Earth ChangesS


Sherlock

UK: Holy Grail castle in bats mystery


BBC
Sat, 08 Mar 2008 17:25 UTC
A Scottish keep that appeared in the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail has become caught up in a mystery about where bats hibernate.

Experts have been intrigued about where pipistrelle, which roost in large numbers in Doune, Central Scotland, in summer, spend the winter.

Just over 30 have been counted in Doune Castle, which was used in the film.

Meanwhile, bat watchers in the far north are monitoring for a species which may spread with global warming.

Image
©PA
Pipistrelle come in two varieties - soprano and common
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Bulb

Mathematics Explains Mysterious Midge Behavior

Kenneth Chang
The New York Times
Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:03 UTC
Here's a place that's unlikely ever to be a vacation spot for Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain: Lake Myvatn, in Iceland.

Myvatn, translating from Icelandic to English, means Midge Lake.

Midges, baseball fans recall, are the gnat-like insects that rose from Lake Erie last October and descended upon Chamberlain in the bottom of the eighth inning of a playoff game against the Cleveland Indians, distracting him into throwing two wild pitches. Cleveland scored the tying run without a hit. The Yankees eventually lost the game and eventually the series.

Image
©Arni Einarsson
A Lake Myvatn midge.
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Snowman

Mysterious "Rain on Snow" Events Tracked in Arctic

Graeme Stemp-Morlock
National Geographic News
Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:13 UTC
A few warm, springlike days might sound appealing if you live in the frigid Arctic Circle.

But a rise in temperature can spell doom for native peoples and the caribou, musk-oxen, and reindeer that they depend on in Earth's northernmost regions.

That's because a mysterious phenomenon known as "rain on snow," when sudden warm air turns northern snows to rain or slush, can cause animals to starve.

Image
©Norbert Rosing/NGS
Musk-oxen huddle together during a snowstorm in Canada's frigid Northwest Territories.

A strange phenomenon known as a "rain on snow" event, in which warm rain freezes into a solid layer of ice on the ground in winter, killed off a quarter of the region's musk-oxen population in 2003.

Scientists are still working to figure out why and when these elusive incidents occur.
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Recycle

China's killer "yellow dust" hits Korea, Japan

Jon Herskovitz
Reuters
Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:58 UTC
SEOUL - South Korea closed schools on Monday and its factories producing memory chips stepped up safeguards, as a choking pall of sand mixed with toxic dust from China covered most of the country and other parts of Asia.

The annual "yellow dust" spring storms, which originate in China's Gobi Desert before sweeping south to envelop the Korean peninsula and parts of Japan, are blamed for scores of deaths and billions of dollars in damage every year in South Korea.
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Snowman

Parts of Ohio, Tennesee get a foot of snow

Matt Leingang
news.yahoo.com
Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:46 UTC
A foot of snow buried parts of the Ohio and Tennessee valleys early Saturday, creating whiteout conditions and keeping many would-be weekend travelers at home.

Winter storm warnings were in effect from eastern Kentucky to upstate New York and northern Maine, the National Weather Service said. Wind up to 35 mph whipped the snow and cut visibility to less than a quarter mile in places, the weather service said.
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Fish

Antarctic Fish Species Adopts Winter Survival Strategy Similar To Hibernation


sciencedaily.com
Sat, 08 Mar 2008 19:40 UTC
Scientists have discovered an Antarctic fish species that adopts a winter survival strategy similar to hibernation. Scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the University of Birmingham reveal, for the first time, that the Antarctic 'cod' Notothenia coriiceps effectively 'puts itself on ice' to survive the long Antarctic winter.

Antarctic Cod
©Dr Hamish Campbell
The 'Antarctic Cod' (Notothenia coriiceps) became isolated from its warmer water cousins around 30 million years ago when the Antarctic circumpolar current was formed.
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Cloud Lightning

Angola ravaged by new floods


Agence France-Presse
Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:24 UTC
Torrential rains forced more than 30,000 people to flee their homes in southern Angola and floods killed 30,000 cattle, state television reported Thursday.

The worst of the floods hit Kunene province on Wednesday covering about 72,000 hectares (178,000 acres) of land with up to two metres (6.5 feet) of water, TPA television reported.
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Attention

Hawaii: Kilauea Lava Flow Reaches Ocean


kitv.com
Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:19 UTC


Kilauea ocean flow
©kitv.com

The latest flow from Kilauea Volcano reached the ocean overnight, according to scientists with the Hawaii Volcano Observatory.

A scientist flew over the flow with Hawaii County officials on Thursday morning.

Access to Kilauea's eruption was cut off Wednesday after the current lava flow crossed the last Big Island access road to the site.
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Snowman

Illinois: Ice jams cause record flooding

Anthony Watt and Bill Mayeroff
qconline.com
Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:12 UTC


Rock river ice jam
©John Greenwood
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Video

Scientists believe photograph depicts wolverine in California


US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station
Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:42 UTC
U.S. Forest Service scientists believe an Oregon State University graduate student working on a cooperative project with the agency's Pacific Southwest Research station on the Tahoe National Forest has photographed a wolverine, an animal whose presence has not been confirmed in California since the 1920s.

Katie Moriarty, a wildlife biology student, was conducting research on another carnivore called the American marten when a remote-controlled camera she set photographed the animal on February 28, 2008. Forest Service scientists who are experts at detecting rare carnivores believe the photographed animal is a wolverine.

Image
©US Forest Service, Oregon State University photo
Scientists believe a wolverine was photographed with a remote-controlled camera on Feb. 28 on the Tahoe National Forest. Evidence of wolverines in California has not been scientifically verified since the 1920s.
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