Earth Changes

Four Years After Tsunami, Coral Reefs Recovering

Science Daily
Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:01 UTC

A team of scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has reported a rapid recovery of coral reefs in areas of Indonesia, following the tsunami that devastated coastal regions throughout the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004.

The WCS team, working in conjunction with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (ARCCoERS) along with government, community and non-government partners, has documented high densities of "baby corals" in areas that were severely impacted by the tsunami.

The team, which has surveyed the region's coral reefs since the December 26, 2004 tsunami, looked at 60 sites along 800 kilometers (497 miles) of coastline in Aceh, Indonesia. The researchers attribute the recovery to natural colonization by resilient coral species, along with the reduction of destructive fishing practices by local communities.

US: Wind-whipped debris blamed for 1 death

United Press International
Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:46 UTC

High winds buffeted the Washington area, fueling fires, zapping power to thousands of customers and blamed for at least one death, officials said.

Wind gusts near 60 mph in some areas hurled trees and branches onto roads and disabled traffic lights, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

Officials said a priest died Wednesday when he was struck by a falling tree as he tried to remove debris from traffic lands. A 2-year-old boy was hospitalized after he was hit by a tree limb while in his back yard, the Post reported.

The gusty conditions forced municipalities along the eastern seaboard to cancel New Year's Eve fireworks displays because conditions were hazardous.

In McLean, Va., a gust sent the "U" of the high-rise USA Today building's sign toppling to the streets below.

Temperatures drop to 50 below zero in parts of Alaska

The Associated Press
Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:16 UTC

Fairbanks - Bitterly cold weather slid over from Canada and settled into Interior Alaska with forecasters saying temperatures could continue to slide to nearly 50 degrees below zero in coming days.

Over the weekend, the mercury at Fairbanks International Airport dropped to 39 degrees below zero. Areas in the Interior outside the city were even colder; 46 below on the Yukon Flats, 41 below in Fort Yukon and 44 below in Central, according to the weather service.

Rick Thoman, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service office in Fairbanks, said temperatures rose a few degrees on Sunday, but that was it.

"The temperature will probably continue to go up and down randomly," he said. "With no clouds and no wind on the valley floor, temperatures are pretty much probably going to be stuck."

Fairbanks had experienced a relatively mild winter prior to Christmas. It had only dropped to 30 below once, in early December.

Comment: Current Extreme Temperatures from here:

Last Updated: Thu Jan 1 06:51:02 UTC 2009

PFYU: Fort Yukon, Fort Yukon Airport, AK, United States [-49°C, -56.2°F]
PABI: Delta Junction/Ft Greely, Allen Army Airfield, AK, United States [-42°C, -43.6°F]
PABT: Bettles, Bettles Airport, AK, United States [-43°C, -45.4°F]
PAEG: Eagle, Eagle Airport, AK, United States [-44°C, -47.2°F]
PAEI: Fairbanks, Eielson Air Force Base, AK, United States [-44°C, -47.2°F]
PAFA: Fairbanks, Fairbanks Intl Arpt, AK, United States [-41°C, -41.8°F]
PAFS: Nikolai, AK, United States [-41°C, -41.8°F]
PAGK: Gulkana, Gulkana Airport, AK, United States [-42°C, -43.6°F]
PAIN: McKinley Park, McKinley National Park Airport, AK, United States [-40°C, -40.0°F]
PALR: Chandalar Lake, Chandalar Lake Airport, AK, United States [-44°C, -47.2°F]
PAMX: McCarthy, AK, United States [-42°C, -43.6°F]
PANN: Nenana, Nenana Municipal Airport, AK, United States [-42°C, -43.6°F]
PAOR: Northway, Northway Airport, AK, United States [-41°C, -41.8°F]
PATA: Tanana, Calhoun Memorial Airport, AK, United States [-40°C, -40.0°F]

Magnitude 4.9 - North of Svalbard

US Geological Survey
Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:30 UTC

Earthquake Details

Magnitude 4.9

Date-Time
* Thursday, January 01, 2009 at 02:54:05 UTC
* Thursday, January 01, 2009 at 02:54:05 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 80.884°N, 2.923°W

Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program

Region NORTH OF SVALBARD

Distances 270 km (165 miles) ESE of Nord, Greenland

US: Earthquake recorded near Dillsburg, Pennsylvania

Matthew Kemeny
Patriot News
Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:20 UTC

A minor earthquake this morning about three miles east of Dillsburg, York County, measured 2.1 on the Richter Scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's online earthquake center.

It happened at 12:34 a.m., the USGS reported. There were no reported injuries.

It's the second earthquake in the midstate in the past few weeks. A quake measuring 3.3 on the Richter Scale hit Lancaster County on Saturday night.

Sunspots, Global Warming, And An Ice Age

Investor's Business Daily
Tue, 30 Dec 2008 02:46 UTC

The Earth has been warming ever since the end of the Little Ice Age. But guess what: Researchers say mankind is to blame for that, too.

As we've noted, 2008 has been a year of records for cold and snowfall and may indeed be the coldest year of the 21st century thus far. In the U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration registered 63 local snowfall records and 115 lowest-ever temperatures for the month of October.

