Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 Earthquake hits the southern Mid-Atlantic ridge.
5.1 Earthquake hits the southern Mid-Atlantic ridge.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Andreanof Islands in the Aleutian Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits off the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
5.0 Earthquake hits Alaska.
5.0 Earthquake hits northeastern Iran.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
No current tropical storms.
Newsbytes:
New Zealand - A flood warning has been issued for Auckland, with heavy rain causing chaos across the city. The wettest June hour in history left motorists stranded in their cars, workers trapped in a building and countless properties and businesses flooded and evacuated across Auckland.
Ghana - Over 200 people in Kumasi were displaced over the weekend following a heavy downpour that lasted two hours Friday night. More than 100 houses were flooded. Local authorities attributed the flooding to choked gutters and poor drainage and location of structures in the area.
Amazon: Humans make rainforest more flammable
Human disturbances are making the Amazon rainforest more flammable, according to researchers. This is one of the conclusions of a two-year study of the Brazilian Amazon, which revealed that even protected forest is degraded by human activity. This activity includes selective logging and forest fragmentation, which increase the likelihood of wildfires.
While the Brazilian Amazon is protected from large-scale deforestation, this new study suggests that more effort is needed to safeguard what the scientists called the "hyper-diversity of tropical forests".
This team set out to measure the effects that humans have on the rainforest - no easy feat in a dense landscape of 5.5 million sq km. They selected 400 plots, on a gradient of forest cover - ranging from pristine to deforested areas.
Selective logging can leave the forest fragmented or punch holes in the canopy, drying out the vegetation below. This, combined with the effects of climate change, is leaving the Amazon much more likely to catch fire.
Many bird species unique to the Amazon were suffering the most from these effects. These endemic species cannot survive in disturbed forests.
Rainforests don't normally burn, but human activities are making them much more flammable.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.5 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.4 Earthquake hits Tajikistan.
5.1 Earthquake hits near the south coast of Papua, Indonesia.
5.1 Earthquake hits Kyrgyzstan.
5.1 Earthquake hits the southern Mid-Atlantic ridge.
5.0 Earthquake hits Alaska.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Tropical cyclone (tc) 02a (Two), located approximately 248 nm east of Masirah Island, is tracking south-southwestward at 02 knots.
Newsbytes:
Pakistan - Rain related incidents in Quetta, Pakistan has claimed the lives of at least four people including two children and injured more than 20 others on Monday. A flash flood collapsed the boundary walls of Sandeman Civil Hospital and dozens of mud houses have collapsed and been damaged in slums and downstream areas of the city.
Philippines - At least 1,400 families or close to 7,500 individuals evacuated to higher ground when their homes in the towns of Matalam and Kabacan in North Cotabato were flooded early Tuesday dawn. The Kabacan and Pulangi Rivers swelled and overflowed to low-lying villages. Moderate to heavy rains caused the rivers and other waterways to overflow and send runoff to residential and vast agricultural areas in the low-lying villages of the town. hundreds of hectares of newly planted rice fields were also submerged in flood water.
Light pollution is causing spring to arrive a week early
Light pollution has another side-effect, it can push spring to emerge a week earlier in cities than in the country, a new study has found.
Trees were in bud an average of seven-and-a-half days earlier in well-lit areas than in dark spots. The early budding may cause problems for insects, which feed on leaves, and the birds which then feed on them in turn.
Sycamore, ash, oak and beech trees were all found to bud early under the influence of artificial light. Light had a more significant effect than temperature on when buds emerged, the scientists found.
Caterpillars are timed to hatch to make the most of opportunities to feed from freshly budded leaves, and birds hatch in time to feed off the young caterpillars. If this cascade effect is thrown out of sync, then wildlife is bound to suffer.
The amount of artificial light produced at night is growing by 6 per cent annually, the researchers say. Street lights have been found to confuse many species that prefer dark conditions, such as moths and bats.
Wildfires - California - Update
Search dogs checking neighborhoods incinerated by a 6-day-old wildfire in the Sierra Nevada haven’t found any more bodies, leaving the death toll at two, fire officials reported.
After burning nearly 73 square miles of brush and grass, the blaze was 60 percent contained. Winds that might push the fire were light, and crews continued to protect homes and carve a fire line. Inspectors tallied 257 homes and other buildings destroyed and 17 damaged. More than 1,800 firefighters were on the lines and firefighting costs reached $13 million.
Northeast of Los Angeles, two adjacent fires in the San Gabriel Mountains above foothill suburbs collectively covered 8½ square miles. The San Gabriel Complex was 72 percent contained nine days after the fires erupted. With 481 firefighters on the lines, high temperatures and oppressive humidity from the latest early season heat wave were a concern.
In far northwestern California, a 4½-square-mile fire in Klamath National Forest was 63 percent contained. The fire has been burning 15 miles southwest of Happy Camp in Siskiyou County.
East of San Diego and west of Santa Barbara, fires that each charred more than 11 square miles, were near full containment.
A 1-square-mile blaze that scarred the U.S. 395 community of Lee Vining in Mono County and smaller fires in Orange, San Luis Obispo and Lake counties were 50 to 85 percent contained.
Residents of a rural subdivision 50 miles northeast of Sacramento were evacuated as a wildfire climbed out of a steep canyon along the Middle Fork of the American River and approached homes near the Todd Valley community between Foresthill and Auburn.
Wildfires - Nova Scotia
Crews were battling several wildfires in wooded areas throughout the Nova Scotia on Tuesday, the provincial government said.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia): The volcano produced again several small to moderately-sized ash eruptions during yesterday and today, generating plumes that rose up to approx. 1 km above the crater. The most significant emissions occurred occurred yesterday morning at 08:22 and today at 07:48 local time and were accompanied by a strong tremor signals.
Dallol (Danakil desert, Ethiopia): Help us protect Dallol and have it listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site by contributing to an ambitious and very interesting crowd-sourced project: Dallol is located in the northern Danakil desert of Ethiopia, at the bottom of the African rift. It is a salt dome with a unique and bizarre array of colorful geysers, hot springs, acid lakes and mineral pools encrusted with sulphur and various salt crystals. It is not a volcano in the strict sense, but a very active hydrothermal area that results from the interaction between the salt water from the Red Sea, evaporation deposits and heat from an underlying magma chamber, hidden beneath more than 2 km of salt. This geological and biological heritage is now threatened by a large-scale mining industry plans. World-renowned photographer and director Olivier Grunewald is working on a documentary in order to raise awareness among the Ethiopian authorities and beyond, to urge them to apply for its nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.4 Earthquake hits Oaxaca, Mexico.
5.3 Earthquake hits Kamchatka, Russia.
5.2 Earthquake hits Tajikistan.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Sunda Strait, Indonesia.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Tropical cyclone (tc) 02a (Two), located approximately 266 nm east of Masirah Island, is tracking south-southwestward at 04 knots.
Newsbytes:
Thailand - About six hours of heavy rain caused flooding over a large area of Khon Kaen's Muang district on Monday, and in adjoining Kalasin province national park runoff from three days of rain inundated homes and farmland in Yang Talat district. In parts of downtown Khon Kaen the water was up to a metre deep.
Lightning sparks dozens of new wildfires across Alaska
Thousands of lightning strikes over the weekend, especially in northern Alaska, have given wildfire crews more than three dozen new fires to contain and track, including at least three near Huslia.
According to Sunday posts on the Alaska Wildland Fire Information blog, maintained by the federal Bureau of Land Management's Alaska Fire Service, about 18,000 new lightning strikes were reported across the state from Friday through Sunday evening. By 10 p.m. Sunday, there were an estimated 37 new fires reported throughout the state.
10,292 lightning strikes were recorded across Alaska in a 12 hour period between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on June 26, 2016, according to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Centre.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Etna (Sicily, Italy): There has been no particular surface activity at the volcano since the violent summit eruptions in late May, but the volcanic tremor amplitude has been gradually rising over the past days. This could [speculation!] indicate a phase of magma migrating to the surface, and possibly herald new activity in the near future. Etna, always good for surprises, will tell.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.5 Earthquake hits Guam.
5.5 Earthquake hits off the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Revilla Gigedo Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits Tajikistan.
5.0 Earthquake hits Kyrgyzstan
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Tropical cyclone (tc) 02a (Two), located approximately 249 nm southwest of Karachi, Pakistan, is tracking westward at 07 knots.
Newsbytes:
China - A violent tornado in Jiangsu province in China has claimed the lives of at least 99 people and injured 846 others. The China Meteorological Administration ranked the tornado as an EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with maximum sustained winds greater than 266 km/h which hit along the outskirts of Yancheng around 2:30 p.m. local time on June 23, 2016.
Interesting Images
Stunning picture reveals butterfly thieves stealing ant goo in the Amazon forest.
Foot and Mouth Disease in Zimbabwe
A fresh outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) has been detected in the Esigodini area of Matabeleland South Province.
