Governments urgently need to redefine security, and to recognise that climate change poses by far the greatest threat to our own security, and to that of future generations. And as the quotation from Martin Luther King at the front of the report reminds us: “There is such a thing as being too late”. The world has less than a decade to change
Source: earthfrenzyradio.blogspot.com via steve468
BRITAIN TO BRACE FOR NEAR HURRICANE FORCE WINDS
Alaska, USA
Image:
Three storms that hit the Kenai Peninsula one after another brought unwelcomed flooding, disrupted air traffic and damaged roads. Gale-force winds last Sunday afternoon (11/25) slammed a 22.3-foot tide past a homemade breakwater protecting a home and other nearby structures. Across Kachemak Bay, THE WIND'S STRENGTH SURPASSED ANYTHING SELDOVIA RESIDENTS HAD EXPERIENCED. "We've lived here 37 years and I've never seen anything like it. It takes a 5.6 earthquake to move this house, but this house shook and shuddered for hours." The worst impact was a surge of water through the Homer sewer treatment plant. Normally, about 600,000 gallons of water a day goes through the plant. Last week's storms saw 1.2 million gallons a day go through the treatment plant a violation of the cap set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The recent series of three storms began impacting the area Nov. 16. Flooding in the Anchor River crested at 15.9 feet at 9 a.m. Friday and was the fourth highest ever recorded. Winds during last week's storms reached 48 miles per hour at 9 a.m. Thanksgiving morning.
Coos-Bay, Oregon
An UNUSUALLY STRONG high wind and seas event is forecast to develop along the Oregon Coast Sunday and Monday. This storm will coincide with the early days of crab season, posing a significant and dangerous impact to mariners,” and will bring with it 30-plus-foot seas. It’s no Pineapple Express, the kind that brings warm southerly winds after gathering energy in the tropics. It’s no pure Arctic blow coming down from the north, either. This storm could be considered more like a combination of the two. Two National Weather Service computer models showed a low-pressure system developing about 1,000 miles offshore on Wednesday that could bring storm-force winds of more than 55 mph and 32-foot combined seas to the coast on Sunday and Monday. It likely will track north and cross Canada. Usually, a storm prediction of that magnitude more than five days out still has some uncertainty attached to it, but this one seems especially strong for at least two reasons: computer model agreement and its low — really low — pressure. One computer model showed the system measuring 946 millibars of atmospheric pressure and another model showed it at 949 millibars. “That is EXTREMELY UNUSUAL.” High-pressure systems that bring fair weather usually measure about 1,000 millibars. The computer models differ on the speed and specific track of the storm, but its expected impact at a time when the West Coast crab fleet will be at sea has forecasters on alert. Because the system is developing so far offshore, it likely will have an occluded front — so the air won’t be that cold, but it won’t be that warm, either. Before the ocean swells hit, southerly winds will pick up and continue through the weekend, but eventually, there is the potential for a large northwest swell combined with southwest winds over some of the ocean waters. “That’s ugly.” “Gusts of 60 to 80 mph along the coast are possible with even higher gusts along the coastal headlands. Dangerous seas of 25 to 35 feet are forecast to develop. Details are not certain this early, but confidence is high that a significant event will occur. Mariners and residents along the south Oregon Coast are advised to stay informed of this developing storm.”
Breaking Earth News
Ireland
Image: Achill
Warning of big swell
Waves of up to 14 metres in height are being predicted for the west coast this weekend.
They would be the highest experienced for a number of years.
The Marine Institute and Met Éireann have issued a warning to all ships, fishing vessels and anyone close to the shoreline to take great care, particularly tomorrow afternoon.
Computer-generated wave forecasts, using information picked up on the Marine Weather Buoy Network, show that waves with a significant height of up to 14m, about 45 feet, could occur in the seas to the west of Ireland.Previously the biggest waves recorded by the Marine Institute's data buoys were at the M1 Buoy to the west of Galway Bay on 17 January 2005, waves of 13.4m or about 40 feet.
Philippines
Image: Villagers salvage what is left of their houses Wednesday Nov. 28, 2007, along the coast in Zamboanga city in southern Philippines, after big waves spawned by Typhoon Mitag slammed coastal villages overnight leaving hundreds of families homeless and sending more than 5,000 people fleeing, some falsely thinking there was a tsunami, officials said Wednesday. (AP)
From Ilocos Norte to Jolo, huge waves swamped coastal areas across the country Tuesday night, leaving at least four people dead and sending into panic about 5,000 residents. Authorities are still trying to find an explanation for the big waves that struck, following several typhoons and a powerful earthquake. On the entire western coast of Luzon, which was also jolted by a magnitude-6 earthquake past noon Tuesday, more than 5,400 people fled to safety and government emergency shelters after their communities were swamped. Local officials were urged to continue monitoring their coastal areas and carry out “preemptive evacuations” if there was a resurgence in big waves.
The strong waves last Tuesday destroyed about 70 percent of the picnic sheds at the Tondaligan beach in Bonuan Gueset. The rusty roofing of nine units at Gawad Kalinga Bangus Ville also collapsed. Twenty-five fish pens at the Pantal River's delta in Sitio Sabangan, Bonuan Gueset side were washed out. A fish pen in Bonuan Binloc was also wiped out. About 110 families (557 persons) were evacuated to different evacuation centers. The Barangay Bonuan Gueset chairman said it was THE WORST INCIDENT THEY HAD EXPERIENCED. "Not even the strongest typhoons in the past did cause such strong waves."
Breaking Earth News
The Caribbean
(AP) A powerful earthquake rocked the eastern Caribbean Thursday, sending office workers and shoppers on several islands fleeing into the streets. Minor injuries were reported on the island of Martinique.
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck at 2 p.m. EST and was centered 26 miles southeast of Roseau, capital of Dominica, where the shaking lasted for about 20 seconds. The temblor was felt hundreds of miles away in Puerto Rico to the west, and Venezuela and Suriname to the south.
In the neighboring island of Martinique, a government official said police and firefighters were responding to hundreds of calls for help
"It was nice to see the comet again," says Peter von Bagh who spotted it last night from his home in Porvoo, Finland You can easily find it with binoculars even in a light-polluted urban sky.
From the Editor's Desk
Skywatch-Media News
The Earth Frenzy Radio show
Nov 29, 2007
Today's special guest on the Earth Frenzy Radio Show will be Dream Analyst Linda Cruz. Linda is the author of the revolutionary new book, "All His Jewels." She will be discussing the details of her book, and the meaning behind many of our dreams.
Linda was scheduled for last evening, but due to technical difficulties with our satellite reception we were unable to host the show.
Today's show will air live beginning at 2pm CST, 3pm EST on Blog Talk Radio.
You can listen live: Here
You can subscribe to our streaming broadcasts via Rss: Here
© 2007 Skywatch-Media
BREAKING EARTH NEWS
INDONESIA
Gorontalo (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has so far lost 24 islands because of natural disasters and environmental damage, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi said here on Thursday.
He said four islands disappeared when a massive tsunami devastated Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) province on December 26, 2004, while 20 others in Riau province and in the Seribu island group in Jakarta Bay had also vanished because of unbriddled exploitation and environmental damage.
Consequently, Freddy Numbery said, the total number of islands in Indonesia had declined from 17,504 to 17,480.
"Scientists have even predicted that Indonesia could lose at least 2,000 islands by 2030 if the government fails to anticipate it and take preventive measures," the minister said.
November 28, 2007: Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have discovered one of the fastest stars ever seen. It's a "cosmic cannonball" that is challenging theories to explain its blistering speed.
The name of the star is RX J0822-4300. It's a neutron star created by the Puppis A supernova explosion about 3700 years ago. Three Chandra observations clearly show the neutron star moving away from the center of the blast. Speed: 3 million mph! At this rate, RX J0822-4300 is destined to escape the Milky Way just millions of years from now.
Above: Chandra X-ray Observatory images of "cannonball star" RX J0822-4300. [More]
Breaking Earth News
Philippines
Image: STORM SURGE. Sheds at the Tondaligan Blue Beach in Dagupan City, destroyed by a storm surge Tuesday night. PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/RAY B.ZAMBRANO
Residents living in coastal areas of Pangasinan were thrown into panic Tuesday night after water from the Lingayen Gulf began to rise and flooded their houses. At least 280 families were taken to various evacuation centers. “The water began to rise at about 6 p.m. (Tuesday) and subsided at about 5 a.m. (Wednesday)." A magnitude 6 tremor struck nearby at 12:27 p.m. Tuesday, but the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said that the rise in sea water was a "northeast surge enhanced by typhoon “Lando" (Hagibis), not caused by the quake and not a tsunami.
Huge Waves Inundate Philippines Western Coast: Thousands Flee
Many were puzzled by the waves because Typhoon Mitag, which lashed the northern Philippines on Monday, had weakened into a storm and then blew out of the country toward southern Japan, causing the weather to improve by Tuesday.
Breaking Earth News
Asia
SINGAPORE, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Developing countries in Asia could face an "unprecedented" water crisis within a decade due to mismanagement of water resources, the Asian Development Bank said in a report on Thursday. The effects of climate change, rapid industrialisation and population growth on water resources could lead to health and social issues that could cost billions of dollars annually, it said. "If the present unsatisfactory trends continue, in one or two decades, Asian developing countries are likely to face and cope with a crisis on water quality management that is unprecedented in human history," Ajit Biswas wrote in the report. The report, entitled "Asian Water Development Outlook", was submitted to the Asia-Pacific Water Forum in Singapore, which will discuss the issue at a summit in Japan next week. The report also comes before a U.N. meeting in Indonesia next week to discuss a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Breaking Earth News
Scotland
A NUCLEAR attack by terrorists causing widespread panic, chaos and death is inevitable and will happen soon, a senior Scottish police officer has warned.
Ian Dickinson, who leads the police response to chemical, biological and nuclear threats in Scotland, has painted the bleakest picture yet of the dangers the world now faces.
Efforts to prevent terrorist groups from obtaining materials that could be made into radioactive dirty bombs - or even crude nuclear explosives - are bound to fail, he said. And the result will be horror on an unprecedented scale.
Casualties caused by radiation, which most people don't understand, would trigger widespread "panic and fear", said Dickinson. And the response of the emergency services "would be chaotic" because of a shortage of resources.
BREAKING EARTH NEWS
INDONESIA
High sea tides paralyze traffic in Indonesian capital
High tides flood Indonesian capital with sea water
Algeria
Image: A collapsed bridge in Algeirs City caused by days of torrential rain
DELLYS, Algeria, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Floods killed three people and swept away houses and vehicles in the Algerian coastal town of Dellys, 100 km (62 miles) east of the capital Algiers, residents said on Tuesday.
Dozens of people had been injured and many were missing after several days of heavy rain, they said.
"It is a catastrophe: Houses destroyed, vehicles lost, and people are running in the streets looking for relatives," said one resident, Mohamed Mouloudi.
"We need help. People are gathered now in the local stadium as well as in schools," he added.
The floods caked streets in mud, swept away parts of two bridges that lead to the town and damaged a hospital.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - An increased activity on Karkar island volcano is worrying volcanologists and Madang residents because the lack of monitoring equipment means there is no way of knowing the dangers posed. Monitoring equipment set up in 2002 were destroyed within 24 hours of them being set up on the island. Images received this month confirmed that there has been an increase in thermal activity and gas emission from the SE and SW flanks of Bagiai cone on Karkar. The increase in thermal activity has resulted in vegetation dying near these two areas. People from Kevasop village on the southwest of the island heard low roaring noises in late October. Since that time Bagiai cone has been releasing thin white vapour visible from Kevasop village. There has been a vast increase in vapour and smoke compared to three months ago. The volcano last erupted in 1979, killing two volcanologists on the island.
Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City is facing their HIGHEST FREAK-TIDE IN 48 YEARS. Thousands of people in Ho Chi Minh City were confused at flood-tides at a level of 1.49 meters on November 26, the highest in the past 48 years. Some 40 sections of the city’s dyke system have been broken and hundreds of pupils are unable to attend school. Meanwhile, the flood-tides are still forecast to be increased. Hundreds of households in the district have to deal with the tides. The area that has seen the most serious flooding has some homes inundated under 3 meters of water. “Two thirds of the 109-hectare streets are being flooded.” There is a risk of the breakdown of the dykes. “Women, the elderly and children have been evacuated on November 26. If there is any more dyke breaking, the rest will be relocated to higher areas.” When the tides rose, it caused traffic halt in a national highway. Meanwhile, people strived to bring their properties out of the flooded houses. Some companies and shops had to be closed. The tides were so strong that it sunk many documents and computers. The city irrigation and flood and storm prevention department forecasted that the peak tides may remain at 1.49 meters or more for two days.
High tides on the Sai Gon River in the last two days caused 38 sections of dike to collapse, flooding many houses in Thu Duc, Binh Thanh and Cu Chi districts. High tides on the rivers of Tuy An Song Cau in the south central province of Phu Yen caused 50 houses to collapse and sank 11 fishing vessels. Local authorities in the districts were continuing to evacuate people living in high-risk areas. The two-way lanes across Ca Pass have been blocked by huge rocks that had fallen on the road.
The exceptionally high tides are part of an 18-year cycle. The situation is exacerbated by the failure to fix a sea barrier breached more than a week ago. Authorities pumped out some of the water, which was 23 feet (7 meters) deep in the worst hit areas and washed more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) inland Monday. At least 2,200 houses were inundated, some with chest-deep water. Part of the problem is global warming, which causes sea levels to rise and may make coastal cities like Jakarta especially vulnerable to flooding and monsoon storms.
The Northern Hemisphere is on track for this year to be the warmest since record-keeping started 127 years ago. Hemisphere-wide, temperatures for January through October averaged 1.3 degrees above the norm and could break the record for the warmest year, set in 2003. The warming trend could impact the melting of Arctic sea ice and worsen drought conditions throughout the United States. In Salt Lake City, Utah, the summer of 2007 was the warmest ever on record. The months of June, July and August averaged 0.7 degrees warmer than they did in 1994 — the previous record-breaking year. July was Salt Lake City's hottest-ever record; August was its second-hottest. In addition, spring 2007 in Salt Lake City was the third-warmest ever recorded. Last winter, normally the wettest time of year in the Southwest, was unusually dry. Los Angeles had its driest "water year" (measured from July to June) on record with 3.21 inches of rain. As for the coming winter, the recently updated U.S. forecast by the Climate Prediction Center calls for UNUSUAL warmth to persist across most of the nation — 4 percent warmer than the 30-year average — continuing a decade-long trend of warm winters. Drought could begin to develop across the southern Plains, which until now has had a very wet year, according to the latest forecasts. Texas is experiencing its fourth-wettest year on record. The only areas forecast to be wetter-than-average this winter are in the Pacific Northwest and the Ohio Valley.
Philippines
Image: A street in the northern city of Ilagan is submerged under floodwaters
MANILA (AFP) — The death toll from Typhoon Mitag rose to 17 in the Philippines, officials said Tuesday, as search operations continued for a missing air force jet and a fishing vessel with 27 people aboard.
The typhoon killed 17 people and left four others missing, the civil defence office said.
The number of people displaced also jumped to 540,000 across 19 provinces ravaged by flash floods and landslides triggered by the typhoon.
Mitag has weakened as it exited the Philippines towards the southern islands of Japan.
Tropical storm Hagibis meanwhile weakened to tropical depression status as it crossed Mindoro island towards southern Luzon in the afternoon, while a second tropical depression with similar 55 kilometre (34 mile) per hour winds threatened from the Pacific Ocean.
Hagibis killed 13 people last week in its initial pass over the Philippines.
It reversed course Monday, sinking a fishing boat near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, leaving 27 Filipino crewmen missing, officials said.
Great Britain
Image: People wading through floodwater at Brightlingsea
The Essex coast was on flood alert Sunday night after a FREAK TIDE engulfed a popular waterfront, completely swamping a number of cars. The surge happened at Brightlingsea at around noon when a spring tide led to the sea rising over the town's hard and as far up as the Waterside fish and chip restaurant. In Suffolk and Norfolk the tide breached sea walls and coastguards were warning last night that a further tidal surge was expected at about midnight. Environment Agency workers had been to Brightlingsea earlier in the day yesterday handing out sandbags to the fish and chip shop. Predictions of an UNUSUALLY HIGH TIDE had not reached members of the Brentwood Sea Angling Club who had chartered a boat for a day's fishing. The three members who drove themselves and other members to meet the boat at 8am parked their cars next to the hard and were only told about the tidal surge when they were out at sea and it had already happened. “We didn't know there was going to be an excessively high tide and left our cars here. The boat's skipper got a call from one of his colleagues and he asked where we had parked our cars and when we said 'along the front' he told us the water had come excessively high.” The cars are believed to be written off after being swamped by sea water. The FREAK tide was due to a combination of an astrological high tide, a surge along the North Sea and slightly windy conditions. Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk were all the subject of flood watches, which meant flooding of low lying land and roads was expected but was not as serious as a flood warning or a severe flood warning.
Breaking Earth News
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Brazil, S.A.
The Brazilian town of Atafona, is being swallowed by the ocean as rising temperatures speed up erosion.
Researchers say a total of 183 buildings have been destroyed and the Marine lighthouse moved twice in the past 30 years.
Deborah Lutterbeck reports.Featured Speakers:
MELBOURNE'S homes are cracking up and the problem will become worse next year.
Inner-city suburbs are being hardest hit as soil continues to dry out because of the prolonged drought, placing further strain on buildings, a new study has revealed.Source: news.com.au via steve468
Chile, S.A.
(11/20)Tuesday’s peak temperature of 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 degrees Fahrenheit) fell just short of Monday’s high of 34.8 degrees Celsius (94.6 degrees Farenheit), the hottest temperature recorded in Santiago so far this month and ONE OF THE HOTTEST TEMPERATURES REGISTERED IN NOVEMBER IN RECENT HISTORY. The heat wave has not been limited to Santiago: Cities across Chile’s central zone reported high temperatures on Monday, and two forest fires were sparked in the Valparaíso region. Experts at Chile’s Meteorological Office attribute the heat to La Niña, a phenomenon characterized by abnormally low water temperatures in large expanses of the Pacific Ocean between the coasts of South America and Oceania. The phenomenon, usually limited to the winter months, has exhibited anomalous behavior this year by peaking in the spring and summer. The projected result is extreme summer heat in Chile’s Central Valley, including temperatures that may surpass Santiago’s highest-ever recorded temperature of 37.2 degrees Celsius (nearly 99 degrees Fahrenheit), registered in 1915.
Earth Changes
LONDON (Reuters) - Weather-related disasters have quadrupled over the last two decades, Oxfam said in a report published on Sunday.
From an average of 120 disasters a year in the early 1980s, there are now as many as 500, with Oxfam attributing the rise to unpredictable weather conditions cause by global warming.
"This year we have seen floods in South Asia, across the breadth of Africa and Mexico that have affected more than 250 million people," said Oxfam's director Barbara Stocking.
"This is no freak year. It follows a pattern of more frequent, more erratic, more unpredictable and more extreme weather events that are affecting more people.
The number of people affected by disasters has risen by 68 percent, from an average of 174 million a year between 1985 to 1994 to 254 million a year between 1995 to 2004.
"Action is needed now to prepare for more disasters otherwise humanitarian assistance will be overwhelmed and recent advances in human development will go into reverse," Stocking said.
Breaking Earth News
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - Further flooding from next month to February is possible in parts of the country due to heavy rainfall, the National Weather Service predicted. The continuous rainfall is due to the development of La Nina over the Pacific Ocean. The Port Moresby Weather office recorded 430mm of rainfall for this month, which is 147mm more than the last HIGHEST RECORD OF NOVEMBER RAIN in 1973. The high rainfall this month means that this year may go on to be the wettest year that Port Moresby has experienced.
Disaster officials in Papua New Guinea's flood-ravaged Oro Province are warning people to avoid unexploded wartime bombs and shells uncovered by surging waters. The province was the scene of vicious fighting between Australian and Japanese troops in World War II. Unexploded bombs and shells lie buried in the war zone. The death toll from the flooding has passed 170. Thousands of villagers were left homeless after heavy rains associated with tropical cyclone Guba lashed the province, sending torrents of water and uprooted trees down the rivers. No major disease outbreaks had been reported, but injured people in remote areas need to be evacuated to hospitals and cases of diarrhoea were rising.
Breaking Storm News
Philippines
Image: TYPHOON MINA: Satellite image of ‘Mina’ (international codename: Mitag) as of 5am, Monday. Photo from PAGASA
Typhoon Mina (international codename Mitag) accelerated and made landfall over Palanan, Isabela late Sunday night and is threatening other provinces in Northern Luzon. The typhoon also threatened Northern and Central Luzon, particularly the Cagayan Valley region. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13 kms per hour with sustained winds of 160 kph and gustiness of up to 195 kph. Mina was expected to cross extreme Northern Luzon Sunday night into this morning. It was forecast to be 140 kms northwest of Aparri, Cagayan tonight. PAGASA forecast the typhoon to be 200 kms northwest of Aparri Tuesday evening. The typhoon is expected to be 110 kms north of Basco by Wednesday. Another weather disturbance threatened to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility Sunday even before typhoon Mina made landfall over Northern and Central Luzon. The weather disturbance was named Nonoy and is expected to be within the PAR in three to four days. Nonoy might join with typhoon Lando (international codename Hagibis) before it exits via the Philippine Sea toward Japan. Lando, meanwhile, is expected to re-enter the country and hit Palawan on Tuesday. Lando's movement is being affected by Mina's due to the Fujiwhara effect. The Fujiwhara effect is brought about by the interaction between two tropical cyclones at an appreciable distance, usually when two storm formations are within 15 degrees of each other. "We will evacuate those at risk from storm surges and flash floods. These typhoons are moving slow. They will be dumping a lot of rain."
Nicaraqua, C.A.
The Concepcion volcano sent huge columns of ash into the sky in eruptions that prompted a ripple of small earthquakes. The volcano, one of two on an island in the region's largest lake, erupted Saturday night and related earthquakes continued to rattle the area on Sunday. No one was injured by the blast. The volcano is located 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of the capital, Managua, on an island popular with adventure tourists in Lake Nicaragua, Central America's largest lake. Ash rained down on local communities on Sunday, and strong winds carried it toward the capital.
The Thames Barrier has been closed for the third time this month to protect London from a combined high tide and tidal surge. It was closed by the Environment Agency at 10am November 25 and it is possible that more closures may take place in the next few days. Tidal surges in the Thames Estuary of up to 1.2m are forecast due to a low pressure weather system over Norway. This causes northerly winds over the North Sea which push water down between Holland and the east coast of the United Kingdom.
LEVELS of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas emitted by burning fossil fuels, hit a record high in the atmosphere in 2006, accelerating global warming, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.
But concentrations of methane, the number two heat-trapping gas, flattened out in a hint that Siberian permafrost is staying frozen despite some scientists' fears that rising temperatures might trigger a runaway thaw.
South Africa
Image: The driver of this Golf was killed and two people were injured in Johannesburg yesterday afternoon when a tree uprooted by a fierce storm crushed three cars Picture: HALDEN KROG
Two dead in Joburg, southern Cape flooded — and more rain to come
California, USA
Image: A wind driven brush fire burns out of control in Malibu, Calif. on Saturday, Nov. 24, 2007. A fast-moving wildfire destroyed about 20 homes and spread through the canyons and hills above Malibu on Saturday, forcing hundreds of residents to flee. No injuries were reported. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)
MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — A fast-moving wildfire pushed by Santa Ana winds raced through the canyons and over the mountains of this wealthy enclave for the second time in little more than a month Saturday, destroying dozens of homes and forcing as many as 14,000 residents to flee.
