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Australian, New Zealand flights disrupted by Chilean volcanic eruption


Agence France-Presse
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 08:13 UTC
Image
© Unknown
A thick plume of ash from the erupting Puyehue volcano in the Andes shifted direction into Chile on Sunday after spewing volcanic dust over parts of Argentina.
Sydney - Ash from Chile's volcanic eruptions prompted Australian airline Qantas to ground some domestic services and some flights to New Zealand on Sunday, after plumes drifted across the Pacific.

Strong winds have carried the ash clouds 9 400km across the Pacific to New Zealand since Chile's Puyehue volcano erupted more than a week ago, and they are now moving towards Australia.

Qantas cancelled all flights in and out of the southeastern island of Tasmania and services from Sydney and Melbourne to and from Christchurch, Queenstown and Wellington in neighbouring New Zealand, disrupting about 1 500 passengers.

An earlier flight to Auckland had gone ahead, Qantas said, but services to this city were also at risk of being suspended. The airline was expected to make another announcement later on Sunday.
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Phoenix

Video: Chilean volcanic eruption DWARFS Eyjafjallajökull 2010 eruption


Russia Today
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 08:09 UTC
Puyehue volcano continued to erupt on Monday, billowing smoke and ash high into the sky. The volcano in the Caulle Cordon mountain range began erupting violently on Saturday afternoon. Lightning in the rising cloud provided a dazzling display. The eruption has forced more than 3,500 people living nearby to evacuate, but there are no reports of any injuries.

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Snowman

It's SNOWING in Wales - but Britain is officially in a drought

Sally Williams
Western Mail
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 07:43 UTC
Image

Snow fell on Snowdon June 11, 2011 while, right, Wales near drought status
Large parts of Wales may be battling near drought conditions but at the top of the nation's tallest mountain it was snowing.

Visitors to Snowdon were baffled yesterday when they arrived at the top of the 1,085m-tall mountain to find that there was snow blowing around for an hour.

Across Wales, farmers, gardeners and anglers are facing one of their most difficult summers in the last two decades because of the lack of rain.

Despite recent rainfall, Wales has been declared to be in near-drought status while parts of England, including key arable farming areas in East Anglia, are facing water restrictions because of the drought.

At the top of Snowdon yesterday, visitor Mary Pearce, 62, of Roath, Cardiff, said: "It is bizarre - it is the middle of June, days before the start of Wimbledon and just over a week before the summer solstice."
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Cloud Lightning

Heavy rain, melting snow cause devastating floods across Norway, washing away houses, roads


The Associated Press
Sat, 11 Jun 2011 07:37 UTC
Image
© EPA
Devastating flooding has hit Norway.
Torrential rains combined with melting snow have caused devastating floods across central Norway, washing away several houses and roads and causing landslides.

One person has been injured in the floods, but it was unclear Saturday whether their condition was serious.

Spokesman Morten Harangen at the Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Planning says the northern part of the country has also been affected, but is more due to high temperatures that have sped up the snow-melting in the mountains.

Harangen says between 100-200 people have been evacuated so far.

Late Friday, Norway's Justice and Transport Minister Knut Storberget met with rescue work representatives to discuss the flood situation.
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Phoenix

Arizona Burns: Wallow wildfire now worst in state's history as blaze spreads to New Mexico


UK Daily Mail
Sun, 12 Jun 2011 07:13 UTC
Image
© EPA
Raging: The Arizona wildfires have now crossed into New Mexico
he devastating wildfire sweeping through Arizona has become the worst ever in the state's history.

The Wallow Fire has burned more than 600 square miles, 408,887 acres, and is now six per cent contained.

At least 10,000 people have been displaced and more than 30 homes have been destroyed so far. Authorities said full containment is nowhere in sight, and power lines that supply much of West Texas and Southern New Mexico with electricity are also in jeopardy.

Image
© AP
Perilously close: The Wallow Fire burns near homes in Eagar.
Yesterday an absence of strong winds allowed firefighters to set preventive burns and cut fire breaks. The winds, however, are expected to pick up and pose more challenges to fire fighting crews.

Last night the massive fire did cross the border into western New Mexico.

More than 5,000 residences are threatened by the massive fire, officials said.

Arizona cut $250,000 from the 2011 fire budget under the assumption that it would be a 'quiet' year for fires. This is now the third wild fire in Arizona this year.

Next year the budget calls for $300,000 in cuts from the department.

Full evacuations were still in place for Eagar, Springerville, Sunrise, Greer, Blue River, Alpine, Nutrioso and many subdivisions. Officials also say 24 outbuildings in Greer were destroyed along with one vehicle.

On Thursday, more than 3,000 firefighters got a break from nature when high winds driving the flames lost strength.
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Igloo

UK: 'We Must Stop Pandering to Climate Scaremongers': Ex-Civil Service Chief Blasts Ministers for Global Warming 'Evangelism'


The Daily Mail
Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:16 UTC
Image

Lord Turnbull - who served Tony Blair as Cabinet Secretary from 2002 to 2005 - accused MPs and civil servants of failing to challenge the 'climate change consensus'
Politicians and Whitehall mandarins are pandering to global warming 'alarmists' and consigning Britain to a future of inflated fuel bills and economic misery, the former head of the Civil Service warned last night.