"I can confirm that there is an outbreak of FMD at Mpisi dip tank in Esigodini. We confirmed the presence of the disease on Thursday (last week). We don't know where it is emanating from but it not that severe, it's mild.” - Matabeleland South provincial veterinary officer Dr Mbuso Moyo said.
The first recent catastrophic FMD outbreak was reported on 27 April 2014 in Masvingo Province's Mwenezi District and later spread to the Matabeleland region.
Wildfires - California
Wildfires continued to burn in California Sunday, scorching nearly 60,000 acres and claiming two lives as 4,500 firefighters battled the six blazes, which stretched from the Klammath National Forest in Northern California to the Mexican border in San Diego County.
The most destructive fire is in Kern County, known as the Erskine fire, which has burned more than 35,000 acres and destroyed more than 150 homes. At least two people were killed in the Erskine fire, and authorities have reported what may be a third victim. The Kern fire is about 5 percent contained.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Santiaguito (Guatemala): The elevated activity from the Caliente lava dome continues to produce intermittent strong vulcanian eruptions every few days or so: yesterday afternoon at 16:16 local time, a powerful explosion produced an ash column that rose to 5 km altitude and generated pyroclastic flows on the SW and SE side of the lava dome. The ash plume drifted west and northwest, causing again mild to moderate ash fall in nearby communities in up to 20-30 km distance. The explosion itself seems not o have caused any particular damage, but INSIVUMEH warns that the currently strong rainfalls can trigger dangerous lahars (mud flows) at any time.
Fuego (Guatemala): The 10th paroxysmal episode at the volcano in 2016 has come to an end and the volcano is now back to its normal state of intermittent mild to moderate strombolian explosions, ejecting incandescent material up to 100 m above the summit vents, at intervals of 1-2 hours on average.The explosions (13 in total recorded by INSIVUMEH during the past 24 hours) produced ash plumes of 500-1000 meters height. The stronger ones were accompanied by weak shock waves and caused ash plumes that drifted up to approx. 10 km before dissipating.
Turrialba (Costa Rica): The volcano continues to produce intermittent mild ash emissions in phases that last several hours to days. During yesterday, ash plumes rose 200-300 meters from the crater and were quickly blown and dispersed to the west. In short, activity has not changed significantly during the past week. Costa Rica's Red Sismológica Nacional (RSN) records elevated tremor during such episodes and closely follows the volcano's activity.
Calbuco (Southern Chile and Argentina): The alert level was raised a notch last week, as volcanologists from SERNAGEOMIN started to record a significant increase in seismicity associated with a slight inflation of the volcanic edifice,- typical signs of magma intrusion at depth under the volcano. No particular signs of unrest are (for now) visible on the surface of the volcano which had a spectacular series of eruptions in April last year.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
6.5 Earthquake hits Tajikistan.
5.1 Earthquake hits Guam.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Mariana Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits Reykjanes ridge.
5.0 Earthquake hits west of Macquarie Island.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Hindu Kush, Afghanistan.
Crab Congress
Untold numbers of giant spider crabs have amassed in the waters near Australia’s second-largest city of Melbourne in a gathering some experts believe is associated with moulting.
The hundreds of thousands of crustaceans that have congregated in Port Phillip Bay could be there for “safety in numbers” as they shed their hard outer shells in order to grow. They are more vulnerable to such predators as cormorants and stingrays during moult.
While the gathering probably happens each year, it was virtually unknown to local communities until underwater photographer Sheree Marris released a video that documented the phenomenon.
Polluting the Deep
High levels of man-made persistent organic pollutants have been found in tiny creatures collected in the world’s deepest ocean trenches.
Shrimplike crustaceans, called amphipods, captured in the Marianas Trench and the Kermadec Trench were found contaminated with PCBs, once used in plastics manufacturing, and PBDEs, which are the main ingredients in flame retardants.
The levels of PCBs in the Marianas Trench amphipods were higher than in the estuaries of China’s most polluted rivers, researcher Alan Jamieson told Nature.
Refugees in Nigeria
More than 1200 people living in a camp for internally displaced people in northeastern Nigeria have died from starvation and sickness during the last year in what is becoming "a catastrophic humanitarian emergency," according to the medical humanitarian organisation Medecins sans Frontieres.
The camp, located in a hospital compound in the remote town of Bama in Nigeria's Borno state, hosts about 24,000 people, including 15,000 children, and they are in a "dire health situation," the aid agency said last week.
Violence in northern Nigeria fuelled by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has forced more than 2.5 million people to flee their homes, according to United Nations statistics.
A medical team from Doctors Without Borders was able to get into Bama for the first time for a few hours on Tuesday to do an assessment, the aid group said. The team discovered 16 severely malnourished children at immediate risk of death and about 150 more youngsters suffering from "severe acute malnutrition," the deadliest form of the condition, according to the group. The sickest children were being treated at medical facilities in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.
According to the aid group, almost six people a day had died in the camp since May 23, mainly from diarrhoea and malnutrition, and the group's assessment team counted 1,233 graves that had been dug during the last year in a cemetery near the camp
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.5 Earthquake hits Atacama, Chile.
5.1 Earthquake hits Mindanao in the Philippines.
5.0 Earthquake hits Reykjanes ridge.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
No current tropical storms.
Newsbytes:
West Virginia, USA - Huge floods ravaging West Virginia have killed at least 23 people, stranded hundreds and left tens of thousands without power overnight, officials said late Friday. The storm system dumped 9 inches of rain on parts of West Virginia and trapped 500 people in a shopping centre for more than 24 hours after a bridge washed out. Dozens of other people had to be plucked off rooftops or rescued as waters quickly rose during the deluge. The heavy rainfall over six to eight hours prompted the National Weather Service to call it a "one-in-a-thousand-year event."
‘Watermelon Snow’: Possibly The Major Cause Behind Alarming Glaciers Melting
In the last three years, glaciers in the Arctic region have been melting at an alarming rate. This increased melting in Arctic glaciers has baffled scientists all over the world. So, what could be the major reason that has caused dramatic shrinkage of the Arctic ice?
Pink snow was a high-latitude curiosity described by Arctic explorers such as Britain’s John Ross. Upon receiving word of the reddish snow, the London Times speculated in 1818 that the colour came from meteoric iron deposits. Biologists know now that the red hue is the result of a chemical reaction within the algae Chlamydomonas nivalis and other cold-loving species. These algae are normally green, but as they start to suck up ultraviolet rays, they turn red.
What may look like an Arctic accident involving gallons of pink lemonade is, in fact, reddish algae blooming in the snow. The unusual phenomenon is also found in high altitudes, and sometimes called watermelon snow or blood snow.
According to a new study, the algae cause Arctic melts, which are already happening at an unprecedented pace because of climate change,to worsen.
In their paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers examined 40 red-snow samples, representing 16 glaciers and snowfields from four Arctic countries: Greenland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland. The red algae darkens the snow, they found, causing it to melt faster than its white counterpart.
Specifically, the European scientists measured the red snow’s albedo, the proportion of light reflected from a surface. It is a property of colour: Dark objects, by definition, absorb a higher percentage of incoming light. Because light is energy, objects that take in more light become hotter. Conversely, lighter-coloured objects reflect more energy and stay cooler.
Exactly how large or small a role algae plays in melting glaciers is unclear, and the scientists plan to study it in more depth. But the geobiologists are concerned that the decrease in albedo may act like a positive feedback loop. As more algae bloom, more snow thaws — and, nourished by the unfrozen water, even more of the microorganisms are able to grow. And so on.
Wildfires - USA
Crews in six Western states struggled Friday to keep flames from incinerating homes, mountain cabins and rural ranches. Here's a look at the largest and most active fires:
CALIFORNIA
A wind-whipped wildfire roaring through communities in California's southern Sierra Nevada killed two people and burned 80 homes. The fire erupted Thursday afternoon and exploded in size, burning more than 29 square miles. Many people barely had time to flee as the blaze swept through the area. Propane tanks blew up and smoke obscured the path to safety. The two people died in Lake Isabella, a popular recreation area east of Bakersfield.
East of San Diego, containment of an 11½-square-mile fire near the Mexico border increased to 45 percent and evacuations were lifted Thursday evening. Five homes and 11 outbuildings have been destroyed since the fire erupted Sunday.
Firefighters made progress on two wildfires in the San Gabriel Mountains near foothill suburbs northeast of Los Angeles. The two fires covered a total of more than 8 square miles and were 30 percent contained. Two areas remained evacuated.
UTAH
Firefighters were trying to contain a wildfire burning on the edge of a small mountain town from descending on homes. Residents of about 400 homes in the southwestern town of Pine Valley were encouraged to leave and warned that mandatory evacuations could be ordered if the fire flared up. The lightning-caused blaze was about a mile away from some homes after charring 1 ½ square miles on a steep canyon slope.
COLORADO
Firefighters cleared brush and wet grass on the edges of a forest near the Wyoming border, where a blaze burned 8 square miles of heavy timber. Crews concentrated on keeping the flames away from about 40 nearby vacation homes. Fire officials said the fire was feeding on large, standing trees killed by a beetle infestation. There was concern that erratic gusty winds over the weekend could fan the flames.
