SIO15: Natural Disasters

Source: Steve Newman at the San Diego Union Tribune

Earthwatches

January 01, 2018

December 25, 2017

December 18, 2017

December 11, 2017

December 04, 2017

November 27, 2017

November 20, 2017

November 13, 2017

November 06, 2017

October 30, 2017

October 23, 2017

October 16, 2017

October 09, 2017

October 02, 2017

September 25, 2017

September 18, 2017

September 11, 2017

September 04, 2017

August 28, 2017

August 21, 2017

August 14, 2017

August 07, 2017

July 31, 2017

July 24, 2017

July 17, 2017

July 10, 2017

July 03, 2017

June 26, 2017

June 19, 2017

June 12, 2017

June 05, 2017

May 29, 2017

May 22, 2017

May 15, 2017

May 08, 2017

May 01, 2017

April 24, 2017

April 17, 2017

April 10, 2017

April 03, 2017

March 27, 2017

March 20, 2017

March 13, 2017

March 06, 2017

February 27, 2017

February 20, 2017

February 13, 2017

February 06, 2017

January 30, 2017

January 23, 2017

January 16, 2017

January 09, 2017

January 02, 2017

January 01, 2018 (2017 Year in Review)



Earthquakes

• The year’s deadliest temblor, a magnitude 7.3 temblor centered along the Iran-Iraq border, killed at least 530 people in Iran and 10 others in Iraq on Nov. 12.
• Two people were killed and hundreds injured on the Greek island of Kos and the Turkish resort of Bodrum by a powerful magnitude 6.6 quake on July 21.
• Mexico was ravaged by two quake disasters. At least 98 people were killed in Chiapas state on Sept. 7 by a magnitude 8.2-quake, the country’s second-strongest temblor on record. On Sept. 19, areas around Mexico City were devastated by a magnitude 7.1 quake that killed 370 people and injured 6,000 others.
• A magnitude 7.0 temblor on Aug. 8 in a scenic corner of China’s Sichuan province killed 25 people.



Tropical cyclones

• It was a very active year for deadly tropical cyclones around the world.
• The Atlantic basin underwent its most active period since records began, with hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria causing catastrophic damage from Texas and Florida to Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Windward Islands. Hurricane Ophelia came closer to Europe than any other storm in history before dissipating over Ireland.
• Deadly storms also lashed Central America, the South Pacific, eastern and southern Asia, and the Indian Ocean.



Warming mismatch

The seasonal clock that guides migratory songbirds across North America is being disrupted by climate change, leaving some species unable to reach their summer homes by the key dates necessary for breeding success. They are now arriving out of sync with some of their food sources.



arctic tsunami

A huge landslide near the western Greenland settlement of Nuugaatsiaq spawned a tsunami on June 17 that killed four people and washed 11 buildings into the sea.



Ozone hole

The hole in Earth’s protective stratospheric ozone layer above Antarctica was the smallest since 1988 at the time of year it typically reaches its greatest expanse. The hole was at its peak on Sept. 11, covering about 7.6 million square miles before its annual shrinking.



Carbon spike

A three-year pause in the rise of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions ended in 2017, mainly due to greater coal use in China brought on by that country’s booming economy. Man-made production of the greenhouse gas had been rising about 3 percent each year so far this century before leveling off between 2014 and 2016. But the Global Carbon Project, a group of 76 scientists in 15 countries, predicted carbon emissions would rise about 2 percent in 2017, reaching a new record high of about 37 billion metric tons. Climate scientists have warned that a peak in CO2 emissions must occur before 2020 to avoid catastrophic global warming.



A warmer world

The official United Nations weather agency predicted that 2017 would be among the top three hottest years on average worldwide. It would also be the warmest year on record that was not influenced by the El Niño ocean warming.



Cosmic crashes

New research finds that subatomic particles striking Earth from deep space sometimes wreak havoc on smartphones, computers and other electronic devices. Researcher Bharat Bhuva of Vanderbilt University says when cosmic rays strike the Earth’s atmosphere, they create bursts of other subatomic particles that can interact with circuits, sometimes altering bits of stored data.



Penguin starvation

A sharp accumulation of ice around an Antarctic island caused all but two of 18,000 Adélie penguin chicks there to starve. The extensive sea ice had forced the adults to venture 60 miles farther than usual to find food for their young.


• Extreme Temperatures: -111°F Vostok, Antarctica; 127°F Death Valley, California

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December 25, 2017 (for the week ending December 22)



Earthquakes

• Three people were killed and hundreds of buildings were damaged by a magnitude 6.5 temblor that rocked the southern coast of Java for nearly a minute.
• Earth movements were also felt in northern Iran [magnitude 5.2], northern Kentucky [2.8] and along the southern Texas Gulf Coast [3.0].



Tropical cyclones

• Typhoon Kai-Tak left at least 45 people dead and dozens more missing as it lashed the central Philippines. The tropical storm-force typhoon also destroyed large tracts of crops, according to officials.
• Remnants of Kai-Tak were approaching the Malay Peninsula late in the week.



Sumatran eruption

Ongoing activity at Indonesia’s Sinabung volcano sent clouds of hot debris soaring high above northern Sumatra Island. Residents were also warned of possible floods of cold debris cascading down the volcano in heavy rain. More than 2,000 people have been displaced by a string of blasts at Sinabung that began in 2013.



Deafening spawn

Dolphins and other sea mammals swimming in Mexican waters may be made deaf from exposure to the loud noises generated in the spawning frenzies of one fish species. A new report documents how this happens at a single site each spring in the far northern Gulf of California when Gulf corvina gather by the millions to spawn. “These spawning events are among the loudest wildlife events found on planet Earth,” said researcher Timothy Rowell of the University of California San Diego. The sounds, which are described as resembling “a really loud machine gun,” could at least temporarily deafen nearby seals, sea lions and dolphins.



Plastic pollution

Tiny pieces of plastics now contaminate even the most remote waters of the Arctic, where they are being consumed by marine life. New Norwegian research finds there are more microplastics in the blue mussels on the country’s Arctic Barents Sea coast than in the water near Oslo. The plastic is likely getting swept north into the Arctic by currents and wind. Chinese scientists say that while fish and other ocean creatures are eating the plastics, mollusks are early indicators of where plastic pollution has arrived because they live on the seabed where many plastic bits settle.



Wildlife selfies

A leading animal welfare organization has warned tourists to beware using wildlife for selfie backdrops because the act can be dangerous for both the humans and animals. World Animal Protection says the greatest concern is for the more than half-million wild animals kept in captivity and used to earn money from tourists. “There are more than 550,000 wild animals in captivity,” said spokeswoman Edith Kabesiime. “Many are starved, beaten into submission, poorly kept or even abandoned when it becomes too expensive to keep or too big to take care of.” She also cautioned that diseases can be passed between people and wildlife.



Snake intruders

Firefighters in Bangkok are being called on almost 30,000 times a year to remove snakes slithering in homes across the Thai capital. Many residents have had to call for help multiple times. The problem became chronic in recent years as the sprawling metropolis of about 10 million people expanded into the lush surrounding wetlands. Most of the snakes are harmless, with about 70 percent of those caught being pythons. But some cobras and other venomous types are captured and taken to a facility that uses them to create serum for treating poisonous snakebites.


• Extreme Temperatures: -53°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 113°F Oodnadatta, S. Australia

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December 18, 2017 (for the week ending December 15)



Earthquakes

• Iran was hit by two tremors, with a magnitude 5.4 quake rocking the border with Iraq, where a stronger temblor last month killed at least 530 people. The other temblor had a magnitude of 5.9.
• Earth movements were also felt in northern India's Himalayan Jammu and Kashmir state [magnitude 4.6], the Czech-Polish border region [3.4] and northwest Oregon [4.0].



Iceland rumblings

Iceland’s dormant Skjaldbreidur volcano is showing signs of unrest, with more than 100 tremors of magnitudes up to 3.8 rattling the glacier that covers it. Skjaldbreidur is Iceland’s most dangerous volcano. It last erupted in 1727-1728.



New Arctic 'normal'

A new “report card” on how climate change is affecting the Arctic reveals that permafrost is now thawing more quickly, as polar sea ice melts at its fastest pace in 1,500 years. “2017 continued to show us we are on this deepening trend where the Arctic is a very different place than it was even a decade ago,” said NOAA arctic researcher Jeremy Mathis. He told the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union that what’s happening in the Arctic is affecting the rest of the planet.
Earlier studies found that changes in Arctic sea ice and temperature can alter the jet stream — a major influence on weather across North America, Europe and Asia. “The Arctic has traditionally been the refrigerator to the planet, but the door of the refrigerator has been left open,” Mathis said.



Aspen clone

An explosion in the number of Utah’s mule deer is threatening the largest and possibly the oldest living organism on the planet. The Pando clone is a forest of more than 47,000 quaking aspens that share a single root system and are genetically identical.
The colony emerged about 80,000 years ago from a single seed. But foresters say the Pando clone is “tired” and aging because its young sprouts are being munched on by the deer, which have grown in numbers since the native wolves disappeared. Its oldest trees, between 110 and 130 years old, aren’t being replaced by new growth because the deer find the sprouts irresistible. A study suggests fencing in young growth can protect it from the deer and cattle that occasionally tromp on the clone’s root system.



Noisy seas

The noise pollution produced by ships and marine construction projects in the Gulf of Maine is drowning out the sounds that Atlantic cod and haddock need to communicate with each other, according to a new study. The U.S. environment agency NOAA says this is altering the behavior, feeding, mating and socializing of the commercially important fish. The study concludes that since the fish make sounds to attract mates and listen for predators, not hearing those signals could threaten their breeding success and survival.



Social arachnophilia

Images of giant and scary-looking spiders posted on social media are helping scientists identify dozens of species that may never have been documented. Writing in the journal Insect Conservation and Diversity, researcher Heather Campbell, formerly of the University of Pretoria, says she made the discoveries after getting involved with a group of “massive spider nerds.” They venture out at night looking for southern African baboon spiders, then post their findings online. Together, Campbell and the adventurers published the Baboon Spider Atlas, which used various Facebook photos posted by the group and other curious arachnophiles. The atlas may have identified 20 to 30 new species.



Antarctic refuge

The world’s largest marine reserve has just been established in Antarctica’s Ross Sea in what conservationists hail as a “watershed moment” for conservation. The agreement began protecting 600,000 square miles of the Ross Sea effective Dec. 1. It bans commercial fishing in about 72 percent of the reserve.


• Extreme Temperatures: -64°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 110°F Julia Creek, Queensland, Australia

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December 11, 2017 (for the week ending December 08)



Earthquakes

• At least 42 people in southeastern Iran were injured by a magnitude 6.0 quake that destroyed several homes near the provincial capital of Kerman.
• A strong [magnitude 6.0] earthquake centered near Ecuador’s Pacific coast caused damage to some buildings and knocked out power.
• Earth movements were also felt in New Zealand's North Island [magnitude 4.9], the central Philippines [5.0], northern India [5.1], northern Oklahoma [4.2] and around Anchorage, Alaska [magnitude 3.9].



Tropical cyclones

• Dozens of people perished in storm-related accidents across Sri Lanka and southern India from Cyclone Ockhi, which briefly attained Category-3 force.
• Short-lived Tropical Storm Dahlia churned the Indian Ocean between Java and northwestern Australia.



Eruption update

Indonesian officials warned residents near Bali’s Mount Agung volcano to remain alert, even though the volcano calmed down after days of explosive eruptions.



Rescue failure

A desperate attempt to save the 30 surviving members of the world’s most endangered marine mammal species by capturing them and keeping them in human care has been abandoned. The plan to rescue the vaquitas by patrolling their small habitat in the Gulf of California with the help of dolphins trained by the U.S. Navy was halted soon after the first vaquita captured quickly showed signs of extreme stress and had to be released.
A second died a few hours after being caught. “This is a very, very serious setback,” said project scientist Barbara Taylor, of the U.S. agency NOAA. She said the vaquita’s only hope now is to curb the illegal net fishing that inadvertently ensnares them.



Heated growth

The “urban heat island” effect is causing trees around the world’s cities to grow faster than those in the country, a new study finds.
Concrete and other heat-absorbing materials that make up the urban landscape store more heat than the ground in the country. This keeps cities significantly warmer, especially at night. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich compared core samples of 1,400 trees from several countries around the world in both urban and rural settings. They found that city trees of the same age as country trees were larger because they grew faster in the excess heat. Earlier studies found that global warming is causing faster tree growth in both urban and rural trees.



Global cleansing

Nations of the world have agreed to move toward a pollution-free planet, curbing contamination of the oceans, rivers, soil and air.
Every day, nine out of 10 people worldwide breathe in pollution that exceeds health guidelines, with 17,000 dying prematurely from it. Wildlife is also being poisoned. Meeting at a U.N.
Environment Assembly in Nairobi, members also called for a shift in how goods are produced and used, especially plastics that wind up in the world’s oceans. But the non-binding declaration has no timetable and has not been signed onto by the United States.



Macaque mischief

Forestry authorities in southwestern China’s Yunnan province captured a troublesome and elusive wild monkey that had repeatedly broken into homes at night. The macaque evaded capture for about two weeks before being cornered in a school dormitory, according to the China News Service.
Macaques are notorious for their thievery and even extortion, according to researchers who recently published a study in the journal Primates.
But as a protected species, the serial intruder will be released back into the wild after it gets a clean bill of health from a veterinarian.


• Extreme Temperatures: -62°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 109°F Vredendal, South Africa

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December 04, 2017 (for the week ending December 01)



Earthquakes

• At least 36 people were injured when a magnitude 4.5 quake jolted the western Iran-eastern Iraq border, near where a much stronger temblor killed 530 earlier in November.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern Turkey [magnitude 5.1] and south-central Alaska [magnitude 5.3].



Southern cyclone

• Indonesia’s meteorological agency said the first tropical cyclone of the season in the Southern Hemisphere formed just south of the island of Java. As it was forming, Cyclone Cempaka killed at least 19 people on Java, mainly in a landslide triggered by heavy rainfall.



Bali eruptions

Indonesia’s Mount Agung belched plumes of ash and created tremors that shook parts of Bali during a string of eruptions that ended the volcano’s 54-year slumber. Authorities told 100,000 residents around the volcano to leave the area as ash also forced the extended closure of Bali’s international airport.



Light pollution

Artificial light on the Earth’s surface at night grew by about 2 percent in each of the last five years, causing concerns that the light pollution could affect people and wildlife. The U.S. environment agency NOAA cautions that the satellite sensors used to detect the planet’s lighting can’t observe some of the increasingly common LED lighting, meaning the analysis of the observations could be underestimating the amount of light pollution. Ecologist Franz Hölker, of Germany’s Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, warned that the light “threatens biodiversity through changed night habits, such as reproduction or migration patterns of many different species: insects, amphibians, fish, birds, bats and other animals.”



Disease drones

An international team of researchers suggests that the common fly can be used as a kind of bionic drone to monitor and predict the progression of disease outbreaks. Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, the scientists say they found swarms of flies can carry several hundred species of bacteria, some of which can be harmful to humans. Singapore researcher Stephan Schuster and his colleagues suggest that flies bred to be germ-free could be released into the environment, then captured in bait traps to see if they had picked up any dangerous pathogens.



Israeli snow birds

Ornithologists say climate change has prompted some of the 500 million migratory birds that used to stop off only briefly in Israel to stay for the winter rather than cross an increasingly hostile and expanding desert region to the south. Because 40,000 newly wintering cranes like to feast on the corn and peanuts growing around Agamon Hula Lake, Israel has resorted to feeding the birds up to 9 tons of corn a day to keep them away from the crops. “It’s harder for the birds to cross a much larger desert, and they just cannot do it. There is not enough fuel, there are not enough ‘gas stations’ on the way, so Israel has become their biggest gas station, their biggest restaurant,” said ornithologist Shay Agmon.



Antimatter bolt

New studies have revealed that the intense power introduced into the atmosphere by lightning can result in matter-antimatter annihilation in a series of radioactive decays that follow some strikes. Writing in the journal Nature, a team of Japanese researchers found that electric fields within thunderstorms are able to accelerate electrons to extremely high energies, generating a zone that contains unstable isotopes of oxygen and nitrogen. Radioisotopes and even positrons — the antimatter equivalent of electrons — are formed in the process. More research is needed to determine if the powerful flashes pose a radiation hazard to people on the ground.


• Extreme Temperatures: -65°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 106°F Telfer, W. Australia

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November 27, 2017 (for the week ending November 24)



Earthquakes

• The French Pacific territory of New Caledonia and neighboring Vanuatu were jolted by a powerful [magnitude-7.0] undersea tremor that produced a small tsunami. No significant damage was reported.
• A magnitude 5.2 quake damaged several buildings near the Ecuadorean port of Guayaquil.
• Earth movements were also felt in western India [magnitude 4.2] and eastern Tibet [magnitude 6.4].



Tropical cyclones

• Central Vietnam was drenched when tropical-storm-force Typhoon Kirogi moved ashore from the South China Sea. The sixth named storm to impact the country so far this year dumped more than 7 inches of rainfall in some areas already left soggy by earlier storms.



Indonesian ash

Bali’s restive Mount Agung volcano erupted, spewing ash 2,300 feet into the sky near the island’s tourist center of Kuta. Since August, Agung has been threatening its first major eruption since 1963.



Groundwater CO2

Using water from underground aquifers faster than it is being replenished is releasing large amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. While small compared to the burning of fossil fuels, this groundwater depletion in the U.S. alone could be responsible for 1.7 million metric tons of atmospheric CO₂ pollution each year, scientists from Michigan State University estimate. That would rank among the top 20 sources of carbon pollution outlined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “We were somewhat surprised that this hasn’t been accounted for ... in the [EPA and IPCC] evaluations,” said study hydrogeologist David Hyndman.



Seismic spike

A new study suggests that Earth will experience a surge in destructive earthquake activity through 2018 due to minuscule changes in the planet’s rotation. Geologists from the University of Colorado, Boulder and the University of Montana documented how the annual number of earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater since 1900 have spiked every 25 to 30 years. They believe those spikes occurred five to six years after the mean rotational velocity of the Earth temporarily increased the length of days by as much as several milliseconds. The last deceleration of Earth’s rotation started in 2011. The scientists believe the occasional small changes in rotation can result in vast amounts of underground energy being released, triggering strong quakes.



Nuclear incident

Russian authorities denied that a cloud of radioactive ruthenium-106 (Ru-106) detected this fall across a wide stretch of Europe was caused by any activities or accidents at their processing facilities. The nuclide is created in nuclear reactors and used in some medical treatments. Russia’s weather service said a day earlier that a monitoring station near the Mayak nuclear facility had detected “extremely high pollution” of Ru-106 at nearly 1,000 times greater than normal levels. But Russia’s state nuclear corporation said the contamination had nothing to do with its activities at Mayak.



'Lobzilla'

A Welsh marine biologist who runs his own oyster and mussel farm found a huge lobster claw that probably came from a crustacean between 2 and 3 feet in length. Shaun Krijnen said that’s about three times the size of an average lobster, and that the 8-inch-long pincer would be powerful enough to break a person’s wrist. Krijnen believes the former owner of the claw is more than 50 years old and has just molted to allow it to grow ever larger. “It is nice to think it is still out there and may return at some point in the future,” Krijnen told Newsweek.


• Extreme Temperatures: -55°F Vostok, Antarctica; 110°F Telfer, W. Australia

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November 20, 2017 (for the week ending November 17)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 7.3-]quake along the Iran-Iraq border killed more than 500 people and injured about 8,000 others.
• Several people were injured when a rare [magnitude 5.4-] South Korean quake damaged more than 1,000 structures.
• Another earth movement, [with magnitude 6.5,] was felt in Costa Rica.



Tropical cyclones

• Tropical storm-force Typhoon Haikui drenched parts of the northern Philippines, then briefly churned the South China Sea.



La Niña arrives

A weak La Niña ocean cooling appears to have become established in the tropical Pacific in recent weeks. The U.S. National Weather Service predicts the opposite phase of the more notorious El Niño will likely linger through the Northern Hemisphere winter with its own set of weather shifts. La Niña typically brings drier and warmer conditions to the southern United States and wetter weather to the Pacific Northwest.



