Fewer foggy, misty and hazy days help explain why Europe's temperatures have risen so fast over the past 30 years, a finding that could help predict future climate change, researchers said on Sunday.
Clearer skies due to changing weather patterns and less air pollution have contributed on average to about 5 to 10 percent of the region's warmer temperatures during this period, said Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.
"The temperatures in Europe have been going up twice as fast as climate models had predicted in the past decades. Less fog means more sunshine on the ground and hence higher temperatures," Van Oldenborgh, who worked on the study said in a telephone interview.
Earth Changes
Los Angeles - A mysterious illness afflicting California brown pelicans continues to take its toll.
The Northern California-based International Bird Rescue Research Center said Thursday it had counted 460 sick or dead birds so far, up from 265 last week. The birds were found along the West Coast from Baja California in Mexico to Oregon.
The Northern California-based International Bird Rescue Research Center said Thursday it had counted 460 sick or dead birds so far, up from 265 last week. The birds were found along the West Coast from Baja California in Mexico to Oregon.
© Mainichi (file photo)
The nine-armed octopus is pictured in Susami, Wakayama Prefecture in this Dec. 25, 2008
The nine-armed octopus is pictured in Susami, Wakayama Prefecture in this Dec. 25, 2008
The blue-ringed octopus, found by a researcher from the Susami Crustacean Aquarium, is on display.
"Octopus arms grow back if they are cut off, and it's possible that the ninth arm grew out of a wound or from some other stimulus," said aquarium head Takuya Mori.
Politicians can't talk enough of carbon taxes and credits and cleaner technologies, but are they just fiddling while Rome freezes?
If the climate were a sentient adversary with a will, he might be laughing right now. Because while mankind is doing a Chicken Little worrying about anthropogenic global warming (AGW), nature just might be preparing an attack we least expect: another ice age.
For sure, many Americans feel like we're already in one. While last winter's frigid temperatures - with record cold in many parts of the world (South America experienced its coldest winter in 90 years) - might seem a tough act to follow, Old Man Winter has risen to the occasion. Parts of Alaska have experienced temperatures reaching 78 degrees below zero, North Dakota had record December snow, a Minnesota sled-dog race was actually canceled due to heavy snow, and Ohio ski resorts have called a recent winter storm "a stimulus package for their industry." Yet, critics may point out that this is anecdotal evidence and thus not scientifically significant. This would be true, only, in this case the science happens to coincide with the anecdotes. As Gregory F. Fegel at Pravda.ru tells us:
If the climate were a sentient adversary with a will, he might be laughing right now. Because while mankind is doing a Chicken Little worrying about anthropogenic global warming (AGW), nature just might be preparing an attack we least expect: another ice age.
For sure, many Americans feel like we're already in one. While last winter's frigid temperatures - with record cold in many parts of the world (South America experienced its coldest winter in 90 years) - might seem a tough act to follow, Old Man Winter has risen to the occasion. Parts of Alaska have experienced temperatures reaching 78 degrees below zero, North Dakota had record December snow, a Minnesota sled-dog race was actually canceled due to heavy snow, and Ohio ski resorts have called a recent winter storm "a stimulus package for their industry." Yet, critics may point out that this is anecdotal evidence and thus not scientifically significant. This would be true, only, in this case the science happens to coincide with the anecdotes. As Gregory F. Fegel at Pravda.ru tells us:
Date-Time
* Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 14:11:46 UTC
* Monday, January 19, 2009 at 02:11:46 AM at epicenter
Location 30.046°S, 177.951°W
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Distances
* 89 km (55 miles) S (185°) from Raoul Island, Kermadec Islands
* 1026 km (638 miles) SSW (195°) from NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga
* 3193 km (1984 miles) WSW (239°) from PAPEETE, Tahiti, French Polynesia
* Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 14:11:46 UTC
* Monday, January 19, 2009 at 02:11:46 AM at epicenter
Location 30.046°S, 177.951°W
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Distances
* 89 km (55 miles) S (185°) from Raoul Island, Kermadec Islands
* 1026 km (638 miles) SSW (195°) from NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga
* 3193 km (1984 miles) WSW (239°) from PAPEETE, Tahiti, French Polynesia
© Unknown
One of Australia's deepest residents a carnivorous sea squirt, or ascidian, standing half a meter tall on the seafloor on the Tasman Fracture Zone at a depth of 4006 metres.
One of Australia's deepest residents a carnivorous sea squirt, or ascidian, standing half a meter tall on the seafloor on the Tasman Fracture Zone at a depth of 4006 metres.
A joint US-Australian team spent a month in deep waters off the coast of the southern island of Tasmania to "search for life deeper than any previous voyage in Australian waters," lead researcher Ron Thresher said.
What they found were not only species new to science -- including previously undescribed soft corals -- but fresh indications of global warming's threat to the country's unique marine life.
© Unknown
Velvet swimming crabs
Velvet swimming crabs
Last week the bodies of velvet swimming crabs were washed up on shores all around the Thanet coast but no definitive reason can be found.
Some think the sudden death of the velvet swimming crabs could be due to the cold weather.
Tony Child of the Thanet Coast project said: "It does seem to be linked to the weather, as it's been particularly cold.
It is something which happened three or four years ago. It's very strange."
However, he added that some crabs have been taken away to test for disease and "it was odd that no other species had been affected" by the cold.
Crab numbers had just started to recover from the last wave of deaths.
A rash of brown pelican deaths and illnesses was probably caused by a severe mid-December storm in the Pacific Northwest, state wildlife officials believe.
An estimated 400 birds turned up dead, injured or sick along the California coast beginning about Dec. 19. The episode has largely faded, state officials said.
"It doesn't appear severe (poisoning) or disease appears to be doing this. It appears to be more weather-injury and nutrition-related," said David Jessup, senior wildlife veterinarian for the California Department of Fish and Game.
An estimated 400 birds turned up dead, injured or sick along the California coast beginning about Dec. 19. The episode has largely faded, state officials said.
"It doesn't appear severe (poisoning) or disease appears to be doing this. It appears to be more weather-injury and nutrition-related," said David Jessup, senior wildlife veterinarian for the California Department of Fish and Game.
© USGS
* Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 02:57:33 UTC
Location 15.854°N, 92.483°W
Depth 178.5 km (110.9 miles)
Distances 60 km (35 miles) SW of Comitan, Chiapas, Mexico
100 km (65 miles) S of San Cristobal d/l Casas, Chiapas, Mexico
250 km (155 miles) WNW of Guatemala City, Guatemala
810 km (500 miles) ESE of Mexico City, D.F., Mexico
The North Slope had one of its largest crude oil spills this week.
So far there's no evidence that any oil from the 24,400-gallon spill at BP's Milne Point oil field on Monday morning contaminated the tundra, though it's possible that some saline water may have escaped on the snow, state regulators said.
The spill is the biggest on the Slope since BP's record 201,000-gallon oil spill at Prudhoe Bay in 2006, which resulted in congressional hearings and criminal prosecution of BP. That spill did contaminate the tundra.
So far there's no evidence that any oil from the 24,400-gallon spill at BP's Milne Point oil field on Monday morning contaminated the tundra, though it's possible that some saline water may have escaped on the snow, state regulators said.
The spill is the biggest on the Slope since BP's record 201,000-gallon oil spill at Prudhoe Bay in 2006, which resulted in congressional hearings and criminal prosecution of BP. That spill did contaminate the tundra.