NEW MEXICO
Crews were close to encircling a destructive wildfire burning in the Manzano Mountains southeast of Albuquerque.
The fire eased after the area received up to 3 inches of rain, officials said. It was more than 80 percent contained after charring 28 square miles. The human-caused blaze destroyed 24 homes and numerous other structures near Chilili, one of several villages and subdivisions bordering Cibola National Forest.
WYOMING
A two-square-mile wildfire southwest of Sundance was 30 percent contained. Lightning sparked the fire on Tuesday. Residents of about 20 homes were advised to evacuate. They were allowed to take horses and other livestock to a fairground.
ARIZONA
A massive wildfire was no longer endangering residents of some eastern Arizona communities. The Navajo County Sheriff's Office announced Friday that residents in Show Low, Pinetop-Lakeside and other unincorporated areas could stand down after being told for days to prepare to evacuate if needed. The fire that burned 72 square miles of brush and pine was 42 percent contained after crews carved miles of fire line on its northern and southern edges.
Wildfires - Canada
About 2,000 people remained out of their homes Friday as fire crews battled wildfires threatening two communities in central Manitoba.
Residents from Easterville and the Chemawawin First Nation, 450 kilometres north of Winnipeg, were ordered to leave on Thursday as the fires crept to within half a kilometre.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.9 Earthquake hits the southwestern Ryukyu Islands off Japan.
5.4 Earthquake hits the Hindu Kush, Afghanistan.
5.2 Earthquake hits the Kermedec Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits Reykjanes ridge.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Pacific-Antarctic ridge.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Invest 95L is an area of disturbed weather in the North Atlantic that has the potential for further tropical development.
Newsbytes:
China - A tornado and hailstorm have killed at least 98 people and injured nearly 800 in the east Chinese province of Jiangsu, according to state media.
UK - London - Flash floods left cars submerged and Tube stations closed as torrential downpours hit the capital for the second time in 24 hours. Heavy rain, lightening and floods have hit large parts of the United Kingdom as residents head to the polls to vote on whether to remain or leave the European Union. Commentators suggested that the weather may keep people away from the polls favouring an exit vote - and exit they did.
Global Temperature Extremes
The week's hottest temperature was 126.0 degrees Fahrenheit (52.2 degrees Celsius) in Death Valley, California.
The week's coldest temperature was minus -113.0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 80.6 degrees Celsius) at Russia's Vostok Antarctic research station.
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.
Surplus Elephants
African conservationists next month will begin moving up to 500 elephants from several parts of the continent to a Malawi wildlife reserve, where wildlife advocates eventually hope to protect the pachyderms from being poached into extinction.
The elephants will be tranquilized with darts fired from helicopters, then trucked to the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve.
The nonprofit group African Parks, based in Johannesburg, plans to relocate “surplus elephants” from areas where growing populations are causing conflict and ecological damage.
Pollution of the Deep
High levels of man-made persistent organic pollutants have been found in tiny creatures collected in the world’s deepest ocean trenches.
Shrimplike crustaceans, called amphipods, captured in the Marianas Trench and the Kermadec Trench were found contaminated with PCBs, once used in plastics manufacturing, and PBDEs, which are the main ingredients in flame retardants.
The levels of PCBs in the Marianas Trench amphipods were higher than in the estuaries of China’s most polluted rivers, researcher Alan Jamieson told Nature.
California Drought Increases Wildfire Risk
Since 2010, at least 66 million trees have died in California due to drought and rising temperatures, the U.S. Forest Service reported. At last count in October, the death toll was at 40 million trees.
The ongoing, five-year drought in California has made trees increasingly vulnerable to insects and disease and the 65 percent increase in tree die-off has officials concerned about the possibility of a disastrous wildfire season.
Dead trees are seen near Bass Lake in the Sierra National Forest.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
No current tropical storms.
Newsbytes:
India Update - Lightning strikes killed at least 120 people in four Indian states as monsoon rains swept across much of the country. Lightning is the leading killer among natural disasters in India. In 2014, at least 2,582 people died in lightning strikes, according to the government. Here's a breakdown of deaths reported in other states Tuesday: Forty-one people died in Uttar Pradesh, ten died in Jharkhand and twelve died in Madhya Pradesh. The seasonal monsoon rains have been highly anticipated in India, which has been mired in drought for two years. The country's agricultural sector heavily depends on the rains.
London, England - Flash floods have left parts of London submerged under water and threatened to cause travel chaos on EU referendum polling day. Emergency services reported a huge surge in calls as heavy thunderstorms and torrential rain hit the south-east overnight. A month’s rain fell in a matter of a few hours during the storms – with more heavy downpours forecast for this morning.
New Zealand - There multiple reports of flooding in the North Shore suburb of Forrest Hill, with further homes inundated in Parnell and East Auckland.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.7 Earthquake hits the western Atlantic Ocean.
5.5 Earthquake hits southern Peru.
5.2 Earthquake hits Halmahera, Indonesia.
5.2 Earthquake hits the South Sandwich islands.
5.2 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Kermedec Islands.
Global Shark Survey
In the largest survey of sharks around the world, scientists have visited 100 reefs and collected more than 5,000 hours of underwater footage, revealing where the most sharks live — and where they're scarce.
These preliminary results suggest that some spots are teeming with the ocean predators, while other heavily fished areas of the ocean have little or no sign of the marine animals.
Locations like Australia's Great Barrier Reef and the Bahamas showed an abundance of sharks and rays, Chapman said.
However, cameras rolled for hours in some more heavily fished locations with little or no signs of sharks. Researchers collected more than 100 videos off the coast of Malaysia, for instance, and only one shark was caught on camera. Videos in Jamaica resulted in not a single shark sighting.
Brown Bear Mothers Seek Human Help to Save Cubs
Brown bear mothers in a Swedish forest use human "shields" against murderous males, overcoming their own fear to raise defenceless cubs near villages where hunters live, researchers said.
Some young bear mothers live closer to humans for the duration of the mating season when male bears, called boars, go into frenzies of lust-fuelled cub killing.
But motherly instinct seems to trump sex drive. While sows grin and bear the threatening human proximity for the sake of their offspring, boars continue to give humans a wide berth.
Male brown bears kill cubs to trigger oestrus, a period of sexual receptivity, in females that would otherwise come into heat only after raising their cubs to independence. Instead of having to wait 18 to 30 months, the males can obtain a mating opportunity in just a few days.
The behaviour is called sexually selected infanticide.
Wildfires - USA
Surging wildfires on Tuesday forced new evacuations of hundreds of homes across the West, while firefighters began beating back a pair of big adjacent blazes looming over suburban Los Angeles.
Near the U.S.-Mexico border southeast of San Diego, a two-day-old, 9-square-mile wildfire moved toward a new community and forced the evacuation of about 600 homes and more than 1,500 people in Lake Morena Village.
In the Los Angeles area, firefighters stopped the progress of two adjacent fires in the San Gabriel Mountains 20 miles northeast of downtown LA. The blazes were 10 percent contained and had burned about 7 ½ square miles
Elsewhere, crews made progress against a week-old blaze in rugged coastal mountains west of Santa Barbara, boosting containment to 84 percent.
In New Mexico, a 28-square-mile fire that erupted last week and destroyed 24 homes in the mountains south of Albuquerque showed signs of slowing down.
In eastern Arizona, a fire doubled to nearly 42 square miles and led officials to warn a community of 300 residents to prepare to evacuate. The blaze on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation was not moving quickly toward the community of Cedar Creek because of sparse vegetation and shifting winds.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
6.1 Earthquake hits New Ireland, Papua New Guinea.
6.1 Earthquake hits the northern Mid-Atlantic ridge.
5.3 Earthquake hits south of Fiji.
5.2 Earthquake hits Coquimbo, Chile.
5.2 Earthquake hits the southern Mid-Atlantic ridge.
5.1 Earthquake hits Kepulauan Mentawai, indonesia.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Nias region, Indonesia.
5.0 Earthquake hits the northern Mid-Atlantic ridge.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
No current tropical storms.
Newsbytes:
Niger - Torrential rainfall has claimed the lives of at least three people in the desert in northern Niger. Fatalities are from Bazagor locality. The heavy rainfall also killed more than 8,000 goats, sheep and cows.
Japan - Landslides and floods in southern Japan have claimed the lives of three people and left three others missing. Nearly 2,000 residents have also been evacuated from their homes in the southern prefecture of Kumamoto.
India - Lightning strikes during torrential rain during India’s monsoon have killed dozens of people in northeastern India, officials said.
Thailand - Bangkok commuters were hit by flooded streets and traffic congestion Tuesday morning with pedestrians struggling to wade through the water .
'Zombie corals' pose new threat to world's reefs
Zombie corals, which look healthy but cannot reproduce, have been discovered by researchers, dashing hopes that such reefs could repopulate areas destroyed by bleaching.
Scientists have also found that a common ingredient in sunscreen is killing and mutating corals in tourist spots.
