Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Deadly Landslides Hit South-West China

landslide
© Associated PressIn Xiaohe, Yunnan, officials said the side of a mountain collapsed
At least 17 people have been killed and dozens more are missing after a series of landslides in south-west China, state media says.

The landslides, which were triggered by days of heavy rain, struck three rural communities in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.

Four people were killed and 42 others were missing after one landslide in Xiaohe in Yunnan's Zhaotong city.

In Sichuan, two separate landslides left 13 people dead and two missing.

Meanwhile further to the west in Qinghai province, 10,000 people have been evacuated from the area around an overflowing reservoir.

Bizarro Earth

Top China miner pollutes river leading to massive fish kill

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© AFPDead fish wash up on the beach of Hong Kong's Lamma Island. Pollution from a mine owned by a top gold producer has severely contaminated a river in southeastern China, leading to a massive fish kill, the government and state media said Monday.
Pollution from a mine owned by a top gold producer has severely contaminated a river in southeastern China, leading to a massive fish kill, the government and state media said Monday.

Seepage from a mining waste pond owned by the Zijinshan Copper Mine has contaminated the Ding River and a reservoir in Fujian, the province's environmental protection bureau said in a statement.

The leak was first detected on July 3, prompting the bureau to issue an emergency order to begin monitoring it, the statement said.

Xinhua news agency said the mine is owned by the Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining Group Co, China's largest gold producer.

Pollution from the sludge pond has killed or poisoned 1.89 million kilogrammes (4.2 million pounds) of fish on the Ding River and in the Mianhuatan reservoir, the report said.

The smell of dead fish was discernible 10 kilometres (six miles) from the reservoir, it added.

"The county government has issued a circular asking residents to turn in poisoned fish for collective disposal," the report quoted local villagers as saying, adding that villagers would be compensated for the fish they collect.

Better Earth

Global Backup Generator For Past Climate Change?

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© IPRC/SOESTThe top panel shows the glacial conveyor belt flow 21,000 years ago. The bottom panel shows a reorganized conveyor belt flow 17,500-15,000 years ago with deep-water sinking in the North Pacific.
Toward the end of the last ice age, a major reorganization took place in the current system of the North Pacific with far-reaching implications for climate, according to a new study published in the July 9, 2010, issue of Science by an international team of scientists from Japan, Hawaii, and Belgium.

Earth's climate is regulated largely by the world ocean's density-driven circulation, which brings warm surface water to the polar regions and transports cold water away from there at depth. As poleward flowing salty waters cool in the North Atlantic, they become so heavy that they sink. This sinking acts as a pump for the ocean's conveyor belt circulation.

A well-established fact by now is that there have been times in the past when the North Atlantic branch of the conveyor belt circulation was shut down by melting ice sheets, which released so much fresh glacial meltwater that the sinking of cold water in the Nordic Seas stopped and the Northern Hemisphere was plunged into a deep freeze.

Info

Florida Sinkhole Swallows Car, Endangers Condominium


A big sinkhole at a condominium complex in Florida has swallowed a car and it might not be done yet.

The sinkhole opened up Sunday morning near Tampa and claimed a Toyota Camry, pulling it down beneath its shifting sands.

The sinkhole is as wide as two parking spaces and is said to be about that deep, too.

Bad Guys

Why BP is Readying a 'Super Weapon' to Avert Escalating Gulf Nightmare

Nuclear bomb
© shatterlimits.com
Chicago - In a desperate attempt to stop a huge area of the Gulf ocean floor from possibly rupturing due to subterranean methane gas (leading to a calamity no human has ever seen) BP has ripped a page from science fiction books.

The giant oil company is now quietly preparing to test a small nuclear device in a frenzied rush against time to quell a cascading catastrophe. If successful they will have the capability to detonate a controlled fusion generated pulse.

While the world watches BP's attempt to contain the oil gusher at the former Deepwater Horizon site, company officials have given the green light on an astounding plan to use what is known as a nuclear EPFCG charge if all else fails.