Oregon, USA
A series of UNUSUALLY HIGH tides, separated by some UNUSUALLY LOW tides, could leave Oregon beaches looking a little different this weekend. Waves are expected to reach farther than they have in some time, and the water could easily float even the big logs and tree trunks that appear firmly anchored to the beach. Tidal heights vary along the coast, but at Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport anything above 10 feet is considered quite strong. High tide was expected to hit 10.3 feet Friday at 10:04 a.m., followed by 10.6-foot high tides at 10:48 a.m. Saturday and 11:33 a.m. today. The last time high tide hit 10.6 feet at that location was Jan. 11, 2005. In between will be some unusually low tides that will top minus 2 feet. The strong tides don’t make sneaker waves any more likely, but they can be extra dangerous at such times because the high tides leave little room for escape and the low tides create extremely strong outgoing currents. “You definitely want to watch the water. Don’t turn your back to the water.”
Breaking Earth News
PICTURE this: a government so arrogant, so hubris-bloated that it is prepared to wipe out a million hectares of virgin rainforest to plant rice, despite warnings from scientists that, apart from the grave ecological damage, less than 30 per cent of the area is even suitable for growing the staple crop.
Such a monumental act of stupidity and greed indeed happened in southern Central Kalimantan. The project was the brainchild of pride-filled dictator Suharto, desperate in the mid-1990s to reverse Indonesia's rice deficit that required imports and ready to go to any lengths suggested by cronies and rapacious family members to do it.
Not a single crop was reaped from what was known as the mega-rice project: at least none that would suffice for an evening meal. Plenty of valuable timber ended up as pure profit in the pockets of Jakarta's super-wealthy, however, as the rainforests that once soaked up carbon dioxide were stripped of their bounty, mostly for overseas sale.
Now supporters of the post-Suharto reformasi administration, including Australia, are scrambling to allocate money to redress the fiasco and get some climate-change runs on the board, but grave questions remain over how much of the damage can be undone.
Map showing the path of Typhoon Mitag as it nears the eastern Philippines (© AFP/File)
Image: A Somali woman carries sacks of food aid at Jowhar refugee camp, Somalia, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007. Tens of thousands of Somalis who fled the violence in their conflict-wracked capital are facing yet another humanitarian crisis, a debilitating food shortage after poor rains. Credit: AP Photo/Khalil Senosi
History may be bound to repeat itself as Earth’s climate continues to warm, with changing temperatures causing food shortages that lead to wars and population declines, according to a new study that builds on earlier work.
The previous study, by David Zhang of the University of Hong Kong, found that swings in temperature were correlated with times of war in Eastern China between 1000 and 1911. Zhang's newer work, detailed in the Nov. 19 online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, broadens its outlook to climate and war records worldwide and also found a correlation between the two.
"This current study covers a much larger spatial area and the conclusions from the current research could be considered general principles," Zhang said.
The research does not represent direct cause-and-effect, but rather suggests a link between climate and conflict.
Tibet
AFP[Wednesday, November 21, 2007 11:50] Climate change is causing more weather-related disasters than ever in the Himalayan region of Tibet, where the temperature is rising faster than the rest of China, state press reported Wednesday.
"Natural disasters, like droughts, landslides, snowstorms and fires are more frequent and calamitous now," Xinhua news agency quoted the director of the Tibet Regional Meteorological Bureau, Song Shanyun, as saying.
"The tolls are more severe and losses are bigger."
The temperature in Tibet has been rising by 0.3 degrees Celsius (0.54 degrees Fahrenheit) every decade, about 10 times faster than the national average, with visible consequences, a bureau study found.
"Problems like receding snow lines, shrinking glaciers, drying grasslands and desert expansion are increasingly threatening the natural eco-system in the region," Song said.
The report is the latest in China to warn of the dramatic impact of global warming on the region known as the "roof of the world" and regarded as a barometer of world climate conditions.
RELATED NEWS
Tibetans Wake Up to Nosebleeds in Super-dry Autumn
BEIJING (Reuters) - Moisture has become a luxury in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa where many locals are waking up to nosebleeds in the dry autumn, state media said on Monday as the Himalayan region faces growing threat of global warming.
Image: Passengers massage their head on board the first Beijing-to-Lhasa train as it cruises along the Qinghai-Tibet railway, July 3, 2006. Many passengers were affected by the high-altitude during the journey. Moisture has become a luxury in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa where many locals are waking up to nosebleeds in the dry autumn, state media said on Monday as the Himalayan region faces growing threat of global warming. (Claro Cortes IV/Reuters)
Storm Surge ModelPhotos available for download at www.lsu.edu/pa/photos.
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LSU Media Relations
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Breaking Earth News
Tennessee, USA
ORME, Tenn., Nov 21 (Reuters) - A small town tucked away in the mountains of southern Tennessee is getting by on just a few hours of water a day because its spring has run dry in the drought sweeping the U.S. Southeast. The worst drought to hit the region in decades prompted Georgia to impose water-use restrictions including a ban on outdoor residential watering. It has also sparked a political battle between Georgia, Alabama and Florida over how to share water from north Georgia's Lake Lanier, which serves cities such as Atlanta as well as industries and a nuclear power plant.
But rural Orme with its population of just 140 people has become a symbol of the drought because few other places appear to have been so directly hit. Each evening, residents wait for Mayor Tony Reames to make the short drive from his home where he keeps chickens up to a water tower on a wooded hill above the town to open a valve. When the water is flowing families can fill buckets and water jars, do laundry, take showers and wash dishes before the faucets run dry and they wait for the next evening.
Resident Julie Hoover described Orme as a "hideaway" and a "piece of heaven" because it was safe and everyone knew each other but she said the water shortage had created serious problems. "People don't like change and they don't like losing their water," said Hoover, who started filling up buckets with water draining from an air-conditioner to get water to flush toilets when the spring ran dry in August.
Lebanon
Image: A NATO Unexploded Cluster Bomb
A hailstorm has caused hundreds of cluster bombs to explode in south Lebanon. The cluster bombs were dropped by Israel during its war with Hezbollah guerrillas last year. The hailstones, as big as walnuts, fell in a number of valleys in south Lebanon. When cluster bombs burst, they spread bomblets over the ground and vegetation. Air- or ground-launched, the bombs often fail to explode on impact. Cluster bombs have killed 30 people since the war. Dozens more have been wounded.
Breaking Earth News
New Hampshire, USA
A minor earthquake shook the Portsmouth area yesterday, rattling residents, knocking objects off shelves and damaging at least one home. No injuries were reported. Residents began flooding the police and news outlets with calls late in the morning. "Some of the residents reported a very loud explosion, and others reported house-shaking." The shaking was pronounced enough to set off various alarms, witnesses said. The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the area was hit by a 2.4 magnitude earthquake at 11:41 a.m. A quake of magnitude 2.5 to 3 is the smallest generally felt by people. An employee at a supermarket on Lafayette Road said the noise sounded like a bomb, followed by rumbling and shaking. Several people in Portsmouth District Court were startled when the courthouse shuddered, following a noise that sounded like a large door being slammed. A ceiling was cracked in one home.
Humanity is rapidly turning the seas acid through the same pollution that causes global warming, the world's governments and top scientists agreed yesterday. The process – thought to be the most profound change in the chemistry of the oceans for 20 million years – is expected both to disrupt the entire web of life of the oceans and to make climate change worse.
Source: earthfrenzyradio.blogspot.com via steve468
Image: An iceberg off Dunedin. New Zealand's largest glaciers are retreating fast in the face of global warming and could disappear altogether, scientists said on Nov 19.
WELLINGTON (AFP) -New Zealand's largest glaciers are retreating fast in the face of global warming and could disappear altogether, scientists said Monday.
A report by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) said the volume of ice in New Zealand's Southern Alps had shrunk almost 11 percent in the past 30 years.
More than 90 percent of this loss was because the 12 largest glaciers in the mountain range were melting due to rising temperatures, NIWA said.
The glaciers have passed a threshold, causing the ice to collapse and creating large lakes at their base, the report said.
"The 12 big glaciers with these pro-glacial lakes have passed a tipping point," said NIWA's principal scientist Jim Salinger.
"It is not yet clear whether the glaciers will disappear completely with future warming, but they are set to shrink further as they adjust to today’s climate," he said.
"And it is already clear that they will not return to their earlier lengths without extraordinary cooling of the climate, because the large lakes now block their advance."
Breaking Earth News
Papua New Guinea's cabinet has declared a state of emergency after flooding caused by Cyclone Guba killed at least 70 people.
Officials in the eastern province of Oro appealed for foreign assistance and expressed concern over flood related disease Monday.
Authorities in the Pacific nation say more people are missing and feared dead after seven consecutive days of heavy rain destroyed hundreds of houses.
Thousands of villagers in low-lying areas were forced from their homes by flood waters up to 3.5 meters high - washing away roads, bridges and crops and hampering rescue and aid efforts.
BREAKING EARTH NEWS
BANGLADESH
Death Toll Reported Above 3000
DHAKA Villagers hit by Cyclone Sidr collect relief supplies in Patargata, 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
Helicopters carried food to survivors while rescuers struggled to reach remote areas devastated by the worst cyclone to hit the country in a decade, amid fears that the death toll could be considerably higher than the official figure of more than 3,000.
“The tragedy unfolds as we walk through one after another devastated villages,” said Muhammad Selim, a relief worker in Bagerhat, one of the worst-hit areas. “Often it looks like we are in a valley of death.” The confirmed death toll from the cyclone reached 3,113 yesterday, while 3,322 are injured and 1,063 missing, Lieutenant-Colonel Main Ullah Chowdhury said, as two C130 aircraft of the US Marine Corps arrived in Dhaka with medical supplies. Media reports said that the death toll had already reached 3,500, and was likely to rise sharply. “We are trying to reach all the affected areas on the vast coastline as soon as possible, then we will know how many people have died,” an official said. An estimated three million people have been affected by the cyclone, and aid workers fear outbreaks of disease. (AP/Reuters)
Ed Struzik, t
Thirty key international glaciers are melting about six times faster than in the 1980s. Most of the world's glaciers are receding. Climate change is melting the European Alps, the snows of Kilimanjaro in Africa and the massive snouts of snow and ice between Banff and Jasper in the Canadian Rockies. Of the 850 glaciers on the eastern slopes of the Rockies that Canadian glaciologists have been monitoring, 325 have disappeared entirely since the early 1970s. But new data show the melting of glaciers worldwide is accelerating faster than anyone previously thought. According to the Swiss-based World Glacier Monitoring Service, 30 key international glaciers lost on average 66 centimetres of thickness in 2005. Those glaciers are melting about 1.6 times faster this decade than they were in the 1990s, and about six times faster than in the 1980s. In the last 27 years, they have, on average, thinned by a total of about 10.5 metres. The retreat of Arctic ice raises some troubling issues. When the Exxon Valdez ran into a reef in Prince William Sound 18 years ago, for example, it wasn't simply a case of pilot error. The oil tanker was on an altered course to avoid a dangerous mess of icebergs that had calved off the Columbia Glacier. It resulted in the worst man-made environmental disaster in North American history when nearly 2,000 kilometres of Alaskan shoreline was contaminated. The melting of glaciers also has huge implications for future hydro-electric generation in the north, for commercial navigation on the Mackenzie River, for rare life forms that rely on glaciers, for more southerly weather patterns and for low-lying coastal communities everywhere. Over in Greenland, the glaciers are also shrinking. Coastal glaciers there are melting into the Atlantic Ocean twice as fast as previously believed. But snow and ice have also been building up in the interior. This has led climate change skeptics to claim that the ice sheet is not thawing. Thanks to radio echo data and 10 years of radar information, scientists have recently confirmed that the Greenland Ice Sheet is, in fact, slimming dramatically.
