SIO15: Natural Disasters

Source: Steve Newman at the San Diego Union Tribune

Earthwatches

December 25, 2023

December 18, 2023

December 11, 2023

December 04, 2023

November 27, 2023

November 20, 2023

November 13, 2023

November 06, 2023

October 30, 2023

October 23, 2023

October 16, 2023

October 09, 2023

October 02, 2023

September 25, 2023

September 18, 2023

September 11, 2023

September 04, 2023

August 28, 2023

August 21, 2023

August 14, 2023

August 07, 2023

July 31, 2023

July 24, 2023

July 17, 2023

July 10, 2023

July 03, 2023

June 26, 2023

June 19, 2023

June 12, 2023

June 05, 2023

May 29, 2023

May 22, 2023

May 15, 2023

May 08, 2023

May 01, 2023

April 24, 2023

April 17, 2023

April 10, 2023

April 03, 2023

March 27, 2023

March 20, 2023

March 13, 2023

March 06, 2023

February 27, 2023

February 20, 2023

February 13, 2023

February 06, 2023

January 30, 2023

January 23, 2023

January 16, 2023

January 09, 2023

January 02, 2023 (year 2022 in review)

December 25, 2023 (for the week ending Dec 22)



Earthquakes

• One of China’s deadliest quakes in a decade killed at least 131 people along the border of Qinghai and Gansu provinces. [The earthquake was a magnitude 5.9.]
• Earth movements were also felt in India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory [magnitude 5.1], Istanbul [4.2], southern Illinois [3.1], southwestern British Columbia [4.6] and around Reno, Nevada [3.4].



Tropical Cyclones

• Days of downpours from Cyclone Jasper brought catastrophic flooding to Australia’s northern Queensland state. Vast areas were inundated, with some residents forced to wait for days in trees to be rescued.
• Tropical Storm Jelawat brought locally heavy rain to the far southern Philippines.



Eruption

Massive amounts of lava suddenly began to spew from a new volcanic fissure on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula, just north of the evacuated fishing town of Grindavik.
Police ordered residents to leave there in November after swarms of strong tremors, which preceded the eruption, damaged some homes.
The current eruption is the fourth to occur on a remote and valley-filled swath of the peninsula, located just southwest of the capital of Reykjavik.
Iceland sits above a volcanic hot spot in the North Atlantic and averages an eruption every four to five years.



Solar storm

The most massive solar flare since 2017 caused a geomagnetic storm on Earth that disrupted some radio communications for two hours on the sunlit portion of the planet.
Multiple pilots reported that the storm blacked out high-frequency bands used in their aircraft.
“This is likely one of the largest solar radio events ever recorded,” the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center said in a statement.
The sun is currently nearing the peak of its 11-year cycle of sunspot activity.
Another solar storm in February 2022 knocked out 40 of 49 SpaceX Starlink satellites that had just been launched, causing them to fall out of orbit.



Human Connection

With around 57 million people engaging in bird feeding in the U.S. each year, new research is exploring how the activity not only benefits the birds, but improves human well-being too.
“In all my years of studying how bird feeding impacts wild birds, I didn’t give much thought to how it can also impact the people that spend their time and money feeding and watching birds,” said Ashley Dayer of the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation at Virginia Tech.
Writing in the journal People and Nature, she said that people participating in the new study, FeederWatch, “are not only reporting what they see at their bird feeders, but also their emotional responses to it.”
She adds that feeding birds is a great way to maintain a connection to wildlife.



El Niño Victims

A protracted drought worsened by El Niño has killed at least 100 elephants in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park during recent weeks.
While the ocean warming has triggered deadly floods in East Africa, it has left Zimbabwe and other parts of southern Africa parched as seasonal temperatures rise.
“El Niño is making an already-dire situation worse,” said Tinashe Farawo, spokesman for the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority. “The most affected elephants are the young, elderly and sick that can’t travel long distances to find water.”



Micro 'Pesticides'

A new Korean study finds that microwaves can be used to eliminate pests and also help farmers manage soil diseases without the use of chemicals.
A team led by the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) says a new type of radiating antenna can send microwaves down to about 1 foot beneath the surface, selectively heating moisture in the ground to between 140 and 212 degrees.
Temperatures that high have the potential to kill or control such pests as soil-borne bacteria, fungi and nematodes.
Earlier tests with microwave devices could only penetrate the ground a few inches.


• Extreme Temperatures: -61°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 112°F Jervois, S. Australia

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December 18, 2023 (for the week ending Dec 15)



Earthquakes

• The Virgin Islands were shaken by two unusually strong [magnitude 5.7] quakes in rapid succession.
• Earth movements were also felt in central Mexico [magnitude 5.8], Taiwan [5.1], the southern Philippines [5.1], the Scottish Highlands [2.1], Serbia [3.7] and southern Nebraska [4.2].



Tropical Cyclones

• Former Category-4 Cyclone Jasper roared ashore on Australia’s Queensland coast with tropical storm force. But it was still strong enough to knock out power and trigger life-threatening floods.



Arctic Evolution

A new NOAA report says the Arctic environment continued to be destabilized by climate change during 2023, causing problems for humans, plants and animals.
Rapid warming brought about a near absence of snow by June in the high latitudes of Eurasia, and there was extensive greening of the tundra across Alaska’s pristine North Slope.
Summer was the warmest ever, while many locations were doused by record-breaking heavy precipitation.
As the Arctic gets wetter and warmer, plant coverage is in the process of shifting.
NOAA’s >Arctic Report Card 2023 also points to how climate change is impacting nature and threatening the livelihoods of rural and Indigenous communities.



Mega Goldfish

Goldfish discarded into Canadian waterways by careless pet owners are becoming an increasing threat to the ecology of stormwater ponds and the Great Lakes, where they are growing into a supersized problem.
“They can eat anything and everything,” Christine Boston, an aquatic research biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and lead author of the new paper in the Journal of Great Lakes Research, told the New York Times.
And the quick breeders can survive in extreme conditions, including water with toxic blue-green algae.
Growing to up to 16 inches in length, they quickly become too large to be eaten by other predatory freshwater fish species.



Vampire Migration

Climate change appears to be causing vampire bats to move northward toward the United States, where they could arrive in less than 30 years.
Writing in the journal Ecography, researcher Paige Van de Vuurst says that the blood-sucking bats, currently found only in Mexico and Central and South America, are searching for more stable climates due to seasons where they now live that are becoming more extreme.
The concern is that the bats would also bring deadly rabies, considered the oldest pathogen known to humans, with them should they reach North America.



Rat Plague

A sea of rats, dead and alive, has swept across some beaches and other coastal areas of Australia’s Queensland state in recent weeks.
Officials say the rat population has reached a level not seen since 2011 due to a bumper harvest and favorable weather. Residents say the ravenous marauders can destroy a car overnight, munching away at its wiring.
Countless millions of rats that could not survive the fierce competition for food have died and fallen into rivers, only to later wash up en masse on Queensland’s picturesque beaches.



Coral Warnings

A leading expert on coral reefs warns that 2024 could see “unprecedented mass coral bleaching and mortality” from the Caribbean to the Indo-Pacific due to the record ocean heat now made even hotter by the El Niño ocean warming across the tropical Pacific.
Coral bleaching first became a significant problem in the 1980s, and is caused when warmer waters and other factors stress the coral, causing them to turn white as they lose the brown algae that covers them.
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, from the University of Queensland, believes that the warming world may be at a tipping point, where temperatures remain so high that the algae cannot return to the coral reefs.


• Extreme Temperatures: -57°F Vanvera, Siberia; 112°F Oodnadatta, Australia

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December 11, 2023 (for the week ending Dec 08)



Earthquakes

• Three people died during three minutes of intense shaking from one of the strongest quakes in memory[, a magnitude 7.6 quake,] to strike the Philippine island of Mindanao.
  Three days later, a sharp [magnitude 5.7] quake rocked Manila.
• Earth movements were also felt in China’s Yunnan province [magnitude 5.0], southeastern Bangladesh [5.5], Azerbaijan [5.6], northwestern Turkey [5.1], far northern Chile [5.8], Hawaii’s Big Island [5.1] and the Los Angeles Basin [3.5].



Tropical Cyclones

• Around a dozen people lost their lives on southeastern India’s Andhra Pradesh coast due to Cyclone Michaung's torrential rainfall. Flash floods submerged several communities.
• Cyclone Jasper formed near the Solomon Islands and quickly intensified to Category-3 force over the Coral Sea. It was predicted to possibly affect Australia’s northern Queensland coast during the following week



Java Blast

A sudden eruption of central Java’s Mount Merapi killed 23 climbers who were caught by surprise on the volcano’s slopes.
Heavy ash from Indonesia’s most active volcano blanketed nearby villages.
Merapi has erupted regularly as far back as 1548.



Solar Peak

Vivid displays of the northern and southern lights in recent weeks have been colorful signs that the sun is approaching the peak of its 11-year solar cycle.
The auroras are more common when the number of sunspots is at the highest of the cycle, and when huge solar flares and coronal mass ejections send charged particles colliding with Earth’s magnetic field.
Writing in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, scientists predict the peak of Solar Cycle 25 should occur sometime during 2024.



Record Emissions

A new report by the >Global Carbon Project consortium says this year’s carbon dioxide emissions from human activities are projected to reach an all-time high despite climate experts calling for them to be slashed to curb global heating.
This year’s projected total of 33.4 billion tons of the greenhouse gas would be roughly 1.1% higher than in 2022.
Experts say the continued rise is largely due to China and India significantly increasing their CO2 emissions despite drops in the consumption of coal, gas and oil across the U.S. and Europe.
The current trend in emissions means that the world could reach the 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) aspirational limit of global heating by the year 2030, the new report concludes.



Hottest Year

Early calculations by the World Meteorological Organization and Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service indicate 2023 will certainly be the warmest year on record globally.
Copernicus says the first 11 months have already seen the highest temperatures on record, reaching 2.63 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1850-1900 (early Industrial Age) average.
It also calculated that last month was the warmest November on record, with an average surface air temperature of 1.53 degrees above the 1991-2020 average for November.



Sleepless in Siberia

Half-asleep male Siberian bears have been lumbering around Russia’s Amur region because unusually warm weather during November seems to have disrupted their hibernation cycle.
A Telegram post by Russian officials says that while females took their cubs to their dens “strictly on schedule,” the males have still been traipsing around in a daze a full month after they normally enter hibernation.
Even though the males have accumulated enough fat reserves to last them through winter, the record-breaking warmth and wet conditions of autumn have left their dens soggy, possibly deterring them from going in for their annual slumber.


• Extreme Temperatures: -72°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 112°F Vredendal, S. Africa

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December 04, 2023 (for the week ending Dec 01)



Earthquakes

• Islands of the southeastern Caribbean were jolted by a [magnitude 5.1] undersea quake near Barbados.
• Earth movements were also felt in Jamaica [magnitude 4.2], California’s San Bernardino Mountains [3.5], eastern Taiwan [5.4], the southwestern Philippines [4.4], India’s Mumbai metropolis [2.9] and southern Oman [4.8].



Tropical Cyclones

• Late-season Tropical Storm Ramon spun up briefly in the eastern Pacific Ocean, well off the Mexican mainland.



Tropicalization

Rising ocean temperatures are causing tropical marine species to move away from the equator and toward the poles, which a new report says is changing the ecological landscape of our oceans and generating a cascade of consequences for ecosystems, biodiversity and, potentially, the global economy.
Researchers from England’s University of Southampton write in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution that this “tropicalization” was first documented earlier this century in the Mediterranean as tropical species increased there.
Temperate species are in decline as tropical invaders overrun them and waters become too warm for them to survive.



Mega Iceberg

A massive iceberg that was stuck on the ocean floor off Antarctica for more than three decades is now drifting freely toward the South Atlantic Ocean.
Designated A23a, the huge chunk of sea ice split from the Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986 before quickly running aground. It began moving again last year as the world’s largest iceberg, measuring 1,544 square miles.
Satellite images show it is now gaining speed while passing the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Weighing nearly a billion tons, A23a will probably be picked up by the Antarctic circumpolar current and could run aground again near South Georgia Island.



Flamingo Deaths

Around 220 James’s flamingos in northwestern Argentina have become the latest victims of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza.
A variant of the virus has ravaged bird populations worldwide, along with infecting 42 mammal species, since it was first identified in Europe during late 2020.
The James’s flamingos died in lagoons of Argentina’s Catamaca province. The species lives at high altitudes in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru, and is classified as “near threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.



Ozone Mystery

Despite a worldwide ban in recent decades on chemicals that destroy Earth’s protective ozone layer in the stratosphere, the annual ozone hole has yet to show a significant reduction in size, and there has been less ozone at its center.
New Zealand researchers writing in the journal Nature Communications say that six of the last nine years have had really low ozone amounts and extremely large ozone holes. It had been predicted that the ozone layer would recover to 1980 levels by 2066.



Space Pollution

A new study finds that metal particles left over when satellites and other items in space break up upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere are building up and lingering in the stratosphere.
Atmospheric chemist Daniel Murphy of the U.S. environment agency NOAA found that about 10% of the aerosol particles in the stratosphere are contaminated with metals such as niobium and hafnium, which remain after spacecraft disintegrate upon reentry.
He and other NOAA researchers say they identified more than 20 elements from those former orbiting objects, which are now suspended in the stratosphere.
A recent report estimates the number of orbiting satellites will triple during the next decade, but it is unclear what the debris could mean for the stratosphere and its protective ozone layer.


• Extreme Temperatures: -62°F Vostok, Antarctica; 113°F Bougouni, Mali

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November 27, 2023 (for the week ending Nov 24)



Earthquakes

• A powerful [magnitude 6.7] undersea quake just off the far southern Philippine island of Mindanao caused some ceilings to fall, along with other scattered damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in New Zealand’s South Island [magnitude 5.1], northeastern Japan [6.0], east-central Myanmar [5.2], South Asia’s Hindu Kush region and far southwestern England [2.7].



Tropical Cyclones

• Bangladesh, northwestern Myanmar and far eastern India were drenched by minimal Tropical Storm Midhili, which rushed ashore from the Bay of Bengal. There were no reports of significant flooding.



South Seas Eruption

The first significant eruption in years of Papua New Guinea’s Ulawun volcano had some residents evacuating their homes on New Britain Island and its airport canceling flights.
One blast shot vapor and ash almost 10 miles above the Bismarck Archipelago.
Falling ash later coated roofs, roads and nearby palm plantations, where farmers say the weight of the ash caused palm fronds to droop.
While Ulawun is regularly active, its eruptions have never resulted in loss of life.



Too Little, Too Late

The planet warmed on Nov. 17 to more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time in human history.
Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said the provisional estimate of global data on that day doesn’t mean the 2 degree warming limit goal has yet been breached permanently.
Meanwhile, the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) says that even with the current greenhouse gas-cutting pledges already made, Earth is on track for a catastrophic 2.9 degrees Celsius warming by the end of this century.
The agency also projects that there will still be a 3% increase in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, blowing past the pollution reduction goals needed to avert the most dire consequences of global heating.



Cocaine Hippos

Descendants of the hippopotamuses that drug kingpin Pablo Escobar imported into Colombia as pets during the 1980s are being sterilized to keep their numbers from growing to more than 1,000 by 2035.
The government estimates that about 169 of the hippos have now spread across the landscape from Escobar’s private zoo since his death in 1993. They live freely in rivers while breeding with wild abandon.
The hippos have no natural predators in Colombia and have been declared an invasive species that could disrupt the ecosystem.
The delicate and difficult process of sterilization means that only about 40 of the so-called “cocaine hippos” will undergo the procedure each year.



Fortress Islands

The Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives announced plans to fight back rising sea levels by ringing key vulnerable islands with large seawalls.
Around 80% of the country is less than 3 feet above sea level and is under increased threat of flooding by steadily higher tides.
Saltwater intrusion into the Maldives’ ground water has already left nearly all the island chain dependent on desalination plants for drinking water.
It is unclear how the upscale smaller island resorts, with their sandy beaches and turquoise lagoons, can be saved.



Brazilian Heat

An intense Brazilian heat wave, which caused the death of one person at a Taylor Swift concert in Rio de Janeiro, brought the country its highest temperature ever recorded.
The mercury rose to 112.6 degrees at Araçuaí, located in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais.
Meteorologists blame the scorching Brazilian temperatures on a combination of a strong El Niño in the Pacific and the intensifying global heating.
The heat led to a record surge in power consumption as people tried to stay cool at home and work.


• Extreme Temperatures: -70°F Vostok, Antarctica; 113°F Araçuaí, Brazil

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November 20, 2023 (for the week ending Nov 17)



Earthquakes

• A rare [magnitude 4.9] temblor along the Uganda-South Sudan border was felt strongly across the region.
• Earth movements were also felt in Sri Lanka (from a distant [magnitude 6.1] Indian Ocean quake), the Banda Sea [6.7], eastern Taiwan [5.4], southern Japan [5.3], the Haiti-Dominican Republic border area [5.0] and the upper Midwest [3.6].



Tropical Cyclones

• High winds and downpours in western Fiji from Cyclone Mal brought down trees and power lines, and triggered flooding accompanied by landslides.



Iceland Rumblings

Iceland’s government declared a state of emergency and ordered the evacuation of the town of Grindavik as thousands of volcanic tremors rattled the area just south of the capital, Reykjavik.
Fissures opened up near Grindavik, prompting crews to build a defensive wall around the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power plant to protect it from possible destructive lava flows.
The Icelandic Met Office said lava [sic] beneath Grindavik had already probably risen to just a few hundred feet below the surface.
NB: underground, molten rock is called magma, it is called lava when it erupts on the surface.



American Warming

A new U.S. government report says the country is warming more quickly than the global average, producing a range of “increasingly harmful impacts” affecting the whole nation.
It points to more frequent episodes of extreme heat, more coastal flooding due to rising sea levels and dwindling fish stocks in Alaska.
The National Climate Assessment says: “Even if greenhouse gas emissions fall substantially, climate change will continue to intensify over the next decade.”
“More and more people are experiencing climate change right now, right outside their windows,” said Allison Crimmins, climatologist and director of the National Climate Assessment.



Deadly Diagnosis

An annual review of threats to human health by the world’s oldest medical journal projects that nearly five times more people will die from heat each year by 2050 as global temperatures continue to rise.
The Lancet Countdown warns that without action on climate change, the “health of humanity is at grave risk.”
The warning coincides with 2023 expected to be the hottest year in human history.
The Countdown points out that adults older than 65 years and infants younger than 1 year, for whom extreme heat can be particularly life-threatening, are now exposed to twice as many heat wave days as they would have experienced between 1986 and 2005.
It adds that the transmission of life-threatening infectious diseases is also rising due to the hotter climate.



Intergalactic Blast

A new report says that just over a year ago, Earth was bombarded for seven minutes by high-energy photons from a gargantuan explosion almost 2 billion light years away, irradiating one side of the planet in ways never before seen.
NASA scientists say that despite the incredible distance, the gamma-ray burst (GRB) on Oct. 9, 2022, ionized atoms across the part of Earth’s ionosphere facing it at the time.
Scientists don’t know what causes GRBs, but they believe that if one were to originate much closer to Earth, it could destroy the planet’s protective ozone layer.



Plastic Weather

A new study suggests that microplastic pollution, now found from the highest mountain peaks to the deepest depths of the sea, could already be affecting the weather as well.
Writing in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters, a team led by scientists at China’s Shandong University say they detected microplastics in all but four of the 28 samples of condensed clouds taken above the country’s popular destination of Mount Wai.
An earlier study published in September details how microplastics were also found in the mist at the peaks of Japan’s Mount Fuji and Mount Oyama.
Lab experiments indicate that such particles could be influencing the formation of clouds and other aspects of the weather.


• Extreme Temperatures: -70°F Vostok, Antarctica; 115°F Rivadavia, Salta, Argentina

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November 13, 2023 (for the week ending Nov 10)



Earthquakes

• At least 157 people perished in a powerful [magnitude 5.7] temblor that ravaged parts of western Nepal and was felt as far away as New Delhi.
• West Texas and neighboring New Mexico were rocked by a two-minute [magnitude 5.3] overnight temblor.
• Earth movements were also felt in Iceland [magnitude 4.6], greater Athens [5.1], the Iran-Azerbaijan border area [4.8], the Banda Sea [7.2], the Solomon Islands [5.5] and coastal Southern California [4.0].



New Island

A small island has emerged from the Pacific about 750 miles south of Tokyo following a month of underwater eruptions.
Measuring around 330 feet in diameter, the rocky island appeared on Nov. 1 and is shaken by volcanic tremors every few minutes.



Greenland Melt

The largest floating ice shelves in the Arctic have lost more than a third of their volume since 1978, according to a new report in the journal Nature Communications .
It says that the thinning of northern Greenland’s ice shelves has been due to steadily warming ocean temperatures, melting them from below.
While the melt of the floating ice does not add to sea level rise, the shelves have acted as huge frozen dams, containing glaciers on land.
Their loss could lead to an increase in those glaciers sliding into the ocean, accelerating sea level rise.



