Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.1 Earthquake hits near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Babuyan Islands region in the Philippines.
5.0 Earthquake hits Tonga.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Babuyan Islands region in the Philippines.
Tropical Storms
Indian Ocean:
Tropical Cyclone Christine is currently located 150 kilometres west southwest of Port Hedland and 50 kilometres east southeast of Karratha and moving southwest at 16 kilometres per hour.
A red alert has been issued for people in Kimberley and Pilbara region of Western Australia following the Tropical Cyclone Christine. All ports have been closed, stopping iron ore exports in the resource-rich region.
Tropical Cyclone Bejisa is active in the South Indian Ocean, approximately 250 miles (400 km) east-northeast of Madagascar. Over the next days, Bejisa is forecast to track to the south-southeast and slowly strengthen, becoming Category 2 storm strength on the SSHWS by Wednesday 1 January. Bejisa is forecast to track approximately 55 mi (88 km) to the east of Reunion Island (population ~840,000) on Friday 3 January as a Category 2 storm.
Flu Outbreak Spreads Across US, Affects Young Adults
Ten states reported widespread flu activity this week, mostly in the Southeast, but flu is now fanning across the rest of the nation, according to the weekly report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And it’s a once-familiar strain — the H1N1 virus that plagued the country in 2008-09. “It’s our old swine flu friend and it’s causing over 95 percent of the cases,” said Dr. William Schaffner, infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Cleveland (Aleutian Islands, Alaska): Small, brief explosions were detected at the volcano yesterday evening (21:29 UTC or 12:29 AKST) and this morning at 4:06 UTC (19:06 AKST local time), USGS reported.
"No satellite images available after the time of the explosion, so uncertain if minor ash cloud generated, but unlikely. "Similar such explosions may continue without warning, and may produce minor ash clouds that are not expected to extend much beyond the volcano, but could produce local fallout on the flanks of the volcano. AVO has received no reports of activity from local observers." (AVO/USGS)
San Miguel volcano (El Salvador): The new eruption that occurred at the volcano Sunday (29 Dec) morning at 10:50 am local time has so far been an isolated single explosion of vulcanian type (accumulated pressure ejecting the plug in the conduit). Current seismic activity is low, but more activity could follow.
The explosion produced an ash plume of considerable (3-8 km) height, reaching estimated altitudes of 5-10 km. Heavy ash fall followed the eruption in nearby areas downwind, such as in the towns of Chinameca and San Jorge to the west. Civil Protection immediately began to evacuate families residing in a radius of 3 km around the volcano. So far, more than 5000 persons have been ordered to evacuate.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.7 Earthquake hits the Molucca Sea.
5.5 Earthquake hits New Ireland, Papua New Guinea.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Philippine Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Molucca Sea.
5.0 Earthquake hits southern Italy.
5.0 Earthquake hits Minahasa, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Tropical Storms
Indian Ocean:
Tropical cyclone Christine is located approximately 45 nm west of Port Hedland, Australia, tracking south-southwestward at 10 knots.
Christine is expected to make imminent landfall approximately 195 nm east of Learmonth. After landfall, remnants of tc Christine will accelerate southeastward and rapidly erode then dissipate due to land interaction.
Tropical cyclone (tc) 06s (bejisa), located approximately 620 nm north-northwest of La Reunion, has intensified and tracked southward at 05 knots moving away from land.
NewsBytes:
Rain, snow and floods hit Mexico - Almost five days of heavy rain has caused floods and landslides across the southern state of Tabasco this weekend.
Fire burning near homes in NSW, Australia
An emergency alert has been issued for an out-of-control bushfire burning near homes on the NSW north coast burning in the Lennox Head area near Byron Bay Road and Tobin Close. The fire was being pushed by high winds really quickly towards the threatened homes. Residents were being asked to vacate their homes.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna (Sicily, Italy): The 21st paroxysm at the New SE crater is in progress, but has still to reach its climax. At the moment, violent continuous strombolian explosions or low pulsating lava fountains occur at the summit vent and a lava flow has started to issue from the fissure vent on the SE flank of the cone.
San Miguel (El Salvador): A new eruption began at the volcano this morning at 10:50 am local time. A strong vulcanian-type explosion produced an ash plume of unknown but considerable (several km) height. According to local press, ash fall was expected in the town of Chinameca and Civil Protection has begun evacuations of families residing in a radius of 3 km around the volcano.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.9 Earthquake hits western Turkey.
5.9 Earthquake hits north of Ascension Island.
5.8 Earthquake hits Tonga.
5.5 Earthquake hits the Mariana Islands.
5.2 Earthquake hits the Mariana Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Mariana Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits Tonga.
Tropical Storms
Indian Ocean:
Tropical cyclone Christine is located approximately 202 nm north-northeast of Port Hedland, Australia and has tracked southwestward at 06 knots.
Christine is expected to continue tracking southwestward around the south towards Port Hedland before recurving southeastward, making landfall approximately 225 nm east of Learmonth, After landfall, remnants of tc Christine will gradually erode due to land interaction and dissipate.
Tropical cyclone (tc) 06s (six), has formed in the southern Indian Oceans and is located approximately 685 nm north-northwest of La Reunion, the storm has tracked southeastward at 04 knots and is expected to behave erratically over the next days.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain): No new earthquakes occurred since yesterday. The seismic signals at all stations at the same time show a slight increase in what might be weak tremor or wind and ocean-wave noise. The latest GPS deformation measurements show that some new inflation and NE displacement occurred in the northern parts of the island (HI01, HI00 and FRON stations).
Suwanose-jima (Tokara Islands, Japan): Bright glow from intense strombolian activity, or perhaps even the presence of a small lava lake or lava fountains, are visible on the JMA webcam on Nakanoshima island to the NE. VAAC Tokyo reports continuous low-level ash emissions.
Sinabung (Sumatra, Indonesia): (28 Dec) VSI confirmed that a new lava dome (a mass of viscous magma accumulating at the vent) has made its appearance on the northern crater of the volcano. It had a height of 56 meters and diameter of 105 meters on 26 Dec. Its volume was estimated to about 1 million cu meters, and the growth rate at 3.5 m3/second. A major risk posed by the dome will be block-and-ash (pyroclastic) flows caused by collapse of the instable mass, once it surpasses the rims of its crater. Another hazard, often related to the previous, are explosions of trapped pressurized gas. Whether the new lava dome will produce such potentially large explosions, will depend on how gas-rich the currently erupting magma is and how effective degassing through fissures, cracks etc. works. But most similar eruptions have almost always included significant explosive activity at some point and extreme caution should be taken around the volcano. In particular, all valleys radiating from the summit area should be avoided at all times. VSI recommends not to approach the volcano within 5 km radius (which in the case of a larger pyroclastic flow is not sufficient at all) and more than 17,000 people from about 20 villages remain evacuated.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.4 Earthquake hits the Canary Islands (El Hierro).
5.3 Earthquake hits the Canary Islands (El Hierro).
5.3 Earthquake hits the Pacific-Antarctic ridge.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Mariana Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits eastern New Guinea, Papua New Guinea.
5.0 Earthquake hits near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
Tropical Storms
Indian Ocean:
Tropical cyclone (tc) 05s (five), located approximately 306 nm north-northeast of Port Hedland, Australia, has tracked south-southwestward. Maximum sustained surface winds were estimated at 35 knots gusting to 45 knots.
A cyclone warning has been issued for coastal areas of Western Australia, with Bureau of Meteorology forecasters expecting a tropical low off the coast of Broome to strengthen over the weekend into a category 3 storm.
Heavy rain and gusts of up to 100 kilometres per hour are expected to hit the WA coast between Kuri Bay and Broome this afternoon and further extend to De Grey north of Port Hedland by Sunday morning.
NewsBytes:
Wild weather on the Canary Islands has claimed the lives of at least two people including an 11-year-old girl who were drowned when they were swept away by waves on La Graciosa Island.
The toll from heavy rains and flooding in Brazil's southeast states of Espirito Santo and Minas Gerais climbed to 45, authorities said.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
El Hierro volcano (Canary Islands): The situation has been calm over night after yesterday's M5.1 earthquake off to the west. Except abundant rockfalls and smaller landslides, the quake has not caused major damage or injuries, fortunately. Some local roads in the El Golfo area near steep cliffs have been closed. On the island itself, the signs of volcanic unrest have decreased since yesterday afternoon: tremor, still present, has decreased in strength, earthquakes have been mostly absent under the central/SE part of the island, and deformation seems to be stagnating. Whether this is a pause or sign of the near end of the current crisis is too early to say. IGN also lists the earthquake now, as a magnitude 5.1 event at 15 km depth NW off the island, i.e. on the western rift zone axis.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 Earthquake hits New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
5.0 Earthquake hits near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
NewsBytes:
Avalanche in Bulgaria's Rila Mountain has claimed life of a 54-year-old military pilot. The Mountain Rescue Service found the body of the man covered with snow.