VIDEO: ARCTIC IN PERIL
Breaking Earth/Video News
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) — The national average price for gasoline rose about 13 cents over the last two weeks, according to a survey released Sunday.
The average price of regular gasoline on Friday was $3.09 a gallon, mid-grade was $3.21, and premium was $3.32, oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said.
The nation's lowest price was in Tucson, Ariz., where a gallon of regular cost $2.91, on average. The highest was in San Francisco at $3.48, according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations nationwide.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has challenged governments to act on the findings of a major new report on climate change.
Launching the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, he said real and affordable ways to deal with the problem existed.
The IPCC states that climate change is "unequivocal" and may bring "abrupt and irreversible" impacts.
Mr Ban urged politicians to respond at a UN climate change conference in Bali.
"Today the world's scientists have spoken clearly and with one voice," he said. "In Bali I expect the world's policymakers to do the same."
"We are all in this together - we must work together"
Ban Ki-moon
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Breaking Earth News
Australia
Severe rain and hail storms were battering parts of southern NSW on Sunday afternoon.
Hail fell at Marulan, in the state's southern tablelands, a caller to Macquarie Radio said.
"It's unbelievable chaos down here the rain is so heavy that the hail was just incredible and it's hailed for a good 20 minutes," the caller, Judy, said.
"We were under a tree and we had branches coming off as well. Some of the hail was just pea size but occasionally I'd say that they were golf-ball size."
BREAKING EARTH NEWS
GREECE
Image: In the town of Komotini, residents evacuated their homes on Saturday after water filled the streets and flooded their homes.
Authorities declared a state of emergency in parts of northeastern Greece on Sunday after heavy rain caused floods near the border with Turkey, forcing residents of several villages to evacuate their homes.
In the town of Komotini, residents evacuated their homes on Saturday after water filled the streets and flooded their homes.
The army sent in military trucks to evacuate those who stayed behind, and authorities declared a state of emergency in the town, where a river burst its banks trapping farm animals in their pens. Cars and farm vehicles were also immersed in water.
In the town of Arcadia in southern Peloponnese, several homes were flooded and a road and three bridges collapsed after the Alfeios river overflowed, cutting off traffic in the area.
BREAKING EARTH NEWS
BANGLADESH
A NATIONAL CALAMITY: 7 million affected by storm.
Image: A man sits on a dead cow as he collects cattle corpses from a canal in Taful of Bagherhat district on the south coast of Bangladesh, two days after Cyclone Sidr devastated parts of the country. (AFP Photo: Jewel Samad)
Officials say up to 10,000 people are dead and millions homeless and hungry in cyclone-hit Bangladesh, as the army and aid workers battled to reach the devastated coast.
Three days after cyclone Sidr tore into one of the world's poorest nations from the Bay of Bengal, rescue workers were still fighting their way through a landscape of flattened villages and traumatised crowds.
The chairman of the Bangladeshi Red Crescent Society, the country's central humanitarian organisation, said 3,000 bodies had already been recovered.
RELATED NEWS
Cyclone Sidr an 'ecological disaster'
South America
It is a never ending winter here in South America. “What a hell is happening this year with a seven-month winter”, asked a famous TV journalist about the unusual climatic winter of 2007 that began with fury in May and still persist in November. Buenos Aires recorded this Thursday (November 15th) the lowest temperature for the month of November in 90 years. Temperature in the Downtown weather station reached 2.5C. Since records began more than a century ago, only two days had colder lows in November. It was in 1914 (1.6) and 1917 (2.4). And ninety years ago the urban heat island effect was much less pronounced than nowadays, what turns the temperature observed today remarkable.
The much colder than usual weather was not confined to Argentina. This Thursday had near-freezing temperatures and frost in Uruguay. Weather stations recorded 1.5ºC in Trinidad; 1.8ºC in Durazno; 2.4ºC in Tacuarembó; 3ºC in Artigas; 3.2ºC in Melo and Florida; 3.8ºC in Treinta y Tres; 4.1ºC in Paso de los Toros; 4.6ºC in Rivera and 4.8ºC em San José.
In the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil temperatures fell to 2.3ºC degrees in several towns near the border with Uruguay on Thursday. Wind and cloud cover prevented lower temperatures in the higher altitudes, but earlier in the week several towns in the Sierras region recorded temperatures near zero Celsius and frost. In Sao Joaquim, the low was 1.6 below zero with moderate frost on Monday (November 12th).
Breaking Earth News
Norway
Image: Workers spray concrete on the walls of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Longyearbyen, Norway, during the construction phase in August.
Norway blasted the Svalbard Global Seed Vault deep into the permafrost of a remote Arctic archipelago to protect as many as 4.5 million of the world's agricultural seeds from climate change, plant epidemics, natural disasters or war. It is due to open Feb. 26.
The Svalbard Archipelago, 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of the mainland, was selected because of its remote location far from many threats, as well as for its cold climate and permafrost.
VIENNA, Nov 16 (AFP) Nov 16, 2007
Hundreds of vehicles were still at a standstill outside Vienna Friday after unseasonably heavy snowfall blocked highways overnight, authorities said.
At least two highways were closed for more than 14 hours after upwards of 20 centimetres (eight inches) of snow fell in and around the Austrian capital.Source: earthfrenzyradio.blogspot.com via steve468
Image: Icebergs along a fjord in Greenland
VALENCIA, Spain (AFP) — Less than three weeks before a crucial conference on climate change, UN experts agreed Friday on a draft report that warns global warming may have far-reaching and irreversible consequences.
The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is designed to guide policymakers for the next five years.
Delegates to the Nobel-winning scientific authority agreed the draft after night-long negotiations, chief French delegate Marc Gillet told AFP.
Human activities "could lead to abrupt or irreversible climate changes and impacts," the agreed text said.
The report will be officially adopted on Saturday, followed by a press conference attended by United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.
VALENCIA, Spain (AP) Negotiators working on a landmark global warming report don't need to go far to see the effects of climate change: The evidence is all around the Mediterranean resort where they are meeting. Sea water threatens to inundate rice paddies in use since Spain was an Arab kingdom in the eighth century. Seashore hotels must dredge sand from the seabed to fill-in eroding beaches. Stinging jellyfish are proliferating in the warmer water, plaguing swimmers. Bird migrations have altered. Winters have become so mild that storks and other birds stay year-round rather than migrate to Africa. But they are laying fewer eggs. The most noticeable change is the weather. "We are getting heavy rainfall, more intense, but far less rain overall." Last month, the village of El Verger was battered by the worst flooding seen in 95 years. What can be seen happening "goes beyond the incremental changes you would expect in a natural system." Earth's average temperature has risen by 1.3 degrees in the last 30 years. But it has gone up nearly twice as much in Spain, by 2.5 degrees in the same period.
Republic of Costa Rica
TURRIALBA VOLCANO - Park Rangers have been on guard at the Turrialba Volcano National Park since April when the volcano, which had been dormant since its last eruption in 1886, began to emit high levels of sulfuric gas. Due to the increase in gas emissions, rangers are limiting tourists who choose to visit the main volcano viewing point to 20 minutes of exposure to avoid negative effects from the gases. Since August, staff from the Costa Rican Volcanic and Seismological Observatory have noted minor landslides and sulfur flow, new gas discharge locations, and a large amount of vegetation dying in areas around the volcano’s main craters. Many of the 281 area residents have already reported headaches and respiratory problems as a result of the excessive gases. Some have chosen to send their children to stay with family that live further from the active volcano. Much of the livestock in the region has gotten sick as well. Most of the people that live around the volcano are in the town of Turrialba, and have reported seeing smoke billowing out of the volcano or the potent smell of sulfur, which comes and goes.
India
High tidal waves reaching up to a height of three metres were reported in the coastal areas of north Chennai on Thursday, triggering panic among the fishing community, while the weather office said the phenomenon was due to a "severe cyclonic storm" formed over the Bay of Bengal. As many as 10 huts at Appar Nagar, a fishing hamlet at Tiruvottiyur, were washed away by surging waves, while sea water entered about 200 houses, forcing residents to flee for safety. Nearly 14 fishing villages in Ennore, Tiruvottiyur, Kasimedu and Ernavur areas have been affected by the tidal waves. Fishermen stayed away from venturing into sea in view of the adverse weather condition. Fishermen said they HAD NOT SEEN SUCH FEROCIOUS WAVES IN THE LAST EIGHT YEARS. "Not even when tsunami struck in 2004." The State Fisheries Minister and other officials rushed to the spot and studied the situation. Weather Office sources said alerts had been received from floating stations of the National Institute of Ocean Technology about high tidal waves due to the cyclonic storm brewing over the Bay and heading towards the north.
Columbia, S.A.
Some 60,000 people are left homeless in Colombia after five of the nation's rivers burst their banks due to heavy rains, officials say.
The rivers of Magdalena, Cauca, Rancheria, Sogamoso and San Jorge all overflowed their banks, destroying homes and crops, said the Disaster Prevention and Care Office on Wednesday.
In the northern towns of Cienaga, El Banco, Fundacion, Aracataca and Sitio Nuevo, some 23,000 people were left homeless.
Rescuers reported the situation is getting worse in the northern department of Sucre, due to heavy rains in Guaranda, San Marcos and San Benito Abad.
Breaking Storm News
Bangladesh
Image: Waves approach the shore along the southern district of Cox's Bazaar ahead of a storm November 15, 2007. A super cyclone was bearing down rapidly on Bangladesh's southwest coastline, ripping off tin roofs from houses and uprooting trees, as tens of thousands of mainlanders were evacuated to shelters. REUTERS/Mustafizur Rahman
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A cyclone that slammed into the coast with 150 mph winds killed at least 1,100 people, isolating remote towns and villages swamped by a storm surge or hemmed in by piles of debris, aid workers and a Bangladeshi news agency said Friday.
Tropical Cyclone Sidr roared across the country's southwestern coast late Thursday with driving rain and high waves, leveling homes and forcing the evacuation of 650,000 villagers, officials said.
The United News of Bangladesh news agency said reporters deployed across the devastated region made their own count in each affected district and reached a toll of 1,100.
The government, which earlier put the death toll at 242, has acknowledged its trouble keeping count — with power and phone lines down in most remote areas — and said it expected the official number to rise significantly.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information.Something strange is happening in the atmosphere above Africa and researchers have converged on Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss the phenomenon. Scientists are converging on Ethiopia this week to discuss a new and strange form of space weather: ion plumes, which form during geomagnetic stormsSource: earthfrenzyradio.blogspot.com via steve468
AUSTRALIANS will begin to see the stark effects of climate change within the next few years, not the next decades, a leading Australian scientist has warned.
Graeme Pearman, the former head of CSIRO's atmospheric research unit, yesterday released a report showing that evidence of global warming has dramatically increased in the past 12 months.
Dr Pearman told the Herald: "If you think climate change is on the agenda, just wait another couple of years. Every day the media are going to be reporting people seeing changes as a result of things we have already done and the implications of these all over the world: like the breeding patterns and migration patterns of birds and animals, the flowering times, the production capacity of farms and the impact of coastal erosion. We are going to get more of them, not in the next few decades but the next few years."
Climate change ups risk of war - Climate change will put half the world's countries at risk of conflict or serious political instability, a report says.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA - a flood warning has been issued by the National Weather Service after ONE OF THE HIGHEST RAINFALLS IN A DAY was recorded in Port Moresby. The deluge began on Monday afternoon and continued till yesterday afternoon, flooding parts of the city and damaging food crops and poultry in at least one suburb. Up until 10am yesterday, Port Moresby recorded 143.2mm of rainfall — the HIGHEST RECORDED FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER IN 30 YEARS. “This is UNPRECEDENTED. That is a huge amount.” Although the onset of a rainy season varies, on average an onset was about the first week of December. But this year, conditions favoured an early onset, although an onset takes five days of continuous rain to be confirmed. PNG is experiencing the La Nina season, and the country could expect a lot of rain for the next three months.