El Niño

The United Nations weather agency predicts that the intensifying El Niño ocean warming across the tropical Pacific is likely to last until at least next April.
The World Meteorological Organization says there is a 90% chance the natural phenomenon will continue to provoke such weather extremes as heat waves, droughts and intense storms for several months.
A new study published in the journal Science says El Niño episodes during the past two decades have been responsible for drying out many parts of the Southern Hemisphere, while water availability north of the equator has remained relatively stable on average.



Ozone Hole

Despite a sudden and rapid expansion in early September, the ozone hole over Antarctica grew to about average size this year, reaching the 12th-largest single-day expanse on Sept. 21.
“That is massive in scale,” said Paul Newman, NASA’s ozone research leader at the Goddard Space Flight Center. “But it wasn’t as bad as we thought.”
Earth’s ozone layer in the stratosphere plays an important role in blocking dangerous ultraviolet radiation from reaching the ground.



Starfish Head

Veteran biologists as well as school children have long pondered on exactly where the head of a starfish is located.
Logic would suggest it is in the middle of the five-pointed creature, but for centuries it had been impossible to determine its location ... until now.
Molecular biologists at Stanford University say they have created a 3-D atlas of the sea star’s body regions and found that the head is in several places.
They found the echinoderms don’t have a “head-like” structure anywhere, but do have head-like territory in the center of each arm and a tail-like region along the edges.



Global Heating

The year 2023 is “virtually certain” to be the warmest of the last 125,000 years, according to a group of European Union scientists.
The prediction comes as one of the first scientists to sound the alarm in the 1980s over climate change says global temperatures are now rising faster than expected.
A study led by Columbia University’s James Hansen suggests global temperatures will breach the 2 degree Celsius warming level by the year 2050, which would be much sooner than expected by the scientific community.
The study points to the possibility that drops in the levels of certain air pollutants, such as sulfur-based chemicals that reflect sunlight, may have led to Earth heating more rapidly.


• Extreme Temperatures: -75°F Vostok, Antarctica; 117°F Birin Konni, Niger

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November 06, 2023 (for the week ending Nov 03)



Earthquakes

• A sharp [magnitude 6.1] quake on the Indonesian part of Timor Island caused panic and scattered damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in the San Francisco Bay Area [magnitude 3.7], Alaska’s Glacier Bay [5.1], Jamaica [5.4], northern Chile and neighboring parts of Argentina [6.6], Iceland [4.5], northwestern Afghanistan [5.0] and the central Philippines [5.7].



Tropical Cyclones

• Parts of Central America were drenched as developing Tropical Storm Pilar skirted El Salvador and Nicaragua.
• Hurricane Tammy gradually lost force while drifting over the Atlantic Ocean.



Kamchatka Blast

A powerful eruption of Far East Russia’s Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano sent ash soaring 8 miles above the Kamchatka Peninsula, prompting officials to close schools briefly in two nearby communities.
Lava also flowed from Eurasia’s tallest active volcano, destroying roadways, according to Russian media.
Volcanologists say Klyuchevskaya Sopka has erupted dozens of times since 1700.



Salt Cycle

A new study reveals that activities such as agriculture, construction and road treatment are making Earth’s air, soil and fresh water saltier, which scientists warn could pose an “existential threat” if it continues.
Writing in the journal Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, researchers say that while natural processes bring salts to the surface over time, activities such as mining and land development are also accelerating the natural “salt cycle.”
While most think of salt as sodium chloride, the new research has shown that other types of salts have been disturbed, including ones related to limestone, gypsum and calcium sulfate.



Without Warning

The increasing number of unprecedented weather events around the world is revealing how it can sometimes be impossible to warn residents of disasters that have never been seen before in recorded history.
Ravindra Jayaratne is a specialist in natural disasters at the University of East London and works to improve our ability to predict such events. Writing in The Conservation , she says that extreme weather is now outpacing even the worst-case scenarios of our models.
Pointing to late October’s catastrophic Hurricane Otis, which went from a tropical storm to a Category-5 storm overnight before ravaging Acapulco without much warning, she says it exposed the limitations of our current forecasting tools.



Caterpillar Heat

The caterpillar larvae that metamorphose into butterflies are struggling to survive climate change, a new study concludes.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge say that the larvae are unable to regulate their temperature, leaving them helpless against weather extremes.
They warn that this could mean fewer “beautiful, charismatic butterflies,” which could impact pollination and the birds that eat the larvae.
The study suggests creating microclimates and structures in our green spaces, such as backyard gardens and parks, so these creatures can have a bit of shade.



Staying Cool

Researchers say they have found an inexpensive, sustainable alternative to air conditioning for our increasingly hot and arid climates, and a way to mitigate dangerous heat waves during power blackouts.
Since air conditioning units use a lot of energy, creating more carbon emissions, such new passive cooling methods are crucial to keep it from amplifying global heating as temperatures rise.
Writing in the open access journal Cell Reports Physical Science , they say that roofing materials that radiate heat rather than store it, and ventilation systems naturally driven by heat, can be integrated into new and existing buildings to keep them several degrees cooler than the ambient temperature.


• Extreme Temperatures: -77°F Vostok, Antarctica; 111°F Matam, Senegal

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October 30, 2023 (for the week ending Oct 27)



Earthquakes

• A strong [magnitude 5.2] temblor in central Nepal damaged nearly two dozen houses near the capital, Kathmandu.
• An strong [magnitude 4.8] quake just outside Melbourne, Australia, damaged homes and tossed debris into the streets.
• Earth movements were also felt in southwestern Iran [magnitude 4.7], New Zealand’s South Island [5.2], Taiwan, Costa Rica [5.1] and around Reno, Nevada [3.6].



Tropical Cyclones

• Category-5 Hurricane Otis killed at least 27 people as it caused heavy damage around Acapulco.
• Cyclone Hamoon left three people dead and 275,000 others in shelters across southern Bangladesh.
• Southern Baja California and the northwestern Mexican mainland were drenched by weakening Hurricane Norma.
• Hurricane Tammy soaked islands of the northeastern Caribbean.
• Cyclone Tej triggered severe flooding across war-torn Yemen.
• Cyclone Lola caused major damage in Vanuatu.



Eruption Flashes

Japan’s restive Sakurajima volcano, in Kagoshima prefecture, erupted with a column of ash, surrounded by vivid displays of lightning. No populated areas were threatened.



Canine Carriers

New research finds that some tropical diseases may be arriving in the U.S. through infected dogs entering the country.
One life-threatening form of the disease leishmaniasis, which can affect the spleen, liver and bone marrow, may be becoming established in the U.S. through sand flies that feed on infected dogs imported by animal rescue organizations.
Once infected, those flies can go on to bite humans and spread the disease.
“We need to up our game and remember these tropical diseases aren’t going to be so tropical anymore due to global warming,” said study author Christine Petersen.



Crabs Vanish

More than 10 billion snow crabs in the eastern Bering Sea went missing between 2018 and 2021 due to an extreme marine heat wave off the coast of Alaska.
NOAA scientists now say the crabs starved to death because the hotter temperatures forced the crabs to move around so much to regulate their temperatures that they reached the point where they could not take in enough nutrition to survive.
NOAA researcher Cody Szuwalski said there was a small increase in the number of snow crabs during 2022 and 2023, but he believes it would take many years of cooler water temperatures for the population to recover to previous levels.
Arctic temperatures are warming four times faster than in the rest of the world, causing large-scale changes in the polar ecology.



Bird Flu Spreads

Around 3,000 Humboldt penguins have died so far this year along the Chilean coast from the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, according to officials.
The bird fatalities are in addition to the high number of sea lions that have also been stricken there by the virus.
The news comes as British experts say the bird flu has spread to the southern tip of South America and on to the Antarctic region for the first time.
The British Antarctic Survey tested dead brown suka seabirds from Bird Island in the British overseas territory of South Georgia, north of the Antarctic mainland. It believes those birds were infected by migratory birds.



On the Brink

Prominent scientists warn that climate change poses an “existential threat” to life on Earth as the planet reels from regular climate disasters.
In their stark assessment entitled Life on Planet Earth is Under Siege, they warn “minimal progress” has been made in curbing greenhouse gas emissions, currently at record levels.
The experts concede it is unclear why sea surface temperatures have gone “completely off the chart” in recent years.
“As we indiscriminately extract our water resources, damage nature, and pollute both Earth and space, we are moving dangerously close to the brink of multiple risk tipping points that could destroy the very systems that our life depends on,” said Zita Sebesvari at the U.N. University.


• Extreme Temperatures: -87°F Vostok, Antarctica; 121°F Mainé-Soroa, Niger

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October 23, 2023 (for the week ending Oct 20)



Earthquakes

• Northwest Afghanistan’s fourth magnitude 6.3 temblor in over a week killed an additional four people after earlier quakes killed 2,000.
• Earth movements were also felt in New Delhi [magnitude 3.1], Manila [5.2], Japan’s southern islands [6.0], southern Iran [5.4], the Sacramento Delta [4.1] and northwestern California [4.8].



Tropical Cyclones

• Hurricane Norma was taking aim on the tip of Baja California late in the week.
• Tropical Storm Sanba drifted over the Gulf of Tonkin between northern Vietnam and China’s Hainan Island.
• Hurricane Tammy formed near the Windward Islands.



Lost in Migration

A massive 23-year study of bird migration across the American Great Plains finds that geomagnetic disturbances caused by solar storms can disrupt the navigational skills of migratory birds, causing some to become entirely “lost.”
Researchers at the University of Michigan used data from Doppler radar, which can detect airborne birds and insects, then compared them with ground-based magnetometer data to see how such geomagnetic storms affected migration.
They found a 9%-17% reduction in the number of migrating birds in both spring and fall during severe space weather events. And those birds that chose to migrate during such events experienced greater difficulty.



Flooding Delays

Increased coastal flooding from rising sea levels is already causing longer commutes for U.S. seaside residents, resulting in millions of wasted hours each year.
“It’s here. It’s now. It’s a delay that is already occurring,” Mathew Hauer at Florida State University told New Scientist.
He and colleagues calculated that flooding-related delays increased from an average of around 12 minutes per person per year in 2002 to an average of 23 minutes per person per year in 2017.
Coastal residents in Florida saw a 360% increase in the length of delays since 2002, while those in South Carolina saw a 225% increase.
The researchers warn that even a further modest rise in sea level could cause those delays to increase tenfold by 2060.



Amazon Drought

A prolonged drought across much of Brazil’s Amazon region has brought the Negro River, the Amazon’s second-largest tributary, to its lowest level since reliable measurements began near Manaus 121 years ago.
Just over two years ago, the swollen Negro flooded parts of the Manaus downtown area when it was at its highest level ever recorded.
Flows on other rivers in the Amazon are now so low that at least one hydropower plant was forced to shut down, and hundreds of riverside communities have become isolated and are struggling to find drinking water.



Global Drying

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warns that nearly 40% of the regions it studied around the world now suffer from drier-than-normal conditions, threatening water resources.
In a new WMO report, the U.N. agency said the more arid conditions will cause the flow rates of many rivers to be “significantly below what would normally be expected.”
Also, reduced levels of soil moisture, combined with more frequent heat waves, are causing reductions in crop yields and drops of groundwater levels.



A Solar Future

A new study suggests that the world may have crossed a “tipping point” that will make solar our main source of energy before 2050.
The study by the University of Exeter and University College London says that challenges still exist, including the variability of solar power by night and day, weather and the seasons.
But upgrading power grids and connecting different regions will help. Increasing wind power potential will also be key, the researchers added.
Resistance from declining petroleum and coal businesses, and fear of the jobs that would be lost during the transition, could delay the solar-dominated future.


• Extreme Temperatures: -82°F Vostok, Antarctica; 116°F Villamontes, Bolivia

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October 16, 2023 (for the week ending Oct 13)



Earthquakes

• Around 3,000 people were killed and thousands more injured in a series of powerful temblors that wrecked nearly 2,000 houses within 30 minutes in villages across northwestern Afghanistan. [The largest quake was a magnitude 6.3]. An equally strong shock four days later took another life.
• Earth movements were also felt in the far southern Philippines [magnitude 6.4], the Slovakia-Ukraine border region [5.0], southern Texas [4.0] and northwestern Washington [4.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• At least two people were killed when Category-4 Hurricane Lidia hit the Mexican resort of Puerto Vallarta. Earlier, Tropical Storm Max left two dead in the state of Guerrero.
• Typhoon Koinu caused flooding in South China.
• Typhoon Bolaven quickly reached Category-5 force after forming near Guam.
• Tropical Storm Sean formed between West Africa and South America.



Gulf Stream Shift

A new study finds that the climate-controlling Gulf Stream has warmed faster than the world’s oceans over the past 20 years while it also shifted 3.1 miles closer to the U.S. continental shelf per decade.
The Gulf Stream carries Caribbean tropical warmth to the North Atlantic and is part of a massive conveyor belt network of currents.
Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers say the Gulf Stream warmed by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit during the period, becoming lighter than the colder water below.



Emission Peak?

Global carbon emissions from the generation of electricity may peak this year because of the rapid growth of solar and wind power, according to the U.K.-based environmental think tank Ember Climate.
It says that after almost plateauing earlier this year, emissions could soon begin to fall in line with goals to curb global heating.
“Rapid growth in solar and wind has so far kept pace with pathways aligned with the 1.5-degree Celsius (warming goal),” Ember’s senior electricity analyst Malgorzata Wiatros-Motyka told The Guardian.
Some believe emissions from power plants would have begun to decline this year had it not been for droughts that caused an 8.5% drop in hydropower generation during the first half of 2023.



Huge Ozone Hole

Images of one of the largest stratospheric ozone holes ever observed over Antarctica were released by Europe’s Copernicus program.
Covering 10 million square miles, the hole grew to roughly the size of Brazil during September.
Stratospheric ozone acts as a protective gas shield that absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the sun, protecting humans and ecosystems.
Copernicus announced in August that the layer’s thinning had begun much earlier this year and grew faster than normal to one of the largest on record for that month.



1.5 Degree Target

The goal of restricting global heating to only 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels may soon be out of reach due to how rapidly temperatures have already soared.
The global average temperature has warmed above that aspirational goal during one-third of the days so far in 2023, according to a BBC study of data from Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
It found that there were regular temperature anomalies of between 1.5 and 1.8 degrees Celsius. The trend is likely to make this year the hottest on record, and 2024 could be even hotter due to the new El Niño.



Tsunami Mystery

Japanese scientists say they are stumped as to what generated a tsunami that washed up along a lengthy stretch of Japan and smaller Pacific islands on Oct. 9.
Since there were no major seismic events recorded in the region at the time, a tsunami alert was not issued until after the tsunami of 1 to 2 feet hit the Izu Islands.
There was a quake of unknown strength in the Izu chain four hours before the tsunami, but experts say the activity of an unknown undersea volcano was most likely responsible.


• Extreme Temperatures: -103°F Vostok, Antarctica; 111°F Al Ain, UAE

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October 09, 2023 (for the week ending Oct 06)



Earthquakes

• [With a 5.7 magnitude,] the strongest of four quakes in western Nepal injured 11 people, damaged homes and triggered a deadly landslide. The 40-second shaking was also felt across northern India.
• Earth movements were also felt in far eastern India [magnitude 5.4], the Azores [5.2] and Japan’s remote Izu Islands [6.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• Typhoon Koinu killed one person and injured 300 others in Taiwan as it produced history’s third-strongest wind gust of at least 213 mph, breaking the Lanyu Island anemometer.
• After soaking the Windward Islands, Tropical Storm Philippe skirted Bermuda.
• Storm Rina formed briefly in Philippe’s wake.
• Tropical Storm Lidia drifted well off Mexico.



Volcanic Fears

Hundreds of tremors in a densely populated volcanic caldera near Naples, Italy, are causing concerns that mass evacuations could become necessary should an eruption near.
The Phlegraean Fields region is a cauldron-shaped depression from an ancient volcanic blast. It last produced an eruption in 1538, spewing lava and debris.
While disaster officials say another eruption is not an immediate threat, a new one could put a half-million residents at risk.
Rumblings have recently increased, with more than 3,000 tremors this year alone.



Dolphin Heat Deaths

Water temperatures hotter than 100 degrees Fahrenheit appear to have killed more than a hundred Amazonian river dolphins, with wildlife experts saying global heating may be pushing some species beyond their ability to survive.
The sudden die-off occurred in remote Lake Tefe, which had suddenly heated to record-high levels.
Teams soon attempted to transfer surviving dolphins from the overheated lagoons and ponds in the drought-plagued region to cooler waters in the Amazon River.
Authorities warn that more dolphins could perish in the next few weeks as the drought is expected to worsen due to the strengthening El Niño in the Pacific.



Rhino Rewilding

Thousands of rhinos, bred in an unsuccessful attempt to market their horns and reduce the impact of poaching, will soon be released in the African savanna.
The African Parks organization says it will release the entire population of about 2,000 white rhinos across Africa during the next 10 years.
Poaching of rhino horns for use for traditional medicine in Asia, continues to threaten rhino populations across the continent.
Experts say that before the animals can be released, they need to be toughened up for life in the wild and taught how to find food in their new homes.
They may also be targeted by poachers there for their valuable horns.



Ethiopian Locusts

Ethiopian officials say one of the largest and most extensive infestations of tree locusts in the northern Tigray Region has caused widespread destruction to trees and mature food crops in recent weeks, threatening to worsen food shortages there.
The Addis Standard daily says this comes as desert locusts are also swarming across the Horn of Africa, where officials are appealing to both regional and international organizations for help.



Alpine Melt

Glaciers in the Swiss Alps have lost 10% of their volume over the past two years — the most extensive such melt ever observed.
The last two summers have been the hottest on record in parts of Europe, melting as much glacier volume during this period as seen in the three decades prior to 1990.
That melt, combined with very little snow last winter, only amplified the loss, the Swiss monitoring body GLAMOS told reporters.
It released photos of lakes forming for the first time next to glacier tongues, and water rushing through ice caves.


• Extreme Temperatures: -101°F Vostok, Antarctica; 115°F Aswan, Egypt

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October 02, 2023 (for the week ending Sep 29)



Earthquakes

• [With a magnitude of 4.2,] the strongest quake to strike the large Phlegraean Fields volcanic complex west of Naples, Italy, in 40 years sparked alarm among residents. Lava last spewed there in 1538.
• Earth movements were also felt in Bosnia & Herzegovina [magnitude 4.0], Rwanda [4.5], islands of the Banda Sea and far northern Australia [5.8], the far southern Philippines [5.9], Jamaica [4.3] and southern Oklahoma [3.7].



Tropical Cyclones

• Storm surge from weakening Tropical Storm Ophelia flooded parts of the North Carolina and Virginia coasts.
• Hurricane Nigel lost force midway between the Canadian Maritime Provinces and Northern Europe.
• Tropical Storm Philippe spun up over the central North Atlantic.



River Suffocation

A new study finds that rivers in at least the U.S. and central Europe are warming and losing oxygen more quickly than the world’s oceans, threatening to “induce acute death” for certain species of fish and endangering overall aquatic diversity.
Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change, scientists say they found that out of nearly 800 rivers studied between 1981 and 2019, warming occurred in 87% of them, while oxygen levels dropped in 70%.
Urban rivers underwent the most rapid warming, while agricultural area rivers had the slowest warming but fastest deoxygenation.



Migratory Assist

Swedish scientists have found they can help at least one migratory bird species adjust to climate change and arrive in time to hatch their chicks when the spring food supply is greatest.
Climate change is causing the [European] pied flycatchers to now arrive too late in Sweden, when the birds’ diet of caterpillars is no longer available due to an earlier spring than just a few decades ago.
So the team captured some of the birds after they arrived in the Netherlands, flew them 375 miles north overnight and released them in their traditional Swedish breeding grounds at a time of ample food supply.
Those birds had better breeding success, and their chicks returned the following year at a time of peak food in the same Swedish forest where they were born.



Antarctic Melt

The sea ice surrounding Antarctica has shrunk by a wide margin to its lowest annual maximum on record, adding to fears that the impacts of climate change are rapidly increasing around the South Pole.
The sea ice there on Sept. 10 covered 6.55 million miles, the lowest Southern Hemisphere winter maximum since satellite records began in 1979, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center.



Ursine Starvation

Most of the [Ussuri] brown bears born in a remote part of northern Japan’s Hokkaido Island have died of starvation due to a food shortage being blamed on hotter ocean temperatures surrounding the island.
Researcher Masami Yamanaka at the Shiretoko Nature Foundation told the Asahi Shimbun daily that the lack of salmon, combined with a poor acorn harvest, are having a devastating effect on brown bear cubs.
“An estimated 70% to 80% of the cubs born this year are dead,” Yamanaka said.



