Pensacola Beach -- The worst blow yet to the Florida coastline from the growing oil spill struck Wednesday in an eight-mile line of thick, sticky goo that stained the pristine sands of this Panhandle community.
Workers spent the day raking up the chocolate-brown oil mats and tar patches that washed ashore, and the state ordered road graders to lift the gunk from the once-white beaches.
Some local leaders complained it was too little, too late.
''It's pitiful,'' said Buck Lee, executive director of the Santa Rosa County Island Authority. ''It took us four hours to clean up 50 to 60 feet of beach and I don't see this stopping for a while.''
Earth Changes
As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U.S. scientists said on Tuesday.
Texas A&M University oceanography professor John Kessler, just back from a 10-day research expedition near the BP Plc oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas are "astonishingly high."
Kessler's crew took measurements of both surface and deep water within a 5-mile (8 kilometer) radius of BP's broken wellhead.
"There is an incredible amount of methane in there," Kessler told reporters in a telephone briefing.
Texas A&M University oceanography professor John Kessler, just back from a 10-day research expedition near the BP Plc oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas are "astonishingly high."
Kessler's crew took measurements of both surface and deep water within a 5-mile (8 kilometer) radius of BP's broken wellhead.
"There is an incredible amount of methane in there," Kessler told reporters in a telephone briefing.
BP's effort to contain the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico suffered another setback on Wednesday when a discharge of liquid and gases forced the company to remove the containment cap that for three weeks had been able to capture much of the oil gushing from its damaged well.
Adm. Thad W. Allen of the Coast Guard, at a briefing in Washington, said a remote-controlled submersible operating a mile beneath the surface had most likely bumped a vent and compromised the system. Live video from the sea floor showed oil and gas storming out of the well unrestricted.
By evening, the cap was back on, nestled in place on the eighth try after about 90 minutes of effort. Live video showed remote-controlled submersibles frequently moving hoses out of the way so that the cap could be lowered over the spewing oil.
The company said funneling of oil and gas through a pipe to the drill ship Discoverer Enterprise began shortly after the cap was properly positioned. John Curry, a BP spokesman, said collection would return to full capacity "as conditions permit."
Adm. Thad W. Allen of the Coast Guard, at a briefing in Washington, said a remote-controlled submersible operating a mile beneath the surface had most likely bumped a vent and compromised the system. Live video from the sea floor showed oil and gas storming out of the well unrestricted.
By evening, the cap was back on, nestled in place on the eighth try after about 90 minutes of effort. Live video showed remote-controlled submersibles frequently moving hoses out of the way so that the cap could be lowered over the spewing oil.
The company said funneling of oil and gas through a pipe to the drill ship Discoverer Enterprise began shortly after the cap was properly positioned. John Curry, a BP spokesman, said collection would return to full capacity "as conditions permit."
© USGS
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The midday quake was felt in Canada and in a number of U.S. states, including Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Jersey and New York.
The USGS said the quake occurred at a depth of about 12 miles (19.2 kilometers). The agency initially said the quake had a 5.5 magnitude, but later reduced it to a magnitude-5.0. The quake occurred at 1:41 p.m. EDT (1741 GMT), the USGS said.
The quake came just ahead of the weekend summit of G-20 and G-8 world leaders in Toronto and Huntsville, Ontario.
© AP Photo/Journal & Courier
Citizens try to avoid the flood waters that surround their homeTuesday, June 22, 2010 in Edna Mills, Ind.
Citizens try to avoid the flood waters that surround their homeTuesday, June 22, 2010 in Edna Mills, Ind.
In several states, residents took advantage of a brief break from the severe weather Tuesday afternoon to clean up from tornadoes and flash floods. Twenty-five homes were destroyed and at least a hundred more damaged in Wisconsin, while 26 families in Illinois were homeless after strong winds tore a roof off an apartment complex.
The storms that pelted the region weakened as they moved east, but the National Weather Service said another wave was expected to hit Iowa, Illinois and Indiana on Tuesday night. Enough moisture remained in the air that if storms developed in the heat, they would likely be downpours, said Jason Puma, a weather service meteorologist in Indianapolis.
Residents near Avon west of Indianapolis used an earth mover to poke a hole in an earthen dam in hopes of lowering the water level in Indian Head Lake enough that the dam wouldn't be overwhelmed by more rain and swamp bridges and homes downstream. A huge crater had developed in the side of the dam that morning and muddy brown water lapped the top, prompting the temporary evacuation of 32 homes and 16 homes in a nearby mobile home park.
