Earth ChangesS


Nuke

TEPCO Says It 'No Longer Owns' Fukushima Fallout

Rick Wallace
The Australian
Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:29 UTC
nuke hazmat man graphic
© Forlorn World
In terms of sheer chutzpah, Tokyo Electric Power Co's claim that it no longer owns the radioactive isotopes that spewed out of its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March takes some beating.

In defending a lawsuit from a Fukushima Prefecture golf club, lawyers said the radioactive cesium that had blighted the Sunfield Nihonmatsu golf course's fairways and greens was the club's problem. The utility has taken a similarly hard line defending claims from ryokan (inn) and onsen (spa) owners.

TEPCO's lawyers used the arcane legal principle of res nullius to argue the emissions that escaped after the tsunami and earthquake triggered a meltdown were no longer its responsibility. "Radioactive materials (such as cesium) that scattered and fell from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant belong to individual landowners, not TEPCO," the utility told Tokyo District Court.

The chief operating officer of the prestigious golf course, Tsutomo Yamane, told The Australian that he and his staff were stunned: "I couldn't believe my ears. I told my employees, 'TEPCO is saying the radiation doesn't belong to them', and they said 'I beg your pardon'."
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Bizarro Earth

Giant Shrimp Raises Big Concern as it Invades the Gulf of Mexico

Matthew Tresaugue
Houston Chronicle
Sat, 24 Dec 2011 12:22 UTC
A tiger prawn
© Houston ChronicleA tiger prawn is displayed by shrimp trawler Capt. Tony Perez. The foot-long female was caught about 60 miles south of the Louisiana coast near Morgan City in October.
A truly jumbo shrimp is causing big worries about the future of the Gulf of Mexico's ecosystem.

The Asian tiger prawn, a foot-long crustacean with a voracious appetite and a proclivity for disease, has invaded the northern Gulf, threatening prized native species, from crabs and oysters to smaller brown and white shrimp.

Though no one is sure what the ecological impact will be, scientists fear a tiger prawn takeover could knock nature's balance out of whack and turn a healthy, diverse marine habitat into one dominated by a single invasive species.

"It has the potential to be real ugly," said Leslie Hartman, Matagorda Bay ecoystem leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. "But we just do not know."

The tiger prawns from the western Pacific - which can grow up to 13 inches long - have been spreading along the Gulf Coast since 2006, but their numbers took off this year. Shrimpers pulled one from Texas waters for the first time in June.
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Nuke

Best of the Web: Seals with Damaged Flippers and Hair Loss 'Are Being Killed by Radiation from Fukushima Plant', Biologists Warn

Chris Parsons
The Daily Mail, UK
Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:10 UTC
injured seal
© North Slope Borough Dept of Wildlife ManagementHarmed: Seals like this one in Barrow, Alaska, have been found with bleeding lesions, damaged fur and flippers thought to have been caused by radiation from Fukushima, Japan.
  • Seals washed up with hair loss and bleeding lesions
  • 9.0-magnitude quake caused meltdown at Japanese plant in March
Scientists in Alaska are investigating whether seals are being killed by radiation from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

Scores of ring seals have washed up on Alaska's arctic coastline since July either injured or killed by a mysterious disease which biologists first thought was a virus.

But the bleeding lesions on the hind flippers, irritated skin around the nose and eyes and patchy hair loss on the seals' fur coats may have been caused by radiation from the stricken nuclear plant.
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Bizarro Earth

Indonesia: Lava Flood Kills 4 Near Mount Gamalama Volcano


Time.com
Wed, 28 Dec 2011 09:16 UTC
Officials say fast-moving mudflows streaming from the mouth of a volcano in eastern Indonesia have killed four villagers. About 1,000 others have fled their homes. Mount Gamalama, located in the Molucca Islands, sprang back to life this month with a powerful, non-fatal eruption.


Government spokesman Yusuf Sunnya said Wednesday that days of heavy rains triggered flows of cold lava, rocks and other debris that slammed into villages near the base Tuesday night. He said four people were killed and more than a dozen others were hospitalized with injuries ranging from broken bones to head wounds.
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Arrow Down

US: Sinkhole Closes Another California Road

Alex Kacik
Noozhawk
Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:20 UTC
Caltrans says the cause is unknown but expects the road to be closed for less than a week for repairs

Foothill Road in Santa Barbara between Morada Lane and Northridge Road shut down Tuesday because of a sinkhole in the roadway.

Caltrans was alerted to the hazard at 11 a.m. Tuesday and expects the road to be closed for less than a week while repairs are made, spokesman Colin Jones said.

"We're not sure the cause of it, but the the roadway is sinking and there's a depressed section but it hasn't cracked," he said. "We saw utility gas lines there and called maintenance crews immediately. We don't want people driving on unstable or hazardous roadway."

Traffic is being detoured through Willowglen Road and Calle Cita as well as Grove Lane.