Zealandia

A newly refined map of the South Pacific seabed east of Australia shows the extent of a land mass that would be Earth’s eighth continent had it had not sunk beneath the ocean 80 million years ago.
New Zealand scientists say rock samples reveal that Zealandia, or Te Riu-a-Māui, would have stretched around 2 million square miles from south of New Zealand to New Caledonia and the northern Coral Sea.
But now, 94% of it is under water, with the remaining 6% making up New Zealand and surrounding islands.


• Extreme Temperatures: -84°F Vostok, Antarctica; 114°F Dubai, UAE

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September 25, 2023 (for the week ending Sep 22)



Earthquakes

• [With a 5.1 magnitude,] the strongest in a series of shakers in northern Italy jolted the Tuscany region without inflicting damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in Northeastern Japan [magnitude 5.5], the Philippine province of Oriental Mindoro [4.7], southern New Zealand [5.6] and northern parts of California’s San Joaquin Valley [4.5].



Tropical Cyclones

• Former Hurricane Lee knocked out power as it buffeted Canada’s Maritime Provinces.
• Hurricane Nigel reached Category-2 force while moving northward in the central North Atlantic.
• Storm Kenneth spun up briefly well off Mexico’s Pacific coast.



Microplastic Poison

A new study finds the microplastic pollution that now permeates the planet can travel to the brain and cause behavioral changes.
Writing in the International Journal of Molecular Science, University of Rhode Island scientists say their study of mice exposed to various levels of microplastics in drinking water revealed that the particles accumulated deep in the tissue of several organs, including the liver, spleen and kidneys.
Researcher Jamie Ross said he and his team also noticed inflammation in the rodents’ brains after only three weeks of exposure, combined with more erratic movements and other unusual behavior.



Gal´pagos Bird Flu

The global outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza has now reached Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, where three birds were found dead from the virus. The remote archipelago is home to diverse and rare species, some of which inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Ecuador’s National Environmental Authority says it launched “biosafety protocols” to fight the spread of the virus, including banning visitors to sites where infected birds have been found.
Tour operators are now required to have their visitors disinfect their footwear and clothing when arriving at and leaving each site.
“Our biggest concern is focused on our penguins, cormorants and albatross populations,” said Galápagos National Park Director Danny Rueda.



Climate Disaster

While decades of poor dam management and protracted armed unrest in Libya were mainly responsible for the massive flood catastrophe around the eastern city of Derna on Sept. 10-11, scientists say climate change made the heavy rainfall that burst two dams there 50 times more likely.
The World Weather Attribution group says Mediterranean Storm Daniel was fueled by its slow movement for nearly five days over an unusually warm Ionian Sea.
The energy and moisture accumulated during that period produced nearly 16 inches of rainfall within 24 hours when it reached Libya.



Thai Dead Zone

A massive plankton bloom off the eastern coast of Thailand has created a vast dead zone, where untold numbers of fish and other types marine life have been killed.
Marine experts say the bloom covers about a quarter of the Gulf of Thailand, where a pungent smell of rotting fish permeates the air. Fishers and mussel farmers say they have suffered a 100% loss of their livelihoods.
Some blame the new El Niño for the bloom, while others believe recent intense heat caused by climate change, combined with pollution, are responsible.



El Niño to Linger

U.S. forecasters predict there is a 95% chance the strengthening El Niño ocean warming will remain in place across the tropical Pacific Ocean through the first quarter of 2024.
NOAA says El Niño’s strongest influence will be between December and February, with wetter and drier conditions across the southern United States. Much of Canada and the northern tier of states should experience warmer and drier conditions.
Drought-plagued Kenya should receive ample rainfall beginning this month.
Crops from South Africa to Southeast Asia, Australia and Brazil could also be affected by expected drier-than-normal conditions.


• Extreme Temperatures: -84°F South Pole, Antarctica; 115°F Yanbo, Saudi Arabia

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September 18, 2023 (for the week ending Sep 15)



Earthquakes

• Nearly 3,000 people perished in a catastrophic [magnitude 6.8] temblor that struck southern Morocco.
• Earth movements were also felt in Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island [magnitude 6.0], the northern Philippines [6.3], the Myanmar-India border region [4.9], central Chile, Mexico’s Jalisco coast [5.8] and northeastern California [5.0].



Tropical Cyclones

• Central Japan was drenched by slow-moving Tropical Storm Yun-yeung.
• Hurricane Lee was approaching Atlantic Canada
• Hurricane Margot churned the central Atlantic.
• Every tropical ocean on the planet has seen a Category-5 storm develop so far in 2023 — something never before observed in one year.



Safety Limits

An international team of experts warns that Earth is now “well outside of the safe operating space for humanity” due to human activity.
Writing in Sciences Advances, the team says the world has now crossed six out of nine “planetary boundaries,” or the safe limits for humans to survive.
They say they are especially concerned about rampant deforestation, overconsumption of plants for fuel and the poisoning of the planet by plastics, genetically modified organisms and synthetic chemicals.
While climate disasters now get the most news coverage, the team says it is more worried about the planet losing its ability to recover from human abuse.



Titicaca Drought

Years of scant rainfall along the Andean border of Bolivian and Peru are threatening indigenous communities around Lake Titicaca, which is reaching its all-time record low level.
The world’s highest navigable lake has receded so much that it is severely affecting fishers as well as subsistence farmers.
Hundreds of Aymara rural communities have relied on the crystal blue lake for millennia for their food and livelihoods.
Fish there have all but disappeared due to a significantly altered climate in recent years, combined with natural phenomena like La Niña and El Niño.
Even in times of ample rainfall, the inflow to the lake from Peruvian rivers has not been enough to replenish Titicaca.



Antarctic Rise

New research finds that Antarctica is probably warming at twice the rate as the rest of the world, and much more rapidly than predicted by climate change models.
By looking at 78 ice core samples across the continent, which reveal climate details as far back as 1,000 years, researchers determined that the current warming is much greater than could be expected by natural variations.
This could have dire consequences for coastal communities worldwide due to the potential of much higher sea level rises from a melting Antarctica than currently projected.



Wayward Pink

Hurricane Idalia’s powerful winds in late August apparently blew numerous flamingos off course, sending them to such unfamiliar venues as Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Texas.
“These birds are stressed right now,” Jerry Lorenz of Audubon Florida told CNN. “So don’t get close enough to startle them, to frighten them or anything else, but enjoy their presence.”
The colorful birds are native to Florida but mainly are seen there in zoos and other tourist attractions after being hunted to near extinction in the early 1900s.



Stinging Invaders

Europe has documented the continent’s first mature colony of fire ants — one of the costliest and most painful invasive species on Earth.
Native to South America, Solenopsis invicta had already established itself around much of the globe before it was eventually spotted in Sicily earlier this year.
Writing in the journal Current Biology, the team of Spanish and Italian researchers who found 88 red fire ant nests near the port of Syracuse say cities such as Barcelona, Rome, London and Paris could eventually be “considerably affected” by the prolific and aggressive pests.


• Extreme Temperatures: -113°F Vostok, Antarctica; 120°F Yanbo, Saudi Arabia

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September 11, 2023 (for the week ending Sep 08)



Earthquakes

• Dominica, Martinique and other islands of the eastern Caribbean were jolted by a moderate [magnitude 4.4] undersea quake.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern Portugal [magnitude 3.9], central Azerbaijan [5.0], western India’s Gujarat state [4.1] and Russia’s northern Kuril Islands [6.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• More than 40 people were injured as Typhoon Haikui roared across southern Taiwan and China’s Fujian province.
• Super Typhoon Saola left a trail of destruction and flooding after it skirted the coasts of Hong Kong and elsewhere in South China.
• Tropical Storm Kirogi formed well to the southeast of Japan.
• Hurricane Jova formed in the northeastern Pacific.
• Tropical Storms Gert, Jose, Katia and Lee spun up over the Atlantic.



Whaling Resumes

Iceland has failed to extend a ban on whaling introduced earlier this year, angering animal rights advocates, who slam new replacement regulations to reduce the suffering of the marine mammals being harpooned.
“These new measures are pointless and irrelevant,” Luke McMillan, an anti-whaling campaigner at Whale and Dolphin Conservation, told The Guardian. “There is no humane way to kill whales at sea and they will still suffer.”
Iceland has only one company still engaged in whale hunting, and its license expires at the end of 2023.
The popularity of whale-watching is increasing in Iceland as the global demand for whale meat disappears.



Antarctic Flu

Countless millions of wild birds across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas have been felled over the past three years by a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu, which now threatens to reach Antarctica. It and Australia are the only continents where avian influenza has yet to arrive.
“The negative impact of this virus on Antarctic wildlife could be immense — likely worse than that on South American wildlife,” a new report by the network of flu experts OFFFLU warns.
Peru and Chile have already reported more than a half-million seabirds and 25,000 sea lions killed by the virus.
Of particular concern are the more than 100 million birds that breed on Antarctica and its nearby islands, including large populations of emperor penguins.



Tree Stress

• The hot and dry summers of the last five years, and resulting bark beetle infestations, have taken their toll on Germany’s Black Forest. A recent government survey found that 79% of all trees nationwide are sick, dying or dead.
• A new study says global heating is also driving tropical forests toward temperatures where they can no longer convert sunlight into energy.
  Some leaves of the upper forest canopy have already surpassed that threshold, reaching temperatures above 117 degrees, where photosynthesis is no longer possible.



Sand Dredging

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) warned that the dredging of around 6 billion tons of sand from the world’s oceans each year is “sterilizing” the seabed and taking a devastating toll on the marine environment.
The sand is a key component of the construction industry and is also used for manufacturing items such as solar panels, glass and ceramics.
It is extracted by vessels that act like giant vacuums, which the UNEP says leads to the disappearance of oceanic microorganisms and threatens biodiversity.



Fallen Records

Australia has just experienced its hottest Southern Hemisphere winter on record, with experts warning that parts of the country could suffer a hot and dry spring coupled with an increased bushfire risk.
Brazil and Argentina also experienced record high winter temperatures.
Worldwide, the planet experienced the hottest three months on record from June through August.


• Extreme Temperatures: -112°F Vostok, Antarctica; 117°F In Salah, Algeria

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September 04, 2023 (for the week ending Sep 01)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 7.1] temblor beneath Indonesia’s Bali Sea jolted Java and Bali, causing panic but no damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in the far southern Philippines [magnitude 5.0], South Asia’s Hindu Kush region [4.8], the island of Rhodes [4.4], the France-Spain border area [4.1], Panama [5.4] and northeastern Ohio [3.6].



Tropical Cyclones

• From western Cuba and the Florida Gulf Coast to the Carolinas, Hurricane Idalia caused massive and record storm-surge flooding, along with other destruction.
• Super Typhoon Saola drenched parts of the northern Philippines and southern Taiwan before taking aim on Hong Kong.
• Shanghai was also on alert forTyphoon Haikui as short-lived Typhoon Damrey skirted northeastern Japan.
• Tropical Storm Irwin formed in the eastern Pacific, and Hurricane Franklin churned the western Atlantic.



Eruptions

Costa Rica’s Rincón de la Vieja volcano erupted three times in a single day in the northwest of the country.
The blasts sent plumes of vapor soaring 10,000 feet above the Guanacaste Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The volcano began showing signs of unrest in mid-August.



Climate Die-Off

Untold numbers of fish in the rivers and creeks of western Canada have been killed during the past two years by unprecedented heat and prolonged drought plaguing British Columbia.
Recent victims include hundreds of young salmon and trout that died this summer in Vancouver Island’s Cowichan River, a renowned fly-fishing destination.
Local scientists say the massive die-off of the cold-water fish is due to climate change, but officials found partially treated wastewater in the river after the dead fish were initially discovered.
Others blame the altered local climate on decades of logging of giant old-growth trees, which once kept the river and valley cool.



Ecocide

The environmental crime of ecocide is increasingly being codified into law around the world, with communities or regions being able to sue for reparations due to damage to their land and water.
The official definition of ecocide was developed by an international panel of legal experts in 2021, describing wanton acts that bring long-term damage.
The term was coined in 1972 by Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme after the U.S. destroyed 5 million acres of Vietnamese forest with Agent Orange.
Fifty years later, Russia has been accused of ecocide following the destruction of southern Ukraine’s Nova Kakhovka dam.
European nations, Mexico and others are now also considering laws against such environmental destruction.



Rare Bird

Only the second black gentoo penguin ever seen in Antarctica was spotted by researchers in Esperanza Base, north of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Writing in the journal Polar Biology, the scientists say the unusual coloration is due to melanism, a genetic condition that causes an excess of melanin pigment.
Despite the cookies-and-cream appearance of its plumage, the gentoo appeared in good health and accepted by its colony mates.
The only other penguin of the species with the condition was spotted in 1997.



Exceptional Vintage

The scorching heat that baked a wide swath of Europe this summer could bring extraordinary character to this year’s wine crop in France’s Rhône Valley.
The mercury there peaked at near 108 degrees Fahrenheit in late August, threatening to cause a 10% to 20% drop in grape production.
But harvesting at night when the temperature is just right could help the grapes that do survive bring much pleasure in the years to come at dinner tables around the world.
Winemaker Jérôme Volle told Reuters that the method “can preserve the grapes’ aroma and create something really special.”


• Extreme Temperatures: -106°F Vostok, Antarctica; 121°F Al Hofuf, Saudi Arabia

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August 28, 2023 (for the week ending Aug 25)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 6.3] temblor in central Colombia on Aug. 17 killed one person and damaged the country’s congress chamber in Bogotá.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern Ecuador [magnitude 5.5], Southern California [5.1]and southern Azerbaijan [4.8].



Tropical Cyclones

• Hurricane Hilary swamped a long stretch of Baja California before bringing record rainfall to parts of Southern California.
• Hispaniola received locally heavy rainfall from Tropical Storm Franklin.
• Tropical Storm Harold brought inches of rainfall to southern Texas after making landfall near Corpus Christi.
• Storms Emily and Gert spun up over the central North Atlantic Ocean.



Recreation Impacts

As residents around the Northern Hemisphere try to escape the record late-summer heat by dipping into local streams and rivers, a new report by the American Chemical Society warns that such activities alter the chemical and microbial makeup of those waterways.
By comparing samples from an undisturbed location of Clear Creek, west of Denver, with an area used by up to 500 people per hour over the busy 2022 Labor Day weekend, researchers found those activities adulterated the stream considerably.
“We found a lot of human metabolites, a lot of pharmaceuticals, some illicit drugs and some sunscreens — really a whole slew of compounds that humans are associated with,” said researcher Noor Hamdan.



Tidal Protection

New research finds that tidal flats, which protect costal areas from the ocean’s pounding waves, hurricanes and tsunamis, have suffered significant losses worldwide since 1984.
The study by Florida Atlantic University finds that climate change, along with rapid human development around urban areas, especially in the United States, have resulted in “irreversible damage to tidal flats.”
Some of the worst-affected metropolitan areas were from Boston to the Carolinas and Tampa Bay, as well as the Gulf Coast of Texas and San Jose, California.
The report suggests urban planners need to regulate development to protect the tidal flats, which in turn will protect their communities.



Fly Fun

European scientists say that fruit flies that live near a spinning carousel appear to like to ride on it just for fun in a rare instance of play-like behavior among insects.
Tilman Triphan and Wolf Hütteroth at Germany’s University of Leipzig built small arenas with access to spinning and non-spinning carousels, along with food.
Flies that had access to a spinning carousel spent upward of five minutes on it at a time — significantly longer than those for whom the carousel didn’t move.
The team found that some flies seemed to “play” on the spinning carousels much more than others.



Highest Freeze

As Europe baked with some of the hottest day and night temperatures on record, the freezing level above the Swiss Alps rose to the highest altitude ever measured.
A Swiss weather balloon launched from Payerne had to climb to an unprecedented 17,400 feet before it reached 32 degrees.
MeteoSwiss said on social media that the reading constituted “a record since monitoring began in 1954” and surpassed the previous record height of 17,008 feet set in July 2022.



South Seas Tides

Sea levels around islands of the southwestern Pacific are rising faster than the global average, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The agency warned this means low-lying islands in countries such as Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands could in time become frequently flooded, destroying farmlands and residential areas.
The WMO added that marine heat waves occurred in a large area northeast of Australia for more than six months in 2022, affecting marine life and the livelihoods of local communities.


• Extreme Temperatures: -104°F Vostok, Antarctica; 118°F Al Hofuf, Saudi Arabia

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August 21, 2023 (for the week ending Aug 18)



Earthquakes

• Late reports say at least 23 people were injured on Aug. 10 as a sharp [magnitude 5.2] quake in south-central Turkey caused further damage to the quake-weary region.
• Earth movements were also felt in the northeast India-Myanmar border region [magnitude 5.3], the far northern Philippines [5.4], central New Zealand [5.6], Hawaii [4.4] and Trinidad [4.8].



Tropical Cyclones

• High winds and floods from Typhoon Lan's passage over Japan’s Honshu Island left 49 injured as the storm washed out bridges and roadways.
• Hurricane Fernanda and Tropical Storm Greg churned the eastern Pacific.
• Hurricane Hilary took aim on Southern California late in the week.



Etna Eruption

The latest in a series of fiery eruptions of Sicily’s Mount Etna forced the nearby Catania–Fontanarossa Airport to halt operations again due to hazardous ash posing a threat to aircraft engines operating in the area.
That ash blanketed much of the city of Catania, where the mayor banned motorcycles from the streets and ordered other motorists to drive below 20 mph until crews cleaned the roadways.
Etna is Europe’s highest volcano and has produced frequent eruptions in recent years.



Cyclonic Germs

A new study warns that nasty waterborne pathogens can thrive in the aftermath of hurricanes and other tropical cyclones and have been linked to several outbreaks of infectious diseases.
A team from Columbia University says that heavy rains during these cyclones can disturb the soil along the paths of such storms, allowing hazardous microbes to become airborne.
Those recovering from the cyclones can also get infections when cut or scraped by contaminated debris.
The researchers say they found a clear link between the cyclones and pathogens that cause Legionnaires’ disease and cryptosporidiosis, as well as E. coli.



Ozone Hole

The seasonal hole in stratospheric ozone over Antarctica opened up weeks earlier than usual, with experts warning it could grow to a record size due to the lingering atmospheric effects of the cataclysmic Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption a year and a half ago.
Thanks to the worldwide phasing out of chemicals that destroy the ozone layer under the Montreal Protocol, the ozone had been recovering slowly in recent years until massive amounts of water vapor shot high into the stratosphere during the 2022 Tonga blast.
The ozone layer shields Earth’s surface from hazardous ultraviolet radiation, known to cause skin cancers and other ill effects.



Feline Vaccine

Officials in Cyprus are treating feral and domestic cats with anti-COVID pills in an attempt to stop the spread of a virulent mutated strain of a feline coronavirus that has killed countless thousands of cats across the entire island so far this year.
Feline infectious peritonitis is almost always fatal if left untreated. While the disease is not related to COVID-19, the drug molnupiravir in the anti-COVID pills has proved effective for cats against the viral mutation.



Coral Bleaching

Coral deaths brought on by record ocean warmth from Florida to Central America is causing concerns that the coral bleaching could become a global threat.
NOAA says that significant bleaching is occurring off the coasts of Panama, Colombia, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Mexico, along with reefs in six Caribbean countries and the Florida Keys.
“I don’t think any of these places have seen heat stress like this before,” NOAA Coral Reef Watch coordinator Derek Manzello told The Guardian.
Episodes of extremely warm water have become so frequent that scientists say it may be hard for reefs to recover between them.


• Extreme Temperatures: -107°F Vostok, Antarctica; 122°F Agadir Al-Massira, Morocco

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August 14, 2023 (for the week ending Aug 11)



Earthquakes

• A sharp [magnitude 5.4] temblor in China’s Shandong province injured 21 people and wrecked 126 houses.
• Earth movements were also felt in the far southern Philippines [magnitude 5.3], southwestern Australia [5.6], a wide area of South Asia [5.8], central Tanzania [5.5] and southern Mexico [5.8].



Tropical Cyclones

• Typhoon Khanun lashed Okinawa for more than a week before drenching southern Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
• High winds from passing Hurricane Dora whipped up deadly firestorms in Hawaii.
• Tropical Storm Eugene churned the eastern Pacific.
• Typhoon Lan took aim on Tokyo late in the week.



Volcanic Warming

The cataclysmic blast of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano on Jan. 15, 2022, appears to have been responsible for some of the warming Earth has experienced over the past year and a half.
Analysis of the eruption shows that the submarine volcano spewed water vapor into the highest levels of the stratosphere, temporarily acting as a greenhouse gas and warming the Pacific region.



Hottest Ever

July was the hottest month on record by far, with 4 out of 5 humans on the planet feeling the global heating, according to European climate scientists.
Even Argentina and Chile experienced their hottest winter days on record.
The global average temperature of 62.51 degrees Fahrenheit was more than half a degree higher than the previous record, set in 2019.
“These records have dire consequences for both people and the planet exposed to ever more frequent and intense extreme events,” said Copernicus deputy director Samantha Burgess.
The combined heat and humidity has killed thousands of people worldwide as well as hundreds of livestock in Iowa alone.