Seahorse return

A breeding population of short-snouted seahorses has been discovered living in England’s River Thames in what biologists say is proof the once-polluted waterway is becoming cleaner. The creatures are typically found from the Mediterranean Sea and Canary Islands to the English Channel. Announcement of the discovery was delayed until the species became protected under law, with fines or imprisonment imposed on those found killing, injuring or capturing the seahorses.



Nuclear mystery

A cloud of a man-made radioactive nuclide blew over Europe, leaving officials trying to find its source. While only very low levels of ruthenium-106 were detected from late September until mid-October in France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland, a French official said it was “absolutely not normal.” French officials estimated that the material was most likely released somewhere south of Russia’s Ural Mountains between the Urals and the Volga River, based on weather patterns. Russian scientists claim they have found no evidence of the radioactive pollution.



Carbon spike

A three-year pause in the rise of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions is expected to have ended in 2017, mainly due to a greater use of coal in China brought on by the country’s booming economy. Man-made production of the greenhouse gas had been rising about 3 percent each year this century before leveling off between 2014 and 2016. But the Global Carbon Project, a group of 76 scientists in 15 countries, predicts carbon emissions will rise about 2 percent this year, reaching a record high of about 37 billion metric tons. Climate scientists have warned that a global peak in CO₂ emissions should occur before 2020 to limit dangerous global warming this century.



Bat slaughter

The carcasses of dozens of rare grey-headed flying foxes have been found along Australia’s Queensland coast after a slaughter locals describe as “horrific.” The protected species is Australia’s largest bat and is crucial for pollination in Queensland’s forests. The killings are the latest in a spate of animal mutilations that have mainly been focused in Victoria state, and include kangaroo, wallaby and koala. Those who found the bat carcasses said they tried to help baby bats whose mothers had been killed, but they were able to save only two.


• Extreme Temperatures: -55°F Vostok, Antarctica; 113°F Catamarca, Argentina

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November 13, 2017 (for the week ending November 10)



Earthquakes

• One person was killed and scores of buildings were wrecked by a [magnitude 6.3] undersea temblor in Indonesia’s Maluku province.
• Earth movements were also felt in Guam [magnitude 4.5], northern Japan's Hokkaido Island [5.0], northwestern Pakistan [4.6], Bosnia and Herzegovina [4.2], islands from Trinidad to Grenada [5.4], southern Guatemala [5.1] and southeastern Missouri [2.7].



Tropical cyclones

• At least 106 people were killed by downpours and floods triggered by Typhoon Damrey along Vietnam’s central coast.
• Tropical Storm Rina formed in the Atlantic.



Mexican blast

A series of eruptions of Popocatépetl volcano, southeast of Mexico City, caused ash to fall on two nearby towns. The country’s disaster agency said it measured three explosive eruptions within 24 hours. Popocatépetl has erupted numerous times since it roared back to life in 1994.



A warmer world

The official United Nations weather agency predicts that 2017 will be among the top three hottest years on average worldwide, and it will be the warmest year ever that was not influenced by the El Niño ocean warming in the Pacific.
The World Meteorological Organization says 2017 has been marked by heavier-than-normal rainfall, including in western China, southern South America and the contiguous United States. The warmer global climate also brought lower-than-average coverage of the Arctic’s polar sea ice pack. The prediction and analysis were released as world leaders began meeting for a U.N. climate change conference in Bonn, Germany.



Carbon-neutral

A Dutch company says it is producing the industry’s first hen eggs with no discernible carbon footprint. Kipster uses 1,097 solar panels to power its facility, with enough electricity left over to sell back to the grid. The farm also uses waste food as feed to help eliminate its carbon footprint. While not technically a free-range facility, the birds are allowed to roam in a covered courtyard, and their eggs are sold in containers made of potato starch rather than cardboard. The birds are eventually slaughtered and sold at local markets rather than being shipped long distances.



Smog emergency

Toxic smog blanketed much of Pakistan and India, triggering a health emergency and reducing visibility so much that the number of traffic accidents soared. Illegal agricultural burning, construction dust and carbon emissions created a vast cloud of smog that was two to four times the level considered hazardous. The Indian capital of New Delhi was especially hard-hit, with schools forced to close and residents warned to wear masks outdoors. India’s pollution control board said a lack of wind trapped emissions near the ground across the region.



Ozone hole

The hole in Earth’s protective stratospheric ozone layer above Antarctica was the smallest since 1988 at the time of year it typically reaches its greatest expanse. The hole reached its peak on Sept. 11, covering about 7.6 million square miles before beginning its annual retreat. The average peak since 1991 has been about 10 million square miles. Researchers say the limited size was mainly due to abnormally unstable and warmer air swirling high above Antarctica in the southern polar vortex.


• Extreme Temperatures: -53°F Vostok, Antarctica; 112°F Dampier, W. Australia

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November 06, 2017 (for the week ending November 03)



Earthquakes

• A sharp [magnitude 6.3] temblor damaged buildings on Indonesia’s Ambon Island.
• Earth movements were also felt in South Asia's Hindu Kush region [magnitude 5.2], central Romania [4.1] and central Iceland [4.7].



Tropical cyclones

• Tropical Storm Selma became the first named storm in recorded history to strike El Salvador from the Pacific. It toppled trees and triggered floods.
• Parts of Cuba and South Florida were drenched by Tropical Storm Philippe.
• Category-1 Typhoon Saola passed just offshore from eastern Japan.



Volcanic respite

More than 180,000 evacuees from near Bali’s Mount Agung were told they could go home after weeks of volcanic swarms during which geologists warned of an imminent eruption. Indonesian authorities lowered the alert status after a significant decrease in activity over several days. The volcanic alert since August has resulted in huge losses for the resort area as tourists went elsewhere or canceled their visits.



Shrinking winter

Wintertime’s first frost is arriving in the United States roughly one month later than it did a century ago.
NOAA meteorologist Ken Kunkel said the trend toward later and later first freezes appears to have set in about 1980, as revealed in records going back to 1895. He said the average first freeze over the past decade is a week later than it was between 1971 and 1980, adding that this spring’s last frost occurred nine days earlier than normal. Kunkel and other scientists say global warming is causing the shrinking winter.



Bonus monarchs

Tens of thousands of migrating monarch butterflies are stuck in northern climes this autumn because of unusually warm weather and strong winds that have grounded them. Biologist Elizabeth Howard, director of the monarch tracking group Journey North, says the colorful insects have been seen from far southern Ontario to near Cape May, N.J.. Monarchs typically arrive in their central Mexican winter home about Nov. 1. Howard points out that many of the stragglers are a sort of “bonus generation” that was able to emerge late in the season because of the delayed chill.



Salmon crisis

Not a single wild salmon returned to a key breeding river in New Brunswick, Canada, to spawn for the first time on record. “It means for the Magaguadavic River, whatever wild salmon that existed there are now extinct,” said Neville Crabbe, spokesman for the Atlantic Salmon Federation. The federation says the decline in the once-abundant wild salmon from Atlantic Canada to Maine is partly due to an increase in salmon farming in the region. Other factors include the construction of dams, loss of habitat, pollution, climate change and overfishing.



Greenhouse record

Global concentrations of carbon dioxide accumulating in Earth’s atmosphere increased at a record rate during 2016, prompting a pointed warning of the resulting climate change from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ reached 403.3 parts per million — a level not seen for millions of years, the U.N. agency said. The surge came despite global CO₂ emissions remaining relatively flat for past three years — albeit at record amounts. “Without rapid cuts in CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions, we will be heading for dangerous temperature increases by the end of this century,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.


• Extreme Temperatures: -71°F Vostok, Antarctica; 112°F Derby, W. Australia

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October 30, 2017 (for the week ending October 27)



Earthquakes

• New Zealand’s Canterbury region was jolted by a magnitude 5.4 temblor that triggered landslides near the coastal city of Kaikoura.
• Earth movements were also felt in islands of Indonesia's Flores Sea [magnitude 6.7], northwestern Sumatra [4.3], coastal Southern California [3.9] and western North Carolina [2.5].



Tropical cyclones

• Typhoon Lan left seven people dead in Japan after passing directly over Tokyo on election day. Heavy rains from the Category-1 storm caused rivers to burst their banks and fishing boats to be washed ashore.
• Typhoon Saola formed south of Guam and was predicted to remain over the open Pacific waters to the east of Japan.



Solomon Eruption

Tinakula volcano, on a remote South Pacific island, roared to life in Temotu province of the eastern Solomon Islands. Officials said heavy ash was reported falling in villages on nearby islands for the first time in memory. Villagers say subsequent heavy rain washed the fallen ash into wells and water tanks, threatening their drinking water supplies.



Pollution fatalities

Pollution is responsible for illnesses that kill one in every six people around the world each year, according to a new landmark report. The Lancet, the world’s leading peer-reviewed journal on health, commissioned a study that found toxic air, water, soil and workplace environments kill at least 9 million people annually.
Study authors warn that the crisis “threatens the continuing survival of human societies.” Philip Landrigan, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said the scale of deaths from pollution surprised the researchers, as did the rate at which the fatalities were rising.



Yellow fever

The discovery of one dead monkey infected with yellow fever on the north side of Brazil’s largest city has prompted Sao Paulo health authorities to launch a massive vaccination campaign. The virus responsible for the disease has been blamed for at least 261 Brazilian deaths since December, almost entirely in the southeast of the country. The mosquito-borne disease originated in Africa and was discovered to be back in Brazil after hundreds of dead monkeys were found infected in the country’s Atlantic rainforest late last year. Yellow fever is one of the world’s most deadly tropical diseases, causing symptoms such as muscle aches and fever, progressing to liver damage and kidney failure.



Carbon pause

The world’s carbon dioxide emissions remain stalled for a third consecutive year, with the United States and Russia decreasing their output by 2 percent in 2016.
Japan cut its CO2 emissions by 1 percent, while those produced by Europe and China held steady. India’s emissions increased by 5 percent. Despite the overall pause in the growth of the world’s most pervasive greenhouse gas pollution, emissions of methane and nitrous oxide continued to increase. Methane can trap 30 times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2, while nitrous oxide traps 300 times more.



Magpie menace

Residents of Melbourne, Australia, have been warned of increased attacks by swooping magpie birds that have resulted in an alarming number of eye injuries. “In the last week, we saw five in the one day, including a penetrating eye injury that needed to go to theatre (surgery),” said Dr. Carmel Crock of the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital. A special online map has been prepared to show where the highest numbers of attacks have occurred. Officials say that since the birds may be less likely to swoop if they think people are watching them, people are advised to draw a pair of “eyes” on the backs of their hats and helmets.


• Extreme Temperatures: -72°F Vostok, Antarctica; 112°F Hermosillo, Mexico

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October 23, 2017 (for the week ending October 20)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 5.5] temblor centered just off southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state rattled nerves in a country already hit by two recent quake disasters.
• Earth movements were also felt in central Iran [magnitude 5.0], northwestern California [3.9] and northeastern Arkansas [3.6].



Tropical cyclones

• Hurricane Ophelia lashed Ireland as the strongest posttropical low to hit the island since former Hurricane Debbie struck from the west in 1961. Ophelia also came closer to Western Europe than any other hurricane in recorded history.
• Typhoon Khanun lashed far southern China.
• Typhoon Lan was taking aim at Japan’s Honshu Island late in the week.



Eruption

Japan’s Mount Shinmoedake volcano spewed ash over four nearby cities in Miyazaki prefecture during its first eruptions in six years. Blasts that occurred three days apart sent ash soaring as high as about 7,500 feet above the crater. The Japanese broadcaster TBS aired images of elementary school students wearing helmets and face masks on the way to their classes near the base of Shinmoedake.



La Niña watch

Meteorologists from some of the world’s weather agencies say there is an increasing chance the La Niña ocean-cooling phenomenon will develop in the Pacific during the next few months. U.S. climate scientists estimate there is a 55 to 65 percent chance La Niña will become established before the end of the year.
Typical impacts of the ocean cooling during December through February are wetter-than- normal weather across the western Pacific, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as in the Pacific Northwest and the Ohio Valley. La NiÑa also brings unusually dry conditions to East Africa and parts of east-central China. The southern United States typically becomes drier and warmer than normal.



Social cetaceans

Whales and dolphins have been found to live in tightly knit social groups, talk to each other in complex relationships and develop regional dialects similar to humans’. Some even call each other by name. British, Canadian and American researchers say this advanced cetacean culture is due to the size of the marine mammals’ brains. Writing in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, the scientists say that after studying 90 species, they found overwhelming evidence of these sophisticated social and cooperative behavior traits similar to those in human cultures.



Penguin starvation

Researchers say that only two out of 18,000 Adelie penguin chicks managed to survive in an Antarctica colony where extensive sea ice had forced the adult birds to venture 60 miles farther than usual to find food for their young. An “unprecedented rainy episode” was said to have worsened the crisis. It was the second time in four years that such starvation has been observed at the colony on Petrel Island. While Antarctica’s overall summer sea ice has recently dwindled to a record low, the expansive sea ice around the penguin colony was an exception.



Hungry bears

Two people have been killed by bears in Russia’s Far East this fall due to dwindling food sources, according to a forestry worker. AFP reports that authorities on Sakhalin Island say they were forced to shoot dead 83 of the bears during the past week because of their aggressive behavior. The worker told the agency that there are not enough fish, berries and nuts for the bears to store up their usual fat reserves for winter. He added that overfishing of local salmon has also led to the ursine hunger.


• Extreme Temperatures: -87°F Vostok, Antarctica; 110°F Saint-Louis, Senegal

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October 16, 2017 (for the week ending October 13)



Earthquakes

• A wide area of northeastern Japan was jolted by a magnitude 5.9 temblor centered just off the Fukushima coast.
• Earth movements were also felt in far northern Chile [magnitude 6.3] and southern parts of the San Francisco Bay Area [4.1].



Tropical cyclones

• Hurricane Nate was only a tropical storm when it left at least 16 people dead in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador. Nate later reached Category-1 force before bringing storm-surge tides and heavy rain to the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
• Category-1 Hurricane Ophelia was predicted to pass between the Azores and Canary Islands. NOAA track map.



Eruption

Guatemala’s Fuego volcano produced up to 12 explosions per hour as it spewed columns of ash and vapor into the sky 30 miles from Guatemala City.
Ash fell downwind in the former colonial capital of Antigua and in other nearby villages.



Wayward seabird

The first masked booby ever spotted in Massachusetts was probably blown far north of its usual habitat by high winds swirling around Hurricane Jose last month. The seabird typically breeds on tropical islands, except in the eastern Atlantic. It was found on a beach in Cape Cod and taken to Wild Care Cape Cod. Despite intensive care efforts, it soon died due to its weakened state and exposure to a cooler climate.



Monkey island

Scientists are scrambling in the wake of Hurricane Maria to save the more than 1,500 rhesus macaques that live on a small island off Puerto Rico. The monkeys have been studied there since the 1930s, when they were imported from Southeast Asia. Maria wiped out Cayo Santiago’s lush vegetation and wrecked the structures that provided fresh water. Scientists from several universities have launched a relief effort to rebuild the research infrastructure and assure there is ample food for the monkeys until the island’s natural vegetation grows back.



Madagascar plague

The World Health Organization is warning of a troublesome outbreak of plague that has emerged on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar during the past month. The U.N. agency said 50 of the approximately 500 people who became infected since September have died. While about 400 cases of pneumonic plague are reported on the island each year, mainly in the remote highlands, the recent outbreak has infected many in the capital of Antananarivo and other densely populated communities. Early symptoms are similar to the flu or a common cold but quickly advance to pneumonia.



Tainted honey

A new study has found that most of the honey sampled from every continent except Antarctica during a recent five-year period was contaminated with a common class of bee-harming insecticides. Researchers from the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland found that 75 percent of the samples had “quantifiable amounts” of at least one of the neonicotinoids, which have also been linked to reduced colony growth and queen production in bumblebees. The scientists say 86 percent of the samples collected in North America were contaminated, followed by 80 percent in Asia, 79 percent in Europe and 57 percent in South America.


• Extreme Temperatures: -77°F Vostok, Antarctica; 113°F Mecca, Saudi Arabia

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October 09, 2017 (for the week ending October 06)



Earthquakes

• China’s Sichuan province was rocked by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake that caused only minor damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in northern Colombia [magnitude 5.1] and along the Macedonia-Bulgaria border [3.6].



Tropical cyclones

• After catastrophic and deadly Hurricane Maria finally fizzled in the North Atlantic, ending the most active hurricane period on record in the Atlantic basin, the planet experienced a few days without any tropical cyclone activity.
• That period ended when Tropical Storm Ramon formed in the Pacific off southern Mexico and Nate spun up in the southern Caribbean in the Atlantic.



Balinese unease

The restive Agung volcano on the Indonesian resort island of Bali continued to rumble, and some of the 144,000 people who initially fled due to terrifying volcanic swarms say they are afraid to go back to their homes outside the immediate danger zone.
Ongoing daily tremors and bursts of steam from the summit have caused parts of the normally bustling tourist region to be nearly deserted. Mount Agung hasn’t erupted since 1963, when it killed about 1,000 people.



Tsunami invasion

The titanic tsunami that rushed across the Pacific following Japan’s March 2011 earthquake and the following nuclear meltdown disaster has transported marine species across the entire Pacific to North American shores where they had never been seen before. The modern proliferation of plastic allowed creatures such as worms, crustaceans, hydroids and other species to hitch a ride on the floating debris and survive a harsh voyage that would have otherwise killed them. Researchers say they have detected 289 living species on tsunami debris originating from Japan. They suspect far more may have escaped their notice, including some invasive species that could possibly alter the existing ecosystems.
NB: the original text was modified as the former erroneously used the term tidal wave. Also, the tsunami itself did not bring the new species and debris. Rather, drifting items subsequently hitched a ride on an ocean current to be transported around the ocean.



Hippo trade

Africa’s threatened hippo populations are being ravaged by a growing trade in their teeth, which are becoming increasingly popular as carved items similar to those made of ivory. Hong Kong imports about 90 percent of the trade, which mainly originates in Tanzania and Uganda. “If authorities do not more diligently monitor the international trade in threatened species, those species could be exposed to unmanageable exploitation levels, which could lead to extinction,” said Alexandra Andersson from the University of Hong Kong’s School of Biological Sciences.



Feline massacre

Australia’s pet and feral cats are killing more than 1 million birds on average across the country every day, according to a new study. Researchers from Charles Darwin University say the savage slaughter “is likely to be driving the ongoing decline of many species.” Wild cats kill 316 million birds annually, while pets kill about 61 million. The scientists say they also found evidence of the non-native cats killing 338 types of birds — nearly half of all the native feathered species in the country.



Seaward cesium

Levels of radioactive cesium have been found to be higher on Japanese beaches 60 miles from Fukushima’s meltdown-plagued nuclear power plant than in samples taken in the facility’s harbor. Scientists believe the cesium-137 was carried by currents and absorbed in distant sandy beaches soon after the 2011 nuclear disaster. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researcher Ken Buesseler says the sand acted as a sponge that soaked up the contamination, which is being slowly depleted.


• Extreme Temperatures: -84°F Vostok, Antarctica; 113°F Mecca, Saudi Arabia

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October 02, 2017 (for the week ending September 29)



Earthquakes

• Mexico was rocked by another powerful temblor that sparked terror in a region already reeling from a quake catastrophe just a few days earlier. The new magnitude 6.2 quake in Oaxaca state killed five people.
• Earth movements were also felt in northwestern California [magnitude 5.7], southern Utah [3.4],Indonesia's province of Papua [5.3] and northeastern Morocco [3.0].



Tropical cyclones

• After causing catastrophic damage and misery to Puerto Rico and other islands of the eastern Caribbean, Hurricane Maria was relatively harmless as it passed off the southeastern coast of the United States.
• Hurricane Lee regenerated in the mid-Atlantic two weeks after gaining hurricane force for only a few hours near the Cape Verde Islands.
• Tropical Storm Pilar drenched western Mexico’s Sinaloa and Nayarit states, which are key growing areas for winter produce sold across North America.