The new evidence of harm to corals comes as the most widespread coral bleaching event in recorded history is sweeping the world’s oceans. Water temperatures have been driven up by a run of record-breaking hot years, caused by climate change and the El Niño phenomenon. Very warm water causes corals to lose the algae that normally live inside them and help them feed.
Corals in every major reef region have already experienced severe bleaching. About 93% of the reefs on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have been affected, and almost a quarter of the reef is now dead. Corals are hotspots of biodiversity and crucial nurseries for fish, upon which 1 billion people rely for nourishment.
The new research, presented at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Hawaii, sampled 327 coral colonies across the Caribbean to assess the reproductive ability of apparently healthy elkhorn coral, which is a threatened species.
In some places, including two sites in the Florida Keys, the coral had no eggs or sperm and therefore zero ability to reproduce. The scientists said this indicates these elkhorn corals are are essentially walking dead and will eventually die out, dubbing them “zombie corals”.
Another study found that oxybenzone, a common UV-filtering compound in sunscreen, is common in Hawaii, Florida and the US Virgin Islands.
The chemical kills coral but also causes DNA damage in adult coral and deforms the larval stage, making normal development unlikely. An earlier study showed that the highest concentrations of oxybenzone were found on the reefs most popular with tourists.
Dead coral in shallow waters at Cygnet Bay in Western Australia.
Namibia - Measles
The outbreak of measles and rubella - also known as German measles or three-day measles - during the months of August to November over the past four years has prompted the Ministry of Health and Social Services to conduct a mass vaccination campaign in July.
Tanzania - Mystery Disease
At least 10 people have died and 21 others hospitalized following an outbreak of an unidentified disease in central Tanzania's Dodoma region.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 Earthquake hits the Loyalty Islands.
5.2 Earthquake hits the Kermedec Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Loyalty Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits New Britain, Papua New Guinea.
5.0 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Banda Sea.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Remnants of Danielle are located about 125 mi...200 km WSW of Tuxpan Mexico with maximum sustained winds...25 mph...35 km/h. Present movement...WSW or 250 degrees at 13 mph...20 km/h.
Newsbytes:
Java, Indonesia Update - At least 35 people have now reportedly been killed by landslides and floods on Indonesia's Java island with many others still missing.
Philippines - At least three low-lying villages in the town of Pikit, Cotabato were hit by floodwaters due to torrential rains over the province in the past days. Rivers and irrigation canals in Pikit town overflowed due to continuous rains, which caused flooding in the three villages.
China Update - At least 22 people have been killed and 3.7 million were affected by flooding and landslides in China. The country has been battling heavy rains for the past three days. The ministry of civil affairs said that about 3.7 million people in seven provinces, including Hubei and Sichuan, have been hit by flooding, landslides and mud flows since Saturday. At least 20 people have been reported missing. More than 2,400 homes were damaged and 20,900 hectares of crops were destroyed in the summer rainstorms, which were heavier than usual this year. Eight people were trapped in a flooded coal mine in the southwestern Guizhou Province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported and added that torrential rain is forecast to continue in south China over the next three days.
Wildfires - California
Two new sprawling wildfires tore through at least 4,500 acres in the San Gabriel Mountains on Monday, and only a canyon prevented the blazes from merging into one massive inferno, fire officials said.
The two brush fires broke out in Azusa and Duarte amid a blistering heat wave, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of homes and at least 750 residents.
Congo declares yellow fever epidemic
DR Congo on Monday declared a yellow fever outbreak in the capital Kinshasa, home to more than ten million people, and in two other western provinces.
Health Minister Kabange Numbi said 67 cases -- including five fatalities -- had been confirmed in the provinces of Kinshasa, Kongo central and Kwango after an inquiry into more than 1,000 suspect cases.
There is no specific treatment for yellow fever, a viral hemorrhagic disease transmitted by infected mosquitoes and found in tropical regions of Africa and Latin America's Amazon region.
The disease is transmitted by the same mosquitoes which spread Zika and dengue.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.4 Earthquake hits the Loyalty Islands.
5.4 Earthquake hits Ascension Island.
5.3 Earthquake hits the Loyalty Islands.
5.3 Earthquake hits the Batan Islands in the Philippines.
Two 5.1 Earthquakes hit Taiwan.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Loyalty Islands.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Tropical Storm Danielle is located about 95 mi...150 km ESE of Tuxpan Mexico and about 100 mi...160 km NNE of Veracruz Mexico with maximum sustained winds...40 mph...65 km/h. Present movement...WNW or 285 degrees at 7 mph...11 km/h.
Danielle is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 6 to 10 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches possible in higher terrain over the Mexican states of Veracruz, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, Queretaro, Hidalgo, and northern Puebla. These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.
Newsbytes:
South Africa - Thousands of people have been affected by heavy rains and flooding across Cape Town. The City of Cape Town's Disaster Risk Management unit says around 6,000 people have been affected by the wet and cold weather, which have left some informal settlements drenched and under water. Parts of Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Philippi have been the hardest hit.
Australia - Storms have brought heavy downpours and caused flash flooding across Brisbane, and winds described as a "mini tornado" have torn roofs from several homes in Mooloolaba.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
6.3 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.
6.0 Earthquake hits Salta, Argentina.
5.2 Earthquake hits southwestern Sumatra, Indonesia.
5.2 Earthquake hits the Molucca Sea.
5.1 Earthquake hits the southwest Indian ridge.
5.0 Earthquake hits the State of Yap, Micronesia.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Loyalty Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits northern Xinjiang, China.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Invest 94L is an area of disturbed weather in the North Atlantic that has the potential for further tropical development.
Newsbytes:
Java, Indonesia - Flash flooding and landslides in Indonesia have killed 24 and left more than two dozen missing, with mud avalanches burying people inside their homes. Torrential rain since Saturday has triggered serious flooding across Central Java, with thousands of homes inundated. Areas prone to landslides in the densely-populated province were the worst hit, with drivers swept off roads and thousands of homes destroyed by fast-moving walls of mud, rock and water. In one district, five people were buried in their homes as a landslide swept through the village. In another, nine people were killed as they tried to clear rubble from a road.
Thailand - Persistent heavy downpours over the past few days in and around Bangkok had flooded at least 14 raids in the north an east of the city and surrounding areas. Andaman coastal provinces from Ranong to Phangnga, Phuket, Krabi and Trang are braced for downpours until today with high tides rising to at least two metres. One of the worst-hit areas was Nakhon Phanom, where a four-hour downpour flooded some roads in the provincial town up to 50 centimetres.
Leprosy in Nigeria
The north-western Nigerian state of Kebbi has reported 99 active leprosy cases since October 2015, according to a Nigeria media report Saturday.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 Earthquake hits the Santa Cruz Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Unimak Islands, Alaska.
5.0 Earthquake hits Kepulauan Barat Daya, Indonesia.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Invest 93E is an area of disturbed weather in the East Pacific that has the potential for further tropical development.
Newsbytes:
China - A week of torrential rain in southern China has killed 25 people and displaced 33,200 residents, including many in China's poor, remote regions.
Australia - Authorities are warning people across NSW to keep an eye on river levels as rain and gale-force winds are predicted to hit parts of the state's south.
Britain - Flash flooding leaves large parts of Britain submerged after heavy rainfall – and there’s no end in sight. Birmingham was one of the worst hit areas in the Midlands last night, with water trapping people in their cars and getting as high as car windows.
Wildfires - USA
Wildfires are burning in four US states as temperatures are threatening record highs, with mass evacuations having taken place in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
A blaze known as the Dog Head fire broke out in rural New Mexico on Wednesday, around 50km southeast of Albuquerque. Torrance County Sheriff, Heath White said his office was evacuating about 200 people. The fire has burned through timber in central parts of the state, pushing smoke towards cities more than 160km away as flames continued to spread.
Meanwhile, 400 homes and businesses have been evacuated in southern California as hot and windy weather feeds the flames. The Sherpa Fire, near Santa Barbara, is located along the Pacific coast. Two state beaches and some ranch land have been evacuated, and the 101 Freeway had to be closed on Wednesday and Thursday.
Arizona has suffered likewise. It was reported that Navajo County officials issued "pre-evacuation" orders as the Cedar Creek Fire approaches Show Low, Pinetop-Lakeside, McNary, Fort Apache and the Hon-Dah communities.
The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings across the southwestern states, including California, Nevada and Arizona.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Canlaon (Central Philippines): The volcano remains restless. A small explosion occurred Saturday morning at 09:19 local time. According to PHILVOLCS, the eruption which lasted less than 30 minutes was entirely steam-driven (phreatic or hydrothermal), i.e. caused by overheated ground water flashing into steam inside the hydrothermal system overlying a (probably small) body of magma, but no magma itself was projected to the surface. A small plume of ash rose approx. 400 m and caused minor ash fall in San Miguel, Gintubdan and Araal in La Carlota, Negros Occidental. PHILVOLCS recorded ongoing inflation (sign of magma intruding at depth), small earthquakes (3 volcano-tectonic events on 17) and observed steaming from the volcano producing a plume that rose about 300 m.