Deforestation Falls

Brazil’s Environment ministry announced that deforestation across the Brazilian Amazon plunged by more than 66% in July from the previous year, with many crediting the actions of new President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to protect the world’s largest rainforest.
The felling of the rainforest surged during the administration of former president and agribusiness ally Jair Bolsonaro, who left office in January.
Most of the illegal felling in recent decades has been to clear land for farming.
But environmental advocates warn that while deforestation may be falling in the Amazon, land clearing increased by 26% year-on-year in the country’s fragile and biologically diverse Cerrado savanna to the south.



Fly Plastic

Researchers say they are working to creating plastic from the carcasses of dead flies, which would biodegrade naturally after use.
Speaking at the fall meeting of the American Chemical Society, a team from Texas A&M University say flies are already being raised as animal feed, but many are unused and discarded.
Researcher Cassidy Tibbetts says these flies are the sources of the team’s research because they are made up of chitin, a non-toxic, biodegradable, sugar-based polymer that strengthens the insects’ exoskeletons.



Mining Disruptions

Scientists are sounding the alarm of how ocean animals flee areas around deep-sea mining for at least a year.
Countries and companies are rushing to exploit the seabed for minerals and metals such as nickel, manganese and cobalt — key components in products such as electric car batteries.
Commercial exploitation of the sea floor has yet to begin, but Japan conducted a small test in 2020 at a seamount about 3,000 feet below the surface of the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
Japanese researchers found that plumes of sediment from the mining drove off more than half of fish and shrimp around the site, possibly because the test contaminated their food sources.


• Extreme Temperatures: -116°F Vostok, Antarctica; 121°F In Salah, Algeria

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August 07, 2023 (for the week ending Aug 04)



Earthquakes

• [With a 5.6 magnitude,] the Red Sea nation of Eritrea was jolted by a rare and unusually powerful earthquake.
• Earth movements were also felt in southwestern Turkey [4.8], Indonesia’s North Maluku province [5.0], central New Zealand [4.6] and California’s Silicon Valley [3.6].



Tropical Cyclones

• Former Super Typhoon Doksuri dumped the heaviest rains in eastern China since records began 140 years ago, killing 11 people around Beijing.
• One man was killed on Okinawa as Super Typhoon Khanun skirted the southern Japanese island.
• An unnamed tropical storm drenched southern Bangladesh.
• Hurricane Dora spun up over the open waters of the eastern Pacific.



Lava Twister

Visitors to Iceland’s newly formed volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula were treated to more than just ribbons of lava when a dust devil suddenly emerged on the fiery landscape.
Meteorologists say that the mini tornado formed due to intense heat rising from the molten rock or above superheated vapor vents.
The conditions appeared to have been just right for the rising column of air to begin rotating into a funnel.
Similar phenomena are “fire tornadoes,” which have been seen in wildfires.
NB: The new volcano is called Litli-Hrútur and emerged from a fissure that cracked to ground on July 10. This volcano is located between two larger volcanoes, Fagradalsfjall and Keilir .



Global Boiling

The head of the United Nations responded to the Northern Hemisphere’s blistering heat this summer, saying, “Humanity is in the hot seat today,” and that immediate action is needed to curb greenhouse gas emissions. “The era of global warming has ended, and the era of global boiling has arrived,” said Secretary-General António Guterres.
The hottest summer on record and resulting severe weather around the globe have surprised climate scientists, having occurred more suddenly and with greater intensity than predicted.
Around half of the world’s oceans have already undergone about two decades’ worth of predicted warming so far this year, according Gregory Johnson of NOAA.



Warming Anxiety

This summer’s heat is prompting health experts to warn that such hot episodes can affect not only a person’s physical health, but their mental health as well.
“All mental illnesses increase with heat because it results in more fatigue, irritability and anxiety, and it can exacerbate depressive episodes,” said Dr. Asim Shah of Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine.
He warns that exposure to the more frequent and more intense hot days can lead to anger, irritability, aggression and stress as the heat acts on serotonin, the neurotransmitter that regulates mood. This leads to lower levels of happiness and increased levels of stress and fatigue.
The most vulnerable are those with preexisting issues and those who use substances, especially alcohol.



Southern Melt

The extent of sea ice surrounding Antarctica has hit historic lows this Southern Hemisphere winter, alarming scientists, who warn it could signal a major climate tipping point.
Data from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center show that as of mid-July, the austral sea ice coverage was about 1 million square miles below the 1981 to 2010 average — an area nearly the size of Argentina.
Such a lack of ice coverage means the waters around the still-frozen continent will absorb more heat from the sun, possibly leading to long-term disruptions of the sea ice cycles.



Green Hydrogen

Reservoirs of underground hydrogen could usher in a low-cost hydrogen economy and help slash greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new report.
Writing in the open access journal Joule, scientists say this geologic hydrogen would be far cheaper than the more expensive methods of splitting oxygen and hydrogen from water through electrolysis, or extracting it from natural gas. However, they question just how much of it is commercially available.
A growing number of companies say they are exploring the possibility of such “zero carbon” energy sources.


• Extreme Temperatures: -107°F Vostok, Antarctica; 126°F Medina, Saudi Arabia

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July 31, 2023 (for the week ending Jul 28)



Earthquakes

• The same region of south-central Turkey and north-western Syria devastated by powerful quakes on Feb. 6 was jolted by a magnitude 5.5 quake.
• Earth movements were also felt in Portugal’s Madeira Island [magnitude 4.2], northeastern Japan [4.8], northern Vanuatu [6.4], Trinidad [3.6] and West Texas [3.5].



Tropical Cyclones

• At least eight people were killed in the northern Philippines as Category-3 Typhoon Doksuri battered the region for two consecutive days.
  Thousands of others were displaced after high winds blew roofs off houses and the storm’s torrential rainfall flooded low-lying villages.
  Doksuri was skirting southern Taiwan and taking aim on China’s Fujian coast late in the week.



Andean Eruption

Peru's Ubinas Volcano produced four strong blasts in a single day, spewing plumes of ash and hot vapor over the region.
Debris from recent eruptions damaged crops and contaminated water supplies.



Current Collapse

A new controversial study warns that the vital conveyor belt of ocean currents in the Atlantic, which controls climate, could collapse by mid-century — or possibly at any time after the next two years — because of human-caused global heating.
Writing in the journal Nature Communications, scientists say the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is becomingly increasingly unstable and will soon reach a critical tipping point.
The AMOC keeps northern Europe several degrees warmer than it would otherwise be and brings colder water to the coast of North America. It also influences other important aspects of the climate.



Heat Victims

Arizona’s iconic saguaro cactuses are losing arms, leaning and otherwise showing signs of extreme stress from the unprecedented heat baking the southwestern United States and the unusual lack of summer monsoon rainfall.
Experts in the region say the desert giants are approaching their limits to survive the protracted drought and unrelenting heat for days and nights on end.
“These plants are adapted to this heat, but at some point the heat needs to cool down and the water needs to come,” said succulent specialist Tania Hernandez of Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden.
She added that plants now suffering from the heat and lack of rain may take months or years to die.



'Impossible' Heat

Climate scientists say the record heat on land and in the water around the Northern Hemisphere this summer would be “virtually impossible” if climate change were not occurring.
The heat waves stretching from North America to Europe are estimated to be at least 1,000 times more likely due to the effects of greenhouse gas emissions, and around 50 times more likely in China, according to Friederike Otto and colleagues at Imperial College London.
They warn that the developing El Niño ocean warming in the Pacific Ocean has yet to play a significant role in this summer’s heat.



Seahorse 'Hotels'

Australian marine life experts are attempting to repopulate Sydney Harbor with endangered White’s seahorses by placing those raised in captivity into “seahorse hotels,” where they can grow and reproduce.
The Sydney Institute of Marine Science says the fish will be protected by nets and metal structures covered in algae and sponges to help them survive.
“Hopefully we see them out there for years to come, reproducing and adding to populations,” said marine biologist Mitchell Brennan.
White’s seahorses have declined due to loss of sea grasses, soft coral and algae along Australia’s eastern coast, landing them on the endangered species list in 2020.


• Extreme Temperatures: -101°F Vostok, Antarctica; 125°F Death Valley, CA

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July 24, 2023 (for the week ending Jul 21)



Earthquakes

• A tsunami advisory was briefly issued after a sharp [magnitude 7.2] temblor struck off the Alaska Peninsula.
• Earth movements were also felt in far southern Mexico [magnitude 6.3], in Central America from Nicaragua to Guatemala [6.5] and along the central Argentina-Chile border [6.6].



Tropical Cyclones

• Typhoon Talim uprooted trees as it roared ashore in southern China’s Guangdong province.
• Remnants of former Hurricane Calvin skirted the southern Hawaiian islands with gales and heavy rain.
• Tropical Storm Don spun up in the middle of the North Atlantic.



Alaska Eruption

Alaska's Shishaldin Volcano spewed ash high above the Aleutian Islands, about 680 miles southwest of Anchorage.
Lava was seen streaming down the volcano’s cylindrical [sic] slopes.
The U.S. National Weather Service issued an in-flight weather advisory due to the danger the ash posed to jet aircraft flying above the North Pacific.
The roughly 40 nearby residents of False Pass on Unimak Island were not considered to be threatened by the eruption.



Coral Stress

Marine scientists say the record ocean heat in the Florida Keys this summer is the latest environmental challenge threatening the region’s famed coral reefs.
The waters have been far hotter than the 73-83 degrees Fahrenheit more common during July, which could cause native coral to bleach.
Researchers have been cultivating in nurseries more hearty coral that can withstand the heat and other stresses, and then planting them around the Keys.
“They have withstood, over a five-year period, two coral bleaching events, a Category-4 hurricane that went right over the top of it and stony coral tissue loss disease,” researcher Allyson DeMerlis of the University of Miami told Reuters.



'Existential Threat'

The U.N. weather agency warns that the deadly heat baking many parts of the Northern Hemisphere this summer is the new normal.
“The extreme weather is having a major impact on human health, ecosystems, economies, agriculture, energy and water supplies,” said World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
The World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe, Hans Henri P. Kluge, amplified the warnings, saying, “There is a desperate and urgent need … to effectively tackle the climate crisis, which poses an existential threat to the human race.”
Meanwhile, global crude oil consumption, and the resulting climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions it will generate, are expected to reach record highs this year.



Insect Pollution

New research finds that air pollution may play a major role in the dramatic drop in global insect numbers seen this century.
Scientists from Australia, China and California report that an insect’s ability to find food and mate is reduced when their antennae are contaminated by tiny particles from various pollution sources.
Writing in the journal Nature Communications, they say scanning electron microscope images has revealed that as air pollution increases, more of those tiny particles collect on the sensitive antennae of insects, reducing their capacity to detect odors.



Color Shift

Scientists say a “significant” change in the ocean’s color over the past 20 years is likely due to climate change and cannot be explained by natural, year-to-year variations.
A team from MIT, the U.K.’s National Oceanography Center and other institutions says that while the color shifts may be subtle to the human eye, they have occurred over 56% of the world’s ocean areas.
The researchers found that most regions have become steadily greener over the period, but they cannot explain exactly how the shift is occurring.
Likely causes are the changes the warming planet is bringing to marine ecosystems, especially in plankton populations.


• Extreme Temperatures: -101°F Vostok, Antarctica; 128°F Death Valley, CA

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July 17, 2023 (for the week ending Jul 14)



Earthquakes

• A strong [magnitude 6.6] undersea temblor jolted the northeastern Caribbean from the Dominican Republic to Antigua and Barbuda.
• Earth movements were also felt in Trinidad [magnitude 4.9], the Argentina-Chile border region [5.6], Taiwan [4.8], the northwestern Philippines [5.2] and India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory [4.7].



Tropical Cyclones

• Hurricane Calvin spun up over the open waters of the eastern Pacific, well off the southwestern Mexico coast.



Eruptions

• Tourists and locals were warned to remain far from an Icelandic volcano that began erupting 25 miles from the capital after an intense swarm of tremors rocked the country.
  Fagradalsfjall volcano also erupted in 2021 and 2022 without causing damage in the unpopulated area of the island nation.
• Nicaragua’s San Cristóbal volcano produced a blast that coated nearby communities in ash and produced a strong sulfur smell.
  Farmers say the ash and toxic vapors have damaged some of their crops and poisoned their water supplies.



The Anthropocene

Scientists have found the approximate date when humankind’s impact on the planet ushered in a new geological epoch — the Anthropocene.
Studying sediment in a sinkhole lake near Toronto, they determined that plutonium pollution from hydrogen bomb tests beginning in the 1950s was one of the fundamental transformations to Earth brought on by human activities.
It was followed by increasing particles in the sediment from the accelerated burning of fossil fuels.
“Crawford Lake is so special because it allows us to see at annual resolution the changes in Earth history,” said Francine McCarthy at Canada’s Brock University.



'Shockingly' Hot

The sweltering heat that is creating misery for many across Florida is accompanied this summer by record-breaking ocean warmth surrounding the Sunshine State.
Water temperatures of 92 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit have recently occurred in parts of the Florida Keys.
“That’s boiling for them! More typically it would be in the upper 80s,” said Jeff Berardelli, chief meteorologist and climate specialist at WFLA-TV in Tampa.
The hot coastal waters are keeping beach communities from cooling off at night.
Cities such as Miami, Tampa and Fort Myers have sweltered with a heat index of 105 degrees or higher for days on end this month.



Feral Crackdown

Western Australia’s government has launched a new program to cull the countless feral cats that have a “devastating impact” on native wildlife. The felines kill an estimated 3 million mammals, 1.7 million reptiles and a million birds daily.
One tool is a device that uses lasers and cameras to identify passing cats and spray them with a toxic gel that they ingest and die after grooming. “We‘re not talking about grandma’s kitty. We’re talking about large predators that are finely tuned to be killing machines,” said Environment Minister Reece Whitby.



Even Hotter

Earth’s global average high-temperature record was broken for a third day during the previous week in a trend the U.N. secretary-general says is proof that “climate change is out of control.”
The statement comes as deadly heat and catastrophic flooding have plagued multiple regions of the world during the past month.
The World Meteorological Organization said its preliminary analysis of temperatures on July 7 indicates the world hit a record high that day of 63.03 degrees Fahrenheit.
It’s the latest sign the climate emergency is already so acute that it is beyond humanity’s ability to cope in some cases.
The unprecedented heat is being driven by record greenhouse gas emissions and the naturally occurring El Niño ocean warming in the Pacific.


• Extreme Temperatures: -100°F Vostok, Antarctica; 120°F Biskra, Algeria

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July 10, 2023 (for the week ending Jul 07)



Earthquakes

• One person was killed and dozens of homes were damaged by a magnitude 6.8 quake that struck Indonesia’s main island of Java.
• Earth movements were also felt in southeastern Australia [magnitude 4.6], Azerbaijan [5.4], southwestern Iceland [4.8] and south-central Alaska [4.6].



Tropical Cyclones

• Minimal Hurricane Beatriz dissipated after skirting the Mexican coast near the port of Manzanillo.



Eruptions

• Peru declared a state of emergency after Ubinas volcano spewed a massive amount of ash, threatening to cause respiratory problems and sicken llamas that might eat grass dusted with the toxic emissions.
  Since 1550, there have been 25 recorded eruptions of the country’s most active volcano.
• Lava began flowing from Piton de la Fournaise volcano in an uninhabited area of the Indian Ocean island of Réunion.
  It was the first eruption of the restive volcano so far this year.



Hottest Day

July 4 was globally the hottest day ever recorded in modern times, which broke the previous record set just one day earlier.
Scientists say the unprecedented heat was due to a combination of record greenhouse gas emissions and the new El Niño ocean warming in the Pacific.
The U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction announced that the world’s average temperature on July 4 reached 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the previous day’s record of 62.6 degrees.
Both were higher than the previous record of 62.46 that had stood since August 2016, during what is still considered the hottest year on record so far.



El Niño returns

The U.N. weather agency announced that the El Niño ocean warming across the tropical Pacific has returned and predicts a 90% chance it will linger for at least the remainder of this year.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) urged preparations for the resulting extreme weather events that could take lives and destroy property.
The past eight years were the warmest ever recorded, even with a protracted La Niña ocean cooling stretching over nearly half of that period.
Without that weather phenomenon, the WMO said the global heating could have been even more intense.



'Waves of Pigs'

Farmers in parts of Australia’s New South Wales and Queensland states say wild pigs are running amok across the landscape, attacking their livestock, trampling their crops and posing a health risk to both man and beast. It’s believed years of heavy rain have caused the feral swine population to surge.
“There are waves of pigs absolutely everywhere,” farmer Tom Dunlop told the Sydney Morning Herald.
The government’s Local Land Services says it has killed 63,000 pigs this fiscal year by shooting them from helicopters, while farmers say they are sometimes killing 300 or more an hour on self-funded helicopter runs.



Solar Cycle

The sun is approaching the peak of its 11-year cycle of activity and recently produced a massive solar storm that briefly disrupted high-frequency radio communication in parts of the U.S. and eastern Pacific region.
A blast of charged particles and ultraviolet light on July 2 reached Earth’s ionosphere eight minutes after a sunspot, about eight times the size of Earth, created an intense geomagnetic storm.
While the current Solar Cycle 25 was predicted not to be particularly strong, it has proven to be one of the most intense of the past 120 years due to a recent surge in the number of sunspots.
Solar storms can knock out power grids and fry components on orbiting satellites. They have also been known to cause technical glitches in computers and other electronic devices when their radiation reaches the Earth’s surface.


• Extreme Temperatures: -110°F Vostok, Antarctica; 126°F Death Valley, CA

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July 03, 2023 (for the week ending Jun 30)



Earthquakes

• Croatia’s Dalmatian coastline was jolted for several seconds by a magnitude 3.8 quake that failed to cause damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in northern Italy [magnitude 3.7] and Japan’s Hokkaido Island [4.6].



Tropical Cyclones

• Tropical Storm Bret lashed the eastern Caribbean islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines with storm-force winds and torrential rains. Bret later dissipated over the far southern Caribbean Sea.
• Tropical Storm Cindy formed briefly over the western Atlantic.
• Hurricane Adrian became the first named storm of the new eastern Pacific hurricane season.



Philippine Rumble

• Ongoing unrest from Mayon Volcano in the central Philippines continued to cause concern among officials and those living around the flanks of the conical mountain.
  The volcano produced 24 strong tremors and 257 rockfall events within a 24-hour period, which geologists say could be followed by an explosive eruption at virtually any time.
  Nearly 13,000 residents were evacuated from around Mayon in mid-June, when the volcano began spewing lava and toxic sulfuric gas.



El Niño Pathogens

The strengthening El Niño ocean warming in the tropical Pacific threatens a resurgence of tropical disease, according to the World Health Organization.
The agency’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warns that the weather phenomenon “could increase transmission of dengue and other so-called arboviruses, such as Zika and chikungunya.”
That’s because they are carried by mosquitoes, which thrive in the warmer weather El Niño is predicted to bring to parts of the world.
Increases in mosquito-borne disease are already occurring from South America to Southeast Asia.
Peru has just seen its worst dengue outbreak on record, putting the country’s health care system under increased stress.



Deforestation

Despite a 2021 agreement by 100 world leaders meeting in Glasgow to “halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030,” deforestation continues at a high level with no sign of falling.
Global Forest Watch says that deforestation dropped from a brief peak of 38,600 square miles in 2015 to around 25,000 square miles each year since 2018.
Saving old growth tropical forests is seen as crucial for combating global heating and preserving biodiversity. Scientists say forest loss can’t be offset by planting trees elsewhere.
“Our analysis shows that global deforestation in 2022 was over 1 million hectares (3,860 square miles) above the level needed to be on track to zero deforestation by 2030,” said Rod Taylor from the World Resources Institute.



Antarctic Freeze

Glaciologists say satellite and ground observations show that Antarctic ice shelves have experienced only minor changes in surface melting since 1980, in contrast to the effects of global heating elsewhere on the planet.
The exception was on the Antarctic Peninsula, where high surface melting occurred in recent years, especially during the southern summer of 2019-2020.
Experts believe Antarctic melt rates will “increase substantially” in the decades to come due to rising global air temperatures.



Flamingo Drought

The protracted drought that has sapped water resources across the Iberian Peninsula during the last few years has also dried up a key flamingo breeding ground in Spain’s Málaga province.
The Fuente de Piedra Lagoon Nature Reserve now hosts only a few dozen adult birds, where up to 20,000 were once counted on some days before the drought started.
Previously, more than 200,000 flamingo chicks have hatched there as well, according to Andalusia’s Agriculture office.


• Extreme Temperatures: -100°F Vostok, Antarctica; 120°F Bahawalnagar, Pakistan

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June 26, 2023 (for the week ending Jun 23)



Earthquakes

• One of the strongest quakes to strike France in modern times, [a magnitude 4.8 quake,] damaged dozens of homes and other buildings in the west of the country.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern Myanmar [magnitude 5.6], the southeastern Philippines [5.2], central Borneo [5.4] and northwestern Mexico [6.4].