Eruption

Vanuatu’s government declared a state of emergency after a volcanic eruption pelted nearby homes with ash and incandescent rocks, destroying crops and forcing thousands to flee. Manaro Voui volcano, on the island of Ambae, roared back to life after weeks of increased rumbling. Officials have ordered the evacuation of Ambae Island’s entire population, which is about 11,000.



U.K. smog alert

A combination of polluted air blowing in from continental Europe and toxic air around London has created unhealthful levels of air pollution around the British capital. London’s mayor ordered an emergency air quality alert due to the hazardous smog. “The shocking and illegal state of London’s filthy air means once again I am triggering a high air pollution alert today under my new comprehensive alert system,” said Sadiq Khan. The government has come under increased pressure to improve the United Kingdom’s air quality.



A 'criminal' killing

Conservation groups in Germany expressed outrage when the first wild bison to be seen in the country for more than two centuries was killed after a local official ordered hunters to shoot it. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says it will file charges against the official, calling the killing of the animal by the river Oder near the eastern town of Lebus a criminal offense.
“After more than 250 years a wild bison had been spotted again in Germany, and all the authorities could think to do is shoot it,” said WWF board member Chris Heinrich. It’s believed the bison wandered into Germany from a national park in neighboring Poland.



Disfiguring outbreak

Cases of a flesh-eating bacterium that causes leprosy-like symptoms are spreading in southeastern Australia, prompting calls for more government funding to combat the outbreak. The Buruli ulcer is typically found in parts of Africa and was named after the Ugandan village where many cases emerged in the 1960s. It was first identified in patients of Australia’s Victoria state during the 1930s. Paul Johnson of Melbourne’s Austin Hospital told AFP that the recent outbreak appears to have emerged in possums on the Bellarine Peninsula south of Melbourne. He says humans are contracting it through direct contact with the native marsupials or through biting insects.



Whale hunt ends

Japan’s whaling fleet ended its disputed scientific whaling season in the North Pacific after killing 177 of the marine mammals. Three ships that sailed in June returned with 43 minke whales and 134 sei whales. Japan’s Fisheries Ministry says it is trying to prove the whale population has recovered enough to allow commercial hunting.


• Extreme Temperatures: -101°F Vostok, Antarctica; 118°F Mecca, Saudi Arabia

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September 25, 2017 (for the week ending September 22)



Earthquakes

• A magnitude 7.1 temblor killed hundreds as it collapsed buildings around Mexico City.
• Earth movements were also felt in Jamaica [magnitude 4.3], Papua New Guinea [5.9], northeastern Japan [6.1], the Yukon-British Columbia-Alaska border region [5.1] and Los Angeles [3.6].



Tropical cyclones

• Hurricane Maria, the second Category- 5 storm to ravage the Leeward Islands within two weeks, left a trail of devastation from Dominica to Puerto Rico.
• Hurricane Jose sent high surf and squalls into the Eastern Seaboard and New England.
• Norma briefly attained hurricane force south of Baja California.
• Hurricane Max drenched Mexico’s Guerrero state.
• Tropical Storm Lee formed briefly near the Cape Verde Islands.
• At least one person was killed when Typhoon Doksuri roared ashore in Vietnam with sustained winds of 84 mph.
• Typhoon Talim sliced through the full length of Japan with tropical storm force and torrential rainfall.



Bali rumblings

Indonesian officials on the resort island of Bali raised the alert level for a restive volcano twice within a week. Swarms of terrifying tremors at Mount Agung drove 44 nearby villagers to flee to safer ground.



Arctic melt

The Arctic ice cap reached its eighth-lowest extent on record at the time of year the sea ice is typically at its minimum coverage. Scientists at the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said that the sea ice had set a record for the smallest winter extent earlier this year and was on track to rival the record minimum set in 2012. But a cloudy and cooler-than-normal August across the central Arctic slowed the seasonal melting. “It’s not going to be a staircase heading down to zero every year,” said Ted Scambos of the NSIDC. “(But) the Arctic will continue to evolve towards less ice. There’s no dodging that.”



Maritime lightning

New research suggests that ships at sea spewing soot from their diesel engines are responsible for an increase in lightning strikes along busy maritime routes. By studying records of lightning strikes between 2005 and 2016 as detected by the World Wide Lightning Location Network, researcher Joel Thornton and colleagues at the University of Washington in Seattle uncovered the link between ship exhaust and lightning. They found that there were twice as many lightning strikes along two of the world’s busiest shipping lanes as in nearby areas. They believe that aerosols from engine exhaust helped water vapor to condense into cloud droplets, which can build into localized thunderstorms with more lightning.



CO2 evolution

Plants have been observed changing the way they conduct photosynthesis over the past 40 years as levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have steadily increased. Researchers led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography found that land-based plants have adjusted to higher levels of the greenhouse gas by increasing the efficiency with which they use water. With more CO2 in the air, plants have evolved to have fewer or smaller microscopic holes that allow leaves to absorb the gas. The plants then don’t need to draw up as much water from their roots to flourish.



Lost islands

Rising ocean levels in the South Pacific have swallowed at least eight low-lying islands in the Solomon Islands and Micronesia, where sea levels have risen by about half an inch each year since the early 1990s. Australian researchers conducted coastal surveys, analyzed satellite data and spoke with island residents before making the conclusion. They found six of the islands went underwater between 2007 and 2014.


• Extreme Temperatures: -102°F Vostok, Antarctica; 116°F Mecca, Saudi Arabia

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September 18, 2017 (for the week ending September 15)



Earthquakes

• Nearly 100 people perished in southern Mexico as the country’s strongest quake in 85 years, [a magnitude 8.1 temblor], wrecked thousands of buildings in Oaxaca and Chiapas states.
• Earth movements were also felt in Japan's Akita prefecture [magnitude 4.9], New Zealand's Canterbury region [4.8], southeastern Idaho [2.8] and along the southern Indiana-Illinois border [3.1].



Tropical cyclones

• Record-setting Hurricane Irma extended its path of catastrophic destruction from the Leeward Islands during the previous week to Cuba, Florida and other parts of the southeastern United States.
• Hurricane Jose later skirted the Leeward Islands disaster zone before moving into the open waters of the western Atlantic.
• Two people died along Mexico’s Gulf Coast when Category- 2 Hurricane Katia roared ashore.
• Typhoon Doksuri produced deadly flooding around the Philippine capital of Manila before taking aim on Vietnam.
• Typhoon Talim was bearing down on southern Japan late in the week.



Island eruption

Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano produced a stunning yet benign burst of lava that flowed into the ocean on the Big Island’s southeastern coast. Local helicopter pilots and tour operators posted breathtaking scenes of the ongoing eruption, which has drawn large crowds of visitors this month. The lava hasn’t threatened any structures and is part of an island-building process that is expanding the size of the Big Island.



Monarch peril

While declining monarch butterfly populations from Mexico to eastern Canada have received the most attention in recent years, scientists at Washington State University Vancouver say western populations are now at greater risk of extinction. “In the 1980s, 10 million monarchs spent the winter in coastal California. Today there are barely 300,000,” said biologist Cheryl Schultz. The exact causes of the decline are unknown, but Schultz fears habitat destruction and pesticide use across the West, where the monarchs breed, are the likely culprits.



Stinging invasion

Beaches on England’s picturesque Cornwall coast were forced to close as an unprecedented number of Portuguese men o’war washed ashore. The floating colonies of tiny organisms working together have tentacles that reach up to 165 feet in length and can deliver an extremely painful sting. The Cornwall Wildlife Trust says the foreign invaders were blown in by strong southwesterly winds. The warm-water creatures typically live far out to sea.



World of plastics

Americans may be ingesting up to 660 particles of plastic each year in salt, seafood and other foods they eat. Researchers from the State University of New York at Fredonia found that the sea salt used in menus around the world has joined other edibles now increasingly being contaminated with plastic pollution. “Not only are plastics pervasive in our society in terms of daily use, but they are pervasive in the environment,” said lead researcher Sherri Mason. “Plastics are ubiquitous, in the air, water, the seafood we eat, the beer we drink, the salt we use — plastics are just everywhere.”



Solar storm

Earth was bombarded by a stream of charged particles from the largest solar storm in eight years. The burst in the solar wind overwhelmed the planet’s protective geomagnetic field and reached the ground at some high-latitude locations. The solar flare responsible for the storm erupted on Sept. 6, and produced aurora displays and high-frequency radio blackouts two days later on Earth.


• Extreme Temperatures: -97°F Vostok, Antarctica; 121°F Mecca, Saudi Arabia

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September 11, 2017 (for the week ending September 08)



Earthquakes

• The strongest in a string of tremors in southeastern Idaho, a magnitude-5.3 quake, was also felt across Utah and western Wyoming.
• Earth movements were also felt in south-central Alaska [magnitude 4.6], western Sumatra [6.2], far eastern India [3.4] and the Greek island of Rhodes [5.0].



Tropical cyclones

• Category-5 Hurricane Irma caused catastrophic damage to Caribbean islands and parts of Florida as the second-strongest storm on record in terms of maximum winds in the Atlantic. Hurricane Jose formed in Irma’s wake.
• The southern tip of Baja California was buffeted by Tropical Storm Lidia before Hurricane Katia drenched Mexico’s Veracruz coast.
• Typhoon Mawar became the third storm to make landfall in China’s Guangdong province within two weeks.



Solar strandings

A string of powerful solar storms interacting with Earth’s geomagnetic field may have been the cause of 29 beachings of sperm whales around the North Sea last year, scientists say. Researchers from Germany’s University of Kiel found that the solar storms distorted the planet’s magnetic field by hundreds of miles, interfering with the whales’ sense of orientation. Klaus Heinrich Vanselow and colleagues conclude that the whales would have been confused by the magnetic shifts because they grew up in the eastern Atlantic where such solar disruptions are typically much weaker.



Wildlife conflicts

Animal rights groups expressed outrage at the Romanian government’s move to kill or relocate 140 bears and 97 wolves following a number of attacks on humans.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) strongly denounced the measure and blamed the attacks on deforestation. “The authorities should first address the problems that have prompted bears to get closer and closer to human settlements in the search for food,” Cristian Papp, the head of WWF’s Romanian branch, told Agence France-Presse. About 6,000 brown bears roam in and around the country’s Carpathian Mountains.



Hippo rescue

A wildebeest caught by the leg in a crocodile’s mouth was rescued by a pair of seemingly heroic hippos in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. Tourist Mervyn Van Wyk captured the scene on video while driving through the park with his wife. As the wildebeest began to show signs of exhaustion, the couple saw the watchful hippos rush the croc, causing it to drop its grip on the wildebeest’s leg. Experts say the hippos were probably putting on a territorial show to chase the invading animals out of their turf rather than having altruistic motives.



Deadly heat

Record heat in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei is being blamed for a massive fish kill that has caused respiratory problems and stinging eyes for residents.
Untold numbers of dead flathead grey mullet littered the Keelung River for several miles, causing a stink of decomposition to fill the air. Taipei baked for 16 consecutive days with temperatures reaching as high as 97 degrees for the first time in 120 years of record-keeping.



Warming diversity

A mere 1 degree Celsius (1.8 F) of warming in the waters off Antarctica can cause vast changes in the seabed life of the Southern Ocean. Experiments undertaken in the shallows around the British Antarctic Survey’s Rothera Research Station found that such warming can cause the populations of some marine species to explode while others decline, slashing overall diversity. The researchers warn that their findings suggest human-driven climate change threatens to alter seabed ecosystems, especially in the fragile Antarctic.


• Extreme Temperatures: -101°F Vostok, Antarctica; 122°F Death Valley, CA

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September 04, 2017 (for the week ending September 01)



Earthquakes

• Areas just west of downtown Dallas were jolted by a magnitude 3.1 quake. The same area was hit by six quakes in late 2014.
• Earth movements were also felt in Maine [magnitude 2.0], Java [5.2]and a northeastern island of Papua New Guinea [6.4].



Tropical cyclones

• The coast of Texas and western Louisiana received catastrophic flooding and wind damage from a five-day rampage by Hurricane Harvey. The former Category-4 storm dumped more rainfall than any other tropical cyclone in North American historical records.
• Tropical Storm Pakhar lashed Hong Kong and Macau just four days after Typhoon Hato killed 10 people and caused serious flooding as one of the strongest such storms on record there.
• Typhoon Sanvu churned the Pacific east of Japan.



Amazon mining

An Amazon nature reserve created in 1984 by Brazil’s then-military government, and believed to be rich in gold and other minerals, was at least temporarily saved from being abolished. A federal court in the capital of Brasilia blocked President Michel Temer’s decree that would have opened up about 30 percent of the area to mining. The mining and energy ministry said that the reserve’s protected forest and areas inhabited by indigenous people in relative isolation would not have been affected. Conservation groups and opposition politicians denounced the president’s attempt as “the biggest attack on the Amazon of the last 50 years.”



Drought hazard

A protracted drought around Rwanda’s capital has resulted in seven people being killed by crocodiles during August as they tried to draw water from the diminished Nyabarongo River. Local officials advised residents to stop taking water from the waterway as efforts were stepped up to provide clean water supplies to the affected area. Security forces said they killed one of the “man-eating” crocs on Aug. 24 after the father of six children was taken by one of the reptiles while getting river water.



Monsoon disaster

High water from the worst monsoon flooding in years has stranded millions of people in India, Bangladesh and Nepal, killing more than 1,200 of those affected. The most fortunate of those who were forced from their homes are being housed in relief camps, while others are living with no shelter. Many of Bangladesh’s crops have been lost in the inundation, which will worsen the shortage caused when 1 million tons of rice were destroyed by floods in April.



Shrinking Caspian

Increased evaporation of the Caspian Sea over the past few decades has caused the huge central Asian lake to shrink to near the historic low set in the 1970s. While the level of the huge body of water has fluctuated during the past several hundred years, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and colleagues from Russia, France and Azerbaijan say they expect it will continue to decline under what they describe as “global warming scenarios.” The researchers predict that under current climate models, evaporation could cause the lake’s northern waters to vanish within 75 years.



Roach exodus

Thousands of cockroaches appeared to flee Typhoon Hato’s fury by marching along a seawall as the storm struck Hong Kong and Macau. Hong Kong’s TV Most showed video of the horde, which could be seen clearly as high waves crashed onto the wall.


• Extreme Temperatures: -111°F Vostok, Antarctica; 125°F Death Valley, CA

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August 28, 2017 (for the week ending August 25)



Earthquakes

• Two people were killed and dozens of others injured as a magnitude 4.2 temblor struck a resort island off the coast of Naples, Italy, causing roofs to collapse and buildings to crumble.
• Earth movements were also felt in northeastern Iraq [magnitude 5.1], northern India [4.2], New Zealand's North Island [5.6], Guam [4.2], Hawaii[4.1] and the Chilean capital of Santiago [4.4].



Tropical cyclones

• Sixteen people were killed when Category 2 Typhoon Hato lashed Hong Kong, Macau and China’s Guangdong province with wind gusts of up to 90 mph.
• Hurricane Harvey slammed the Texas coast late in the week, causing unprecedented flooding.
• Hurricane Kenneth churned the Pacific west of Baja California.



Ice-free repose

Rapidly retreating Arctic sea ice has driven several hundred Pacific walrus to an Alaskan barrier island weeks earlier than ever observed. The marine mammals have historically conducted their “haul-out” on sea ice, where they rest and feed. But they began showing up instead on Point Lay along the Chukchi Sea coast in 2007 as global warming melted their icy habitat. This year, they arrived two weeks before the previous earliest date in 2011. Up to 40,000 of the marine mammals have crowded onto the narrow island in recent years, putting them at risk of deadly stampedes.



Companions within

Researchers studying ways to detect early rejection of transplants in humans have uncovered a vast array of microbes in the human body previously unknown to science. Stanford University’s professor of bioengineering and applied physics Stephen Quake and colleagues made the discovery by looking at the cell-free DNA circulating in blood plasma. Of all the nonhuman DNA fragments the team gathered, 99 percent of them failed to match anything in existing genetic databases the researchers examined. Quake says most of the DNA fragments were from proteobacteria, which includes such pathogens as E. coli and Salmonella. Previously unknown viruses were also found.



Canadian invaders

The species of mosquito most responsible for the transmission of human Zika virus cases has been found for the first time in Canada. An adult Aedes aegypti mosquito was captured in a southern Ontario trap only a week after two Aedes albopictus mosquitoes were also found in the area. “Once they establish themselves here it would be more difficult to control, and maybe we’ll see some diseases we haven’t seen before,” medical official Wajid Ahmed told the CBC. It has long been predicted that climate change will result in expanding habitats for disease-carrying insects.



Blue dogs of Mumbai

Untreated industrial waste dumped into greater Mumbai’s Kasadi River is blamed for a rash of blue dog sightings. India’s Hindustan Times reports that blue dye used to manufacture detergents is being absorbed by stray dogs that wade into the polluted water in search of food. One animal-care officer said the dye seems to be water-based and is not causing any ill effects for the canines, other than a blue tint in their fur, which washes out. Pollution control officials say the unnamed offending company also releases dye powder into the air, potentially threatening human health.



Rainfall divide

Climate change is causing urban flooding to accelerate as the world’s countrysides dry up, according to a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports. Researchers from the University of New South Wales made the discovery by analyzing data from rivers and rainfall gauges in 160 countries. They found that a warmer climate is causing soil in rural landscapes to dry out more quickly, leaving it less likely to flood. But urban settings have far less soil, making them more and more prone to floods from the heavier downpours caused by a warmer and moister atmosphere.



New route

Sea ice has thinned so much along Russia’s Arctic coast in recent years that commercial shipping can be conducted there with ice-hardened tankers between July and December. There were 19 full Arctic transits between the Atlantic and Pacific last year, but the construction of 15 ice-going vessels means that number could soon become far greater. Winds that have helped thin Russia’s young sea ice have also blown older and much thicker ice toward Arctic Canada and Alaska, where shipping opportunities may be decades away, even with the dramatic warming going on in the Arctic.


• Extreme Temperatures: -95°F Vostok, Antarctica; 120°F Al Qaysumah, Saudi Arabia

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August 21, 2017 (for the week ending August 18)



Earthquakes

• Schools and office buildings around Manila were evacuated after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck just south of the Philippine capital.
• Earth movements were also felt in Sumatra [magnitude 6.4], southern Peru [5.6], southern Botswana [4.8] and southwestern Turkey [4.8].



Tropical cyclones

• An area of disturbed weather that blew off the African coast nearly two weeks earlier formed into Hurricane Gert off the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.
• Typhoon Banyan and Tropical Storm Jova churned the waters of the Pacific.



Plastic meals

Fish are seeking out the microplastic debris that pollutes the world’s oceans because the material smells similar to their natural prey, according to a new study.
Lead researcher Matthew Savoca of the U.S. agency NOAA says that as plastic floats and breaks apart in the ocean, it becomes covered by biological material such as algae, making the debris look and smell like food. The plastic works its way through the food webs and sometimes winds up in seafood meals for humans.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization released a report this month that says little is known about just how much plastic is being consumed by animals and how it could be affecting human health.



Greenland fires

Record heat has sparked freak wildfires in the rugged scrubland of western Greenland, where authorities are warning residents to remain clear of the blazes. Some of the fires have raged since July 31, and freakish heat that brought Greenland’s all-time hottest temperature of 77 degrees Fahrenheit on Aug. 10 has not eased the fire danger.
Local reports say the largest in the series of blazes has burned about 3,000 acres and is part of what NASA describes as an “exceptional” number of wildfires in Greenland this year.



Looming famine

Conflict in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and northeastern Nigeria is threatening 20 million people with famine, the U.N. warns.
The Security Council asks warring parties to allow aid to reach those affected. The U.N. describes the situation as the largest humanitarian crisis since the world body was formed in 1945. The 15-member Security Council expressed “deep concern that ongoing conflicts and violence have devastating humanitarian consequences and hinder effective humanitarian responses in the short, medium and long term and are therefore a major cause of famine.”