INDIA
VIEW ANIMATED SATELITE IMAGERY OF CYCLONE
DHAKA (AFP) — A fierce cyclone packing extreme winds and torrential rain smashed into Bangladesh's southwestern coast Thursday, wiping out homes and trees in what officials described as the worst storm in years.
The eye of cyclone Sidr, visible in satellite images as a colossal swirling white mass racing north from the Bay of Bengal, hit land in an impoverished coastal area near Bangladesh's border with India.
"The cyclone has battered Bangladeshi coastal areas. The velocity of the wind in that area is 220 to 240 kilometres (140 to 155 miles and hour). (This) is a violent storm," said Samarendra Karmakar, the head of the Bangladeshi meteorological department.
The storm matched one in 1991 that sparked a tidal wave that killed an estimated 138,000 people, Karmakar told AFP.
But he said he was optimistic a major effort this time to evacuate villages and place people in special shelters could mean low-lying Bangladesh -- one of the world's poorest countries -- would escape significant loss of life.
"It is not less severe than the 1991 cyclone, in some places it is more severe. But we are expecting less casualties this time because the government took early measures. We alerted people to be evacuated early," he said.
BREAKING EARTH NEWS
CHILE
Image: A man walks by cars covered with debris in Tocopilla, Chile, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007, a day after a 7.7 magnitude quake hit Chile. The powerful earthquake hammered the country's north on Wednesday, killing at least two people and injuring more than 150. (AP Photo/Miguel Mercado) More Photos
TOCOPILLA, Chile - Strong aftershocks from a powerful earthquake hit northern Chile on Thursday as the government erected a working military hospital and promised hundreds of other portable dwellings for 15,000 left homeless by the quake.
Government and army workers scrambled to distribute tons of food, water and medicine after the 7.7 magnitude quake struck near the desert village of Quillagua in the foothills of the Andes on Wednesday, killing at least two people and injuring more than 150.
Major aftershocks shook the region Thursday, including one of magnitude 6.2 and another of magnitude 6.8, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
BREAKING STORM NEWS
BANGLADESH
Image: Top: Satellite image of cyclone SIDR; Alerted fishing boats are seen near Patenga sea beach in Chittagong yesterday as the cyclonic storm packing high winds and heavy rains seemed imminent. Photos: Focus Bangla/Star
Mongla Seaport on Highest Alert
Cyclone Sidr, a powerful Category 4 storm with destructive potential, gained even more strength in the past 12 hours, and shows no signs of losing strength for at least 24 hours. It is forecast to lose strength before landfall, but would still hit land as a strong Category 1 storm.
The storm, now packing 138 mph sustained winds, is headed for landfall on the western edge of Bangladesh, at the border with India, near to where Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), the capital of its province, sits.
Past strong storms to hit Bangladesh have caused massive casualties, numbering in the hundreds of thousands -- giving this hurricane perhaps the most deadly potential of any so far this year.
The storm that moved over the Black Sea and sank 10 ships was an UNSUALLY powerful one for the Black Sea. The storm formed over the Mediterranean Sea along the tail end of a very strong cold front. This front was the same cold front that pushed through the North Sea on Friday, bringing winds near hurricane force, flooding in southeast England, and a storm surge over 10 feet high to the coast of the Netherlands. The new storm fed off the relatively warm waters of the Mediterranean and pushed eastward across Greece and Turkey, intensifying to 980 mb as it struck the Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula late in the morning Sunday. Simperopol, Ukraine, on the tip of the Crimean Peninsula, measured sustained winds of 54 mph, gusting to 72 mph, on Sunday afternoon. The pressure bottomed out at 980 mb. Kerch, Ukraine, on the west side of Kerch Strait, recorded sustained winds of 45 mph and a minimum pressure of 988 mb as the storm blew through. On the other side of the strait, in Anapa, Russia, sustained winds of 47 mph, gusting to 65 mph were observed. Waves up to 18 feet high buffeted the waters in the Kerch Strait. This was too much for the Volganeft-139 oil tanker, which was designed for river travel.
An international panel of two dozen former pilots and government officials have called on the U.S. government to reopen its generation-old UFO Investigation as a matter of safety and security, given continuing reports about flying discs, glowing spheres and other strange sightings.
“Especially after the attacks of 9/11, it is no longer satisfactory to ignore radar returns ... which cannot be associated with performances of existing aircraft and helicopters,” they said in a statement released at a news conference Monday.Source: earthfrenzyradio.blogspot.com via steve468
BREAKING EARTH NEWS
CHILE, S.A.
“It was horribly strong. It was very long and there was a lot of underground noise,” said Andrea Riveros, a spokeswoman for the Park Hotel in Calama, about 60 miles east-southeast of the epicenter.
“I was very frightened. It was very strong,” added Paola Barrie, administrator at the Agua del Desierto Hotel, three miles from Calama. “I’ve never felt one that strong.”
'Floating' feeling
She said the hotel felt “like a floating island” during the quake, which downed power lines and cracked windows on nearby houses.
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck 22.2 miles south and 69.9 miles west of Northern Chile at 5:41 a.m. today, a bulletin from the warning center said. It registered 7.3 on the richter scale.
A nonexpanding regional tsunami warning was issued at 5:57 a.m. for a part of the Pacific near the earthquake. The warning center said that based on all available data, there is no destructive tsunami threat to Hawai'i.
However, the warning center also said some coastal areas in Hawai'i could experience small nondestructive sea level changes and strong or unusual currents lasting up to several hours.
The estimated time such effects might begin is 7:36 p.m., the warning center said.
Meteorologists' jaws dropped as Hurricane Humberto slammed the Texas shore early morning September 13, 2007. At first just a nameless tropical depression, the storm marshaled 85 mph winds and heavy rains in the blink of an eye, demanding its identity as a category one hurricane. "It made the transition from tropical depression to hurricane within 24 hours right before landfall
Source: earthfrenzyradio.blogspot.com via steve468
Hawaii, USA
Kilauea volcano - the ongoing eruption from the east rift zone is a remarkable and fascinating sight. It is startling to see a river of lava coursing between broad levee walls that tower above the surrounding land surface. What the casual observer may not know, however, is that THIS IS A ONE-OF-A-KIND PHENOMENON. A perched lava channel has never been seen before. This makes it particularly difficult to forecast what might happen next. When the channel fills up, lava spills over the sides. These overflows are thin and, as such, cool very quickly. They typically travel no more than a few hundred feet beyond the channel. Thus, each overflow serves to build the channel levee up a little higher. If this happens enough times, the lava channel becomes elevated above the adjacent land surface. Since the lava channel began overflowing two-and-a-half months ago, it has developed into a mile-long channel perched some 37 m (120) feet above the pre-existing surface. Occasionally, the channel wall is not strong enough to hold back the huge weight of the lava flowing through the channel. The result is the failure of the channel wall, usually near the end of the lava channel. We have seen several of these breaches since August, each resulting in a significant drop in the level of lava in the channel as lava drains out.
Volcanoes
RUSSIA - Bezymyanniy Volcano - "The analysis of information, received during research of Bezymyanniy held recently showed that the latest eruption of the volcano on November 5 was caused not by movement of scorching magma masses in the entrails of the volcano, but collapse of the slope." The south-eastern slope of its dome was demolished. A significant sector of the volcano dome with the total volume of almost 200,000 cubic meters was demolished. Simultaneously, a fragment avalanche almost three kilometers long fell down from the slope of the volcano. In the last years Bezymyanniy was one of the most predictable of 28 active volcanoes of Kamchatka. Eruptions happened with a permanent interval of 5-6 months and were predicted with high accuracy of probability - up to 100%. And now almost a month passed between eruptions registered on October 14 and November 5. Activation of the volcano came as a complete surprise for the scientists. "It is possible to establish change of dynamics of eruptions of the volcano Bezymyanniy and necessity of more careful study of its activity." Bezymyanniy is not dangerous for the settlements of the at Kamchatka peninsula. At the same time ash loops, saturated with small parts of magma material with the diameter of up to two millimeters, can threaten aviation. The volcanic ashes can cause poisoning of people and animals.
Caption: (Left) Image of comet Holmes from the 3.6-meter Canada-France-Hawaii telescope on Mauna Kea showing the 1.4 million km diameter coma. The white ''star'' near the center of the coma is in fact the dust-shrouded nucleus. (Right) the Sun and planet Saturn shown at the same scale for comparison. (Sun and Saturn images courtesy of NASA's SOHO and Voyager projects). [The same image is available here as a 300 dpi tif file.] Spectacular outbursting comet 17P/Holmes exploded in size and brightness on October 24. It continues to expand and is now the largest single object in the Solar system, being bigger than the Sun (see Figure). The diameter of the tenuous dust atmosphere of the comet was measured at 1.4 million kilometers (0.9 million miles) on 2007 November 9 by Rachel Stevenson, Jan Kleyna and Pedro Lacerda of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy.
They used observations from a wide-field camera on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), one of the few professional instruments still capable of capturing the whole comet in one image. Other astronomers involved in the UH program to study the comet include Bin Yang, Nuno Peixinho and David Jewitt.
The present eruption of comet Holmes was first reported on October 24 and has continued at a steady 0.5 km/sec (1100 mph) ever since. The comet is an unprecedented half a million times brighter than before the eruption began. This amazing eruption of the comet is produced by dust ejected from a tiny solid nucleus made of ice and rock, only 3.6 km (roughly 2.2 miles) in diameter.
BREAKING EARTH NEWS
Breaking Earth News
Arabian Sea
MALE (AFP) — Dozens of small island nations opened talks in the Maldives Tuesday to draft a strategy to combat rising sea levels threatening their countries.
Delegates from 26 low-lying nations -- including Tonga, Micronesia and Kiribati -- are meeting to craft a proposal ahead of global climate change talks in Indonesia in December.
"Time is running out for us to ensure the survival of our future generation," Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom said at the opening of the two-day meeting.
The low-lying nations fear not enough is being done to cut the greenhouse gases that are said to cause global warming, which forecasters warn could melt the ice caps and raise sea levels sharply before the end of the century.
Gayoom said climate change was about much more than the environment, science or politics: "It is fundamentally an issue about people."
The tidal surges experienced on 80 of the Maldives' 200 inhabited islands earlier this year were "a grim reminder of the devastating tsunami of 2004 and a clear warning of future disasters", he said.
An Environmental Catastrophe
Image: A crew member from the stranded Russian cargo vessel Vera Voloshina is evacuated by line Sunday by the Ukrainian rescue service on the coast near Sudak, Ukraine. More Photos >
MOSCOW, Nov. 12 — An environmental disaster began to unfold in southern Russia on Monday as tens of thousands of oil-slicked seabirds and globules of heavy oil dotted the shoreline, a day after at least 11 ships, including a small oil tanker, sank or broke apart in a fierce storm, Russian officials said.
A local official, Alexander Tkachyov, governor of the Krasnodar region, said 30,000 seabirds were covered with oil and would probably die, Interfax said. The World Wide Fund for Nature, a conservation group, said the heavy fuel oil also settled onto the seabed, surely destroying marine habitat and killing fish.
The tanker, Volganeft-139, split apart as it was pounded by 18-foot waves in the Kerch Strait which links the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea, a strategic pathway for oil exported by tanker from Russia and the Caspian basin to Europe. Its 13 crew members were rescued, but 1,300 tons of heavy, viscous oil — the equivalent of 560,000 gallons — were discharged into the sea.
MP3 Podcast: The Story of this disaster available at the Earth Frenzy Radio Blog
Breaking Earth News
Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Image: Power lines were left hanging loosely on poles, causing outages in many Lower Mainland areas.
