Powerful Quake Near Samoa Causes Small Tsunami

Breaking Earth News: South Pacific
Seismic/Tsunami Alert
Sept 28, 2006
SYDNEY, Australia, Sep. 28, 2006
(AP) A massive earthquake struck Thursday under the Pacific Ocean floor near Samoa generating a tsunami that could have been destructive if it had been closer to land, authorities said. No damage was reported.U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake as having a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 and striking 27 miles beneath the sea floor about 185 miles southwest of Pago Pago at about 7:20 p.m. local time.The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported the temblor as magnitude 7 and recorded an 3-inch rise in sea levels near the epicenter."Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated," the center said in a bulletin posted on the Internet. "It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicenter."The center said if a tsunami had not struck within two hours of the quake, the threat was over.Sam Ahsan, senior observer at Samoa's Meteorological Division in Apia, speaking by telephone almost three hours after the quake, said there had been no reports of tsunami or other effects."It was too far away, there was no damage," he said.The center said earthquakes of that magnitude sometimes cause potentially damaging waves if they occur within 60 miles of a coastline.

QUAKES
MAINE - On Friday monitors recorded five hours of earthquake activity with the biggest being a Magnitude 3.5 quake at 6:39 a.m. about one mile southwest of the middle of Bar Harbor. There were roughly nine additional temblors starting at 5:21 a.m. before the main quake and continuing through 10:20 a.m. The biggest quake was of a magnitude that could be felt miles away. There were no reports of injuries or property damage. New England averages about one or two earthquakes that are above 3.5 Magnitude each year. Maine already recorded a 3.8-Magnitude earthquake in the northern part of the state on July 14.

Volcano plumes continue

Volcanic Alert: Alaska, U.S.
Sept 27, 2006
Just beyond the site where volcano Mt. Augustine finally quieted after several months of eruption, a new boil of the Earth’s surface is expelling plumes of ash, gas and steam from beneath its layer of glacier skin.That mask, scientists say, is the reason there are many unknowns regarding this volcano’s activity — which makes it difficult to predict what may happen next. Fourpeaked has been active since last Sunday after a likely hibernation of at least 10,000 years. The initial plume Sunday reached 20,000 feet into the sky.For now, the alarm is “Code Yellow,” meaning it is possible that a significant eruptive activity could happen in the coming days to weeks. Scientists say the volcano is capable of explosive eruptions of producing plumes that reach more that 33,000 feet above sea level and local ashfall. During the weekend and into today, the observatory flew several observation missions over Fourpeaked Volcano in the Cape Douglas area, observing a “linear series of vents … vigorously emitting steam and other volcanic gases.” That observation continues, “ in the immediate vicinity of the vents, the glacier has been disrupted and showed signs of subsidence.”

{Photo above by Cyrus Read, courtesy of Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey Fumaroles on the west side of Fourpeak Volcano.}

Volcanoes
INDONESIA - European geologists said Monday it may be impossible to stop a massive surge of hot sludge on Indonesia's densely populated island of Java, saying it could be the birth of a new mud volcano. The mud, which is almost five metres deep in some places, has submerged houses in four villages since it started spewing from a hole four months ago, displacing more than 10,000 people. At least 20 factories and 270 hectares of land have been inundated or abandoned due to safety reasons. The mud has repeatedly washed onto a major toll road, closing it for weeks at a time, and now threatens a rail link in the industrial area just outside Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city.

Late on Monday the mudflow broke barriers and injured six. One had burns from waist to ankle. Several experts have said the mudflow, which started to spurt in late May, could have been triggered by a crack about 6,000 feet (1,800 metres) deep in East Java province's Banjar Panji well. However, a group of international scientists said this week the mudflow might be a natural phenomenon that could be impossible to stop. The mud has swamped four villages over an area larger than Monaco, displacing more than 10,000 people and highlighting the chequered environmental practices in exploiting resources in Indonesia. The Monday night barrier breaches had been predicted by hundreds of villagers living near the sand-and-gravel dykes who fled the area last week. But, several site workers who stayed in the abandoned houses failed to anticipate the flood. The ongoing crisis has forced the local government in East Java province to allow the channeling of the muddy water into a nearby river, despite concerns it could pollute the ocean, a source of income for millions living on Java's eastern coast. "We are racing against time. The rainy season is near and we must reduce the pressure against the dykes." {photo above: A villager searches for his belongings, which were washed away by leaking hot mud from an oil and gas exploration operated by local company PT Lapindo Brantas, in Sidoarjo, East Java, August 30, 2006. REUTERS.}

Indonesia declares landslide disaster

Earth News: Indonesia
Sept 27, 2006
INDONESIA'S president has declared a disaster zone over part of East Java swamped by a mudspill, and ordered that four affected villages be abandoned, a government minister said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered that the Indonesian company responsible for drilling a gas well near where the mud has been flowing pay at least 1.5 trillion rupiah ($218.5 million) to deal with the mess.
“Around 400 hectares of the affected area flooded with mud is now declared a “disaster area' and not fit for habitation,” said Djoko Kirmanto, minister of public works, reading from directions given by the president.
“Almost 3000 households from four villages will be resettled and will be given money to rent a house for two years,” he said, after the president met with a government team appointed to tackle the problem.
For four months, steaming mud has been spewing from the earth near an exploratory gas well operated by Lapindo Brantas, owned by the family of Indonesia's welfare minister.
Experts have warned they cannot predict when the outpouring might end.

LANDSLIDES
PENNSYLVANIA - Private train rerouted due to massive landslide - A major landslide covered two of the three Norfolk Southern railway tracks in Kilbuck Township.

NEW YORK - A boat advisory remains in effect after landslide - Boaters are still required to avoid a section of the Hudson River effected by a landslide, which occurred more than a week ago.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Landslide severs Highlands Highway - the dilapidated Mendi to Tari section of the Highlands Highway has been further affected by a landslide.

