Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Europe Prays for Easter Rain in Worst Drought for a Century

Draught_1
© Yahoo NewsA farmer works on a field in his tractor.

The Dutch have banned barbecues, camp fires and outdoor smoking this Easter, while the Swiss are forecasting potentially the worst drought in Europe for more than a century.

Either way, prayers in Europe this Easter holiday weekend are as likely to call for rain as anything else -- with serious fears over the wheat harvest, its impact on already sky-high global food prices and, of course, devastating brush fires.

A year ago, it was Russia that bore the brunt of global warming, and with the price of benchmark wheat futures jumping by more than a fifth since the spring in the global market hub of Chicago, farmers everywhere are busy scanning the skies for soothing signs.

Traditional Easter fairs in the east and the north of the Netherlands have been cancelled because of the risk of fires posed by the extraordinarily dry weather affecting northern Europe, Dutch news agency ANP said.

In the eastern half of the country, one of Europe's biggest traders, outdoor family barbecues, smoking and camp fires are a strict no-no.

Alarm Clock

Earth opening up: Video of ground shifting during 3.7 earthquake in Japan April 10


Alarm Clock

Google Earth maps show populations at risk near nuclear plants

In a novel use of existing technology and data, Nature News in conjunction with Columbia University, has created a Google Earth map that shows the different population sizes surrounding nuclear power plants; ostensibly, to demonstrate the danger threshold of other plants worldwide, compared to the ongoing nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan.

nuclear plant risks
© UnknownGoogle Earth maps show populations at risk near nuclear plants
Working with the Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) database run by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to pinpoint the location and size of nuclear plants, both existing and under construction, and Columbia University's NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center, which runs the Global Rural-Urban Mapping Project, to nail down accurate population numbers, the team was able to put together a Google Earth map that very clearly shows, via colored circles, population density around nuclear facilities.

Because Google Earth maps render the globe in a 3-D like image, it's easy to skim around and very quickly get a feeling for where the dangers lie. For example, the United States, Europe (including Russia and former members of the USSR), India and China quite obviously have the bulk of nuclear plants, while the entire continents of Africa and South America have just one each, and Australia has none.

Comment: It's a telling sign that the article ends on a dismissive tone regarding the safety of human beings. This small piece of knowledge will, perhaps, allow some of those who are awake and paying attention to make choices that will protect them and their loved ones, just as those who were awake and paying attention left the Gulf Coast early on after the oil spill.


Cloud Lightning

US: Storms rip into central, southern Illinois

Image
© WGN-TV / April 20, 2011Storm damage near Litchfield, Ill.
Severe storms raked portions of southern and central Illinois late Tuesday, damaging homes, blowing rail cars off of tracks and leaving thousands of people without power.

Several tornadoes were reported, but there were no reports of injuries. The storm also pelted the region with golf ball-sized hail and driving rain.

More than 48,000 electric customers in central and southern Illinois are without power.

In northern Illinois, torrential rainfall and hail forced the cancellation of about 450 flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Midway International Airport was reporting delays of up to 30 minutes.

Some of the worst damage was in Girard, about 20 miles south of Springfield. Fire Chief Gary Otten says about 15 homes were damaged and many may be beyond repair. Otten said two barns also were destroyed.

"It's pretty clear to us it was a tornado - at least one, maybe two," said Girard Emergency Management Director Jim Pitchford.

The National Weather Service in Lincoln says it isn't yet clear if straight-line winds or tornadoes caused the damage. Trained weather spotters did report seeing funnel clouds and tornados.

Igloo

US: Temperatures Lowest For Time Of Year Since 1940s

Chicago - Not only has Chicago dealt with chilly rain, hail and even snow this week, but temperatures Tuesday were at their lowest for this late spring date since the 1940s.

CBS 2 Meteorologist Megan Glaros says the high Wednesday is expected only to reach 46 degrees with a peek or two of sunshine, but the chilly conditions will make it feel like winter never ended. As of 6:45 a.m., the temperature in Chicago was just 34 degrees.

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© Columbia Broadcasting SystemCold, pouring rain had people running downtown Tuesday night.
Glaros says if there were precipitation Tuesday morning, some snow would likely be mixed in. Fortunately, the storm systems have moved east and conditions were just cold and overcast.

On Tuesday, the high topped out at 38 degrees in the city. In the early evening hours, just walking a few blocks along the streets of Chicago felt like going out to sea in an open boat during a rainstorm in northern Canada. Anyone walking against the wind was blasted continuously in the face with cold droplets of rain, and given the strength of the winds, an umbrella was as good as useless.

