Earth ChangesS


Cloud Lightning

Crocodile Tears For the Magnates: Rio, Woodside Affected as Two Cyclones Lash Australia

Jason Scott
Bloomberg
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:29 UTC
Two cyclones in Australia's north have caused storms and flooding, affecting mining and energy projects for companies including Rio Tinto Group and Woodside Petroleum Ltd.

Tropical Cyclone Dianne was 385 kilometers (240 miles) northwest of the Western Australian town of Exmouth and near stationary at about 11 p.m. local time, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. The storm is forecast to intensify from Category 2 to Category 3 by 11 p.m. tomorrow as it moves southwest. Flood warnings are in place for some Pilbara and Mid West regions.

The storm slowed transport at Rio Tinto's iron ore operations in the Pilbara and halted production at Woodside's Enfield oil field. A La Nina event has brought wet weather to Australia's east and north and typically increases the number of cyclones during the November to April period, according to the bureau.
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Bizarro Earth

Fewer Big Fish in the Sea

Kerry Sheridan
Agence France-Presse
Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:58 UTC
Overfishing
© Getty ImagesTuna fishing in the Indian Ocean. A study shows the world's large fish have declined by two-thirds.

Fewer big, predatory fish are swimming in the world's oceans because of overfishing by humans, leaving smaller fish to thrive and double in force over the past 100 years, scientists said Friday.

Big fish such as cod, tuna, and groupers have declined worldwide by two-thirds while the number of anchovies, sardines and capelin has surged in their absence, said University of British Columbia researchers.

Meanwhile, people around the world are fishing harder and coming up with the same or fewer numbers in their catch, indicating that humans may have maxed out the ocean's capacity to provide us with food.

"Overfishing has absolutely had a 'when cats are away, the mice will play' effect on our oceans," said Villy Christensen, a professor in the UBC Fisheries Centre who presented the research findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual conference in Washington.

"By removing the large, predatory species from the ocean, small forage fish have been left to thrive."
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Sun

Northern Norway thrown into darkness by power outage

Hans O. Torgersen & Ole Magnus Rapp
aftenposten.no
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:36 UTC
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© StatnettThe alleged source of the power outage that caused parts of northern Norway to be without power Thursday morning
[This is a Google translation of the original article on Aftenposten.no]

Narvik, Harstad, Andøy, Lofoten and Vesterålen is dark between 8 am and 10 Thursday because of strain on the network, said Statnett.

Power is now back in Northern Norway, but new areas may be switched off later in the day.

Statnett says on its website that the power situation in northern Norway is very vulnerable for a break from the power line to begin again Kvandal Nordland Wednesday morning.

Statoil's gas power plant at Melkøya now supplies 30 MW, approximately. 15 percent of its total capacity to the regular grid to ensure power supply in Finnmark, but there was not enough.

Statnett had yet seen in the works, part of a notification, Sonevis shut off power to the north of Tysfjord in Nordland.

Crews from Statnett working to rectify the error, but this may take several days, partly because of weather conditions. There are strong winds in the area and it's very cold, the company said.

The power grid in northern Norway is now very vulnerable to several flaws.

Today's power shutdown came entirely as a surprise to everyone in Harstad.
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X

Sri Lanka: Mysterious disease poisons fish in Batticaloa lagoon


Spero News
Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:02 UTC
Following the floods, fishermen have to face this new problem, which will seriously affect the population's main source of livelihood. Silence of authorities.

Colombo - The fish in the Batticaloa lagoon, in the eastern province of Sri Lanka, are being decimated by an unknown disease, probably caused by floods that have lashed the region for weeks. Sidambarapullai Piyadasa, president of the Tamil community of fishermen, speaking by phone to AsiaNews laments: "Fishermen on the lagoon have had to cope with this problem for over three months now, but despite our cries for help, the authorities have remained totally silent".

Fish suffering from this disease "are red or orange in colour, some bearing strange wounds," said Sidambarapullai. As explained by the leader of the community, because of the disease almost 85% of the daily catch is lost. This causes severe damage to the 11,750 fishermen (about 3,500 families) of Batticaloa, whose livelihood depends almost entirely on fishing.
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Radar

US: Swarm of Unexplained Earthquakes Strikes Arkansas


Fox News
Fri, 18 Feb 2011 12:24 UTC
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© USGS Real-time Earthquake MonitorArkansas has been hit with more than 30 earthquakes since Sunday.
Jim Sutterfield was briefly puzzled by a thumping sound that seemed to slam the back of his office chair. But when the small-town Arkansas fire chief turned and saw no one was around, he quickly realized it was just an earthquake - again.

"That was only my second time to feel one, but others here have felt them for three or four months now," Greenbrier chief Jim Sutterfield said after feeling the latest tremor on Wednesday. "Now when it happens, people say, 'Well, there's another one.'"

Several small earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 1.8 to 3.8 have rattled the north-central Arkansas cities of Greenbrier and Guy this week, and the cause is unknown.

The U.S. Geological Survey has reported more than 30 earthquakes in the area since Sunday, including a magnitude 3.8 quake Thursday morning and at least 16 others occurring Wednesday, two of which were magnitude 3.2 and 3.5. More than 700 quakes have occurred in the region over the past six months.