Sinabung (Sumatra, Indonesia): The volcano continues to erupt with little changes - effusing viscous lava at slow pace and feeding a prominent lava lobe on the SE flank. A small collapse of parts of this last night caused an incandescent avalanche documented by avid Sinabung volcano-follower and photographer Endro Lewa.
Kilauea (Hawai'i): HVO reports no significant changes in the eruption. The new lava flow headed to the SE from Pu'u O'o continues to advance fast. During the past week, it made progress of 1200 meters, i.e. on average almost 200 m per day. Its front is currently approx. 6 km from the coast and it is headed currently towards the Royal Gardens area, where it will meet steeper ground on the Pulama pali which likely will speed up its advance before slowing down again once in the vast coastal plain. If the current advance continues, it will take about 10 days to reach the top of pali, HVO wrote. Whether and when new lava will eventually reach the ocean is impossible to predict: the road to there is still long. However, chances of this happening within the next few months are quite high and increasing. At the summit, the lava lake inside Halemaʻumaʻu's inner pit crater continues to circulate and spatter, and its surface is currently approx. 30 m below the crater floor. Seismic activity across the volcano has been low recently. The long-term deformation trend shows continued inflation beneath the summit and uppermost Southwest Rift Zone.
Santiaguito (Guatemala): Following a relatively calm period of 3 weeks (no significant eruptions since 25 May), a powerful vulcanian explosion occurred at the Caliente lava dome again yesterday at 09:15 local time, sending an mushroom-shaped eruption column approx. 5 km into the sky. Pyroclastic flows descended the base of the cone and ash falls occurred in downwind areas (as usual) to the west and southwest, including the towns and villages of Loma Linda, San Marcos Palajunoj, San Felipe Retalhuleu, El Nuevo Palmar and others. No evacuations were ordered and no significant damage was reported.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 Earthquake hits the Loyalty Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Ryukyu Islands off Japan.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Loyalty Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits offshore Coquimbo, Chile.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Invest 93E is an area of disturbed weather in the East Pacific that has the potential for further tropical development.
Newsbytes:
British Columbia, Canada - Flooding has forced some residents out of their homes while leaving thousands of others in the dark as heavy rain washed out major roads and bridges, and damaged powerlines in northeastern B.C.
Antarctic CO2 Hits 400 PPM
Carbon dioxide has been steadily rising since the start of the Industrial Revolution, setting a new high year after year. There's a notable new entry to the record books. The last station on Earth without a 400 parts per million (ppm) reading has reached it.
A little 400 ppm history. Three years ago, the world's gold standard carbon dioxide observatory passed the symbolic threshold of 400 ppm. Other observing stations have steadily reached that threshold as carbon dioxide spreads across the planet's atmosphere at various points since then. Collectively, the world passed the threshold for a month last year.
In the remote reaches of Antarctica, the South Pole Observatory carbon dioxide observing station cleared 400 ppm on May 23, according to an announcement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday. That’s the first time it's passed that level in 4 million years.
UK Moth Invasion
Tens of millions of pesticide-resistant “supermoths” fluttered into the United Kingdom from continental Europe during the second week of June, threatening to ravage crops.
The diamondback moth is common in many parts of the world, but the number of recent arrivals in the U.K. is 100 times greater than what is typical for an entire year.
Agricultural experts warn that once the offspring of this influx arrive in about a month’s time, their numbers “could be biblical.”
Researchers are scrambling to see what remaining available pesticides might help battle the invasion before the insects devastate cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and oilseed rape crops across Britain.
Global Temperature Extremes
The week's hottest temperature was 120.0 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 degrees Celsius) in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
The week's coldest temperature was minus -114.0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 81.1 degrees Celsius) at Russia's Vostok Antarctic research station.
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.
Yellow Fever - Democratic Republic Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported 1,044 suspected cases of yellow fever since March, including 71 deaths, up from three probable cases and 57 laboratory-confirmed a week ago, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.
In the latest tally, 61 of the cases have been laboratory-confirmed in the Congo, formerly Zaire, following importation of the mosquito-borne virus from Angola, the United Nations health agency said in its latest weekly update on the outbreak.
“The majority of these cases in DRC are male and they are mainly aged 20 to 34 years. The male preponderance is likely to reflect the gender of workers returning from Angola,” it said.
Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease in Malaysia
Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) has reached outbreak proportions in Malaysia, forcing the authorities to take urgent measures to contain it.
The Health Ministry has placed the country under the "alert level" following last week's 1,379 cases nationwide with Selangor, Johor and Kuala Lumpur topping the list.
Wildfires - Sicily
Firefighters in Sicily are battling more than a hundred wildfires on the Italian island, some of which may have been started deliberately.
Strong winds have helped spread the flames, forcing dozens of residents around Palermo to flee their homes.
Several parts of northern Sicily have been affected, including Palermo, Messina and Collesano.
Wildfires - California, New Mexico
Hundreds of people have evacuated to escape a wildfire in coastal Southern California and a larger blaze in rural New Mexico as hot weather feeds the flames, raising health concerns in other regions, officials said on Thursday.
Santa Barbara Sheriff Bill Brown told a news conference his deputies had asked occupants of 400 homes and businesses to evacuate structures in areas threatened by flames from the California fire. Campers and horses on ranches have also been forced out, officials said.
The blaze, which ignited on Wednesday in a wilderness area northwest of Santa Barbara, has consumed chaparral and tall grass in the Los Padres National Forest, blackening some 1,200 acres (490 hectares), according to the InciWeb fire information centre.
In New Mexico, the so-called Dog Head Fire that broke out on Wednesday about 6 miles (10 km) northwest of the town of Tajique has forced evacuations and grown to more than 12,000 acres (4,900 hectares). Tajique is around 30 miles (50 km) southeast of Albuquerque.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Kuchinoerabu-jima (Ryukyu Islands): The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the official government body in charge of monitoring volcanoes, lowered the alert level for the island, after no more significant activity has occurred at the volcano since 19 June 2015 (i.e. almost one year). Current level was lowered from the second highest on the scale (4: "prepare for evacuation") to now 3 ("Do not approach the volcano").
Santiaguito (Guatemala): Heavy rainfalls in recent days generated strong lahars (mud flows) through the Nima I River bed, remobilizing some of the recently erupted loose volcanic debris. The turbulent hot flows reached 30 m width and carried blocks up to 50 to 70 cm in diameter, tree trunks and large branches.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.6 Earthquake hits the Balleny Islands.
5.4 Earthquake hits Guatemala.
5.3 Earthquake hits Fiji.
5.2 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.0 Earthquake hits Hokkaido, Japan.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Invest 93E is an area of disturbed weather in the East Pacific that has the potential for further tropical development.
Newsbytes:
Nigeria - A heavy downpour caused flooding in Ajah Axis in Lagos leaving many stranded and unable to leave their homes.
UK - Flash floods hit Chester city centre in yet another day of heavy rain. A huge thunderstorm resulted in a number of shops being totally flooded, and the entire Forum Shopping Centre having to be evacuated.
Coral reef census
Despite pressures from overfishing and changing ocean conditions, some coral reefs around the world manage to defy expectations.
In a survey of more than 2,500 reefs around the world, scientists identified 15 that were surprisingly healthy, considering their proximity to large human populations or unfavourable environmental conditions, according to a new report in Nature.
Along with 15 bright spots, Cinner and his colleagues found 35 “dark spots,” areas with fewer fish than the researchers would have anticipated. The report can be found here.
Russia significantly under-reporting wildfires
Forest wildfires rampaging across Russia are being significantly under-reported by authorities, according to analysis of satellite data.
Climate change is making wildfires much more likely in Russia, but regional officials have been reluctant to report the true extent of the problem, and campaigners are warning that the harm to forests, property and human lives could rise.
While the recent forest fires around Fort McMurray, Canada, destroyed more than 580,000 hectares, those in Russia have burned up to 3.5m hectares since the start of 2016, according to Greenpeace Russia. It said at least 1m hectares were in flames at the end of May in the country, which is home to the largest forests in the world.
But local Russian agencies are reporting only 669 000 hectares burned this year.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Kliuchevskoi (Kamchatka): The eruption of the volcano continues with little changes during the past weeks - there are now two active lava flows on the SE flank, both about 2 km long from the summit crater. Explosive activity (ash emissions) has so far been minor, with occasional small to moderate ash plumes that have been rising approx. 1-2 km above the summit: for instance, Tokyo VAAC reported a plume at 23,000 ft (7 km) altitude that extended SE yesterday morning:
Karymsky (Kamchatka): The volcano has been very calm recently although "weak activity" continues (KVERT). The aviation color code is currently yellow.
Shiveluch (Kamchatka): The lava dome remains active and continues to grow slowly although activity is currently rather towards the lower end of the volcano's long-term average. Occasionally, parts of of the dome collapse into small to moderate pyroclastic flows such as occurred yesterday morning, producing associated ash plumes that rise a few kilometers.