US: Earthquake swarm in Quincy, California continues

ChicoER
Mon, 01 Jan 1990 02:54 UTC

For the 14th time since Dec. 26, the U.S. Geological Survey has recorded an earthquake in the vicinity of East Quincy.

The most recent quake, a 2.7-magnitude tremor, was recorded at 2:46 p.m. Tuesday, three mines northeast of the tiny community and about 7.5 miles below it.

The swarm of quakes began at 4:20 a.m. on the 26th with a 4.5-magnitude shaker that was distinctly felt in many areas of Butte County.

Deciphering Dolphin Language With Picture Words

Science Daily
Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:55 UTC

© Sonic Age Ltd
Because the higher harmonics cannot be imaged, the cetacean words are thus simplified. The principle is similar to the way our ear-brain mechanism recognises the voice of a friend on the phone when only a single word is spoken, even though the bandwidth of the phone is very limited compared with face-to-face speech. The resulting "CymaGlyphs" (the name coined to describe visible sound patterns) could form the basis of a lexicon of cetacean language, each pattern representing a thought.

In an important breakthrough in deciphering dolphin language, researchers in Great Britain and the United States have imaged the first high definition imprints that dolphin sounds make in water.

The key to this technique is the CymaScope, a new instrument that reveals detailed structures within sounds, allowing their architecture to be studied pictorially. Using high definition audio recordings of dolphins, the research team, headed by English acoustics engineer, John Stuart Reid, and Florida-based dolphin researcher, Jack Kassewitz, has been able to image, for the first time, the imprint that a dolphin sound makes in water. The resulting "CymaGlyphs," as they have been named, are reproducible patterns that are expected to form the basis of a lexicon of dolphin language, each pattern representing a dolphin 'picture word.'

Global Warming? Global Cooling Forecast Backed By Real Science

Don Easterbrook
American Geophysical Union Abstract
Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:13 UTC

Abstracts of American Geophysical Union annual meeting, San Francisco Dec., 2008

Solar Influence on Recurring Global, Decadal, Climate Cycles Recorded by Glacial Fluctuations, Ice Cores, Sea Surface Temperatures, and Historic Measurements Over the Past Millennium

Easterbrook, Don J., Dept. of Geology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225

Global, cyclic, decadal, climate patterns can be traced over the past millennium in glacier fluctuations, oxygen isotope ratios in ice cores, sea surface temperatures, and historic observations. The recurring climate cycles clearly show that natural climatic warming and cooling have occurred many times, long before increases in anthropogenic atmospheric CO2 levels. The Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age are well known examples of such climate changes, but in addition, at least 23 periods of climatic warming and cooling have occurred in the past 500 years. Each period of warming or cooling lasted about 25-30 years (average 27 years). Two cycles of global warming and two of global cooling have occurred during the past century, and the global cooling that has occurred since 1998 is exactly in phase with the long term pattern. Global cooling occurred from 1880 to ~1915; global warming occurred from ~1915 to ~1945; global cooling occurred from ~1945-1977;, global warming occurred from 1977 to 1998; and global cooling has occurred since 1998. All of these global climate changes show exceptionally good correlation with solar variation since the Little Ice Age 400 years ago.

Comment: NOAA's Climate Prediction Center updated its ENSO data and prediction yesterday December 29, 2008. The La Nina conditions that were questionable a month ago have strengthened and current forecasts now call for La Nina to dominate well into 2009.

The report can be found here.

In addition to the cooling influence of La Nina, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is still strongly negative (in a cool phase) as can be seen here

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) appears to be going negative and will soon send the UK and Europe into the deep freeze, possibly for much of the month of January.

And this recent article reveals the virtual absence of sunspots for the past year.

2008 sets record for days with no sunspots.

2008 Now Ranks #2 Since 1900 in Number of Sunspotless Days

Joseph D'Aleo
IceCap
Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:01 UTC

With the number of sunspotless days reaching 16 so far this month, we have now exceeded 1912 as the 2nd quietest sun year since 1900. Only 1913 ranked higher with 311 days. With 12 more days this month as of this writing, we could reach as high as 266 days. Note that 2007 also ranked in the top 10.

This is the month by month comparisons of sunspotless days this solar minimum (red) through November and the last minimum in the mid 1990s (blue).

Huh, they are all the same carbon emissions that must be reduced. No matter which color the skin has ...

codis

Mysterious homo naledi species may have been the first to bury their dead Not the Piltdown man ?!? :O

codis

White Supremacist, anti-semitism, hater, holocaust denier, anti-vaxxer etc. all labels created to isolate and attack a targeted group, it really...

Psstoffgoy

Seeing the "Go vegan" label in the image, I pass. Very low quality meat ...

codis

Well why couldn't Putin do that? After all, he blew up his own pipeline and dam..

Baybars

Earth Changes

Four Years After Tsunami, Coral Reefs Recovering

US: Wind-whipped debris blamed for 1 death

Temperatures drop to 50 below zero in parts of Alaska

Magnitude 4.9 - North of Svalbard

US: Earthquake recorded near Dillsburg, Pennsylvania

Sunspots, Global Warming, And An Ice Age

US: Earthquake swarm in Quincy, California continues

Deciphering Dolphin Language With Picture Words

Global Warming? Global Cooling Forecast Backed By Real Science

2008 Now Ranks #2 Since 1900 in Number of Sunspotless Days

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