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) - update
On 20 December 2013, WHO has been informed of four additional laboratory-confirmed cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna (Sicily, Italy): The volcano has remained mostly calm. Ash emissions from the NE crater decreased and tremor fluctuated at low levels over the holidays.
Kizimen (Kamchatka): Activity has picked up at the volcano again. An ash plume was reported this morning by VAAC Tokyo to 17,000 ft (5 km) altitude extending north. Webcam images show a significant steam plume which possibly contains ash.
This suggests that the lava dome might be entering a new phase of growth. KVERT still maintains the volcano at status "Green" (normal).
Karymsky (Kamchatka): Strombolian to mild vulcanian explosions continue at the volcano. VAAC Tokyo reported an ash plume at 15,000 ft (4,5 km) altitude drifting NW this morning.
Nishino-shima (Volcano Islands, Japan): The recently born new Niijima island merged with the main island Nishino-Jima yesterday. Both are in fact two summits of the same volcanic edifice. Activity continues to enlarge the new land by lava flows and occasional strombolian explosions.
Suwanose-jima (Ryukyu Islands): A small explosion occurred this morning (JST time) at the volcano; VAAC Tokyo reported an ash plume at 4,000 ft (1,2 km) altitude.
Sinabung (Sumatra, Indonesia): The volcano has been relatively calm and only produced a steam plume sometimes mixed with ash, but no new significant explosions. Local media talk about a new lava dome spotted at the summit, but evidence (weak red glow at night and blurred photos etc) is still very weak and should be confirmed.
On the other hand, it is a perfectly realistic scenario that the volcano, after having "cleared its throat" during the recent explosions, continues to erupt viscous lava that rises slowly and builds a lava dome at the vent(s).
Paluweh (off Flores Island, Indonesia): After several months with little activity, an ash plume was spotted again by VAAC Darwin yesterday, with an estimated altitude of 10,000 ft (3 km). The new lava dome probably continues to produce occasional collapse events and explosions.
Dukono (Halmahera): Explosive activity continues to be elevated. Several ash plumes to estimated 10,000 ft (3 km) altitude were spotted on satellite imagery by VAAC Darwin over the past days.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 Earthquake hits Fiji.
5.1 Earthquake hits Tonga.
5.0 Earthquake hits the southeast Indian ridge.
NewsBytes:
Flooding in St Vincent and the Grenadines has claimed the lives of at least eight people. A landslide and flooding in St Vincent and the Grenadines have damaged more than 24 houses. Landslides and flooding have also killed five people on St Lucia. According to BBC News Service, heavy rain has also caused destruction in Dominica, and in the eastern Caribbean.
The National Weather Service confirms at least five tornadoes struck Mississippi as a storm system moved across the state Friday and Saturday. At least three people were killed and four others injured.
Tuberculosis Outbreak In Las Vegas, USA
Las Vegas public health officials reports that 59 people have tested positive for tuberculosis after being exposed to it at a Nevada hospital neonatal intensive care unit.
A report released last month indicated that Summerlin Hospital Medical Center was not able to take precautions and failed to diagnose an infected woman’s lung disease. Vanessa White gave birth to premature twin daughters at the hospital last May. The hospital allowed the woman to visit her babies even after she was discharged.
One of the babies died last June. White herself died last July at a Los Angeles Hospital. An autopsy of her body revealed that she had tuberculosis. The other twin died last August 1 at the Summerlin Hospital due to tuberculosis.
When the hospital learned about the infection hundreds of letters were sent out to patients last August. After hospital employees tested positive for tuberculosis health officials called out the patients to have an immediate testing. They fear that around 140 infants may have been exposed between the months of May to August.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.1 Earthquake hits Kepulauan Taluad, Indonesia.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Philippine Islands.
NewsBytes:
Hurricane-force winds and torrential rains cause major flooding in England and France, disrupting travel on Christmas Eve.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.4 Earthquake hits the north Atlantic Ocean.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Red Sea.
5.1. Earthquake hits the South Sandwich Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits south of Tonga.
Tropical Storms
In the South Indian Ocean:
Tropical Cyclone Amara has run into wind shear, and dropped from Category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale to a minimal tropical storm .
Tropical cyclone 04s Bruce - no threat to land.
NewsBytes:
Flooding in Brazil has claimed the lives of at least 20 people and left around 40,000 people homeless. Six people died in Espirito Santo and 14 in Minas Gerais. A state of emergency has been declared in Espirito Santo in more than half of its states. The storm has damaged more than 6,000 homes. Several roads have been blocked due to mudslides and bridges have been washed away by flood waters.
A strong storm has caused floods, power cuts and travel chaos to much of Britain claiming the lives of at least three persons. Hurricane-force winds of up to 87 miles per hour hit the country bringing torrential downpours which caused rivers to swell and flood.
Flooding in Ohio, USA has forced the evacuation of several homeowners with La Rue reported to be worst affected.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna (Sicily, Italy): [Unless something major happens, the last update before the holidays: Merry Christmas to all!] Ash emissions from the NE crater (as well as possibly Bocca Nuova) and tremor have decreased. Will Etna give us a peaceful calm Xmas ? You can check the livecams...
El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain): The new seismic / deformation crisis continued over night with about 20 quakes between magnitudes 2-3 today so far (during the first 6 hours). The key observations are: - A migration of the quakes' hypocentres towards the south is visible.
Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): During the past week, the volcano has been relatively calm with an average of 1 explosion per day (ash plumes rising to 6-10,000 ft altitude). A slightly stronger explosion occurred this morning (evening in Japan) with an ash plume rising to 11,000 ft.
Sinabung (Sumatra, Indonesia): Activity has been low at the volcano, but occasional small explosions and ash emissions still occur. VAAC Darwin reported an ash plume at 10,000 ft (3 km) yesterday and maintains Aviation Color Code RED, as the chance of a sudden larger explosion remains high.
Dukono (Halmahera): Elevated explosive activity continues. A volcanic ash plume was detected this morning rising to 10,000 ft (3 km) altitude and drifting 30 nautical miles to the N (VAAC Darwin).
Chaitén (Southern Chile and Argentina): A visitor sent us the following short update: "Today (as of 23 Dec) the volcano was rather calm; from the town, one can identify 9 areas of incandescence at the lava dome".
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.7 Earthquake hits Guam.
5.5 Earthquake hits off the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
5.2 Earthquake hits the Mariana Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits off the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
5.0 Earthquake hits off the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
Tropical Storms
In the South Indian Ocean:
Tropical cyclone 03s Amara.
Tropical cyclone 04s Bruce.
NewsBytes:
Heavy ice storms in Canada have left nearly 500,000 people without electricity including 300,000 in Toronto alone. Some 200 flights have been cancelled at Toronto's Pearson International Airport on Sunday. It is expected to take up to three days to restore power to all customers in Toronto.
Tornadoes and snowstorms in the states of Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri, USA have claimed lives of at least eight people on Sunday.
Snow and heavy rain have hit the start of the Christmas getaway in Scotland, with roads closed due to snow in the Highlands, and flash flooding in the Borders.
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) - update
On 20 December 2013, WHO has been informed of an additional laboratory-confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Malaria outbreak in Dadeldhura, Nepal.
According to Prasotum Gautam, one of the local experts, the open border with India and the continuous migration of people between the two countries have led to the fresh outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease in the district. No information of how many people were affected was available.
Earth’s Rate Of Global Warming Is 400,000 Hiroshima Bombs A Day
Sensationalist or good metaphor?
How can one convey the Earth’s staggering rate of heat build up from human-caused global warming — 250 trillion Watts (Joules per second)?
Director of the Melbourne Energy Institute. In his TED talk Climatologist James Hansen explained the current rate of increase in global warming is:
“… equivalent to exploding 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs per day, 365 days per year. That’s how much extra energy Earth is gaining each day.”
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna (Sicily, Italy): No significant changes have occurred. Ash emissions, sometimes relatively strong, continued from the NE crater and the tremor shows a very slow gradual rising trend.
El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain): The new earthquake swarm that started under the island yesterday continues with now more than 100 quakes above magnitude 2 and several in the magnitude 3 range that were weakly felt on the island in some areas. The earthquakes are located at about 15 km depth under the southeastern central part of the island. Slight inflation is visible as well, suggesting that a new episode of magma inflation beneath the crust of the island has started. Whether or not this could lead to a new eruption is impossible to predict, but the most recent such episodes in the past 2 years occurred with no eruption following.
Nishino-shima (Volcano Islands, Japan): The new volcanic island continues to grow thanks to active lava flows and has now reached more than 50 meters and surpassed its mother island in height. Its continuing growth also makes it be at only about 50 meters shallow water distance from the Nishin-Jima island and it seems it might merge with it, rather than remaining an own new island, if activity continues.
Chaitén (Southern Chile and Argentina): The lava dome of the volcano has become more active recently. Incandescent spots are visible at night and a thermal anomaly is visible on satellite data. This suggests that new magma might be rising into the volcano. No explosive activity has (at least so far) occurred.