(CBC)
VIDEO: STORM AFTERMATH
About 155,000 homes in British Columbia remain without electricity Tuesday morning after a massive storm struck the province's south coast, downing power lines and toppling trees.The hardest hit areas include the Fraser Valley, northern Vancouver Island, Bowen Island as well as the Sunshine Coast area.
The storm that first hit the coast Sunday evening was nearly as bad as one last year on Dec. 14 that left 250,000 customers without power.
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Vancouver Island was lashed by heavy rain, swollen seas and raging winds Monday. The first big storm of the fall of 2007 was a one-day-wonder, typical for November. "No doubt about it - these are really strong winds. But what strikes fear in your heart is remembering what last November was like. It was truly one of the wettest Novembers on record. People don't want a repeat of the devastation that occurred last year." Monday's storm wreaked havoc on ferry sailings between Vancouver Island, the mainland and the Gulf Islands, as winds, gusting up to 100 km/h, bashed white-capped waves onto the coast. Thousands of passengers were stranded for hours as they tried to return home. Trees fell on power lines causing power outages in Greater Victoria and throughout Vancouver Island. At the height of the storm, more than 195,000 homes across the province and 70,000 homes on Vancouver Island were without power. B.C. Hydro crews struggled to repair more than 330 separate outages as falling branches and toppled trees knocked out power to a wide swath of southern British Columbia. The bad weather was blamed on a storm system with warm fronts and cold fronts north of Vancouver Island. As the storm moved north, the winds that were blowing from the southeast veered around to blow from the southwest. The front also brought copious amounts of rain to the south coast. Rainfall in the Greater Victoria area was between 20 and 40 mm. Other parts of the Island, particularly the west coast near Tofino, got between 100 and 150 mm of rain. Up to 100 mm of rain was forecast for inland Vancouver Island and north and east Vancouver Island. Image Above: Debra McNeill watches the waves at Ross Bay during Monday's storm.
Photograph by : Ray Smith, Times Colonist
Click the Image Above for the Latest Drought ReportScientists are warning that raging brush fires could become routine. Florida is running out of water to meet the needs of its growing population. New England water reserves are reaching record lows. Atlanta's main water supply may run dry in a few months. Boat ramps are becoming surrounded by dry land and streams are disappearing. Even the mighty Great Lakes are seeing historically low levels.
A leading scientist quoted in a recent New York Times feature commented on the long-term effects of a prolonged drought, "There's a two-thirds chance there will be a disaster, and that's in the best scenario."
According to the National Climate Data Center, 2007 is on-track to be the warmest year on record. 43 percent of the United States is suffering from moderate to extreme drought.
Image: Using recycled water in the garden as a drought-measure
Austria
Vienna - The coldest winter in large parts of Austria has struck unexpectedly early, with meteorologists talking Sunday of weather conditions that occur in the Alpine republic once every 30 to 50 years. About 150 centimetres of fresh snow fell in the Alps within 48 hours.
A storm brought on by a low pressure system moved across Upper Austria on Sunday afternoon, leaving houses and roads covered or blocked by fallen trees. The winter weather is expected to last for the rest of the week. Austria's avalanche warning system raised the alarm to the second- highest grade. A man reportedly became trapped in an avalanche in Gargellen in Vorarlberg on Sunday but was freed by a companion. Access to resorts was restored Sunday afternoon after avalanche authorities blasted dangerous snow masses. The previous time that Lech was cut off so early in the winter was 1974. Winds reached 140 kilometres per hour in parts. Hurricane-style storms caused serious damage in Upper Austria.
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Death toll rises in oil disaster
EARTH CHANGES
SAN RAFAEL GLACIER, Chile (AFP) — Chunks of glacial ice tinkled in whisky glasses as chilled tourists gazed in wonder from their boat at the massive San Rafael glacier and the markers tallying its losing battle against global warming.
"How can we stop this," asked German visitor Herman Kirst, 70, reflecting on the 100 meters (yards) that the glacier has shrunk this year, and every year since Captain Luis Kochifas began ferrying tourists to this spot in 1978.
"How sad, how devastating it is to think that all this, one day, could disappear," added Kirst, after being told the 30,000-year-old glacier has receded a total of 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) since 1871.
Global warming, Chilean scientists say, has done the most damage to the glacier, which lies 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) south of Santiago.
With the rising temperatures, more melting occurs at the face, sending huge icebergs crashing into the ocean reflecting the sun's rays in blue and turquoise.
Graphic showing Chile's 30,000-year-old San Rafael glacier, which has receded 12 kilometres since 1871
Breaking Earth News
Brazil
SAO PAULO (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon will fly into tropical Brazil on Sunday to further push his campaign for world action on climate change, after making a trip to chilly Antarctica.
The secretary general was making the snow-to-jungle voyage to see firsthand the damage man is wreaking on the environment.
On Friday, he became the first head of the United Nations to set foot in Antarctica.
There, he received a briefing from scientists at Chile's President Eduardo Frei Air Force base before visiting glaciers that were shrinking under the effects of global warming.
"This trip, you may call it an eco-trip, but I'm not here as a tourist," he told reporters.
"I'm here as a messenger of all the warnings on climate change," he continued. "I'm here to observe the impact of the global warming phenomena, to see for myself and to learn all I can about what's happening in Antarctica and actually around the world."
He called the impact of climate change "an emergency" and said: "If the international community does something now we will be able to prevent a further progress of the global warming."
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Mexico
Image: CRS Mexico staff wades through floodwaters in the Tabasco capital of Villahermosa. Photo by Erica Dahl-Bredine/CRS Mexico
CRS Mexico staff arrived in Tabasco on Saturday to help with relief and assess the level of need. According to reports, whole communities are still waterlogged and face the threat of mudslides and waterborne disease.
"As we flew into Villahermosa, the capital city of Tabasco, on Saturday evening, everything as far as the eye could see was underwater. Whole villages, farmland, almost everything," says Erica Dahl-Bredine, CRS Mexico country representative. "All over the city people are lined up outside of churches and government buildings waiting to receive food, water and blankets."
The $1 million pledged by CRS last week will help our partners, Caritas Mexicana and Caritas Tabasco, provide food, water, blankets and other basic emergency supplies to thousands of affected families. The agency has also dedicated $500,000 toward the floods that have devastated areas of the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Cuba this week.
Breaking Earth News
Comet 17P/Holmes could be losing its tail. There seems to be a disconnection occurring.
Jack Newton of the Arizona Sky Village saw it: image. "The comet has a huge eruption moving along its tail. Holmes is more bizarre with each passing day."
This event does not necessarily signal a new outburst of Comet Holmes. Comet tails can be disconnected by gusts of solar wind which trigger magnetic storms around the comet akin to geomagnetic storms which fuel auroras on Earth.
Image: Galveston Beach, Texas, Gulf of Mexico. In the United States, lands along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico -- especially Florida and Louisiana -- are most likely to be flooded as sea levels rise. (Credit: iStockphoto/Sergey Kubyshin)
ScienceDaily (Nov. 7, 2007) — As sea levels rise, coastal communities could lose up to 50 percent more of their fresh water supplies than previously thought, according to a new study from Ohio State University.
Hydrologists here have simulated how saltwater will intrude into fresh water aquifers, given the sea level rise predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC has concluded that within the next 100 years, sea level could rise as much as 23 inches, flooding coasts worldwide.
Scientists previously assumed that, as saltwater moved inland, it would penetrate underground only as far as it did above ground.
But this new research shows that when saltwater and fresh water meet, they mix in complex ways, depending on the texture of the sand along the coastline. In some cases, a zone of mixed, or brackish, water can extend 50 percent further inland underground than it does above ground.
North Carolina, USA
Image: Charlotte NC, October 2007
The state is in the grip of the WORST DROUGHT EVER RECORDED, going back to 1895 when drought conditions were first calculated. Conditions are not likely to improve soon. To ameliorate the drought, the state needs 14 to 18 inches of rain over the next three months and 25 to 30 inches over the next six months, the National Weather Service said. The probability of that happening? Less than 15 percent. To completely end the drought this winter, the state needs as much as 24 inches of rain over the next three months. The chances of that occurring are less than 4 percent. Central North Carolina got 2 to 5 inches of rain from October storms, but as of last week, stream flows across the state had dropped significantly. Most are less than 25 percent of their normal levels. The October rain did not compensate for months of dry weather and long-term water shortages. Falls Lake, which supplies drinking water to Raleigh and most of Wake County, is more than 8 feet below normal, and only 36 percent of the lake's water supply remains. Falls Lake does not go dry when its water supply is depleted; the lake will still be 36 feet deep, but the water will be thick with sediment and require additional treatment. Since July, precipitation has averaged less than 50 percent of normal over much of the state. By mid-October, nearly 90 percent of the state was experiencing extreme to exceptional drought conditions. If climate predictions come true, they will face ongoing water shortages in the spring and summer.
Breaking Earth News'
Cuba
Cuban authorities estimate the damage at around $500m, with sugar and coffee crops severely affected.
According to the ruling Communist Party daily, Granma, nearly 22,000 homes in the east of the country were damaged or destroyed.
Incessant rains which soaked the east of the country from 11 October to 5 November also wrecked thousand of kilometres of roads.
Officials said 50,000 hectares (123,000 acres) of sugar cane fields had been flooded or damaged.
Cuba has not seen such devastating floods since 1963, when Hurricane Flora killed over 1,100 people and destroyed more than 11,000 homes.
Utah, USA
Image: Castle Geyser at Yellowstone National Park.
The floor of the Yellowstone caldera has risen at a rate faster than has ever been observed before, according to a new study that gives further proof that "ground deformation" at the park resembles the gently heaving chest of a slumbering giant.
The likely cause of the uplift is a volcanic intrusion of molten rock that has moved upward 50 to 60 miles and flattened into a pancake the size of Los Angeles a few miles below the surface, according to a study to be published Friday by University of Utah scientists.
Giant waves on the seafront at Walcott near Great Yarmouth as East Anglia braced itself for flooding
The brunt of the surge was born by the seaside village of Walcott, 20 miles north of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where conservatories were crushed, walls torn down and lawns ripped up.
As dire weather predictions yesterday evening warned of widespread destruction, an unprecedented operation spearheaded by the Environment Agency saw more than 1,000 people evacuated from their homes and the emergency services put on standby for a major disaster.
A spokesman for the Met Office added: "The tidal surge was just behind the high tide and it wouldn't have taken it long to catch it up. Luckily they missed each other otherwise it would have been a very different situation. It wouldn't have taken much for things to have been a lot worse."
Sea levels could rise up to 9ft this morning along part of the East Coast, putting lives at risk.
Sea defences in Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft could be breached around 7am, sending a torrent of salt water into the towns.
• Eight severe flood warnings issued by Environment Agency
• Surge expected to hit east coast in next 12 hours
• Police on standby to evacuate homes
• Dartford Creek and Thames barriers closed
Police and fire services were last night preparing to evacuate thousands of homes. Householders were stocking up on sandbags and emergency provisions.
The Norfolk Broads, Essex and northern Kent could also be hit, and the entire coast from Immingham in Humberside to Margate in Kent has been told to be on alert.
The Environment Agency, which issued eight severe flood warnings, last night said it was "gravely concerned" about the threat.
England suffered one of its worst peacetime disasters in 1953 when floods battered the east coast, claiming hundreds of lives.
On the night of January 31, the sea swept up to two miles inland, with huge tides surging down the coast between the Tees and the Thames.
By the morning, 307 people in coastal towns and villages had lost their lives. Around 24,000 homes were damaged and more than 30,000 people had been moved to safety.
BREAKING EARTH NEWS
Alaska,USA
Image: The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska shows evidence of global warming.
Climate change is like a tipping canoe. It starts slowly and overturns suddenly in a violent upheaval. Despite the apocalyptic ring to this theory, in many ways the planet's arctic ecosystems have now reached that tipping point.
