Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Caterpillar plague strikes west Africa

Debora MacKenzie
New Scientist
Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:24 UTC
A throng of crop-eating caterpillars is threatening food supplies across west Africa, and could prove hard to control with pesticides. The crawling menace has appeared in northern Liberia, where hundreds of millions of the black larvae are devouring plants, fouling wells with their faeces and even driving farmers from fields.

They are now crossing into neighbouring Guinea, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns that in two to three weeks they will turn into moths that can fly hundreds of kilometres and could spread across west Africa, worsening food shortages in the region.

"The species is so far unknown," FAO entomologist Winfred Hammond told New Scientist from Accra in Ghana, where Liberian specimens were being flown for analysis.
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Better Earth

4.2 Quake Shakes Isles Off California coast


The Associated Press
Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:47 UTC
A small earthquake near the Channel Islands off the California coast early Thursday was felt by many in Catalina Island's main city of Avalon, but there were no apparent damages or injuries.

The magnitude-4.2 earthquake shook in the Pacific Ocean at 12:41 a.m. about 40 miles south of Avalon and 60 miles off the coast of San Diego, said seismologist Randy Baldwin of the U.S. Geological Survey.
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Better Earth

Earthquake Hits Andaman Islands


Indopia
Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:44 UTC
A moderate earthquake struck northern parts of Andaman islands early this morning, Met Department said.

The tremor measuring 5.4 on the Richter Scale was felt at 02:00 hrs (IST) at latitude 13.7 degree north and longitude 92.9 degree east, the Met department said.
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Cloud Lightning

Woman Freezes to Death in Remote Montana Cabin


The Associated Press
Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:33 UTC
A couple from Oklahoma that moved to Montana's rugged mountains for a cheap place to live apparently got caught off guard by a snowstorm, with the woman freezing to death in their remote cabin.

Her common-law husband, suffering from hypothermia and starving, was found propped up against her body, with an array of weapons spread in a half circle in front of him, authorities said.
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Butterfly

New Species of Babbler Bird Discovered in China

Michael Casey
PhysOrg/The Assicated Press
Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:56 UTC
Bab Bird
© AP Photo/Birdtour Asia, James Eaton, HOA Nonggang babbler is seen in southwestern China's Guangxi in December 2008. A new species of the fist-sized, babbler bird has been found in network of underground caves in China, raising the prospect the country could become a hot spot for other new discoveries, a conservation group said Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009.
A new species of the fist-sized babbler bird has been found in a network of underground caves in southwestern China, raising the prospect the country could become a hot spot for other new discoveries, a conservation group said Thursday.

Ornithologists Zhou Fang and Jiang Aiwu first spotted the dark brown bird with white specks on its chest in 2005 and have since confirmed its identity as an undescribed species. They named it the Nonggang babbler, or Stachyris nonggangensis, for the region in China where it was found.

A formal description was published last year in The Auk, which is the quarterly journal of the Virginia-based American Ornithologists' Union.

"This is exciting evidence that there could be many more interesting discoveries awaiting ornithologists in China," said Birdlife International's Nigel Collar, which announced the discovery.
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Bulb

Co-op bans eight pesticides after worldwide beehive collapse

Alison Benjamin
The Guardian
Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:33 UTC
honeybee
A bee collects nectar from a flower in a garden in Pontevedra. Photograph: Miguel Vidal/Reuters

First UK supermarket chain - and Britain's biggest farmer - to prohibit chemicals implicated in the death of over one-third of British bees

The Co-op today became the first UK supermarket to ban the use of a group of pesticides implicated in billions of honeybee deaths worldwide.

It is prohibiting suppliers of its own-brand fresh produce from using eight pesticides that have been connected to honeybee colony collapse disorder and are already restricted in some parts of Europe.

The Co-op said it will eliminate the usage of the neonicotinoid family of chemicals where possible and until they are shown to be safe. The Co-op has over 70,000 acres of land under cultivation in England and Scotland, making it the largest farmer in the UK. Since 2001, it has already prohibited the use of 98 pesticides under its pesticide policy.
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Igloo

Flashback Arctic Warming?


JunkScience.com
Sat, 15 Jan 2005 22:20 UTC
Once again claims are flying thick and fast regarding dramatic, in fact, unprecedented Arctic warming.

Once again, we look at the available data, now updated to the end of 2004.

Once again, we find the claims to be dead flat wrong. Click on the following thumbnails to view the full size images in a new browser window.

Note: subsequent to NASA's server upgrade the correct URL for zonal temperature anomalies is here.
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Bizarro Earth

US: 2 Earthquakes Reported in Northeast Arkansas


Insurance Journal
Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:28 UTC
A series of small earthquakes occurred Jan. 26 in northeast Arkansas.

The U.S. Geological Survey said three quakes of magnitudes ranging from 2 to 2.8 occurred between 1 a.m. and 5:09 a.m. a few miles east of Walnut Ridge and 85-90 miles northwest of Memphis, Tenn., the largest population center nearby.

That magnitude is considered barely strong enough to be felt on the earth's surface and too weak to cause serious damage.

The New Madrid Seismic Zone, which includes northeast Arkansas, produces numerous small earthquakes each year.
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Bizarro Earth

US Scientist: New fault could mean major Arkansas temblor

Jon Gambrell
Associated Press
Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:03 UTC
Little Rock - A previously unknown fault in eastern Arkansas could trigger a magnitude 7 earthquake with an epicenter near a major natural gas pipeline, a scientist said Wednesday. Haydar Al-Shukri, the director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said the fault is separate from the New Madrid fault responsible for a series of quakes in 1811-12 that caused the Mississippi River to flow backward.

Acres of cotton fields cover the fault west of Marianna, about 100 miles east of Little Rock, but stretches of fine sand mixed with fertile soil gave away the fault's location, Al-Shukri said. Liquefied sand bubbled up through cracks in the earth, while ground radar and digs showed vents that let the sand reach the surface, he said.

The fault, likely created in the last 5,000 years, sparked at least one magnitude 7 earthquake in its history. Such temblors cause massive destruction in their wake.

"This is a very, very dangerous (area) at risk of earthquake," Al-Shukri said. "When you talk about (magnitude) 7 and plus, this is going to be a major disaster."
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Bizarro Earth

USGS Maps Show South San Francisco Bay Quake Liquefaction Risk


CBS 5
Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:22 UTC
map shows the likelihood of liquefaction Bay area
This map shows the likelihood of liquefaction in Northern Santa Clara County during a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the northernmost segments of the San Andreas Fault.

New U.S. Geological Survey maps show, for the first time, the degree to which Northern Santa Clara Valley is at risk of liquefaction during an earthquake.

The maps draw on 10 years of research, said Tom Holzer, an engineering geologist with the USGS, and senior author of the maps. Scientists can now quantify the degree to which an area is at risk, from 0 to 40 percent.

"Earlier maps tended to use categories like high, medium and low, and never told you what 'high' meant," Holzer said Tuesday.

Liquefaction is what happens when loose, wet sand or soil is shaken by an earthquake and reacts like water rather than solid ground. This sand or soil can flow like a liquid, causing major damage to structures built atop the soil, and utilities located under this shifting ground.
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