Heavy rain cripples life in eastern Nepal; Drought hits Humla

Breaking Earth News: Nepal
Click Map to Enlarge
Sept 28, 2006
Heavy rain cripples life in eastern Nepal - Incessant rainfall for the last four days has crippled life in the eastern districts, with air service and shuttle service along the highways also being affected. Transportation to and from Biratnagar Sub-metropolis has been disrupted while the ground floor of many houses in the city were flooded due to lack of proper sewage system. Huge swathes of arable land along with settlements in Bahedabela, Musaraniya, Depura, Rupaitha and other VDCs in the district have been inundated. In Udayapur, transportation service to and from the district headquarters Gaighat came to a complete halt due to flooding of Triyuga river. Similarly, landslides triggered by continuous rainfall at many places along the Mechi and Koshi Highways have further disrupted traffic movement. Rainfall throughout the country that has outlived the usual monsoon end date of September 23, was set to end for this year on Wednesday, according to the Meteorological Forecasting Division. The incessant downpour in the country was caused by an abnormal weather system in Jharkhand and Bihar. However, the system is moving towards northeast and monsoon should end in the country.

HEAVY RAIN
SOUTH AFRICA - N2 caves in after 188mm of rain - Heavy rain is also wreaking havoc in parts of the Eastern Cape, causing accidents, washing away roads and threatening the homes of shack dwellers.

INDIA - Heavy rainfall lashed most parts of Kerala and Lakshadweep, even as the South West monsoon continued to be vigorous in the region.

Xangsane typhoon to hit central Vietnam

Tropical Storm Alert: Vietnam
Sept 28, 2006

VietNamNet Bridge – A strong storm, called Xangsane, is passing the Philippines to the South China Sea. The typhoon is forecast by a Hawaiian hydrometeorology agency to arrive in central Vietnam on October 2.

A senior official of the Southern Weather Station, Le Thi Xuan Lan, said that the storm appeared two days ago in the eastern Philippines. It became stronger to become tropical low pressure on September 26 and a storm now.

By 1pm, September 27, Xangsane had wind speeds of 167km per hour or the 15th grade, even stronger than the recent Chanchu typhoon, according to Japanese experts.

Japanese weather experts predict Xangsane will move west-northwest at 15-20km/hr. At that speed and direction, the typhoon will arrive in the South China Sea tonight.

According to the Hawaii weather station, the storm will hit central Vietnam, particularly Da Nang City and Thua Thien – Hue Province on October 2.

Related News
Typhoon pounds Philippines, at least 11 dead
MANILA - Typhoon Xangsane ploughed into the Philippines on Thursday, killing at least 11 people and leaving dozens missing as it ripped down power lines and cut off electricity for tens of millions of residents.
Gale-force winds uprooted trees, blocked off major highways and damaged buildings while heavy rains caused widespread flooding in central and northern areas. Schools, financial markets and transport links were shut down.

End of the free pass for Bush

Once Again Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's "Countdown,"tells it like it is!
Olbermann: Clinton spoke the truth

Sept 25, 2006
The nation’s freedoms are under assault by an administration whose policies can do us as much damage as al Qaida; the nation’s marketplace of ideas is being poisoned by a propaganda company so blatant that Tokyo Rose would’ve quit. (Photo below: Former President Bill Clinton responds to host Chris Wallace during a taping of an interview on Friday, Sept. 22, 2006, in New York.)

View Clinton Interview on You Tube: Wallace Shows His Dishonest Colors in Clinton Interview

Chris Wallace showed himself to be unethical during his interview with President Clinton, which aired Sunday (September 24, 2006) on “Fox News Sunday.” Wallace blatantly tried to violate the terms of the agreement reached with Clinton before he agreed to his first-ever one-on-one interview with Fox News.

RITA: ONE YEAR LATER

Special Commemoration: Louisiana and Hurricane Rita
Sept 24, 2006
While still grappling with Katrina's devastation, the state is slammed by Category 3 Hurricane Rita
PECAN ISLAND -- Hurricane Rita had nearly passed when Vermilion Parish Deputy Sheriff Steven Lege started heading back to his hometown of Pecan Island, separated from the Gulf of Mexico by only a thin barrier of marsh.
Then Lege saw a "line of brown" on the horizon, perhaps 6 feet tall, moving slowly toward him.
It took a moment to process: The storm surge hadn't yet hit, and would engulf everything before him in minutes. He and a partner jumped back in the truck and turned around on Louisiana 82, driving fast ahead of the oncoming water as it laid waste to the small community of about 200 families.
Continue Story

From Another News Source
Hurricane Rita victims feel neglected
It's hard to imagine that the most intense hurricane ever in the Gulf of Mexico would be labeled "the other storm."But being the ugly step-sister of Hurricane Katrina is the fate of Hurricane Rita, storm victims say, and they're being treated as step-children, at best.
Photo: Wendy Wicke and her husband, Greg, lost their house and everything they owned when Hurricane Rita devastated southwestern Louisiana on Sept. 24, 2005. Their homeowners’ insurance claim was rejected, and they have been unable to rebuild. “It’s hard, it’s so hard,” Wicke said. “I just want to come home.”

La. Observes 1-Year Anniversary of Rita
LAKE CHARLES, La. Sep 24, 2006 (AP)— Hundreds gathered Sunday for a church service to mark the anniversary of Hurricane Rita, a year that Gov. Kathleen Blanco called "the longest year of our lives."

Tide turning on climate change, Howard must act

Breaking Earth News/Climate Change: Australia
Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Press Release: Australian Green Party
Tide turning on climate change - Prime Minister Howard will be forced to act
The global tide is turning on climate change, leaving Prime MinisterJohn Howard with no option but to set greenhouse gas emission targets and establish an emission trading system to allow the marketplace to determine how best to meet them, the Australian Greens said today.
"British businessman Richard Branson's announcement that he will commit $US3 billion over the next decade towards renewable energy initiatives is the latest significant development in the climate change debate," Senator Milne said.
"In the past few weeks, Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth, has focused attention on the urgency of climate change and the catastrophic consequences of failing to act.
"Winter grain harvest forecasts were down significantly this week on the back of a record dry winter, while scientists in Europe alerted the world to the break up of previously perennial Artic sea ice between Norway and the North Pole.