Bezymianny (Central Kamchatka Depression): According to KVERT, "a weak gas-steam activity of the volcano continues. Satellite data showed the volcano was quiet." The Aviation Color Code remains at yellow.
Alaid (Northern Kuriles): According to KVERT, weak (eruptive?) activity of the volcano continues. Satellite data showed a thermal anomaly over the volcano. The latter in fact has become stronger during the past week again.
Dukono (Halmahera): Near-continuous moderate ash emissions remain visible on satellite imagery on almost every day, indicating that activity inside the volcano's crater remains high (strong degassing, ash venting, intermittent explosions as observed from the rare visitors). This morning, a gas and ash plume extended approx. 100 km to the west of the volcano.
Pacaya (Guatemala): The activity at the volcano has started to increase during the past days. Explosion sounds and visible incandescence have become stronger. According to the latest bulletin of INSIVUMEH, this is also reflected by an increase in seismic amplitude, likely reflecting the rise of new magma. It is possible that the activity at the surface will soon evolve further, producing stronger strombolian explosions, or even lava fountaining, and/or the effusion of a new lava flow (something Pacaya's activity has been typical for).
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
6.3 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.6 Earthquake hits Papua, Indonesia.
5.5 Earthquake hits southeast of the Ryukyu Islands off Japan.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Andreanof Islands in the Aleutian Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits the southern Mid-Atlantic ridge.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Hindu Kush, Afghanistan.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Invest 93E is an area of disturbed weather in the East Pacific that has the potential for further tropical development.
Newsbytes:
Tenerife, Spain - Flash floods on the Spanish holiday island of Tenerife have claimed the lives of five people. Hundreds of people have been forced to leave their homes by storm flooding, which cut off all access to the port, as well as power and telephone lines.
The little Bramble Cay melomy is likely first mammal species claimed by man-made climate change
At first glance, the Australian island of Bramble Cay is unremarkable except for the steel lighthouse at one end. Otherwise, the small isle is dotted with a few grass clumps, shorebirds and nesting sea turtles.
Years ago, however, fishers who visited the island in the Great Barrier Reef could also spot little, rat-like rodents scurrying over the sand and coral rubble.
As mackerel fishermen Egon Stewart told Queensland scientists in a new report, around 2009 there had been “a heap of sticks and a smashed up dug-out canoe at the north-western end of the island.” When Stewart flipped over the pile, a few of the furry critters took flight across the island.
This was the last time, the researchers believe, anyone saw a living Bramble Cay melomy, a rodent round in body, long in whisker and lumpy in tail. The creatures are likely the first mammal casualty of man-made, or anthropogenic, climate change, University of Queensland researcher and study author Luke Leung said in a statement. Despite subsequent search efforts, there is no evidence the animals remain on the island, the only place they were known to live on the planet.
The first recorded Bramble Cay melomy sightings date back to the 1800s. In 1978, researchers estimated several hundred rodents lived on the island, but the numbers dropped to the double-digits by 1998. Twelve melomys were caught in November 2004; in December 2011, scientists looking for the rodents turned up empty-handed. For this report, that utilized survey methods consisting of nocturnal traps as well as daytime searches, no sign of a melomy was to be found — no critter, paw print or pellet.
It was, in all likelihood, death from lack of resources. In the decade between 2004 and 2014, the amount of leafy plants on Bramble Cay shrunk by 97 percent, the authors say. Without plants providing food and shelter, the scientists believe rodents succumbed to local extinction. And the lack of plants, in turn, was likely caused by a rising sea that swept over the island during storms and high tides — ocean inundation.
Bramble Cay is quite flat, rising no more than 9 feet above sea level at its highest point. Based on observations of erosion, scattered driftwood and dead plants, the authors concluded, “Bramble Cay has been subjected to repeated episodes of seawater inundation.” The scientists also note that data from tides and satellites indicate the average sea level in the area has risen a quarter inch per year.
May was hottest month on record - NASA
The streak continues: May was record warm for the globe, according to NASA data released Monday. It's now even more likely that 2016 will be the hottest year ever recorded, despite the demise of one of the strongest El Niños on record.
NASA put May at 1.67°F (0.93°C) warmer than the 1951-1980 average for the month, the first month since October 2015 to be less than 1.8°F (1°C) above average in their dataset, which extends back to 1880.
NOAA will release its global temperature data on Friday. If it also rates May as record warm, it will be the 13th month in a row to reach that mark in its records. NASA and NOAA use slightly different methods to process the temperature data and use different baseline periods for comparison (NOAA uses the 20th century average).
Bee hives destroyed after disease found in Scots colonies
A number of hives afflicted with American Foulbrood in St Cyrus, Aberdeenshire, were destroyed this week.
There is no treatment for the disease although it poses no danger to humans and does not affect the quality of honey.
Beekeepers have been warned not to move bees or equipment into or out of the affected area.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Kilauea (Hawai'i): The so-called "June 27th" lava flow field ceased to be active and the new flow field is now headed towards the ocean. Now, all lava is now flowing into the new lava tube(s) feeding the new lava flow field that has been forming from the breakout points east of Pu'u 'O'o since 24 May. During the past days, it continued to spread and advanced southeast - towards the slope of the pali, i.e. in direction to the ocean.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.0 Earthquake hits the Solomon Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits Nicaragua.
5.0 Earthquake hits New Ireland, Papua New Guinea.
5.0 Earthquake hits the western Indian-Antarctic ridge.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
No current tropical storms.
Newsbytes:
England - Severe flooding and heavy thunderstorms are expected to hit London for the second week in a row. The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for the southern areas surrounding London.
Ghana - The death toll in the Central Regional flood disaster has risen to eight. While some of the victims died after a building caved in on them, as a result of the torrential rains, which had been falling together with thunderstorms and heavy winds for four straight days, others were electrocuted or simply battered to death by the flood waters.
China - China’s national flood control authorities have put in force emergency response measures in preparation for heavy rainfall forecast up to Friday along the Gan, Xiang and Xi rivers in central and southern areas of the country. Torrential rain is expected to hit a vast area of over 1 million sq km, more than one 10th of the country’s territory, in provinces including Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and the Guangxi region, according to the Central Meteorological Administration. About 460,000 sq km of the area is expected to receive “super torrential rains”, which will worsen the risk of flooding.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): A moderately strong vulcanian explosion occurred yesterday morning at 11:17 local time, producing a mushroom-shaped ash plume that rose approx. 3 km above the summit and dispersed in westerly directions. Today, the volcano has been mostly calm with only minor emissions mainly of steam and gas. The activity of the volcano itself has been very stable over the past months and at overall low to medium levels only; while lava is slowly accumulating in the summit crater, this growth of the lava dome is occasionally interrupted by explosions such as this one.
Semeru (East Java, Indonesia): Access to the mountain was closed after a 26 year-old Swiss climber has been missing for 10 days now since he climbed the volcano on 3 June. The young man who climbed the volcano without a guide was reported missing by a travel companion who had been in a different location for a few days and could notice his absence only 3 days later. Despite intense efforts, local search-and-rescue teams have so far been unsuccessful to locate the young man. It can only be speculated about his fate, but chances of his survival seem dwindling. The most likely causes for the accident are lost orientation on the mountain during ascent or descent, or perhaps falling into one of the difficult-to-access steep ravines draining on the volcano's steep slopes.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.3 Earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
5.3 Earthquake hits southeast of the Ryukyu Islands off Japan.
5.2 Earthquake hits the central east Pacific rise.
5.2 Earthquake hits southeast of the Ryukyu Islands off Japan.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
No current tropical storms.
Newsbytes:
China - Massive storms and heavy rains have caused flooding in southwest China, leaving thousands of people stranded and at least three individuals missing. The rainstorm, which started on Friday, has caused a series of landslides in the Guizhou province, cutting off major roads and power supplies and destroying many houses.
New Zealand - Surface flooding is causing traffic issues on State Highway 1 in Horowhenua, with police urging people to delay travel or avoid the area.
India - Two persons died in floods in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari District as it received heavy rains, following which a flood warning was issued for people living on the banks of two rivers in the area on Sunday.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Suwanose-jima (Ryukyu Islands): The activity of the volcano has become more intense during the past days. Several ash plumes were detected by Tokyo VAAC and blight glow is intermittently visible. Most likely, the volcano has started another phase of intense, intermittent strombolian explosions.
Suretamatai (Banks Islands, Vanuatu): The alert level of the volcano (also known as Vanua Lava) was recently raised a notch from 0 to 1 (on a scale of 0-4). No details about volcanic unrest are available, but presumably, the Vanuatu Geohazards Observatory recorded elevated seismic activity from the volcano. Residents and tourists are reminded to stay outside of areas near the crater and in particular avoid the Sulphur River (E flank) were there is a high risk of volcanic gas emissions.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.1 Earthquake hits near the south coast of Honshu, Japan.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
No current tropical storms.
