Category Archives: Earth Stuff

News of Earth Changes, climate shifts, weather anomalies, volcanoes, etc

Hurricane Katia Hits the UK

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Hurricane Katia: ‘Worst storm in 15 years’ causes travel disruption across the UK

By ANDREW LEVY

Last updated at 2:57 PM on 12th September 2011

Ferry routes have been cancelled and more travel disruptions on roads and rail are expected as Britain is battered by the worst storm in 15 years.

The remnants of Hurricane Katia have crossed the Atlantic and hit Britain’s coastline with winds of up to 80mph and heavy rain, leading forecasters to put out urgent weather alerts.

Scotland, Northern Ireland, the North East, North West and parts of the Midlands and Wales will be affected as the storm prepares to make its way eastwards.

 

Battered: A large wave hits the sea front at Clevedon, Somerset, today as the tail end of Hurricane Katia struck the UK's coastlineBattered: A large wave hits the sea front at Clevedon, Somerset, today as the tail end of Hurricane Katia struck the UK’s coastline

 

the Environment Agency has also issued several flood alerts for inland and coastal areas.

Increasing wind speeds as the hurricane approached forced the cancellation of high speed ferries to France from Portsmouth.

Brittany Ferries said it was scrapping its high speed ferries on two crossings scheduled from Portsmouth to Cherbourg today.
There are more pictures and a link to a video at the site below:
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-2036506/Hurricane-Katia-UK-Travel-chaos-ferries-cancelled-trains-high-alert.html#ixzz1XkRoppYR

Snyder, Texas Earthquake

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Shallow magnitude 4.4 earthquake close to Snyder, Texas

Last update: September 12, 2011 at 2:13 pm by By 

Earthquake overview : At 07:27 AM local time, a short moderate earthquake struck the Snyder area. Too weak to create damage or injuries, but strong enough to scare people for a couple of seconds.

Update 21:56 UTC :  We have noticed 2 +2aftershocks so far :
– 20:31 UTC or  03:31 PM LT –  2.7 magnitude @ 5 km : Epicenter location
– 18:36 UTC or  01:36 PM LT –  2.5 magnitude @ 5 km : Epicenter location

Update 20:20 UTC : was this quake caused by fracking of the oil industry ?  This a a (nameless) comment we received a couple of minutes ago : “i slept thru it but i work in the oil fields near and around where the earth quake struk and i am confident in saying it was caused by man. we dig and drill and extract and frac the earth leaving cavities. This wont be the last quake we create. When we will see what we are doing is creating vast damages to our earth.”

What is fracking?
The process of drilling down and creating tiny explosions to shatter and crack hard shale rocks to release the gas inside. Water, sand and chemicals are injected into the rock at high pressure which allows the gas to flow out to the head of the well. The process is carried out vertically or, more commonly, by drilling horizontally to the rock layer. The process can create new pathways to release gas or can be used to extend existing channels.
There are also worries that the fracking process can cause small earth tremors. Currently we have a lot of discussion whether the Virginia earthquakes were also triggered by fracking.

to read more, go to:   http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/11/shallow-magnitude-4-4-earthquake-close-to-snyder-texas/

Tropical Storm Potential for Bermuda

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Tropical Storm Warning issued for Bermuda Island on Thursday from TheWeatherSpace.com

Published on September 12, 2011 2:15 am PT
– By Kevin Martin – Senior Meteorologist
– Article Editor and Approved – Ron Jackson


(TheWeatherSpace.com) — Tropical Storm Maria is on-track here at TheWeatherSpace.com. Now we admit it had potential for a threat to the United States a week ago, but things changed for it for the first write-up last Friday.
As you recall, Tropical Storm Maria’s Friday Update clearly said east of Puerto Rico, in-which TheWeatherSpace.com felt Puerto Rico did not need a Tropical Storm Watch or warning. This seemed to be the best option showing TWS’ tracking is reliable and the storm missed Puerto Rico. It will not miss Bermuda Island.

frhttp://www.theweatherspace.com/news/TWS-09_12_2011_tropicalstormwarning.html

Detoxifying your Run

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Puma, Nike and Adidas Run Towards Toxin-Free Products With Greenpeace

 By  | September 7th, 2011

Did you know that your running shoes contains hazardous chemicals, some that get released every time you go out for a run?