Palena (Southern Chile and Argentina): A pilot reported a volcanic ash cloud from the Palena volcano last evening. A picture from Andres Gillmore on twitter shows what in fact looks similar to an eruption plume, and that would mean that after Chaiten in 2008, a second volcano with no known historic eruptions has become active. But at this point, it seems more likely that the ash cloud is from a large wildfire instead, in other words, there is no new volcanic eruption. SERNAGEOMIN has not reported on the event which supports this interpretation.
Barren Island (Indian Ocean): A significant thermal anomaly remains present at the volcano which is likely in some sort of eruptive activity (lava flows?). However, no plumes could be detected on satellite imagery. An aerial survey by the Indian Navy could give more clues what is going on.
Heard (Australia, Southern Indian Ocean): Hot spots at Mawson Peak volcano remain visible on satellite imagery, but there are no indications of lava flows. What type of activity IS currently present on the volcano's summit is unknown.
New volcanic Japanese island isn't disappearing — it's growing. Niijima, as it's called, is now 19.8 acres or five times its initial size. The island sprouted out of the Pacific thanks to an undersea volcanic eruption some 600 miles south of Tokyo last month and might just be here to stay.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.3 Earthquake hits the southeast Indian ridge.
5.2 Earthquake hits the southeast Indian ridge.
5.2 Earthquake hits the Santa Cruz Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Santa Cruz Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Hindu Kush, Afghanistan.
5.0 Earthquake hits southwestern Siberia, Russia.
Tropical Storms
In the South Indian Ocean:
Tropical cyclone 03s Amara, located approximately 545 nm east-southeast of port Louis, Mauritius, has tracked southeastward at 06 knots over the past six hours.
Tropical cyclone 04s Bruce, located approximately 734 nm southeast of Diego Garcia, has tracked west-southwestward at 11 knots over the past six hours.
Winter Storm - USA
After more than a foot of snow and significant icing occurred across the southern Plains on Saturday, the ice storm is impacting northern New England for the second half of this weekend.
Disruptive snow will also continue to stretch from the Upper Midwest to central Ontario and northern Maine.
On the warm side of the storm, heavy rain has heightened concerns for flash flooding from the central Gulf Coast to the southern Appalachians as records are being shattered across the East.
NewsBytes:
Two tornadoes in Arkansas, USA have injured at least five people and damaged more than 23 houses. Arkansas is among the top five states in the US for injuries due to tornadoes.
China confirms H5N2 bird flu outbreak in Hebei
An outbreak of H5N2 bird flu in poultry has been reported in north China's Hebei Province, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) announced on Saturday.
The disease has killed 4,000 chickens raised by a farm in Baoding City after they showed symptoms of the suspected avian flu.
Local authorities have sealed off and sterilized the infected area, where a total of 125,700 chickens have been culled and safely disposed of to prevent the disease from spreading.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.4 Earthquake hits southeast of the Loyalty Islands.
5.4 Earthquake hits northern Sumatra, Indonesia.
5.3 Earthquake hits near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
5.3 Earthquake hits near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
5.2 Earthquake hits the west Chile rise.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Molucca Sea.
5.0 Earthquake hits the State of Yap, Micronesia.
5.0 Earthquake hits southeast of the Loyalty Islands.
Tropical Storms
In the South Indian Ocean:
Tropical Cyclone Amara is headed toward the Mauritius’ Rodrigues Island, prompting warnings, and weather forecasters say the storm is expected to strengthen.
Tropical Cyclone Bruce continued to strengthen over wide open waters of the Southern Indian Ocean and NASA satellite data showed its eye had cleared of clouds. Bruce is forecast to stay away from land areas and weaken over the next four days.
NewsBytes:
Landslide in Central Java, Indonesia has claimed the lives of four people and injured four others. Torrential rains in Kebumen district in Central Java triggered the landslide on Friday and came after flooding in Indonesia claimed the lives of four people and displaced over 4,000 people three days ago.
More than 1,500 people were evacuated from their homes after low-lying villages here were hit by floods in Tenom, Borneo.
Bottlenose Dolphins Oiled By Deepwater Horizon Spill are Dying
The oil spill resulting from the explosion of the deepwater horizon drilling platform initiated immediate concern for marine wildlife, including common bottlenose dolphins in sensitive coastal habitats according to a new study.
To evaluate potential sublethal effects on dolphins, health assessments were conducted in Barataria bay, Louisiana, an area that received heavy and prolonged oiling, and in a reference site, sarasota bay, florida, where oil was not observed.
Dolphins were temporarily captured, received a veterinary examination, and were then released. Dolphins sampled in Barataria bay showed evidence of hypoadrenocorticism, consistent with adrenal toxicity as previously reported for laboratory mammals exposed to oil.
Barataria bay dolphins were 5 times more likely to have moderate−severe lung disease, generally characterized by significant alveolar interstitial syndrome, lung masses, and pulmonary consolidation. Of 29 dolphins evaluated from Barataria bay, 48% were given a guarded or worse prognosis, and 17% were considered poor or grave, indicating that they were not expected to survive. Disease conditions in Barataria bay dolphins were significantly greater in prevalence and severity than those in sarasota bay dolphins, as well as those previously reported in other wild dolphin populations.
Many disease conditions observed in Barataria bay dolphins are uncommon but consistent with petroleum hydrocarbon exposure and toxicity. The study is the first to confirm that bottlenose dolphins in the areas heavily affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are suffering injuries that are consistent with exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons.
Interesting Images:
Researchers collected these images using an ultra-high-speed video camera capable of capturing 10,000 frames per second. Here, what is known as the downward leader starts propagating from a storm cloud.
Foot and Mouth - Kenya
A quarantine has been imposed in parts of Kisii county in Kenya following an outbreak of foot and mouth disease.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna (Sicily, Italy): Ash emissions from the NE crater continue with little variation, suggesting deep-seated explosive degassing inside the upper conduit. Tremor is stable with a slightly increasing tendency.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.5 Earthquake hits Pakistan.
5.5 Earthquake hits the Banda Sea.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Andaman region off India.
Tropical Storms
In the South Indian Ocean:
Tropical cyclone Amara. Amara threatens Rodrigues Island. The Mauritius Meteorological Service has already put a cyclone class 2 warning in effect.
Tropical cyclone Bruce.
Tropical Cyclone Bruce was still maintaining hurricane-force in the Southern Indian Ocean when NASA's Terra satellite passed over the eye of the storm on Thursday. Although Bruce's eye seemed to have some high clouds, the eye was still visible. Also visible were thick bands of thunderstorms wrapping around the storm's northern quadrant. Convection (rising air that forms the thunderstorms that make up a tropical cyclone) was seen strengthening around the eyewall.
Climate Change Melt Shifting Location of North Pole
The melting of ice caps and glaciers due to climate change is causing a shift in the Earth’s axis, according to new research.
Wobbles in the planet’s rotation are due to various influences, including the distribution of mass.
Observations conducted since 1899 have shown that the North Pole has been drifting south toward eastern parts of Canada at the rate of about 4 inches per year.
But that drift jogged abruptly eastward in 2005 and has totaled about 4 feet in distance since then.
Jianli Chen of the University of Texas at Austin and colleagues collected data from NASA’s GRACE satellite, which measures changes in Earth’s gravity field over time in an attempt to find out why the shift occurred.
The measurements allowed them to calculate how melting of the Greenland and Arctic ice sheets and mountain glaciers, and the resulting rise in sea level, caused a redistribution of mass on the Earth’s surface.
Computer analysis determined that it matched perfectly what it would take to cause the observed shift in the North Pole’s position.
“Ice melting and sea level change can explain 90 per cent of the (eastward shift),” Chen told the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. “The driving force for the sudden change is climate change.”
His team determined that the largest contributing factor of the shift is the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which is losing about 250 gigatons of ice each year.
North pole webcam: The location of the North Pole has begun to shift eastward from a slow drift down toward Quebec.
Global Temperature Extremes
The week's hottest temperature was 114.1 degrees Fahrenheit (45.6 degrees Celsius) at Esperance, Western Australia.
The week's coldest temperature was minus 49.0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 45.0 degrees Celsius) at Stony Rapids, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Temperatures were tabulated from the more than 10,000 worldwide synoptic weather stations. The United Nations World Meteorological Organisation sets the standards for weather observations, and provides a global telecommunications circuit for data distribution.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 Earthquake hits the Izu Islands off Japan.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Banda Sea.
5.0 Earthquake hits off the east coast of Honhsu, Japan.
Tropical Storms
In the South Indian Ocean:
Tropical Cyclone Amara is spinning in the Southern Indian Ocean along with Tropical Cyclone Bruce, and both share elongated shapes. Even Amara's 10 nautical-mile-wide eye appeared stretched out. The eye was also cloud-filled. Bands of thunderstorms were wrapping into the center of circulation from the northeast and southwest.