Newsbytes:
Ghana - The capital, Accra, was hit by another flood that submerged most suburbs on Thursday, June 9, 2016. The recurrence of floods in Accra has been blamed on the impunity being enjoyed by people who go against sanitation by-laws in the country.
Montana, USA - An unknown number of people were injured, at least two homes were destroyed and as many as a dozen others were damaged after a tornado struck the east side of Baker just before 7 p.m. Saturday.
Scientists turn chief global warming gas into harmless stone
Scientists have a found a quick way but not a cheap one to turn heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas into harmless rock.
Experts say the results of a two-year, $10 million experiment called CarbFix, conducted about one-third of a mile (540 meters) deep in the rocks of Iceland, offer new hope for an effective weapon to help fight man-made global warming.
When an international team of scientists pumped a carbon dioxide and water mix into underground basalt rocks, basic chemistry took over. The acidic mixture dissolved the rocks' calcium magnesium and formed limestone, a permanent natural jail for the heat-trapping gas, according to Juerg Matter of the University of Southampton in England. He is the lead author of a study detailing the experiment published Thursday in the journal Science.
"It's no longer a gas," Matter said. "Basically carbon dioxide is converted into stone."
Scientists, who had done this before in the lab, thought the process could take thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years. But after just two years, 95 percent of the gas was captured and converted, the study said.
Wildfires - Alberta, Canada
The 300 firefighters from South Africa who arrived recently to assist in the Alberta wildfires have gone on strike over a pay dispute!
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.7 Earthquake hits Fiji.
5.5 Earthquake hits Jujuy, Argentina.
5.3 Earthquake hits off the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
5.2 Earthquake hits Fiji.
5.1 Earthquake hits Luzon in the Philippines.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits Kepulauan Babar, Indonesia.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
No current tropical storms.
Newsbytes:
Colombia - A landslide on Thursday in west Colombia has claimed the lives of five people and left 30 others missing.
Interesting Images
A brown bear in southeastern Alaska was dwarfed by its unusual and enormous meal — a beached sperm whale carcass.
Measles Outbreak in Ireland
Forty suspected cases of measles have been reported to the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), of which 21 have been confirmed.
The outbreak centres on the south-west of the country but some cases have been reported in Dublin, the mid-west and north-east.
Although public health doctors have traced the origin and spread of the disease, the outbreak has not been contained.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
6.1 Earthquake hits Nicaragua.
6.1 Earthquake hits the Solomon Islands.
5.2 Earthquake hits Tonga.
5.2 Earthquake hits Luzon in the Philippines.
5.2 Earthquake hits southern California.
5.2 Earthquake hits Ascension Island.
5.1 Earthquake hits Nicaragua.
5.0 Earthquake hits the State of Yap, Micronesia.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
No current tropical storms.
Newsbytes:
Switzerland - Torrential rain, thunderstorms and flash floods have inundated towns and villages, especially in parts of northwest, central and eastern Switzerland.
France - An international team of scientists has found that man-made climate change nearly doubled the likelihood of last month's devastating French flooding.
El Niño - El Niño is dead, scientists declared Thursday. It was 17 months old. The infamous climate pattern defined by warmer-than-average Pacific Ocean water is likely to be succeeded by its cooler kid sister, La Niña. Developing from a small patch of warm water in the Pacific Ocean, this El Niño grew to among the largest ever recorded as it shaped weather around the world.
Crow Disease Carriers
Large gatherings of crows, which can congregate in flocks of tens of thousands, may be spreading disease to other species, including humans.
University of California, Davis, researchers found that approximately half of the 6,000 American crows that winter around the campus carry Campylobacter jejuni, which is the leading cause of human gastroenteritis in industrialized countries.
GPS tracking found the birds like to gather around areas with easy access to food, such as dairy barns.
The researchers say this could potentially play a role in spreading the disease to domestic animals, and through them, to humans.
Interesting Images
Tallest Tree in the Tropics (Probably)
This yellow meranti tree (its base shown here) was recently discovered in Malaysia and thought to be the tallest tree in the tropics. Researchers spotted the enormous yellow meranti (Shorea faguetiana), extending 293.6 feet (89.5 meters) above the forest floor, on the northern part of the island of Borneo, where they were conducting reconnaissance flights to assess local biodiversity.
Global Temperature Extremes
The week's hottest temperature was 123.8 degrees Fahrenheit (51 degrees Celsius) in Jacobabad, Pakistan.
The week's coldest temperature was minus -106.0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 76.7 degrees Celsius) at Russia's Vostok Antarctic research station.
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
Bulusan (Luzon Island, Philippines): A sudden eruption occurred this morning (at 11:35 local time). An explosion generated an ash plume that rose about 2000 m above the volcano's summit and drifted northwest, causing light ash falls in nearby downwind areas. According to PHILVOLCS, the eruption preceded by a seismic swarm with more than 100 small earthquakes and lasted 5 minutes. The eruption itself was only steam-driven - no magma itself has reached the surface,- and caused by explosion of over-pressurized and over-heated fluids from the volcano's strongly developed hydrothermal system. A similar explosion had occurred on 21 February. Following it, scientists monitoring the volcano have been seeing an inflation of the edifice (swelling of the ground) since May, probably caused by magma intruding at depth. This would have been providing new energy (heat) to the system and cause increasing instability. Bulusan's official status remains unchanged at "Alert Level 1 (abnormal)" on the scale of 0 (normal) to 5 (highest).
Sinabung (Sumatra, Indonesia): The eruption of the volcano continues with little changes: viscous magma is accumulating at the summit lava dome and forms over-spilling lobes on the southeastern slope that are prone to collapse. Trapped gasses produce occasional vertical explosions with ash plumes that reach 1-2 km height mostly. The mass of new lava emplaced in unstable positions has again reached critical values, and might be producing new pyroclastic flows soon. After the last big pyroclastic flow which devastated the village of Gamber on 21 May and killed 9 people there, the new lava dome has been growing, forming a (new) lava lobe that has been becoming longer each day. According to the observatory post, Sinabung has been effusing lava at a rate of approx. 300.000 cubic meters per day and by now, a volume of 1,5 million cubic m is hanging on the unstable southeastern upper flank (in the new lobe).
Manam volcano (Papua New Guinea): Mild eruptive activity likely continues at the volcano. Satellite images show a thermal hot spot at the summit crater and occasionally, during clear weather, strong emissions of sulphur dioxide gas. Due to the lack of current field observations, no detailed information about the nature of the activity (if any) is currently available. The most likely situation is that there are mild strombolian eruptions and/or a growing lava dome at the summit crater. Manam is one of the region's most active volcanos.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
No current tropical storms.
Newsbytes:
Nepal - A flood triggered by heavy downpours in Banepa in the Kavre district in Nepal has claimed the lives of two people and left one other missing.
Zambia to Cull 2 000 Hippo - Anthrax Scare
The wildlife conservation group, the Born Free Foundation, has come out criticizing and condemning an apparent plan sanctioned by the Zambian government- to cull 2000 hippopotamuses over the next five years. The justification? A ‘wildlife management tool’ to prevent the future spread of anthrax among wild animals.
However, the motivations for the cull are in question as Born Free President and Co-Founder, Will Travers OBE, noted: “There are many questions about this abhorrent activity, questions that simply must be answered: Is it a cull or is it ‘trophy hunting’? What is the scientific rationale for killing up to 2,000 hippo (there are perhaps as few as 80,000 hippo in all of Southern Africa)? Is culling an effective way of addressing the possible spread of anthrax? Where will the money from the cull really end up? Is there truly an over-population issue with hippo in the Luangwa area?”
Anthrax outbreaks among hippos is not totally rare thing in Africa. Uganda has reported a number of large outbreaks in recent years.
The Born Free Foundation reports that the hippopotamus is listed as Vulnerable on the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List with recent population estimates suggesting that, over the past 10 years, there has been a 7%-20% decline in hippo populations.
Wildfires - Alberta, Canada
Oil sands producers Canadian Natural Resources Limited and Cenovus Energy shut projects and evacuated workers at Pelican Lake projects in northern Alberta as wildfires again threaten western Canadian output just as production begins to recover.
The lightning-sparked fire, roughly 75 hectares in size, and blowing away from the facility, is some 19 miles from the community of Wabasca, fire official Travis Fairweather said.
The Pelican Lake fire is about 100 miles southwest of the massive wildfire still burning east of Fort McMurray, Alberta. Last month that blaze forced 90,000 residents to flee the city and shut down more than 1 million barrels per day of oil sands output.
Wildfires - Arizona, USA
Fire crews have been busy working multiple wildfires across Arizona.
A fire in Elgin, Ariz. burned over 1,000 acres on Monday. The fire started along Longview Loop and is currently 90 percent contained.
The Mule Ridge Fire, which was discovered on May 31, is now 85 percent contained. According to officials, the blaze has burned over 8,500 acres near Ruby, Ariz. The fire was said to have been originated in Mexico. It soon crossed over into Arizona territory.
The Juniper Fire near Young, Ariz. is 20 percent contained. It has scorched 23,000 acres. Officials said the fire, which was first reported on May 17, was caused by a spark from lightning.
