Earth ChangesS


Umbrella

US: Storms Pelt Indiana, Tornado Slams Wisconsin

Charles Wilson
WGAL.com
Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:32 UTC
flood
© AP Photo/Journal & CourierCitizens try to avoid the flood waters that surround their homeTuesday, June 22, 2010 in Edna Mills, Ind.
Avon, Indiana -- A wave of severe storms crashed through the Midwest Tuesday, forcing residents in central Indiana to flee their homes because of rising floodwaters and frantically ease the pressure on an earthen dam before a new band of storms came rumbling through.

In several states, residents took advantage of a brief break from the severe weather Tuesday afternoon to clean up from tornadoes and flash floods. Twenty-five homes were destroyed and at least a hundred more damaged in Wisconsin, while 26 families in Illinois were homeless after strong winds tore a roof off an apartment complex.

The storms that pelted the region weakened as they moved east, but the National Weather Service said another wave was expected to hit Iowa, Illinois and Indiana on Tuesday night. Enough moisture remained in the air that if storms developed in the heat, they would likely be downpours, said Jason Puma, a weather service meteorologist in Indianapolis.

Residents near Avon west of Indianapolis used an earth mover to poke a hole in an earthen dam in hopes of lowering the water level in Indian Head Lake enough that the dam wouldn't be overwhelmed by more rain and swamp bridges and homes downstream. A huge crater had developed in the side of the dam that morning and muddy brown water lapped the top, prompting the temporary evacuation of 32 homes and 16 homes in a nearby mobile home park.
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Umbrella

Canada: Lightning, flooding hit Calgary


CBC News
Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:09 UTC
Image
© Gabe McClintock/Perspectiveye Photography
Emergency crews in Calgary had their hands full Tuesday with flooding and lightning strikes.

Rain, hail, thunder, lightning and flooding struck various parts of Calgary on Tuesday afternoon.

Fire crews and paramedics received almost 100 calls between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. MT. Crews responded to everything from traffic accidents to false alarms downtown because of electrical overloads, said Barry Dawson, a spokesman for the Calgary fire department.

"We've had confirmed lightning strikes, working fires, smouldering fires, just about everything this afternoon. It's been absolutely crazy," said Dawson.

There were at least 13 cases of lightning hitting buildings in the city, he said. None have caused any serious damage.

Lightning is believed to have sparked a fire at a paper products warehouse at 10351 46th Street S.E. And firefighters had to remove smouldering attic insulation from a house on Arbour Glen Close N.W. that was hit by lightning.
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Attention

Siberian tiger threatened by mystery disease

Patrick Evans
Guardian
Sun, 20 Jun 2010 12:00 UTC
Image
© Grant Faint/Getty ImagesThe number of siberian tigers has fallen 40% in five years.
Conservationists say an epidemic is destroying the big cats' ability to hunt and turning them into potential man-eaters

A mystery disease is driving the Siberian tiger to the edge of extinction and has led to the last animal tagged by conservationists being shot dead in the far east of Russia because of the danger it posed to people.

The 10-year-old tigress, known to researchers as Galya, is the fourth animal that has had a radio collar attached to it for tracking to die in the past 10 months. All had been in contact with a male tiger suspected of carrying an unidentified disease that impaired the ability to hunt. "We may be witnessing an epidemic in the Amur tiger population," said Dr Dale Miquelle, the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Russia director.

Galya had recently abandoned a three-week-old litter of cubs and come into the town of Terney looking for an easy meal. Following a series of all-night vigils by researchers, attempts to scare the tigress away failed. She was reported to the Primorsky State Wildlife Department as an official "conflict tiger", and a state wildlife inspector was called in to destroy her earlier this month.

"This tiger had lost its fear of humans - typically Amur tigers will never expose themselves for observation. It was like seeing someone you know turn into a vampire," Miquelle said.
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Cloud Lightning

Oil Rain In Louisiana


YouTube
Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:34 UTC
This looked exactly like what we saw yesterday under the Bay Saint Louis Miss Bridge On Our Way Out To Cat Island In The Gulf. Thick Brown Gooey Foam.

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Bizarro Earth

The Real Consequences of An Ocean Floor Collapse

Nick Doms
Huliq
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:49 UTC
A collapse of the ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico is in our near future but all depends on how such will occur. Two possible scenarios have been analyzed and described by several oceanographic institutions including the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) known for its in depth maritime expertise.

