements and temperature records stretch back several hundred years - UK records are the longest available, going back to 1659. Estimating historical temperatures beyond then involves scrutinising contemporary documents and diaries.

"People in churches, or doctors, wrote diaries, and usually they also included information about weather and climate. Climate historians can use and interpret this information and translate it into a temperature value," explains Luterbacher, who worked with climate historians to compare past and recent temperatures
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Cloud Lightning

Search for Missing After Flash Flooding in NY Catskill Mountains


AP
Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:59 UTC
Severe thunderstorms caused flash flooding that washed out roads in the southern Catskill Mountains, and police said at least four people were reported missing Wednesday.

One death was blamed on the storms elsewhere in the state.

Up to eight inches of rain fell in two hours late Tuesday as the storms rolled across the region, washing out roads and homes and slamming trees into bridges in the rural area.
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Cloud Lightning

Japan struggling with water shortages


UPI
Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:57 UTC
Certain regions of Japan have begun taking precautionary measures in light of a growing water shortage across the Asian nation.

With Japan receiving a limited amount of rain during the first half of the year, authorities in certain regions have begun implementing new policies to stretch the nation's dwindling water supply, the Mainichi Shimbun reported Wednesday.
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