Earth Changes
WASHINGTON - In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major glacier, scientists said Thursday.
BEIJING - A typhoon that killed four people in the northern Philippines is headed for Hong Kong and will lash the city by Friday, weather forecasts said.
If typhoon Nuri stays on its present course, the centre of the category 1 storm could strike the densely populated city by early Friday afternoon, according to British-based storm tracker Tropical Storm Risk .
A category 1 storm is the weakest on a scale of 1 to 5.
Hong Kong is hosting Olympic equestrian events that are scheduled to finish on Thursday.
Heavy rain and winds of up to 162 kph (101 mph) are expected to sweep across the city, weather forecasts said. Hong Kong, a major Asian financial hub on the southeastern Chinese coast, has a population of 7 million people.
Chinese officials issued a warning for Fujian province along the southeast coast, asking foreign-registered boats to seek shelter, Xinhua news agency said.
If typhoon Nuri stays on its present course, the centre of the category 1 storm could strike the densely populated city by early Friday afternoon, according to British-based storm tracker Tropical Storm Risk .
A category 1 storm is the weakest on a scale of 1 to 5.
Hong Kong is hosting Olympic equestrian events that are scheduled to finish on Thursday.
Heavy rain and winds of up to 162 kph (101 mph) are expected to sweep across the city, weather forecasts said. Hong Kong, a major Asian financial hub on the southeastern Chinese coast, has a population of 7 million people.
Chinese officials issued a warning for Fujian province along the southeast coast, asking foreign-registered boats to seek shelter, Xinhua news agency said.
Belen: Golf ball-sized hail pounded the Belen area hard Sunday afternoon, causing hundreds of people to scramble for safety.
Residents and business owners are still cleaning up broken glass and picking up fallen leaves and branches left by a storm Sunday afternoon that produced hail so large that it shattered glass, sliced through trees and killed birds. While there were no reports of major injuries, damage from the storm is widespread.
Residents and business owners are still cleaning up broken glass and picking up fallen leaves and branches left by a storm Sunday afternoon that produced hail so large that it shattered glass, sliced through trees and killed birds. While there were no reports of major injuries, damage from the storm is widespread.
Te Papa's half-tonne colossal squid was a not a fearsome predator but a colossal wuss, new research has suggested.
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| ©Phil Reid/The Dominion Post |
| Marine biologist Steve O'Shea with Te Papa's half-tonne colossal squid. |
Power supplies, hospitals, schools, clean water and emergency services for millions of Britons are ' dangerously vulnerable' to flooding, official figures reveal today.
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| ©Reuters |
| Havoc: The water treatment works at Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire under water last year |
Tropical Storm Fay lumbered offshore Thursday for what was likely to be a brief stay over the Atlantic Ocean's energizing waters after flooding hundreds of homes with torrential rain, trapping residents and leaving much of Florida a soggy mess.
A mathematical proof that there is no "climate crisis" has been published in debate on global warming in Physics and Society, a scientific publication of the 46,000-strong American Physical Society.
Christopher Monckton, who once advised Margaret Thatcher, demonstrates via 30 equations that computer models used by the UN's climate panel (IPCC) were pre-programmed with overstated values for the three variables whose product is "climate sensitivity" (temperature increase in response to greenhouse-gas increase), resulting in a 500-2000% overstatement of CO2's effect on temperature in the IPCC's latest climate assessment report, published in 2007.
Christopher Monckton, who once advised Margaret Thatcher, demonstrates via 30 equations that computer models used by the UN's climate panel (IPCC) were pre-programmed with overstated values for the three variables whose product is "climate sensitivity" (temperature increase in response to greenhouse-gas increase), resulting in a 500-2000% overstatement of CO2's effect on temperature in the IPCC's latest climate assessment report, published in 2007.
Port St Lucie, Fla. - Emergency crews launched airboats into submerged streets Wednesday to rescue central Florida residents trapped by rising floodwaters from a stalled Tropical Storm Fay, which soaked the state for a third consecutive day.
Calling the flooding "catastrophic," Gov. Charlie Crist requested an emergency disaster declaration from the federal government to defray rising debris and response costs. The White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was reviewing the request.
Flooding was reported in hundreds of homes in Brevard and St. Lucie counties, some by up to 5 feet of standing water. In three towns, rising waters backed up sewage systems. It wasn't immediately clear how many residents had been displaced or were stranded, but county officials reported making dozens of rescues.
"We can't even get out of our house," said Billie Dayton of Port St. Lucie, as waters lapped at her porch. "We're just hoping that it doesn't rain anymore."
The storm could dump 30 inches of rain in some areas of Florida and the National Hurricane Center said up to 22 inches had already fallen near Melbourne, just south of Cape Canaveral on the state's central Atlantic coast.
Calling the flooding "catastrophic," Gov. Charlie Crist requested an emergency disaster declaration from the federal government to defray rising debris and response costs. The White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was reviewing the request.
Flooding was reported in hundreds of homes in Brevard and St. Lucie counties, some by up to 5 feet of standing water. In three towns, rising waters backed up sewage systems. It wasn't immediately clear how many residents had been displaced or were stranded, but county officials reported making dozens of rescues.
"We can't even get out of our house," said Billie Dayton of Port St. Lucie, as waters lapped at her porch. "We're just hoping that it doesn't rain anymore."
The storm could dump 30 inches of rain in some areas of Florida and the National Hurricane Center said up to 22 inches had already fallen near Melbourne, just south of Cape Canaveral on the state's central Atlantic coast.
Increased rainfall and droughts as a result of global temperature rise could be two to three times more severe than climate models predict. That's according to satellite data analysis by researchers at the University of Reading, UK, and University of Miami, US.
State geologists teamed with the Civil Air Patrol over the weekend on reconnaissance flights around Mount Hood, a dual mission to study landslides on the volcano's unstable slopes and train for possible future volcanic activity.
The flights Thursday through Sunday were part of an effort by the Oregon Wing of the Civil Air Patrol to expand its activities beyond traditional search and rescue and medical support missions to include science and response to natural disasters.
In planes from its fleet of six specially equipped Cessna 182s, the Civil Air Patrol flew geologists from the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries over strategic locations on Mount Hood. Other planes participated at the same time in other training missions.
The flights Thursday through Sunday were part of an effort by the Oregon Wing of the Civil Air Patrol to expand its activities beyond traditional search and rescue and medical support missions to include science and response to natural disasters.
In planes from its fleet of six specially equipped Cessna 182s, the Civil Air Patrol flew geologists from the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries over strategic locations on Mount Hood. Other planes participated at the same time in other training missions.
