Sarnia, Ontario. - Hundreds of dead fish that washed up on shore in the north end of the St. Clair River is a natural occurrence and not the result of a chemical spill, a government officials say.
Ministry of Natural Resources spokesperson Jolanta Kowalski confirmed that both the MNR and environment ministry were alerted to a massive die-off of gizzard shad fish late last week.
"We think it's a natural occurrence," Kowalski said. "They died off as a result of temperature shock because we had that really warm weekend ... and then it quickly cooled off again."
Kowalski said such die-offs are not unusual but it typically happens in the spring.
Only one species was affected, further supporting the idea it was a natural occurrence, she said.
"There was nothing to indicate that it was man-made."
Earth Changes
Police are trying to find the source of an oil spill on the city side of the waterfront.
The view from SkyKING shows oil spread over a large area around residential docks.
The Maryland Department of the Environment said that tens of thousands of small fish have died in the Chesapeake Bay due to the stress of the cold water.
MDE spokeswoman Dawn Stolzfus said reports of a fish kill started coming in last week from Calvert County and Kent Island.
© Parana Online
Fishermen have found at least 100 tonnes, mainly sardines.
Fishermen have found at least 100 tonnes, mainly sardines.
(sardine, croaker and catfish) have turned up dead since last Thursday off the coast of Parana.
On Sunday, representatives from the Environmental Institute of Paraná (IAP), the Secretary of State for the Environment and Water Resources (SEMA),
took samples to verify the reason for the deaths. The report will be released today.
© Walworthseely.com
While details of the exact track and strength of the storm are still a bit sketchy, there is increasing concern that a storm could bring several inches of snow to cities such as Portland, Maine, and Providence, R.I.
The snowstorm in question may evolve from a clipper system. This new clipper will bring light snow to the Great Lakes Thursday with some snow breaking out farther south into the Ohio Valley by Thursday night.
Friday, the energy from the clipper will transfer to a new area of low pressure expected to develop off the mid-Atlantic coast.
This could spread snow throughout much of central New England Friday and Friday night with snow spreading northward into northern New England and parts of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada, by Saturday. Due to blocking high pressure over northern Canada, accumulating snow may persist in some areas through the upcoming weekend.
Gilbertsville, Kentucky - Near her car, a dead bird. A quick walk to her mailbox, another. Scattered across her front yard, a local woman discovered dozens of dead birds.
"I've never seen anything like it. Never," Sandy said of the discovery.
Sandy, who asked we not share her last name, first noticed the birds several days ago but cleaned them up, not thinking twice.
"I have outdoor pets and just assumed they were bringing them from around the neighborhood."
But when she noticed more birds Monday morning, she panicked, "I had just seen the story on the news about the birds in Arkansas and I was scared."
In fact, 3,000 blackbirds seemed to fall from the sky there- starting last Friday. Autopsies have since ruled out poisoning. One top biologist from Cornell University said the birds were "....probably asleep in a single tree when a washing machine-type thunderstorm sucked them up into the air, disoriented them, and even fatally soaked and chilled them."
© Fir0002/Wikipedia
Australasian snapper
Australasian snapper
Hundreds of dead snapper have washed up on Coromandel beaches, leaving holidaymakers perplexed.
People at Little Bay and Waikawau Bay, on the north-east of the peninsula, were stunned when children came out of the sea with armfuls of the fish and within minutes the shore was littered with them.
Charlotte Pearsall, whose family have lived at Little Bay for the last 30 years, said she had never seen anything like it.
''It was so surreal,'' she said. ''It's such an incredible waste - it could've fed the whole northern tip of the Coromandel.''
People with binoculars said the snapper stretched as far as they could see and boaties reported ''a carpet of floating fish further out to sea all along the coast''.
''We initially thought 'woohoo a free feed' but they had really cloudy eyes and you could see the birds had been at them. Some of them had no eyes,'' Pearsall said.
Her parents called the Department of Conservation and were told it was most likely the fish had starved due to weather conditions, but Pearsall did not think that was the case as many of the fish looked big and healthy.
© NASA
Tungurahua volcano.
Tungurahua volcano.
These two images show Tungurahua as observed by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite on Jan. 1, 2011.
The top view is a natural color image, while the one below is enhanced with shortwave and near-infrared wavelengths. Both show a small plume wafting up from the snow-capped summit through a break in the clouds. The shortwave infrared better discriminates between the plume and clouds, while showing the heat coming from the summit caldera.
© EPA
Authorities recorded small earthquakes in the Tomila district late last week. The most significant of these was a earthquake that measured 2.3 on the Richter scale and occurred at 5:22 pm on January 1, 2011. The earthquake was felt by residents of Cajamarca, near the Mount Machin.
Geologist Monica Arcila noted that seismic events of this type are frequent in the area and people should not worry.
© Denis Voronin
Emergency declared in Moscow region districts hit by blackout
Emergency declared in Moscow region districts hit by blackout
The emergency situation regime will be in force until the appearance of new instructions from Gromov, the spokesman added.
Earlier in the day, Moscow United Electric Grid Company (MOESK) announced that heavy snowfalls and strong winds have cut electricity supply to over 88 populated areas outside Moscow.
Massive blackouts began in the Moscow Region on December 26 after an ice storm. Freezing rain broke many power transmission lines, causing serious power outages.
