Earth ChangesS


Bug

Thousands of genetically modified insects set for release

Anthony Gucciardi
Natural Society
Fri, 06 Sep 2013 15:46 UTC
GMO Fly
© Natural Society
Just when you thought genetically modified mosquitoes and mutated dinner entrees were the extent of biotech's hunger to manipulate the genetic coding of the planet, scientists have now unleashed a plan to launch thousands of 'frankenfly' style insects into the wild in order to combat pests.

And just like we saw with the release of genetically modified mosquitoes, the altered insects are actually being pushed as a 'green alternative' to the use of chemicals. You see, British scientists claim that mutating the genetic code of the insects is actually a way of substituting for the use of chemical pesticides.

Chemical pesticides used to lower the population of olive flies in Britain. The reality here, however, is that you are taking something damaging like chemical pesticides and replacing it with something far worse.

It's like trading in your aging car for a bicycle, except in this case the bicycle also happens to include side effects like 'may alter the genetic structure of the entire insect population'.
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Bug

Biblical plague of shrieking crickets terrorize Oklahoma as they swarm over buildings, eat each other and smell 'like rotten meat'


The Daily Mail, UK
Fri, 06 Sep 2013 11:35 UTC
  • It is an unusually busy mating season for the brown cricket in the Sooner State
  • Cool, wet conditions have made this the worst cricket invasion in years
It's cricket mating season in Oklahoma and unusually massive swarms of the frisky bugs are terrorizing the state's residents.

Not only does the field cricket have a noxious odor and shrieking chirp, it has a tendency toward cannibalism so killing them only makes things worse.

Residents say the insects tend to congregate and feed on carcasses of their dead brethren, but they're covering every street, sidewalk, and building so there's no way to avoid the occasional crunch.

Image
They're everywhere: Unusually large swarms of crickets are invading Oklahoma, covering streets, sidewalks, and businesses like this McDonalds

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Network

USGS: M6.0 - 43km ESE of Uyugan, Philippines


USGS
Fri, 06 Sep 2013 07:45 UTC
Earthquake Philipines
© USGS
Event Time
2013-09-06 11:33:53 UTC
2013-09-06 19:33:53 UTC+08:00 at epicenter

Location
20.189°N 122.314°E depth=178.1km (110.6mi)

Nearby Cities
43km (27mi) ESE of Uyugan, Philippines
214km (133mi) NNE of Aparri, Philippines
217km (135mi) NE of Claveria, Philippines
258km (160mi) SE of Hengchun, Taiwan
634km (394mi) NNE of Manila, Philippines

Technical Details
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Info

Maine lobsters hit by shell-eating disease

Gabriela Raffaele
fis.com
Wed, 04 Sep 2013 05:10 UTC
Image
© Beate Hoddevik Sunnset/IMRAmerican lobster, Homarus americanus.
An epizootic shell-eating bacteria that has infected the southern New England lobster (Homarus americanus) for years is fast spreading up north, a situation that causes concern in the shrimp sector in Maine.

The disease, previously confined to the south of New England and Long Island Sound, has baffled a group of scientists at the University of Rhode Island, who have been researching the subject for over a decade.

The disease was first noticed in 1996 by fisheries biologist Kathy Castro. Two years later, almost 18 per cent of the Rhode Island lobsters were infected with it.

"By 2010, a third of all lobsters had the disease, and the scary part was that 70 per cent of females with eggs had it," she said. "That scared me because that's the reproducing population."

So far, only an insignificant number of Maine lobsters seem to have it: only three in a thousand sampled lobsters were infected. But there are fears that if the disease spreads as fast as it did in the waters of Rhode Island, it will have a drastic impact on the important Maine shrimp industry.
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Sun

Head scratcher: No Atlantic hurricane by August in first time in 11 years

Anthony Watts
Wattsupwiththat
Fri, 30 Aug 2013 00:00 UTC
Image
© WikipediaFrom his vantage point high above the earth in the International Space Station, Astronaut Ed Lu captured This broad view of Hurricane Isabel. The image, ISS007-E-14750, was taken with a 50 mm lens on a digital camera.
Where are all the hurricanes Al Gore, Bill McKibben, Joe Romm, and Brad Johnson say are supposed to happen due to global warming? Article includes most recent forecast from Klotzbach and Gray

Bloomberg News: August is about to end without an Atlantic hurricane for the first time since 2002, calling into question predictions of a more active storm season than normal.

