Earth ChangesS

Attention

Jellyfish invasion destroys salmon farm



©PA
The jellyfish invasion was spread over 10 miles in the Irish Sea

Cloud Lightning

President orders evacuation as storm heads for Philippines

Tropical storm Mitag bore down on the eastern Philippines on Wednesday, flooding large areas of the region and forcing the government to order large-scale evacuations, days after another killed 10 people in the country's south.

Mitag was gaining strength with winds of up to 85 kilometres (53 miles) an hour and was on course to hit the Bicol peninsula southeast of Manila on Friday, weather forecasters said.

It was tracked 1,020 kilometres northeast of Legaspi, Bicol's largest city, at 11:00am (0300 GMT), and forecast to reach typhoon strength of at least 120 kilometres an hour when its eye passes close to the island of Catanduanes, to Legaspi's northeast.

Clock

Ancient Chinese town on front lines of desertification battle

Towering sand dunes loom over the ancient Chinese city of Dunhuang like giant waves about to break, and they are already lapping at Ma Wangzhen's onion farm.

She points a rough finger at a line of dead trees, half-buried in sand, planted years ago as part of her 20-year losing battle to halt the once-distant dunes which now threaten to spill into her onion crop.

"It moves very fast, much faster than anything I can do to stop it," said Ma, 60.

Ma is on the front lines of a national struggle against a relentless foe: desertification.

Bizarro Earth

Autumn rain down 90 percent in China rice belt



©n/a

Large areas of south China are suffering from serious drought, with water levels on two major rivers in rice-growing provinces dropping to historic lows, state media said on Tuesday.

Cloud Lightning

Israel: Young man struck by lightning on northern coast

Amin Subah, a 21-year-old resident of the village of Sheikh Danun was killed Monday afternoon after being struck by lightning near Achziv in northern Israel. Subah, who was fishing with his father and brother, was standing on the beach when the lightning bolt struck. A Magen David Adom team was quickly called to the scene and pronounced the man dead.



ยฉHagai Aharon
Lightning storm over Jezreel Valley Monday night


The tragedy occurred around 3:30 pm on the beach next to the local Achziv school. Subah and his father were reportedly standing on a jetty when the bolt struck.

Paramedics were alerted to the scene and pronounced him dead. The Nahariya police department confirmed that the death was caused by lightning and said parts of the body were badly burnt.

Bell

Quake hits Iranian oil-rich area, minor damage

TEHRAN - A 5.1 magnitude earthquake jolted Iran's oil-rich southwest on Tuesday and caused minor damage to buildings, the official IRNA news agency said.

The quake occurred at 12:20 a.m. EST near the town of Ghaleh-tal in an eastern part of Khuzestan province and the tremor was felt in the provincial capital Ahvaz and elsewhere, IRNA reported.

Evil Rays

Two earthquakes felt across Israel

Geophysical Institute reports two quakes, measuring 3 and 4.5 on Richter scale and originating in northern Dead Sea, shook country Tuesday morning. Ynet readers report feeling earth moved in J'lem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and south.

Two earthquakes, measuring 3 and 4.5 on the Richter scale, were felt across Israel on Tuesday morning. The Geophysical Institute of Israel (GII ) reported that the quakes shook the entire country and originated in the northern Dead Sea.

According to the Magen David Adom rescue services, there were no reports of injuries or damage.

Bizarro Earth

A World Dying, but Can We Unite to Save It?

Humanity is rapidly turning the seas acid through the same pollution that causes global warming, the world's governments and top scientists agreed yesterday. The process - thought to be the most profound change in the chemistry of the oceans for 20 million years - is expected both to disrupt the entire web of life of the oceans and to make climate change worse.

Ambulance

The mystery of dead dolphins in Persian Gulf

An autopsy has been carried out on one of the 73 dead dolphin bodies found on Jask beaches, south of Iran, ISNA reported on October 29, 2007.

Better Earth

Shake, rattle and roll: 5.8 Earthquake strikes off Oregon coast

A 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck at 11:52 a.m. today off the west coast of Oregon, about 150 miles due west of Bandon.

©USGS