At 4 a.m. EST on December 18, Amara's maximum sustained winds had increased to 80 knots/92.0 mph/148.2 kph. Amara was centered about 543 nautical miles/624.9 miles/1,006 km south of Diego Garcia. Amara has tracked to the west at 3 knots/3.4 mph/5.5 kph.
Amara is in an environment of low wind shear and warm sea surface temperatures that will allow it to continue to intensify, even rapidly. Amara is moving between two subtropical ridges (elongated areas) of high pressure. In three days Amara is forecast to encounter increasing wind shear which will weaken the system. High pressure is also expected to build south of Amara, which should slow it down and bring in cooler, drier air, which will also weaken the tropical cyclone.
Britain
Gale-force winds and rain have damaged properties and felled trees across the British Isles.
Electricity was restored overnight in thousands of homes in parts of the UK. Multiple flood warnings are in place in Scotland, Wales and south-west England and an amber warning of severe gales has been issued by the Met Office. Meanwhile, snow showers are expected in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland on Thursday morning. In the afternoon, wild weather including heavy rain, hail, thunder and wet snow are expected in parts of England including the Midlands, Derbyshire, the Chilterns and the Cotswolds.
Scottish Environment Protection Agency flood warnings, indicating "flooding is expected, immediate action required", are in force for a large part of the west and centre of the country from Dumfries and Galloway to Tayside. There are more than 25 Environment Agency flood warnings in place, with homeowners in Wales, south-west England and north-west England urged to take action.
Northern Ireland Electricity has restored power to 10,000 customers after storms battered Northern Ireland, while 100 homes remain without electricity. Gale to severe gale force winds continue to affect the Western Isles and the west coast of Scotland. Roads in parts of Wales are still affected after torrential rain and high winds battered the country. About 1,250 homes were still without power in parts of Cumbria and Lancashire due to wind damage to overhead lines.
NewsBytes:
An avalanche in the Austrian Alps has claimed life of a British teenager and seriously injured his father.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna (Sicily, Italy): While the New SE crater is calm, the NE crater produces weak ash emissions.
Kilauea (Hawai'i): The lava lake in Halema'uma'u shows activity at Pu'u ‘O’o. 3 active vents with occasional small lava overflows are visible.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.8 Earthquake hits the Mariana Islands.
5.5 Earthquake hits Antofagasta, Chile.
5.4 Earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
5.3 Earthquake hits the Greenland Sea.
5.3 Earthquake hits Fiji.
5.2 Earthquake hits the Greenland Sea.
5.2 Earthquake hits the Solomon Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits south of the Kermedec Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Santa Cruz Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits Kepulauan Talaud, Indonesia.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Mariana Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Banda Sea.
Tropical Storms
In the South Indian Ocean:
Tropical cyclone Amara has formed approximately 1,400 miles (2,250 km) east of Madagascar.
Over the next 96 hours, Amara is forecast to track to the west-southwest and slowly strengthen – becoming Category 1 hurricane strength by Saturday 21 December. During this period, Amara poses no threat to land – but could potentially threaten the islands of Mauritius and Reunion early next week should the storm continue tracking to the southwest.
Tropical cyclone Four (Bruce) is located approximately 150 nm north of Cocos Island, Australia.
Bruce is gathering strength off the North-West coast of Western Australia, near Cocos Islands this morning.
Gales with wind gusts up to 100km/h are expected on Cocos Island from this morning and are likely to continue into early Thursday morning. This afternoon winds could reach 120km/h. At 7am today the cyclone had wind gusts of 95km/h at its centre which were intensifying. Heavy rain and thunderstorms will hit the islands today as the system moves closer. Meanwhile, at the other end of the WA, Esperance, 720km south east of Perth, had a record 45.3C maximum temperature yesterday.
NewsBytes:
China - Traffic in Guizhou province affected by icy weather. Extreme weather is also affecting southwest China's Guizhou province. Freezing rain hit many parts of the region on Sunday, leading to icy situations on the roads, affecting ground traffic in many parts.
Around 150,000 people have been affected by severe storms that swept across southern China this weekend. Flash flooding was reported across 158 villages in 12 townships in the city of Wanning, which is located in China’s southernmost island province of Hainan.
Floods hit the East Java cities of Bojonegoro and Gresik (Indonesia) when the Bengawan Solo and Lamong Rivers overflowed, thus killing four.
Hot November - Global
November 2013 was the earth's warmest November since records began in 1880. The year-to-date period of January - November has been the 4th warmest such period on record. November 2013 global land temperatures were the 2nd warmest on record, and global ocean temperatures were the 3rd warmest on record.
November 2013 was the 345th consecutive month with global temperatures warmer than the 20th century average. Most of the world's land areas experienced warmer-than-average monthly temperatures, including much of Eurasia, coastal Africa, Central America, and central South America. Much of southern Russia, north west Kazakhstan, south India, and southern Madagascar were record warm.
Meanwhile, northern Australia, parts of North America, and southwest Greenland were cooler than average. No regions of the globe were record cold. Russia observed its warmest November since national records began in 1891.
California
Big Sur fire burns 500 acres of California coast amid drought anxiety. Threatened by drought, on Tuesday firefighters urgently battled a 500-acre fire with dangerous growth potential in California's Big Sur. This is a season that residents in this coastal community of rugged hills normally associate with floods, not fire. 15 homes have been destroyed and the fire is only 20% contained.
Human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus – update
On 15 and 16 December 2013, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China notified WHO of two new laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus.
Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) - update
WHO has been informed of an additional two laboratory-confirmed cases of infection with Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna (Sicily, Italy): Weak lava effusion continues from the fissure on the lower NE flank of the New SE crater. Explosive activity seems to have ceased and tremor has descended back to low levels.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.7 Earthquake hits off the west coast of South Island, New Zealand.
5.6 Earthquake hits west of Macquarie Island.
5.2 Earthquake hits the South Georgia Island region.
5.2 Earthquake hits the southern Mid-Atlantic ridge.
Yesterday’s M 5.0 moderate earthquake in central China has injured three people and damaged nearly 8,000 houses.
Tropical Storms
No current tropical storms.
NewsBytes:
Storm in Bhutan has damaged more than 300 houses in eleven dzongkhags. Strong winds also brought down all phone and mobile connections since yesterday (Monday) morning.
Flash floods in Kenya have claimed the lives of at least twelve people causing widespread destruction of property and infrastructure in Kajiado County. Areas near major rivers are kept on high alert and local residents are advised to move to higher ground.
Seven homes were destroyed and more than 150 damaged when a tornado struck a Palm Coast neighbourhood in Florida, USA on Saturday.
Malaysia: Dengue Outbreak Leaves Dozens Dead
So far, nearly 38,000 cases of Dengue fever have been reported in Malaysia this year, up from nearly 21,000 cases during the same period last year. With the number of reported cases having nearly doubled, it should come as no surprise that the death toll rose from 34 to 79 people.
US Doctors Warn Against Raw Milk for Kids, Pregnant Women
In a new position statement, U.S. paediatricians say raw milk and cheeses are simply too risky for infants, children and pregnant women.
The statement urges parents not to let their kids drink unpasteurised milk or eat cheese made from it.
The doctors also called for a ban on the sale of all raw-milk products in the United States.
According to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, 148 outbreaks due to consumption of raw milk or raw-milk products were reported to the agency between 1998 and 2011.
Raw milk is milk that hasn't been pasteurised, or briefly heated to at least 161 degrees Fahrenheit to kill harmful germs. Before milk began being widely pasteurised in the United States in the 1920s, it routinely made people sick.
Raw milk can harbour bacteria that cause tuberculosis and diphtheria, as well as the germs that cause nasty bouts of stomach trouble such as Listeria and E. coli, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Children are more susceptible to these illnesses than adults, and they tend to get the worst of the complications, such as sudden and sometimes life-threatening kidney failure. Illnesses tied to raw milk also can cause miscarriages in pregnant women.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna (Sicily, Italy): It seems that the latest, highly unusual paroxysm can be regarded as over. Lava effusion ceased (or almost completely ceased) over night and tremor has continued to drop to again low levels.
The activity has dropped although a small new fissure has now opened on the lower NE side of the cone, producing a small lava flow visible in the picture; whether it is the near end of the current episode or only a pause is difficult to say.
Shiveluch (Kamchatka): Several ash plumes to altitudes of 17-20,000 ft (5-6 km) have been detected by VAAC Tokyo during the past 24 hours. Webcam images are mostly obscured by clouds, but glow can be sometimes seen at the lava dome. Most likely the ash plumes were generated by partial collapse events and/or explosions, which in turn might have been associated with new pyroclastic flows.
Nishino-shima (Volcano Islands, Japan): (16 Dec) Activity continues at the new island and has apparently picked up in strength again. Lava flows have created a significant new delta of new land during the past 3 days, enlarging the island to a current width measuring approx. 400 (E-W) by 300 (N-S) meters.
Fuego (Guatemala): (16 Dec) Activity remains elevated but stable; the lava flow increased its length a bit to 600 m this morning, while explosions have become a bit weaker and occurred at rates of 2-3 per hour. Many of them produce shock waves that rattle windows and roofs of houses in nearby villages.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.1 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.0 Earthquake hits southwest of Sumatra.