Six tropical systems have formed in the Atlantic since the season began June 1 and none of them has grown to hurricane strength with winds of at least 74 miles (120 kilometers) per hour. Accumulated cyclone energy in the Atlantic, a measure of tropical power, is about 30 percent of where it normally would be, said Phil Klotzbach, lead author of Colorado State University's seasonal hurricane forecasts.

"At this point, I doubt that a super-active hurricane season will happen," Klotzbach said in an e-mail yesterday.

The most active part of the Atlantic season runs from Aug. 20 to about the first week of October. The statistical peak occurs on Sept. 10, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
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Cloud Precipitation

Flood death toll rises to 176 in Bihar, India - cloudburst warnings for next few days


The Post
Thu, 05 Sep 2013 16:44 UTC
Bihar flood
© Unknown
It's bad news for millions of flood-affected people in Bihar. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned of heavy rains and near cloud burst-like situation in the next few days that may create more devastation.

Nearly six million people have been affected by floods in 20 districts of the state. At least 176 people have died in the floods so far and thousands have been left homeless.
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Cloud Precipitation

Death toll rises to 34 in Mali floods, homes swept away


Al Jazerra
Fri, 30 Aug 2013 16:25 UTC
Mali flood
© ReutersFloods often lead to massive displacements and deaths in West Africa's June to October rainy season
Officials say more than 30 people have died in floods that has left a trail of destruction behind.

The death toll in floods which left thousands homeless in the Malian capital, Bamako, has risen to 34, officials said.

More than 100 homes, mostly poorly constructed mud-brick buildings on drainage sites, were swept away as the river Niger burst its banks in torrential rain on Wednesday, bringing down bridges and submerging entire streets.
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Snowflake Cold

South America's big freeze causes misery across Peru, Bolivia and Chile

Richard Angwin
Al Jazeera
Thu, 05 Sep 2013 16:20 UTC
snow south america
© AFPTens of thousands of people have been cut off by the snow and several deaths have been reported
An outbreak of exceptionally cold and snowy weather has hit parts of South America, resulting in at least a dozen deaths.

The arrival of the snow on an Antarctic cold front last week was accompanied by extremely cold conditions, with temperatures as low as Minus 19C, which have persisted ever since. Even Chile's Atacama desert, one of the world's driest, did not escape, receiving its heaviest snowfall in 30 years.

Peru seems to have been worst hit, with the heaviest snow in a decade resulting in the deaths of up to 30,000 farm animals, including llamas, alpacas, cattle and sheep.
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Attention

Peru's Ulbinas volcano erupts five times in three days

James A. Foley
Nature World News
Wed, 04 Sep 2013 16:14 UTC
Ubinas Volcano
© ReutersUbinas Volcano Erupting April 20, 2006
Peru's Ubinas volcano has emerged from four years of dormancy, erupting five times over the last few days.

The mountain erupted two times on Monday, again on Tuesday and then two more times Wednesday, according to the news website Peru This Week.

Ubinas volcano is located in Peru's Moquenega region about 70 kilometers from the city of Arequipa.
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Attention

Japan's Sakurajima volcano rocked by another large explosion


Volcano Discovery
Wed, 04 Sep 2013 16:04 UTC
Sakurajima
© JMAVulcanian explosion from Sakurajima this morning.
A moderately large vulcanian explosion occurred this morning, producing significant fallout of lapilli and small bombs in several kilometers distance. Cars parked at the Arimura Lava observatory observation point to the south of the volcano were damages and windshields broken, at a distance of about 4 km. There are no reports of injuries to people.
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