No matter how fancy the shoe, it probably contains three components that don’t biodegrade. The decorative upper of the shoe consists of nylon, plastic or synthetic leather. The sole is more often than not, a synthetic petroleum derivative. The midsole is made of ethylene vinyl acetate. Manufacturing the soles produce byproducts like benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylene. These are usually known as the “Big Four” and act as carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and irritants.

Some shoes with air pockets contain ozone-depleting gases. The bits of plastic contain PVC which is a hazard to both the environment and workers. The same goes for the glues that bind the outsole and the midsole. I suppose I don’t even need to talk about the tanning of leather. Now consider the rest of your sportswear…and then the rest of your wardrobe.

All this information is bound to put the latest Greenpeace toxics campaign into perspective. Greenpeace recently released a reported entitled Dirty Laundry which alleged that clothing from top brands like Adidas, Uniqlo, Calvin Klein, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lacoste, Converse and Ralph Lauren were tainted with various hazardous chemicals. Nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) in particular were found which break down to form nonylphenol which has hormone-disrupting properties. NPEs are actually banned in the EU but in Asian countries like China and Vietnam where many global clothing brands have manufacturing centers, lax pollution control methods means that it is still widely employed.

As part of Greenpeace’s Detox Campaign, Puma was the first to promise a toxin free product and also to eliminate toxins from its entire supply chain and entire life-cycle by 2020. Nike  then went one step further and announced a  ”right to know”  policy where they would ensure full transparency about the chemicals being released from its suppliers’ factories. This left Adidas running behind, but it appears now that they have caught up with their own ‘toxin-free’ announcement. Adidas announced that it will be working with other brands to ensure a toxin-free product.

to read more, go to:   http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/09/puma-nike-adidas-greenpeace/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TriplePundit+%28Triple+Pundit%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Latest on Nate, Maria, and Katia

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Dr. Jeff Masters’ WunderBlog
No change to Nate; Maria fizzles; Katia headed to Britain
Posted by: JeffMasters, 3:47 PM GMT on September 10, 2011 +15
Tropical Storm Nate in Mexico’s Bay of Campeche continues to have trouble intensifying. Latest visible satellite loops show that Nate has a large, cloud-filled center, and the storm is probably pulling in dry air to its north into its center. Nate is also likely having trouble with all the cool waters it has stirred to the surface. Assuming Nate is able to close off its center from the dry air, it would take the storm at least a day to tighten up its rather large center, form a solid eyewall, and reach hurricane intensity. Nate doesn’t have enough time before landfall for that to happen, and it is unlikely Nate will ever become a hurricane. The latest wind probability forecast form NHC gives Nate a 13% chance of reaching hurricane strength on Sunday. Latest radar imagery from Alvarado, Mexico shows heavy rains from Nate are affecting the coast near Veracruz, and heavy rains of 4 – 6 inches will be the main threat from Nate.


Figure 1. True-color MODIS image of Tropical Storm Nate taken at 12:45 pm EDT Friday, September 9, 2011. At the time, Nate was a tropical storm with 50 mph winds. Image credit: NASA.

Nate is a small storm, and is not likely to bring significant rains to Texas; only extreme South Texas near Brownsville could see an inch or so of rain on Sunday from an outer spiral band of Nate. Our latest wundermap wind forecast map from the European Center model, with the fire layer turned on, shows that Nate’s wind field on Saturday and Sunday will not be large enough to fan the fires burning in Texas.

