Earth ChangesS


Igloo

Huge ice island calves off Greenland glacier

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© USGS
An ice island four times the size of Manhattan broke off from one of Greenland's two main glaciers, scientists said on Friday, in the biggest such event in the Arctic in nearly 50 years.

The new ice island, which broke off on Thursday, will enter a remote place called the Nares Strait, about 620 miles south of the North Pole between Greenland and Canada.

The ice island has an area of 100 square miles (260 square km) and a thickness up to half the height of the Empire State Building, said Andreas Muenchow, professor of ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware.

Muenchow said he had expected an ice chunk to break off from the Petermann Glacier, one of the two largest remaining ones in Greenland, because it had been growing in size for seven or eight years. But he did not expect it to be so large.

"The freshwater stored in this ice island could keep the Delaware or Hudson Rivers flowing for more than two years," said Muenchow, whose research in the area is supported by the National Science Foundation.

"It could also keep all U.S. public tap water flowing for 120 days."

Phoenix

Russian troops dig canal around Sarov nuclear base as wildfires grow

Emergency action reported to have 'stabilised' situation at Sarov, the closed town where first Soviet nuclear bomb was built

Russian troops dug a five-mile canal yesterday to protect a nuclear arms site from wildfires caused by a record heatwave.

The forest and peat fires have killed at least 52 people, made more than 4,000 homeless, diverted many flights and pushed air pollution in Moscow to six times its normal level, forcing some residents of the capital to wear surgical masks.

Control Panel

NASA Images Show Continuing Mexico Quake Deformation

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© NASA/JPL/USGS/California Geological Survey/GoogleUAVSAR interferogram of Southern California near the Mexican border, created by combining data from flights on April 13, 2010, and July 1, 2010.
New NASA airborne radar images of Southern California near the U.S.-Mexico border show Earth's surface is continuing to deform following the April 4 magnitude, 7.2 temblor and its many aftershocks that have rocked Mexico's state of Baja California and parts of the American Southwest.

The data, from NASA's airborne Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), reveal that some faults in the area west of Calexico, Calif., have continued to move at Earth's surface, most likely in the many aftershocks. This fault motion is likely to be what is known as "triggered slip," caused by changes in stress in Earth's crust from the main quake rupture. The new maps, called interferograms, were created by combining data from flights on April 13, 2010, and July 1, 2010, and can be found HERE. Previous radar maps of the region released on June 23, 2010, are HERE.

The first image shows a UAVSAR interferogram swath measuring 87 by 20 kilometers (54 by 12.5 miles) overlaid atop a Google Earth image. Each colored contour, or fringe, of the interferogram represents 11.9 centimeters (4.7 inches) of surface displacement. The different shades in the image represent ground surface motions of up to a few inches upward or downward. Yellow shaded regions moved to the south or downward, regions in blue moved to the north or upward, and regions shaded in magenta showed no motion. Major fault lines are marked in red, and recent aftershocks are denoted by yellow, orange and red dots, with older earthquakes shown as gray dots.

Bizarro Earth

NASA Instrument Tracks Pollution from Russian Fires

Russian Fires_1
© NASA/JPL/Leonid Yurganov, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Side-by-side comparison of carbon monoxide pollution from the series of devastating wildfires burning across central and western Russia, as seen by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft on July 21, 2010 (left) and Aug. 1, 2010 (right). The AIRS data show the abundance of carbon monoxide present in the atmosphere at an altitude of 5.5 kilometers (18,000 feet).
Drought and the worst heat wave Russia has seen in 130 years have sparked a devastating outbreak of wildfires across the nation this summer, primarily in the country's western and central regions. According to wire service reports and Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, as of Aug. 6, 2010, some 558 fires were burning. The fires have killed at least 52 people, destroyed some 2,000 homes and charred more than 1,796 square kilometers (693 square miles). Russia's capital city of Moscow is currently blanketed in a thick smog, which has curtailed activities and disrupted air traffic. According to the Associated Press, levels of carbon monoxide pollution in Moscow are at an all-time high, four times higher than normal.

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft is tracking the concentration and transport of carbon monoxide from the Russian fires. The figures presented here show the abundance of carbon monoxide present in the atmosphere at an altitude of 5.5 kilometers (18,000 feet). AIRS is sensitive to carbon monoxide in the mid-troposphere at heights between 2 and 10 kilometers (1.2 and 6.2 miles), with a peak sensitivity at an altitude of approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 miles). This region of Earth's atmosphere is also conducive to the long-range transport of the pollution that is lofted to this altitude.

As shown in Figure 1, acquired July 21, 2010, the concentration of carbon monoxide from the fires on that date was largely limited to the European part of Russia (western and central Russia). This contrasts dramatically with the data in Figure 2, acquired on August 1, when the carbon monoxide concentration was much higher and the area of the fires had increased significantly. The concentration of carbon monoxide is continuing to grow. According to Aug. 4 NASA estimates, the smoke plume from the fires spans about 3,000 kilometers (1,860 miles) from east to west, approximately the distance from San Francisco to Chicago.

Info

Iran: Civilization's Ancient Trailblazer ‎

Hail Iran, thou land of ancient splendor
Hail Iran, thou realm of golden light
Iran, thou art the mother
And domain of fabled heroes -
Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes -
History's legends, men of might.

So put away thy torpor, O' Iran.
Shake off thy slumber.
Forget thou not thy glory
In thy youth. Recall the sight
Of Apadana's pillars
And the walls of Ecbatana
And the Gateway to the Nations
Thru which disputes were put to flight.

