Earth ChangesS


Attention

Tanker spills 66,000 barrels of crude oil into Korean waters

A South Korean supertanker has spilled about 66,000 barrels of crude oil into the Yellow Sea off the country's west coast after a collision with a barge, local media said Friday.

The accident occurred on Friday morning when a crane on a barge crashed into the Hebei Spirit tanker, which was carrying 1.8 million barrels of crude oil, near the Taean port, south of Seoul.

Info

Offshore weather buoys confirm west coast wave forecast

Results from Ireland's network of offshore weather buoys confirm the computer-generated wave forecasts by the Marine Institute and Met Eireann last week for waves of up to 14 metres (45 feet) along the west coast of Ireland.

Umbrella

Flashback High wave warning for Irish coast

Waves of up to 45 foot are expected off Ireland's west coast this weekend, weather experts have warned.

Met Eireann and the Marine Institute said all ships and anyone close to the shoreline "should take great care, especially on Saturday".

If the waves come as predicted, they would be the highest around Ireland's coastline for several years.

However, surfer Mark Patterson advised water-watchers to "dust down the camera, not the surfboard".

Waves 40 foot high were recorded in the seas to the west of Galway Bay in January 2005.

Cloud Lightning

La Nina revives land of flooding rains (Australia)

THE drought-breaking La Nina weather pattern has finally kicked in, bringing flooding rains along the eastern coast and filling the tributaries that feed into the dying Murray-Darling river system.

Forecasters are predicting a wet summer and autumn but remain unwilling - at least officially - to call the end of the worst drought in living memory. And they warn it would still take rains of "biblical proportions" to fill the dams of cities and towns.

Better Earth

Fiji cyclone on verge of 'super hurricane'

Cyclone Daman is due to hit northern Vanua Levu island tonight and on over Taveuni and the islands of the Lau Group.

In the last two hours Cyclone Daman has changed course away from the tourist heavy areas of western Viti Levu.

Neighbouring Tonga has been put on alert.

Bomb

Flashback Ice-covered antarctic lake may harbor unknown life

Microbes entirely unknown to science may exist in liquid water in Lake Vostok, thousands of meters beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. That possibility is one of several intriguing mysteries that justify undertaking the logistical challenges of exploring the lake, according to a new report from a workshop funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The report, "Lake Vostok: A Curiosity or a Focus for Interdisciplinary Study," concludes that the lake "may represent a unique region for detailed scientific investigation" for several reasons. Among them is the possibility that conditions under the ice may approximate those on Europa, a frozen moon of Jupiter, and so may indicate whether life may be able to exist in harsh conditions elsewhere in the solar system.

The report represents the conclusions reached by scientists from a variety of fields who met in Washington D.C. last November. The Lamont- Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University and the University of Hawaii jointly organized the meeting.

Cow

Eco-friendly kangaroo farts could help global warming: scientists

Australian scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, researchers say.

©AFP
Australian scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, researchers say

Bizarro Earth

Drought sapping China's biggest fresh water lake

Water levels in China's largest fresh water lake are nearing record lows as a drought exacerbates existing shortages, state media said Wednesday.

©Unknown

Snowman

Snow sets more records in Grand Forks and Fargo, North Dakota

The National Weather Service says the Grand Forks airport had 8.1 inches of snow yesterday, setting a record for the date. And Fargo set a record with 5.9 inches.

The previous mark in both cities was set back in 1926.

Grand Forks and Fargo also had record snowfall last Saturday.

Today's forecast calls for a chance of light snow in the west and flurries in central North Dakota, and a little snow overnight in the east. The southwest could get some freezing rain tonight.

Snowman

Portland, Maine ties 1890 snow record

The first major winter storm to sweep across Maine this season was farther out to sea than expected, reducing snowfall totals, but there was still plenty of the white stuff to clean up on Tuesday, officials said.

Portland tied the record for the date set in 1890 with 8.5 inches of snow on Monday, according to Bob Marine of the National Weather Service.