Earth's Rapid Warming

Breaking Earth News: Planet in Peril
From correspondents in Washington
Artcle published in its entirety
September 26, 2006 01:10pm
THE Earth's rapid warming has pushed temperatures to their hottest level in nearly 12,000 years and within a hair's breadth of a million years, a study by the US space agency showed.
Global warming, which has added 0.2 degree Celsius a decade over the past 30 years, has caused temperatures to reach and now pass through the warmest levels in the current interglacial period, which lasted almost 12,000 years, according to the study led by James Hansen, a leading climatologist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
The study, published in the September 26 of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said that Earth was now within about one degree of the maximum estimated temperature of the past million years.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration researcher said that was the most important finding of the team's research.
"That means that further global warming of 1 degree Celsius defines a critical level. If warming is kept less than that, effects of global warming may be relatively manageable. During the warmest interglacial periods the Earth was reasonably similar to today," Hansen said.
"But if further global warming reaches 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know."
Hansen pointed out that the last time it was that warm was in the middle Pliocene, about three million years ago, when the sea level was estimated to have been about 25m higher than today.
The researchers recalled that a study published in 2003 by the British science journal Nature showed that 1700 varieties of plants and animal and insect species had migrated toward the North Pole at an average 6 km a decade in the second half of the 20th century.

From MSNBC
Global warming nears ‘dangerous’ level
As published by Live Science
Sept 25, 2006
Global temperatures are dangerously close to the highest ever estimated to have occurred in the past million years, scientists reported Monday.
This color-coded map above shows how surface temperatures changed on average from 2001 to 2005. 2005 was the warmest ranked year on record. Dark red indicates the greatest warming and purple indicates the greatest cooling. The numbers refer to temperature anomalies as measured by degrees Celsius. Image provided by NASA

HEAT / WILDFIRES
CALIFORNIA is experiencing ONE OF ITS WORST WILDFIRE SEASONS IN A DECADE, and the most brutal part of the season - fall - has only just begun. Already, some 172,333 acres of land within CDF's jurisdiction have gone up in flame - more than triple the amount at this time last year. More than 386,768 acres in California's national forests have burned this year. "That's more than any other year in the past decade, with the exception of 1999, when 513,700 acres were lost in national forests - many of them in October. "The potential is there for more big fires in California this year."

SOUTH AUSTRALIA is coming out of THE DRIEST WINTER ON RECORD, leaving firefighters worried about the potential for wild scrub and forest blazes.

Mayon rumbles back to life again

Volcanic Alert: Philippines
Click Map to Enlarge
Sept 25, 2006
Mayon volcano activities significantly increased yesterday as it posted the highest number of recorded volcanic earthquakes and tremor episodes in almost two weeks, indicating that the volcano is still on a "high level of unrest."
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), in its bulletin yesterday, said it detected 14 volcanic earthquakes and 114 tremor episodes during its 24-hour observation period.
Yesterday’s volcanic earthquakes are the highest since Sept. 15, when the number of volcanic earthquakes only ranged from zero to 12. The highest number of volcanic earthquakes since Mayon’s alert status was lowered to Alert Level 3 was at 18 last Sept. 14.
The number of tremor episodes was at a record high of 114, considering that tremor events had already gone down from more than 100 two weeks ago to 14 last Sept. 23. Tremor episodes recorded were only at 21 the other day.
"A fair level of crater glow was observed and surface activity was characterized by intermittent extrusion of lava from the crater and rolling of incandescent lava fragments along the volcano’s slopes," Phivolcs added.
Phivolcs said Alert Level 3 remains hoisted over Mayon as it continues to demonstrate a "high level of unrest" for the past days despite a decline in volcanic activity this month.

Coastal towns 'overwhelmed' by flash flooding

Earth News: England
Sept 25, 2006
Hundreds of people today battled flash floods after drainage systems in two coastal towns were "overwhelmed" by torrential rain, a water company said.
More than 90 properties, including schools and businesses, in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk and Lowestoft, Suffolk were affected, Anglian Water said.
Floods were said to be several feet deep in places in Great Yarmouth, which was the worst hit area, and police said a number of roads were blocked.
Water company officials said the problems had been exacerbated by a blockage in a pump at a drainage station.
"The system is designed to cope with a certain amount of rain but it has been so heavy in the early hours that the network has been overwhelmed," said an Anglian Water spokeswoman.
"Ten properties in Lowestoft have been affected by internal flooding and 50 by external flooding.
"Six properties in Great Yarmouth have been affected by internal flooding and 25 by external flooding.
"I don't know how much rain has fallen but it's been a huge amount.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING
AUSTRALIA - Thousands of dollars damage was caused when violent wind storms lashed the Lithgow district and Blue Mountains on Sunday. The gales were part of an extreme weather front that affected much of south eastern NSW, leaving a trail of destruction and bringing an ominously early start to the bushfire season. Wind gusts were reported by the Weather Bureau to have been up to 100 kph, bringing THE MOST EXTREME WIND EXPERIENCE IN RECENT YEARS. This prompted the Rural Fire Service to declare the region's first total fire ban for the year, a situation normally encountered in peak Summer rather than early Spring.

KENTUCKY - USA. Heavy flooding rain, 8.95 inches of rain over 24 hours on Friday and Saturday, was probably a 200-year rain. Heavy rain last November was a 300-year rain. Both are RARE in themselves, but to get both in the span of one year, as well as other smaller rain events that have also caused flooding - that is something that stormwater systems are just not designed to handle. "They usually don't go to the extent of designing for anything more than a 50- to 100-year storm. It's just not economically possible to do that."

Hurricane Katrina's waves felt in California

Skywatch Special Earth Report
Click Image to Enlarge
Sept 23, 2006
ON 29 August 2005, as hurricane Katrina was rumbling towards New Orleans, a seismic hum more than 1000 times the strength of the average volcanic tremor was felt nearly 3000 kilometres away in southern California. Its source was the hurricane itself.
Hurricanes create large ocean waves, which send energy pulsing through the Earth as they pound the shoreline. To determine the power of Katrina's seismic waves, Peter Gerstoft of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues analysed the signals recorded by a network of 150 seismic stations in southern California just before Katrina hit the Louisiana coast. They used a method known as beamforming, which preferentially picks up signals from a particular direction, to decipher the seismicity generated by Katrina (Geophysical Research Letters, vol 33, p L17805).
Seismic surface waves, which travel through the Earth's crust, were detected 30 hours before the hurricane made landfall, while body waves, which bounce down into the mantle, arrived some 18 hours later. "The body waves had travelled down to 1100 kilometres inside the Earth," Gerstoft says. This is the first time that a hurricane's seismic signal has been detected so far away.
When Katrina Hit California


Figure 1 at top: Path from hurricane Katrina to the seismic array in California (triangles). Track of Katrina is shown in red.