Tropical Storm Maria
Tropical Storm Maria doesn’t look much like a tropical storm–on the latest satellite imagery it looks like a squashed question mark instead of a spiral. The surface circulation center is very poorly defined, and moderate wind shear of 15 – 20 knots has really done the Lesser Antilles Islands a big favor by ripping up Maria. It is doubtful this storm will generate any sustained winds of tropical storm force in the islands, and it is a 50/50 proposition that Maria will degenerate into a tropical disturbance and become ex-Tropical Storm Maria later today. Martinique radar shows heavy rains from Maria are mostly east of the islands, and the thunderstorms are not well-organized into spiral bands. The wind shear affecting Maria will probably last through Sunday. By Monday, wind shear is predicted to fall enough so that Maria could potentially organize again. However, the storm is expected to be far from land when that occurs. Bermuda could see a few rain showers from Maria on Wednesday, and Maria may be a threat to southeast Newfoundland late next week.


Figure 2. Morning satellite image of Tropical Storm Maria shows the the storm looks like a squashed question mark?

Hurricane Katia
Hurricane Katia brushed by Newfoundland, Canada this morning, and is now racing east-northeast at 52 mph into the open Atlantic. With water temperatures 19°C (66°F) underneath it, Katia has lost its tropical characteristics, and has transitioned to a powerful extratropical storm. Extratropical Storm Katia will continue east-northeastward towards Europe, and on Monday, the storm will pass very close to northern British Isles. The offshore waters of Northern Ireland and Western Scotland can expect storm-force winds of 50 – 60 mph on Monday as Katia roars past to the north. The storm will bring 2 – 4 inches of rain to the coast, and likely cause significant tree damage and power failures.


Figure 3. Image of Hurricane Katia taken from the International Space Station at 15 GMT September 9, 2011, by astronautRon Garan. At the time, Katia was a Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph winds. Long Island, New York is visible at the lower left.

from:

Humanoid Piglet — Oh, My!

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Piglet Born with Humanoid Face

By Natalie Wolchover, Life’s Little Mysteries Staff Writer
09 September 2011 1:51 PM ET
 On Sept. 3, a Guatemalan news channel reported the birth of a misshapen pig, which has a face that looks more human than swine. The night before the pig’s birth, villagers say they witnessed unexplained bright lights hovering in the sky, and so they attributed the piglet’s bizarre features to foul play by aliens.Members of the local media ran with the UFO theory — are aliens tampering with our livestock, or is this somehow a side effect of radiation from spaceships?

“The whole idea that it could be aliens or a cross-species outcome is ridiculous,” Max Rothschild, director of the Center for Integrated Animal Genomics at Iowa State University and coordinator of the USDA National Pig Genome Project, told Life’s Little Mysteries. Instead, there is a perfectly ordinary explanation for the creature’s humanoid appearance. [Watch video of the humanoid piglet]

One to 2 percent of pigs are born with defects, Rothschild said. They aren’t mutants, exactly — there’s usually no genetic mutation to blame — instead it’s usually more of a mechanical error that arises in the womb, during development. They can result from “something in the feed or just bad luck, such as cells not dividing properly. There’s a replicative mechanism and sometimes that just doesn’t go right.” [The 6 Craziest Animal Experiments]

Rothschild, who has done extensive research on birth defects in pigs, thinks the most likely problem with the piglet in the video is hydrocephalus — the buildup of fluid inside the skull, which causes it to swell. He wasn’t startled to see its deformed face, either: “Snout problems are common. I have a two-headed pig in a jar in my office. But it has no genetic basis — it just happens during development,” he said.

He pointed out that the offspring of all mammals, including humans, can experience developmental defects during gestation. This can sometimes lead to a silent miscarriage early in the pregnancy. “In pigs where you have multiple births, you could have crowding or some other issue that creates the defect [later on].”

source and to see the video, go to:   http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/humanoid-piglet-birth-defect-2007/

Vancouver Island Earthquake

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Very strong earthquake along the coast of Vancouver Island – depth 23 km Magnitude 6.4
Last update: September 10, 2011 at 11:40 am by By Armand Vervaeck and James Daniell
September 9, 2011 By Armand Vervaeck and James Daniell
Earthquake overview : At 12:41 PM a very strong earthquake struck not far from Vancouver Island. The focal depth of 80 km has been later revised by USGS to 23 km. The earthquake was well felt in Vancouver and beyond, several hundred km away from the epicenter.