Tropical Cyclones

• At least 17 people perished when Cyclone Biparjoy tore roofs off houses, uprooted trees and brought flash floods to the western India-southern Pakistan border region.
• Tropical Storm Bret was bearing down on the Lesser Antilles late in the week.



Volcanic Eruptions

• Hawaii's Kilauea volcano. ended a nearly two-week eruption that produced bright bursts of lava on its crater floor.
• Mexico's restive Popocatépetl volcano produced further explosions, with 45 reported to the southeast of Mexico City within a 24-hour period.



Axis Shift

Humans pumped enough water out of the ground between 1993 and 2010 that its redistribution on the surface caused Earth’s poles to shift by about 3 feet.
Scientists say that is equivalent to the polar shift brought on by the melting of Greenland’s ice cap during the same period.
Clark Wilson and colleagues of the University of Texas at Austin say other factors also cause the planet to wobble like a top by several yards each year, due to the natural redistribution of water from season to season.
“There are a number of things contributing to polar drift, and they all add up,” said Wilson. He points to rising sea levels due to climate change as another factor.



Heating Record

Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service says the first 11 days of June saw the planet warm for the first time to above the 1.5 degree Celsius goal scientists say should not be exceeded permanently to avoid the worst effects of global heating.
It was the warmest period ever recorded since the beginning of the Industrial Age by a “substantial margin,” the agency said.
It added that Europe itself was about 2.3 degrees hotter last year than in preindustrial times, meaning the continent has been warming at twice the global average since the 1980s.
The European heat has been accompanied by a four-year drought in some areas, preventing farmers from irrigating their fields in parts of France and leaving Spain’s water reserves at less than half of capacity nationwide.



War Fallout

Russia’s war on Ukraine is deepening the world’s climate crisis at a time when greenhouse gas emissions are higher than ever before.
A research group led by Dutch emissions expert Lennard de Klerk says that it is not only the actual conflict fueling higher emissions, but also gas leaks such as the sabotaged Nord Stream pipeline, the rerouting of international flights and the migration of refugees.
“We didn’t expect the emissions of war would be so significant, and it’s not only the warfare itself that contributes to the emissions, but it’s also the future reconstruction,” said de Klerk.



Whaling's End?

Iceland’s government announced it is suspending this year’s whale hunt in the North Atlantic until at least the end of August because it may violate the main goals of the country’s Animal Welfare Act.
The move follows an outcry over video clips that document a whale’s agony after it was hunted and harpooned for five hours.
The license of Iceland’s lone remaining whaling company, Hvalur, expires this year, which could mean the hunt that goes back for centuries could be finally coming to an end.
Demand for whale meat has plummeted in recent years, while whale-watching tours have thrived.


• Extreme Temperatures: -83°F South Pole, Antarctica; 120°F Nok Kundi, Pakistan

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June 19, 2023 (for the week ending Jun 16)



Earthquakes

• Northern India and Pakistan were rocked by a sharp [magnitude 5.0] temblor centered in India-controlled Kashmir.
• Earth movements were also felt in eastern India’s Assam state [3.7], the northwestern Philippines [6.2], New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay [4.7], Japan’s Hokkaido Island [6.2] and around Johannesburg, South Africa [5.0].



Tropical Cyclones

• Tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from coastal areas of far western India and southern Pakistan as powerful Cyclone Biparjoy approached from the Arabian Sea.
• Typhoon Guchol lost force over the Pacific just to the southeast of Japan.



Eruptions

• About 13,000 residents were evacuated from around the Philippines’ Mayon volcano. Officials raised the alert level as the restive mountain in the northeast of the country oozed lava.
  An eruption of Mayon in 1814 killed 1,200 people and buried an entire town.
• Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatoa) erupted with a plume of ash that soared high above the Sunda Strait.
  It was the longest eruption since part of the Indonesian volcano collapsed in 2018, causing a deadly tsunami.
  Since the collapse, Anak Krakatau has been only about a quarter of its former size.



Cricket Invasion

Residents and businesses in northeastern Nevada are battling an invasion of Mormon crickets that is blanketing the landscape.
The infestation is sliming roadways and hampering transportation.
“Just to get patients into the hospital we had people out there with leaf blowers, with brooms, at one point we even had a tractor with a snowplow on it just to push the piles of crickets and move them on their way,” Steve Burrows of the Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital told Salt Lake City’s KSL-TV.
Mormon crickets are not true crickets but are instead short-winged katydids that resemble fat grasshoppers that cannot fly.



Atlantic Record

Surface temperatures of the North Atlantic Ocean have been at a record high level for more than three months, with scientists uncertain of what is behind the unprecedented warmth.
Some believe climate change is a major contributor, but others point to a recent lack of the Sahara Desert dust clouds that typically filter the sun’s warmth over the Atlantic.
“The lack of dust is unlikely to have anything to do with climate change,” said climatologist Michael E. Mann of the University of Pennsylvania. “Instead it underscores the interplay between human-caused warming and natural variability.”
The unusual Atlantic warmth is only the latest example of hotter-than-normal surface temperatures across the world’s oceans that have recently been recorded.



Plastic Breath

New research shows that we may be breathing in 16 bits of microplastic pollution every hour, equivalent to the plastic in a credit card being inhaled within a week.
Medical experts warn that such tiny particles pose a significant health risk to humans and wildlife as they contain chemicals and toxic pollutants.
“For the first time, in 2022, studies found microplastics deep in human airways, which raises the concern of serious respiratory health hazards,” said lead researcher Mohammad S. Islam of the University of New South Wales.
Microplastics seem to collect mostly in the nasal cavity and back of the throat, doctors say.



Hemispheric Smoke

The record pall of smoke from wildfires raging across Canada blew over the entire width of the Atlantic Ocean, eventually reaching Iceland and Norway.
While it was so diluted by the time it reached Europe that there were no health hazards, scientists say they are concerned about the smoke’s impact on the Arctic, “where soot deposition onto snow and ice might actually increase the local warming,” said Kjetil Tørseth of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research.
Solar power generation in the northeastern U.S. dropped by more than 50% due to the smoke reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the ground.


• Extreme Temperatures: -93°F Vostok, Antarctica; 119°F Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia

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June 12, 2023 (for the week ending Jun 09)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 4.9] temblor in southern Haiti killed four people and injured 36 others as it wrecked homes.
• A northern Myanmar [magnitude 5.8] quake killed two people and damaged ancient temples.
• Earth movements were also felt in Java [magnitude 5.6], western Iran [4.5], western Romania [4.7], western North Carolina [3.2] and the San Francisco Bay Area [4.5].



Tropical Cyclones

• Remnants of former Super Typhoon Mawar brought record rainfall to parts of Japan, killing at least one person and causing dozens of injuries.
• Tropical Storm Arlene formed briefly in the Gulf of Mexico.
• The western Pacific was churned by Typhoon Guchol.
• Cyclone Biparjoy spun up in the Arabian Sea.



Doomed Sea Ice

A new report says it is now too late to prevent the Arctic from becoming ice-free in summer, even with aggressive efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions.
“There’s nothing really we can do about this complete loss anymore because we’ve been waiting for too long,” said oceanographer Dirk Notz of Germany’s University of Hamburg.
The most recent U.N.-sponsored climate report suggested there would be no summertime ice surrounding the North Pole around 2050 if carbon emissions continue at high or moderate levels.
But a new study published in Nature Communications says this will happen in the 2030s even with cuts.



Canal Drought

Dwindling water levels on lakes Gatun and Alajuela, which feed the locks of the Panama Canal, are resulting in weight limits and rising surcharges for ships passing through the key waterway.
A protracted Panamanian drought is raising further supply chain concerns just as delivery bottlenecks are easing around the world.
Economists warn that should the lake levels fall further, shipping rates could soar and revive some of the chaos of 2021, when high costs and shortages helped drive inflation worldwide.
The El Niño ocean warming in the Pacific, which is just developing, typically brings hotter and drier weather to Panama, threatening to cause the two lakes to lose even more water.



Orca Defense

A new tactic has been found effective in deterring attacks on boats by orcas around the Iberian Peninsula — sprinkling bags of sand.
More than 250 yachts have been damaged since the first attacks were reported in 2020, with three vessels being sunk entirely.
But the London-based Cruising Association says sprinkling sand into the water around the rudder confuses the orca’s sonar and acts as an acoustic mirror, hiding the rudders behind a screen of sand.
“It doesn’t have to be a lot of sand. A few kilograms,” said John Burbeck at the association.



Climatic Trauma

A new study published in Lancet Planetary Health documents how climate change disasters are inflicting long-lasting mental health problems, especially for those who lose their homes.
The study focused on Australia, which is especially prone to such disasters as firestorms and floods.
It found that affected residents still suffered acute mental and physical effects years after the disaster.
Another study published by the American Psychological Association says that climate disasters often result in PTSD, anxiety, major depression and substance abuse.



South Asia Heat

Thousands of schools across Bangladesh were forced to shut down because of power cuts and the longest heat wave for the country in decades.
“We have never seen such a prolonged heat wave since Bangladesh’s independence in 1971,” said Bazlur Rashid of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.
The government has been forced to shutter its largest power plant because it cannot afford the coal to fuel it, while other plants are unable to keep up with demand.
The onset of the southwest monsoon typically brings relief by early June from the late-spring heat, but it is late in arriving.


• Extreme Temperatures: -102°F Vostok, Antarctica; 118°F Mattam, Senegal

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June 05, 2023 (for the week ending Jun 02)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 5.2] quake near the Afghan-Tajik border was felt across South Asia.
• The strongest temblor to hit Melbourne, Australia, in 120 years cracked walls. [The quake had a 3.8 magnitude.]
• Earth movements were also felt in India’s Assam and Meghalaya states [magnitude 4.8] and along the Swiss-French border [3.8].



Tropical Cyclones

• After lashing Guam the previous week, Typhoon Mawar strengthened to Category-5 force over the western Pacific before weakening to a tropical storm near Okinawa.
  Mawar formed in Micronesia in mid-May.



Eruptions

• Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano became more violent, developing large lava domes that collapsed, spewing fountains of lava.
  Schools and airports were shuttered due to ash falling over the region, just to the southeast of Mexico City.
  Millions of surrounding residents have been warned of a possible evacuation should the volcano reach an even higher level of activity.
• Costa Rica’s Rincón de la Vieja volcano produced a powerful steam eruption that sent debris cascading down its slopes.



Ailing Earth

A new report says Earth has exceeded seven out of eight key ecological stability limits, pushing the planet into “the danger zone.”
Writing in the journal Nature, the scientific group Earth Commission says it looked at climate, air pollution, groundwater, phosphorus and nitrogen contamination from fertilizer overuse, fresh surface water as well as the overall natural and human-built environments.
Comparing what it would be like if the planet had just gotten a medical exam, Earth Commission co-chair Joyeeta Gupta said, “our doctor would say that the Earth is really quite sick right now.”
But it could heal if carbon emissions are slashed and we are more careful with the world’s land and water.



Octopus Nightmare

Surveillance video of an octopus at New York City’s Rockefeller University suggests the marine creature suffered a violent nightmare as if it were fighting for its life.
Researcher Eric Angel Ramos said the episode lasted for minutes, with “Costello” releasing ink and thrashing around in an attempt to make himself look larger, even though he was alone except for a few small fish.
The formerly wild cephalopod was brought to the aquarium missing limbs he had probably lost in a predator attack. Ramos believes the highly intelligent octopus could have been reliving such an attack in his sleep.
Costello’s species lives only about a year and a half, but can quickly learn skills and solve complex problems.



Plastic Eaters

A group of plastic-consuming bacteria and fungi have been discovered living along China’s Yellow Sea coast, raising the possibility that the massive amount of global plastic pollution may be managed.
“A total of 184 fungal and 55 bacterial strains capable of breaking down various plastics were found,” the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew said in a statement.
This could lead to the development of efficient enzymes that are able to degrade plastic waste.
The new discoveries were found in a “terrestrial plastisphere,” which the scientists describe as an ecosystem that has evolved to thrive in the presence of plastic debris.



Pollen Control

Japan announced plans to reduce the amount of pollen released by the country’s cedar and cypress trees by half over the next 30 years in an effort to ease the misery of hay fever suffered by about 40% of the population.
More than 90% of existing cedar trees will be felled and replaced with species that release less pollen.
A large number of cedars were planted for reforestation in the aftermath of World War II as the country’s economy recovered.
The government in Tokyo says it will encourage homebuilders to use more timber from domestic cedar trees and will ask companies to let employees work remotely to reduce pollen exposure, especially during spring.


• Extreme Temperatures: -106°F Vostok, Antarctica; 118°F Nawabshah, Pakistan

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May 29, 2023 (for the week ending May 26)



Earthquakes

• Tsunami waves rushed across the South Pacific after a magnitude 7.7 temblor south of Vanuatu sent many islanders fleeing to higher ground.
• A [magnitude 4.8] quake in the Philippines’ province of Romblon caused scattered damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in Japan’s Izu Islands [magnitude 5.3], South Asia’s Hindu Kush region [4.9], Trinidad [4.4], greater New York City [2.2], northwestern Ohio [2.2] and northwestern California [5.6].



Tropical Cyclones

• Super Typhoon Mawar hammered Guam with winds of up to 150 mph, knocking out power and causing widespread destruction. Skirting the northern tip of the island, it was the strongest to hit the U.S. territory in 60 years.
• Former Category-3 Cyclone Fabien lost force over the open waters of the central Indian Ocean. It was a threat only to shipping lanes in the region.



Popo Eruptions

• Blasts from Mexico’s restive Popocatépetl volcano became more violent, threatening 22 million people with heavy ash and forcing schools to shutter.
• Falling ash from another eruption of Sicily’s Mount Etna forced a suspension of flights at the nearby Catania–Fontanarossa Airport.



Carbon Illness

A new report by Boston University and University of North Carolina researchers says air pollution from oil and natural gas production is responsible for thousands of early deaths and cases of childhood asthma each year across the U.S.
It adds that respiratory and cardiovascular-related hospitalizations, adverse pregnancy outcomes and other health challenges the pollution brings are responsible for about $77 billion in annual health care costs.
The report calls for comprehensive nationwide regulations to protect Americans from such pollution.



Orca See, Orca Do

Orcas have attacked and sunk a third boat off Spain in a behavior marine mammal experts suggest is being copied by others of the species.
Three orcas recently launched a coordinated attack on a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar, prompting assistance by a Spanish coastal rescue vessel.
“The little ones shook the rudder at the back while the big one repeatedly backed up and rammed the ship with full force from the side,” skipper Werner Schaufelberger told the German publication Yacht.
He added that the smaller orcas appeared to be imitating the larger one.
There have been up to 500 attacks off the Iberian Peninsula, many not causing damage, since May 2020.



Early Warning

The U.N. weather agency says that while weather-related disasters have surged over the past 50 years due to climate change and a growing population, the new ability to predict and prepare for them has led to far fewer deaths.
But a new report by the World Meteorological Organization says there is still a large disparity between wealthy and developing countries in the number of lives being saved.
Early warnings potentially saved hundreds of thousands of lives from Cyclone Mocha in Myanmar this month and will become more crucial as global heating brings more intense storms in the future.



Military Emissions

A new report finds that if all the world’s combined militaries were a country, they would have the fourth-highest carbon footprint, right behind China, the United States and India.
The ongoing war on Ukraine by Russia, and the increasing number of military exercises being conducted around the world, are only adding to the war industry’s contribution to the mounting climate crisis.
Scientists for Global Responsibility and the Conflict and Environment Observatory say that while it is very difficult to precisely determine the total greenhouse gases being emitted by the military, their study finds that its total carbon footprint is approximately 5.5% of all global emissions.


• Extreme Temperatures: -105°F Vostok, Antarctica; 120°F Jacobabad, Pakistan

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May 22, 2023 (for the week ending May 19)



Earthquakes

• Aftershocks jolted northeastern California following a magnitude 5.5 temblor on May 10 that was felt widely across the region.
• Earth movements were also felt in central Kansas [magnitude 2.5], Guatemala [6.4], central Colombia [4.8] and southern parts of Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture [5.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• Scores of people perished when Super Cyclone Mocha slammed into Myanmar’s northern Bay of Bengal coast.
  The storm weakened slightly from Category-5 force just before making landfall and inflicting widespread destruction to coastal communities and parts of neighboring Bangladesh.
• Cyclone Fabien briefly attained Category-3 force as it passed to the southeast of the Chagos Archipelago.



Popo Eruption

Mexico’s restive Popocatépetl volcano produced a sharp increase in activity, spewing fountains of hot lava high into the sky [70 km] southeast of Mexico City.
Ash from a series of more than 200 blasts also fell on nearby communities, including the city of Puebla.



Urban Cloudiness

New analysis of satellite data reveals that clouds form more often above cities and their suburbs than in surrounding rural landscapes, especially at night and during summer.
Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researcher say they found that skies above urban areas, regardless of their size, saw 3% to 6% more cloud cover than in the countryside.
They believe that since summer nights and temperatures, in general, are warmer in cities due to the urban heat island effect, that warmth pulls up moisture from the landscape, creating the clouds.
The effect disappears or is lessened during winter.



Relentless Heating

Experts warn that the world will likely heat above the 1.5 degree Celsius aspirational limit by 2027, which the U.N. weather agency says would bring dire consequences should it be permanently breached.
While that target is likely to be exceeded only briefly, it would represent a marked acceleration of human impacts on the global climate system, and send the world into “uncharted territory,” according to the World Meteorological Organization.
A new report says there is a 66% likelihood of exceeding the 1.5° C threshold in at least one year between 2023 and 2027.
The surge in global heating will be in part due to a strong El Niño ocean warming already beginning to develop across the surface of the tropical Pacific.



Locust Invasion

Northern Afghanistan’s breadbasket is being carpeted by a new generation of Moroccan locusts, which the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says could ravage the region’s crops should they mature.
Villagers and farmers have been collecting the young “hoppers” and killing them before they can fly and swarm across the land.
“You kill millions of locusts that way. The problem is there are billions of locusts,” said FAO representative Richard Trenchard.
An invasion of Moroccan locust in 1981 wiped about a quarter of Afghanistan’s national harvest.



City 'Forests'

A leading Japanese beverage company announced an audacious plan to cut its overall carbon emissions by placing vending machines across the country that can “absorb carbon dioxide.”
Asahi Group Holdings plans to begin testing them to prove they can suck in CO₂ from the air while they warm or cool drinks for thirsty customers.
The firm is dubbing the network of machines “forests in the city,” referring to trees’ ability to absorb the greenhouse gas.
The vending units will have a white powder inside that can absorb CO₂, which will then be used for industrial purposes such as making fertilizer and food for algal seabeds.


• Extreme Temperatures: -110°F Vostok, Antarctica; 117°F Nawabshah, Pakistan

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May 15, 2023 (for the week ending May 12)



Earthquakes

• One person was killed falling off a ladder and 20 others were injured when a sharp and shallow [magnitude 6.2] temblor damaged buildings and halted rail service in west-central Japan’s Ishikawa region.
• A predawn [magnitude 5.2] quake just east of Tokyo injured several people and caused scattered damage across the region.
• Earth movements were also felt in the far northeastern Philippines [magnitude 5.1], the Syria- Lebanon border area [3.7], central parts of the state of Georgia [2.5] and along the California-Ba- ja California border [3.5].



Bengal Cyclone

• Tropical Cyclone Mocha was taking aim on Myanmar as a Category-2 storm late in the week.
  Stronger Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 people in the same area of western Myanmar as it roared ashore from the Bay of Bengal in May 2008.



Eruption

Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego (Fire Volcano) erupted with thick clouds of ash that rained down on nearby farms and towns southwest of Guatemala City.
More than 1,000 residents from five communities were temporarily evacuated to emergency shelters.
The 12,300-foot Fuego is one of the most active in Central America. A 2018 eruption killed 194 people and left 234 others missing.



Melting Fears

A development in Greenland may confirm concerns that scientists have underestimated the rate at which the world’s ice sheets are melting due to global heating.
Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , glaciologist Eric Rignot says daily tides of increasingly warmer waters have eaten a large hole at the bottom of Petermann Glacier, one of Greenland’s largest, during the last two years. This is accelerating the retreat of a key part of the ice floe.
Rignot warns that should this happen around the rest of Greenland and the larger Antarctic ice sheet, the accelerated glacier loss could cause sea levels to rise twice as fast as previously projected by climate models.



Loss of Smell

Carbon emissions and climate change are behind a significant thinning of the Pacific’s Dungeness crab population in recent years, and new research finds the trend is mostly due to the crustaceans losing their sense of smell.
Marine scientists from the University of Toronto Scarborough say ocean acidification brought on by the absorption of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere seems to be impacting the crabs’ ability to detect food odors.
Like most crabs, the Dungeness depend on their sense of smell by “flicking” their antennae to find food. They also use it to find mates and to avoid predators.
The researchers say the crabs are flicking less and their sensors have become 50% less able to detect odors.