© Gabe McClintock/Perspectiveye Photography
Rain, hail, thunder, lightning and flooding struck various parts of Calgary on Tuesday afternoon.
Fire crews and paramedics received almost 100 calls between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. MT. Crews responded to everything from traffic accidents to false alarms downtown because of electrical overloads, said Barry Dawson, a spokesman for the Calgary fire department.
"We've had confirmed lightning strikes, working fires, smouldering fires, just about everything this afternoon. It's been absolutely crazy," said Dawson.
There were at least 13 cases of lightning hitting buildings in the city, he said. None have caused any serious damage.
Lightning is believed to have sparked a fire at a paper products warehouse at 10351 46th Street S.E. And firefighters had to remove smouldering attic insulation from a house on Arbour Glen Close N.W. that was hit by lightning.
© Grant Faint/Getty Images
The number of siberian tigers has fallen 40% in five years.
The number of siberian tigers has fallen 40% in five years.
A mystery disease is driving the Siberian tiger to the edge of extinction and has led to the last animal tagged by conservationists being shot dead in the far east of Russia because of the danger it posed to people.
The 10-year-old tigress, known to researchers as Galya, is the fourth animal that has had a radio collar attached to it for tracking to die in the past 10 months. All had been in contact with a male tiger suspected of carrying an unidentified disease that impaired the ability to hunt. "We may be witnessing an epidemic in the Amur tiger population," said Dr Dale Miquelle, the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Russia director.
Galya had recently abandoned a three-week-old litter of cubs and come into the town of Terney looking for an easy meal. Following a series of all-night vigils by researchers, attempts to scare the tigress away failed. She was reported to the Primorsky State Wildlife Department as an official "conflict tiger", and a state wildlife inspector was called in to destroy her earlier this month.
"This tiger had lost its fear of humans - typically Amur tigers will never expose themselves for observation. It was like seeing someone you know turn into a vampire," Miquelle said.
This looked exactly like what we saw yesterday under the Bay Saint Louis Miss Bridge On Our Way Out To Cat Island In The Gulf. Thick Brown Gooey Foam.
A collapse of the ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico is in our near future but all depends on how such will occur. Two possible scenarios have been analyzed and described by several oceanographic institutions including the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) known for its in depth maritime expertise.
The two possible scenarios are either a complete collapse of the ocean floor right above the Deepwater Horizon well and surroundings or a partial collapse in the form of a mud slide on one side of the well.
The first scenario is unlikely at this time but remains a possibility given the number of crevices that have been created naturally due to the high pressure inside the well. This pressure is created by the large amount of methane gasses that is building up inside the well.
Should this scenario occur, then the prediction is that a vast amount of oil and methane will be released immediately into the water and towards the surface. The aftermath would be a tidal wave, caused by the fast displacement of a large amount of water that will reach the shores of all the Gulf States.
The immediate danger will be to cope with the height of the wave along the shoreline and not necessarily the mixture of oil and Corexit. Both products will obviously affect the local population in the aftermath of the tidal wave and during clean up.
The two possible scenarios are either a complete collapse of the ocean floor right above the Deepwater Horizon well and surroundings or a partial collapse in the form of a mud slide on one side of the well.
The first scenario is unlikely at this time but remains a possibility given the number of crevices that have been created naturally due to the high pressure inside the well. This pressure is created by the large amount of methane gasses that is building up inside the well.
Should this scenario occur, then the prediction is that a vast amount of oil and methane will be released immediately into the water and towards the surface. The aftermath would be a tidal wave, caused by the fast displacement of a large amount of water that will reach the shores of all the Gulf States.
The immediate danger will be to cope with the height of the wave along the shoreline and not necessarily the mixture of oil and Corexit. Both products will obviously affect the local population in the aftermath of the tidal wave and during clean up.
© The Sun
Spaceship shape ... cloud encounter of the third kind.
Spaceship shape ... cloud encounter of the third kind.
The remarkable cloud - looking exactly like an alien flying saucer - was snapped over Perthshire at the weekend.
Brian Wilton and wife Isobel captured the moment it passed over as the sun went down in the town of Crieff.
Brian believes the cloud owes its bizarre appearance to the almond-shape of altocumulus lenticularis formations.
He said: "The formation of the dramatic orographic clouds (produced as air is forced to rise over mountains) are usually in mountainous regions due to very specific atmospheric conditions.
"They're usually to be found on the down wind side of the mountain, are very slow moving but evaporate very quickly.
"We couldn't believe it. It was like the scene in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind when the big spaceship comes down."