And that was before the severe storms even hit. Lightning bolts and thunder claps soon appeared, and hail of up to 1 inch in diameter was spotted in some areas, according to the National Weather Service.

More than an inch and a half of rain fell in less than half an hour Tuesday evening, forcing the cancellation of more than 450 flights at O'Hare and Midway international airports, and leaving people sleeping on terminal floors.

Cloud Lightning

Ozone Hole A Surprise Rainmaker

Don't look now, but the climate problem we thought we had already solved -- the ozone hole over Antarctica -- has been rearranging rainfall patterns throughout the Southern Hemisphere for decades, a new modeling analysis shows.

ozone graphic
© Science/American Association for the Advancement of ScienceThe presence of the ozone hole moves the westerly jet and the dry subtropics towards the South Pole, leading to increases in subtropical precipitation.
The idea that losing ozone in the cold stratosphere over the South Pole could affect weather in the lower atmosphere all the way to the warm equator means Earth's changing climate system is even more complicated than most everyone thought.

The modeling study, published in the recent online issue of the journal Science, revealed that thinning of the ozone layer prompts severe cooling in the lower stratosphere over Antarctica. This cooling causes the lower level troposphere to rise and leads to a poleward shift in a strand of strong winds known as the westerly jet. Moving this jet stream pulls the storm track and other atmospheric circulation features farther south.

Bizarro Earth

Hundreds of Endangered Whales Swarming New England Coast

Right Whales
© NOAANorth Atlantic right whales.

A record number of critically endangered right whales are crowding the chilly waters off Cape Cod, Mass.

Researchers counted more than 100, and possibly as many as 200, animals during aerial surveys on Tuesday, the Boston Globe reported, a number that could represent nearly half the entire known right whale population that remains on Earth. Right whales, one of the rarest kinds of baleen whales, are teetering on the brink of extinction. Only about 450 to 500 North Atlantic right whales are thought to remain on the planet.

Charles "Stormy" Mayo, senior scientist at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown told the Globe the whales are as close as a few yards offshore to about a quarter-mile out, and said he expects the marine crowd to remain in the area for at least another week.

The right whales are gathered for a feeding frenzy on zooplankton, tiny, rice-sized crustaceans the baleen whales strain into their massive mouths.

Mayo said it's likely the record number of whales showed up this year because the waters are particularly rich with plankton this year, in much the same way that, on land, some years are better for crops than others.

Bizarro Earth

Tropical System Could Bring Early Start to Hurricane Season

Low Pressure System
© NOAA/NASA GOES Project
Hurricane season doesn't start in the Northern Atlantic Ocean until June 1, but one low pressure system wants to make an early debut.

There's a low pressure area with a small chance for development north-northeast of Puerto Rico, and NASA's GOES-13 satellite captured a visible image of the storm.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued a Special Tropical Weather Outlook yesterday, April 20, that noted the low pressure area was located about 460 miles (740 kilometers) northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico at 3:35 p.m. EDT. The NHC noted that slow development is possible over next couple of days. The low is moving west -northwest at 10 mph (16 kph).

Bizarro Earth

Australia: Dead Fish Found on Dam Bank

Dead Fish
© The Ridge News

A phone call to the Ridge News on Tuesday morning alerted us to the amount of European Carp fish in a dam at Big Warrambool.

There are thousands and thousands of dead fish on the water and line the banks metres deep.

It is a mystery why they have all died, but a Lightning Ridge local fisherman suggests there is not enough oxygen in the water for the amount of fish.

There is still an amazing amount of fish with their mouths out of the water, they will probably also die.

These fish must have been washed down in flood water and have been left behind in the dam as the waters have dried up.

Bizarro Earth

UK: Outbreak of Toxic Caterpillars in Pangbourne

Moth Caterpillar
© BBCThe oak processionary moth caterpillar feeds on oak tree leaves.
Residents in Pangbourne and parts of west London have been warned to steer clear of a toxic caterpillar.

The Forestry Commission has issued a caution not to touch the caterpillars of the oak processionary moth.

Their hairs contain a toxin that can cause itchy skin rashes as well as eye and throat irritations.

The Forestry Commission's Stewart Snape said residents can report sightings but that the caterpillars should only be removed by pest control operators.

Officials are now dealing with outbreaks of the moth in Pangbourne in West Berkshire and the London boroughs of Ealing, Brent, Hounslow, Richmond upon Thames and Hammersmith & Fulham.

Health Protection Agency director Dr Brian McCloskey said: "We strongly advise people not to touch or approach the caterpillars or their nests because of the health risks caused by the toxin-containing hairs.