Higher Calling

Puerto Rico’s famed coquí frogs are now croaking at a higher pitch, which scientists say is due to global heating.
Comparisons of recordings made of the frog’s distinctive two-note call, “coqui,” made over the past 23 years reveal the change in pitch, says researcher Peter Narins of the University of California, Los Angeles.
It has long been known that the amphibians are sensitive to temperature and call at different pitches based on elevation and microclimate.
Narins says the calls grew higher in pitch at every location that was studied during the period.



Collateral Damage

Tuberculosis, the infectious disease with the highest death toll worldwide, is surging in the conflict zones of Ukraine and Sudan due to a breakdown of health services.
Lucica Ditiu, executive director of the Stop TB Partnership, says the conflicts are having “a huge impact” on efforts to diagnose and treat the disease.
Ukraine now has the highest number of people infected with TB in the European region, as well as the highest number of patients with drug-resistant TB.
U.N. officials and health care specialists say the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are also contributing to the more than 4,400 daily tuberculosis deaths.


• Extreme Temperatures: -101°F Vostok, Antarctica; 118°F Matam, Senegal

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May 08, 2023 (for the week ending May 05)



Earthquakes

• Two quakes near China’s border with Myanmar injured 10 people and caused sizable damage. [The quakes had a magnitude 5.3.]
• Earth movements were also felt in central South Korea [magnitude 3.1], Okinawa [6.2], northern Papua New Guinea [5.6], the west-central Philippines [5.2], India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory [4.1] and in a swarm along the California-Mexico border [4.1].



Tropical Bloom

• Recent research into Tropical Cyclone Oma's 10-day nearly stationary spin over the Coral Sea in February 2019 finds that it churned up nutrients from the deep to feed a record algal bloom in a region normally devoid of marine life.



Biting Light

The expansion of light pollution across the world’s landscapes could be disrupting the winter dormancy period for mosquitoes and extending the insects’ “biting season.”
Researchers from Ohio State University say exposure to artificial light may delay the insects’ dormancy period, causing them to bite humans and animals later into the fall.
“This could be bad for mammals in the short term because mosquitoes are potentially biting us later in the season,” said lead researcher Matthew Wolkoff.
But he adds it could also keep the insects from preparing for winter dormancy, reducing their survival rate.



Hotter Heat

Warnings of another Northern Hemisphere summer of record heat grew louder, with the World Meteorological Organization saying the world should prepare for a developing El Niño and its contribution to even hotter months ahead.
The U.N. weather agency now says there is a 60% chance that El Niño will develop by the end of July and an 80% chance it will arrive by the end of September.
The occasional warming of the tropical Pacific typically increases heat worldwide, meaning 2023 could easily become the hottest on record should it develop.
Globally, ocean temperatures already hit a record high for the month of April. It’s feared that warmer oceans could trigger more severe storms, melt ice caps faster and cause other harmful environmental effects.



Fungal Fears

Scientists are sounding the alarm over the growing threat fungal attacks pose to some of the world’s key crops and the possibility they could lead to a “global health catastrophe.”
A team from Britain’s University of Exeter warns that disease-causing strains of fungus appear to have acquired resistance to antifungals. This means it could become increasingly difficult to combat such diseases as rice blast fungus, wheat stem rust and corn smut.
They add that global heating could increase the heat tolerance of the fungi, possibly leading to human and animal infections.



Twilight Starvation

The warming of the world’s oceans could significantly reduce marine life in the deepest parts of the seas that are reached by sunlight, known as the “twilight zone.”
In the last warm periods of Earth’s history, fewer organisms lived in depths between 650 feet and 3,300 feet because bacteria broke down food near the surface more quickly, keeping it from sinking to the twilight zone.
“The rich variety of twilight zone life evolved in the last few million years, when ocean waters had cooled enough to act rather like a fridge, preserving the food for longer, and improving conditions allowing life to thrive,” said Katherine Crichton, from the University of Exeter.



Wolf Summit

A German “wolf summit” convened in the state of Bavaria to allow farmers, conservationists and politicians to discuss the future of the animal amid worries that the canine’s population is becoming too large.
Wolves are strictly protected in the European Union, but farmers want permission to shoot them following a series of recent deadly attacks on livestock.
After being nearly extinct at the end of the 19th century, German wolf numbers have grown to at least 160 packs of eight to 12 animals each, thanks to the EU protections since 1990.
After the summit, Bavaria’s Minister-President Markus Söder said wolves can now be “removed” if they attack even once.


• Extreme Temperatures: -103°F Vostok, Antarctica; 116°F Podor, Senegal

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May 01, 2023 (for the week ending Apr 28)



Earthquakes

• A magnitude 7.1 temblor off the coast of central Sumatra cracked buildings and sent coastal residents running to higher ground in fear of a tsunami.
• Earth movements were also felt in Greece’s Aegean Islands [5.1], Malta [5.5], western Germany [3.2], New Hampshire [2.9], upstate New York east of Lake Ontario [3.2] and the San Francisco Bay Area [3.7].



Andean Eruptions

Ecuador’s Sangay volcano spewed a column of ash high above the Andes Mountains that later fell over nearby communities.
Residents were wearing face masks as protection from the falling debris.



Extremely Normal

A new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that an overwhelming majority of Americans say they have recently experienced at least one extreme weather event, with many blaming climate change.
The poll conducted in mid-April also finds that about half of the country’s adults became more concerned about the changing climate during the past year even though many remain unsure of their individual role in causing it.
Types of severe weather that hit the nation once every 82 days in the 1980s are now occurring slightly more than once every two weeks.



Climatic Pain

Forecasters are warning that years of drought across Europe are causing “feedback loops” for the continent’s climate, foreshadowing another dangerously hot and dry summer ahead.
Hot, arid conditions in the next few months would mean crop losses and waterways so low that river transport would be snarled and hydroelectric plants would be forced to shut down.
In Spain’s autonomous community of Catalonia, a plague of rabbits starved of fresh grass is also ravaging crops. Officials estimate 250,000 rabbits need to be culled this summer to contain the population.
Barcelona faces a water emergency by September if ample rainfall fails to occur from now until the end of summer.



Glacial Loss

A decade of observations from Europe’s Cryosat satellite finds that of the 200,000 or so glaciers on the planet, about 2% of their mass was lost between 2010 and 2020 due to a hotter climate.
That amounts to 3 trillion tons of ice melting during the period. Alaska’s glaciers were among the worst affected, with about 5% of the total ice volume in the region melting in 10 years.
In many regions, glaciers are important sources of water for drinking, agriculture and hydropower.
More than 20% of the world’s population relies on the water that flows from the summer melting of glaciers.



Deep Discovery

More than 19,000 previously uncharted undersea volcanoes, or seamounts, have been discovered using radar sensors aboard orbiting satellites.
Oceanographers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanology and a Chungnam National University colleague made the discoveries by deriving the locations of the seamounts from the gravitational pull they exert on the ocean’s surface, which radar can detect.
Many seamounts are rich in rare-earth minerals and provide a habitat for many forms of marine life. The new mapping could help determine deep-sea currents and prevent future submarine collisions with seamounts.



Algae Plastic

An algae that commonly grows beneath Arctic sea ice now contains 10 times as many microplastic particles as the seawater it lives in.
Researchers from Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research made the discovery after collecting samples of the Melosira arctica algae.
They found that because the algae has a slimy, sticky texture, it collects microplastic particles from the atmosphere before it dies and collects into clumps.
The increased weight causes those clumps to sink straight down, “as if in an elevator to the seafloor.”
Since the algae is an important food source for many sea creatures, the plastic pollution could eventually contaminate much of the Arctic marine food web.


• Extreme Temperatures: -95°F Vostok, Antarctica; 117°F Matam, Senegal

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April 24, 2023 (for the week ending Apr 21)



Earthquakes

• Parts of central and southwestern Mexico were jolted by a sharp [magnitude 5.2] quake, centered about 60 miles northwest of Acapulco.
• Earth movements were also felt in Java and neighboring Bali [magnitude 7.0], Papua New Guinea’s New Britain Island [6.3], the India-Myanmar border region [3.6] and Jamaica [4.6].



Hurricanes

• Intense Cyclone Ilsa pounded an almost entirely uninhabited stretch of northwestern Australia. But its direct hit wiped out the popular Pardoo Roadhouse, whose owner says he cannot afford to rebuild.
  The storm set a new 10-minute sustained wind record for the country at Bedout Island, where winds were clocked at 135 mph.



Eruptions

• An ash cloud from the previous week’s eruption of Far East Russia’s Shiveluch volcano was blown across the Bering Sea and far northern Pacific Ocean, disrupting air transportation from southern Alaska and western British Columbia to Washington and Idaho.
  Some of the cancellations and delays to airline schedules occurred at Seattle-Tacoma International airport.
• A group of Russian scientists was forced to take shelter beneath their vehicles near the summit of Bezymianny volcano when it suddenly erupted with a rain of stones and other volcanic debris. It was the second volcano to erupt in three days on the Kamchatka Peninsula.



Bird Flu Mutation

A sample of the virus responsible for avian influenza that was isolated from a Chilean man suffering from the disease shows the pathogen has two genetic mutations that make it more able to reproduce in human cells.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the risk to the public remains low and the collected samples did not contain other genetic changes that would be necessary for the H5N1 strain to spread easily among humans.
Bird flu has been responsible for the deaths or culling of untold millions of wild birds and farmed poultry around the world during the past three years.
University of Maryland researchers say the current strain is so highly pathogenic that it is “wiping out” wild bird populations like never observed before.



Emissions Accord

Environment ministers at the Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Japan agreed to cut CO2 emissions from vehicles in half by 2035 from levels recorded in 2000. The accord says each country will track its progress every year to meet that goal.
While there was no agreed timeline for abolishing coal-fired power plants, G7 ministers did pledge to cooperate on effective and fair policies on energy, water, agriculture and marine resources.
Seven of the world’s richest nations also agreed to end ocean pollution from plastic by 2040.



In Hot Water

A new study finds that the ocean surface is now warmer than at any other time since accurate satellite records began, with the record heat energy threatening to supercharge storms around the world.
Earlier studies revealed that the oceans are heating more quickly now than at any other point in at least the past 2,000 years.
“Warmer ocean temperatures mean more moisture in the atmosphere ... that leads to more energy available for tropical storms,” atmospheric scientist Andrew Watson at Britain’s University of Exeter told New Scientist.



Gobi Haze

Windstorms raging across the Gobi Desert, which borders China and Mongolia, sent out an unhealthful cloud of yellow dust that brought misery and disruption to life in parts of China, South Korea and Japan.
The seasonal haze worsens air pollution and puts people at greater risk of respiratory disease due to the tiny dust particles that are small enough to become lodged deep in lung tissues.
Chinese meteorologists say the Gobi sandstorms have occurred more frequently since the 1960s due to increasingly hotter temperatures and lower precipitation in the desert region.


• Extreme Temperatures: -92°F Vostok, Antarctica; 114°F Matam, Senegal

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April 17, 2023 (for the week ending Apr 14)



Earthquakes

• [At a magnitude of 4.5,] the strongest in a series of earthquakes awakened residents before dawn around Oklahoma City.
• Earth movements were also felt in the Dominican Republic [magnitude 4.1], southwestern Puerto Rico [4.5], eastern Afghanistan [4.6], Bali [5.1], the far southern Philippines [5.4] and the northern San Francisco Bay Area [4.4].



Hurricanes

• Thousands of miners, ranchers, tourists and indigenous residents evacuated the coast of northwestern Australia as the strongest tropical cyclone there in a decade bore down on the Pilbara coast.
  Super Cyclone Ilsa was packing at least 150 mph winds as it made landfall late in the week.
  Meteorologists predicted the storm could dump a year’s rainfall for the region in little more than a day.



Kamchatka Blast

An intense eruption of Far East Russia’s Shiveluch volcano spewed a massive plume of ash that blanketed almost 42,000 square miles of the Kamchatka Peninsula, including nearby villages.
Social media images showed homes covered in what appeared to several inches of the ash.
The Kamchatka Branch of Russia’s Geophysical Survey said it was the deepest ash cover from an eruption in the area for 60 years. Shiveluch’s last major eruption was in 2007.



Rising Tides

Two recent studies reveal that sea levels along the U.S. Gulf Coast and the southern Atlantic coast have risen nearly 5 inches over the past 12 years, nearly double the global average.
The increase is accelerating faster than predicted, with scientists warning that it threatens tens of millions of homes in the southern U.S. with worsening floods during the decades ahead.
The rise is also causing high-tide flooding to occur in the region twice as often as at the beginning of this century.
One study in the Journal of Climate reveals that damage and fatalities from recent hurricanes across the south have been more acute due to the higher sea levels.



'Super' El Niño

Recent projections from climate models indicate the expected warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean later this year could become a “super” El Niño, which could increase the risk of catastrophic global weather events.
Climate experts had already said the ocean warming could also push Earth’s temperatures to the highest levels ever recorded.
Seven climate models project that sea-surface temperatures will pass the El Niño threshold by August.
“The really big ones reverberate all over the planet with extreme droughts, floods, heat waves and storms. If it happens, we’ll need to buckle up,” said senior Australian climate specialist Catherine Ganter.



Ozone Killers

Some of the human-made chemicals known to destroy Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer are increasing in the atmosphere despite being banned globally since 2010.
Researchers from Britain’s University of Bristol say they have recently measured a sharp global increase in CFCs from unknown sources. The compounds were once used as refrigerants and aerosol propellants.
While a concern, researcher Luke Western says the jump in emissions isn’t likely to halt the ongoing recovery of the ozone layer, which protects life on the planet from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.



'Wing' Men

A new study suggests that the males of disease-carrying mosquito species hover around humans, even though they don’t bite them, so they have better chances of “picking up” the females, which do bite.
Using human volunteers, University of Melbourne researchers tested to see whether male mosquitoes were attracted to the same people as the bloodthirsty females. They found they indeed were, but with weaker preferences.
“We can’t say for certain that male mosquitoes evolved this trait specifically to gain a mating advantage, but it’s a strong possibility,” said researcher Perran Ross.


• Extreme Temperatures: -94°F South Pole, Antarctica; 114°F N'Guigmi, Niger

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April 10, 2023 (for the week ending Apr 07)



Earthquakes

• A minor [magnitude 3.5] earthquake in Pakistan’s Balochistan province killed three people when their mud-walled homes collapsed.
• Four people died when a powerful [magnitude 7.0] quake wrecked hundreds of homes in northern Papua New Guinea.
• Earth movements were also felt in eastern Nepal [magnitude 4.6], eastern Australia [3.2], the Kamchatka Peninsula [6.5], Panama [6.3] and interior parts of San Diego County [4.2].



Colombian Alert

Increasing activity at Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano prompted officials to evacuate dozens of families living near the restive mountain.
A 1985 eruption buried a town with debris while killing about 25,000 people.



Thin Ice

A new study suggests that the last remaining sanctuary of year-round Arctic sea ice north of Greenland and Canada may soon disappear in summer. A similar disappearance occurred during a warming period around 10,000 years ago.
While it has been uncertain whether the predicted disappearance will happen again in the next 20, 30 or 40 years, Danish researchers at Aarhus University say they have projected that we are very close to that scenario, and that temperatures will have to rise only a little more before the Arctic will become ice-free in summer.



Forest Browning

Forests across Europe are turning brown during summer as the continent experiences hotter weather between June and September.
Researchers from the ETH Zurich public research institute have documented how exceptional weather conditions over several years have turned forests brown, when they have historically been a healthy green.
They say that reduced greenness in trees is a sign of stress and is also an indication of forest dieback.
After last year’s record heat and drought, on top of similar conditions this century, about 37% of Europe’s forest regions were brown.
The study found that since 2018, Europe has experienced repeated large-scale droughts and high temperatures, leading to even more instances of extensive browning.



Current Slowdown

The deep ocean currents that carry vital heat, oxygen and nutrients around the world are slowing down around Antarctica in a trend scientists warn could have a massive effect on climate.
Australian scientists say the trend is caused by rapidly melting Antarctic ice, which is flooding the surrounding ocean with less salty and less dense water, reducing the typical downward movements of the currents around the icy continent.
Those currents are only part of a vast system of important currents around the world that affect temperatures and precipitation.



Distress Clicks

Researchers have discovered that some plants emit a barrage of ultrasonic clicks when they are stressed by lack of water or when their stems are cut.
This “exciting and thought-provoking” discovery by researchers at Tel Aviv University was made by recording sounds from cactus, wheat, corn and other plants.
“We found that each plant and each type of stress is associated with a specific identifiable sound,” they write in the journal Cell. “While imperceptible to the human ear, the sounds emitted by plants can probably be heard by various animals, such as bats, mice and insects.



Deepest Fish

Scientists using a remote camera in the Pacific Ocean near Japan have discovered a fish living deeper in the ocean than any seen before.
Belong to the genus Pseudoliparis, the previously unknown snailfish was filmed at a depth of 27,349 feet in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench — more than 3,300 feet deeper than previously observed deep-sea fish.
“Fish all have osmolyte, a fluid in their cells that they use to counteract (deep sea) pressure – it’s the thing that makes that fishy smell,” said Alan Jamieson of Australia’s Minderoo Center.
He says that since their remote cameras have seen snailfish at every depth, there are likely to be others managing to survive at even the deepest depths.


• Extreme Temperatures: -87°F Vostok, Antarctica; 114°F Matam, Senegal

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April 03, 2023 (for the week ending Mar 31)



Earthquakes

• South-central Italy was jolted by a sharp [magnitude 4.7] temblor, centered in the Molise region.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern Turkey [magnitude 4.9], northwestern Iran and Armenia [5.6], south-central Pakistan [4.2], northeastern Japan [6.1], the Solomon Islands [6.1], Hawaii [4.1] and the San Francisco Bay Area [3.5].



Krakatau Blasts

Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau) volcano erupted with several blasts that sent columns of ash soaring over the Sunda Strait separating Java and Sumatra. Officials cautioned residents and tourists to remain outside a 3-mile radius of the crater.
The volcano emerged from the sea about 50 years after a series of catastrophic eruptions of the legendary Krakatau in 1883 killed more than 36,000 people and affected the climate around the world for at least a year.
A partial collapse of Anak Krakatau in 2018 sent a huge chunk of the volcano sliding into the sea, creating a tsunami just before Christmas that killed 439 and injured 14,000 others who were caught by surprise along the coasts of Java and Sumatra.



Tropical Cyclone

• Cyclone Herman spun up over the waters of the eastern Indian Ocean, threatening only shipping lanes in the region. The storm’s highest winds reached about 55 mph.



Mosquito Invasion

Florida researchers say an invasive species of mosquito has been spreading over southern parts of the state, raising concern of its potential to spread disease.
Known by its scientific name, Culex lactator, it was first seen around Miami in 2018 and has since spread to Collier and Lee counties.
“There are about 90 mosquito species living in Florida, and that list is growing as new species are introduced to the state from elsewhere in the world,” said entomologist Lawrence Reeves.
Culex lactator is native to Central America and northern South America and belongs to a group of mosquitoes known to transmit the West Nile and St. Louis encephalitis viruses.



Monarch Decline

The number of endangered monarch butterflies that reached their winter habitat in the mountains of western Mexico dropped by 22% this season, the victims of illegal logging, habitat loss and climate change.
The World Wildlife Fund Mexico reports that extreme 2022 temperatures in the United States contributed most to the decline. Droughts, frosts and the loss of the migrating monarchs’ food source, milkweeds, across North America are also major factors.
The monarchs once clustered in trees covering more than 45 acres of forest in Michoacan state before logging, fires, drought and removal of sick or weak trees brought that number down to only around 5.5 acres this year.



Wayward Voyager

Wildlife experts say they have documented a “remarkable” transatlantic voyage by a female osprey that was born in Scotland and then “flew” 4,124 miles to Barbados. It is said to be the first time a British osprey has been observed in the Americas.
“It is highly unlikely that even an osprey could have completed this in a single flight, even with strong tail-winds,” said Tim Mackrill of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation.
“So it is probable that she took the opportunity to rest on boats, which may themselves have been traveling to the Caribbean from the U.K.,” he added.



Too Hot to Live

Heat stress from steadily rising temperatures in India is pushing some of its human population to the limits of survival.
After India’s hottest February on record, there are growing fears there will be a repeat of last summer’s record heat waves, which killed hundreds, caused massive crop losses and triggered power blackouts.
With temperatures last summer comparable to those in the Sahara and Saudi Arabia, South Asia’s much higher humidity made sweating much less efficient for the population, or not effective at all.
A recent World Bank report warned that India could become one of the first populated places where mounting heat and humidity could rise above survivable limits.


• Extreme Temperatures: -89°F Vostok, Antarctica; 112°F Kayes, Mali

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March 27, 2023 (for the week ending Mar 24)



Earthquakes

• A magnitude 6.5 quake killed at least 13 in eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.
• Sixteen people perished in southern Ecuador and northern Peru during a magnitude 6.8 quake.
• Earth movements were also felt in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty [magnitude 4.8], the Iran-Iraq border region [5.1], southern Turkey [4.4], southern Portugal [3.7], Costa Rica [5.5], northwestern Alberta [5.0] and south-central Alaska [5.4].