Blotted by pollution

Pollution from mining around parts of the Coral Sea may be responsible for a species of sea snake turning black, according to researchers. The turtle-headed sea snake typically looks like a black-and-white banded candy cane in its habitat near Australia. But Rick Shine and colleagues at the University of Sydney found that some living in polluted areas northeast of Brisbane, off the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, and in a Queensland barrier reef atoll once used as a bombing range have turned nearly black. They also found the blackened sea snakes shed their skins twice as often as their lighter counterparts, perhaps in an adaptation to living in polluted waters.



Blotted by pollution

Pollution from mining around parts of the Coral Sea may be responsible for a species of sea snake turning black, according to researchers. The turtle-headed sea snake typically looks like a black-and-white banded candy cane in its habitat near Australia. But Rick Shine and colleagues at the University of Sydney found that some living in polluted areas northeast of Brisbane, off the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, and in a Queensland barrier reef atoll once used as a bombing range have turned nearly black. They also found the blackened sea snakes shed their skins twice as often as their lighter counterparts, perhaps in an adaptation to living in polluted waters.



New route

Sea ice has thinned so much along Russia’s Arctic coast in recent years that commercial shipping can be conducted there with ice-hardened tankers between July and December. There were 19 full Arctic transits between the Atlantic and Pacific last year, but the construction of 15 ice-going vessels means that number could soon become far greater. Winds that have helped thin Russia’s young sea ice have also blown older and much thicker ice toward Arctic Canada and Alaska, where shipping opportunities may be decades away, even with the dramatic warming going on in the Arctic.


• Extreme Temperatures: -103°F Vostok, Antarctica; 121°F Al Qaysumah, Saudi Arabia

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August 14, 2017 (for the week ending August 11)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 5.6] temblor in central China’s Sichuan province killed at least 20 people and left about 165 others injured in a remote but popular tourist destination. As many as 45,000 tourists had to be evacuated.
• Earth movements were also felt in the far southern Philippines [magnitude 5.9], northwestern Australia [5.0], southwestern Turkey [5.3] and western Scotland [3.8].



Tropical cyclones

• Former Category- 5 Typhoon Noru tore through the heart of Japan’s main island of Honshu with high winds and torrential rainfall that left at least 51 people injured.
• Tropical Storm Franklin drenched Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula before striking the country’s Veracruz Coast as a Category-1 hurricane.



Sumatran eruptions

The recent high activity at Sumatra’s Sinabung volcano was punctuated by 19 eruptions in rapid succession during a single day. Some of the mountain’s strongest blasts in months spewed ash high above the island and sent lava flowing down Sinabung’s slopes.



Warming world

The draft of a new report by scientists from 13 U.S. government agencies warns that climate change brought on by greenhouse gas emissions is causing more frequent extreme heat waves and more infrequent cold waves than in the 1980s. The draft breaks down how climate change has already affected the contiguous 48 states. Another new report by the European Commission says that heat waves, amplified by high humidity, will reach an apparent temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit as often as every two years in many parts of the world should goals to limit global warming set by the Paris Climate Agreement not be achieved. This would lead to serious risks to human health. The authors caution that if global warming goes on to surpass 7.2 degrees, it could bring “super” heat waves of up to 131 degrees in apparent temperature in many parts of the world, a heat and humidity level that humans may not be able to survive.



High seas accord

Efforts to create protected marine areas on the high seas may soon be launched thanks to United Nations diplomats who recommended in July that treaty negotiations should begin. But with industrialized fishing in waters beyond national jurisdictions being such big business, discussions on how much territory to protect and how to enforce the rules are likely to be contentious. “The high seas are the biggest reserve of biodiversity on the planet,” said Peter Thomson, the ambassador of Fiji and president of the U.N. General Assembly. “We can’t continue in an ungoverned way if we are concerned about protecting biodiversity and protecting marine life.



Lobster paradox

The number of baby lobsters in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank regions has dropped to the lowest levels since about the beginning of this century. Despite the dwindling population of juvenile lobsters, the industry has for years brought in record catches of adults. Atlantic waters off Maine and Canada have been warming more rapidly in recent years than in most other areas of the world. The head of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association says that once-plentiful starfish, sea urchins, sea sculpins and rock crabs are no longer being found in traps.



Nocturnal distraction

The widespread use of artificial light at night is joining climate change, pesticide use and invasive alien species as the latest threat to pollinating insects. New research published in the journal Nature found that nighttime illumination reduces visits of nocturnal pollinators to flowers by 62 percent. The moths, beetles and bugs that are the leading pollinators after dark are easily distracted from their duties by the allure of bright lights, according to lead researcher Eva Knop of the University of Bern. She and colleagues made the discovery by comparing insect-plant interactions in naturally dark meadows with those in areas that are illuminated.


• Extreme Temperatures: -98°F Vostok, Antarctica; 122°F Al Qaysumah, Saudi Arabia

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August 07, 2017 (for the week ending August 04)



Earthquakes

• TA magnitude 5.0 quake damaged rural buildings in western Iran.
• Earth movements were also felt in the Uganda-Democratic Republic of Congo border region [magnitude 5.3], central Chile [5.5], central Oklahoma [4.2] and northwestern California [5.1].



Tropical cyclones

• Taiwan was hit by two typhoons in as many days, with much weaker Haitang following on the heels of Nesat, which left 131 people injured, widespread power outages and flash flooding.
• Typhoon Noru threatened southern Japan as a Category-3 storm Sunday after killing two and injuring nine. Minimal Typhoon Nalgae formed well east of Japan.
• Tropical Storm Emily drenched parts of Florida after forming virtually without warning near Tampa Bay.



Icelandic unrest

Tremors around southern Iceland’s Katla volcano prompted officials to briefly raise the aviation color code alert to yellow, meaning there was an increased chance of an eruption. The seismic swarm coincided with a sudden glacial river flood that could have meant temperatures within the volcano had risen. Katla has not erupted violently for 99 years, which is longer than any of the documented intervals recorded between 930 and 1918.



Warming certainty

New studies find that it is almost impossible to limit global warming to less than 2°C (3.6°F) by the end of the century. Scientists at the University of Washington calculated the effects of the world’s population growth, the GDP per person and amount of carbon emitted in economic activity. They then projected that there is only a 5 percent chance Earth will warm by less than 2 degrees by 2100. A University of Colorado at Boulder study also found that a 2-degree warming this century is “baked in.” This threatens to surpass the amount of warming scientists have warned could trigger catastrophic sea level rise, as well as extreme weather events like heat waves, floods and drought.



Altered currents

Researchers caution that the ongoing melt of Arctic sea ice could cause the primary Atlantic Ocean circulation to weaken by 30 percent to 50 percent, or even collapse. Scientists at Yale University and the University of Southampton calculated that over several decades of shrinking Arctic sea ice coverage, a weakened Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could significantly reduce the amount of heat carried by the currents from the tropics to high latitudes. Other studies have revealed that such a trend could significantly chill the climate of Northern Europe as the melted freshwater ice alters the salinity of the Atlantic surface, disrupting the AMOC at various depths.



Jellyfish boom

Increasing blooms of jellyfish around the world may be triggered by the construction of offshore structures such as gas and oil platforms and wind farms. The structures appear to provide jellyfish polyps with something to attach to, increasing chances of survival. Researchers found that the more-frequent moon jellyfish blooms in the Adriatic corresponded to a rise in its number of gas platforms. A construction boom in waters off China could be responsible for the massive increase in Nemopilema nomurai, one of the world’s largest jellyfish and a growing nuisance to fishermen.



Burmese outbreak

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has asked the United Nations health agency for assistance in combating an outbreak of swine flu that has killed 13 people and infected about 50 others, mainly around the country’s largest city of Yangon. People across the former Burmese capital have donned surgical masks to ward off infection, and officials warned people to avoid crowded venues such as shopping malls. Swine flu is a respiratory disease caused by the H1N1 virus. Infection occurs through contact with pigs or through the air between people. A 2009 outbreak killed about 285,000 people, mainly in Africa and Southeast Asia.


• Extreme Temperatures: -100°F Vostok, Antarctica; 127°F Death Valley, CA

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July 31, 2017 (for the week ending July 28)



Earthquakes

• The Greek holiday island of Kos and the nearby Turkish resort of Bodrum were rocked by a powerful [magnitude 6.6] quake that killed two people, injured hundreds more and caused extensive damage. A small tsunami sent fishing boats crashing into Kos harbor.
• A series of earthquakes [(the strongest having magnitude 4.5)] rattled southern Iceland, including the capital of Reykjavik. The strongest tremor occurred at Katla, known locally as the mother of all volcanoes.
• Earth movements were also felt in south-central Iran [magnitude 5.2] and the Scottish Highlands [2.3].



Tropical cyclones

• Tropical storm-force Typhoon Roke brought gales and locally heavy rain to Hong Kong and China’s Perl River Delta.
• Typhoon Sonca drenched central Vietnam as Noru and Kulap churned the Pacific.
• Hurricanes Hilary and Irwin, and Tropical Storm Greg, formed off Mexico.



Sumatran blast

Indonesia’s restive Mount Sinabung volcano produced a series of eruptions that sent ash soaring as high as 2 miles above northern Sumatra and lava flowing down its flanks. Ongoing eruptions during the past seven years have displaced about 2,000 families, many of whom are still living in temporary shelters set up by the government.



Cooling reflection

University of Washington researchers are studying the possibility of spraying tiny water aerosols into the atmosphere to create clouds that could help control global warming by reflecting more sunlight back into space. Water droplets condense into clouds by attaching to particles, such as smoke, salt or air pollution. The researchers hope the aerosols will “brighten” the skies with more clouds, increasing reflectivity to limit the sun’s warming effect. While waiting on funding for the project, a group of engineers is developing a nozzle that turns seawater into particles that could be sprayed high into the air at a rate of billions per second.



Atomic paradise

Even though it’s still unsafe for people to live on Bikini Atoll, marine life is thriving 60 years after a series of 23 atomic blasts left it saturated with radiation. Scientists from Stanford University say coconut crabs, coral and other species that have managed to re-emerge on Bikini show barely any genetic differences from those living in uncontaminated parts of the Pacific. Lead researcher Stephen Palumbi believes that at least the coral have mechanisms to protect their genetic information from radiation.



Mystere de la Mer

The beaches of northern France’s Opal Coast became littered during July with mysterious yellow spongelike puffs that have local residents and tourists scratching their heads. Officials have been unable to identify what is littering the shoreline along that stretch of the English Channel, but have determined that it doesn’t appear to be a danger to public health, animals or plants. “It seems to come from an oil product,” said Jonathan Henicart, president of the nonprofit Sea-Mer Association. He told the French TV news channel BFMTV: 'It could come from a polyurethane product commonly used for building. And it smells very, very lightly of paraffin.'



Sizzling Shanghai

Shanghai registered on July 21 its hottest day since records began in 1872 as a stubborn heat wave baked much of China. The new record of 40.9 degrees Celsius (106°F) broke the record of 40.8° set in 2013.
Chinese meteorologists say Shanghai is getting hotter, with eight of the 12 highest temperatures over the past century occurring during the past five years. Shanghai’s weather bureau blamed the heat on a stubborn subtropical high and southwesterly winds that are predicted to last until early August. That’s when the typhoon season typically arrives in eastern China.


• Extreme Temperatures: -91°F Vostok, Antarctica; 123°F Death Valley, CA

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July 24, 2017 (for the week ending July 21)



Earthquakes

• A magnitude 7.7 temblor 125 miles east of Russia’s remote Bering Island prompted a brief tsunami alert across the Pacific. No tsunami was reported.
• Earth movements were also felt in northern Sumatra [magnitude 5.3], Indonesia's northern Sulawesi Island [5.9], northeastern Japan [5.6], metropolitan Sydney [3.2] southern Peru [6.4] Crete [5.4] and western Montana [5.4].



Tropical cyclones

• Fourteen people were killed and dozens of homes wrecked when Typhoon Talas hit Vietnam.
• The lower Windward Islands received a soaking from minimal Tropical Storm Don.
• Hurricane Fernanda and Tropical Storm Greg churned the eastern Pacific.



New volcano

Residents in the central Mexican town of Pueblo Viejo fear a volcano may be forming beneath their feet as subterranean heat rising to the surface has burned some of their goats. The soil temperature in parts of the small Michoacán community has soared to more than 480 degrees Fahrenheit, causing the local soccer field to break apart while releasing steam, ash and vapor into the air. Pueblo Viejo is about 200 miles from a relatively new volcano called Paricutin. It emerged from a cornfield in 1943, and within a year had grown to more than 1,000 feet tall.



Iceberg alley

Atlantic Canada’s “Iceberg Alley” has been clogged with an unusually high number of icebergs this spring and summer, with many still floating through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the Labrador coast. Gabrielle McGrath, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard’s International Ice Patrol, says it has been the 18th worst ice season since records began in 1900. About 1,000 icebergs have been counted this season in Atlantic shipping lanes, due in part to accelerated melting of Arctic sea ice and the Greenland ice cap.



Ocean sanctuary

About 735,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean have been declared one of the world’s largest marine sanctuaries as the Cook Islands moves to help protect its territorial waters. The island nation has a population of about 10,000, living on 15 islands. But its position between New Zealand and Hawaii with no nearby neighbors means it controls a huge maritime territory. The move to establish the marine reserve, known as Marae Moana, was approved by the country’s traditional leaders.



Cross-species nursing

Visitors to Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area were startled to see a 5-year-old lioness known as “Nosikitok” suckling a leopard cub estimated to be just 3 weeks old. “I know of no other example of inter-species adoption or nursing like this among big cats in the wild,” said Luke Hunter, chief conservation officer of the big cat conservation group Panthera. He said that if the cub manages not to be killed by the lioness’ pride and grows to maturity among the lions, it is likely to revert to normal behavior for its species.



Coral bleaching

Some of the world’s northernmost coral reefs are being hit by the coral bleaching phenomenon that has ravaged reefs around the world. Warming ocean temperatures are blamed for reef destruction, especially during strong El Niño episodes. Hiroya Yamano, of Japan’s National Institute for Environmental Studies, says there was large-scale coral bleaching in his country’s subtropical Okinawa chain. He said the warming waters are driving the coral northward to Japan’s main islands of Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu. The U.S. agency NOAA said last month that coral bleaching may be easing after three years of high ocean temperatures.


• Extreme Temperatures: -100°F Vostok, Antarctica; 124°F Death Valley, CA

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July 17, 2017 (for the week ending July 14)



Earthquakes

• The central Philippine island of Leyte was jolted for the second time within a week by a powerful [magnitude 5.4] temblor.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern New Zealand [magnitude 6.6], Southern Japan [5.3], northern Pakistan [4.8], south-central Alaska [4.4] and eastern Georgia [2.1].



Tropical cyclones

• Hurricane Eugene attained Category- 3 force in the Pacific off Mexico.
• Tropical Storm Fernanda became a hurricane as it moved westward between Mexico and Hawaii.



Alaskan ash

Bogoslof volcano spewed ash high into trans-Pacific air routes above the Aleutian Islands during the latest in a series of eruptions that began last December. The alert level for aviation was raised to red as the ash plume reached about 30,000 feet high.



Extinction alarm

Scientists say Earth’s “sixth mass extinction” has been under way over the past century in a “biological annihilation” that has seen billions of regional or local populations lost. Gerardo Ceballos of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who led a study, said: “The situation has become so bad it would not be ethical not to use strong language.” He found habitat destruction, overhunting, pollution, invasive species and climate change had caused half of the 177 mammal species surveyed to lose more than 80 percent of their distribution between 1900 and 2015.



Longevity barrier?

New research suggests the maximum human lifespan could far exceed the 115-year limit cited in a previous study, after decades of increasing longevity. Geneticist Jan Vijg of New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine authored a controversial report last year that says humans have reached our maximum allotted lifespan for the first time. But other researchers quickly argued that Vijg’s findings were skewed by flawed calculations. Siegfried Hekimi from Montreal’s McGill University argues that under more optimistic interpretations of longevity data, the oldest person alive in 2300 would be about 150 years old.



Polar melt

Unprecedented Arctic warmth this year virtually ensures that the summer will bring the greatest melt of the Arctic’s sea ice on record. Melting as of July 2 had equaled that seen in 2012, which had the lowest sea ice coverage ever observed. But when scientists factor in the thickness of the remaining summer ice coverage this month, ice volume is already at a record-low level, according to researchers from the University of Washington. A new study finds that Arctic winter warming events have become more frequent and are lasting longer than they did three decades ago.



Warming deadline

The world must speed up the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions within three years to cap global warming beneath the 2 degrees Celsius limit agreed to in the Paris climate accord, according to a commentary in the journal Nature. Former U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres, three top climate scientists and two experts from business signed the letter just before the G-20 summit. The article suggests no new coal power plants be approved after 2020, along with renewable energy sources being increased to provide at least 30 percent of the world’s electricity demand. The burning of fossil fuels should also begin a steep decline, the authors suggest.


• Extreme Temperatures: -111°F Vostok, Antarctica; 127°F Death Valley, CA

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July 10, 2017 (for the week ending July 07)



Earthquakes

• One person was killed in the central Philippines when a magnitude 6.5 temblor collapsed buildings on Leyte Island.
• Earth movements were also felt in eastern Scotland [magnitude 4.8], western Switzerland [4.3], eastern Nepal [5.1], New Zealand's South Island [4.4], coastal Ecuador [6.0] and western Montana [3.1].



Tropical cyclones

• Southern Japan was buffeted by tropical storm-force Typhoon Nanmadol, which knocked out power and caused local flooding. Three people were injured in storm-related accidents.



Java eruption

Dozens of people were injured while fleeing a volcano that suddenly erupted on the Indonesian island of Java.
Lava and ash spewed without warning from Sileri Crater. The subsequent crash of a helicopter arriving to evacuate people killed eight.
[Sileri Crater is located on the Dieng volcanic complex. Also check out at Smithsonian Institution GVP site.]



The last resort

Mexican officials announced that they will enlist mine-hunting dolphins trained by the U.S. Navy to help save the last few remaining vaquita marina porpoises still living in the northern Gulf of California. About 30 of the world’s smallest porpoises are believed to have survived the gill nets illegally used to catch prized totoaba fish. The totoaba’s swim bladder can fetch $20,000 per kilogram in China for use in a soup believed to increase fertility. The Navy dolphins will join boats and aircraft to track down the vaquitas and herd them for relocation to a large pen. Conservationists then plan to breed them and increase their population, but such a technique has yet to be proven effective.



Ebola breakdown

The Democratic Republic of the Congo declared its outbreak of Ebola over after 42 days without any new cases. Only eight people are believed to have contracted the hemorrhagic disease since it emerged in May, with four fatalities. Immediate door-to-door intervention in the country’s remote northeastern forests is credited with keeping the disease from spreading. The latest outbreak came a year after Ebola spread across a wide stretch of West Africa, infecting about 28,600 people while killing more than 11,300.



A hotter Europe

Heat waves that have scorched many parts of Western Europe and Britain this summer have been made more intense by climate change, scientists say. The heat triggered deadly wildfires in Spain and Portugal and brought France its hottest June night ever. World Weather Attribution, an international coalition of scientists, ran weather simulations with and without factoring in manmade climate change. They found that heat waves in southern Europe are 10 times more likely because of human-related global warming. “Hot months are no longer rare in our current climate. Today, we can expect the kind of extreme heat that we saw in June roughly every 10 to 30 years, depending on the country,” said researcher Robert Vautard.



Ill winds

New research confirms that airborne dust can affect the health of people and ecosystems by transporting attached bacteria hundreds of miles across the landscape during windstorms. Yinon Rudich and colleagues at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science found that some of those bacteria could even carry genes for antibiotic resistance. The researchers found that during a dust storm, the concentration of bacteria and number of bacteria species in the air rises sharply, meaning people walking outdoors during these storms are at a higher risk of infection.


