More than 100,000 people had to be evacuated as Typhoon Neoguri battered China's southern province of Hainan. The typhoon - the first to threaten China this year - also left 3,000 passengers stranded at an airport after 76 flights were cancelled.
It began lashing Wenchang late on Friday night with winds of up to 108km/h (67 mph), and reports say it caused a black-out in the city. Neoguri has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.
Earth Changes
Massive avalanches destroyed transmission lines and support towers to a dam that supplies 85 percent of the electricity for Alaska's capital, and utility rates could quintuple for months until repairs are made, officials said.
The series of avalanches hit at 4 a.m. Wednesday, taking out 1.5 miles of power transmission line and destroying or severely damaging five support towers along a steep mountainside outside the Snettisham Hydroelectric Facility, about 40 miles from downtown Juneau.
The series of avalanches hit at 4 a.m. Wednesday, taking out 1.5 miles of power transmission line and destroying or severely damaging five support towers along a steep mountainside outside the Snettisham Hydroelectric Facility, about 40 miles from downtown Juneau.
About 120,000 people have been evacuated from fish farms and low-lying coastal areas to safer places in south China's Hainan Province as Typhoon Neoguri approaches the island.
The Hainan flood control authorities said that as of mid-day on Friday, 42,000 residents had been displaced in Wenchang, Qionghai, Wanning, Lingshui and Sanya. The evacuation of 5,500 others was still under way.
The island's fishing authorities have removed 80,000 fishermen from boats or fish farms.
The Hainan flood control authorities said that as of mid-day on Friday, 42,000 residents had been displaced in Wenchang, Qionghai, Wanning, Lingshui and Sanya. The evacuation of 5,500 others was still under way.
The island's fishing authorities have removed 80,000 fishermen from boats or fish farms.
WEST SALEM, Ill. - A 5.4 earthquake that appeared to rival the strongest recorded in the region rocked people awake up to 350 miles away early Friday, surprising residents unaccustomed to such a powerful Midwest temblor.
The Borneo pygmy elephant may not be native to Borneo after all. Instead, the population could be the last survivors of the Javan elephant race - accidentally saved from extinction by the Sultan of Sulu centuries ago, a new publication suggests.
The origins of the pygmy elephants, found in a range extending from the north-east of the island into the Heart of Borneo, have long been shrouded in mystery. Their looks and behaviour differ from other Asian elephants and scientists have questioned why they never dispersed to other parts of the island.
The origins of the pygmy elephants, found in a range extending from the north-east of the island into the Heart of Borneo, have long been shrouded in mystery. Their looks and behaviour differ from other Asian elephants and scientists have questioned why they never dispersed to other parts of the island.
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| ©Jan Vertefeuille |
| Pygmy elephant with radio collar. |
Researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of Washington (UW) have for the first time documented the sudden and complete drainage of a lake of meltwater from the top of the Greenland ice sheet to its base.
From those observations, scientists have uncovered a plumbing system for the ice sheet, where meltwater can penetrate thick, cold ice and accelerate some of the large-scale summer movements of the ice sheet.
From those observations, scientists have uncovered a plumbing system for the ice sheet, where meltwater can penetrate thick, cold ice and accelerate some of the large-scale summer movements of the ice sheet.
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| ©Ian Joughin, UW Polar Science Center |
| WHOI glaciologist Sarah Das stands in front of a block of ice that was raised up 6 meters by the sudden drainage of a meltwater lake in Greenland. |
Songbirds feeding near the contaminated South River are showing high levels of mercury, even though they aren't eating food from the river itself, according to a paper published by William and Mary researchers in the journal Science.
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| © iStockphoto/Ronnie Wilson |
| Pollutant - mercury-laden spiders are eaten by birds, and also fed by parent birds to their nestlings. |
Roger Francis McGill, 61, of Kaukapakapa, was riding with the Northland Hunt on a farm near Dargaville when struck by a bolt of lightning during a violent electrical storm. He died instantly.
Myth: If it isn't raining, there is no danger from lightning.
Fact: Lightning often strikes away from heavy rainfall. It may occur as far as 10 miles away from any rainfall.
Fact: Lightning often strikes away from heavy rainfall. It may occur as far as 10 miles away from any rainfall.
The Earth's jet streams, the high-altitude bands of fast winds that strongly influence the paths of storms and other weather systems, are shifting--possibly in response to global warming. Scientists at the Carnegie Institution determined that over a 23-year span from 1979 to 2001 the jet streams in both hemispheres have risen in altitude and shifted toward the poles. The jet stream in the northern hemisphere has also weakened. These changes fit the predictions of global warming models and have implications for the frequency and intensity of future storms, including hurricanes.
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| ©NOAA |
| Hurricane Andrew. Storm paths in North America are likely to shift northward as a result of the jet stream changes. Hurricanes, whose development tends to be inhibited by jet streams, may become more powerful and more frequent as the jet streams move away from the sub-tropical zones where hurricanes are born. |
