Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Israel's Mediterranean a 'septic tank?'

The Mediterranean is often called the world's most polluted sea and the waters around Tel Aviv offer a reason why.

©REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen
A man walks along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the Israeli city of Haifa, October 9, 2007.

Magic Wand

The fish that can survive for months in a tree

It's one of the golden rules of the natural world - birds live in trees, fish live in water.

The trouble is, no one bothered to tell the mangrove killifish.

Scientists have discovered that it spends several months of every year out of the water and living inside trees.

©Unknown
The killifish can alter the way it breathes

Bizarro Earth

Volcano Erupted in Kamchatka, East Russia

Bezymyannyi volcano, located in the Ust-Kamchatka District, erupted on October 15.

Seismologists registered a sudden increase in activity of the volcano at 3:30 a.m. local time. Scientists think giant volcano kept erupting for two hours. It threw out columns of ash to the height of 5 to 7 km. The ash shower covered dozens of kilometres around the volcano, RIA Sever DV reports.

Cloud Lightning

Update: 10 killed, over 100 missing as storm hits S Bangladesh

Violent storms triggered by depression have swept Bangladesh's south and southeastern coastal belt, leaving at least 10 people dead and over 100 fishermen missing in the Bay of Bengal.

The storm struck the country's southern districts of Barisal, Bhola, Barguna, Noakhali, Patuakhali, Bagerhat, Faridpur and Rangamati Monday night, triggering heavy rain, tornado and landslide and leaving 10 killed and over 150 injured.

Better Earth

Mysterious foam on Lago Maggiore



©n/a

Better Earth

Volcanic eruption may be linked to quakes

Scientists are setting up seismographs in a wilderness region of the British Columbian Interior today to determine if a pending volcanic eruption is the cause of hundreds of small earthquakes the area has been experiencing non-stop since last week.

©Natural Resources Canada
Map of earthquake activity over the past 30 days

John Cassidy of the Geological Survey of Canada said the region surrounding the remote volcano, known as the Nazko Cone, has experienced a "swarm" of over two dozen quakes a day since Oct. 10. The red volcanic rock cone is 16 kilometres from the village of Nazko, a community of about 200, and is 75 kilometres west of the town of Quesnel.

©Global Volcanism Program
Nazko Cone, the easternmost and youngest volcano of the Anahim volcanic belt in the Chilcotin-Nechako Plateau, central British Columbia

Comment: One wonders, of course, if this report is in any way related to the following:

Geoscientist Receives Grant To Study Effects Of Volcanoes On Climate Change In Arctic


Bulb

Geoscientist Receives Grant To Study Effects Of Volcanoes On Climate Change In Arctic

Raymond S. Bradley, director of the Climate System Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has received a three-year, $416,550 award from the National Science Foundation for his project, titled "Volcanoes in the Arctic System: Geochronology and Climate Impacts." The award will help Bradley and his colleagues to better understand the impacts that natural factors, such as explosive volcanic eruptions, can have on the Arctic system and on global climate fluctuations.

©Unknown
Volcanic ash cloud.

Cloud Lightning

Tiny Pacific islands say climate change threatens survival

Some of the world's most vulnerable island nations appealed Monday for action to halt climate change that could cause them to disappear beneath the Pacific Ocean.

©Unknown

Comment: Unfortunately for the people of the Pacific Islands, along with the rest of us, climate change is not so easily stopped by just having humans slow down their use of CO2 causing devices. Especially since this is a very minor contributor to climate change in the first place. It is a much more complicated issue as is noted here.


Cloud Lightning

Calif. Sandstorm Causes Pileup, Kills 2

LANCASTER, Calif. - A blinding sandstorm that caught drivers by surprise caused a 12-car pileup Tuesday on a highway in the high desert north of Los Angeles, killing at least two people and injuring 16, authorities said.

Bomb

What Was Behind the Honey Bee Wipeout?



©Anna_Greece foto
Everyone has a theory why the honeybees started dying off. Try malnutrition.