• Extreme Temperatures: -109°F Vostok, Antarctica; 129°F Ahwaz, Iran

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July 03, 2017 (for the week ending June 30)



Earthquakes

• At least two people were injured in central Japan when a magnitude 5.2 temblor knocked off roof tiles in Nagano prefecture.
• Earth movements were also felt in far northern Japan [magnitude 5.7], central Mozambique [5.8], the Indonesian part of Timor island [5.0] and in eastern Afghanistan and neighboring parts of Pakistan [4.2].



Tropical cyclones

• Tropical Storm Dora briefly strengthened into the first Western Hemisphere hurricane of the season as it churned the Pacific waters off Mexico.



Gelatinous invasion

Scientists are baffled by the mounting invasion of jellylike organisms that are clogging fishing gear from California to British Columbia this year. The glowing, tubular pyrosome clusters are typically found in the tropics far from shore, but they have spread northward right along the Pacific Coast in recent years. There are reports of them as far north as Sitka, Alaska. Some West Coast fishermen say there are so many of the “sea pickles” in the water that it is impossible to catch anything else.



Ozone killer

The slow healing of Earth’s ozone hole is being held back by the use of an unregulated chemical that continues to damage the UV protection layer 30 years after most ozone-destroying compounds were banned. Scientists at the University of Lancaster say atmospheric levels of dichloromethane, a short-lived, ozone-depleting substance used in paint strippers, are on the rise. It isn’t covered under the 1987 Montreal Protocol.



African ark

Thousands of wild animals are being moved across parts of Africa in an attempt to restore their populations in Mozambique, where a bloody 15-year civil war nearly wiped them out. Neighboring Zimbabwe is donating and transporting 50 elephants, 100 giraffes, 200 zebras and 200 water buffaloes to Mozambique’s Zinave National Park in one of Africa’s largest ever wildlife transfers. In total, about 7,500 wild animals from Zimbabwe, South Africa and elsewhere in Mozambique will be relocated during the next three years to help Zinave officials restore the park’s diversity.



Ever-rising CO2

The rate at which carbon dioxide is accumulating in Earth’s atmosphere is rising only slightly less this year than the record increases measured in 2015 and 2016. This ongoing high rate is concerning to scientists because the amount of the greenhouse gas that humans are pumping into the air seems to have leveled off in recent years. Scientists are not certain if El Niño or any other factors can explain the high rate of increase in atmospheric CO₂. Roughly half of the gas caused by the burning of fossil fuels is absorbed by the planet’s land surface and oceans. It is unknown if those “sponges” are losing their ability to remove CO₂ from the air.



Quickening rises

Accelerated melting of the Greenland ice sheet has caused the pace of global sea level rise to surge significantly since 1990, according to scientists from the United States, China and Australia. They found that the melt contributes to more than a quarter of the world’s rising tides, compared with 5 percent in 1993. Another study, from Cornell University, finds that 2 billion people could become climate refugees due to rising ocean levels by 2100. That would mean one-fifth of the world’s population will face displacement and resettlement challenges as they seek new homes on higher ground.


• Extreme Temperatures: -108°F Vostok, Antarctica; 127°F Death Valley, California

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June 26, 2017 (for the week ending June 23)



Earthquakes

• At least four people are believed to have been swept to their deaths in a remote western Greenland village by a tsunami that was created when a 4.1 magnitude quake caused a landslide to crash into the ocean. The tsunami injured several others and caused damage in Nuugaatsiaq, as well as in two nearby villages.
• Earth movements were also felt in the Greek island of Lesbos [magnitude 5.2], southern Japan [5.0], southern Guatemala [6.8] and along to Georgia-South Carolina border [3.2].



Tropical cyclones

• Tropical Storm Bret drenched Trinidad and northern parts of Venezuela before losing force over the far southern Caribbean.
• East Texas and Louisiana were buffeted by Tropical Storm Cindy — the first named storm of the 2017 hurricane season to strike the U.S. mainland.



Volcanic swarm

The supervolcano that lies directly beneath Yellowstone National Park was hit by more than 460 tremors between June 12 and June 20, according to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory. The strongest registered a magnitude of 4.4 and was felt by more than 100 people in the area. The observatory added that lesser swarms are common and make up about half of the total seismic activity around the park. The volcano last erupted 70,000 years ago and has the potential to blanket most of the United States in ash should it produce another cataclysmic explosion.



Savanna invasion

Non-native plants that have been brought in by visitors or planted for decoration around tourist lodges threaten to spread across East Africa’s Serengeti-Mara landscape, where they could disrupt the annual migration of 2 million grazing animals. A survey by an international team of researchers reveals that the invasive plants are on the edges of the vast savannas, home to Africa’s famed wildebeest, zebra and gazelle populations. The researchers say that if the plants were to spread and displace native vegetation, it would mean less forage for the wildlife.



Weird of the deep

A global team of scientists aboard the Australian research ship Investigator says it has uncovered hundreds of weird and previously undiscovered marine species. Fishing nets and trawling sleds collected marine life from the abyss beneath where the Australian continental plate drops off more than 13,000 feet. Of the roughly 1,000 species collected, more than a third were new to science. While the more bizarre discoveries could be considered grotesque to some human eyes, the researchers say they are beautiful examples of nature’s diversity.



Tropical exodus

A fisheries expert warns that tropical waters are emptying out as climate change drives more and more fish toward cooler waters. University of British Columbia marine biologist Daniel Pauly says that marine species are moving away from the equator at a rate of about 30 miles per decade as they try to remain in an environment ideal for feeding and spawning. The principal investigator at the Sea Around Us research organization adds that there are no replacement species for the tropics, only fish that are fleeing the warmth.



Arctic migrants

An Inuvialuit hunter high in the Canadian Arctic came across the first beaver anyone in the region has ever killed — another sign climate change is driving the species northward. “We saw something walk toward us and it was a beaver. So I drove up to it and I shot it,” said Richard Gruben, vice president of the Tuktoyaktuk Hunters and Trappers Association. The invading beavers pose a significant threat to the Arctic ecosystem because of the way they reshape the landscape with dams. Gruben says some lakes have already dried up because of beaver dams.


• Extreme Temperatures: -106°F Vostok, Antarctica; 127°F Death Valley, California

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June 19, 2017 (for the week ending June 16)



Earthquakes

• A magnitude 6.9 quake killed five people and wrecked buildings along the western Guatemala-Mexico border.
• One woman was killed by a magnitude 6.3 quake that damaged homes on the Greek island of Lesbos.
• Earth movements were also felt in the New Zealand city of Christchurch [magnitude 4.2], West Java [5.6] and northern Arkansas [3.6].



Tropical cyclones

• A broad area of southern Mexico was swamped by between 5 and 10 inches of rainfall from short-lived Tropical Storm Calvin.
• Tropical storm-force Typhoon Merbok moved ashore from the South China Sea, drenching Hong Kong and surrounding areas of China’s Guangdong province.



A wetter tropics

NASA says Earth’s tropical climates are likely to experience more rainfall than predicted as the planet continues to warm, even as the region’s high clouds thin out in the decades ahead. In a counterintuitive process of heating and cooling, less high cloudiness means the air above the tropical surface would actually cool without those clouds capping in the heat below. Researchers say this would alter Earth’s “energy budget” and create more tropical rainfall. Most climate models have failed to factor in this process, thus underestimating future tropical rainfall.



Iceberg siege

An unusually dense flow of melting ice from the Arctic trapped several boats off Newfoundland during the first half of June, bringing the Maritime Province’s fishing season to a halt.
The Canadian Coast Guard says the ice has been so bad that its icebreaker Amundsen has been unable to free the trapped vessels.
The Coast Guard has instead been forced to rescue several crew members aboard the trapped ships by helicopter. The snow crab season has been open for weeks, but most fishermen have been stuck ashore waiting for hazardous sea ice to pass.



Late nesters

Birds and bumblebees that nest later in the year are under threat and declining in population because of habitat losses.
Researchers from the University of Exeter discovered that species that nest in April or May rather than in February or March are disappearing more rapidly. A loss of wild shrubs and trees that line fields and roads, along with disappearing meadows in many countries, are factors in the declining populations. Fighting over nest sites may be part of the reason — when nest sites are hard to come by, the species that will suffer most are those that nest later in the year, said researcher Andrew Higginson.



War zone refuge

An Afghan wetland just outside the capital of Kabul will soon become a protected sanctuary for hundreds of migratory bird species. The U.N. has designated the Kol-e-Hashmat Khan marsh a conservation site where each spring, storks, egrets, flamingos and pelicans stop on their migration from southern India to the Caucasus and Siberia. It was once a royal hunting ground, but became a human sanctuary with ample water and safe haven for those fleeing the chaos of the Soviet invasion in 1979 and through the perpetual conflicts that have followed.



Avian influenza

China reported 37 more human fatalities in May from the H7N9 strain of bird flu, which has killed at least 268 people since last October. Health authorities say bird flu deaths typically wane after winter, but advised the public to remain away from live poultry. Bird farmers and sellers have ramped up sanitation efforts to prevent the disease from spreading.


• Extreme Temperatures: -107°F Vostok, Antarctica; 121°F Al Qaysumah, Saudi Arabia

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June 12, 2017 (for the week ending June 09)



Earthquakes

• At least two people were injured when a magnitude 6.2 temblor rocked the northwestern Peru-Ecuador border region.
• Earth movements were also felt in western India [magnitude 4.8], greater New Delhi [4.7], southeastern Missouri [2.6] and Maine’s central coast [2.1].



Tropical cyclones

• Tropical Storm Beatriz, the second named storm in the eastern Pacific hurricane season, killed at least five people as it drenched Mexico’s Pacific coast.



Eruption rescues

Eight hikers venturing onto the slopes of West Sumatra’s Mount Marapi had to be rescued when the mountain suddenly burst into a period of activity that produced 40 eruptions in just two days.
The area around the volcano was also placed on alert after an eruption in 2011. Until the latest eruptions, Marapi had been relatively quiet.



Marine life pollution

Human medicines and traces of chemicals manufactured for cosmetic, household and industrial use have been found in the blood of green turtles swimming in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Researchers say the substances have caused adverse effects in the reptiles, such as inflammation and liver dysfunction. “What you put down your sink, spray on your farms or release from industries ends up in the marine environment and in turtles in the Great Barrier Reef,” said Amy Heffernan of the University of Queensland.



Rat invasion

A southern Myanmar island has been overrun by thousands of rats, prompting residents to fear they are omens of an impending flood or earthquake. The rats are said to have come into one village on Haingyi Island, in the Irrawaddy Delta, in a single row, like ants. The villagers hit them with sticks, slingshots and rocks. People began piling up the dead rodents by the thousands after officials offered a reward of about 4 U.S. cents for each carcass in an attempt to avert a health crisis. There is no word on what might have caused the massive pest invasion.



Antarctic fracture

A massive chunk of Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf is on the verge of breaking off, according to satellite data. The calving of Larsen C is likely to produce one of the largest icebergs ever observed, roughly the size of the island of Cyprus. A fracture that has developed through part of the ice shelf suddenly grew by 11 miles in late May, leaving only 8 miles to go before the chunk breaks away into the Southern Ocean.



Growing season

A U.S. researcher says the frost-free season across North America is 10 days longer than it was a century ago, mainly because of altered atmospheric circulation patterns and, to a lesser extent, global warming.
“If you ask a U.S. forecaster what determines the first fall frost, they’ll say a cold air mass coming down out of Canada, clearly due to circulation,” said University of Utah atmospheric scientist Court Strong. “There’s a role for warming, but on the other hand, forecasters will tell you there’s clearly a role for circulation as well.“
Of the 10 additional days that North America is frost-free, Strong says three can be directly attributed to a warmer climate. But other scientists have said that global warming has actually altered atmospheric circulation patterns.


• Extreme Temperatures: -100°F Vostok, Antarctica; 124°F Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan

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June 05, 2017 (for the week ending June 02)



Earthquakes

• About two dozen homes in northwest Sumatra’s Aceh province were damaged by a magnitude 4.8 quake.
• Earth movements were also felt in Indonesia’s northern Sulawesi Island [magnitude 6.6], northern India [4.7], western Turkey [5.1], southern Iceland [3.6], Trinidad [4.0] and south-central Alaska [5.3].



Tropical cyclones

• Bengal cyclone: Cyclone Mora roared ashore on Bangladesh’s southern coast with winds of about 80 mph, killing at least six people and wrecking hundreds of homes.
  The storm flattened what little shelter had been provided in camps for Rohingya refugees, who had fled persecution in neighboring Myanmar.



Ash hazard

Alaska’s Bogoslof volcano erupted with a column of ash that soared 35,000 feet high in an area used by many jetliners from North America to Asia. The 45-minute eruption was the latest for a volcano that has been active for nearly six months.
The Aviation Color Code for airliners was raised to red, the highest level, after the eruption was detected.



Towering attraction

The proliferation of cellphone masts and tall broadcast antenna towers during the past 30 years has resulted in a sharp increase in lightning strikes in areas near the structures.
A research group from the University of Oklahoma found that nearly 100 percent of the U.S. locations studied that had more than 100 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes in a recent 20-year period were within 0.6 mile of an antenna tower registered with the Federal Communications Commission.
The taller the tower, the greater the likelihood of more strikes.
The frequency of strikes near the towers was between 115 percent and 140 percent higher than in areas 1.25 to 2.5 miles away from the towers.



Flamingo pose

Georgia Tech researchers say they may have unraveled the secret of how flamingos can stand, and even sleep, on one leg for hours at a time with seemingly little effort.
“It might even be easier for them to stand on one leg than to stand on two,” said biomedical engineer Lena Ting.
She and a colleague found that the colorful birds might not need to use their muscles at all to maintain the iconic pose.
With the help of zookeepers, Ting and neuromachinist Young-Hui Chang found the birds’ swaying motion and speed were extremely low while on one leg.



Faceless fish

An Australian museum expedition has come across a species of fish not seen near the country since 1873. It has no visible eyes, gills or any other facial features except for two nostrils and a mouth at the bottom of its body.
Dubbed the “faceless cusk,” the fish measures roughly 22 inches in length and was captured by trawling a deep ocean trench off Australia’s eastern coast at a depth of around 2 miles.
According to Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, the creature, known as a cusk eel, has been previously observed from the Arabian Sea, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Japan to Hawaii. But living at depths of up to 14,000 feet, it is rarely seen.



Hotter cities

New research finds that a combination of global warming and localized heating due to the urban heat island (UHI) effect could cause some of the world’s cities to be as much as 14 degrees Fahrenheit warmer by the end of this century. The UHI effect occurs as buildings, roadways and other man-made structures store far more heat than natural settings, especially after the sun goes down. This amplifies the local warming effects of climate change, according to a report published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Scientists recommend painting roofs a reflective white and planting more trees to limit urban warming.


• Extreme Temperatures: -88°F Vostok, Antarctica; 126°F Sibi, Pakistan

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May 29, 2017 (for the week ending May 26)



Earthquakes

• Northeastern Iran was jolted by a [magnitude 4.1] aftershock of a deadly temblor from the previous week.
• Earth movements were also felt in central New Zealand [magnitude 4.6], Hawaii’s Big Island [3.0], southern Mexico 5.7], along the Yukon-British Columbia border [4.3] and southeastern Ohio [4.3].



Sumatran eruption

Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung spewed ash up to 2.4 miles above Sumatra during the mountain’s latest in a series of eruptions.
The restive volcano roared to life in August 2010 after 400 years of slumber and has experienced nearly incessant activity since 2013.



Radio shield

Earth appears to be protected from space radiation by a type of radio signal mainly used by the military and government agencies. Very Low Frequency (VLF) signals have been transmitted since the 1960s, some with the intense power necessary to reach submarines in the oceans. But they also radiate past Earth’s atmosphere, creating a protective “bubble” that extends to the innermost edges of the Van Allen Radiation Belts, which also shield against harmful radiation.
The VLF bubble seems to add additional protection to Earth’s surface from potentially dangerous space weather, such as bursts of charged particles ejected during solar storms.



Antarctic greening

The Antarctic Peninsula has been getting much greener since the 1950s with a surge in moss growth brought on by a changing climate. The region has become one of the most rapidly warming places on Earth. Paleoclimatologist Matthew Amesbury studied moss cores, which provide a record of climate and plant growth going back several thousand years. He writes in the journal Current Biology that there has been an unprecedented surge in moss and microbe growth along a 375mile stretch of the peninsula’s coastline, especially in the last 60 to 70 years.



Doomsday melt

A deep-freeze “doomsday” seed vault on a remote Arctic island has become another victim of climate change. The melting permafrost around Norway’s Svalbard Global Seed Vault has caused water to collect near the facility’s entrance. The melting was expected as a result of the heat generated by the facility’s construction a decade ago, and experts had predicted the melted permafrost would eventually refreeze. But the Arctic’s record warming seems to have prevented that from happening.



Aegean swarm

A plague of locusts has denuded much of the Greek Aegean island of Agios Efstratios, causing sheep to starve because so much vegetation has been devoured. Vegetable gardens across the island have also been ravaged. The BBC quotes a local expert who says the locusts will disappear by July or August but are likely to come back because they are not of the migratory variety. Efforts to eradicate the swarms have failed.



Yemeni cholera

An outbreak of cholera is spreading at an alarming rate across war-torn Yemen, with a total of more than 35,000 new cases being reported by the World Health Organization since April 27. At least 340 people have died from the bacterial disease, which can kill within hours as victims suffer from acute watery diarrhea. Its short incubation period can cause outbreaks to spread with explosive speed, especially in areas with poor sanitation. Yemen has been ravaged by a protracted civil war that has also led the country to the brink of famine.


• Extreme Temperatures: -89°F Vostok, Antarctica; 118°F Nawabshah, Pakistan

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May 22, 2017 (for the week ending May 19)



Earthquakes

• A magnitude 5.7 temblor in northeastern Iran left three people dead and 200 injured. The shaking caused widespread damage near the Turkmenistan border.
• Earth movements were also felt in northwestern Kyrgyzstan [magnitude 4.6] and northern Oklahoma [4.2].



Volcano power

An energy project in Iceland has drilled nearly 3 miles into a volcanic field in an effort to generate electricity from the heat stored inside the Earth. Engineers are attempting to reach hot liquids under extreme pressure at temperatures of nearly 800 degrees to create steam that will drive turbine generators. The project is expected to produce five to 10 times more electricity than traditional geothermal wells.



Warming mismatch

The seasonal clock that guides migratory songbirds across North America is being disrupted by climate change, leaving some species unable to reach their summer homes by the key dates necessary for breeding success.
Global warming is prompting some plants and insects that the birds rely on to appear earlier or later than in the past, according to a new report published in the journal Scientific Reports. “We’re seeing springlike conditions well before birds arrive,” said Stephen Mayor of the University of Florida. “The growing mismatch means fewer birds are likely to survive, reproduce and return the following year.”



Chimp extinction

Tanzanian experts fear that chimpanzees could join elephants and rhinos as the most threatened wildlife species in the country due to their dwindling populations. “A hundred years ago, there were probably 2 million, but now only 150,000 to 200,000,” said Anthony Collins, a baboon researcher at Gombe Stream National Park. He told Tanzania’s The Citizen daily that destruction of habitat, illegal hunting and capture for medical research are the greatest threats to the chimps’ survival.



Warming failure

Efforts by the international community to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.2 F) by curbing greenhouse emissions could fail within the decade. A report by the University of Melbourne says that a natural climate driver known as the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation has entered a positive phase that will likely soon bring about a sharp increase in global warming. “If the world is to have any hope of meeting the Paris target, governments will need to pursue policies that not only reduce emissions but remove carbon from the atmosphere,” said lead researcher Ben Henley.



Plastic in paradise

A remote, uninhabited island in the Pacific has been found to be polluted with the world’s highest density of plastic debris. A survey by Jennifer Lavers at the University of Tasmania and colleagues from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds found that more than 3,500 pieces of plastic wash up each day on Henderson Island, roughly 3,000 miles from the nearest major land mass. “What’s happened on Henderson Island shows there’s no escaping plastic pollution, even in the most distant parts of our oceans,” said Lavers. The island’s location near the South Pacific Gyre ocean current makes it a focal point for the debris.