5.0 Earthquake hits Fiji.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Strait of Gibraltar.
5.0 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.0 Earthquake hits Hubei, China.
5.0 Earthquake hits northern Peru.
Tropical Storms
No current tropical storms.
NewsBytes:
Snow cyclone in eastern Russia: The city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk on the Sakhalin Island in Russia's Far East has been buried under tons of snow following two days of heavy snowfall. Hundreds of passengers have been stranded in the airports on the islands of Sakhalin Island and Kurile Russia’s Far East for the second day running over a strong snow cyclone. Around 300 more passengers are waiting for flights on the island at the alternate airport in the city of Khabarovsk, Russia’s Far East.
Several houses in Livingstone, Zambia were heavily flooded at the weekend following the continuous torrential rains experienced in the city.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Fuego (Guatemala): An increase in activity was indicated by the volcano observatory today. The explosions (strombolian type) at the summit vent occur now at rates of 6-8 per hour and lava effusion increased. Currently, the lava flow is headed towards the Cenize canyon on the SW side. It is a possibility that this activity continues to build up towards another paroxysm, in which case the occurrence of pyroclastic flows (mainly by collapsing lava flow fronts) is a likely and dangerous scenario.
Barren Island (Indian Ocean): New and relatively strong thermal signals are visible on satellite data. They suggest renewed (or increased) activity, perhaps in the form of lava flows.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.1 Earthquake hits the west Chile rise.
5.0 Earthquake hits near the east coast of Kamchatka.
Tropical Storms
No current tropical storms.
NewsBytes:
Scotland battered by severe gales: Severe gales and heavy rain have swept across parts of Scotland with gusts of 60 to 70mph in some areas. A number of ferry services on the west coast were cancelled and Traffic Scotland warned drivers of crosswinds and falling trees and debris.
Flooding and problems with overhead wires affected some ScotRail lines and some football matches were called off. Bridges have also been affected, with the Forth, Tay, Skye and Kessock road bridges closed to high-sided vehicles. The high winds also affected driving conditions on the Friarton Bridge, near Perth, the Erskine Bridge and the Dornoch Bridge.
Winter snowstorm hits U.S. New England area: A blustery winter snowstorm swept into New England on Saturday night, creating hazardous highway conditions across the region and disrupting air traffic throughout the nation.
A mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain is blanketing the northeast, from Missouri to Maine. The massive storm is stretching between 23 states. A strong storm pelted the Midwest and Northeast with heavy snow on Saturday, with some areas already seeing a foot on the ground and forecasts predicting that up to 20 states and 70 million people will feel its polar conditions through the weekend.
Cairo Snow 2013: A snowstorm hits Egypt for the first time in 112 years.
More than 4,000 people have been evacuated from flood-damaged homes in northern Gaza.
Sahara Desert Species Vanishing
The world’s largest tropical desert has lost much of its wildlife population in recent years, according to a new study of the Sahara.
Led by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zoological Society of London, researchers found that half of the 14 desert species studied were regionally extinct or confined to 1 percent or less of their historic ranges.
Writing in the journal Diversity and Distributions, the team found that the bubal hartebeest is extinct, the scimitar-horned oryx is extinct in the wild and the African wild dog and African lion no longer live anywhere in the Sahara.
Cycles of political instability and long-term regional conflicts have for decades prevented researchers from determining exactly what has decimated the wildlife populations.
“The Sahara serves as an example of a wider historical neglect of deserts and the human communities who depend on them,” said the study's lead author Sarah Durant.
But some countries have recently begun to protected what species remain.
Niger just established the nearly 40,000-square-mile Termit and Tin Toumma National Nature Reserve, which is home to most of the world's approximately 200 remaining wild addax — a type of antelope.
Cholera in Nigeria - Update
Over 300 people have been hospitalised in Kano state following the latest outbreak of cholera in various local government areas in the state.
Malawi
A severe drought in Malawi is creating food shortages and forcing women to wait all day in line at boreholes to get what little water they can.
California
Santa Ana winds could cause extreme fire danger. A high-pressure system building over the L.A. Los Angeles Basin could create dangerous fire conditions as Santa Ana winds blow over the Southland through today.
Western Australia
A controlled bushfire in Western Australia was not contained and poses a threat to homes. A bushfire warning has been downgraded to a watch-and-act alert as firefighters battle the blaze that is threatening lives and homes northeast of Perth.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna (Sicily, Italy): The 20th paroxysm at the New SE crater in 2013 began yesterday evening and ended at dawn, shortly after reaching its peak. The eruption lasted relatively long, but was relatively weak in intensity (compared to previous paroxysms). It produced only relatively low pulsating lava fountains with associated ash plumes and a small lava flow to the SE towards the Valle del Bove. Tremor has dropped sharply, but at the moment of updating, strombolian explosions, ash emission and the effusion of the lava flow continue at reduced level.
Puyehue-Cordón Caulle (Central Chile and Argentina): A significant ash(?) plume was spotted on Terra's satellite images yesterday afternoon. Since there are no other reports suggesting that a (larger in this case) eruption has occurred (e.g. heat signals, eyewitness reports, webcam), it seems likely that the plume was from wind-mobilized ash from the 2011-12 eruption. If new evidence of an eruption becomes available, we'll follow up, and please post a comment if you have other data. A passenger on a cruise ship reported: "Cruise ship Seabourn Quest sailing out of Castro, Chile, just passed what we believe is the actively erupting Chaiten volcano. Eruption ash cloud clearly visible throughout sunset, 8.15 to 9.00pm, 12/14/2013. Pyroclastic cloud going down left (north) flank. Secondary vents erupting on the flanks."
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.4 Earthquake hits near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
5.0 Earthquake hits near the coast of Ecuador.
Tropical Storms
No current tropical storms.
NewsBytes:
A landslide in Casiguran, a town in Aurora province in the Philippines has hit a house claiming the lives of 4 people. Several people have been evacuated from their homes due to rising floods caused by heavy rain. More flash floods and landslides in Aurora and Quezon are expected.
Heavy snow storm in Jerusalem, Israel has displaced around 1500 people following a record snow storm, the strongest in 60 years. Several schools, roads, and businesses have been closed in Jerusalem.
Shooting of Snowy Owls at NYC Airports
One of the largest influxes of Arctic snowy owls in history is in progress across the northeastern United States and the Great Lakes region. Experts from Cornell University say a shortage of their favorite food up north, lemmings, or a bumper crop of young, is responsible for the "irruption."
An outcry over the killing of the impressive raptors in the name of aircraft safety at New York area airports prompted the Port Authority to switch to nonlethal methods to remove the snowy owls from JFK and LaGuardia airports.
The agency said five planes at the three main New York City airports had been struck by owls in recent weeks.
“The Port Authority’s goal is to strike a balance in humanely controlling bird populations at and around the agency’s airports to safeguard passengers on thousands of aircrafts each day,” the agency said.
The birds appear to be attracted to airports because their open expanses in the midst of urban sprawl look similar to the owls’ normal Arctic tundra homes.
Bird strikes around area airports became a more pressing issue after U.S. Airways flight 1549 was forced to ditch into the Hudson River in 2009 because Canada geese were sucked into both of the jetliner’s engines.
Last January, unprecedented numbers of the snowy owls wintered as far south as Seattle and Oklahoma. One was even sighted in Hawaii for the first time ever before being shot.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna volcano (Sicily): After yesterday's deep-seated activity in the NE crater, explosions have started at the New SE crater this morning at 09:25 (local time), when a relatively powerful explosion occurred. The explosion was near the surface and tremor started to rise steeply in correspondence. Although it has now dropped again a bit, it seems likely that the 20th paroxysm at the NSEC is about to occur.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.4 Earthquake hits offshore El Salvador.
5.3 Earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
5.2 Earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits Sulawesi, Indonesia.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
Tropical Storms
No current tropical storms.
NewsBytes:
Flooding in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has claimed the lives of at least three people and displaced more than 2,000 people this week.
Baixada Fluminense located between the Atlantic Ocean and the mountains of Rio de Janeiro is believed to be worst affected by recent floods.
Severe flooding has forced dozens of families in the Gaza Strip to leave their homes as a severe winter storm battered much of the Eastern Mediterranean.
Interesting Images:
Heavy Fog Enshrouds London
An impenetrable fog rolled into London Wednesday morning (Dec. 11), which caused some travel woes, and also produced rare views of the city's skyline from above, with only the tallest buildings poking above the mist.
Global Warming Has Not Paused: Study
New research finds that while the rate of surface warming of the planet due to climate change has slowed since 1998, the effects of warming are still advancing at a rapid pace.
Climate researchers from the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research say it is a myth that global warming has paused, owing to solid evidence that the world’s oceans are now absorbing more than 90 percent of the excess heating of the planet.