Update 10/09 – 09:44 UTC : After screening our many various sources, we are happy to report that this earthquake made NO damage or did NOT injure people.

to read more and for some other links, go to; http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/09/very-strong-earthquake-along-the-coast-of-vancouver-island/

Weekly Volcano Report

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Active volcanoes in the world from 31/08/2011 to 06/09/2011 + 2 videos

Last update: September 9, 2011 at 3:32 pm by By 

September 9, 2011 By 

The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is a cooperative project between the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological Survey’s Volcano Hazards Program.
Updated every Week (mostly Wednesday), notices of volcanic activity posted on these pages are preliminary and subject to change as events are studied in more detail. This is not a comprehensive list of all of Earth’s volcanoes erupting during the week, but rather a summary of activity of volcanoes that meet criteria discussed in detail in the “Criteria and Disclaimers” section. Carefully reviewed, detailed reports on various volcanoes are published monthly in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network.

New Activity, Unrest or activity change

CLEVELAND Chuginadak Island – satellite map – summit elev. 1730 m
On 30 August, AVO reported that satellite observations during the previous two weeks indicated that lava-dome growth at Cleveland had paused. AVO lowered the Volcano Alert Level to Advisory and the Aviation Color Code to Yellow. During 31 August-2 September cloud cover prevented views of the summit crater, but a thermal anomaly at the summit was observed during 3-5 September. Observations on 6 September indicated that the lava dome had resumed growth, reaching 120 m in diameter and filling the floor of the crater. AVO raised the Volcano Alert Level to Watch and the Aviation Color Code to Orange. No current seismic information was available because Cleveland does not have a real-time seismic network.
Volcano information: Symmetrical Mount Cleveland stratovolcano is situated at the western end of the uninhabited dumbbell-shaped Chuginadak Island in the east-central Aleutians. The 1,730-m-high stratovolcano is the highest of the Islands of Four Mountains group and is one of the most active in the Aleutians. Numerous large lava flows descend its flanks. It is possible that some 18th to 19th century eruptions attributed to Carlisle (a volcano located across the Carlisle Pass Strait to the NW) should be ascribed to Cleveland. In 1944 Cleveland produced the only known fatality from an Aleutian eruption. Recent eruptions from Mt. Cleveland have been characterized by short-lived explosive ash emissions, at times accompanied by lava fountaining and lava flows down the flanks.

KILAUEA Hawaii (USA) – satellite map – summit elev. 1222 m…..

KIZIMEN Eastern Kamchatka (Russia) 55.130°N, 160.32°E; summit elev. 2376 m…..

LEWOTOBI Flores Island (Indonesia) 8.542°S, 122.775°E; summit elev. 1703 m…..

POPOCATEPETL México 19.023°N, 98.622°W; summit elev. 5426 m…..

to read the in-depth reports about these and other volcanoes currently active as well as to view the videos go to:

http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/09/active-volcanoes-in-the-world-from-31082011-to-06092011-2-videos/.

 

Germany/Holland Earthquake

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Germany / Holland earthquake 08/09 : NO damage or injuries + videos

Last update: September 9, 2011 at 9:52 am by By 

Earthquake overview :  At 21:02 local time a moderate shallow earthquake has hit the area in between Duisburg and Nijmegen (Netherlands / Germany border). The hypocenter depth was calculated by GFZ at 3 km.

Update 09/09 09:51 UTC  : After screening our many various sources in Germany and in Holland (The Netherlands), we are happy to report that this earthquake made NO damage or did NOT injure people.

Update 09/09 09:45 UTC  : We want to make clear for many people thatthe earthquake swarm in the Germany Czech Republic border has NOTHING to do with this earthquake and vice versa.

to read more and for a link to the video, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/08/moderate-shallow-earthquake-with-epicenter-in-germany/