Earth ChangesS


Igloo

Info Commissioner Finds Saintly CRU Crew Guilty

Climategate row rumbles on

Climatic Research Unit director Phil Jones was being whisked back to his desk at the University of East Anglia by the University's Russell enquiry yesterday.

But with exquisite timing, the Information Commissioner's office chose the same day to confirm that CRU had twice broken the Freedom of Information regulations - once by ignoring the request, and twice by refusing the actual data. The breaches carry a civil penalty.

More is to come, as this was one of four complaints by David Holland under consideration by the ICO, which adjudicates on both FOI requests and EIRs, or Environmental Information Regulations. Other bodies include the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Met Office.

Hourglass

Gulf Oil Spill: Cap Removed From Gushing Well, Oil Flows Freely

oil cap
In this image taken from video provided by BP PLC, the arm of a remotely operated vehicle works at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site in the Gulf of Mexico, Saturday, July 10, 2010. (AP)

New Orleans, Louisiana - Robotic submarines removed the cap from the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, beginning a period of at least two days when oil will flow freely into the sea.

It's the first step in placing a tighter dome that is supposed to funnel more oil to collection ships on the surface a mile above. If all goes according to plan, the tandem of the tighter cap and the surface ships could keep all the oil from polluting the fragile Gulf as soon as Monday.

BP spokesman Mark Proegler said the old cap was removed at 12:37 p.m. CDT on Saturday.

"Over the next four to seven days, depending on how things go, we should get that sealing cap on. That's our plan," said Kent Wells, a BP senior vice president.

Bizarro Earth

Magnitude 6.2 - South of The Mariana Islands

Earthquake Mariana Islds_100710
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Saturday, July 10, 2010 at 11:43:32 UTC

Saturday, July 10, 2010 at 09:43:32 PM at epicenter

Location:
11.127°N, 146.050°E

Depth:
10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program

Region:
SOUTH OF THE MARIANA ISLANDS

Distances:
295 km (185 miles) SSE of HAGATNA, Guam

345 km (215 miles) SSE of Rota, Northern Mariana Islands

450 km (280 miles) S of SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands

Fish

Fish Found Walking in Gulf Spill

walking fish
© Discovery News
Two new species of pancake batfish, which walk using their arm-like fins, have been found at the site of the Gulf oil spill, according to a study published in the Journal of Fish Biology.

Both fish live in waters either partially or fully encompassed by the Deepwater Horizon spill.

"One of the fishes that we describe is completely restricted to the oil spill area," says John Sparks, curator of Ichthyology at the AMNH. "If we are still finding new species of fishes in the Gulf, imagine how much diversity -- especially microdiversity -- is out there that we do not know about."

Telescope

Noctilucent Clouds as far south as France

Last night, sky watchers in Europe witnessed the finest display of noctilucent clouds (NLCs) so far this year. Electric-blue tendrils spread as far south as France:
Image
© Alexandre Croisier

"I could see the NLCs from my window," says photographer Alexandre Croisier of Brittany, France. "So I rushed down to the beach to take this picture--a 6 second exposure with my Canon 350D."

In England, the same display stretched from horizon to horizon. "There was quite a lot of detail visible, including swirls and tiger stripes," reports Mark Jones of Leamington Spa, UK. Even city lights did not overwhelm the NLCs. "I had no trouble seeing them from southwest London," says onlooker Maurice Gavin.

Bad Guys

Despite objections, cleanup waste moves to Pecan Grove landfill

Harrison County, Mississippi - First, oil made its way on our beaches, and now, oil is making its way into our landfill. Waste Management is now transporting and disposing of oil spill cleanup waste in the Pecan Grove landfill in Harrison County, over strong objections of County officials.

The tar balls, oily sand and other material are scooped up from the beach, bagged and dumped into Waste Management containers.

When they leave the beach, they're going to the company's Pecan Grove landfill in Harrison County. The company said the landfill is fully permitted and equipped to receive and dispose of the oil waste.

In a statement, the company said, "the content of cleanup waste has been analyzed, screened and profiled under prevailing regulations for proper waste disposal and deemed non-hazardous."

Bizarro Earth

North Dakota: Deadly downpour at Columbus

A recent fish kill at Short Creek Dam
© Kim Fundingsland/MDNA recent fish kill at Short Creek Dam north of Columbus appears to be quite extensive. Several species of fish began floating to the surface last Friday.

Normally the Fourth of July weekend at Short Creek Dam is a joyous and festive occassion. It wasn't this year.

When local Columbus Sportsmen's Club member Shannon Burau went to Short Creek last Friday morning to mow the campground in preparation for the big weekend, he discovered what he described as a sickening scene.

"It just made me ill. The whole shoreline was pretty much solid with dead fish and it was stinking like a lagoon," said Burau. "It was just a disaster, a disaster. I've never seen anything like it."

Arrow Down

Millions Face Starvation as Niger Prays in Vain for Rain

Image
© AP PhotoNomadic tribal chief Ibrahim Mangari walks past a cow that died of hunger, in Gadabeji
Urgent aid is needed to avert a catastrophe in west Africa.

To the north of Niger, the creeping Sahara; to the south, oil rich and agriculturally lush Nigeria - this nation straddles the Sahel - dry, hot and cruel. It has suffered catastrophic droughts - 1974, 1984 and 2005. And now, another.

Five times the size of the United Kingdom, Niger is one of the poorest nations on earth with child mortality worse than Afghanistan. The absence of regular rainfall throughout 2009 has led to poor harvests, lack of grazing for animals and food reserves exhausted.

Hungry people have started adding "bitter" berries to their diet - this is survival food, normally unpalatable but when starving, the unpalatable becomes welcome - essential.

Better Earth

Lone Whales Shout To Overcome Noise

Image
© UnknownCurrently right whales
are monitored to determine the health and size of the population. The northern and southern right whales are on the endangered species list.
Just like people in a bar or other noisy location, North American right whales increase the volume of their calls as environmental noise increases; and just like humans, at a certain point, it may become too costly to continue to shout, according to marine and acoustic scientists.

"The impacts of increases in ocean noise from human activities are a concern for the conservation of marine animals like right whales," said Susan Parks, assistant professor of acoustics and research associate, Applied Research Laboratory, Penn State. "The ability to change vocalizations to compensate for environmental noise is critical for successful communication in an increasingly noisy ocean."

Right whales are large baleen whales that often approach close to shore. They may have been given the name because they were the right whales to hunt as they are rich in blubber, slow swimming and remain afloat after death. Consequently, whalers nearly hunted these whales to extinction.

Hourglass

Are Deepwater Relief Wells a Guaranteed Fix?

"There's no doubt that the ultimate solution is a relief well," BP CEO Tony Hayward said.

Since 1969, oil companies have drilled seven deepwater relief wells in the Gulf of Mexico - all but one of them successful - although BP's current drilling would be the deepest ever.

"They're not reinventing the wheel, if you will," said retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. "It's something they've done before."

BP's challenge? Make it work, without making it worse. Around the clock, the two relief wells sink lower, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann. Both run parallel to the gushing well. One is two weeks ahead of the other, now 17,000 feet below the Gulf's surface. Nine hundred feet lower, electromagnetic sensors will find the best spot for a diagonal cut into the broken well bore, the most precise step of all. Then four pumps will push in heavy mud, to overcome the broken well's ferocious upward pressure. And finally, cement, to plug it permanently.