Researcher Kevin Trenberth estimates that the oceans are accumulating heat equivalent to about 6 Hiroshima atomic bomb detonations per second on average.
Warming of the planet due to greenhouse emissions is still melting glaciers and ice caps, lifting ocean levels and creating some of the hottest periods on record around the planet.
Writing in the American Geophysical Union open-access journal Earth’s Future, Trenberth and colleague John Fasullo say that “global warming has not stopped; it is merely manifested in different ways.”
Greenhouse gas emissions continue to surge from polluting industry and transportation, setting the stage for even more intense warming in the decades ahead, researchers warn.
Global Temperature Extremes
The week's hottest temperature was 113.2 degrees Fahrenheit (45.1 degrees Celsius) at Matam, Senegal.
The week's coldest temperature was minus 48.5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 44.7 degrees Celsius) at Eureka, Nunavut (Canada).
Temperatures were tabulated from the more than 10,000 worldwide synoptic weather stations. The United Nations World Meteorological Organization sets the standards for weather observations, and provides a global telecommunications circuit for data distribution.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna volcano (Sicily): Tremor has started to increase this morning, although so far, no visible activity at the New SE crater has appeared while strong degassing from the NE crater continues. The next hours will probably show whether the volcano is going to prepare its next paroxysm in the near future or not.
Fly-By View of An Eruption
Getting a good wide-angle view of an erupting volcano can be difficult, even for the most accomplished photographers or orbiting satellites.
Views from most locations on the surface aren’t able to provide the full scope of the eruption and resulting ash cloud.
Space satellites are typically looking straight down as they pass over any spewing mountains, resulting in flattened, one-dimensional views.
But astronauts aboard the International Space Station can look off toward the horizon and can occasionally snap a photo like the one to the right.
It was taken on November 16, 2013, with a NASA digital camera as the orbiting laboratory passed to the southwest of Russia’s Klyuchevskoi volcano, located on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The photo gives an almost three-dimensional-type view, similar to what might be seen from a high-flying aircraft.
It not only shows the numerous volcanic peaks surrounding the erupting Klyuchevskoi, but also highlights the enormous plume of volcanic debris that extends outward toward the horizon.
Closer examination reveals that the heavier ash particles were falling from the main plume, and being carried northward by low-level winds.
But stronger winds aloft were blowing from a mainly westerly direction, sending the remaining lighter plume of steam and other gases out across the North Pacific.
Klyuchevskoi has been erupting sporadically since August. It sent another large plume of ash 4 miles into the atmosphere during a December 7 blast, three weeks after this NASA photo was taken.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.0 Earthquake hits south of Java, Indonesia.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Xixang-Qinghai border region, China.
Fierce Typhoons Spread Japan's Nuclear Contamination
An unusually active and fierce typhoon season in Japan has brought a fresh flood of hazardous cesium particles from the country’s Fukushima nuclear disaster zone to areas downstream, researchers say. A joint study by France’s Climate and Environmental Science Laboratory and Japan’s Tsukuba University finds that people who escaped the initial fallout from reactor meltdowns in March 2011 could now find their food and water contaminated by the radioactive particles as typhoon runoff penetrates agricultural land and coastal plains.
The five typhoons that struck Japan during October alone were the most ever recorded during the month. Two other named storms struck the archipelago during September.
Earlier studies found that soil erosion from the tropical cyclones can move the radioactive isotopes cesium-134 and -137 from the mountains near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant into rivers and then out into the Pacific.
The latest research concludes that typhoons “strongly contribute” to soil dispersal, though it can be months later, after the winter snow melts, that nuclear contamination finally runs off into rivers.
Tropical Storms
In the North Indian Ocean:
Tropical cyclone Madi is located approximately located about 560 km east-northeast of Chennai, India and 820 km north-northeast of Sri Lanka.
The cyclonic storm Madi situated over the southwest Bay of Bengal waned on Monday evening and moved northwards on Tuesday and will not have any major effect on Kerala, India.
NewsBytes:
Lebanon - Winter storm. The UN says it is "extremely concerned" for Syrian refugees in Lebanon as a fierce winter storm bears down. There has been snow, rain, high winds and freezing temperatures in the north of the country and the Bekaa Valley, home to more than 200 informal camps. Syrian refugees are living in makeshift homes in the harsh winter conditions. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said it was "working harder than ever" to protect the more than 800,000 Syrians sheltering in Lebanon. At least 80,000 refugees will have to spend the winter in tents. Many others are living in unfinished or unheated buildings with only slightly more protection. Items have been stockpiled to help refugees whose shelters might be damaged or destroyed, including plastic sheeting, floor mats, blankets and mattresses.
RIP Comet ISON
Comet ISON broke apart during its highly anticipated solar flyby on Nov. 28, emerging from behind the sun as a diffuse cloud of dust that has since all but dissipated in the darkness of deep space.
Comet ISON, which was discovered by two Russian amateur astronomers in September 2012, was making its first trip to the inner solar system from the distant and frigid Oort Cloud. The comet skimmed just 684,000 miles (1.1 million kilometres) above the surface of the sun on Nov. 28.
Comet ISON's perilous journey was tracked closely by skywatchers, who hoped the icy wanderer would put on a great celestial show, and scientists, who watched the gases boiling off ISON to learn more about comet composition and structure.
Both groups had hoped the viewing campaign would last beyond perihelion, or closest approach, but Comet ISON couldn't survive the sun's intense heat and powerful gravitational pull.
"At this point, it seems like there's nothing left," comet expert Karl Battams, of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., said here today at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.
Comet ISON comes in from the bottom right and moves out toward the upper right, getting fainter and fainter, in this time-lapse image from the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory on Nov. 28, 2013. The image of the sun at the centre is from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna (Sicily, Italy): The situation has remained more or less unchanged. Etna has been quiet except intense degassing from the NE crater and a faint plume from the NSEC. There are currently no signs of the expected next paroxysm at the New SE crater and tremor has decreased overall during the past days (of course, this can change quickly).
Klyuchevskoy (Kamchatka): Low-level ash emissions continue.
Nishino-shima (Volcano Islands, Japan): Activity has decreased significantly over the past days. A video from 10 December shows no more strombolian explosions, only degassing and no significant changes to the size of the island compared to a week ago. It is possible that there is still weak effusion of lava, but it appears that the eruption could have come to an end.
Sinabung (Sumatra, Indonesia): No ash emissions have been detected during the past 48 hours, the crater shows only a degassing plume, but alert level remains at red, because new explosions could occur any time. The government has extended the emergency status until at least 21 December, which implies that the more than 17,000 evacuees remain in the total of 31 shelters. Their situation is difficult, with help needed in form of food, water, medicines and sanitary supplies.
Merapi (Central Java): Another small phreatic explosion occurred at the summit lava dome this morning at 08:10 local time. it produced an ash plume rising 500 m. According to VSI, rainwater infiltration into the hot rocks of the dome caused the eruption.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 Earthquake hits the Santa Cruz Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Revilla Gigedo Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits Costa Rica.
Tropical Storms
In the North Indian Ocean:
Tropical cyclone Madi is approaching India and is forecast to strike there as a tropical storm on Friday the 13th.
‘Cyclone Madi’ will pack some punch when crossing India's coast on Friday. Very severe cyclone Madi has weakened, and is forecast to enter Tamil Nadu coast by Friday as a storm just below cyclonic strength.
New Cold Temperature Record
The coldest place on Earth is a high ridge on the East Antarctic Plateau.
The temperatures there have plunged to minus 93.2 degrees Celsius. The previous record holder was the Vostok Research Station, which reached minus 89 degrees Celsius in 1983.
Madagascar village 'hit by bubonic plague'
Tests were carried out after at least 20 people in the village, near the north-western town of Mandritsara, were reported to have died last week. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned in October that Madagascar was at risk of a plague epidemic. The disease is transmitted to humans via fleas, usually from rats.
Bubonic plague, known as the Black Death when it killed an estimated 25 million people in Europe during the Middle Ages, is now rare. Last year, Madagascar had 60 deaths from the plague, the world's highest recorded number. Health officials have now gone to the remote area to investigate.
Prisoners on the island are usually most affected by the plague, which is spread because of unhygienic conditions. The prevalence of rats in Madagascar's prisons means the plague can spread easily. There are concerns that the disease could spread to towns and cities where living standards have declined since a coup in 2009 and the ensuing political crisis.
Chikungunya in the French part of the Caribbean isle of Saint Martin
On 6 December 2013, WHO was notified of two laboratory confirmed cases of locally acquired chikungunya disease in the French part of the Caribbean isle of Saint Martin. The other part of the isle is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Sint Maarten).
There has been an outbreak of dengue fever on St Martin / Sint Maarten since January 2013. Chikungunya disease was detected during an investigation following the notification of five cases with joint pains and fever on 18 November 2013, for whom the diagnosis of dengue was excluded. The onset of symptoms of the five cases occurred between 12 October and 15 November 2013.
As of 10 December 2013, altogether two confirmed, four probable and twenty suspected cases of chikungunya infection have been reported.