Eruption

Java's Mount Merapi volcano continued to spew ash and lava out of its crater for a second week. Indonesian officials warned residents to remain alert for further eruptive activity.



Darkest Winter

Residents across the eastern Great Lakes and the Canadian province of Ontario just suffered through their darkest winter in 73 years.
Alaskan climatologist Brian Brettschneider made the calculation by looking at solar energy records from last December to February.
Prolonged lack of sunshine in the depth of winter has been proven to affect human health and can contribute to depression. Gloomy winters can also lead to vitamin D deficiency and a slower metabolism.
Toronto went several weeks in December and January without much sunshine.



Plastic Rock

Geologists say they have discovered “terrifying” rocks composed of plastic debris and natural sources on a remote Brazilian island, which is also a turtle refuge.
Fernanda Avelar Santos, a geologist at Brazil’s Federal University of Paraná, says melted plastic has become fused with sedimentary granules to create “plastiglomerate” rocks.
“We identified (the plastic debris) mainly comes from fishing nets, which is very common debris on Trinidade Island’s beaches,” said Santos. She added that as those nets accumulate on those beaches, the plastic melts in the hot sun and becomes embedded in natural material.
“This is new and terrifying at the same time, because the pollution has reached geology,” said Santos.



Drought Starvation

Nearly 130,000 people face starvation in the Horn of Africa as the region’s long-term drought is on track to become the worst on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
The drought has decimated crops and killed millions of livestock animals over the past year, bringing food insecurity and malnutrition to 6 million people.
Climate scientists say the weather shift creating the drought has been driven by a rare triple La Niña in the Pacific and three years of below-average temperatures in the Indian Ocean as well. It is hoped the predicted El Niño this year will end it.



Ozone-killing Smoke

Scientists say that they have found that smoke particles from massive wildfires can erode the stratospheric ozone layer that is still struggling to recover from now-banned ozone-killing chemicals.
Writing in the journal Nature, a team from MIT describes a newly discovered chemical reaction in which smoke particles from the Australian wildfires in December 2019 and January 2020 likely contributed to the ozone hole widening by 10% over the previous year.



Act Now

The most urgent and dire warnings yet of the climate emergency are highlighted in the latest report from the U.N.-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Written by the world’s leading experts on climate but edited and toned down at the U.N. by some of the world’s leading petroleum exporters, the IPCC report still says the world is rapidly approaching “catastrophic levels of heating” and that available ways of averting an unbearably hot world are slipping out of reach.
“If we act now, we can still secure a livable, sustainable future for all,” said IPCC chair Hoesung Lee.
However, delayed efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions allowed them to increase by 1% last year rather than beginning to decline.
The latest report by the IPCC can be view and downloaded at the IPCC website.


• Extreme Temperatures: -84°F Vostok, Antarctica; 113°F Matam, Senegal

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March 20, 2023 (for the week ending Mar 17)



Earthquakes

• Bogota residents rushed outside in the middle of the night as a sharp [magnitude 5.4] temblor struck to the north of the Colombian capital. No major damage was reported.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern Peru [magnitude 5.1], southern Colorado [4.3], eastern Papua New Guinea [6.3] and the Hindu Kush region from eastern Afghanistan to northern Pakistan [4.6].



Record Cyclone

Hundreds of people across Mozambique and neighboring Malawi perished in catastrophic flooding and mudslides, triggered by Cyclone Freddy's second passage over southeastern Africa.
The storm was the longest-lived and most forceful tropical cyclone over time on record due to it crossing the entire width of the Indian Ocean and making landfall twice in Mozambique during its lifespan of five weeks and four days.



Java Eruption

A blast from Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano spewed a massive plume of ash that blanketed nearby farms and villages on the island of Java.
Merapi’s last major eruption in 2010 killed more than 300 people and forced 280,000 others to evacuate their homes for months.



'Arachnicide'

A growing population of invasive brown widow spiders is wiping out native black widows in southern parts of the United States even though there seems to be enough food and space for both species to coexist.
Since arriving in Florida from what’s believed to be their native Africa, the more aggressive brown widows have quickly expanded across the country, outbreeding and killing off their darker cousins.
This should be of some comfort to residents in the region since brown widow bites are far less venomous to humans than those of black widows, with symptoms usually limited to mild skin irritations.



Oceans of Plastics

The amount of microplastic debris littering the world’s oceans has undergone a dramatic surge since 2005, with researchers saying there are now about 2.75 million tons of it in the world’s seas.
Marcus Eriksen and Lisa Erdle at the 5 Gyres Institute in Santa Monica, California, and their colleagues say scarce data on plastic pollution between 1979 and 1990 make it impossible to see how fast it was increasing during that period.
Observations between 1990 and 2004 show it was fluctuating with no clear trend. But concentrations have risen in recent years to more than 10 times their levels in 2005.
A legally binding treaty among 175 countries to control plastic pollution is expected to be drafted and debated by 2024.



Croc Tragedy

Approximately 10,000 rare white crocodiles have died of starvation and thirst as Kenya’s Lake Kamnarok, Africa’s second-largest crocodile habitat, dried up during the past year.
A shift in climate has also caused many other lakes across the East African nation, as well as the rivers that feed them, to become parched landscapes.
Kamnarok’s surviving crocs have been forced to move upstream in the lake’s diminishing watershed. This is increasing their sometimes violent contacts with the human population and livestock.
For a more in-depth story about the struggles at Lake Kamnarok check out this recent story at the Guide2Uganda site. A two-year old story at AllAfrica describes previous pleas to prevent Lake Kamnarok from drying up and save to rare crocodiles.



Earliest Bloom

The famed cherry trees of Tokyo began to blossom on March 14, matching the earliest date on record since observations began in 1953.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the “Somei Yoshino” variety buds appeared at the Yasukuni Shrine on the same day in 2020 and 2021 as well, which is 10 days earlier than the long-term average.
The agency says the trees should be in full bloom across the capital in the next week and should soon burst forth earlier than normal in other parts of the country, due to rising temperatures.
Residents will be able to gather in public spaces to enjoy the blooms for the first time since the pandemic.


• Extreme Temperatures: -74°F Vostok, Antarctica; 116°F Matam, Senegal

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March 13, 2023 (for the week ending Mar 10)



Earthquakes

• The southern Philippine island of Mindanao was rocked by two powerful earthquakes, the first measuring magnitude 6.0 as it caused damage in Davao del Norte province.
• Earth movements were also felt in central Italy [magnitude 4.4], and in India’s Odisha state [3.8] and Jammu and Kashmir territory [3.9].



Tropical Cyclones

• After weeks of crossing the entire Indian Ocean, lashing Madagascar and spending days drenching Mozambique, Cyclone Freddy spun back out over the Mozambique Channel, strengthened and took aim once again on Mozambique.
  Freddy has already been the longest-lived tropical cyclone in history. It also generated the greatest “accumulated cyclone energy” — a measure of a cyclone’s total strength over time.
• Central and southern Vanuatu was struck by high winds and downpours from Category-3 Cyclone Kevin only two days after the archipelago had been raked by equally strong Cyclone Judy.



High Seas Treaty

After almost two decades of drafting and debating, U.N. member states agreed on a treaty to protect the ocean’s international waters.
It is key to enforcing the 30 by 30 pledge agreed to at the U.N. biodiversity conference in December to place 30% of Earth’s land and seas under protection by 2030.
New protected areas will limit how much fishing can be conducted, where commercial shipping can sail and where minerals are extracted from the seabed 590 feet (200 meters) or more beneath the surface.
The main obstacle that delayed the accord was how the ocean’s resources would be shared, such as the plants and animals that could lead to new drugs and food.



Pacific Flip

The United Nations weather agency says the unusually prolonged La Niña ocean cooling in the [equatorial East] Pacific is coming to an end. It predicts that after three years of cooler ocean temperatures, a new El Niño warming may soon begin.
“La Niña’s cooling effect put a temporary brake on rising global temperatures, even though the past eight-year period was the warmest on record,” said World Meteorological Organization chief Petteri Taalas. “If we do now enter an El Niño phase, this is likely to fuel another spike in global temperatures.”
His agency predicts there is a 55% chance El Niño will return between June and August.



Nuked Canines

Scientists collecting DNA samples from feral dogs that roam the exclusion zone around the meltdown- plagued Chernobyl nuclear power plant say radiation from the 1986 disaster has caused “distinct genetic changes” to the canines.
The Dogs of Chernobyl Research Initiative initially provided the descendants of former pets with veterinary exams, vaccinations and neutering or spaying.
But its staff also took DNA samples, which will later be used to examine how Chernobyl’s radiation altered the dogs physically, and their lineage.



Plastic Disease

The first disease linked exclusively to exposure to plastics has been identified by experts from the United Kingdom and Australia, who have called it plasticosis.
Writing in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, they say the disease affects seabirds who have ingested plastic debris, inflaming their digestive systems and breaking down their ability to fight infections and parasites, along with harming their ability to digest food.
The study authors say it is possible the new disease is also affecting other species, including humans.



Unhealthy Air

A new study finds that almost no place on Earth has air clean enough that the World Health Organization says is safe to breathe.
Researchers found that about 99.82% of Earth’s land area is exposed to unhealthful levels of tiny particles in the air, which have been linked to lung cancer and heart disease.
Air pollution kills 6.7 million people a year, according to WHO estimates.


• Extreme Temperatures: -91°F Vostok, Antarctica; 113°F Linguère, Senegal

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March 06, 2023 (for the week ending Mar 03)



Earthquakes

• A new [magnitude 5.2] temblor toppled buildings and killed one man in quake-ravaged Turkey three weeks after it was hit by two stronger quakes in rapid succession.
• Earth movements were also felt in Israel [magnitude 3.0], northeastern Egypt [4.1], Wales [3.4], eastern Papua New Guinea [6.5], Japan’s Hokkaido Island [6.1] and along the coasts of Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua [5.3].



Tropical Cyclones

• At least eight people were killed as the slowly moving remnants of Cyclone Freddy lashed Mozambique and Zimbabwe for days after earlier killing seven people on Madagascar.
  High winds and flash flooding wrecked thousands of homes and damaged infrastructure.
• Cyclone Judy’s destructive winds in Vanuatu uprooted trees, while flooding sent many residents fleeing to higher ground.



Earth Sunscreen

An open letter from more than 60 scientists across North America and Europe calls for further studies into controversial methods to deflect the sun’s rays from a world that is heating up due to greenhouse gas emissions.
Such “geo-engineering” concepts were once considered outlandish, but the deepening climate crisis is prompting scientists to take another look.
Some say the worst effects of global heating are no longer avoidable with curbs only in emissions. Scientists penning the letter suggest methods like spraying aerosols such as sulfur into the stratosphere must now be considered.



Stripy Solution

Painting black and white stripes on wind turbines could help prevent the hundreds of thousands of bird deaths caused each year by impacts with their blades.
Most turbines are painted white to make them blend in with the landscape. But avian vision experts say that makes them nearly invisible to many bird species.
Graham Martin of the University of Birmingham and Alex Banks at Natural England say that alternative bands of black and white would create a flickering pattern that could make the turbines stand out to birds, even in low light levels.
They say this would be especially beneficial in offshore wind farms because seabirds that are currently being killed by them have fewer offspring and are slower to mature.



Treeless Drying

Analysis of satellite images suggests that rainfall is decreasing in tropical regions of the world where forests are being felled.
A study led by Callum Smith at Britain’s University of Leeds says the loss of the trees results in vast amounts of water not evaporating from the leaves of trees in tropical forests and falling as rain nearby.
This disruption of the historic water cycle in tropical regions also increases the risk of wildfires and reduces the chances that remaining tropical forests will survive, Smith says.



Bird Flu Surge

The avian influenza virus that has killed untold numbers of wild birds and forced the culling of hundreds of millions of farmed poultry during the past three years has become so pervasive and has spread so far around the world that it is now a permanent problem.
Experts say farmers must protect their poultry year-round instead of just during the migration seasons of wild birds to prevent further food supply shortages.
Wild birds are the main spreaders of the virus responsible for bird flu as their infected droppings litter the landscape and are carried into poultry farms, or sometimes fall directly onto them.



Sporting Pollution

The growing popularity of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) as conventional auto sales decline is pushing their greenhouse gas emissions higher each year and amplifying the climate crisis, experts warn.
Purchases of SUVs soared from 20% of all cars in 2012 to 46% in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
It says the 220 million SUVs on the road generated carbon dioxide pollution equivalent to the combined national emissions of Britain and Germany last year, ranking as the sixth-highest air pollution source globally.


• Extreme Temperatures: -75°F Vostok, Antarctica; 110°F Twee Riviere, South Africa

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February 27, 2023 (for the week ending Feb 24)



Earthquakes

• At least six people were killed and nearly 300 others injured in yet another powerful [magnitude 6.3] earthquake to strike southern Turkey and northwestern Syria.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern Iran [magnitude 5.5], western Nepal and northern India [4.8], central New Zealand [4.9], central Taiwan [5.0] and the Alaskan island of Kodiak [5.4].



Tropical Cyclones

• Cyclone Freddy passed over the entire width of the Indian Ocean before killing four on Madagascar and later striking Africa.
• Storm Enala formed over the open waters of the central Indian Ocean.



Engineered Trees

The first batch of trees genetically engineered to grow taller and capture more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere were planted on private land in southern Georgia in an attempt to sideline restrictions on such plantings. More will soon be planted on abandoned Pennsylvania coal mines.
The San Francisco-based Living Carbon startup added three genes to the poplars to make their photosynthesis more efficient, hoping they will turbocharge the rate the trees grow wood and suck carbon dioxide from the air.
While yet unproven outside of scientific settings, the trees’ prospect of helping to remove the greenhouse gas has its supporters and critics.



Metallic Core

Analysis of increasingly detailed seismic data around the world have allowed scientists to confirm the existence of a huge metallic structure at the heart of Earth’s inner core.
The structure was measured by looking at seismic waves from 200 quakes with a magnitude greater than 6.0 as they bounced back and forth up to five times inside the Earth.
The transition from the outer regions of the inner core to the newly confirmed inner metallic structure is gradual rather than a sharp boundary, scientists say in the journal Nature.
Temperatures at the heart of Earth’s core are similar to those on the sun’s surface, about 10,000 to 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit.



Empty Canals

Gondolas and other boats in the Italian lagoon city of Venice have been lying on nearly dried-up canals this month due to a prolonged drought and a series of unusually low tides.
While the popular tourist destination has regularly been swamped by high astronomical tides made worse by rising sea levels, experts say ultra-low ebb tides this winter point to the need to clean and dredge some of Venice’s inner canal network.
The low-water woes are being blamed on a drought fed by a strong high-pressure system, the lunar cycle and altered sea currents.



Humpback Fighters

The amazing recovery in recent years of the humpback whale population is resulting in more aggressive mating behavior among the previously gentler males.
Once hunted to near extinction, Australia’s east coast humpback population alone grew from 3,700 in 2007 to 27,000 whales in 2015.
Monitoring by a team from the University of Queensland found that male humpbacks used to sing to woo females but have now increasingly turned to fighting among themselves for the right to breed.



Starless Nights

A new study reveals that light pollution generated by the nighttime glow of the human presence is increasing, marring the ability to see stars in a sky that was once nearly pitch dark before the invention of electric lights.
Observations from tens of thousands of observers around the world documenting the number of stars visible in each location show nocturnal sky brightness increased by 7% to 10% each year from 2011 to 2022.
Greater light pollution is raising concerns over its impacts on people and nature. “For nearly the entire evolutionary history of life on this planet, the night sky was lit by starlight, moonlight and natural airglow,” said lead researcher Christopher Kyba. “Until about 150 years ago, to step outside at night was to be confronted with the cosmos.”


• Extreme Temperatures: -68°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 115°F Eucla, W. Australia

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February 20, 2023 (for the week ending Feb 17)



Earthquakes

• Aftershocks continued to rock devastated parts of Turkey and Syria, where tens of thousands were killed during the previous week’s two catastrophic temblors. [The largest aftershock was a magnitude 5.4.]
• At least four people were killed by a [magnitude 5.1] quake in Indonesia’s Papua province.
• Earth movements were also felt in New Zealand [magnitude 6.3], India’s Assam state [4.0], Romania [5.7], northern Honduras [5.5] and Hawaii [4.8].



Tropical Cyclones

• Remnants of Cyclone Gabrielle unleashed catastrophic flooding that killed at least five people in New Zealand. A national state of emergency was declared after thousands were trapped on rooftops and landslides destroyed homes.
• Cyclones Freddy and Dingani churned the open waters of the Indian Ocean.



'Biblical' Exodus

The United Nations secretary-general told the body’s Security Council that rising sea levels due to climate change threaten a “mass exodus on a biblical scale.”
António Guterres said the fastest rising tides in at least 3,000 years are bringing a “torrent of trouble” to almost a billion people around the world. He cautioned that some nations could simply disappear beneath the sea.
Experts have warned that rising tides and temperatures are likely to force hundreds of millions of people to migrate as their homes become uninhabitable.



Deep-Sea Mining

Researchers are sounding the alarm over plans to launch industrial-scale seabed mining for the first time in international waters later this year.
A new report by scientists from the University of Exeter and Greenpeace Research Laboratories says that such activities pose a “significant risk to ocean ecosystems” and could result in “long-lasting and irreversible” consequences.
Of particular concern are the undersea noises mining would generate up to 24 hours a day and the potential harm they could bring to about 25 cetacean species, such as whales and dolphins.
“Like many animals, cetaceans are already facing multiple stressors, including climate change,” said Exeter’s Kirsten Thompson.



Antarctic Melt

Sea ice surrounding Antarctica has shrunk to the lowest extent since observations began in 1979, and scientists say it is likely to dwindle even further before the southern summer’s melting season ends in the next two weeks.
While the region’s sea ice varies a lot from year to year, scientists say it is becoming apparent that the dramatic losses during the last six years indicate that the record levels of heat being stored in the oceans can now be linked to the unprecedented Antarctic melt.



'It's Me!'

In the latest finding about wildlife cognitive ability, Japanese researchers say they have found that a common fish can recognize itself in photos.
A team from Osaka Metropolitan University writes in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the Labroides dimidiatus, commonly known as a cleaner fish, demonstrated the ability, but only when it could see its face and not just its body. The species had already been proven to recognize itself in mirrors.
“This study is the first to demonstrate that fish have an internal sense of self,” concluded study lead author Masanori Kohda.



Poison Ice

An Oxford University-led study warns that Norwegian Arctic ice has become contaminated with “alarming levels” of toxic PFAS, or “forever chemicals” that do not break down naturally and have been linked to cancer, liver disease and other serious health problems.
The study says that when melted, the contaminated ice represents a major threat to the region’s wildlife. It adds the chemical cocktails [to nutrients and] could harm the entire food web, including plankton, fish, seals and polar bears.
PFAS are a group of about 12,000 compounds used to make thousands of products, including those that resist water, stains and heat.


• Extreme Temperatures: -72°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 112°F Learmonth, Victoria, Australia

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February 13, 2023 (for the week ending Feb 10)



Earthquakes

• Two of the most devastating quakes to strike south-central Turkey and northwestern Syria in generations killed untold thousands of victims. [The quakes had magnitudes 7.8 and 7.5.]
• Earth movements were also felt in the Myanmar-India border region [magnitude 4.6], the Philippine island of Mindanao [6.0], the southern Canadian Rockies [3.9], western New York [3.8] and the southern Dominican Republic [5.0].



Tropical Cyclones

• A stretch of water from the Coral Sea to the northern tip of New Zealand was churned by Cyclone Gabrielle.
• Cyclone Freddy formed south of Bali before storming westward across the Indian Ocean.



Eruptions

• Vanuatu’s East Epi undersea volcano spewed ash and vapor into the air, prompting officials to warn nearby residents of Epi, Tongoa and surrounding islands to stay clear of the eruption.
• Rumblings and small blasts from the Showa crater of southern Japan’s Sakurajima volcano sent debris soaring over Kyushu Island for the first time since April 2018.



Road to Extinction

A new report by the group NatureServe says 34% of all plants and 40% of all animals in the U.S. are at risk of extinction.
Authors of the report say the warning is based on 50 years of extensive data collected by the nonprofit.
“Two-fifths of our ecosystems are in trouble,” said the Virginia-based group’s vice president for data and methods, Regan Smyth. “Freshwater invertebrates and many pollinators, the foundation of a healthy, functional planet, are in precipitous decline.”
Most “imperiled” are all of the country’s tropical forests, tropical savannas and various grasslands.



Bird Flu Risk

U.N. health experts say that even though bird flu has recently been detected in minks, otters, seals, foxes and bears, they believe the current prevailing strain of H5N1 avian influenza would have to undergo significant mutation to be able to spread among humans.
Europe is currently in the grip of its worst-ever outbreak of the disease, which has led to tens of millions of poultry being culled worldwide as well as a massive death toll among wild birds in several regions.
The H5N1 strain of the virus first emerged in mainland China and Hong Kong in 1996. Experts say that should it somehow manage to mutate and circulate in humans, the current flu vaccines could easily be updated to provide protection.