New Ebola outbreak

Efforts by the international community to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.2 F) by curbing greenhouse emissions could fail within the decade. A report by the University of Melbourne says that a natural climate driver known as the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation has entered a positive phase that will likely soon bring about a sharp increase in global warming. “If the world is to have any hope of meeting the Paris target, governments will need to pursue policies that not only reduce emissions but remove carbon from the atmosphere,” said lead researcher Ben Henley.


• Extreme Temperatures: -103°F Vostok, Antarctica; 116°F Kaédi, Mauretania

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May 15, 2017 (for the week ending May 12)



Earthquakes

• Eight people were killed by a [magnitude 5.4] temblor in western China’s Xinjiang region that also wrecked 180 homes.
• Earth movements were also felt in Alaska's Kenai Peninsula [magnitude 5.2], southern Iceland [4.4], northern New Zealand [4.7], Japan's southernmost islands [6.0] and metropolitan Seattle [3.4].



Tropical cyclones

• Parts of the South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu and the nearby French territory of New Caledonia were skirted by Cyclone Donna, which briefly attained Category-4 force.
• After slamming Wallis and Futana with heavy rain and strong winds, Cyclone Ella passed near the Fiji Islands.
• Short-lived Tropical Storm Adrian became the earliest named storm ever to form in the eastern Pacific Ocean.



Eruption of fire

Around 300 people were quickly evacuated from the foot of Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire on May 5 after the restive mountain spewed hot ash more than 15,000 feet into the atmosphere. Ten schools also suspended classes due to falling ash.
The eruption was accompanied by loud blasts and fresh lava flows, according to the country’s volcanic monitoring agency, Insivumeh. The volcano, about 20 miles southwest of Guatemala City, has spewed ash several other times this year.



Winged tragedy

Nearly 400 migratory birds died after they smashed into a Galveston, Texas, office tower during a storm, falling onto the sidewalk below. Three surviving birds were taken to a wildlife center.
Most of the victims were Nashville warblers or Blackburnian warblers that were flying northward from Central and South America. The fierce storm probably forced the birds to fly low and strike the American National Building, Galveston’s tallest.



Beach resurrection

Residents of a remote and rugged Irish seaside village awakened to find a sandy beach that disappeared 33 years ago back in place following a freak tide.
Fierce storms in the spring of 1984 washed away all the sand at Dooagh, leaving only rocks riddled with pools of seawater. But strong north winds during a cold snap over Easter brought in a surge of sand from an unknown source.
“We have a beautiful little village as it is, but it is great to look out and see this beautiful beach instead of just rocks,” said local businessman Alan Gielty.



Glacier rescue

Dutch researchers are attempting to reverse the loss of one of Switzerland’s most prized Alpine glaciers by developing a process to create artificial snow and blow it over the receding river of ice each summer for insulation.
The Morteratsch glacier could be the first of several to be restored should the technique, developed by scientists at Holland’s Utrecht University, work. Machines will apply artificial snow to a small artificial glacier this summer to test the process.



Vinegary solution

A coral-munching starfish that threatens further damage to Australia’s struggling Great Barrier Reef may be brought under control with a simple household liquid. Researchers from James Cook University say applying vinegar to the crown-of-thorns starfish will cause them to die within 48 hours without harming any other marine life.
Dive teams would simply need to inject each individual starfish to control the population. The predatory starfish is a native species, but pollution and agricultural runoff have caused them to proliferate at a time when a mass coral bleaching is ravaging the reef.


• Extreme Temperatures: -102°F Vostok, Antarctica; 118°F Sibi, Pakistan

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May 08, 2017 (for the week ending May 05)



Earthquakes

• A powerful [magnitude 7.2] undersea quake, centered just off the far southern Philippines, damaged several buildings and injured three people on Mindanao.
• A swarm of earthquakes jolted the Alaska-Yukon border region, knocking out power around the Yukon capital of Whitehorse. [The largest quake reached magnitude 6.3.]
• Earth movements were also felt in central Chile [magnitude 5.7], Los Angeles [3.0], southeastern Taiwan [6.0] and northeastern India [4.1].



Tropical cyclones

• The South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu was under alert as Category-3 Cyclone Donna threatened to pass through the archipelago.
• Cyclone Frances threatened shipping lanes between Australia and Indonesia.



Volcanic blast

Southern Japan’s Mount Sakurajima underwent its first major eruption in nine months, with five powerful blasts sending ash billowing high into the atmosphere and lava flowing down the mountain’s flanks.
Homes, cars and streets in Kagoshima were blanketed with a layer of ash from Sakurajima, which is only 2.5 miles from the city.
Residents there complained of breathing difficulties because of the volcanic debris, which also triggered vivid lightning flashes as it soared into the sky.



El Niño Redux

Redux Forecasters at the World Meteorological Organization predict there is a 50 to 60 percent chance that the weather-altering El Niño will develop across the Pacific this year.
The previous El Niño ended just last year, and it is unusual for the phenomenon to return so quickly.



Outbreak slaughter

Brazilian health officials are urging residents to stop killing wild monkeys in an attempt to halt an expanding yellow fever outbreak.
There have already been more than 240 confirmed human fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease, which has also killed untold numbers of the brown howler monkeys.
Researchers say many areas of the primates’ forest habitats have been left with an eerie silence because the disease has killed so many. But other monkeys have recently been found poisoned, shot or clubbed to death.
The health ministry says monkeys are a vital tool in learning where mosquitoes have spread the disease.



Whale mortality

An alarmingly high number of humpback whale deaths along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States has prompted officials to launch an investigation into what’s being called an “Unusual Mortality Event.”
More than 40 of the marine mammals have been found dead from Maine to North Carolina since January 2016, with most dying off the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina.
While many of the carcasses were too decomposed for a thorough examination, a large number of the dead whales showed signs of being struck by boats or larger vessels.



Shipping deafness

Maritime traffic noise in some of Britain’s busiest shipping lanes is at least temporarily deafening harbor and gray seals, according to new research.
Scientists from the University of St. Andrews likened the hearing loss to that of humans living amid the din of inner cities.
They conclude that further research is needed to determine any behavioral changes the seals may suffer due to chronic exposure to the underwater noise.


• Extreme Temperatures: -102°F Vostok, Antarctica; 116°F Matam, Senegal

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May 01, 2017 (for the week ending April 27)



Earthquakes

• Two dozen Indonesian homes were damaged by a sharp [magnitude 5.1] temblor that struck West Java’s Tasikmalaya district. No fatalities or injuries were reported from the shaking.
• Earth movements were also felt in central Chile and neighboring parts of Argentina [magnitude 6.9], Trinidad [4.7], southeastern Pennsylvania [2.3] and around Santa Barbara, CA [3.6].



Tropical cyclones

• Short-lived Tropical Storm Arlene became only the third such storm on record to form in the Atlantic during April as the 2017 hurricane season got off to a premature start.
• Tropical Storm Muifa formed briefly over a remote area of the western Pacific.



Long Eruption

Costa Rica’s Poás volcano erupted for 48 hours, spewing hot vapors and incandescent rocks that smashed the windows of a national park office, prompting the evacuation of all park rangers.
Nearby communities reported falling ash and the smell of sulfur from the eruption, which caused eye and respiratory irritation.



Rising Tides

Global sea levels have recently been rising 25 percent more quickly than they did during the 1990s, when scientists started to measure the trend by satellite.
A new study by researchers at France’s Laboratory of Geophysical and Oceanographic Studies found that the accelerated melting of Greenland’s ice sheet has caused sea level rise to increase by 0.1 inch per year since observations began.
The increase was about 0.03 inches per year faster from 2004 to 2015. That was when the Greenland melt quickened.



Climate Shift

A growing number of Kenyans are switching from traditional livestock to drought-resistant camels because of the changing climate.
Longer and less-predictable droughts have resulted in three times as many camels being owned today than a decade ago.
“My husband and I had over a hundred cattle until 2005. But as the climate became drier in this region, the cows stopped producing milk, and 20 to 30 of our cows even died every year,” Mariam Maalim told Germany’s Deutsche Welle broadcaster. She says her new camels produce milk even during drought.



Urban Foxes

There are four times as many foxes living in urban areas of England than 20 years ago, or about one for every 300 city-dwelling humans.
Researchers found that London has about 18 foxes per square kilometer, while the whole of England is home to about 150,000 of the urban omnivores.
But Trevor Williams, of the rescue group The Fox Project, says he thinks that many foxes have become urban dwellers because cities have expanded into their historic habitats.
Foxes also seem to thrive in places like London because of the abundance of rats and mice.



Arctic Melt

Vast areas of Antarctica are teeming with small streams each summer as the continent undergoes extensive melting, even in areas scientists once thought were too frigid for water to flow.
“I think most polar scientists have considered water moving across the surface of Antarctica to be extremely rare. But we found a lot of it, over very large areas,” said glaciologist Jonathan Kingslake of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
Research published in the journal Nature documents how a threaded network of pools and streams flows out on all sides of the continent.
Colleague and polar scientist Robin Bell says that a warming climate is likely to cause the phenomenon to become more pronounced.


• Extreme Temperatures: -97°F Vostok, Antarctica; 114°F Tillabery, Niger

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April 24, 2017 (for the week ending April 21)



Earthquakes

• Panicked residents across northern Pakistan rushed out of their homes before dawn during an unusually strong [magnitude 5.0] temblor centered to the north, in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush Mountains.
• Earth movements were also felt in the Myanmar-Laos-Thailand border region [magnitude 4.7], the Northern Mariana Islands [4.8], northern New Zealand [4.6], northern Chile [6.2], the Peru-Ecuador border region [6.0] and the eastern Caribbean [5.6].



Burmese cyclone

Western parts of Myanmar were drenched by 4 to 6 inches of rainfall as Cyclone Maarutha roared ashore from the Bay of Bengal. More than 80 homes were damaged by wind gusts up to 65 mph.



Cyclonic webs

Flooding in mid-April across northern New Zealand from remnants of Cyclone Cook caused an untold number of spiders to create a huge veil of cobwebs near the North Island city of Tauranga. Amateur video showed the webs waving in the wind after the arachnids fled to drier ground.



Earlier melt

Researchers working in the Alaskan Arctic have discovered that thick ice deposits that form each winter in North Slope rivers are melting nearly a month earlier than they did 15 years ago. They also found that most of the ice accumulations that don’t completely melt each summer were far smaller in 2015 than they were in 2000.



Out of thin air

A new device that can harvest water out of air with humidity as low as 20 percent, using only sunlight for energy, could revolutionize life in remote, arid regions. The new invention uses an extremely porous material called a metal-organic framework that absorbs 20 percent of its weight in water from even low-humidity air. Sunlight heats the substance, releasing water vapor that condenses into ample water per day for household use. Developers say the invention could be upscaled to also irrigate fields or greenhouses in areas otherwise too arid to grow crops.



Wildlife disease

Hundreds of water buffaloes, impalas and other wild herbivores have died mysteriously to the north of the Kenyan capital of Nairobi in recent weeks. Veterinarians in Laikipia County have ruled out an anthrax outbreak as the cause. They say initial examinations of the carcasses point to a tick-borne disease brought into the region by livestock. Months of severe drought have led to herders illegally invading conservation areas in search of water and pasture, possibly exposing wildlife to new pathogens.



Living fossil

A reclusive, mud-dwelling worm has been found alive for the first time, even though the fossils it leaves behind have hinted at its existence for more than 200 years. About a dozen live specimens of the baseball bat-sized giant shipworm were finally discovered in the mud of a shallow Philippine lagoon after an extensive search. Experts soon found that bacteria living in the gills of the creature produce enough food for the worm, which is encased inside a long tube made of the calcium carbonate it secretes. The gunmetal black bivalve also uses hydrogen sulphide in the water as an energy source.


• Extreme Temperatures: -99°F Vostok, Antarctica; 116°F Sibi, Pakistan

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April 17, 2017 (for the week ending April 14)



Earthquakes

• One person was killed by [a magnitude 4.8 quake] the strongest in a swarm of more than 50 quakes that hit El Salvador.
• A [magnitude 5.9] temblor in the southern Philippines damaged dozens of Mindanao homes.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern Luzon Island [magnitude 5.8], central New Zealand [4.8] and Iceland [4.5].



Sumatran blast

Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung volcano exploded again, spewing ash and vapor high into the Sumatran sky. More than 2,000 families have been unable to return home since Sinabung roared back to life in 2010 for the first time in 400 years.



Tropical cyclones

• Category-2 Cyclone Cook killed at least one person as it raked the heart of the French overseas territory of New Caledonia. The storm injured four others and caused power failures across the island. Remnants of the storm later swamped northern New Zealand with 5 to 10 inches of rainfall.
• Cyclone Ernie briefly attained Category-4 force between Java and Australia.



Atlantic invasion

The waters of the Arctic Ocean are becoming increasingly similar to those of the Atlantic as warm currents from the south flow in, according to a new report. It says the intrusion of the warmer Atlantic currents is also contributing to the accelerated melting of sea ice. The increased Atlantic currents have removed a thick layer of cold surface waters that had previously insulated the polar ice cap, allowing it to thin. “Rapid changes in the eastern Arctic Ocean, which allow more heat from the ocean interior to reach the bottom of sea ice, are making it more sensitive to climate changes,” said oceanographer Igor Polyakov.



Terminal reef

Only about a third of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef remains unaffected by the coral bleaching that has ravaged much of the U.N. World Heritage Site since 1998. The record warmth in parts of the Coral Sea during the past two years has driven out even more of the algae that gives the vast coral complex its color. This year’s bleaching is second in severity only to that of 2016, and has occurred even without the El Nio warming responsible for earlier bleaching. Because it can take 10 years for even fast-growing types of coral to recover from bleaching, some experts fear that the entire reef is entering a terminal state with the prospect of future warmth under climate change.



Tree 'massacre'

Environmentalists say that changes to a Polish law have led to a “massacre” of trees across the country. New legislation that went into effect Jan. 1 removed previous requirements that private landowners who want to cut down trees must apply for permission, pay compensation, plant new trees or even notify authorities about the removal of trees. “We used to receive around one telephone call a day from people concerned about trees being cut down in their area. But suddenly, we had two telephones ringing all day long,” said Pawel Szypulski of Greenpeace. Freshly cleared spaces are being reported around Polish cities and across the countryside.



Hippo poisoning

Zimbabwe officials have launched an investigation into how 11 hippos died from suspected poisoning along the country’s Mlibizi River. Environment, Water and Climate Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri told reporters she feared the use of chemicals in agriculture to kill weeds, and invading worms could have polluted the waters in which the hippos live and feed. “So, whatever that is put on the ground ends up in our water,” she said. “It affects our fish, our crocodiles, our hippos, and we are seeing that this is a feature that we ignored in the past.”


• Extreme Temperatures: -99°F Vostok, Antarctica; 116°F Nawabshah, Pakistan

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April 10, 2017 (for the week ending April 07)



Earthquakes

• At least two people perished when a 6.1 magnitude quake wrecked entire villages in the northeastern corner of Iran.
• Earth movements were also felt in Botswana [magnitude 6.5], South Africa [5.2], South Asia’s Hindu Kush region [5.0], southern Luzon Island [5.4], New Zealand’s South Island [5.0], the California-Mexico border area [3.5] and southeastern Ohio [3.0].



Eruption of fire

Guatemala’s Fuego (Fire) volcano spewed ash and lava for 16 hours, 30 miles west of the capital. The country’s Insivumeh geophysical agency said a column of ash soared 16,000 feet into the sky, then fell as far away as 50 miles from the peak. It was the volcano’s third eruption this year.



Tropical cyclones

• Cyclone disaster: Remnants of powerful Cyclone Debbie caused catastrophic flooding along a 600-mile stretch of eastern Australia. Six people died in the inundations before the remnants moved on to swamp parts of northern New Zealand.
• Tropical storm-force Cyclone 14P formed near Tonga.



Arctic buffet

Thinning sea ice around the North Pole due to record melting this century is letting more sunlight into the waters of the Arctic Ocean earlier in the season, triggering massive blooms of algae. While researchers from the United States and Britain who made the discovery say it’s unclear how the developing trend will affect the Arctic food chain, they do believe it could draw more fish northward. But oceanographer Finlo Cottier says that animals already living in the Arctic are used to feeding at a certain point of the year and might not be ready to eat the newly available plankton.



The carbon law

Scientists have proposed a new way to honor the pledges made by nations in Paris to keep global warming well below the danger limit of 2 degrees Celsius. The new “carbon law,” published in the journal Science, says carbon dioxide emissions should be halved every decade from 2020 on to combat climate change, with the goal enforced by hefty fees on polluters.
Since almost 200 nations agreed in 2015 to phase out greenhouse gas emissions during the second half of the century, little has been done to find out how to achieve that goal.



Climate reshuffle

Humans are likely to suffer the consequences of climate change’s reshuffling of wildlife around the world, according to a new study by an international team of scientists. A warming world is causing mass migrations of some species in search of cooler climates, resulting in disease-carrying insects, pollinators and crop pests emerging in new areas. A report published in the journal Science documents how the largest movement of species in about 25,000 years threatens to reshape “the pattern of human well-being,” and potentially trigger substantial conflicts around the world.



Outback rush

Vast numbers of coastal birds have flocked to western Australia’s northern desert region after record rains filled some lakes to their highest levels in 30 years. After noticing in satellite images how much the Outback had been transformed by torrential January rains, wildlife experts launched an aerial survey that found tens of thousands of birds had flown across the country to nest around the new inland sea. One lake was hosting about 90,000 birds. The coastal birds may not breed for years during dry times in the interior, but appear to have an uncanny ability to sense major rainfall events in the Outback.



Going ballistic

New research shows that some plankton can protect themselves from predators by firing projectiles like a Gatling gun. “We think of plankton as the tiny alphabet soup of the ocean, floating around passively while larger organisms eat it,” said biologist Gregory Gavelis. He found that some of those microbes (e.g., Polykrikos kofoidii) also fire projectiles, called extrusomes, to puncture and reel in prey of their own.


• Extreme Temperatures: -101°F Vostok, Antarctica; 116°F Linguere, Senegal

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April 03, 2017 (for the week ending March 31)



Earthquakes

• A moderate [magnitude 5.0] quake damaged a number of homes in southwestern China’s Yunnan province.
• Earth movements were also felt in the northeastern Indian state of Sikkim [magnitude 4.5], northern Borneo 3.4] and from Indonesia’s Banda Sea to Darwin, Australia [5.1].



Historic eruption

Russia’s Kambalny volcano erupted at the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula for the first time since the reign of Catherine the Great, almost 250 years ago. Ash blew southward toward the Kuril Islands.



Tropical cyclones

• Parts of Australia’s Queensland coast were hit by Category-3 Cyclone Debbie, which made landfall near the city of Bowen after lashing an island with 161-mph winds.
• Cyclone Caleb formed briefly south of Sumatra.



'Flying syringes'

Researchers say they have found that blood-sucking flies can be used to detect emerging diseases in wild animals before the pathogens can spread to humans. Franck Prugnolle, from France’s National Center for Scientific Research, followed up on earlier studies that found DNA from animals and the diseases they carry are preserved in the blood meals of flies. By examining blood inside more than 1,200 central African flies, mainly tsetse flies, Prugnolle discovered the insects had fed on 20 species, ranging from elephants and hippos to reptiles and birds. He also found 18 previously unknown malaria parasite species in the blood.



Yellow fever alert

Brazil has launched a mass vaccination campaign for yellow fever in the southern states, where the disease has killed more than 220 people as well as countless numbers of howler monkeys. Large portions of Brazilian rain forest in Minas Gerais state are now left without a single monkey. It was just silence, a sense of emptiness, University of Wisconsin anthropologist Karen Strier said after visiting the affected region. Scientists say they are alarmed at the speed at which the mosquito-borne disease is spreading across the landscape, jumping from one patch of forest to another.



