Earth Changes
Agency officials admit that the problem with instruments recording low temperatures likely happened in several locations throughout Australia, but they refuse to admit to manipulating temperature readings. The BOM located missing logs in Goulburn and the Snow Mountains, both of which are in New South Wales.
Meteorologist Lance Pidgeon watched the 13 degrees Fahrenheit Goulburn recording from July 2 disappear from the bureau's website. The temperature readings fluctuated briefly and then disappeared from the government's website.
"The temperature dropped to minus 10 (13 degrees Fahrenheit), stayed there for some time and then it changed to minus 10.4 (14 degrees Fahrenheit) and then it disappeared," Pidgeon said, adding that he notified scientist Jennifer Marohasy about the problem, who then brought the readings to the attention of the bureau.

A Fin whale that grounded itself in Salvage, and later perished on July 30, has brought a number of spectators to the area.
The whale grounded itself on Sunday and later perished.
Gander resident John King made the approximately 100-kilometre trip to the Eastport Peninsula community after hearing about the beaching from a friend.
An avid sea kayaker, King has encountered whales during his travels and he holds a lot of respect for the massive mammals.

First responders on the scene commencing bucketing and setting up pumps to keep the whales cool and wet
Blue Dolphin owner Peter Lynch said it was rare for whales to venture into that part of the Great Sandy Strait.
"It's a shallow, narrow area that's difficult for vessels to navigate," Mr Lynch said.
"There's a few whales that go down that way each season."
With the rapid increase in whale numbers, Mr Lynch said it was only expected that there would also be more whale deaths from accidents.
There is estimated to be 27,000 whales migrating this season, which is double what the number was just years ago.
"As the population increases, more and more will die naturally and more will die from fatality events like being hit by ships," he said.
"And more will die from human effect like being trapped in fishing gear."
The news comes just one day after two humpback whales tragically beached themselves off Fraser Island.
The carcass was found just before 11am this morning and it is believed council animal management will remove the whale.
Sea World marine sciences director Trevor Long said about 20 per cent of baby whales were lost each year "for a range of reasons."
KSBW-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2uNlua8 ) the whale appeared Saturday at Pebble Beach near Bird Rock Point.
Marine biologist Katlyn Taylor called in the sighting.
A necropsy will help marine biologists determine the cause of death.
Eight students of the sub-division headquarters were also struck by lightning and had to be hospitalised. They were released after treatment. All of them belonged to Rasrasikpur UGME UP School. President of the school was also hurt while taking the students to the hospital.In Sambalpur, three persons were struck by lightning whereas Bargarh recorded two more deaths. In neighbouring Deogarh district, another lightning casualty was reported.
In a mere 18 hours, Noru's peak winds increased by 90 mph, the Weather Channel reported.
"What a change," commented David Ornauer of the Star and Stripes Pacific Storm Tracker blog. "What a major, major change."
The imagery of Noru's transformation is remarkable. Here is a satellite animation showing it morph from tropical storm to Super Typhoon status (to become a Super Typhoon, a storm's peak winds must reach at least 150 mph):
The USGS said the quake struck at 00.29 a.m. (UTC) and was at a depth of 16.6 km.
Experts said they do not expect any serious damage from the earthquake as the epicenter is too far from the southern coast of Crete.
Crete is a popular island resort usually packed with tourists.
In July, a magnitude 6.7 quake shook beach resorts in Greece and Turkey, killing two tourists who were crushed when a building collapsed on a bar on the Greek island of Kos and injuring nearly 500 others across the Aegean Sea region

Researchers have discovered a new virus in a white-rumped sandpiper (Calidris fuscicollis), a migratory bird species.
"We perform active monitoring of viruses in migratory birds. I was looking for Newcastle disease virus, a type 1 avian paramyxovirus, and my colleague Jansen de Araújo aimed to detect avian influenza virus for his research project. Finally, we found a co-infection by two viruses, one of which was totally unknown until then," said Luciano Matsumiya Thomazelli, a researcher at ICB-USP's Clinical & Molecular Virology Laboratory.
Since 2005, the lab team has been going into the field to perform epidemiological surveillance in different parts of Brazil as part of the Viral Genetic Diversity Network (VGDN), funded by FAPESP and headed by Professor Edison Luiz Durigon.
Their goal is to detect the presence of avian influenza virus and Newcastle disease virus, among others, in birds and other wild animals. In addition to monitoring, they aim to assess the risk of new strains arriving in Brazil. The samples collected by the team are stored in freezers at -80 °C and used in scientific research.
"At this time, there are no evacuation orders in effect," Scott said in a statement released on Monday, after the storm made landfall. "The Florida National Guard stands ready to assist with any storm-related impacts."
A state of emergency order gives the state more flexibility to work with local government to keep people safe.












Comment: See also: Australia's BOM backs down on warming at Antarctic bases