He suggested that by blindly following the green agenda, the Government had hit hard-working families with a range of costly policies.

Lord Turnbull also pointed out that 'by and large humanity has prospered in the warmer periods'.

'It is regrettable that the UK Parliament has proved so trusting and uncritical of the (global warming) narrative and so reluctant to question the economic costs being imposed in pursuit of decarbonisation,' he said.

Comment: For more realistic and balanced information on global climate change, read Climate Change Swindlers and the Political Agenda

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Bizarro Earth

Volcanic Ash Cloud from Space: A Gush of Volcanic Gas


Science Daily
Sat, 11 Jun 2011 21:57 UTC
Volcanic Ash Cloud
© Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
This image shows the huge plume of sulphur dioxide that spewed from Chile’s Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex, which lies in the Andes about 600 km south of Santiago. It was generated on 6 June using data from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer on the MetOp-A satellite and represents sulphur dioxide concentrations within the full vertical column of atmosphere. As the eruption continued, the image shows how strong winds initially swept the broad plume of sulphur dioxide northwards and then eastwards across Argentina and out over the southern Atlantic Ocean. The MetOp programme was jointly established by ESA and Eumetsat and forms the space segment of Eumetsat’s Polar System.
A new image shows the huge plume of sulphur dioxide that spewed from Chile's Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex, which lies in the Andes about 600 km south of Santiago.

After lying dormant for more than 50 years, a series of rumbling earthquakes signalled the beginnings of this major volcanic eruption. On 4 June, a fissure opened, sending a towering plume of volcanic ash and gas over 10 km high.

Several thousand people were evacuated as a thick layer of ash and pumice fell and blanketed a wide area. Airports in Chile and Argentina were closed as a result.

The image was generated on 6 June using data from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer on Eumetsat's MetOp-A satellite. As the eruption continued, the image shows how strong winds initially swept the broad plume of sulphur dioxide northwards and then eastwards across Argentina and out over the southern Atlantic Ocean.
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Bizarro Earth

Wheat Plague Threatens Crops Around World


RedOrbit
Sat, 11 Jun 2011 06:40 UTC
Wheat Disease
© RedOrbit
A widespread wheat plague is threatening farms, raising bread prices and unleashing fresh political and economic unrest, according to experts.

The disease strain has shown up in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and has hiked food prices in the Arab world, Mexico, Haiti and beyond.

"Stem rust, when it goes epidemic, destroys a crop," said Ronnie Coffman, a leading expert on wheat disease and chair of the department of plant breeding and genetics at Cornell University.

"There is nothing left but black stems, zero grain. It is just an absolute devastation," Coffman told the AFP news agency.

The last major epidemic of the fungal disease broke out in 1953 but was quelled with the introduction of a resistant strain of plants in the 1970s, an initiative spearheaded by the late Norman Borlaug.

A new wave of the stem rust fungus, Ug99, turned up in Uganda in 1998, overcoming crops that were once resistant and wielding the potential to kill as much as 90 percent of the world's wheat.

Winds can transport spores as many as 100 miles per day, raising concerns among scientists about where the epidemic could turn up next.
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Info

Spellbinding-Long Total Lunar Eclipse Occurs Next Week

Joe Rao
Space.com
Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:47 UTC
Lunar Eclipse
© Rikubetsu Astronomy and Terrestrial Science Museum / AP
A view of the lunar eclipse from Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido on Aug. 28, 2007. The Earth's shadow crept across the moon's surface slowly eclipsing it and turning it to shades of orange and red during second total lunar eclipse this year.
This month's full moon will pass almost directly through the center of Earth's shadow on Wednesday (June 15) in what will be an unusually long total eclipse of the moon.

The lunar eclipse will occur just two weeks after a June 1 partial solar eclipse, when the moon blocked part of the sun as viewed from Arctic regions. The eclipse won't be visible from North America due to its timing, which places the event in the daylight hours when the moon is behind the local horizon.

But the Eastern Hemisphere of Earth will be facing the moon during the eclipse. This hemisphere, centered on a spot in the Indian Ocean to the east of the island nation of Madagascar, will have a ringside seat for this event.
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Bizarro Earth

Fish 'Continuing' to Die in Large Numbers, Say Experts


Arab Times,
Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:31 UTC
Dead Fishes
© Arab Times

Kuwait City - Contrary to the claims of the Environment Public Authority (EPA), the Kuwait Society for Protection of Environment says fish are continuing to die in large numbers in the Arabian Gulf waters, reports Al-Mustaqbal daily.

The society made the statement after studying the satellite images of dead fish found floating in Kuwaiti territorial waters a few days ago.

Meanwhile, Kuwaiti expert and General Coordinator of the project on the impact of climate changes on Kuwaiti marine environment Dr Thamer Al-Rasheedi said test results showed a remarkable rise in temperature of sea waters compared to the previous years.

A large number of fish died in Kuwaiti waters recently due to decrease in oxygen levels in the water "and this is a natural process that occurs due to water current and high temperatures," Al-Seyassah daily quoted Deputy Director of Fish Resources Sector at the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) Dr Haidar Murad as saying.
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