Packed ice along the Arctic Ocean and Bering Strait has retreated hundreds of miles and decreased in thickness more than 40 percent in the past 50 years. Native American villages are crumbling into the sea, and the biological heart of the Arctic that is home to populations of polar bears, caribou, migratory birds and other wildlife are caught in this dangerous recipe for disaster. Millions of acres of forests have died because of insect outbreaks caused by a warming climate, and are now burning. These troubling effects, when paired with the threat of further habitat destruction by oil and gas drilling, mean Alaska's wild places are doubly imperiled.
If we view the Arctic as any indication of the effect global warming will have on the rest of the world further south, acting on ways to limit our greenhouse gas emissions now is crucial. Unlike so many issues stymied by partisan squabbling, there is a consensus across party lines that something has to be done. Climate change is now getting more attention than ever.
From the United Nations
Earth Change
Millions of people have been affected by severe flooding as storms swept parts of Mexico, the Carribean, Vietnam and Australia in the past fortnight.
Image: Floodwaters swept through the city of Villahermosa in Tabasco, Mexico
Tropical Storm Noel brought heavy rain that devastated parts of central America and the Carribean. The Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas saw the worst flooding in the area in more than 50 years, with aid agencies estimating more than a million people were affected. The storm also triggered floods in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, just weeks after the region had been hit by heavy rain, adding to the death toll. More than 70 people were killed by flooding in Vietnam and more than 90,000 homes were deluged in the central province of Phu Yen. Just last month 89 people died after Typhoon Lekima triggered floods and landslides and officials fear another tropical storm, Peipah, could hit the country in the next few days. Hundreds of people in the Australian state of Victoria were also left counting the cost after flash flooding swept through homes and businesses. A freak hail storm also hit Colombia in South America this week, blocking roads with ice before melting and leaving the streets awash with water. Although the individual incidents cannot be attributed directly to climate change, scientists predict that extreme weather events such as floods will become more frequent and intense as average global temperatures rise.
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CUBA - A massive evacuation was carried out on Monday in the eastern municipality of Cauto River due to severe flooding.
Central regions of the country were hardest hit, with the world heritage site of Hoi An struggling under several feet of water.
LOS ANGELES Surfers from County Line to Trestles will be suiting up Wednesday for waves up to 9 feet crashing on Southland beaches, the product of a distant storm.
"Basically, this is a storm that started out in the Southern Hemisphere. It's a late-season storm and pretty significant ... one of the largest of the season since April," said Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service office in Oxnard.
Most beaches are getting sets of 5-7 feet, but some southwest-facing ones, such as Manhattan Beach, are getting occasional sets up to 9 feet, he said
Breaking Earth News
Georgia, USA
Image: Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has several times mentioned the need for prayer — along with water conservation — as the state’s drought crisis has worsened. Over the summer, he participated in day of prayer for agriculture at a gathering of the Georgia Farm Bureau in Macon, Ga.
Leader will host prayer service to ask for relief from Southeast drought
ATLANTA - What to do when the rain won’t come? If you’re Georgia Gov.Sonny Perdue, you pray.
The governor will host a prayer service next week to ask for relief from the drought gripping the Southeast.
“The only solution is rain, and the only place we get that is from a higher power,” Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said on Wednesday.
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In its annual report on global energy needs, the Paris-based agency projected greenhouse-gas pollution would rise by 1.8 percent annually by 2030 on the basis of projected energy use and current efforts to mitigate emissions. The IEA saw little chance of reducing this pollution to a stable, safer level any time soon. It also poured cold water on a scenario outlined earlier this year by the United Nations' main authority on global warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC). The IPCC said that in order to limit the average increase in global temperatures to 2.4 C (4.3 F) -- the most optimistic of any scenario -- the concentration of greenhouse gases would have to stabilise at 450 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. To achieve this goal, CO2 emissions would have to peak by 2015 at the latest, then fall by between 50 and 85 percent by 2050, the panel. But the IEA's World Energy Outlook report saw no peak in emissions before 2020. 
BREAKING EARTH NEWS
A Warning from the International Energy Agency (IEA)
Emissions of greenhouse gases will rise by 57 percent by 2030 compared to current levels, which will increase the Earth's surface temperature by at least three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit), the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.
Arizona, USA- After the WARMEST SUMMER ON RECORD since records were first recorded in 1895, they’re moving into fall with RECORD TEMPERATURES as well. Monday, they broke the old record of 92, set in 1980 at Phoenix Sky Harbor, with a high of 93. A strong area of high pressure will continue to dominate their weather for the rest of the work week, and near/ above record high temps will continue.
Florida, USA
Scientists say Florida can expect more frequent and destructive hurricanes, hotter weather and rising sea levels that could inundate coastal areas. The chairman of the University of Miami's Department of Geological Sciences predicted a 1.5 foot rise in sea level in 50 years and a three- to five-foot increase by the end of the century. At two feet, South Florida would still be livable.. "Three feet's going to get messy. Four feet becomes extremely difficult to live in South Florida and five feet probably impossible." Scientists don't yet have a clear picture of whether climate change will make Florida wetter or drier, but either way the forecast is for heavier rains that are fewer and far between, creating a potential for flood and drought.
Somalia
Image: A Somali man wades through flood waters as he leaves his village, west of Mogadishu. Hundreds of families were fleeing their homes in Somalia's southern region of Lower Shabelle, where floods swept villages and destroyed crops. Photo:Abdurashid Abdulle Abikar/AFP
MOGADISHU (AFP) - Hundreds of families were fleeing their homes in Somalia's southern region of Lower Shabelle, where floods swept villages and destroyed crops, residents and witnesses said Tuesday.
Local elder Abdi Omar Hirabe said floods engulfed the villages of War Gedow, Malable and Dolo Dhere, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) south of the war-torn capital Mogadishu.
The latest floods in a region known as Somalia's breadbasket will only compound what is already described as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Climate change could end globalization by 2040 as nations look inward to conserve scarce resources and conflicts flare when refugees flee rising seas and drought, national security experts warned on Monday.
Scarcity could dictate the terms of international relations, according to Leon Fuerth of George Washington University, one of the report's authors.
Global cooperation based on a resource-rich world could give way to a regime where vital commodities are scarce, Fuerth said at a forum to release "The Age of Consequences."
"Some of the consequences could essentially involve the end of globalization as we have known it ... as different parts of the Earth contract upon themselves in order to try to conserve what they need to survive," said Fuerth, who was national security adviser to former Vice President Al Gore.
A Climate Warning From the United Nations
The weather paths caused by the phenomenon know as La Nina - the opposite of El Nino - straddle the globe.
She is capable of causing extreme weather around the world, as Atlantic Canada discovered this weekend at the hands of Noel, a storm that packed winds of 135 kilometres an hour and waves as high as 15 metres.
And there's more to come. The United Nations weather agency warns that this little girl is going to be with us for the next five months, and that could mean a bigger finish for the last month of Atlantic hurricane season, as well as heavy rain, a colder winter and more snowfall.
"These conditions can cause unusual and sometimes severe weather events ... in the immediate area of the Pacific basin but also around the world," Leslie Malone, a scientist with the World Meteorological Organization, said last week.
Image: A Federal Police officer looks for stranded residents, from an aerial view, during an inspection flight of flood affected areas on the outskirts of Villahermosa Nov. 3, 2007. Thousands of people perched on roofs in southern Mexico on Saturday, desperate to be evacuated from flooding caused by heavy rains that has left most of Tabasco state under water and 800,000 people homeless.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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Mexico, Nov. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Up to 16 people were feared buried alive after a massive wave of mud and water roared through a Mexican village Monday, officials said.
A landslide blocked an already rain-swollen river and pushed a wall of water and debris over remote San Juan Grijalva, home to about 600 people, most of whom fled into the hills ahead of the advancing wave.
"This village practically disappeared," said Chiapas Gov. Juan Sabines, who was at the scene where rescue workers were digging for possible victims. Helicopters were seeking out residents who had fled into the hills, in order to evacuate them.
The village, 45 miles southwest of Villahermosa, is near the border of heavily flooded Tabasco state and shares the same river systems. The landslide was the latest catastrophe caused by a week of heavy rains and flooding that left 80 percent of Tabasco under water, destroying or damaging the homes of about half a million people.
MOUNT KELUD, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's deadly Mount Kelud spewed fresh clouds of smoke Monday and the temperature of its crater lake soared, as scientists warned any eruption could be much stronger than the last time it blew its top.
At least two more of Indonesia's approximately 100 active volcanoes also were emitting smoke, with one — Anak Krakatoa — firing out red-hot stones and lava as well, illustrating the powerful seismic forces at work in the nation.
But authorities were most worried about Kelud on Java island because of its deadly history, including a 1919 explosion that killed thousands.
The temperature of its crater lake was so high that nearby monitoring equipment was no longer working, said Surono, one of 16 volcanologists watching over the peak 24 hours a day. Like many Indonesians, he uses only one name.
Kelud has been on the highest alert level for more than two weeks, but since Friday scientists have been warning an eruption may be imminent based on the frequency of tremors shaking the mountain and the temperature of its lake.
Within minutes, roads were completely blocked and more than 100 people got stuck in cars and buses in the ice.
No-one was hurt, but because no-one had expected the icy conditions they didn't have warm clothes on and so some had to be treated for exposure to the cold.
There was more trouble as the ice began to melt, turning roads into icy rivers of slush.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Drought-stricken Australia has been shocked by the killing of a pensioner in an argument over suburban water restrictions as he hosed his lawn.
A 36-year-old man, Todd Munter of the south Sydney suburb of Sylvania, appeared in court Thursday (November 1st) on a charge of murdering Kenneth Proctor, 66, who lived in the same suburb.
Police allege an argument about water restrictions erupted as Munter walked past Proctor's home on Wednesday (October 31st) afternoon and the pensioner turned the hose on the younger man, soaking him with water.
Munter is then alleged to have punched Proctor in the head and knocked him to the ground before kicking him. The older man suffered a massive heart attack and died a short time later in hospital.
The restrictions, enforced as the country suffers the worst drought in living memory, allow residents to water their lawns and gardens with hand-held hoses before 10.00am and after 4.00pm on Wednesdays and Sundays.
The water restrictions are highly publicised, with members of the public encouraged to report neighbours who break the rules and council rangers patrolling streets in Sydney with the power to levy on-the-spot fines.
Image: A looter carries electrical appliances taken from a department store across a flooded street in Villahermosa, state of Tabasco. Rescue workers and police were out in force Saturday helping flood victims in Mexico's devastated southern Tabasco state, as food shortages sent hundreds of hungry people on a looting rampage at a shopping center.(AFP/Alfredo Estrella)
VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico (AFP) - Rescue workers and police were out in force helping flood victims in southern Mexico, as food shortages sent hundreds of hungry people on a looting rampage at a shopping center.
Around 80 percent of the Belgium-sized state of Tabasco was flooded after seven rain-loaded rivers burst their banks in the flat, flood-prone region, in its worst natural disaster in decades.
In neighboring Chiapas state, bordering the Pacific Ocean, authorities put 30 townships with more than a million people under a state of alert Saturday after 16 rivers overflowed their banks, and reported one person killed by the floods.
In Tabasco, the floods affected more than half the state's 2.1 million population, and one death has been confirmed so far. Patrols were still searching for victims Saturday.
Many thousands of people were trapped at home. With water as deep as two meters (6.5 feet), many have desperately tried to flee, waiting as long as three days for a rescue-boat pickup from their rooftops or as they clung to tree branches.
Thousands poured into neighboring states Chiapas and Veracruz seeking refuge.
Scientists abandoned their monitoring posts on Mount Kelut's fertile slopes on Saturday when the tremors rumbling under the volcano became so strong they could no longer be measured. They could not see the peak through heavy cloud but said they believed it was erupting. Eventually they found that it had not. Volcanologist Agus Budianto said that the pressure of the energy rising inside Kelut, located in heavily-populated East Java, was now three to four times as strong as that which caused the last eruption, which killed 34. That eruption has created a blockage that magma has not been able to fully break through, lifting only some volcanic material under the crater lake, resulting in a column of steam rising from its surface, he said. "All indications point to an eruption, but the fact is, there has so far been only a partial lifting of the lava dome at the top, as well as a strong drift of heated winds upwards," Budianto said.