Figure 2 below: Schematic of travel paths of observed surface and body waves.

Floods in North reaching critical level

Breaking Earth News: Thailand
Sept 24, 2006
PHITSANULOK, Sept 24 (TNA) - Although the rains have stopped in several northern provinces in the past few days, provincial and irrigation authorities are worried about the alarming rate of rising water levels at several dams in the region.
Here in Phitsanulok province, the water level in the Nan River rose to 10.05 metres at a major bridge Sunday morning, slightly passing the critical level. Provincial officials are currently monitoring the water level of the river and hope that the province could be saved from severe flooding if there is no more
heavy rain.

Related News
Sept 24, 2006
Bangladesh's death toll rises past 100 after storms
Bangladesh's confirmed death toll from storms in the Bay of Bengal rose to 107 on Sunday as officials warned that thousands of fishermen remain missing and are feared drowned.

Officials raise volcano code to yellow

Photo: Fourpeaked Volcano, the 2104-m- high glacier-covered peak at the upper left.

Volcanic Alert: Alaska, U.S.
Sept 22, 2006
Fourpeaked Volcano, about 80 miles northwest of Kodiak across Shelikof Strait, was upgraded by the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage to code yellow, meaning restless with an eruption possible.
Steve McNutt, research professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and acting coordinator for the AVO, said with satellite data, information gained from infrasound microphones and overhead flights, more information is now known about a 20,000-foot plume seen Sunday.
“An atmospheric disturbance was recorded in Fairbanks. It is clear the sound waves were coming from Fourpeaked,” McNutt said today.
In addition, he said a cloud of sulfur dioxide gas was detected during the eruption observed by the University of Maryland, Baltimore, over the Cape Douglas-Fourpeaked region using data collected by the ozone monitoring instrument on NASA’s Aura satellite.

Hurricane Gordon Slams Ireland and U.K.

Tropical Storm Update: Ireland/England
Sept 22, 2006
Thousands of householders will be without electricity until tomorrow after the tail end of Hurricane Gordon lashed parts of the UK, bringing down power lines.
One of the worst affected areas was Northern Ireland, where the wind batterned the province for many hours at speeds of up to 74mph. Roads were blocked by fallen trees and tens of thousands of homes were without electricity.
Northern Ireland Electricity said supplies to over 100,000 customers were hit. Staff worked through the night and managed to restore power to 50,000 homes but a spokesman said he would not be surprised if it was Saturday before everyone was back on.
The worst affected areas were Mid Ulster, Craigavon and Newry, with parts of south Belfast also hit.
The South West of England was also battered by winds reaching more than 80mph. An Atlantic storm fuelled by the end of Hurricane Gordon hit the region, bringing down trees and tearing some boats from their moorings. (photo above: A collapsed tree in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland, which bore the brunt of Gordon.)

Storms Rip Parts Of The Midwest

Breaking Storm News: Midwest U.S.
UPDATED: 5:09 am PDT September 23, 2006
ST. JAMES, Mo. -- Severe thunderstorms spawned tornadoes, large hail and lightning in parts of the Midwest on Friday, killing a boater trying to get to shore.
Two tornadoes swept through south-central Missouri Friday afternoon, damaging more than 100 homes and tearing off part of a roof at a middle school moments after a tornado drill. No deaths had been reported.
A firefighter videotaped two twisters moving through St. James, said Phelps County emergency management director Bruce Southard. He estimated the tornadoes were on the ground for 10 minutes.
"It's devastating," he said. "We've got nice houses that are just tore to pieces."
In northwest Arkansas, Deborah Massey, 51, died when her boat was struck by lightning as she and Preston Starritt, 36, both of Prairie Grove, were on Bob Kidd Lake, Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder said. Starritt was injured and treated at a hospital.
Several tornadoes were reported in the region, where power was knocked out, trees broken and at least one home damaged.
"I've seen storms come through, but nothing that's taken down poles like this," Springdale police Sgt. Billy Turnbough said flagpoles bent sideways.

Storm death toll rises in Bangladesh

Breaking Storm News: Bangladesh
Sept 23, 2006
The death toll from a tropical storm in the Bay of Bengal reached 87 Saturday as search for the missing fishermen continued amid heavy rains and rising waves, officials said.
Coast guard rescuers said hundreds of fishermen were still reported missing in the raging storm on Tuesday which hit scores of fragile fishing hamlets.
The overnight toll of 56 dead rose to 87 after 31 more bodies were recovered from the rough waters,
Local Red Cross officials said about 500 fishing trawlers remained untraced four days after gale winds whipped up high walls of water which also flooded several coastal districts.
The storm was triggered by a low in the Bay which also dumped heavy rains on the lush rice plains in southern Bangladesh.

‘Katrina’ Was Just the Beginning of Hellish Hurricanes

Environmental News: Climate Change
Skywatch Special Edition
Sept 2006
Does “El Nino” mean anything to you? If not, you certainly remember the violence of Katrina hurricane, which swept New Orleans. Well, prepare for worse because Pacific and Atlantic storms are gaining strength.I’m sure global warming is no enigma to anyone these days, since signs that confirm it are to be found in any news posted on any TV channel. From last year’s hurricane seasons in the US, to the drought that parched Portugal in the same year and burned almost a third of the country’s forests, to this year’s fires in Greece and the hot air wave that raised temperatures in Europe to the highest level in five years, all are demonstrations of how Earth’s atmosphere suffers from pollution.The consequences of global warming and the green house effect are even worse than previously anticipated. According to a study by 19 climate researchers published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences polluting particles emitted from car tailpipes and power plants that work with fossil fuel are making the surface of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans warmer, acting like a catalyst for stronger and more devastating hurricanes that form there.The recent results came after a long and complicated scientific adventure at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, where more than 22 climate models were put to test on the powerful computers installed there, each model being run several times with slightly different initial conditions. For example, climate models included the global effects of the “El Nino” phenomenon, the possible implications of a catastrophic volcano eruption (like the one that took place in August 25-27, 1883 in Krakatoa, when the volcano ejected more than 25 cubic kilometres of rock, ash, and pumice, and generated the loudest sound ever historically reported) and even a possible modification in the light emitted by the Sun. All tests indicated that a simple and natural climate change is unacceptable and that pollution must play the most important role for the heating of oceans’ surface."There is no way the observed changes could be related just to natural variables," said Tom Wigley, a National Center for Atmospheric Research researcher and a co-author of the journal, published by the National Academy of Sciences.