Antibiotic soil

The widespread use of antibiotics on livestock to prevent rather than treat disease is causing an adverse impact on soil microbes around farms where the antibiotics are used, researchers say. A team from Virginia Tech examined soil samples from 11 U.S. dairy farms and found the amount of antibiotic resistance genes was 200 times greater in soil near manure piles compared with soil from elsewhere. The researchers point out that soil microbes are important in climate regulation, soil fertility and food production. The wholesale use of antibiotics in agriculture could threaten those beneficial effects, the team warns.



On thin ice

Arctic sea ice reached a record low wintertime maximum for the third consecutive year as temperatures around the North Pole soared to the warmest levels ever recorded during winter. “I have been looking at Arctic weather patterns for 35 years and have never seen anything close to what we’ve experienced these past two winters,” U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center Director Mark Serreze said in a release. Not only is the extent of sea ice the smallest ever measured, the ice itself is also thinner as a result of the record summertime melting so far this century. The sea ice appeared to reach its greatest extent on March 7, covering a record low of 5.57 million square miles. That is down 37,000 square miles from last winter’s record low.


• Extreme Temperatures: -95°F Vostok, Antarctica; 115°F Matam, Senegal

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March 27, 2017 (for the week ending March 24)



Earthquakes

• An ancient temple and a few other structures were damaged by a 5.5 magnitude quake that shook the Indonesian resort of Bali for nearly 30 seconds.
• Earth movements were also felt in the southern Philippines [magnitude 4.3], northern New Zealand [4.8], northeastern Taiwan [4.3], northern Pakistan [4.3], Trinidad [4.8], western Costa Rica [4.2] and inland Southern California [3.5].



Etna eruption

Sicily’s Mount Etna erupted for the second time in March, ejecting lava and incandescent rocks up to 650 feet into the air. A sudden burst of flying lava and steam injured 10 people, including members of a BBC film crew, causing cuts and bruises that forced six to be hospitalized. Etna has been active for at least half a million years.



Level emissions

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says 2016 was the third year in a row that global carbon emissions remained stable, even with the world’s economy growing by more than 3 percent. The expansion of renewable energy sources and the ongoing switch from coal to somewhat cleaner natural gas are the leading factors behind greenhouse gas emissions staying at levels not previously seen since 1992. These three years of flat emissions in a growing global economy signal an emerging trend, said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.



Local El Niño

A freak warming of the Pacific just off South America has triggered record storms across parts of Peru, resulting in landslides and floods responsible for sweeping away people and ravaging crops. Up to 10 times the normal rainfall has brought disasters that killed at least 62 people. Officials say they have never before seen such a local El Niño. The weather-altering warming typically becomes established in the middle of the tropical Pacific basin before affecting Peru.



Humpback huddles

Super-groups of humpback whales have been observed with increasing frequency during the past five years off South Africa’s Atlantic coast. The species hadn’t normally been considered all that social, usually being found in pairs or small groups that congregated only briefly. But research missions in 2011, 2014 and 2015 found humpbacks feeding and frolicking in groups of up to 200. The whale had been hunted nearly into extinction, but its populations have seen an unexplained resurgence. Scientists believe the super-group gatherings could possibly be the return of a previously unobserved feeding strategy thanks to the newly abundant population.



Climate frontier

The World Meteorological Organization warns that the planet is being pushed into truly uncharted territory, with the record global warmth measured last year now extending into 2017. A new report from the U.N. agency says that the unprecedented heat of 2016 was substantially influenced by a waning El Niño, which contributed 0.1 to 0.2 degrees Celsius on top of the longer-term warming driven by fossil fuel emissions. And even though those emissions have been flat for the past three years, atmospheric carbon dioxide still rose faster than at any other point in recorded history. That’s because El Niño weakened the tropical ocean’s ability to absorb and store carbon dioxide.



Bird flu outbreak

A particularly virulent strain of avian influenza has infected at least 460 people in China since last October, with 140 of the victims dying from the disease during January and February. Health officials say a tiny genetic change in the H7N9 strain has allowed the virus to more easily infect humans.


• Extreme Temperatures: -89°F Vostok, Antarctica; 111°F Vrendendal, South Africa

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March 20, 2017 (for the week ending March 17)



Earthquakes

• Two people were killed and a few buildings were damaged by a [magnitude 5.1] temblor that jolted Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.
• Earth movements were also felt in Guam [magnitude 5.5], New Zealand’s South Island [4.9], Indonesia’s Andaman Islands [6.0], India's western state of Gujarat [4.5], western Montana [3.8] and Southern California [3.6].



Cyclone aftermath

Remnants of Cyclone Enawo dissipated over central Madagascar after the storm left 78 people dead and 30 percent of the island’s vanilla crops damaged during the previous week.



Andean rumblings

Central Chile’s Chillan volcano was rocked by more than 700 tremors, many associated with the deep movement of magma. Other rumblings were associated with the superheating of groundwater by the resulting geothermal energy. Chillan is about 260 miles south of Santiago.



Warming seas

The world’s oceans are heating up about 13 percent faster than previously believed, with the rate of warming since 1992 found to be twice as great as the warming rate measured since 1960. Researchers from leading U.S. and Chinese agencies made the discovery by correcting past data errors and by using more advanced climate computer models. “The oceans are affecting weather and climate through more intense rains. This process is a major reason why 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded at the Earth’s surface,” the team wrote in a press release. “Additionally, 2015 was a year with record hurricanes, heat waves, droughts and wildfires around the world.”



Natural melt

The recent record melting of the Arctic sea ice is, to a large extent, the result of natural swings in climate along with the global warming brought on by greenhouse gas emissions, new research finds. University of California Santa Barbara researcher Qinghua Ding says that natural variations may have caused 30 to 50 percent of the decline in September sea ice coverage since 1979. But he says that once the natural swing reverses, the increasing level of atmospheric carbon dioxide will become an even more overwhelming factor in the melting of Arctic ice.



Climate conditions

A consortium of 11 leading medical societies, representing more than half of the doctors in the United States, launched a campaign to show how climate change is affecting people’s health.
Its new report, “Medical Alert! Climate Change Is Harming Our Health,” says climate change is leading to more cardio-respiratory illness, the spread of infectious disease as well as physical and mental health problems from more frequent episodes of extreme weather. The report was delivered to Congress before being more widely distributed. “Doctors in every part of our country see that climate change is making Americans sicker,” said Dr. Mona Sarfaty, director of the new consortium and a professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.



Country buffets

Honeybees appear to prefer the tasty pollen of rural settings to that of city environments, according to a new Ohio State University study. A team of researchers placed honeybee colonies in an apiary along a border where urban development sharply transitions into farmland. By analyzing the “dances” of bees returning to the hive, they were able to determine the direction and distance of the pollinators’ forages. Lead researcher Douglas Sponsler says they found that while the bees aren’t particularly keen on farm fields themselves, they are attracted to large swaths of un-mowed wild plants, or weeds, along roadsides and around the edges of crops.


• Extreme Temperatures: -89°F Vostok, Antarctica; 111°F Diourbel, Senegal

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March 13, 2017 (for the week ending March 10)



Earthquakes

• One person was killed and 20 others were injured in the sharp [magnitude 5.7] March 5 aftershock of a 6.5 magnitude temblor that struck near the southern Philippine port of Surigao City on Feb. 10.
• Earth movements were also felt in New Zealand [magnitude 5.0], Papua New Guinea's New Britain Island [5.7], Taiwan [5.2], western and far northern parts of India [4.0], central Switzerland [4.6] and western Montana [3.4].



Thrust reversal

Northeastern Japan’s coastline, which dropped by more than 3 feet during the 9.0 magnitude Fukushima quake in 2011, is rising steadily. The tectonic thrust also shifted the coast eastward 18 feet as it generated a tsunami that ravaged coastal areas. But satellite observations show that one spot on the Oshika Peninsula in Miyagi Prefecture has risen by 1.3 feet since measurements were taken the day after the 2011 temblor.



Tropical cyclones

• Category-4 Cyclone Enawo left at least five people dead as it became the strongest storm to strike Madagascar in 13 years, with winds of up to 180 mph.
• Weak and short-lived Cyclone Blanche brought rain and gales to coastal areas of Australia’s Northern Territory, near Darwin.



Aerosol ailments

Rain hitting bacteria-laden dirt can send pathogens into the air, where they can cause problems for plants, animals and humans, according to new research. Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they found “a qualitative uptick” after rainstorms in the number of people suffering from a rare tropical lung infection known as melioidosis, caused by the soil bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei. Lead researcher Young Soo Joung concludes that some soil-borne bacteria can remain alive for more than an hour after being sent aloft in the aerosols created by the rain’s impact, possibly colonizing new locations.



Drought crisis

An ongoing drought that has sparked a worsening famine crisis across the Horn of Africa is also taking a toll on wildlife in neighboring parts of Kenya and Tanzania. New U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made an urgent appeal to donor nations to help feed 6.2 million Somalis in desperate need of food relief. The Kenya Wildlife Service is rushing to save the hundreds of buffaloes, antelope, gazelles and hippos that are getting stuck in mud as their watering holes dry in the worsening drought.



Starvation diet

South African and British researchers say young African penguins are starving during their initial ventures into the water because of overfishing and environmental changes that have driven away the anchovies and sardines the birds rely on as their first solo meals. A team from the University of Cape Town and University of Exeter says the penguin population has plunged by 80 percent during the past 50 years along the coastlines of South Africa and Namibia. African penguins are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.



Turtle disease

Mystery Turtles in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have suffered from a variety of illnesses that some experts believe may be caused by cobalt pollution. The first outbreak began in 2010 when two-thirds of the green turtles examined in Brisk Bay developed a herpes virus infection that caused tumors to grow on their eyes, shells, tails, flippers and organs. Two years later, 100 green turtles washed up onshore at nearby Upstart Bay, suffering seizures and uncontrolled head movements that led to a mass death. The latest ailments have recently left some of Upstart Bay’s turtles with mysterious eye infections.


• Extreme Temperatures: -74°F Vostok, Antarctica; 110°F Port Hedland, W. Australia

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March 06, 2017 (for the week ending March 03)



Earthquakes

• A powerful and rare [magnitude 5.9] temblor near the Zambia- Democratic Republic of the Congo border wrecked several homes.
• Earth movements were also felt in Asia's Hindu Kush [magnitude 5.2], eastern Nepal [4.7], eastern India [5.2], northeastern Japan [5.7] and New Zealand's Canterbury region [5.2].



Fiery eruption

Sicily’s Mount Etna spewed lava for the first time this year, punctuating a two-year period during which it was mainly dormant. The long flow of lava gave off a bright orange glow across the nighttime snow-covered landscape. The 10,926-foot volcano is one of the world’s most active and has erupted several times during a single year.



Premature spring

Climate change is causing spring to arrive in the Arctic almost a month earlier than normal, scientists say. Writing in the journal Biology Letters, U.S. researchers detail a 12-year study that found some plant species in Greenland are stirring and budding 26 days earlier than they did just a decade ago. This was the greatest increase in early spring emergence that researchers have ever seen in the Arctic. The study concludes that the changes in the growing season are linked to the shrinking sea ice cover around the North Pole, which is due to the Arctic warming faster than anywhere else in the world.



On the brink

No more than 30 miniature porpoises with cartoon-like features are left in the northern Gulf of California, where experts are considering keeping some in sea pens to prevent the marine mammals from going extinct. Since 2011, 90 percent of the snub-nosed vaquita population has fallen victim to Asian appetites for an endangered fish called the totoaba, which swim in the same Mexican waters. The porpoises get trapped and drowned in the curtains of illegal gillnets set to catch the totoaba, which can earn Chinese restaurants thousands of dollars each.



Whale 'scratchathon'

A leading British marine biologist says that he has found that sperm whales gather in groups as large as 70 to engage in a mass “scratchathon,” during which they exfoliate outer skin.
Luke Rendell of the University of St. Andrews was studying the social life of the whales when he made the discovery.
“The shedding of skin is part of a natural antifouling mechanism to stop them being encrusted with other marine animals and parasites,” said Rendell. New Scientist reports he found that the whales “love touching against each other,” and can engage in the group grooming and frolicking for hours or days at a time.



Bird flu alarm

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the H7N9 strain of avian influenza remains “a persistent and significant threat to public health.” While the bird virus is infecting and killing people in China, WHO says the risk of transmission between humans is low. Authorities in China caution that H7N9 is developing a resistance to the antiviral drug Tamiflu. Outbreaks of the virus have killed or resulted in the culling of millions of chickens, ducks and other poultry from Asia to Europe.



Ocean cleanup

The U.N. has launched a campaign to clean up plastics from the world’s oceans, asking governments, companies and consumers to curb the amount of plastic that makes its way into the water. The Clean Seas campaign urges nations to enforce regulations to reduce the use of plastics in packaging, and to ask citizens to change their plastic-using habits.


• Extreme Temperatures: -70°F Vostok, Antarctica; 109°F Kédougou, Senegal

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February 27, 2017 (for the week ending February 24)



Earthquakes

• A sharp [magnitude 5.5] offshore quake jolted metropolitan Tokyo and other areas of eastern Japan.
• Earth movements were also felt in Indonesia's Papua province [magnitude 5.3], New Zealand's South Island [4.8], central Italy [4.8], western Morocco [4.0], Panama [4.7] and northwestern Argentina [6.3].



African cyclone

• Late reports say Cyclone Dineo left at least seven people dead as it lashed Mozambique and Zimbabwe with strong winds and flash floods on Feb. 15. But Dineo also ended a protracted drought, filling some Zimbabwe reservoirs to overflowing.
• Cyclone Alfred formed over Australia’s “top end.”
• Cyclone Bart passed over the open waters of the Pacific, to the south of the Cook Islands. Cyclone 8P formed in its wake near Tonga.



Indian rumblings

India’s only active volcano spewed gas and lava over the remote Andaman and Nicobar islands last month in a series of bursts that lasted about eight hours. The Barren Island volcano began rumbling in 1991 after remaining dormant for more than 150 years.



Cosmic crashes

New research finds that subatomic particles striking Earth from deep space sometimes wreak havoc on smartphones, computers and other electronic devices. “This is a really big problem, but it is mostly invisible to the public,” said Bharat Bhuva of Vanderbilt University while addressing the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He pointed out that when cosmic rays strike the Earth’s atmosphere, they create bursts of other subatomic particles that can interact with circuits, sometimes altering bits of stored data. As memory circuits get smaller and require less power, they become more vulnerable to such extraterrestrial zaps, Bhuva says.



Radioactive boar

A popular delicacy is being contaminated by residual fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster due to a brutal winter. The harsh conditions are forcing wild boar in a mountainous region shared by the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany to eat false truffles, which can absorb high levels of cesium-137. With a half-life of 30 years, the isotope still contaminates areas blanketed by Chernobyl fallout. Wild boar is used in an Austrian goulash of meat, sauce and dumplings. But inspections usually keep radioactive boars from winding up on the menu.



Deep-sea harbingers

The sudden appearances of giant oarfish, which typically live deep in the ocean near the seafloor, have sparked fears in parts of the Philippines that the fish are warning signs of an impending large earthquake. Three have been found off the northern coast of Mindanao since Feb. 8, with the first appearing just two days before a 6.7 magnitude temblor rocked the island. The fish can weigh up to 600 pounds and are known in Japan as “Messengers from the Sea God’s Palace.”



Ocean suffocation

Earth’s oceans have lost more than 2 percent of their oxygen during the past 57 years in a trend scientists warn could threaten the future of marine life. A study at Germany’s Geomar Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research confirmed predictions that if climate change and the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for it continue unabated, ocean oxygen loss will accelerate and reach up to 7 percent on average by the year 2100. “Since large fish in particular avoid or do not survive in areas with low oxygen content, these changes can have far-reaching biological consequences,” said lead researcher Sunke Schmidtko.


• Extreme Temperatures: -69°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 109°F Bourke, NSW, Australia

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February 20, 2017 (for the week ending February 17)



Earthquakes

• A powerful [magnitude 6.5] temblor killed eight people across the Philippines province of Surigao del Norte and wrecked about 1,000 homes. check Wikipedia
• Earth movements were also felt in New Zealand's Canterbury region [magnitude 5.0], Bali [4.6], northern Sumatra [4.9], Guam [4.6] and Taiwan [5.3].



African cyclone

Tropical Cyclone Dineo brought flash flooding and wind damage to parts of Mozambique and Zimbabwe after moving ashore from the Mozambique Channel.



La Niña ends

The La Niña ocean cooling in the tropical Pacific has ended, according to the U.S. Climate Prediction Center (CPC). Climate experts there also say a fresh El Niño warming may soon return. La Niña appeared last year for the first time since 2012, but was among the weakest and shortest on record. "Even though it was fairly weak and short-lived ... it did leave impacts," said CPC Deputy Director Mike Halpert, pointing to unusual cold in Alaska, western Canada and the U.S. Northern Plains in December and January.



Monarch losses

The number of monarch butterflies has dropped by 27 percent during recent months at the insects’ winter home in western Mexico. The plunge followed last year’s apparent recovery from the historically low numbers two years ago. Experts at the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacan state say some of the decline could be due to storms late last winter that felled more than 100 acres of forests where the colorful butterflies winter. The monarchs also suffered a high level of mortality due to the same cold, wet and windy storms. check out monarch butterfly migration



Winged extinction

The buzzing wings of crickets and grasshoppers could fall silent across the European landscape if action isn’t taken to protect the insects’ habitats, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The grassland inhabitants are an important food source for birds and reptiles, but more than a quarter of their species have been driven to extinction in recent decades. The disappearance has mainly been due to loss of habitat to wildfires, intensive agriculture and tourism development, according to the conservation group.



Drought conflict

The worsening drought across East Africa threatens to trigger more human-wildlife conflict as animals begin to suffer and starve without water or food. International Fund for Animal Welfare’s East Africa Regional Director James Isiche told reporters that lack of rainfall and withered grazing lands will force wildlife to move out of protected areas in search of water, leading to more contact with the human population. Wildlife officials say that crocodiles and hippos are already dying as Kenya’s Mara and Talek rivers, which traverse the Maasai Mara game reserve, dry up.



Human climate

Human activities are changing Earth’s climate and otherwise altering its ecology 170 times faster than natural forces, according to a new mathematical equation developed at the Australian National University. Chemist and climate change expert Will Steffen says that for the past 4.5 billion years, astronomical and geophysical influences have driven Earth’s evolution. But he found that during the past six decades, human forces "have driven exceptionally rapid rates of change in the Earth system." Steffen writes in the journal The Anthropocene Review that greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans "have increased the rate of temperature rise to 1.7 degrees Celsius per century, dwarfing the natural background rate."


• Extreme Temperatures: -62°F Vostok, Antarctica; 117°F Walgett, New South Wales, Australia

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February 13, 2017 (for the week ending February 10)



Earthquakes

• Residents across southwestern Pakistan rushed out of buildings as a [magnitude 6.3] temblor shook the region from an epicenter beneath the far northern Arabian Sea.
• Earth movements were also felt in far northern India [magnitude 5.6], western Turkey [5.5], central Italy [4.4], the eastern Indonesian province of Papua [4.7], islands of the eastern Caribbean [5.8] and central parts of Colombia [5.4].



First of 2017

Tropical Cyclone Carlos became the first named storm of the year anywhere in the world as it skirted the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and Reunion.



Eruption swarm

Sinabung volcano spewed ash over northern Sumatra during seven eruptions in less than 24 hours. Residents and visitors in the tourist town of Berastagi were warned to wear face masks and eye protection when venturing outdoors, to avoid the health risks from exposure to the ash. Sinabung lay dormant for more than 400 years before roaring back to life in 2010.



Qatari chill

The desert state of Qatar experienced its coldest temperature on record with the mercury dipping to just above freezing on the morning of Feb. 5. The Abu Samra weather station, in the southwest of the country, recorded a minimum temperature of 34.7 degrees Fahrenheit, beating the old record of 38.8 degrees set in January 1964. The country’s meteorological department blamed the chilling north winds on the same Siberian high pressure area that also brought a deep freeze to Eastern Europe and the Balkans.



