SIO15: Natural Disasters

Source: Steve Newman at the San Diego Union Tribune

Earthwatches

December 02, 2024

November 25, 2024

November 18, 2024

November 11, 2024

November 04, 2024

October 28, 2024

October 21, 2024

October 14, 2024

October 07, 2024

September 30, 2024

September 23, 2024

September 16, 2024

September 09, 2024

September 02, 2024

August 26, 2024

August 19, 2024

August 12, 2024

August 05, 2024

July 29, 2024

July 22, 2024

July 15, 2024

July 08, 2024

July 01, 2024

June 24, 2024

June 17, 2024

June 10, 2024

June 03, 2024

May 27, 2024

May 20, 2024

May 13, 2024

May 06, 2024

April 29, 2024

April 22, 2024

April 15, 2024

April 08, 2024

April 01, 2024

March 25, 2024

March 18, 2024

March 11, 2024

March 04, 2024

February 26, 2024

February 19, 2024

February 12, 2024

February 05, 2024

January 29, 2024

January 22, 2024

January 15, 2024

January 08, 2024

January 01, 2024 (year 2023 in review)

December 02, 2024 (for the week ending Nov 29)



Earthquakes

• A moderate[, magnitude 5.4] earthquake in southwestern Taiwan was felt as far away as Hong Kong and China’s Guangdong province.
• Earth movements were also felt in northeastern [magnitude 4.9] and west-central [6.2] Japan, the far northern Philippines [4.1] and northern Tajikistan [5.6].



Tropical Cyclones

• A tropical cyclone forming over the Bay of Bengal just east of Sri Lanka was predicted to bring locally heavy rain and strong winds to India’s Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh states. NB: This storm is cyclone Fengal.



Iceland Eruption

The seventh volcanic eruption on Iceland’s restive Reykjanes Peninsula since last December sent lava flowing into the parking lot of the famed Blue Lagoon spa, destroying one service building. The lava flow also blanketed the access road.
Protective barriers constructed to safeguard the resort successfully held back the lava and diverted it away from the main facility.



Arctic Reshaped

Mark J. Lara, of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, writes in The Conversation that thawing permafrost is already causing significant changes in the Arctic landscape and threatens to release vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
His research has revealed massive lakes that disappeared within days, hillsides that have slumped or collapsed and once-flat sections of terrain that have become warped and wavy.
Permafrost, which is rich in organic material—including long-dead plants and animals trapped in frozen soil—covers about a quarter of the land in the Northern Hemisphere, primarily in Alaska, Canada, northern Scandinavia and Russia.



Dry Yet Alive

Chile’s Atacama Desert, the most arid place on Earth, is home to different types of microbes despite extreme dryness that higher forms of life couldn’t survive.
Using existing methods, scientists were unable to determine whether DNA samples taken from the desert’s sandy soil were from living organisms or those that had died.
But researchers, led by Dirk Wagner of the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam, developed a new method to separate genetic material from living cells (iDNA) and dead cells (eDNA), enabling better insights into active microbial life even where it is scarce.
Using this technique, they analyzed soil samples across the Atacama and found living microbes, even in the harshest areas.



Amazon Damage

Stronger storms fueled by climate change since 1985 have caused a nearly four-fold increase in Amazon windstorms in which downdrafts snap or uproot trees.
Researchers led by César Urquiza-Muñoz of the University of California, Irvine, analyzed Landsat satellite data and found that such wind throws affecting more than 75 acres increased from 78 in 1985 to 264 in 2020, with the largest spanning over 5,000 acres.
Most winds were in the central and western Amazon, with 35% concentrated in just 3% of the study area.



Dying Wisdom

Human activities such as overfishing and trophy hunting are disproportionately affecting Earth’s oldest and most experienced animals, which play key roles in maintaining ecological balance.
In a study published in Science, lead researcher R. Keller Kopf from Charles Darwin University highlights how older animals often serve as repositories of knowledge, enhancing survival and reproductive success within their species.
For instance, in elephant herds, matriarchs guide group movements and decision-making based on decades of experience. Similarly, older fish and sea turtles produce significantly more offspring, contributing to population stability.
Kopf says protecting these experienced elders is vital, especially with the increasing challenges of droughts and extreme weather events.


• Extreme Temperatures: -57°F Vostok, Antarctica; 109°F Twee Riviere, South Africa

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November 25, 2024 (for the week ending Nov 22)



Earthquakes

• [With a 4.2 magnitude,] the strongest aftershock of southeastern Cuba’s damaging Nov. 10 temblor was felt widely.
• Earth movements were also felt in the Iran-Azerbaijan-Armenia border area [magnitude 3.8], western India [4.2], the far southern Philippines [5.2], Tonga [5.6] and northern Japan’s Aomori prefecture [5.0].



Tropical Cyclones

• At least 10 people died in storm-related accidents in the northern Philippines as Typhoon Man-yi became the sixth consecutive tropical system to hit the country in less than a month.
  Man-yi was also one of four November cyclones to exist simultaneously in the western Pacific — the first such occurrence since records began in 1951.
• Tropical Storm Sara left at least four people dead from flash flooding across Nicaragua and Honduras.
• Former Category-4 Cyclone Bheki skirted Mauritius and Réunion as a tropical storm.