Clinton global initiative wins $7.3bn pledges

Former President Bill Clinton speaks to a reporter Monday, Sept. 18, 2006, in New York. Bill Clinton says he can't get as much done as an ex-president as he could when he was president. But he insists private citizens can do more to change the world than at any time in the past. (AP Photo)

Sept 22, 2006
Former US President Bill Clinton's global initiative conference wound up in New York on Friday with 215 commitments from companies, governments and non-profit groups totalling $7.3bn, nearly three times its inaugural 2005 level.
The pledges mostly concentrated on the four themes of the fight against global warming, disease, poverty and religious conflict. They varied from Rupert Murdoch and the singer Barbra Streisand jointly backing an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to a planned future summit between African women to Sir Richard Branson's $3bn promise over a decade to reinvest proceeds from his transport groups into alternative fuels.
Story Continues

Quake shakes Far North area `like a sonic boom'

Sept, 2006
Quake shakes Far North area `like a sonic boom'19.09.2006
By Mike Barrington
A loud bang accompanying an earthquake centred off Takou Bay on Sunday had some coastal residents checking the sky for a meteor.
A GeoNet report says the 8.34am earthquake 20km east of Kaeo and 20km north of Kerikeri was centred at a depth of 5km and had a magnitude of 3.5 on the Richter scale.
June Sale said she heard what sounded like a big explosion which shook her stone home at Te Ngaire, rattled windows and moved a picture on a wall.
"At first I thought something had landed on the roof," she said.
"Some people rushed out of their houses thinking it was something from space like they've been getting in the South Island. "
Along the road at Te Ngaire, John McBain said "there was an awful boom and everything vibrated".
It had sounded like a door slamming loudly or a gas cylinder exploding.
"We thought maybe it was thunder, but it was too abrupt for that - more like a sonic boom."
At Matauri Bay, a woman at Oceans Holiday Village said the bang had sounded "like a quarry blast".

Flooding rages across Vietnam

Earth News: Vietnam
21/09/2006
VietNamNet Bridge - Flash floods and whirlwinds have killed six people, injured six others and left several missing and almost 4,000 families homeless after raging over the country for 10 days since Sept. 9. The Southern Steering Board for Flood and Storm Control reported on Sept. 18 that a person in Can Tho province was killed by thunderbolts on Sept. 9 and a local child drowned due to flooding on Sept. 12. In the Central Highlands province of Dac Lac, flash floods swept away four passers-by and two motobikes on a bridge, leading to two deaths and three injured, in Krong Buc district on Sept. 18. Flooding has also killed two and injured three others in Ea Sup district. Thunderstorms and flooding have also ravaged many other parts of the country such as Binh Thuan province along the central coast, Long An in the south and Gia Lai in the Central Highlands. Consequently, almost 4,000 homes were submerged and over 2,000 hectares of crops destroyed. Roads, bridges and irrigation works also suffered huge damages

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING
IRELAND - Severe flooding occurred in parts of counties Monaghan and Cavan as a result of heavy rainfall yesterday evening. More serious flooding was reported in the Clones and Ballybay areas of Co Monaghan. Many areas of farmland were under water. Residents in Cork city are being advised to take precautions to protect their property against flooding following warnings of a high tide and storm conditions.

MINNESOTA - Tornado funnel near Minneapolis was spotted too late to sound warning sirens, a 10 year-old girl died. The suddenness of Saturday's fatal storm was UNUSUALLY RARE. "It went from nothing, to looking like a large tornado on the ground, in the span of four minutes." Saturday's storms were particularly tricky because they were part of a line of many individual storms, rather than the classic, enormous, self-contained "super cells" whose powerful updrafts and rotations are more readily detected on radar.

Pacific may be in for rough cyclone season

Sept 21, 2006
Cyclone season is approaching in the South Pacific and for many island nations it may be a rough one, says National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) scientist Jim Salinger.

"We are likely to see above average numbers of tropical cyclones in several parts of the South Pacific," Dr Salinger said today.
Island nations to the east of the dateline, such as Fiji and Tonga, will be most heavily affected.
It is unlikely any cyclones will reach New Zealand, although areas such as Gisborne and Northland may experience heavy rains and strong winds as a result of Pacific cyclones.
Cyclone season extends from November to May.

Note: Gordon was MOST UNUSUAL as it remained a category one storm while it headed into the Azores. Rarely does a hurricane stay a hurricane and cross that region of the far eastern Atlantic. Last year, Tropical Storm Vince was the first tropical cyclone in weather history to ever hit the Iberian Peninsula, which includes the nations of Spain and Portugal.

Winds spark rogue 19.5m wave off Tassie

Breaking Earth News: Australia
Sept 22, 2006

Gale force winds have produced a massive 19.5-metre wave off the coast of Tasmania, according to surf forecasters.
The rogue wave was recorded about 9am (AEST) on Thursday and is believed to be one of the largest ever measured in Australia, forecasters say.
Swellnet website forecaster Ben Matson said a waverider buoy located 10 kilometres from Cape Sorell, on Tasmania's west coast, recorded a wave peaking at a height of 19.5 metres (64 foot) as westerly winds crossed the coastline.
"It was probably a combination of several waves that all combined at the one time to produce this single enormous wave," he said.
"Large swells are common in the Southern Ocean at this time of year but wave heights of this magnitude are extremely rare."
Mr Matson said waves of that size had the potential to cause significant damage to ships and had been known to "send oil tankers to the bottom of the ocean" in other parts of the world.
Forecasters were currently examining old data but Mr Matson said the wave could be the largest ever measured in the country.