The two possible scenarios are either a complete collapse of the ocean floor right above the Deepwater Horizon well and surroundings or a partial collapse in the form of a mud slide on one side of the well.

The first scenario is unlikely at this time but remains a possibility given the number of crevices that have been created naturally due to the high pressure inside the well. This pressure is created by the large amount of methane gasses that is building up inside the well.

Should this scenario occur, then the prediction is that a vast amount of oil and methane will be released immediately into the water and towards the surface. The aftermath would be a tidal wave, caused by the fast displacement of a large amount of water that will reach the shores of all the Gulf States.

The immediate danger will be to cope with the height of the wave along the shoreline and not necessarily the mixture of oil and Corexit. Both products will obviously affect the local population in the aftermath of the tidal wave and during clean up.
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Bizarro Earth

UFO is Just Stratus-Fear


The Sun
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:40 UTC
Orographic Cloud
© The SunSpaceship shape ... cloud encounter of the third kind.
This cloud encounter with beings from another world turned out just to be a bit of stratus-fear.

The remarkable cloud - looking exactly like an alien flying saucer - was snapped over Perthshire at the weekend.

Brian Wilton and wife Isobel captured the moment it passed over as the sun went down in the town of Crieff.

Brian believes the cloud owes its bizarre appearance to the almond-shape of altocumulus lenticularis formations.

He said: "The formation of the dramatic orographic clouds (produced as air is forced to rise over mountains) are usually in mountainous regions due to very specific atmospheric conditions.

"They're usually to be found on the down wind side of the mountain, are very slow moving but evaporate very quickly.

"We couldn't believe it. It was like the scene in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind when the big spaceship comes down."
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Frog

Red-Eyed Tree Frogs Use Vibrations As a Means of Communication

Lin Edwards
PhysOrg
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:00 UTC
Image
© Graham P. Oxtoby/WikipediaRed-eyed tree frog of Central and South America.
A study of the Central American red-eyed tree frog has found that the males shake the branches they're perched on to produce strong vibrations to mark out their territory for mating.

Researchers from the Adelaide Zoo and Flinders University, Adelaide, led by Dr. Greg Johnston, were studying the role of bright colors in the behavior of frogs in their breeding rituals, when they discovered that the Panamanian rainforest frogs shake the branches they are posing on as part of the ritual, especially if another male is in the vicinity. Johnston said they struck a pose that displayed all their colors and then did what looked to him like "little tantrums," which produced strong vibrations that traveled through the plants.

The researchers chose red-eyed tree frogs (Agalychnis callidryas) to study because they are brilliantly colored with gold and blue stripes on their sides, purple flashes on their thighs, bright orange feet, and green backs, and their eyes are bright red. They used infrared cameras to study the frogs mating at night, and also used a miniature seismograph to confirm the vibrations were really made by the frogs and not by the wind or other natural effects.
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Frog

Female Frog "Sings" During Sex

Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:22 UTC
Image
© Lai Wagtail/Wikimedia CommonsA Babina adenopleura frog. Emei music frogs come from the genus Babina.
Many famous and not-so-famous singers claim to woo their mates with a tune or two during romantic encounters. It's a tactic that often works.

While this behavior is well known among humans, it's somewhat less common for amphibians, especially female frogs. But Kermit's heart would probably go pitter pat if he encountered a female Emei music frog, since new research has just revealed these gals "sing" in very sexy ways while they mate.

The rhythmic click calls of the females are so attractive to males that they move rhythmically back and forth whenever they hear these calls during mating, according to the researchers. It's as though the males need the "singing" to help them get their groove on, and maintain it. The males also shut up, which is pretty unusual for this vocal species.
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Info

Thousand people missing in north-east Brazil floods


BBC News
Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:43 UTC
Floods have engulfed two states in north-east Brazil, leaving about 1,000 people missing and forcing at least 100,000 to flee their homes.

At least 38 people are known to have died so far in Alagoas and Pernambuco.

Correspondents say the floods, brought on by nearly a week of rain, have washed away entire villages.

The governor of Alagoas, Teotonio Vilela Filho, said bodies were being washed up on beaches and riverbanks.
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Hourglass

BP Admits That - If It Tries to Cap the Leak - the Whole Well May Blow


Washington's Blog
Tue, 15 Jun 2010 00:00 UTC
As I previously noted, oil industry expert Rob Cavner said that BP must "keep the well flowing to minimize oil and gas going out into the formation on the side":
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