Indonesia
A volcano in Indonesia that was mistakenly thought to have erupted is baffling scientists, who said Monday that energy surging inside it had surpassed that of its last eruption in 1990.
Hawaii, USA
Drought - Last month’s rainfall total of 0.39 inches measured at Lihu‘e Airport was the DRIEST OCTOBER EVER RECORDED for Lihu‘e. The records, which date back to 1950, show the previous record was 0.98 inches set in 1998. The RECORDS FOR THE DRIEST THREE-MONTH and SIX-MONTH PERIODS WERE ALSO SET. From August through October, just 1.27 inches of rain fell at the airport; and from May through October, only 3.14 inches fell. The previous three-month record was 1.51 inches from January through March 1983. The previous six-month record was 4.36 inches from May through October 1975. The entire northwestern half of Kaua‘i, and all of Ni‘ihau show abnormally dry conditions. More than 71 percent of the state was listed abnormally dry, compared to 53 percent last year and 26 percent in 2005. Brushfires have plagued the Garden Island this summer.
Canada
Tens of thousands of people in Atlantic Canada and parts of Quebec remained without power late Sunday after the remnants of Hurricane Noel battered Atlantic Canada with high winds and driving rain.
In Nova Scotia, which was hit hardest, as many as 170,000 homes and businesses lost electricity overnight.
RELATED NEWS
Image: Tracking Noel
FLORIDA - A portion of A1A remained closed Sunday, after Noel sent ankle-deep water onto the beachside road. The deluge that prompted authorities to shut down A1A Saturday had receded a bit, but the waters surged again at high tide Sunday afternoon. High tide was expected between 4 and 4:30 p.m. to most likely cause more flooding before the Noel swell of high winds and water passed. Strong rip currents and high surf winds are also expected to hit beaches along Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, which remain under a coastal flood advisory. Besides the A1A flooding, a surge of 4-foot waves also flooded a Sunny Isles Beach hotel garage. Weather experts said ocean swells whipped up by the departing tropical storm are what turned parts of State Road A1A into an extension of Fort Lauderdale beach Saturday as high tides swept up and dumped sand and water onto the roadway. Disaster might be the word used by those tracking the extensive beach erosion that many South Florida beaches have experienced in the past few weeks, including from Noel, which scraped away huge amounts of sand, especially in Palm Beach County. High winds have generated battering waves that have gobbled away shoreline, shrinking beaches. Beach conditions over the past week or so have made some residents re-think how devastating the storm surge could be if the area is hit head-on by a hurricane. "It's looking like if we get another storm, there's not going to be any beach left." Noel sent a swell of high winds and water straight at South Florida as it passed to the northeast. As it continues to move away from South Florida, conditions here should improve. The worst should be over, at least in the near term.
Breaking Storm News
Vietnam
Image: Rescuers provide supplies of noodles to residents at a flooded area in Vietnam's central Thua Thien Hue province, November 5, 2007. F (Vietnam News Agency/Quang Ngoc/Handout/Reuters)
HANOI (Reuters) - Floods have killed at least 46 people in central Vietnam in the last 10 days and a typhoon making its way across the South China Sea is forecast to dump more rain this week, reports said on Monday.
The region, which includes the Central Highlands coffee belt, has been hit hard by storms and floods since early October, killing nearly 200 people, causing property and crop damage of $300 million and delaying the coffee harvest by two weeks.
Flooding since October 26 have killed 46 people in nine central provinces and Danang city, reports from provincial disaster management committees said.
Weather forecasters said Typhoon Peipah, which crossed the Philippines island of Luzon early on Monday, would bring rain again on central Vietnam.
The storm killed five people in the northern Philippine province of Isabela and forced 500 people to evacuate their homes, disaster officials said.
The Vietnamese government said a new wave of floods could hit in the next two to three days.
Last month saw a record October for tornado outbreaks, with 87 twisters forming in just one three-day span, government meteorologists announced today.
The outbreak, from Oct. 17 through Oct. 19, surpassed the previous record of 63 tornadoes set along the Gulf Coast from Oct. 23 through Oct. 27 in 1997, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The total number of tornadoes reported in October, 105, came in second behind the 117 tornadoes reported in October 2001. Records go back to 1950.
The massive outbreak occurred because two weather systems that had high potential to form tornadoes were simultaneously positioned over the country.
Costa Rica, C.A.
Tropical Storm Noel is expected to keep kicking up rain in Costa Rica over the weekend, and the National Emergency Commission maintains a yellow alert for the entire Pacific coast and a green alert for the Caribbean. Low-pressure systems over the Caribbean Sea are generating precipitation over much of the country. Wednesday night, rains flooded about 40 houses in the cantons of Barva and San Rafael; 20 of these families lost everything. The bridge over Río Segundo de Barva collapsed, and a fiber-optic phone line providing service to San José de la Montaña was severed.
Antarctica
An earthquake registering 6.3 on the Richter scale rocked Antarctica at 2031 GMT Friday.
SANTIAGO, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake registering 6.3 on the Richter scale rocked Antarctica at 2031 GMT Friday, the Chilean national TV station reported.
According to the survey of the U.S. geological research bureau, the epicenter of the quake was 3,641 kilometers from Punta Arenas, Chile's southern most city.
Earthquakes rarely hit Antarctica, and their scales are normally small.
Breaking Earth News
Indonesia
Image: Mist rises from the forest covering the Mount Kelud volcano near the village of Wilayang Ngantang in Indonesia's East Java province November 2, 2007. Mount Kelud volcano appears to have erupted, a top official said on Saturday, based on seismographic signals, but is obscured from view by heavy cloud cover. REUTERS/Sigit Pamungkas
MONITORS and villagers fled the slopes of Indonesia's Mount Kelud in panic yesterday after seismic readings showed the volcano had begun erupting after weeks of heightened activity.
The volcano, in the heart of the densely populated island of Java, was shrouded in fog and no visual confirmation of the apparent eruption was possible before night fell, according to government seismologist Umar Rosadi.
Scientists fear that a build-up of magma under Kelud's crater lake could trigger a violent blast, sending a torrent of mud, ash and rock careering down the side of the 5,679ft mountain.
In the first real-world disaster test of local cellular networks, thousands of mobile phone users were unable to connect calls in the hour following the 5.6 earthquake that struck the Bay Area shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday. Wireless carriers said traffic spiked up to 10 times higher than normal. The flood of calls also tied up AT&T's landline phone service. Wireless officials are urging users to use text messages if they have to contact someone because it's more reliable and far less intensive on the network.
Residents of Villahermosa, the capital of the state of Tabasco, are rescued by the Mexican Navy. Rescuers have worked on rescuing hundreds of thousands of people trapped by the worst floods ever recorded in Mexico's southern state of Tabasco, with more than one million resident affected.(AFP/Gilberto Villasana)Thousands of people have been trapped in their homes in Mexico by the worst floods to ever hit the south of the country.
More than one million residents have been affected by the floods in the southern state of Tabasco, which is the size of Belgium and is now 80% underwater.
Officials expect more rain in the coming days. The state's governor has said that 'New Orleans was small' in comparison to the floods.
RELATED NEWS
With flooding across nearly all of the Gulf coast state of Tabasco and food and drinking water scarce, health officials warned against epidemics of cholera and other waterborne diseases.
An estimated 900,000 people had their homes flooded, damaged or cut off, and as of Thursday 300,000 still had not been rescued, Tabasco Gov. Andres Granier said. Police, soldiers and military workers were still trying to reach them.
Massive Flooding
From the Editor's Desk
Skywatch-Media News
For Earth Frenzy Radio
Nov 01, 2007
Last evening, the Earth Frenzy Radio Show implemented the new chat forum line during our question and answer session with our guest speaker Nancy Lieder of Zetatalk. As it turned out the forum guests provided a number of very interesting questions for Nancy. The show was very informative and gave the listeners a direct channel for program participation.
As always Nancy Lieder has a lot of very valuable information, which she is more than willing to share with her listeners, and last night was no exception.
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Breaking Earth News
Comet 17P/Holmes has been relentlessly expanding since its explosion on Oct 23rd and now it spans an angle in the sky almost half as wide as the full Moon. Using a picture of the comet he took on Oct. 30th, Helmut Groell of Moers, Germany, created this animation for comparison:
Actually, the comet is even bigger than it looks. While the Moon is a mere 240 thousand miles away, Comet Holmes is 150 million miles from Earth. The comet's physical diameter is thus seven times wider than the planet Jupiter--and it is still expanding.
Breaking Earth News
GENEVA - The La Nina weather phenomenon blamed for drought in the southern United States and flooding in Africa will last for another five months, the U.N. weather agency said Wednesday.
The tropical wind patterns currently seen across the central and eastern Pacific, with sea temperatures up to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) cooler than normal, appear to be an average La Nina event, an official with the World Meteorological Organization said.
"These conditions can cause unusual and sometimes severe weather events ... in the immediate area of the Pacific basin but also around the world," said Leslie Malone, a scientific officer with WMO.
Breaking Earth News
Image: Torrential rains drenched many districts in Quang Nam Province Tuesday while cyclones hit several districts in Thua Thien-Hue Province, seriously injuring 23 locals in the latter.
Vietnam-
Torrential rains drenched many districts in Quang Nam Province Tuesday while cyclones hit several districts in Thua Thien-Hue Province, seriously injuring 23 locals in the latter. In Quang Nam, rains flooded some streets under one meter of water, separating Nam Tra My and Phuoc Son districts.
Breaking Earth News
Image: Satellite photo of Tropical Storm Noel, 31 Oct 2007
Tropical Storm Noel strengthened after drenching Cuba and killing at least 61 people with surging floodwaters in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The death toll from days of downpours in the Dominican Republic, in particular, has begun to climb as emergency workers fanned out to bring aid to towns and villages cut off by raging rivers and inundated by chest-high floods. Forty-one people were confirmed dead and another 33 were missing while at least 25,540 people were homeless and 6,300 homes had been destroyed. Several bridges had collapsed and mudslides blocked roads and at least 39 communities were cut off by floods.
In Haiti at least 20 people died. Around 400 houses have been destroyed.
In Cuba, thousands of people were evacuated from vulnerable areas but no casualties were reported as the country has one of the most effective civil protection operations in the region. The storm dumped 150mm of rain in just six hours over Baracoa in Cuba, causing floods and cutting off roads at the already water-logged eastern tip of the island. "We are getting a constant downpour and strong gusts of wind. The sea is very rough."
In Jamaica, one person died when a house collapsed in the heavy rain.
Torrential rain was also falling over parts of the Bahamas.
Strong winds sent waves crashing onto southeast Florida's Atlantic beaches and rain whipping down the streets of Miami.
"We have lost 100% of our crops and 70% of the state is under water," Tabasco's governor said.
Rescuers have been using boats and helicopters to try to reach people stranded on rooftops.
The heavy rains began at the weekend, forcing rivers to burst their banks in the largely low-lying state.
"We are just like New Orleans," Tabasco governor Andres Granier said. "All the water that comes in has to be pumped out."
Television images showed many towns and much of the state capital Villahermosa turned into huge brown lakes with only the tree tops visible above the waterline as floodwaters poured over sand-bagged riverbanks and destroyed crops.
The floods, caused by a cold front that has wreaked havoc with the oil industry along Mexico's Gulf coast, were the worst in the state's history, said Govenor Andres Granier.
"The amount of water is incredible. We have lost 100 per cent of our crops and 70 per cent of the state is under water," Granier told reporters.
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Stanton Friedman: Ufologist/Nuclear Physicist
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