Human infection with avian influenza A(H5N6) virus – China
On 30 May 2016, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) of China notified WHO of another laboratory-confirmed case of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N6) virus.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
6.3 Earthquake hits the Moluccan Sea.
6.1 Earthquake hits offshore Jalisco, Mexico.
5.4 Earthquake hits offshore Jalisco, Mexico.
5.3 Earthquake hits Fiji.
5.1 Earthquake hits offshore Guatemala.
5.1 Earthquake hits the southern Mid-Atlantic ridge.
5.0 Earthquake hits the central east Pacific rise.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Mid-Indian ridge.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Tropical Depression One-e is located about 25 mi...45 km ESE of Salina Cruz Mexico with maximum sustained winds...30 mph...45 km/h. Present movement...N or 360 degrees at 2 mph...4 km/h.
The first tropical depression of the 2016 Eastern Pacific hurricane season will continue to cause heavy rainfall across Mexico's southern coast. Tropical Depression 1-E is slowly moving northward across the Gulf of Tehuantepec and approaching the southern coast of Mexico. The system is expected to remain weak as it slowly approaches the Mexican coastline and makes landfall on Wednesday. The depression is expected to make landfall between Salina Cruz and Puerto Arista. The biggest threat across the southern coast of Mexico will be heavy rain through Wednesday, along with locally gusty winds. These rains could produce life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides, especially in mountainous terrain.
Invest 91E is an area of disturbed weather in the East Pacific that has the potential for further tropical development.
Newsbytes:
Florida, USA - Tropical Storm Colin whipped Florida’s west coast Tuesday morning as Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for parts of the state. The fast-moving storm, which made landfall at the Big Bend Monday night, had already caused some flooding as it sailed northeastward along the Gulf coast. The storm picked up speed as it crossed northern Florida and southeast Georgia early Tuesday. Tropical storm warnings have been discontinued along Florida's Gulf Coast. Colin started to lose power Tuesday evening after heading out to sea and has since dissipated.
London, England - Motorists were forced to flee their cars in London this afternoon as the city was swamped by flash floods amid heavy rain and thunder and lightning.
China’s Jianggudiru Glacier melting due to climate change
A glacier that is one of the largest at the source of China’s Yangtze River is fast retreating because of climate change. The Jianggudiru Glacier on Geladaindong Mountain in a remote part of the western province of Qinghai has shrunk 34 metres (38 yards) over the past six years, Pu Jianchen, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reported.
The glacier started to shrink slowly in the 1970s, then expanded between 1989 and 1994 before retreating more quickly from 1995. The glacier retreated two metres a year in the 1980s and 1990s but about six metres a year over the past several years.
The Yangtze would get more water in the short term as that glacier and others melt, but eventually no more water would flow from them.
China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, has promised to bring greenhouse gas emissions to a peak by “around 2030” as part of its commitments to a global pact to combat global warming, signed in Paris last year.
Interesting Images
Help me! Fish peers out from inside a jellyfish
An Australian ocean photographer has captured a one-in-a-million example of the cruelty of life in the deep -- a fish peering out into the ocean, helpless, from inside a jellyfish. The fish seemed to be struggling a little bit, as it would swim around, it would try to swim in a straight line but the jellyfish would knock it off course, would send it in little circles or loops.
Wildfires - Sweden
Forest fires swept across central Sweden on Tuesday, including the Vrinnevi forest in Norrköping, Järpmyrberget in Ockelbo and along the railroad between Grängesberg and Ludvika in Dalarna. A fire near Lidhult in the southern Småland region which took days to put out last week flared up again at around noon.
Rabies in Johannesburg - South Africa
There have been five confirmed rabies cases in jackals and a dog in Muldersdrift, Kromdraai and Lanseria in the past month, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases says.
At least two cases in humans were reported, and both people received medical treatment.
While jackals play an important role in the ecosystem, jackal rabies is well documented in South Africa. Periodic increases in cases are reported, and in the past year, jackal rabies has been reported from North West and KwaZulu-Natal.
Rabies is fatal unless treatment is immediately given to the infected person.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.5 Earthquake hits south of Fiji.
5.5 Earthquake hits offshore Coquimbo, Chile.
5.4 Earthquake hits off the west coast of South Island, New Zealand.
5.2 Earthquake hits offshore Coquimbo, Chile.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
5.0 Earthquake hits south of Fiji.
Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:
Tropical Storm Colin is located about 110 mi...180 km NE of Jacksonville Florida and about 90 mi...145 km SSW of Charleston South Carolina with maximum sustained winds...50 mph...85 km/h. Present movement...NE or 50 degrees at 31 mph...50 km/h.
Strong winds and heavy rainfall were expected across the southeastern United States on Tuesday even as the centre of Tropical Storm Colin was moving into the Atlantic Ocean. The storm was 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Charleston, South Carolina, at 4 a.m. eastern time (0800 GMT) and moving at 31 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Centre in Miami said. A tropical storm warning was in effect from the Altamaha Sound Georgia to Oregon Inlet in North Carolina on Tuesday morning. On its forecast path, Colin was to barrel along the coast of the southeastern United States before moving out to sea during the day.
Tropical Depression One-e is located about 110 mi...180 km S of Salina Cruz Mexico with maximum sustained winds...35 mph...55 km/h. Present movement...ENE or 70 degrees at 7 mph...11 km/h.
Invest 91E is an area of disturbed weather in the East Pacific that has the potential for further tropical development.
Newsbytes:
Australia - In Tasmania more than 100 people in Latrobe and surrounds have been evacuated by helicopter and boat. Tasmania floods leave three missing as wild weather moves south from Sydney. The body of a woman has been found in northern Tasmania, a day after her husband was rescued through the roof of their flooded home.
Interesting Images
Flight Engineer Tim Peake of the European Space Agency photographed rare, high-altitude noctilucent or “night shining” clouds from the International Space Station on May 29, 2016.
Polar mesospheric clouds — also known as noctilucent clouds – form between 76 to 85 kilometres (47 to 53 miles) above the Earth’s surface, near the boundary of the mesosphere and thermosphere, a region known as the mesopause. At these altitudes, water vapour can freeze into clouds of ice crystals. When the sun is below the horizon and the ground is in darkness, these high clouds may still be illuminated, lending them their ethereal, “night shining” qualities.
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Etna (Sicily, Italy): Etna has remained calm at the surface since the most recent eruptive phase (violent strombolian activity from the NE and Voragine summit craters) ended on 26 May. The attached picture, taken on 3 June by volcanologist Boris Behncke (INGV Catania), shows significant changes of the summit region in the past weeks, in particular the near-complete filling of the Bocca Nuova and Voragine craters with lava and the partial collapses on the older NE crater.
Bromo (East Java, Indonesia): Intermittent mild to moderate emissions continue to occur at the volcano.
Kilauea (Hawai'i): The two new lava flows from Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater which emerged as surface breakouts from the partially blocked old lava tube on 24 May continue to be active, but have only advanced a bit during the past days. The old lava tube is still "working" as well (however, at presumably much reduced rate of lava throughput) and has been feeding scattered breakouts on the older June 27th lava flow field further to the northeast. At the moment, all active lava is within 5.4 km from the vent, far from inhabited areas to which it poses no threat. The summit lava lake remains active in Halema'uma'u crater. Its level varied slightly and is currently 31 m (102 ft) below the Overlook crater rim. According to HVO, "rates of seismicity are at background levels, with episodes of tremor associated with changes in the vigor of spattering within the Overlook vent. Sulfur dioxide emissions from the summit vent ranged from 4,100 to 8,000 metric tons/day over the past two weeks when measurements were possible during good trade wind conditions.
Masaya (Nicaragua): The lava lake remains active with little changes overall during the past weeks. Authorities have again closed public access to the crater rim.
Poas (Costa Rica): A small phreatic explosion occurred at the crater lake yesterday morning at 09:20 local time showing that the hydrothermal system of the volcano remains at elevated unrest.
Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia): Sporadic mild explosions continue to occur from time to time, generating small ash plumes. Overall, the volcano's activity has decreased during the past weeks, but it remains in an unstable state. It is impossible to predict how the activity will evolve (could calm down further or increase) in the near to medium future. SGC maintains alert level III (yellow) on its scale from IV (green) to I (red).
Santa Isabel (Colombia): During May 2015, GGC recorded an increase in small seismic activity associated with fracturing of rock inside the volcano, compared to April. The quakes (all below magnitude 2) were concentrated in the northern and eastern sectors of the volcanic edifice at depths ranging between 3.4 and 6.6 km. No other significant changes were detected at the volcano and its alert status remains at "green". A slight increase in rock-fracturing earthquakes has also been detected in the area south of Nevado de Santa Isabel volcano, in the area known as Cerro Spain.
Bristol Island (United Kingdom, South Sandwich Is): The eruption continues - Buenos Aires VAAC reports detecting ongoing ash emissions from satellite data. A moderately sized plume can be seen drifting east from the volcano.
