Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

New Study Shows Arctic Cooling Over last 1500 years


Canada Free Press
Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:00 UTC
New Arctic Study published in Climate Dynamics, and the work was conducted by Håkan Grudd of Stockholm University's Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology - Published online: 30 January 2008.

Excerpt: "The late-twentieth century is not exceptionally warm in the new Torneträsk record: On decadal-to-century timescales, periods around AD 750, 1000, 1400, and 1750 were all equally warm, or warmer. The warmest summers in this new reconstruction occur in a 200-year period centred on AD 1000. A 'Medieval Warm Period' is supported by other paleoclimate evidence from northern Fennoscandia, although the new tree-ring evidence from Tornetraäsk suggests that this period was much warmer than previously recognised." < > "The new Torneträsk summer temperature reconstruction shows a trend of -0.3°C over the last 1,500 years." Paper available here: & Full Paper (pdf) available here:

Commentary on new study:
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Better Earth

Coral Reefs May Be Protected By Natural Ocean Thermostat


Science Daily
Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:53 UTC
Natural processes may prevent oceans from warming beyond a certain point, helping protect some coral reefs from the impacts of climate change, new research finds. The study, by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), finds evidence that an ocean "thermostat" appears to be helping to regulate sea-surface temperatures in a biologically diverse region of the western Pacific.

©UCAR, Credit: Illustration by Steve Deyo
The Western Pacific Warm Pool, which lies northeast of Australia, contains some of the warmest ocean waters in the world. Water temperatures in the warm pool have risen less than elsewhere in the tropics, which may explain why reefs there have experienced less coral bleaching.
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Bizarro Earth

New Study Claims Global Warming Not Only Reason for Ice Shelf Collapse


BBC
Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:49 UTC
Two scientists have claimed that climate change was not the only cause of the collapse of a 500bn tonne ice shelf in Antarctica six years ago.
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Cloud Lightning

Central Brisbane flooded

Peter Morley
The Courier-Mail
Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:18 UTC
Flooding has hit central Brisbane after a massive rainstorm this afternoon.
Police are warning motorists are advised to avoid areas of Fortitude Valley due to local flooding.

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Attention

Tajikistan 'facing catastrophe'

Natalia Antelava
BBC
Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:14 UTC
Tajikistan is in the grip of emergency food shortages, the UN's World Food Programme is warning.

The deteriorating food situation is part of the energy crisis which hit the mountainous nation in the middle of its coldest winter for five decades.
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Info

Gibraltar Arc Active Faults Mapped To Prevent Earthquakes


terradaily.com
Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:46 UTC
Africa and Europe get about 4 mm closer every year in a northeast convergence direction. The exact position and geometry of the boundary between the African and Eurasian plates is unknown, but it is located near the Gibraltar Arc - an area of intense seismic activity which was not studied deeply until now.

A group of researchers from the Andalusian Institute for Earth Sciences (CSIC) and the Department of Geodynamics of the University of Granada (UGR) described for the first time the physical and mechanical properties of the uppermost part of the Earth's crust - to a depth of 30 km which is where the highest magnitude earthquakes occur.

©Unknown
The researchers characterised a region of intense deformation in which the relative movement of blocks is caused by left-lateral strike-slip faults known as "the Transalboran fault system," which expands from Murcia (Spain) to Alhucemas (Morocco). The other significant fault of the Gibraltar Arc area, which crosses the Transalboran fault perpendicularly, is called Nerja-Yusuf and goes from Malaga (Spain) to the Algerian coast.
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Cloud Lightning

Tornado-hit US residents mop up, grateful to have survived


terradaily.com
Thu, 07 Feb 2008 18:05 UTC
Residents of Atkins, Arkansas were thankful to be alive Thursday as they began a huge clean-up operation after a band of tornados ripped across southern states, killing 55 people.

"The neighbors were on their porch, they said they saw the house going up in the air and explode," said farmer Clay Dixon, 43, in a part of the town which was razed by the tornado.

"I'm just glad I'm still alive," he said, surveying the damage left by the deadly storms here in which a couple and their 11-year-old daughter died.

Dozens of tornadoes sliced across the region late Tuesday and early Wednesday, leaving a trail of destruction in five states and deaths in four, in what US media called the deadliest US tornado outbreak in two decades.
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Cloud Lightning

Baby a sign of hope in devastated South

Bill Poovey
Associated Press
Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:19 UTC
The muddy field was littered with debris after a wave of violent storms: Living room couches, strollers, children's toys. So when two rescuers came upon a baby, they thought he was a doll. Then he moved. "We grabbed hold of his neck (to take a pulse) and he took a breath of air and started crying," said David Harmon, a firefighter from a nearby county who was combing the field for tornado victims.

©Associated Press
Kyson Stowell, 11 months, is shown in a hospital in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008. Kyson was found in a field, about a hundred yards away from a house, after a severe storm went through Castalian Springs, Tenn., Tuesday, Feb. 5. His mother, Kerri Stowell, was killed.
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Info

Baboon Dads Have Surprising Influence On Daughters' Fitness


sciencedaily.com
Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:39 UTC
Polygamous baboon fathers get more grandchildren if they spend a little time with their children during their juvenile years, according to research directed by scientists at Duke and Princeton universities.

The findings, in well-studied social groupings of yellow baboons living at the foot of Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro, were unexpected in "multi-male" animal societies where both genders have multiple partners and mature males were thought to focus their energies almost solely on mating.

©Susan Alberts
Baboon family mingles at Kenyan study site.
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Heart - Black

Japanese whaling pictures 'sick': Australian minister


terradaily.com
Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:36 UTC
Photographs of a mother whale and her calf being dragged on board a Japanese ship after being harpooned in Antarctic waters have been described as sickening by Australia's environment minister.

The pictures, plastered over front pages and shown on television here Thursday, were taken from an Australian customs vessel tracking the whalers to gather evidence for possible legal action to stop the annual slaughter.

"I guess when I saw the photos I just felt a bit of a sick feeling as well as a sense of sadness," Environment Minister Peter Garrett told Nine Network television.

"It's very disappointing. It's distressing when you think that it can take up to 15 minutes after a harpoon actually hits a whale for the whale to die.
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