Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Fungus killing amphibians goes airborne

A fungus that is devastating amphibian populations around the world is a relatively new disease that is spreading rapidly, rather than an old disease that has recently become more virulent, according to research on frogs in California's Sierra Nevada.

Worse, not only is the fungus being spread by infected water, it may also be transmitted in the form of spores carried on the wind or birds' feathers, for example, a genetic analysis of the Californian frogs suggests. This would help to explain outbreaks of the disease, called chytridiomycosis, in remote, inaccessible habitats like the Sierra Nevada lakes.

Cloud Lightning

Seven die in Bulgaria floods, Romania expects storm

Seven people drowned and four were missing after heavy rains caused severe flooding in northern Bulgaria, while storms cut off electricity and washed away bridges in neighboring Romania, officials said on Tuesday.

Six elderly people died in accidents in the small Bulgarian town of Tsar Kaloyan, some 380 km (235 miles) northeast of Sofia, after torrential rain cut off electricity and raised water levels, the local civil defense service said.

Bizarro Earth

Lots of Shakin' Goin' On! 6.0 Earthquake in Pacific

UPDATE!

== PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE REPORT ==

Region: CENTRAL EAST PACIFIC RISE
Geographic coordinates: 4.483S, 105.178W
Magnitude: 6.0 Mw
Depth: 39 km
Universal Time (UTC): 4 Aug 2007 14:24:58
Time near the Epicenter: 4 Aug 2007 07:24:58
Local time in your area: 4 Aug 2007 08:24:58

Location with respect to nearby cities:
2441 km (1517 miles) SSW (194 degrees) of Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

Bizarro Earth

Monumental landslide shakes Yukon's Mount Steele

Geologists in the Yukon want to find out what caused a massive landslide last week that made one of Canada's tallest mountains a little smaller.

A piece of Mount Steele, the country's fifth-highest peak, suddenly broke away sometime last week, thundering onto the glacier below.

©Eric DeGiuli
Mount Steele - North Face

Yukon government geologist Panya Lipovsky, who heard of the slide from researchers who witnessed it, said it may have been the single largest landslide in living memory in the territory.

Attention

1,000 hectares of forest fires put out in Krasnoyarsk Territory over 24 hours

There are seven forest fires, 356 hectares in total area, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, according to the reports made on August 7.

Bizarro Earth

Greece: Heavy floods take up baton from wildfires

Greece's summer of natural disasters took a new twist yesterday as authorities in northern Greece switched from fighting wildfires to trying to cope with floods caused by rainfall that was much heavier than the seasonal average.

Info

Planes bombard flames threatening historic Croatian resort

ZAGREB - Firefighting planes on Monday bombarded flames that threatened the historic Croatian resort of Dubrovnik where authorities have declared a state of emergency.

Three Canadair water bombers came to the aid of 250 firefighters and hundreds of residents who are trying to save their imperiled town on Croatia's Dalmatian coast.

Bomb

Fires flare again in Italy's south

ROME (AFP) - Around 40 fires flared up in Italy's south Sunday, forcing firemen backed by aircraft to deploy to protect woodland and national parks, Italy's civil protection service said.

Cloud Lightning

'Mini-tornado' over Aberdeen, Scotland



©BBC

A "mini-tornado" has been spotted on the outskirts of Aberdeen.

The spiral was seen swirling over the Peterculter area at about 1230 BST, with people taking pictures of what they saw.

Bizarro Earth

Mild earthquake rattles western North Carolina

It wasn't an alarm clock that awakened some residents of western North Carolina this morning.

A mild earthquake centered southeast of Asheville shook the region shortly after 6 a.m.

The earthquake's magnitude was 2.8. A National Weather Service meteorologist says the quake started on a fault 5.8 miles deep and six miles northeast of Lake Lure in Rutherford County, just west of Chimney Rock.