"Traffic is getting pretty crazy. What I recommended to my family was to stay as far away from Foothill as you can," said Joe Guzzardi of the Santa Barbara County Office of Emergency Services. "Even upper State Street is gridlocked, and it will only get worse as it gets closer to 5 p.m."
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Ambulance

Aftershocks continue to hit Christchurch, New Zealand, as fresh quake claims pile in


TVNZ
Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:15 UTC
Image
© Reuters A car trapped in a sink hole caused by liquefaction in Parklands, Christchurch, New Zealand
The Earthquake Commission has received more than 2000 damage claims from Friday's shakes in Christchurch.

Four quakes over magnitude-5 struck on December 23, including a devastating magnitude-6.0 and have been followed by about 170 aftershocks since.

The December shakes were being considered a fresh event for damage claims with people having until March 23 to lodge a claim.

So far, 2210 claims have been lodged. This was a small number compared to previous large shakes but was expected to increase dramatically as people returned home after the holiday period.
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Arrow Down

US: Mysterious sinkhole formations continue in Georgetown


Georgetown Times
Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:10 UTC
Image
South Carolina - Here we go again. Another sinkhole formed this week on the edge of Georgetown's Historic District.

This one is located near the corner of Highmarket and Dozier streets, across from where another sinkhole was repaired by the South Carolina Department of Transportation earlier this month.

The deep hole is outside the office of Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments but there are no new cracks on the walls of that building, according to Executive Director Sarah Smith.

City Administrator Chris Eldridge said the DOT will investigate the cause and make repairs.

He said it is believed the new hole was caused a leaking pipe, the same thing that caused a recent sinkhole at the Highway 17 entrance to Bank of America.
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Snowflake

Canada: Nasty weather delays flights in Ontario, Quebec


CBC News
Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00 UTC
snow
© Postmedia News files
Southeastern Ontario and southwestern and central Quebec are beginning to feel the effects of a winter storm Tuesday, with some flights delayed across the region.

In Ontario, Environment Canada issued snow warnings for the Ottawa, Cornwall and Brockville areas, and "special weather statements" for nearly every other region south of Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury and North Bay that warn of "mixed precipitation today, significant snowfall and a possible flash freeze tonight."

In Quebec, warnings - including winter storm warnings and rainfall warnings - stretched from Gatineau to Natashquan.

Air Canada warned on its website that Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto could see delays in the afternoon or evening because of snow, while Porter Airlines' warning stretched from Windsor to Quebec City.

By early evening, Pearson International Airport in Toronto was dealing with about three dozen delays. Ottawa Airport and Montreal's Trudeau Airport were also experiencing delays.
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Bizarro Earth

Volcanic Activity in the Red Sea


Earth Observatory
Tue, 27 Dec 2011 18:47 UTC
New Island in Red Sea
© NASAThe Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this high-resolution, natural-color images on December 23, 2011 showing an island being formed in the Red Sea.
New Island in Red Sea_1
© NASASatellite image of the same region from October 24, 2007.
An eruption occurred in the Red Sea in December 2011. According to news reports, fishermen witnessed lava fountains reaching up to 30 meters (90 feet) tall on December 19. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites observed plumes on December 20 and December 22. Meanwhile, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA's Aura satellite detected elevated levels of sulfur dioxide, further indicating an eruption.

The activity in the Red Sea included more than an eruption. By December 23, 2011, what looked like a new island appeared in the region. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured these high-resolution, natural-color images on December 23, 2011 (top), and October 24, 2007 (bottom). The image from December 2011 shows an apparent island where there had previously been an unbroken water surface. A thick plume rises from the island, dark near the bottom and light near the top, perhaps a mixture of volcanic ash and water vapor.

The volcanic activity occurred along the Zubair Group, a collection of small islands off the west coast of Yemen. Running in a roughly northwest-southeast line, the islands poke above the sea surface, rising from a shield volcano. This region is part of the Red Sea Rift where the African and Arabian tectonic plates pull apart and new ocean crust regularly forms.
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Bizarro Earth

Landslide Hits Famous German Coastal Cliffs - 1 missing


Spiegel
Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:51 UTC
Image
© UnknownLater Monday night, officials said it was more likely the girl was buried in the landslide.
A 10-year-old girl is missing following a landslide at the famous chalk cliffs on the German island of Rügen, a popular destination for tourists. Local officials are blaming the recent increase in cliff falls on erosion caused by fluctuating weather conditions and rising sea levels.

Forever immortalized in canvas by painter Caspar David Friedrich, the chalk cliffs on the German island of Rügen have been a major tourist draw for two centuries. In recent years, however, the cliffs have suffered from major erosion. Now, following a landslide that took down part of a cliff near the Kap Arkona cape on Monday afternoon, a 10-year-old girl is missing.

The landslide struck the girl, her mother and a sister. Emergency workers were able to rescue the seriously injured mother and lightly injured sister, who were taken to a hospital. More than 100 rescue workers continued through the night searching for the young girl, who they believe is buried beneath the chalk sludge. With low temperatures, local officials said the chances of finding the child alive were slim.

The family had been walking along the beach below the the 35-meter-high cliffs (115 feet) on Monday afternoon when the landslide happened. At the time, near gale-force winds had been reported in the area.
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