Connections

The vast burning of trees in the Amazon has been linked to the melting of glaciers in the Himalayas and even Antarctica due to newly discovered atmospheric pathways that threaten to push some regional climates beyond tipping points that cannot be reversed.
Writing in the journal Nature Climate Change, an international team of researchers says the Amazon-Himalayan climate connection stretches 12,400 miles from Brazil to Tibet.
That means that as the Amazon warms and receives more rainfall, the mountains of South Asia get less precipitation and become warmer.



'Toadzilla'

A giant toad discovered deep in an Australian rainforest is believed to be the largest in the world.
Dubbed by forest rangers “Toadzilla,” the gargantuan amphibian weighed 6 pounds, which is 0.11 pound heavier than a Swedish pet toad listed in 1991 as the heaviest by Guinness.
But all did not end well for Toadzilla. Because it is an invasive species in Australia, it was euthanized due to what rangers called its “ecological impact.”
Most toads typically meet the same fate when found across Australia. “Potentially, cane toads like Toadzilla would lay up to 35,000 eggs. So their capacity to reproduce is quite staggering,” said park ranger Barry Nola.


• Extreme Temperatures: -69°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 107°F Geraldton, W. Australia

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February 06, 2023 (for the week ending Feb 03)



Earthquakes

• A powerful [magnitude 5.9] temblor in far northwestern Iran killed three people and injured hundreds more as it wrecked homes.
• Earth movements were also felt in Malta [magnitude 5.3], the Greek island of Rhodes [5.9], northeastern Italy [4.3], western China’s Taklamakan Desert [5.7], the southern Philippine island of Mindanao [6.0] and southwestern Montana [4.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• Late reports from Madagascar say mudslides and flooding from Cyclone Cheneso's outer bands killed at least 30 people while washing out bridges and swamping homes during the previous week.



Oceanic Success

The decline in the number of some shark and ray species in the northwestern Atlantic appears to have been reversed, thanks to improved fisheries management and conservation efforts.
Shark and ray populations have crashed by as much as 71% over the past 50 years, with about one-third of those marine creatures threatened with extinction.
But writing in the journal PNAS, Nathan Pacoureau of Simon Fraser University says the implementation of the 1993 U.S. Fishery Management Plan for Sharks of the Atlantic Ocean is responsible for the turnaround. That act mandates catch reports and a ban on the catching of some species.



Skeeter Defense

A new device designed for U.S. military personnel living in and around tents can provide hands-free and automatic protection against bites from disease-carrying mosquitos for extended periods of time. It has the potential for use in backyards and camping sites.
The controlled-release device is made up of small plastic tubes that are about 1 inch long. They drip the insecticide transfluthrin, which is said to be safe for use around humans and wildlife at the recommended doses, across the tent’s entrances.
Developer Nagarajan Rajagopal of the University of Florida says the device would not contaminate nearby plants or have a negative impact on pollinators.



Brutal Drought

One of Argentina’s worst droughts in 60 years and accompanying record heat have left many rivers and lakes littered with dead fish, and its staple crops ravaged.
The climate disaster has been fueled by the third consecutive year of La Niña cooling across the tropical Pacific, according to meteorologists.
But a shift from La Niña to a fresh El Niño this year promises to break the drought and deadly heat during the next few months. “Precipitation will pick up (slowly), improving soil moisture reserves and moderating the intensity of heat waves,” writes the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange.



Titicaca Drop

Bolivian officials say a prolonged drought has caused the water levels of Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake, which straddles the border of Bolivia and Peru, to plunge to historic low levels.
Bolivia’s National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology forecaster Ana Luz Mendoza warned that the drop directly affects the aquatic fauna, birds and human populations settled around this lake. This includes the indigenous Uros, who have lived on human-made islands on parts of the lake for centuries.



Seaweed Farms

A new Australian study finds that expanding seaweed farming around the world could help feed the planet’s growing human population and livestock while also being a sustainable source of fuel.
“Seaweed has great commercial and environmental potential as a nutritious food and a building block for commercial products, including animal feed, plastics, fibers, diesel and ethanol,” said researcher Scott Spillias from the University of Queensland.
Writing in the journal Nature Sustainability, Spillias says millions of acres of ocean territory have already been identified around the world where at least 22 commercially viable species of seaweed could be harvested.
But the report warns that care should be taken to avoid harming marine habitats.


• Extreme Temperatures: -62°F Shologonsky, Siberia; 107°F Port Hedland, W. Australia

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January 30, 2023 (for the week ending Jan 27)



Earthquakes

• One person was killed when a magnitude 5.6 quake hit Nepal.
• Earth movements were also felt in northeastern Japan[magnitude 4.9], West Java [4.4], the Syrian-Lebanese border area [4.3], northern Argentina [6.8], Los Angeles [4.2] and the San Francisco Bay Area [3.7].



Tropical Cyclones

• Cyclone Cheneso formed over the Mozambique Channel and then hooked around the southern tip of Madagascar.
  NB: The cyclone reached category 2. It made landfall in northern Madagascar on 19 January. It killed at least 33 people, when 20 people were reported still missing.
• Minimal Tropical Storm Ten spun up briefly to the west of New Caledonia.



Solar Confusion

Following the discovery that some birds can “see” Earth’s magnetic field through magnetoreceptors in their eyes, researchers say geomagnetic storms from solar flares and sunspots can cause some long-distance migrators to wind up at the wrong destinations.
By comparing records of 2.2 million birds captured and released from 1960 to 2019 with records of geomagnetic disturbances, a UCLA team found a strong correlation between birds found far outside their expected range and the geomagnetic storms during spring and fall migrations.
They say the wayward migrations during such storms may help species survive as their traditional homes become uninhabitable due to climate change.



CO2 Removal

A new study finds that about 2.2 billion tons of CO₂ are being removed from the atmosphere each year, and that most of it is from recently planted trees and better soil management.
There are growing efforts through new technologies to extract the greenhouse gas directly from the atmosphere and put it in long-term storage on land, in the ocean, in geological formations or in products.
But researchers from the University of Oxford estimate that more than 1,300 times more carbon dioxide needs to be extracted from the air than is currently being captured to keep global heating below the 2 degrees Celsius goal by 2050 set out in the Paris Agreement.
That reduction should also help the world reach net-zero emissions by then.



Antarctic Find

A colony of about 500 emperor penguins was found in a nearly inaccessible area where the species is under threat from global heating.
The British Antarctic Survey made the discovery by examining satellite images.
“Like many of the recently discovered sites, this colony is small and in a region badly affected by recent sea-ice loss,” said researcher Peter Fretwell.
Emperor penguins are the only ones that breed on sea ice instead of land. If the seasonal ice breaks up before the end of the breeding season, chicks will tumble into the water, where they either drown or freeze.



Touchscreen Wizards

A group of about 240 vervet monkeys in South Africa’s Mawana Game Reserve have become the first primates in the wild to learn how to use a touchscreen.
The iNkawu Vervet Project says the breakthrough will allow scientists to test the intelligence of non-human primates without keeping them in enclosures.
The wild vervets began to interact with the screen after it was attached to a tree and connected to a Wi-Fi hot spot.
While not as fast to learn as captive primates that didn’t have to look for food or avoid predators, the vervets still learned how to interact with the screen and receive rewards based on their interactions.



Core Spinning

How Earth’s core spins differently from its surface layer has long been argued, and a new report from Chinese scientists has still not put the issue to rest.
Xiaodong Song and Yi Yang of China’s Peking University say they have found the inner core’s rotation “came to near halt around 2009 and then turned in an opposite direction.”
Based on seismic data, they write in the journal Nature Geoscience that the core swings back and forth over a 70-year period.
But studies by other scientists indicate that the inner core only moved differently than the surface between 2001 and 2013, and has since stopped.
An Australian study says the core’s cycle of rotation is about every 20 to 30 years.


• Extreme Temperatures: -70°F Verkhoyansk, Siberia; 110°F Rivadavia, Salta, Argentina

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January 23, 2023 (for the week ending Jan 20)



Earthquakes

• At least 70 people were injured and more than 300 homes damaged by a sharp [magnitude 5.8] quake in northwestern Iran.
• A swath from the southern Philippines to Indonesia’s Banda Sea was rocked by a magnitude 7.0 temblor.
• Earth movements were also felt in northwestern Sumatra [magnitude 6.2], the Philippine province of Leyte [5.2] and Albania [4.8].



Volcanic Alerts

Eruptions at volcanoes across Indonesia have prompted officials to raise alert levels.
Of particular concern are the residents around Mount Marapi^* in West Sumatra, eastern Java’s Semeru volcano and Lewotolok volcano on the island of Lambata in East Nusa Tenggara.
^*not to be confused with Mount Merapi in central Java.



El 'Flip'

The waters of the Pacific between South America and Indonesia are predicted to shift from the ongoing La Niña cooling of the past three years to a warming El Niño later this year.
Atmospheric scientists warn this could push global temperatures “off the charts” and make 2024 the first year global heating rises higher than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.
The last hottest year on record was in 2016, which was also a major El Ni&ntile;o year.
The U.S. environment agency NOAA says there is a 66% chance of El Niño quickly replacing the current La Niña between August and October of this year.



Dolphin 'Shouts'

Researchers have observed that dolphins appear to overcome human-made noise during echolocation and communications with other dolphins by what they describe as “shouting.”
The discovery comes as noise pollution in the world’s oceans from such sources as shipping and construction has increased dramatically in recent years.
Tests conducted at the Dolphin Research Center in the Florida Keys measured the communication skills between two of the marine mammals at different levels of noise from a submerged speaker.
They found that the success of coordinated test activities dropped significantly at the highest levels of generated noise.



Windthrow

More severe storms brought to the Amazon in the future by climate change means their intense winds could cause additional tree damage on top of the human-made deforestation already inflicted on the region.
A new study says that increasing “windthrow” events, or the uprooting or breaking of trees, has the potential to turn parts of the Amazon rainforest into killing fields that would leave untold numbers of trees rotting on the ground.
That would convert parts of the Amazon from a carbon sink into a carbon source, resulting in more atmospheric greenhouse carbon dioxide.



War on Birds

Environmental advocates warn that the Kenyan government’s plans to poison as many as 6 million < a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-billed_quelea" target="new2">red-billed quelea birds, which have been ravaging crops, could also contaminate raptors, humans and other creatures.
The ongoing severe drought in the Horn of Africa has wiped out much of the voracious quelea’s main diet of native grass seeds, forcing them to invade grain fields.
The organophosphate pesticide fenthion, which has been the chemical of choice to kill the birds, is believed by many to be far too dangerous to use, even in the current quelea invasion.



Volcanic Legacy

Coral reefs that were turned into rubble by the record volcanic blast, which also devastated the island nation of Tonga, are still a vast wasteland a year later.
Once teeming with marine life, the waters used by Tonga fishermen are now practically devoid of life as those fish who weren’t pulverized by the titanic eruption have migrated elsewhere in the South Pacific.
When Hunga-Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai exploded on Jan. 14, 2022, with a force greater than any other eruption on record, it sent seismic shockwaves around the world and shot a massive plume of water and ash higher into the atmosphere than ever seen before, even to the edge of outer space.


• Extreme Temperatures: -78°F Verkhoyansk, Siberia; 116°F Mardie, W. Australia

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January 16, 2023 (for the week ending Jan 13)



Earthquakes

• Shaking from a magnitude 7.6 temblor damaged buildings around Indonesia’s Banda Sea and terrified residents as far away as Darwin, Australia.
• Earth movements were also felt in northern Vanuatu [magnitude 7.0], along parts of the North and South Korea border [3.6], South Asia’s Hindu Kush region [7.0] and northern Morocco [5.2].



Tropical Cyclones

• The lingering remnants of Cyclone Ellie triggered flooding for the third week in Australia.
• Tropical Storm Hale churned the Coral Sea.



Eruptions

• Lava bubbled inside Kilauea volcano's summit crater as the restive Hawaiian volcano erupted for a second time in less than a year.
• A group of 164 climbers had to be evacuated from the slopes of Sumatra’s Mount Merapi volcano as the mountain suddenly began spewing ash.



Bee Vaccine

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved the first-ever vaccine to prevent a deadly bacterial disease that can destroy honeybee colonies. The new vaccine for American foulbrood in honeybees will stop the microbe from infecting the pollinators.
The disease is currently battled by incinerating bees and infected hives or by treating them with a mixture of antibiotics in their food.
The new product, licensed to Diamond Animal Health, is mixed into “queen feed,” which worker bees consume to create royal jelly that they feed to the queen bee. Her larvae will then be born immune to the disease.



Right Recovery

Marine mammal researchers say they now have hope for the recovery of endangered North Atlantic right whales after the birth of nine calves in the first weeks of the breeding season.
Moira Brown of the Canadian Whale Institute told Canadian Press that fewer than 100 of the surviving right whales are mothers, and the new babies are a hopeful sign for the future.
She says that there were only 15 calves born last year, compared to the average of 24 since the early 2000s.
Some of the perils faced by the species are ship strikes, entanglements in fishing gear and other debris and dwindling food supplies due to warming North Atlantic waters, which could also be affecting whale breeding.



Ozone Healing

The first major international agreement to protect the environment means the ozone hole above Antarctica may be restored to normal in just over 40 years.
The 1987 Montreal Protocol phased out and banned human-made chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), once commonly used in spray cans, refrigerators, foam insulation and air conditioners, because the compounds were found to destroy stratospheric ozone.
Scientists say the switch to cleaner chemicals has resulted in a solid recovery of the ozone hole over the last several years.



In Hot Water

Earth’s oceans were the hottest ever recorded last year as those waters continued to store more excess heat brought on by human-caused climate change.
It was the fourth consecutive year that records for ocean warmth were set since records began in the 1950s.
While the atmosphere and oceans have both warmed for decades, the air has not set records every year, with 2022 being the fifth-hottest.
But the warming of the upper 6,600 feet of the oceans has been more consistent since the oceans do not radiate the excess heat into space nearly as easily as the atmosphere.
Writing in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, researchers say the heating of the oceans and the resulting extreme weather will increase until humanity reaches net-zero emissions.


• Extreme Temperatures: -79°F Dzhalinda, Siberia; 110°F Geraldton, W. Australia

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January 09, 2023 (for the week ending Jan 06)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 5.4] quake caused more damage in the same area of northwestern California hit by a magnitude 6.4 temblor on Dec. 20.
• Earth movements were also felt in Southern California [magnitude 4.2], New Zealand’s North Island [5.1], greater Delhi [4.1], Pakistan’s Punjab region [4.3], the Greek capital of Athens [5.2] and central Portugal [3.4].



Tropical Cyclones

• Torrential rainfall from remnants of former Tropical Cyclone Ellie caused record floods and widespread damage in northern Western Australia.



Mexican Blasts

Mexico’s restive Popocatée\petlvolcano produced more than 130 emissions of ash and vapor within a single day to the southeast of Mexico City.
It also produced a nearly constant plume of volcanic gases, which blew in a northeasterly direction but did not threaten residents on the ground.
However, ash did fall downwind on several municipalities of Tlaxcala state as well as trigger warnings to air traffic in the area.



Snowless Alps

As Europeans from Poland to France enjoyed sporting short-sleeved shirts around New Year’s Day, many ski slopes in the Alps were green with grass when they should normally be deep with wintertime snow.
This has caused a crisis for some Alpine resort operators and threatened the World Cup skiing competition held at Switzerland’s Adelboden, which was run entirely on artificial snow.
French meteorologists say slopes above 7,200 feet have seen close to normal snowfall so far this winter, but snow is noticeably absent at lower elevations of the northern Alps and across the Pyrenees range that separates France and Spain.



River Crisis

The flow of South America’s Paraguay River is nearing its third consecutive all-time low, threatening to cut off all river shipping from the Atlantic near Buenos Aires to Bolivia.
Three consecutive seasons of La Ni&nntilde;a in the Pacific are blamed for ongoing low flows in the waterway.
The Paraguay is the only major river in South America that has not been dammed for hydroelectric power, meaning it can be used for shipping over long distances to provide an important trade corridor to the otherwise landlocked nations of Paraguay and Bolivia.
While some urge that the river be dredged to improve flows, hydrology experts say only the return of regular and significant rainfall can resolve the problem.



Plastic Seafloor

Microplastic pollution accumulating at the bottom of the world’s oceans has tripled during the past 20 years, according to a new high-resolution study of the Mediterranean seafloor.
Laura Simon-Sánchez from the Autonomous University of Barcelona writes in the journal Environmental Science and Technology that “far from decreasing, the accumulation has not stopped growing, mimicking the production and global use.”
The study found that once dropped to the seafloor, the particles in the sediment stop degrading, mainly due to the lack of erosion, oxygen and light.



Fish Fights

Hungry fish living among reefs that suffer from mass coral bleaching are more frequently getting into fights over food, which could threaten their survival.
Researchers from Britain’s Lancaster University made the discovery after observing 38 species of butterflyfish, which are especially vulnerable to bleaching since they eat the coral.
When a butterflyfish wants to signal to a competitor that a particular bit of coral is theirs, they point their noses down and raise their spiny dorsal fins.
But when the confrontation doesn’t resolve the dispute, one fish will chase the other until one gives up.
With less food due to coral bleaching, they are forced to expend precious energy during far more chases over food.


• Extreme Temperatures: -68°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 113°F Dampier, W. Australia

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January 02, 2023 (year 2022 in review)



Earthquakes

• More than 1,160 people died in southern Afghanistan on June 21 from a magnitude 6.2 quake.
• The second-most deadly earthquake of 2022[, relatively small magnitude 5.6,] left 334 dead and about 7,700 others injured in Indonesia’s West Java province on Nov. 21.
• An intense [magnitude 6.8]temblor in China’s Sichuan province killed 93 people and injured 424 others across Luding county on Sept. 5.
• Dozens of people died in western Afghanistan when a magnitude 5.3 temblor struck the region on Jan. 17.
• Eleven people were killed by a magnitude 7.0 quake that wrecked buildings in the Philippine province of Abra on July 27.



Tropical Cyclones

• Typhoon Hinnamnor left 12 people dead from Japan’s southernmost islands to South Korea in early September.
• Floods and mudslides from Hurricane Julia killed 91 in early October as it skirted the northern coast of South America and later drenched Central America.
• Tropical Storm Ana killed 142 people when it raked Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi in late January. Cyclone Batsirai killed 123 others in Madagascar two weeks later.
• Tropical Storm Megi killed 214 people when it triggered floods and mudslides in the central Philippines on April 9.
• Hurricane Ian killed more than 150 people in late September across western Cuba and the southeastern U.S.



Tonga Blast

The most powerful volcanic eruption since the Krakatoa cataclysm of 1883 ravaged Tonga on Jan. 15, with massive amounts of ash and large tsunami waves that also rushed across the Pacific, killing four in Peru.
The undersea eruption blasted massive amounts of water, vapor and debris high into the stratosphere, and sent atmospheric shockwaves around the world.



Higher Tides

NOAA predicted that sea levels along the U.S. East Coast will be about 12 inches higher by 2050. That will double the amount of rise that has already occurred over the past century.
The rise is predicted to cause further coastal flooding cities such as New York, Boston and Miami.



Plastic World

Microplastics now pollute the wind, the planet’s deepest oceans and its most pristine mountain summits.
Dutch researchers said they also detected trace amounts of it in the blood samples of 17 out of 22 volunteers.



Water Cycle Surge

The movement of water between clouds, land and the ocean has intensified at twice the rate earlier predicted due to climate change.
A report in the journal Nature said rising global temperatures have made this process more extreme, with water moving away from already drier regions toward wetter ones.
This is driving more severe droughts in some areas while intensifying heavy rainfall and the resulting flood disasters in others.
Between two and four times more fresh water has shifted since 1970 than climate models had predicted.



South Asia Disasters

Deadly heat that baked India and Pakistan during May was followed in summer by unprecedented flooding that submerged one-third of Pakistan. Heavy monsoon rains coupled with a record glacial melt triggered inundations that washed away entire villages, as well as roads, bridges and rail networks.



Bird Flu

The H5N1 strain of avian influenza killed untold millions of wild birds in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. It also forced the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry worldwide.
The virus can spread quickly in droppings from passing wild birds, and is easily spread on shoes and vehicles traveling to and between farms.
In the wild, seabirds have been among the greatest victims of the virus.



History's Hottest

The summer drought and heat in China became the most severe ever recorded in the world.
The nearly stationary heat dome lasted longer than any other and forced factories to shutter, threatening further supply chain disruptions.
China’s autumn harvest may have been lost, which could worsen the already acute global food crisis.
“There is nothing in world climatic history that is even minimally comparative to what (happened) in China,” said climatologist Maximiliano Herrera.


• Extreme Temperatures: -110°F Vostok, Antarctica; 127°F Death Valley, California

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