Chikungunya is a viral disease that is rarely fatal and is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. Symptoms of chikungunya include high fever and headache, with significant pains in the joints (ankles, wrists), which can persist for several weeks.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): Activity in the past few days has been comparably low. No significant explosions have been registered for 2 days. The latest stronger explosions occurred during 5-6 December. Assuming it continues to follow its apparent roughly weekly rhythm of alternating stronger and weaker activity, some stronger explosions can be expected to break the "silence" soon.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.4 Earthquake hits San Juan, Argentina.
5.4 Earthquake hits near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
5.3 Earthquake hits southern Sumatra, Indonesia.
5.3 Earthquake hits the Volcano Islands, Japan.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Balleny Islands.
Philippines
The magnitude 7.2 earthquake that hit parts of Central Visayas last Oct. 15 moved part of Bohol closer to Cebu. The powerful quake - which left more than 200 people dead - moved Bohol, including Tagbilaran City, by 55 centimetres west towards Cebu. The phenomenon does not pose any threat to Cebu or Bohol however.
The tremor was generated by a blind fault, now called the North Bohol Fault. The movement was discovered through GPS (Global Positioning System) in Tagbilaran City. "This is normal, especially during a large quake." The tremor has generated at least 4,026 aftershocks, 114 of which were felt.
Tropical Storms
In the North Indian Ocean:
Tropical Cyclone 'Madi' is stationary in the Bay of Bengal between Chennai, India, & Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.
Madi, in the Bay of Bengal, is expected to weaken gradually and move northwards slowly for 24 hours and then recurve towards west-southwest, the India Meteorological reported. The bulletin said that, under the influence of this system, rainfall would occur at a few places over coastal Andhra Pradesh and at isolated places over coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and Andaman & Nicobar Islands during the next 48 hours.
Flooding in Libya
Flooding in Libya has claimed the lives of at least six people and damaged 400 houses.
Heavy rainfall triggered flooding in the western Libyan city of Zawiya on Saturday.
Libya has witnessed the heaviest rainfall in 40 years in the first week of December.
Altogether 10 people have died in continuous flooding in Libya since early December.
Flooding in Brazil
Floods in Northeastern Brazil have claimed the lives of at least 11 people and left six others missing, Bahia's Civil Defence emergency response agency said.
Heavy rainfall caused flooding in Lajedinho which destroyed some 70 houses and displaced around 200 people.
Brazil's northeast is facing its worst drought in a century.
Flash floods and landslides are common in much of Brazil. Illegal construction, deforestation and unregulated housing has been blamed for devastating effects of the flooding in Brazil.
NewsBytes
Following last Friday’s major winter storm that brought heavy snows and significant icing from Texas to Maine (“Cleon”), a new winter storm dubbed “Dion” followed a similar track on Sunday. The deadly winter storm kept a tight grip on much of the United States on Monday as cold, snow and ice spread across the East Coast. As much as 5 inches (12.7 cm) of snow were forecast for Monday night into Tuesday and much of the area from Virginia to coastal New England were under winter weather advisories.
Human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus – update
On 28 November and 6 December 2013, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China notified WHO of two new laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Etna (Sicily, Italy): The New SE crater has remained quiet over night, while tremor has risen a bit overall. The NE crater in turn shows intense degassing.
Klyuchevskoy (Kamchatka): Relatively strong ash emissions continue. This morning, the plume rose to about 27,000 ft (7 km) altitude, drifting NW.
Bagana (Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea): New explosions occurred this morning. An ash plume rose to 10,000 ft (3 km) altitude this morning and drifted 20 nautical miles to the east (VAAC Darwin).
Sinabung (Sumatra, Indonesia): After a relatively calm period, a large vulcanian explosion occurred at the volcano this morning (04:30 GMT). VAAC Darwin reports an ash plume to 38,000 ft (12 km) altitude drifting 50 nautical miles to the NW. The eruption was preceded by a smaller one at midnight (GMT) with an ash plume altitude of estimated 18,000 ft (5.5 km). The volcano has been on red alert for 2 weeks and more than 17,000 people remain evacuated (for good reason!).
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.9 Earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
5.5 Earthquake hits Halmahera, Indonesia.
5.2 Earthquake hits the South Sandwich Islands.
5.2 Earthquake hits the Samoa Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits Turkmenistan.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
Tropical Storms
In the North Indian Ocean:
Tropical cyclone Madi is located approximately 255 nm east of Chennai, India. Madi is forecast to strike India as a tropical storm on December 13.
Winter Storm - USA
The powerful storm that crept across the US has dumped a mix of snow, freezing rain and sleet on the mid-Atlantic region and headed northeast, threatening as much as a foot of snow in Delaware and New Jersey. The storm on Sunday forced the cancellation of thousands of flights across the US and slowed traffic on roads, leading to a number of accidents.
But the heavy snow wasn't limited to the East Coast. A snowstorm that hit along the Utah-Arizona border left hundreds of travellers stranded on Interstate 15 overnight into Sunday. The Arizona Highway Patrol said passengers in about 300 vehicles became stranded after up to 10 inches of snow and slick road conditions prompted the closure of part of the highway
Smog Shrouds China
The smog choking central and eastern China has caused the number of people seeking treatment in hospitals for respiratory problems to jump. The pollution reduced visibility to a soup, disrupted flights and caused many people to stay home. "It stinks like smoke. The air really scratches in your throat. We've never experienced such terrible smog."
Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Henan provinces have suffered smog for six consecutive days, while other central and eastern regions have experienced three to five days.
Sub-Arctic Lakes Shrinking Due to Climate Change
A trend toward drier summers and less snowy winters in sub-Arctic Canada is leading to an unprecedented drying up of the region’s expansive network of lakes, according to a new study. In a report published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers from four universities found that the shift in climate and the shrinking of the lakes that followed has not happened for at least the past 200 years.
Some lakes first began showing signs of losing water in 2010, but observers say it became far more pronounced during this past summer.
Researchers made the discovery after studying 70 lakes near Old Crow, Yukon, and Churchill, Manitoba. Most of the lakes there are less than 3 feet deep.
“With this type of lake, precipitation in the form of snow represents 30 to 50 percent of the annual water supply,” explained lead author, Frédéric Bouchard, from Université Laval's Department of Geography and Canada’s Center for Northern Studies.
Average winter precipitation from 2010 to 2012 dropped by almost 3 inches compared to the 1971-2000 average.
“It’s difficult to predict all the repercussions of this habitat loss,” Bouchard concludes, “but it’s certain that the ecological consequences will be significant.”
Study Links Arctic Melting, Extreme Weather
As ice at the North Pole disappears at an alarming rate, researchers are finding a link with recent bouts of extreme weather.
A new study suggests rapid warming in the Arctic may be altering weather patterns across the Northern Hemisphere.
But skeptics say the case is far from proven.
An “unbelievable amount of change” is happening in the Arctic, says Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis. Just half as much area is covered by ice compared to 30 years ago.
“And if you take into account the thickness as well, we’ve lost almost three-quarters of the volume of the sea ice,” she said.
At the same time, the Northern Hemisphere has seen some unbelievable weather in the last decade: Record-breaking heat waves and droughts in North America and Europe, and devastating floods in East Asia, to name a few.
Francis and colleagues went back through three decades of weather data and measurements of Arctic ice and snow cover in northern latitudes. They found that, “when there was less ice or less snow in any given year during the summertime, that that was more likely to occur at the same time as the occurrences of heat waves,” she says.
They published their findings in Nature Climate Change.
Francis says the loss of ice and snow are affecting the high-altitude wind patterns called the jet stream, which push weather patterns around the Northern Hemisphere.
The jet stream is driven by the difference in temperature between the Arctic and the temperate zones. The bigger the difference, the faster the jet stream flows.
But Francis notes that the Arctic is warming at least twice as fast as the rest of the planet.
“If we warm the arctic faster,” she said, “it’s decreasing the temperature difference and causing the jet stream to get weaker.”
Global greenhouse gas emissions will continue to melt the Arctic for decades to come.
“The loss of sea ice will go from 50 percent to 100 percent in the next 20 years or so, it will end up with an increased chance of more of these extreme weather events.”
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Marapi (Western Sumatra, Indonesia): Another small ash eruption occurred yesterday morning 10:10 am local time, the Jakarta Post wrote. According to the article, the explosion produced a small ash plume rising 350 m. VSI maintains the volcano on unchanged alert level 2 (out of 4, "Waspada", "alert").
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.3 Earthquake hits the Alaska Peninsula.
5.3 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.0 Earthquake hits Tonga.
5.0 Earthquake hits Negros in the Philippines.
5.0 Earthquake hits offshore O’Higgins, Chile.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Revilla Gigedo Islands.
Tropical Storms
In the North Indian Ocean:
Tropical cyclone Madi is located approximately 270 nm southeast of Chennai, India.