Strong earthquake rattles Argentina

Seismic News: Argentina. S.A.
Sept 22, 2006
WASHINGTON: A "strong" 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook northern Argentina on Thursday night, the US Geological survey said. The quake occurred 165 kilometres northeast of Santiago del Estero and 960 kilometres northwest of Buenos Aires, the USGS said. The earthquake took place at 11:32 pm (0802 IST today) and was 577 kilometres deep. The reading was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale, now used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released. A measurement of six or higher indicates a strong quake, seven a major quake and eight a great quake.

Government Accused of Censorship Over Global Warming

E-Mails Suggest Officials Stopped Scientist From Talking About Global Warming
A California congressman has accused the Commerce Department of trying to silence a scientist who believes there is a link between global warming and hurricanes. (NASA/AP Photo)

Sept. 20, 2006 — Commerce Department officials may have tried to stop a government scientist from speaking to reporters because of his views on global warming, a California congressman says.
The officials "tried to suppress a federal scientist from discussing the link between global warming and hurricanes," according to a letter sent Tuesday from Rep. Henry Waxman to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.
The link between human-caused global warming and stronger hurricanes has been well established in several peer-reviewed scientific studies released in recent years.
Virtually all researchers who study hurricanes agree that warming temperatures will make hurricanes stronger, although there is debate over how much stronger they may get.
The e-mail centered on an October 2005 request from CNBC television to interview NOAA scientist Thomas Knutson about the link between hurricanes and global warming.

British Scientists Tell Exxon To Stop Anti-Climate Change Campaign

Oil industry refuting the truth about climate change
London (AFP) Sep 20, 2006
The Royal Society, Britain's premier group of scientists, has written to the British arm of energy giant ExxonMobil, demanding the company withdraw support for groups that attempt to undermine the consensus relating to climate change, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.
It is the first time the society has written to a company questioning its activities, which the Royal Society said supported groups that "misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence."
According to the newspaper, which obtained a copy of the letter sent to Esso, Exxon's British arm, last month, the Royal Society cites its own surveys which assert that the energy company distributed 2.9 million dollars (2.3 million euros) to 39 groups that, the society alleges, misrepresent the facts of climate change.
"There is not a robust scientific basis for drawing definitive and objective conclusions about the effect of human influence on future climate," the letter, written by Bob Ward of the Royal Society, read.
Ward continued: "At our meeting in July ... you indicated that ExxonMobil would not be providing any further funding to these organisations. I would be grateful if you could let me know when ExxonMobil plans to carry out this pledge."
The society also criticised Exxon's own stance on climate change, which asserts that "gaps in the scientific basis" make it difficult to blame climate change on human activity.
In response to this, the society wrote: "These statements are not consistent with the scientific literature. It is very difficult to reconcile the misrepresentations of climate change science in these documents with ExxonMobil's claim to be an industry leader."
The oil giant, The Guardian reported, confirmed receipt of the letter and refuted "any suggestion that our reports are inaccurate or misleading."

Greenland's ice continues to melt

Breaking Earth News: Greenland
Climate Change Alert
University of Colorado at Boulder September 20, 2006
Data gathered by a pair of NASA satellites orbiting Earth show Greenland continued to lose ice mass at a significant rate through April 2006, and that the rate of loss is accelerating, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.
The study indicates that from April 2004 to April 2006, Greenland was shedding ice at about two and one-half times the rate of the previous two-year period, according to CU-Boulder researchers Isabella Velicogna and John Wahr. The researchers used measurements taken with the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, to calculate that Greenland lost roughly 164 cubic miles of ice from April 2004 to April 2006 -- more than the volume of water in Lake Erie.
Studies by several research groups indicate temperatures in southern Greenland have risen by about 4.4 degrees F in the past two decades, she said. (photo above: An iceberg calved from a glacier floats in the Jacobshavn fjord in southwest Greenland. A new CU-Boulder study indicates Greenland continues to lose ice mass, and the rate of loss is accelerating. Photo courtesy Konrad Steffen, CU-Boulder.)

Bush owes us an apology

Special Commentary by Keith Olbermann
Countdown, MSNBC News
Listen to Commentary Here
Sept 18, 2006
From the editor's desk:
It's true that Keith Olbermann, host of "Countdown" on MSNBC, has a great gift for telling his viewers 'as it is,' on a variety of controversial subjects, least of which is the outrageously arrogant behavior of President Bush. When Keith speaks out, as he has often done on his program, the viewer is compelled to listen with great interest, because this man speaks with honesty and with the utmost integrity. Mr. Olbermann doesn't hold back his feelings about the state of our country and he certainly lends an earful when it comes to the lackluster performance of our politicians in Washington. Whether you agree with him or not, the host of "Countdown," doesn't let his viewers down with the usual rhetoric we here from other commentators, rather he encourages all of us to take a second look when it comes to things that people say and do, especially those people that are entrusted with our security and welfare. My hats off to Mr. Olbermann, he knows his facts, and isn't afraid to speak his mind when he feels it will encourage others to think and act for themselves.

Steven Shaman
Editor, Skywatch-The Great Red Comet

Arctic summer ice anomaly shocks scientists

Breaking Earth News: Arctic
Sept 19, 2006
Continued evidence of a warming planet
Satellite images acquired from 23 to 25 August 2006 have shown for the first time dramatic openings – over a geographic extent larger than the size of the British Isles – in the Arctic’s perennial sea ice pack north of Svalbard, and extending into the Russian Arctic all the way to the North Pole. Observing data from Envisat’s Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument and the AMSR-E instrument aboard the EOS Aqua satellite, scientists were able to determine that around 5-10 percent of the Arctic’s perennial sea ice, which had survived the summer melt season, has been fragmented by late summer storms. The area between Spitzbergen, the North Pole and Severnaya Zemlya is confirmed by AMSR-E to have had much lower ice concentrations than witnessed during earlier years.
Mark Drinkwater of ESA’s Oceans/Ice Unit said: “This situation is unlike anything observed in previous record low ice seasons. It is highly imaginable that a ship could have passed from Spitzbergen or Northern Siberia through what is normally pack ice to reach the North Pole without difficulty.
"If this anomaly trend continues, the North-East Passage or ‘Northern Sea Route’ between Europe and Asia will be open over longer intervals of time, and it is conceivable we might see attempts at sailing around the world directly across the summer Arctic Ocean within the next 10-20 years." (Image above: This 29 August 2006 Envisat MERIS image highlights the area North of Svalbard, Norway, where a very low sea ice concentration can be seen. The image width is about 800 km. )

