Earth Changes
Prepared for the 20th anniversary of the tanker accident that spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into one of the West's most majestic waterways, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council said surveys even 14 years after the spill found an estimated 21,000 gallons of crude oil lingering below the surface of beaches - some of it more than 450 miles away from the spill, on the Kenai Peninsula and the Katmai coast.
"At this rate, the remaining oil will take decades and possibly centuries to disappear entirely," the report said.
The quake's depth was 6.5 miles, according to the USGS.
The epicenter of the quake was at 20.113°N, 155.175°W approximately 10 miles offshore of Laupahoehoe or about 29 miles NNW of Hilo. It struck at 9:44 am.
There was no immediate word on whether the earthquake was felt or caused any damage.
The quake was recorded just after midnight (2 a.m. EDT) at a depth of 47 miles and centered 65 miles south of Guatemala City.
According to the USGS, the earthquake struck at about 5:55 a.m. and had a depth of 4.1 miles.
The quake was centered 7 miles east of Milpitas and 10 miles northeast of San Jose City Hall, according to the USGS.
The Category 4 storm is located off the Capricornia coast and is estimated to be 255 kilometres east of Yeppoon and 245 kilometres north-north-east of Bundaberg, moving south-east at 17 kilometres per hour.
The Environmental Protection Agency says the man was snorkelling off Lizard Island, north of Cairns, on Sunday afternoon when a crocodile attacked him.
Warwick Vincent, director of the Center for Northern Studies at Laval University in Quebec, said recent data on the ice cover "appear to be tracking the most pessimistic of the models", which call for an ice free summer in 2013.
The year "2013 is starting to look as though it is a lot more reasonable as a prediction. But each year we've been wrong -- each year we're finding that it's a little bit faster than expected," he told Reuters.
Emergency management agencies reported a tornado in Lawrence County, said John Erickson, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. The National Weather Service has not confirmed the reports.
Footage from WTHR-TV in Indianapolis showed a school bus lying atop a flattened building in Fayetteville, about 70 miles south of Indianapolis, where the tornado was reported.
Lawrence County Sheriff Sam Craig said at least 19 houses had been damaged, including three that were leveled.
Sunday, March 08, 2009 at 13:06:39 UTC
Sunday, March 08, 2009 at 08:06:39 AM at epicenter
Location 35.447°N, 97.457°W
Depth 5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program
Distances:
* 1 km (0 miles) S (174°) from Smith Village, OK
* 1 km (1 miles) WNW (287°) from Del City, OK
* 5 km (3 miles) NNE (26°) from Valley Brook, OK
* 8 km (5 miles) ESE (119°) from Oklahoma City, OK
* 301 km (187 miles) NNW (348°) from Dallas, TX