Earth Changes

Mongolian governors voice concerns about harsh winter

M.Zoljargal
UBPost
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:27 UTC

Administrators of Khovd, Uvs, Zavkhan, Khuvsgul and Dundgovi Provinces voiced their concerns about the harsh winter conditions to the Prime Minister, N. Altankhuyag, and other government staff at a video conference on Thursday.

The provincial governors participating in the video-conference remarked that as the depth of the snow has increased, most of the provinces have begun to use the hay and fodder from the state reserve and this is costly. They claim that herders will be in a very problematic situation unless the government finds a way to reduce the price of the state reserve of hay and fodder.

The Governor of Govi-Altai Province noted that Govi-Altai is planning to start using the state reserve from February 10, as it has saved enough reserve itself.

The directors of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the National Agency for Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment Monitoring participated in the video-conference and described the recent weather trends and the conditions in the provinces. Some provinces are experiencing alarming conditions.

Large Humboldt squid continue to invade coastal California in record numbers

Brett Smith
RedOrbit
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:54 UTC

Humboldt squid have overrun the waters off the coast of Southern California, and the area's fishermen have taken to the sea en masse - catching boatloads of the ultra-fresh calamari.

One report noted a fishing boat that had caught more than 200 squid in an hour, leading the captain to return his ship to port early.

"I have enough for a whole year," John Plaziak, one of the fishermen, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"We saw a few of them last year, but nothing in fishable quantities," part-time fisherman Rick Marin told the newspaper. "It has probably been two or three years since we've seen a lot of them."

The squids were first spotted as "dark blobs" near the surface early last week and the fishing boats began hauling in large numbers of the sea creatures over the weekend. Some speculated that tidal forces in the eastern Pacific drove scores of krill into the region. The overabundance of the squid's favorite prey likely attracted the cephalopods.

According to reports, the majority of the squid have been found 3 to 4 miles from Dana Point Harbor, located in southern Orange County. Large groups of the animals were reported as far south as the Mexican border with the U.S.

Conservation of the Humboldt squid off the coast of California is not a major concern because the squid can reproduce in mass numbers.

Comment: Hundreds of dead Humboldt squid washed up on beaches Sunday along Rio Del Mar in Santa Cruz County, California

Canada and the Global Water Crisis

Zachary Fillingham
GeoPolitical Monitor
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 16:14 UTC

In this exclusive interview with the Geopoliticalmonitor, FLOW Program Manager Nancy Goucher provides an overview of the pressing water issues facing Canada and the wider world, such as aquifer depletion, farming pressures, mass migration, and climate change.

The Forum for Leadership on Water (FLOW) is a project of Tides Canada Initiatives that consists of a team of independent Canadian water policy experts, who believe that the best way to effectively tackle current and emerging threats to water security is through a Canada-wide water strategy that incorporates all levels of government and civil society. To this end, FLOW endeavors to identify and close critical gaps in water protection by advancing progressive water governance and policy solutions.

Campi Flegrei caldera, Italian supervolcano, shows increase in uplift and temperature as possible signs of magma ascent

Set You Free News
Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:47 UTC

According to a recent report by INGV Naples, the ground deformation of the Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) near Naples has increased considerably lately.

During the last 12 months, the ground in some places near the town of Pozzuoli was uplifted by about 8 cm.

The largest uplift, recorded by GPS devices, occurred during the months of July-August 2012 and since December. The trend appears to be continuing at the moment.

Such (sometimes dramatic, totaling up to several meters in a few years) ground uplift and subsidence have been known in the Phlegraean Fields since antiquity and are not a new phenomenon. They can usually be explained by normal pressure, temperature and density variations of the giant hydrothermal system of the Campi Flegrei caldera and may not necessarily indicate an imminent eruption.

Thousands stranded as crews continue to battle Tasmania bushfires

ABC
Sun, 06 Jan 2013 17:13 UTC

Thousands of people are stranded and about 100 are still unaccounted for as out of control bushfires continue to burn in Tasmania.

The threat for the state's most destructive fires has been downgraded, but residents are being warned to remain vigilant.

More than 100 properties have been destroyed since the bushfires broke out in extreme heat on Friday, and police have warned that bodies may be found as teams go door-to-door in the devastated communities.

Jakarta sinking by up to 10cm a year, as water supplies dry up

George Roberts
ABC
Sat, 29 Dec 2012 17:05 UTC

Experts in Indonesia are preparing to build a huge wall to stop the ocean from swamping parts of Jakarta.

Some suburbs in the capital already go underwater when there is a big tide but the problem is expected to get even worse.