View recent satellite images from the arctic

Europe on alert as Hurricane Gordon approaches

Tropical Storm Update: Spain
MADRID, Sept 20 (AFP) Sep 20, 2006
Twelve Spanish regions were on alert Wednesday as Hurricane Gordon approached northwest Spain where it was expected to hit the coast early evening with 110 kilometre (68 miles) per hour winds, the Civil Protection Directorate General said.
Although Hurricane Gordon was downgraded to an extra-tropical storm Wednesday as it closed in on the Azores archipelago in the mid-Atlantic, the winds could still do damage, authorities in the Portuguese territory warned.
And in Ireland the tail end of the storm threatened to delay Friday's start to the 36th Ryder Cup golf match between Europe and the United States.
The winds were expected to reach gusts of between 90 to 110 kilometres per hour in the northern regions of Spain, weakening to 80 kilometres per hour in the central regions which include the capital, Madrid, a civil protection official said.
"This is an extraordinary phenomenon which can have dangerous repercussions," said a government spokesman for Galicia in northwest Spain which lies directly in the path of the hurricane and where the local government had ordered schools to stay closed on Thursday. {photo above: This 19 September, 2006 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite image shows Hurricane Gordon churning over the Atlantic Ocean. Photo courtesy of NOAA and AFP.}

Beijing Faces Drought, Again

Earth News: China
Beijing is again facing drought despite two months of rainfall, and the situation is expected to get worse, Beijing Meteorological Bureau said yesterday.
After a survey of the latest satellite photos, the bureau said drought had returned to 44 per cent of the municipality, and the meteorologists say south-eastern Fangshan District and part of Daxing District are already experiencing serious drought.
"The parched capital had largely escaped the worst drought in 50 years that has hit some areas," meteorologist Tang Guang said.
"However, it returned immediately to drought conditions as rainfall over the past month is down by 80 per cent from the same period last year.
"Artificial rainfall facilities have been fully prepared and once there is natural rainfall, artificial rainfall will also be induced to generate extra water for the capital."
By mid-May, 70 percent of Beijing municipality was suffering from moderate drought, bureau figures showed, and 6 percent were hit by severe drought.
But frequent rainfall from June to August totalled 362.9 millimetres, about the same as for the corresponding period for the last 10 years.
"The rainfall brought relief to 96 per cent of Beijing, leaving 3 per cent with light drought. The remaining even had too much water and became waterlogged," Tang said.
Merely 50 to 90 millimetres of rain is forecast from September to November, less than the previous year, the bureau said.
(China Daily September 14, 2006)

Cyclonic storm claims 15 lives in West Bengal

Breaking Storm News: India
Sept 20, 2006
Fifteen persons were killed and over 300 injured in a severe cyclonic storm that lashed West Bengal's South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore districts in the early hours on Monday as an alert was sounded in coastal districts with heavy rains forecast in the next 48 hours.
The storm, caused by the formation of a well-marked low pressure area over the northwest Bay and adjoining coastal north Orissa and gangetic West Bengal, left a trail of destruction in the two districts, razing thousands of dwellings, trees, power and telephones poles and damaging standing paddy.
The Sunderbans in South 24 Parganas district bore the brunt of the storm with 10 blocks seriously affected, prompting Sunderbans Development Minister Kanti Ganguly to rush with a rescue and relief team on Monday morning.

Gore: Global Warming an Immediate Crisis

Breaking Environmental News: U.S.
Tuesday September 19, 2006
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - Former Vice President Al Gore on Monday called for immediate action to stop global warming, calling the phenomenon a ``climate crisis'' that demands attention from American leaders.
Gore, a Democrat who narrowly lost the 2000 presidential race to George W. Bush, decried the lack of action on global warming by politicians across the ideological spectrum.
``When we make big mistakes in America, it is usually because the people have not been given an honest accounting of the choices before us,'' Gore said in an hour-long speech at New York University Law School. ``It also is often because too many members of both parties who knew better did not have the courage to do better.''
But he implicitly criticized the Bush administration, which has been accused of editing official scientific studies to downplay the impact of global warming and asking scientists at federal agencies to refrain from speaking out on the phenomenon.
Future generations, Gore said, ``deserve better than the spectacle of censorship of the best scientific evidence about the truth of our situation and harassment of honest scientists who are trying to warn us about the looming catastrophe.''
``Each passing day brings yet more evidence that we are now facing a planetary emergency, a climate crisis that demands immediate attention,'' Gore said.
While the administration has acknowledged the effects of global warming on the environment, President Bush has rejected mandatory controls on carbon dioxide, the chief gas blamed for the phenomenon. He also has kept the country out of the Kyoto treaty, which called for mandatory reductions of greenhouse gases among the signing nations. He has said the pact would harm the U.S. economy.
A White House spokesman declined Monday to comment on Gore's remarks.

Learn why global warming is happening and what the impacts could be.

GET THE FACTS

'New climate' detected as Britain grows ever hotter

Breaking Environmental News: England
Human activity to blame for global warming, according to latest findings

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Published: 19 September 2006
England has become a full degree Celsius warmer since the Beatles started playing - and human activity is the cause, according to research released yesterday.
Since 1960, when John, Paul and George formed their legendary band - Ringo came later - the average temperature in England has undergone a remarkably steep rise, according to the research, released by the UK Met Office. Yet scientists are convinced that the new warmth, which is allowing red wine to be made in Surrey and olives to be grown in Devon, is not part of the climate's natural variability.
Instead, it is part of the global warming being caused by emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from industry and transport.
Furthermore, the warming of England is proceeding much more rapidly than the warming of the Earth as a whole, which has warmed by about 0.6C over the last century. England's average temperature has increased by nearly double that rate, in less than half the time. This is because the land is warming more quickly than the sea, and land at high latitudes - nearer the Poles - is warming more quickly than at low ones.
The new findings, which represent the first time that man-made climate change has ever been identified at such a local level, were unveiled yesterday at the Climate Clinic at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Brighton.