Venom volunteers

Australia’s supply of the antidote for the bite of the deadly funnel-web spider has become so low that residents are being asked to safely capture the arachnids and deliver them to experts who can extract the venom used to produce the treatment. Zookeeper Tim Faulkner says that too few spiders were donated last year, and a sweltering summer has caused the arachnids to become more active and bite.



Invading army

International agricultural experts say that hordes of crop-destroying armyworm caterpillars are spreading rapidly across Africa, and could invade tropical Asia and the Mediterranean in the next few years. Such an expansion could pose a major threat to agricultural trade worldwide, according to the Center for Agriculture and Bioscience International. The fall armyworm pest, native to North and South America, can devastate maize crops by attacking young plants and burrowing into the cobs. It can also damage a variety of other crops such as rice, soybean, pasture grass and potato.



LED attraction

British researchers warn that they have found LED streetlights are harming insects and wildlife despite their significant energy-saving capabilities. A study by the University of Exeter found the new artificial lighting attracted spiders and beetles far more than conventional sodium street lamps, increasing their damage to vegetation and other species. That attraction is drastically reduced when the LED lights are dimmed by 50 percent, according to researcher Thomas Davies. "Our study also shows that avoiding these impacts may ultimately require avoiding the use of LEDs and nighttime lighting more generally," said Davies. LED lights are predicted to account for nearly 70 percent of the global lighting market by 2020.


• Extreme Temperatures: -85°F South Pole, Antarctica; 116°F Moomba, S. Australia

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February 06, 2017 (for the week ending February 03)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 4.1] undersea quake was felt in central New Zealand.
• Earth movements were also felt in south-central Alaska [magnitude 5.2] and southeastern Missouri [2.5].



Indian Ocean Storm

Tropical Cyclone Three formed between Australia and Indonesia but was only a minor threat to shipping in the far eastern Indian Ocean.



Candy cane crab

A bright red-and­-white crab found in the Caribbean has been identified as a new species with a striking appearance described by some as an undersea Christmas tree ornament. The "candy-striped hermit crab," or Pylopaguropsis mollymullerae, was found near the island of Bonaire. The scientific name is in honor of Ellen Muller, who found and photographed it. Only a few millimeters across, the tiny crab was found crawling around moray eels and even seen on one, leading some to believe it has a fish-cleaning role in the ocean environment. check out at phys.org



Chilean firestorms

Massive wildfires that destroyed more than a million acres in seven regions of central and southern Chile and killed at least 11 people are being blamed in part on 43 suspects accused of stoking some of the blazes. The town of Las Corrientes was entirely destroyed by one of the wildfires. Thousands of people, including troops, firefighters and volunteers, worked to douse the flames.
Some of the conflagrations over the past two weeks are also said to have been sparked by a severe drought that some Chilean environmental advocates blame on climate change.



Yellow fever

Brazilian health authorities urged residents in nine of the country’s 26 states to get inoculated for yellow fever after at least 40 people died from the tropical disease.
More than 100 people are reported to have become infected, and the supply of the vaccine ran out in many clinics after long lines formed with people rushing to get inoculated. The virus responsible for yellow fever can also infect monkeys. Wildlife experts say that up to 90 percent of the brown howler monkeys in Espirito Santo and Minas Gerais states have become infected, with many having died of the disease.



Human heaters

People have been found to be the cause of a noticeable warmup of big cities during the workweek as commuters flock into the urban landscape from the suburbs.
Researchers from the University of Melbourne, Australia, found that the heat generated by human bodies, cars and public transport vehicles, along with the operation of office buildings, causes a slow warmup from Monday through Friday. The effect is broken and temperatures drop over the weekend as most people stay home and activity in the central business districts is relatively calm.
The pattern was observed in the Australian state capitals of Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide. "Nothing in nature occurs on a weekly cycle, so it must be due to human activity," said researcher Nick Earl.



Shark fin fast

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Indonesia cautions that there is an urgent need for shark fin soup enthusiasts to refrain from serving or eating the dish as some of the shark species in the archipelago are nearing extinction.
WWF says about 110,000 tons of shark fins are taken from Indonesian waters each year, leading to the sharp decline in shark populations. "Indonesia largely depends on fisheries, so this is about food security, too — if all the sharks are gone, we would have to start eating plankton soup," said WWF leader Imam Musthofa Zainudin.


• Extreme Temperatures: -63°F Seymchan, Siberia; 112°F Moomba, S. Australia

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January 30, 2017 (for the week ending January 27)



Earthquakes

• Residents of the Solomon Islands rushed to higher ground after a powerful [magnitude 7.9] quake in neighboring Papua New Guinea triggered a regional tsunami alert.
• Earth movements were also felt in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty [magnitude 5.0], northwestern Washington [3.7] and Maine [2.1].



Aleutian eruption

Alaska’s Bogoslof volcano sent ash soaring above the Aleutian Islands port of Unalaska, but residents there said no ash fell from the sky. The latest in a series of plumes since Dec. 16 rose to 25,000 feet along a route used by many trans-Pacific jetliners.



Plant infections

A common wheat virus is infecting native grasses in a shift of a pathogen threat that was once thought to affect only crops. A study of the wheat pathogen barley yellow dwarf virus found it can reduce the growth of switchgrass by 30 percent. That native Great Plains grass is a promising candidate for biofuel production.



Sound pollution

The din of traffic and other loud sounds of urban life are making birds easier prey for predators, according to a new study. Researchers from Vassar College in New York found that the noise makes it harder for birds to hear the alarm calls of other birds.
They tested how traffic noise affected how black-capped chickadees and tufted titmice reacted to the alarm calls used when a predator is nearby. While traffic noise was found not to deter the birds from feeding, the research suggests the birds are made more vulnerable to predators because the sounds drown out the transfer of information among the birds.



Bird flu alert

The World Health Organization declared a maximum alert for rapidly spreading strains of bird flu from Asia to Western Europe. Director-General Margaret Chan said that since November, nearly 40 countries have reported new cases of the virus. She warned that it was not possible to rule out humans becoming infected and passing it on to others. About a million chickens and other poultry have been culled recently in Europe to help halt the spread. Millions of birds have been slaughtered since autumn across Asia, and nine humans have died in China of infection.



Warming alarm

Global warming has been so pronounced in Australia that 90 percent of the country’s rural population says their lives have been affected by higher temperatures. A poll of 2,000 Australians conducted by the Climate Institute also found that the vast majority of respondents who live in both rural and state capital areas are concerned about increased droughts, flooding and destruction of the Great Barrier Reef due to climate change. About three-quarters of those in the survey said ignoring climate change will make the situation worse, while about two-thirds said the federal government should take a leading role in combating global warming.



Breathing pause

Trees "held their breath" during the recent seeming pause in global warming, when the oceans were storing most of the planet’s excess heat.
Forests are considered to be the "lungs of the planet" because of their ability to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store the excess carbon. An international study found that from 1998 to 2012, when atmospheric temperatures appeared to stop rising as quickly as in the years before, the world’s forests continued to breathe in the greenhouse gas through photosynthesis. But the trees reduced the rate at which they released the gas back into the atmosphere.


• Extreme Temperatures: -65°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 110°F Santa Rosa, Argentina

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January 23, 2017 (for the week ending January 20)



Earthquakes

• Areas in the heart of Italy, ravaged last year by deadly quakes, were rocked by a series of fresh tremors that knocked out power and phone service. [The largest of the recent quake measured magnitude 5.7.]
• A sharp [magnitude 5.7] temblor centered in northwestern Sumatra triggered blackouts and damaged homes.
• Earth movements were also felt in central New Zealand [magnitude 4.5], northern Australia [3.4], Fiji [6.1], the Pakistani city of Karachi[3.6] and from southeastern Cuba to Jamaica [5.5].



Tropical cyclones

• Far southern Vietnam received heavy rain and gales from Tropical Cyclone One. The minimal storm clipped the southern tip of the country before dissipating in the Gulf of Thailand.



Warming surge

Planet Earth warmed in 2016 to the hottest level on record for the third consecutive year, according to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as well as the U.K. Met Office and World Meteorological Organization. NOAA determined that the average surface temperature above land and oceans last year reached a record of 1.69 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average of 57.0 degrees. Other agencies calculated nearly identical levels.
The new record surged higher by the largest margin ever seen before, with nearly every continent experiencing its hottest year ever. No land areas were cooler than average for the year.



Record melt

Sea ice levels worldwide remain at the lowest ever recorded, and probably the lowest for thousands of years, according to the latest observations. The U.S. Snow and Ice Data Center says that while the record-low coverage in the Arctic is due to global warming and unusual weather events brought on by climate change, the current low around Antarctica could just be the result of natural variability. It has been so warm at times in the Arctic during the current Northern Hemisphere winter that the sea ice coverage around the North Pole has temporarily shrunk at a time when it should be rapidly expanding.



Human appetite

Vampire bats in northeastern Brazil have been feasting on the blood of humans at night in a significant shift of diet away from the flying mammal’s typical menu of blood from birds. DNA analysis of vampire bat excrement collected around Catimbau National Park revealed traces of blood from humans and domestic chickens.
Encroachment by humans into vampire bat habitats, and the destruction of bird habitats through deforestation, could be causing a rapid evolutionary change that is driving the bats to feed on humans to survive.



Colonial accents

Songs of a bird whose varied singing styles have long since disappeared in the U.K. due to declining songbird populations can still be heard in New Zealand. The discovery was made by scientists who recorded songs of the descendants of the more than 600 British yellowhammers released at the other end of the Earth during the 19th century. By comparing the recordings with those from surviving British yellowhammers, scientists found that the New Zealand birds have twice as many "dialects."
"This phenomenon of lost birds’ dialect is an avian equivalent of what happens with human languages. For example, some English words, which are no longer spoken in Great Britain, are still in use in the former British colonies," said lead researcher Pavel Pipek.



Dolphin deaths

At least 82 dolphins known as false killer whales died after mysteriously becoming stranded along the coast of South Florida. Thirteen others are missing after being spotted off Everglades National Park. It was the largest number of fatalities for the species ever observed between Key West and Tampa Bay.


• Extreme Temperatures: -59°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 110°F Perth, W Australia

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January 16, 2017 (for the week ending January 13)



Earthquakes

• At least four workers were killed when a sharp [magnitude 5.3] temblor struck southern Iran’s Fars province on Jan. 6. Three others were injured during the shaking.
• Earth movements were also felt in northern Canada's Nunavut territory [magnitude 5.8], Vancouver Island [5.1], far northern Chile [5.1], New Zealand's South Island[4.6], northern Papua New Guinea [5.8] and from north-central Indonesia to the southern Philippines [7.3].



Costa Rican ash

Costa Rica’s Turrialba volcano entered a second week of continual eruptions that prompted officials to issue a state of emergency. Accumulating ash shuttered the country’s international airport and forced voltage reduction in transmission lines to prevent overloads.



Twister outbreaks

Large-scale tornado out breaks that last one to three days with six or more twisters in close succession have nearly doubled in occurrence over the past 50 years, according to a new report. Computer models had suggested that a warming climate would create such an increase in severe storms. But researchers, led by Joel E. Cohen at the University of Chicago, found that amplification of vertical wind shear within storms, not yet predicted to increase due to climate change, is creating the extreme outbreaks. "Either the recent increases are not due to a warming climate, or a warming climate has implications for tornado activity that we don’t understand," said researcher Michael K. Tippett.



Antarctic fracture

A massive iceberg poised to break off from Antarctica could become one of the 10 largest ever recorded. A rift in the Larsen C ice shelf that has been monitored for decades suddenly grew in length by 11 miles over just a couple of weeks in December. The U.K.’s Project Midas, which has been closely monitoring the ice shelf, says the section is now attached to the Antarctic Peninsula "by a thread" just 12 miles long, making its eventual separation from the frozen continent imminent.ch can produce different results. Reliable satellite observations are available back to late 1978.



Urban evolution

Earth’s expanding urban environment has for the first time been found to be driving evolution of various species more strongly than it is occurring in natural settings. A study of more than 1,600 cases around the world reveals that species are evolving in numerous ways to cope with humankind’s construction of sprawling population centers. Report co-author Marina Alberti of the University of Washington says that changes in plants and animals due to urbanization include differences in body sizes, shifts in behavior and alterations in the way they reproduce. The findings add to evidence that human influences have caused the world to enter the Anthropocene, or human, epoch.



African drought buster

A parching drought that has threatened wildlife with starvation and thirst in South Africa’s Kruger National Park for several years has been broken by downpours. While the cloudbursts brought flash floods that swamped roads in the park, rangers say the rainfall also breathed life into the world-famous refuge. "Waterholes and rivers have filled up again, and we hope that this is just the start of a decent rainfall season for us," said South Africa National Parks acting head of communications William Mabasa.



Feline invasion

Feral cats now roam more than 99.8 percent of Australia’s land area, where they are devastating wildlife and otherwise causing a major impact on the country’s ecology, according to a new comprehensive study. Australia is the only continent on the planet other than Antarctica where native species evolved without cats. This makes its indigenous animals extremely vulnerable to felines, according to Australia’s threatened species commissioner. The invasive cats, initially brought in by European colonists, have already driven at least 20 Australian mam mals to extinction.


• Extreme Temperatures: -64°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 113°F Bourke, New South Wales, Australia

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January 09, 2017 (for the week ending January 06)



Earthquakes

• The strongest in a string of tremors near the Nevada city of Hawthorne jolted residents across western Nevada and the Sierra Nevada, westward to California’s San Joaquin Valley. [The quake had a magnitude of 5.7.]
• Earth movements were also felt near the California-Mexico border [magnitude 3.9], northern Japan [6.3], suburban Sydney [3.9], Bali [6.2], northeastern India [5.7] and England's Yorkshire coast [3.8].



Tropical cyclones

• Philippines typhoon: Category 4 Typhoon Nockten left at least four people dead in the northern Philippines after becoming the strongest tropical system to strike the country during December since records began. The unusually late storm arrived as Philippine residents were gathering to celebrate Christmas.



Aleutian eruption

Alaska’s Bogoslof volcano produced a series of ash eruptions on a remote island in the Aleutian chain. Some trans-Pacific flights were forced to change course to avoid the ash plumes, about 850 miles southwest of Anchorage. Bogoslof is a relatively new volcano that created an island of the same name as it emerged from beneath the Bering Sea in 1796.



Warmest year

The year 2016 edged out 1998 as the warmest on record, according to analysis of Earth’s lower atmosphere based on satellite observations. Climate scientists at the University of Alabama in Huntsville determined that the global average temperature last year was 0.036 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than during the previous record year of 1998. But they caution that the margin of error is about 0.20 degrees, making it basically a statistical tie between the two years, with a higher probability that 2016 was warmer than 1998. There are various ways of determining average global temperatures, which can produce different results. Reliable satellite observations are available back to late 1978.



Sahara snow

The first snowfall in the Sahara Desert for nearly 40 years briefly blanketed the landscape around the small Algerian town of Ain Sefra, on the northern edge of the vast desert. Amateur photographer Karim Bouchetata captured images of the snow contrasting with the deep orange dunes. He told reporters that the snow melted quickly, remaining visible for only a day. Snow last fell in the area in February 1979, when a brief snowstorm halted traffic in some towns. check out at independent.co.uk



Deadly drought

A worsening drought across East Africa has killed thousands of livestock and wild animals in the region. At least 15 hippos perished in Kenya’s Lake Kenyatta. The small body of water is about half its 1980s size and is said to be shrinking by the day due to a combination of human activities and the prolonged dry spell. A large number of flamingos have also died from the drought in Lake Nakuru, while predators such as lions are venturing into populated areas in search of food. In eastern Tanzania’s Morogoro region, at least 3,800 head of livestock have died of starvation due to a parching drought that has withered pastures.



Bird flu returns

The first bird flu outbreak to affect China since 2013 has resulted in at least 19 people becoming infected and three deaths, including an elderly man from Hong Kong. He tested positive for the H7N9 strain after purchasing a chicken at a Guangdong province market. The avian influenza virus has also been detected in two cats that died in the South Korean city of Pocheon. Those suspected of coming in contact with the felines were being monitored. China, Japan and South Korea have culled hundreds of thousands of birds and closed some poultry markets in an attempt to halt the spread of the virus, which has also been found in the droppings of wild birds across parts of Asia.


• Extreme Temperatures: -69°F Olenek, Siberia; 114°F La Rioja, Argentina

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January 02, 2017 (2016 Year in Review)



Earthquakes

• Central Italy earthquake: Central Italy was struck yet again on Aug. 24 by a destructive [magnitude 6.2] earthquake, this time killing nearly 300 people and turning most of the town of Amatrice into rubble.
• New Zealand earthquake: New Zealand’s South Island experienced a complex two-minute [magnitude 7.8] temblor on Nov. 14 that left two people dead and shifted the landscape as much as 36 feet along the Canterbury coast.
• Ecuador earthquake: A wide swath of Ecuador was devastated by a 7.8 magnitude temblor on April 16 that killed at least 673 people and inflicted many billions of dollars in damage.
• Tanzania/Uganda earthquake: A 5.7 magnitude quake killed 23 people on Sept. 10 when it struck the Tanzania-Uganda border region.
• Western Sumatra earthquake: Destruction from a 6.5 magnitude temblor displaced more than 45,000 people in far northwestern Sumatra on Dec. 7 as well as leaving at least 100 others dead and 1,000 injured.



Tropical cyclones

• Sri Lanka Cyclone Roanu: Severe floods and mudslides from tropical stormforce Cyclone Roanu left 201 people dead in Sri Lanka and caused another 26 deaths in Bangladesh as it skirted the western and northern coastlines of the Bay of Bengal during late May.
• Typhoon Lionrock: Twenty-two people died when Typhoon Lionrock swamped parts of Japan in late August as the first such storm to strike northern Honshu Island directly from the Pacific rather than spinning northward through the archipelago.
• Typhoon Meranti: Typhoon Meranti killed 20 people in Taiwan and mainland China in mid-September as the strongest storm to strike China’s southern Fujian province since 1949.
• Hurricane Matthew: Extremely destructive and long-lived Hurricane Matthew left a trail of devastation and up to 1,600 fatalities from the Greater Antilles to North Carolina in early October.
• Hurricane Otto: Late-season Hurricane Otto killed 23 people in Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua in late November as the southernmost hurricane to ever strike Central America. Otto kept its name after moving into the eastern Pacific in a rare case of a storm passing intact from one ocean basin to another.



Volcanic eruptions

• Massive volumes of ash and vapor spewing from Indonesia’s Mount Bromo volcano during the first four months of 2016 halted flights several times at the airport that serves the East Java city of Malang.



Transpolar melt

Climate change continued to erode Earth’s polar ice caps. The total amount of sea ice around Antarctica and the North Pole has declined by an area roughly the size of India. It shrank to a record low for November at both ends of the planet.



Greenhouse surge

Atmospheric CO2 measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, experienced the greatest annual jump on record. The CO2 there also remained above 400 parts per million for the first time at the point of the year when it is usually at its minimum.



La Niña oscillation

Forecasters jogged back and forth on the chances of a return of La Niña as Pacific Ocean temperatures cooled early in the year. But despite some La Niña-like weather developing in California and Australia, meteorologists now say the chances of it really setting in soon are low.



CO2 greening

Accumulating carbon dioxide from greenhouse gas emissions appears to be causing a greening of the world’s vast drylands. Higher CO2 levels have resulted in moister dryland soil while also diminishing the ability of some plants to transfer CO2 and water vapor in and out of their leaves.



Missing penguins

Nearly all of the 150,000 Adelie penguins living on the shores of Antarctica’s Commonwealth Bay have starved or disappeared over the past five years after a giant iceberg blocked the birds’ access to their main food source.



Desert sea of pink

Residents in arid western South Africa were treated to a once-in-a-lifetime invasion of flamingos in March after rare rainfall filled a usually dry lake bed on the southern end of the Kalahari Desert. Heavy rains during January filled the Hakskeen Pan to the brim, creating an inviting stopover for the pink birds. Schools conducted field trips so students could observe the rare and colorful visitors.


• Extreme Temperatures: -115° F at Vostok, Antarctica; 126° F at Death Valley, California