Scott Ausbrooks, geohazards supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey, said the quakes are part of what is now called the Guy earthquake swarm - a series of mild earthquakes that have been occurring periodically since 2009. A similar swarm occurred in the early 1980s when a series of quakes hit Enola, Ark.
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Attention

Is Germany's super-volcano awakening? We think so...


The Extinction Protocol
Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:48 UTC
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Koblenz - The scene of Germany's famous Laacher See lake looks picturesque and serene but underneath the calm surface of the waters lies a potential killer that could devastate a good portion of Europe. The last time the Laacher See super-volcano erupted 12,000 years ago, it deposited ash across much of Europe. On July 30, 2010, a 5.6 earthquake struck the region and that likely signaled an awakening of the giant sleeping caldera. That Laacher See is a potentially active volcano has been proven by seismic activities and heavy thermal anomalies under the lake. Carbon dioxide gas from magma still bubbles up at the southeastern shore, and scientists believe that a new eruption could happen at any time. Today the region near Koblenz was shaken by a swarm of 7 earthquakes beginning with a 4.5 magnitude quake which erupted at a depth of 6 km. Across the planet, the giant dormant volcanoes, one by one, are being stirred from their long and ancient slumber. Earth is on the precipice of major geological change. See pages 134-135 in my book for the full Laacher See super-volcano story.

* 4.5 quake 6 km - Germany
* 3.2 quake 11 km - Germany
* 2.4 quake 12 km - Germany
* 3.7 quake 20 km - Germany
* 2.1 quake 20 km - Germany
* 3.4 quake 12 km - Germany
* 2.0 quake 10 km - Germany
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Igloo

Record snowfall in Himachal Pradesh, India revives 2,000 glaciers


Economic Times
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:28 UTC
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Manali - Record snowfall in Himachal this year has revived more than 2,000 glaciers.

Almora's G B Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development's senior scientist J C Kuniyal said apart from reviving the glaciers , this year's record snowfall would also boost the crop cycle. "It is difficult to understand the environment. As we start talking about the dry winters, record snowfall leaves stunned everyone," he said.

He cautioned that unequal snowfall remains a matter of concern. But Lahaul-Spiti has received more than 175-cm snow in first 16 days of February, breaking the earlier record of 148-cm for the month in 1998.
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Bizarro Earth

Philippines: 7 volcanic quakes recorded at Taal


GMA News
Fri, 18 Feb 2011 09:59 UTC
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© UnknownTaal
Taal Volcano in Batangas province showed renewed activity on Wednesday, with state volcanologists recording at least seven quakes in the last 24 hours.

In its Thursday report, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology reiterated Taal's main crater remains off limits to the public.

"Alert Level 1 is still enforced over Taal Volcano. This means that a hazardous eruption is not imminent. However, the public is reminded that the main crater should be strictly off-limits due to sudden occurrence of steam explosions and accumulation of toxic gases," Phivolcs said on its website.

It added that the northern portion of the main crater rim, in the vicinity of Daang Kastila trail, may also be dangerous when increased steam emission is reactivated along existing fissures.

Phivolcs also reminded the public that the entire Volcano Island is a Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ), and permanent settlement in the island is strictly not recommended.

See the complete table on the Phivolcs website.
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Cloud Lightning

Storm to bring Northern Lights to Britain


Yahoo News
Thu, 17 Feb 2011 09:54 UTC
Northern Lights Britain
© AFPA display of Aurora Borealis, northern lights, in Ostby, Sweden.
Britain should experience spectacular Northern Lights displays from Thursday due to a large solar storm which could disrupt communication networks, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said.

"Since February 13 three energetic solar flares have erupted on the sun and spewed clouds of charged plasma called coronal mass ejections (CMEs) out towards the earth," a BGS geomagnetic storm warning said.

"Already one CME arrived on the 14th sparking Valentine's Day displays of the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) further south than usual.

"Two CMEs are expected to arrive in the next 24-48 hours and further...displays are possible some time over the next two nights if skies are clear."

The strongest storm in four years is expected to interfere with satellites and electrical networks, with astronomers in southern China already reporting disturbances to radio communications.
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Cow Skull

Peculiar geese deaths baffle wildlife officials in US

TOM HENRY
Toledo Blade
Fri, 18 Feb 2011 09:35 UTC
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© The Blade/Jeremy WadsworthSick birds have been taken to area facilities that try to rehabilitate wildlife. Some birds got better; most did not.
Ailment afflicting birds around Lake Erie

Several dozen Canada geese along western Lake Erie's shoreline have recently died or are presumed dead while others have become so sick they cannot hold up their heads, fly, or maintain control of their motor functions.

State wildlife investigators are stumped, awaiting word on tests that a national wildlife laboratory in Wisconsin has been doing on some of the dead birds.

"They will fall out of the sky and have trouble staying upright," said Dave Sherman, a biologist at the Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station the Ohio Department of Natural Resources operates in Ottawa County.

Symptoms began manifesting themselves first with mallards about two or three weeks ago.

"Now, it's mostly geese we're seeing," he said.

The bulk of the problem appears to be in the Oregon area, Mr. Sherman said, in the vicinity of open water near FirstEnergy Corp.'s coal-fired Bay Shore power plant, where birds typically congregate this time of year.
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