Vietnam floods trap 200 people; crops, wells ruined

Breaking Earth News: Vietnam
Sept 19, 2006
Some 200 people have been marooned by flood waters in Vietnam’s Binh Thuan province following a deluge Saturday night while crops and wells have been badly damaged.
The province’s Me Pu commune in Duc Linh district has no other roads connecting it with the outside except a crossing through a normally shallow stream, Doi. But following the downpour, the 30-meter wide stream is in spate that at 4pm on Monday some 200 people, including 100 children, are stuck in the village.
The district’s Steering Committee for Flood and Storm Prevention planted stakes on the spring’s banks so that they could use pulleys to relay instant noodles to the stranded people.
In nearby Sung Nhon commune 147 hectares of recently-sowed rice fields are submerged under 0.8-1.5 m of floodwaters.
Dozens of water wells have been contaminated.
A week ago five people died and hundreds of houses were damaged after heavy rains and lightning struck the province. Total damage has been estimated at VND300 million (US$18,800).

Deluge in India
INDIA - the unexpected deluge in Barmer district (part of the Great Indian Desert or Thar Desert) not only “killed hundreds and destroyed property worth crores”, conservation of a variety of rare plants in the region is in peril. The waterlogged sandy stretches are squeezing life out of Barmer’s diverse fauna. The flood has also washed away fertile layers of soil and “unidentified” microbes — making the land fallow. The deluge, which broke a two-year drought cycle, occurred from August 21-August 24. Barmer and Jaisalmer received 600 mm of rain in four days, as against an annual average of 200 mm (and even less over the past few years). Thousands of desert-specific plants were destroyed. The water drained the nutrient content of the soil, reducing fertility. Scientists say crops like bajra, guar, moth, moong and vegetable will not be able to grow for a few years. The report has suggested several measures to tide over the catastrophe — like setting up a Germ Plasma Bank, Seed Bank, a nursery of desert plants to meet emergencies and save the gene-pool.

Hurricane Helene nears peak power over Atlantic

Tropical Storm Update
Sept 19, 2006
MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Helene neared what was expected to be its peak intensity on Monday with winds of 125 miles per hour (205 km per hour) as it churned over the open Atlantic on a path toward Bermuda, U.S. forecasters said.
The fourth hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic storm season could strengthen a little more, but most computer models predicted either little change in its winds or some weakening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
A powerful Category 3 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, Helene was located 1,090 miles
east-southeast of Bermuda, a British mid-Atlantic territory, the center said. There was a chance it could strengthen into the season's first Category 4 storm with winds of at least 131 mph (210 kph).
It was expected to track west for a while before curving northward, on a path that might threaten Bermuda by the end of the week.

More Storm News
Hurricane Gordon bears down on Portugal's Azores
Sept 19, 2006
Hurricane Gordon strengthened as it bore down on Portugal's Azores Islands on Tuesday and emergency services in the mid-Atlantic islands went on alert.Gordon bore winds of 160kph at 8am EDT (12am GMT), making it a category two-storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, and was expected to maintain hurricane strength as it tore through the islands, the United States National Hurricane Centre said.Hurricane warnings were in effect for all of the Azores, an archipelago of nine islands.The centre of the hurricane was around 845km west of Terceira and it was sprinting toward the islands at a brisk 44kph, the Miami-based hurricane centre said.Gordon has been defying predictions that it would weaken over ever-cooler waters as it moved eastward. (photo above: This NOAA satellite image taken Sunday, September 17, 2006 at 01:15 PM EDT shows Hurricanes Gordon(below) and Helene. Helene could affect the US or Bermuda in the next week or so. Log on to http://www.underground.com/tropical for more information. (AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)

BREAKING UPDATE: Hurricane Gordon threatens Britain
LONDON, Sept 19 (AFP) Sep 19, 2006Britain is bracing for strong winds as the tail-end of a hurricane threatens parts of the country, weather experts said Tuesday.
The remnants of Hurricane Gordon are expected to hit British shores later this week, bringing gusts up to 75 miles (121 kilometres) per hour particularly to Northern Ireland and Scotland, forecasters said.

Sun's Variations Have Little Effect on Global Warming

GLOBAL WARMING-OUR CHANGING CLIMATE
Greenhouse Gas: A pronounced affect upon the Earth
Sept 13, 2006
Published article by Live Science

In yet another blow to solar and climate cylce zealots, the skeptics and critics of global warming.

Variation in the brightness of the Sun is not the major factor behind the unusual warming the Earth has experienced over the past few centuries, a new study suggests.

Researchers traced changes in our parent star's energy output back to the 17th century and found that solar cycles, peaking nearly every 11 years, did not play a significant role in contributing to global warming.

Earth's warming trend, which climate reconstructions show began in the 17th century, has accelerated in the last 100 years. Most studies reveal that this temperature rise could be attributed to the increase of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere.

In addition to man-made factors, natural inconsistencies in Earth's climate could also play a role in climate change. Additionally, some scientists have speculated that changes in the Sun's brightness affect temperatures on Earth.

About once every 11 years, changes in the Sun's magnetic field result in increases in the number and magnitude of sunspots and solar flares, which bombard Earth with charged particles.

During times of high activity, like in year 2000, the Sun shines about 0.07 percent brighter, researchers report in the September 14 issue of the journal Nature.

The researchers used a combination of data on solar brightness obtained by spacecrafts since 1978 and isotope data —collected from Earth's atmosphere and in ice sheets of Antarctic and Greenland—to recreate the Sun's influence on terrestrial temperatures over the past several centuries.

Although events such as sunspots have increased in the last 400 years, their effect only contributed a small amount to global warming, the results show.

“Our results imply that, over the past century, climate change due to human influences must far outweigh the effects of changes in the Sun's brightness,” said study co-author Tom Wigley of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Scientists Clueless over Sun's Effect on Earth
May 2005 article
While researchers argue whether Earth is getting warmer and if humans are contributing, a heated debate over the global effect of sunlight boiled to the surface today.
And in this debate there is little data to go on.
A confusing array of new and recent studies reveals that scientists know very little about how much sunlight is absorbed by Earth versus how much the planet reflects, how all this alters temperatures, and why any of it changes from one decade to the next.
Determining Earth's reflectance is crucial to understanding climate change, scientists agree.