Tropical Cyclone 06B Forms East of India - Cyclone Madi has developed over the Bay of Bengal, just northeast of Sri Lanka and east of India. After producing locally heavy rainfall across Sri Lanka, Cyclone Madi will intensify into a severe storm, bringing rain or thundershowers over some parts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in India. It is the sixth tropical cyclone of the Northern Indian Ocean season.
Extratropical Cyclone Xaver
Xaver has moved across Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Poland. Wind speeds were recorded at 158 km/h when the storm reached Germany and heavy winds affected the Netherlands, Poland, and parts of Scandinavia. Massive storm surges have occurred along the coasts of southeastern England, the Netherlands, and northern Germany.
Xaver developed off the coast of Greenland on December 4, and its development was enhanced by another low-pressure system, Wilhelm, which was located over the Norwegian Sea on December 4-5. Xaver passed north of Scotland on December 5, where its central pressure had dropped to 975 mb from a reading of 1010 mb less than 24 hours earlier. A pressure drop of this type, which deepens by 24 mb or more over 24 hours, often produces a phenomenon known as rapid cyclogenesis (or a weather “bomb”).
The greatest threat from Xaver has been the high spring tides, which along with Xaver’s slow track have enhanced storm surges on Thursday and Friday. The storm surge in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands is the highest seen since the deadly North Sea floods of 1953; however, disaster has been averted thanks to strengthened flood defenses in both countries.” In England, the Thames Barrier will be closed for the second time in two days in accordance with the tide, preventing the surge from reaching London as it did in 1953. Xaver’s surge caused a difference of two meters in water height between the front and back of the barrier.
Flood defenses in the Netherlands successfully held back the rising water by closing off the Eastern Scheldt barrier for the first time since 2007. In southwestern Zeeland, the sea reached 3.99 m above mean sea level. Germany is comparing Xaver to the 1962 floods, which submerged nearly a fifth of Hamburg’s municipal area with water 5.7m above mean sea level. Xaver’s storm surge reached 4-6m above mean sea level. However, the area has fared far better thanks to Germany’s 8m dikes.
NewsBytes
Floods continue in Malaysia. More people were evacuated in Pahang and Terengganu overnight as the east coast states continued to endure the annual monsoon floods which have also struck Kelantan and Johor. A total of 65,102 people remained at evacuation centres in the four states as of 10 am today, with the largest number of 40,819 in Pahang.
Disease kills hundreds of seabirds on remote Alaska island
A disease has killed hundreds of seabirds on an island in the Bering Sea — the first documented outbreak in the state.
Avian cholera is to blame for the birds found dead on the beaches of St. Lawrence Island, 200 miles from the mainland, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The disease is common elsewhere, including in California, Nevada and Texas.
Most of the birds turned up on a 10-mile beach frequented by seal hunters. One hunter in Gambell spotted a bird on the beach with its head flopping backward before it dropped dead.
Early reports put the number of dead birds at 200 to 300 bird per square kilometre.
Tonga
Drought in Tonga putting pressure on drinking water. A four-month drought in the Ha'apai island group in Tonga is putting stress on supplies of drinking water.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
Klyuchevskoy (Kamchatka): Ash emissions have continued at reduced intensity. This morning, the ash plume was about 300 km long drifting to the ENE.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.7 Earthquake hits the Alaska Peninsula.
5.1 Earthquake hits southeast of the Loyalty Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits Taiwan.
5.0 Earthquake hits Halmahera, Indonesia.
Slippery Clay at Fault in 2011 Japan Earthquake
Slippery clay that looks like scaly black dragon skin is the crucial clue needed to explain the 2011 Japan earthquake's surprising impact, according to three studies published Dec. 5 in the journal Science.
The clay, which resists slipping just slightly better than a banana peel, lines the shallow part of the massive plate boundary fault offshore of Japan, where the seafloor jumped eastward by a staggering 165 feet (50 meters) on March 11, 2011. The enormous surge gave the ocean a giant slap, generating the destructive tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people.
The Tohoku quake was a magnitude 9.0, but it was like no subduction quake ever seen before. Before the 2011 earthquake, scientists thought subduction zones concentrated their energy deeply, where rocks are strong and plates can stick together between quakes. (Faults store energy between earthquakes kind of like springs, slowly squeezing until the boundary unleashes and everything rips apart.) But the Tohoku temblor was a surprise — the shallow part of the fault shifted twice as much as the deeper part. These soft, muddy rocks were expected to be too weak to store energy between earthquakes.
"We'd never seen such large slip happen at very shallow depth in a subduction zone before.”
The studies conclude the dragon-skin clay was the earthquake's weak link. The slippery clay helped the plates slide so far during the 2011 temblor.
And because the clay layer is a distinctive marker found buried across the Northwest Pacific seafloor, scientists fear subduction zones near Alaska and Russia may also hide this clay. If so, their potential for powerful tsunamis could be greater than thought.
Hurricane "Xaver"
Xaver brought a fierce and stormy night to many parts of Germany. The North Sea continued to batter against dikes in the early hours of Friday, with storm winds snapping trees and damaging buildings in the country's north.
In the port city of Hamburg, the flood reached a level of 6.09 meters above sea level by 6:30 a.m., however, despite danger warnings being issued ahead of the surge, the water level has already begun to recede. The storm has caused only a few accidents involving injuries in Germany.
The German transport ministry said until Sunday people should limit travel by road and rail to journeys which are "absolutely necessary" as train services were also restricted. In preparation for the storm In Hamburg schools and Christmas markets were closed and ferries to Germany's North Sea islands were kept in port. Warnings were also made in adjoining states of Schleswig-Holstein and Bremen.
After causing huge damage in western Europe, hurricane Xaver hit Poland in the early hours of Friday morning with winds of around 100 km per hour and gusts of 130 km per hour claiming the lives of at least five people in Poland and leaving an estimated 400,000 people without electricity.
NewsBytes
Small tornado hit New Plymouth, New Zealand causing some damage to properties.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:
El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain): No significant changes have occurred during the past months. Since the last energetic seismic swarm and deformation event in late March / early April this year, earthquake activity has remained more or less stable, although above background (pre-2011) levels. In the past months, averages ranged from 5-10 mostly small (below magnitude 3) daily events. Most of them are clustered at approx. 10 km depth beneath the central part of the island. No significant deformation has taken place in this period either.
Suwanose-jima (Ryukyu Islands): Weak reddish glow can be seen above the active Ontake crater at night. It is possible (if not likely) that there is weak strombolian activity. During the past weeks, a few more energetic explosions produced ash plumes that could be identified by VAAC Tokyo.
Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): Strong degassing with high SO2 content and glow from the crater characterise the current activity. There have been almost no explosive emissions during the past 24 hrs.
Heard (Australia, Southern Indian Ocean): A hot spot at the summit crater is visible on MODIS satellite data, suggesting resumed or ongoing activity of some sort (small lava dome, lava lake?).
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 Earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits Tajikistan.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Santa Cruz Islands.
Windstorm "Xaver"
For the first time since 2007, the massive flood gates that protect the Netherlands from the North Sea have been closed, as a mighty North Sea storm hurls a huge storm surge propelled by near-hurricane force winds against the coast of the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark.
A squall line with severe thunderstorms has developed along a cold front that is sweeping across Northern Europe Thursday afternoon, and these thunderstorms are bringing intense lightning, heavy rains, and damaging winds. The European Storm Forecast Experiment is warning of the risk of tornadoes with this squall line, and damaging wind gusts of up to 90 mph (145 kph) in the severe thunderstorms.
The storm has killed pone person in Scotland and left at least four people dead or missing in Europe, causing transport chaos and threatening the biggest tidal surge in decades. Dozens of flights were cancelled or delayed in the Netherlands, Germany and Scotland, while rail services were shut down in several countries.
One of Europe's longest bridges - connecting Sweden to Denmark - closed. Tens of thousands of homes were also left without power as the storm hit. Winds of up to 228 km/h (142 mph) battered Scotland, where a lorry driver was killed when his vehicle was blown over near Edinburgh. At least two other people were injured by falling trees.
Two sailors were reportedly swept overboard from a ship 22 km (14 miles) off the southern Swedish coast, and air-sea rescue services failed to find them. A storm surge was due later on Thursday, coinciding with high tides in many areas. Britain's Environment Agency said tidal surges could bring significant coastal flooding, and the Thames Barrier was being closed to protect London. British authorities said they had evacuated homes in Great Yarmouth, eastern England, adding that it could be the biggest storm surge for 60 years.
In the low-lying Netherlands, the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier has been closed off for the first time in six years. Dutch authorities said they had issued the highest possible flood warning for four areas in the north and north-west of the country. There are heavy winds in the Netherlands.
Germany reinforced emergency services in and around the northern port of Hamburg and cancelled lessons at several schools. The storm was causing transport chaos throughout northern Europe.
NewsBytes
Thousands of people have been left homeless following continued flooding in parts of Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region. The floods began in August and have continued over the past couple of months, with large tracts of farmland being inundated, raising fears of livelihood losses and disease.