Bizarro Earth

US: Massive Jet Fuel Spill at Kirtland Air Force Base Still Threatens Water Supply

It is has been reported that a massive amount of highly toxic jet fuel has been leaking into the ground at Kirtland Airforce Base (KAFB) in Albuquerque, New Mexico for the last thirty years. Initial estimates put the total leak at 1-2 million gallons. However, The New Mexico Environment Department has put the figure at closer to 8 million gallons. Unfortunately, if spills like the BP's Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico are any indication, even these higher figures may understate the true level of contamination. The leak was detected in 1999, and since then various efforts have been made to secure funding to help clean up the mess. Approaches, including the drilling of as many as 23 wells, and pump have been used with some degree of success, as this article reports.

It appears that fuel has sunk as deep as 500 feet underground, which threatens the water table, and could potentially migrate into the Rio Grande River, which is one of the most important sources of water for the Albuquerque, and the state of New Mexico. Recently, as this article reports, as much as $15 million was appropriated to perform soil remediation. It is not clear that this will be an adequate amount of money, however, given the size of the spill, and the urgency to prevent the contamination of the aquifer. As recently as July 7th of this year Kirtland was required to provide final proposals to the New Mexico Environment Department to detail the status of cleanup efforts and future planning.

Bizarro Earth

Huge Underwater Volcano Found Off Indonesia

Underwater Volcano
© Irwin Fedriansyah/APA 3,000m volcano deep below the water's surface has been discovered off Indonesia's Sulawesi island.
Scientists on a deep-sea expedition off the coast of Indonesia have discovered an underwater volcano that towers 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) above the ocean floor, yet remains far from sight beneath the water's surface.

The volcano was discovered by a group of US and Indonesian researchers who are using a powerful sonar system and a robotic vehicle with high-definition video to explore marine ecosystems off Sulawesi island.

"This is a huge undersea volcano, taller than all but three or four mountains in Indonesia," said Jim Holden, the chief US scientist for the first leg of the joint expedition.

Arrow Down

Red Squirrels Dying After Picking Up Human Bacteria From Animal Lovers

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© Press AssociationRed squirrels may be picking up deadly human bacteria
Red squirrels may be being "killed with kindness" after picking up human bacteria from animal lovers who leave food out for them, wildlife experts have claimed.

The bacteria, which is found on the hands and skin of humans, has been found in a number of dead squirrels displaying lesions and infections.

However, scientists were not clear whether the infection was the primary cause of death.

Wildlife experts said that the problem was particularly evident on the Isle of Wight, the only place in Britain with no competing grey squirrels, and where residents commonly leave food out for red squirrels.

Cloud Lightning

Eight injured as German tornado hits North Sea island

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© AFPThe storm came amid a heatwave in Germany
At least eight people have been injured after a tornado struck a German island in the North Sea.

The tornado hit a campsite with about 100 people on the island of Duene, off the coast of the larger island Heligoland, at 1315 GMT.

Storms have also hit other parts of the country amid a heatwave in Germany, with temperatures reaching 40C.
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Heligoland, just off the northern German coast

Two people were seriously injured, and at least six people were less badly hurt, reports say.

The tornado destroyed the campsite and knocked over light aircraft at a nearby airfield, according to the DPA news agency.

Eyewitnesses described a "black wall" that formed and then dissipated, the news agency said.

Several people were injured by flying deckchairs, the ZDF television network reported.

Heligoland itself was undamaged by the storm.

Better Earth

The Antarctic Ice Sheet is Growing Thicker

These two photos, taken in the late 1980s, show that the Antarctic Ice Sheet is growing thicker. If you or someone you know has seen these towers - or actually worked on them - I'd love to hear from you.
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© Robert HolmesTransmission Towers Buried in Ice Sheet.

In the mid 1960s, ITT built a power transmission line in Antarctica. The transmission towers stood 115 feet tall. As you can see in these photos, all but the top 30 feet of the towers are now buried in ice. And the crane used to build the towers will soon be totally covered by ice. (By the way. If you know what kind of crane this is, or how tall it is, please let me know.)
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© UnknownConstruction Crane Buried in Ice Sheet

Not only are the power transmission towers being buried, so are the Antarctic research stations themselves. The old Byrd Station has been shut down because it is buried beneath 40 to 50 feet of ice and snow and is slowly being crushed.

The old South Pole station is also buried beneath the ice. So is the old Siple station. The current South Pole station is also slowly being buried. A new station is now being built on top of the ice to replace it.

Comment: Here's a bit more information on the Antarctic Ice: Antarctic sea ice peaks at third highest in the satellite record