Jakarta is sinking by up to 10 centimetres a year and Indonesia's national disaster centre says with oceans rising, large parts of the city, including the airport, will be inundated by 2030.

Flooding hits Thailand's southern provinces

MCOT
Pattaya Mail
Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:59 UTC

Heavy rain triggered flooding in several southern provinces and disaster zones have been declared to facilitate processes to assist flood victims.

The flooding in Narathiwat keeps rising due to heavy rain in the past few days.

About 200 villages in 13 districts have been declared flood disaster zones and about 27,000 people have affected and 345 people evacuated to safer areas.

Slingo pretends she knows why it's been so wet!

Paul Homewood
Watts Up With That
Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:18 UTC

Following release of provisional rainfall data for the UK, showing that 2012 has been one of the wettest on record, Professor Julia Slingo, chief scientist at the Met Office, tells us:

"The trend towards more extreme rainfall events is one we are seeing around the world, in countries such as India and China, and now potentially here in the UK", adding that "the long-term trend towards wetter weather is likely to continue as global air temperatures rise. "

Leaving aside the fact that the Met Office have also been warning us about droughts lately, let's take a look at some of the forecasts they were making during 2012.

Each month they issue a 3-month outlook. Unfortunately the ones issued prior to September have disappeared from their archives, but I had already saved the April-June, and also the Sep-Nov forecasts. Along with the Oct-Dec ones, what were the Met forecasting as the year progressed?

Black Iceberg image goes viral on Reddit

Emirates 24/7
Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:08 UTC

© Reddit
This photo of a Black Iceberg was posted on January 4, 2013, on Reddit and went viral with more than 1.17 million views in less than 48 hours.

An amazingly ominous picture of a black iceberg on social media platform Reddit.com is creating quite a stir among online denizens as it went viral within hours of it being published on January 4, 2013.

The iceberg stands in sharp contrast to another whitish iceberg in the photo which seems to have been taken during the day. The image has thus far been viewed some 1.17 million times, got more than 20,000 'up votes' and, strangely, another 17,000 'down votes', with more than 1,200 people commenting on the Reddit post.

According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, most icebergs are white except along freshly calved ice cliffs, which tend to appear blue. "Others may appear green, brown or black, or combinations of these colours," it says.

Loughareema - The Irish lake that randomly vanishes

Kaushik
Amusing Planet
Wed, 05 Dec 2012 01:11 UTC

Loughareema, also known as the Vanishing Lake, is located on the coast road, just a few miles from the seaside town of Ballycastle in Ireland. The lake sits on a leaky chalk-bed with a "plug hole" that often becomes jammed with peat causing the Loughareema depression to fill, especially during heavy rain.

When the plug clears, the lake drains rapidly underground. A passerby who is not aware of the lake and its disappearing act would never even know it existed in the first place.

Interestingly, the road to Ballycastle runs right through the lake, though the modern road sits high enough to avoid flooding, unlike the original. It is quite possible that even the road engineers who built road were fooled by the lake's trickery. In former days the route was frequently under water, sometimes for weeks on end, making crossing treacherous.

It was during one particularly bad state of flooding in 1898, a certain Colonel John Magee McNeille, anxious to catch the 3 pm train from the town, persuaded his coachman to drive a covered wagon pulled by two horses through the lake. When they reached the middle of the lake, the cold water reached the bellies of the horse who became nervous.

New Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Sears: "We're going to have safer neighborhoods, safer communities, and our children are going to get a good...

parzival

Bill Gates is going to be the one with the uncertain future,,, * New Lt. Governor of Virginia Winsome Sears: "We're going to have safer...

parzival

The more we hear about adverse affects the more we will merely shrug. It's a catch 22. Is that an asteroid trail in the photo?

sass

Welcome to the new normal. The more sensory exposure we have about such things, the less it is an issue.

sass

more misbehaving phuqqin' jewzskies starring on the sott; speaks for itself

Jibrish

Earth Changes

Mongolian governors voice concerns about harsh winter

Large Humboldt squid continue to invade coastal California in record numbers

Canada and the Global Water Crisis

Campi Flegrei caldera, Italian supervolcano, shows increase in uplift and temperature as possible signs of magma ascent

Thousands stranded as crews continue to battle Tasmania bushfires

Jakarta sinking by up to 10cm a year, as water supplies dry up

Flooding hits Thailand's southern provinces

Slingo pretends she knows why it's been so wet!

Black Iceberg image goes viral on Reddit

Loughareema - The Irish lake that randomly vanishes

Latest News

Picture of the Day

Quote of the Day

Recent Comments

Quantum Quirk

Contact Us