Earth ChangesS

Bizarro Earth

'Island' emerges in Indonesian volcano crater

An island that has emerged in the middle of the crater lake of Indonesia's Mount Kelut may have been effectively plugging the volcano but it could be dislodged, scientists warned Tuesday.

The peak in East Java, whose fertile slopes are populated by thousands of people, was put on high alert on October 16 but has not fully erupted, puzzling scientists who say it is impossible to predict what may happen next.

Bizarro Earth

Update: Mexico army searches mudslide, 16 feared dead

Mexican soldiers dug on Tuesday for victims of a giant mudslide that buried a village when torrential rains caused a soaked hillside to collapse.

©REUTERS/Tomas Bravo
A view of the mudslide that buried the village of Juan del Grijalva in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas November 6, 2007.

Magnify

New Wild Pig Species Reported in Brazil



©Unknown

A Dutch scientist thinks he has discovered a new species of wild pig nearly twice the size of other pigs in Brazil's Amazon region.

Cloud Lightning

Record opening rains for November in South Australia

This week's storms and heavy rains have given parts of South Australia their wettest start to November since records began - but has the River Murray benefited?

Although it is hoped the same tropical system poured into the River Murray's catchment as it flooded parts of eastern Victoria, authorities are yet to determine where any run-off will go.

©Fiona Hamilton
Lyn Craig tends to her stranded sheep in a flooded paddock in Tinamba, Victoria, yesterday.

Cloud Lightning

Hawaii soaked by heavy rains, high surf

The first storm of the season sent boulders crashing into two O'ahu homes yesterday, caused power outages across much of the island and triggered sewage spills totaling nearly 2 million gallons.

And more rain is on the way.

©Deborah Booker / The Honolulu Advertiser
Firefighters push a pump through the floodwater to drain driveways of homes on Kalaheo Avenue in Kailua.

Bizarro Earth

Hundreds of thousands flee ahead of Indonesian volcano eruption

A major evacuation effort is underway in Indonesia amid concerns that the notorious Mount Kelud may erupt.

Cloud Lightning

Colombia's Capital hit by hailstorm

An unusually strong hail storm whipped through Colombia's capital, on Saturday, causing severe flooding and burying dozens of vehicles under the ice. Authorities say it is the strongest ever hailstorm seen in Bogotรก, but despite several major roads becoming blanketed in ice, no one was killed by the storm.

Bizarro Earth

Mudslide buries houses in flooded Mexico

A huge wall of mud and water engulfed a remote village in flood-ravaged southern Mexico on Monday and the government said at least 16 people were missing.

©REUTERS/Manuel Lopez
A family makes its way down a flooded street in a canoe in a neighbourhood of Villahermosa November 5, 2007.

Comment: "The United States is donating $300,000 to the affected area and U.S. President George W. Bush called Calderon to express sympathy and offer U.S. help."

Calderon had better think twice about that offer or he might end up with the same kind of help that Bush sent to those whose homes and property were demolished by Hurricane Katrina.


Red Flag

Best of the Web: My Nobel Moment

I've had a lot of fun recently with my tiny (and unofficial) slice of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). But, though I was one of thousands of IPCC participants, I don't think I will add "0.0001 Nobel Laureate" to my resume.

Comment: For the record it was Mr. Christy who made a sign error in his satellite temperature analysis using MSU data. This resulted in an erroneously measured "cooling" instead of an actual warming of the lower troposphere. Perhaps it was this humility which he endured that allows him to write from such a perspective.


Bomb

Indonesia volcano eruption imminent despite false alarm: scientist

A day after a false alarm on Indonesia's Mount Kelut led to panic among residents on its slopes, the volcano is showing signs of an imminent eruption, a scientist said Sunday.

"An eruption is now very, very much possible, although so far it has not yet happened," said Agus Budianto, a geologist monitoring the activities of the volcano in the densely populated East Java province.

On Saturday, continuous tremors beneath the volcano became so strong that they could no longer be read on seismological instruments, leading scientists to evacuate their posts and warn an eruption appeared to have occurred.

They could not confirm it visually as the top of the historically deadly mountain was shrouded by clouds but their warning led residents still in the danger zone to flee in fear for their lives.