So strike once more the harp.
Beat the timbrel. Sound the cymbals.
Raise again the rhyton,
of Artaxerxes, golden bright.
And recall thou wert the mother
of Man's first civilizations.
So kindle thou the torch
to safeguard against the night.

Ancient Iran
© Press TVPersepolis, Fars Province, Iran.

Iran, the name evokes different feelings among different groups of people. Today, largely thanks to the media, most Americans and Europeans think of Iran's nuclear program when they hear the word. Traditionally, however, before the age of 'news bytes' and round-the-clock coverage, the images evoked were quite different.

In the 19th century, for example, when Westerners heard the word, 'Persia,' (the name, by which Iran was then known,) they thought of bejeweled silken rugs, intricately illuminated books of poetry and the poignant song of the nightingale. Like mirages rising from the desert's shimmering horizon, images arose of verdant Persian gardens, perfumed with drifts of jasmine and cooled by the diamond spray of fountains.

Such images were not the products of 19th century orientalists' fancies. They did - and still do - exist and are an integral part of the country and civilization of Iran. Fabulous silk rugs are still being woven by hand. Books of poetry rendered in intricate calligraphy can still be found and perfumed Persian gardens - both public and private - still abound, providing cool respite from the fierce rays of the desert sun.

But just as Iran entails much more than the news outlets' latest political spin would have us believe, it also encompasses a great deal more than Medieval poetry and science -- or the fantastic One Thousand and One Nights culture promoted by Hollywood. One group limits Iranian culture to the parameters of the latest political debacle, while another thinks of it only in terms of the 'Golden Age of Islam' and the third categorizes it in terms of fairytales -- complete with flying carpets and magic lamps. All three assumptions are erroneous, with the first giving a completely skewed -- and the second two, only a partial -- image of Iran. No wonder Westerners are confused.

For over two millennia, the country and its culture have been misrepresented. This is particularly true of ancient Iran, which has traditionally been portrayed as corrupt, backward, lacking in initiative and despotic, whereas archaeologists have since found strong indications that the opposite was true.

Phoenix

Wildfires spread through central Russia as pollutants in Moscow smog causes health concerns

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© Metzel/APTourists wear protective face masks as they walk along the Red Square in thick smog, with Saint Basil's Cathedral partially visible in the back, in Moscow, Russia.
Wildfires continued to spread throughout central Russia Saturday as smog consumed Moscow, raising health concerns for residents of the Russian capital.

290 new wildfires were reported in the last 24 hours, and weather forecasters said that Russia's heat wave would continue for several more days.

Meanwhile, pollutants in the Moscow smog have risen to dangerously unsafe levels. carbon monoxide levels are 6.6 times higher than acceptable, and tiny invisible particles from the fires are present in concentrations 2.2 times higher than normal levels, according to state air pollution monitoring service Mosekomonitoring.

Bizarro Earth

'More than four million' hit by flooding in Pakistan

flooding
© AP
People look for survivors in the wreckage of a bus which plunged into the flooded River Jhelum near Muzaffarabad, in Kashmi
Pakistan's worst floods in 80 years have killed at least 1,600 people and affected the lives of more than four million, the UN said yesterday.

The UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said that aid from its members was reaching over 300,000 survivors, with many UK charities distributing food, water purification tablets, shelter, medicine and hygiene kits by raft, boat and donkey. Last night the actor Art Malik and the former hostage John McCarthy presented new TV and radio appeals.

Brendan Gormley, DEC's chief executive, said: "These devastating floods have left millions fighting to survive with little food, clean water or shelter. As monsoon rains continue unabated, the situation is deteriorating and the speed of our response is vital."

Bizarro Earth

Indonesia's Mount Karangetang volcano spews lava, gas; 4 feared dead

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© USGS
One of Indonesia's most active volcanos erupted Friday, sending lava and a searing gas cloud tumbling down its slopes. At least four family members were swept away and feared dead, officials said, and several others were badly hurt.

"It happened so fast," said Surono, the director of the volcanology and mitigation agency. "There was no time for an evacuation."

Mount Karangetang, located on Siau, part of the Sulawesi island chain, burst just after midnight when heavy rains broke the volcano's hot lava dome, which spit out 1,110 degree Fahrenheit (600 Celsius) clouds of gas.

Ash and lava crashed down the mountain's western slope, destroying at least nine houses, a church and a school, said Priyadi Kardono, an official with the national disaster management agency. A road and a bridge also were badly damaged, leaving more than 2,000 people in the remote area completely isolated.

Kardono said four family members were missing and feared dead. Five others were hospitalized, one in critical condition.

Authorities were trying to evacuate residents living in at least one nearby village, said Tony Supit, a district chief.

Bizarro Earth

103 killed in flash floods in Indian Kashmir

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The death toll in flashfloods that hit the remote mountainous region of Ladakh in Indian-held Kashmir has risen to 103. State police chief Kuldeep Khoda said Friday more than 370 others have been injured.

Police and paramilitary soldiers have pulled out hundreds of people from the mud and debris that have buried hundreds of homes but their efforts were hampered by gushing water and mud sweeping down from the steep mountainsides.

Telecommunication towers have toppled or are badly damaged while main highways connecting the popular tourist destination to the rest of Kashmir were only partially open.

This is a breaking news update. AP's earlier story is below.

Bizarro Earth

Pakistan's flooding sweeps south