Storm Flush

Separate studies report that more intense rainstorms, driven by a warming planet, are causing farmlands to flush nutrients needed by crops out of the soil and into waterways and groundwater.
The loss of phosphorus can lead to decreases in crop yields, according to researchers at Penn State. Phosphorus is a non-renewable resource with few geological deposits, meaning it cannot be replaced in fields.
A study by the University of California, Davis, found that extreme weather is also flushing nitrates from fertilizers into the state’s groundwater, increasing health risks for those who consume it.
Fresh water in some Central Valley water systems now contains nitrates that exceed EPA standards.



Wetland Emissions

The world’s tropical wetlands are now releasing more methane, a potent greenhouse gas, than ever before due to global warming.
The trend, underestimated by climate models, could mean governments must cut even more carbon emissions to prevent worsening climate disasters in the future.
A warming climate accelerates the breakdown of dead plant matter in wetland soil, speeding up the biological processes that produce methane.
Four recent studies identify wetlands as the most likely source of the highest methane concentrations in the atmosphere since accurate measurements began in the 1980s.
While relatively short-lived in the atmosphere, methane is 80 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.



Toxic Air

The air pollution crisis in South Asia has reached unprecedented levels.
In India’s capital region, Delhi, the Air Quality Index soared to 1,500 — 15 times higher than the World Health Organization’s recommended safe limit—forcing much of daily life to grind to a halt.
Neighboring Pakistan, also plagued by toxic air, restricted outdoor activities and reported nearly 2 million hospital admissions for respiratory distress.
Regional tensions have escalated, with Pakistan blaming industrial and agricultural activities in India for the pollution, which winds have carried across the border.



Snow Factories

Satellite images reveal that plumes of pollution from large factories can result in snowfall and holes in clouds that stretch across wide areas.
Researchers at Estonia’s University of Tartu analyzed thousands of satellite images from Eurasia and North America and identified 67 locations where these effects could be observed.
Climate scientist Velle Toll, who led the study, said this occurs when conditions are just right, as pollution particles cause supercooled water droplets in clouds to freeze, forming ice crystals that grow into snowflakes.



Coral Losses

Marine scientists describe parts of Australia’s northern Great Barrier Reef as a “graveyard of corals” after a summer of extreme heat, two tropical cyclones and runoff from major flooding onshore brought the biggest annual drop in coral cover in 39 years of monitoring.
Lead monitoring researcher Mike Emslie said one area near Cooktown and Lizard Island lost more than a third of its live hard coral.


• Extreme Temperatures: -63°F Vostok, Antarctica; 108°F Rivadavia, Salta, Argentina

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November 18, 2024 (for the week ending Nov 15)



Earthquakes

• The strongest in a series of quakes[, the largest being a magnitude 6.8,] to jolt southeastern Cuba damaged buildings and was felt as far away as Miami.
• Earth movements were also felt in Panama [magnitude 5.8], southern coastal Chile [6.2], eastern New South Wales [4.2], South Asia’s Hindu Kush region [5.1], eastern Turkey [4.7], southeastern Italy [4.0] and Spain’s Costa del Sol [3.4].



Tropical Cyclones

• A seemingly never-ending parade of powerful typhoons continued to batter the northern Philippines for a second consecutive month, with Typhoon Yinxing, and Toraji, being closely followed by category-4 Usagi.
  Strengthening Tropical Storm Man-yi to the east was predicted to strike with hurricane force during the following weekend.
  The cyclones have flooded villages and caused extensive damage to homes and infrastructure and have killed at least 151 people.



Eruption

An ongoing eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano on the island of Flores forced more people from their homes and halted most air travel in and out of Bali.
Officials say at least nine people have been killed due to the eruption, with 31 others injured and more than 11,000 evacuated.



Texas Geyser

Tremors and the smell of rotten eggs around the West Texas community of Toyah were punctuated by the sudden eruption of a geyser from an abandoned wellhead, which sent water spewing 100 feet into the air.
The well, drilled in 1961 to a depth of 11,331 feet, did not encounter any crude oil. Since last October, it has produced around eight blowouts of contaminated water, causing residents of the remote town to worry about the safety of their fresh water supply.
“There’s not a whole lot we can do,” said Reeves County Emergency Services Chief Ronald Lee. “There’s nothing that we have the equipment to do.”



Seal Survivors

A year after an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu killed thousands of elephant seals in Argentina, only about a third of the animals typically expected there have returned.
Scientists estimate that the highly pathogenic avian influenza killed more than 17,000 of the marine mammals, including approximately 97% of their pups.
“It’s beautiful to walk the beaches now and hear elephant seals again,” said Marcela Uhart of the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “At the same time, we’re walking among piles of carcasses and bones, and seeing very few elephant seal harems, so it’s still disturbing.”
So far, no elephant seals have tested positive for the virus this breeding season. The H5N1 strain has been widespread in wild birds and other animals worldwide.



Lost Harvest

Greece’s mussel catch was wiped out for the second time in three years as record-high sea temperatures were too much for the bivalve mollusks to survive.
“This means that with the new year, we don’t know how we will make a living, because the main and only profession we have is mussel farming and the sea,” Aegean Sea farmer Anastasios Zakalkas told Reuters.
He said he found cracked, empty shells on his lines this fall, which means the seeds for the coming season have also been lost.



Record Emissions

Despite dire warnings of further climate catastrophes if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed, global CO2 output has increased again this year and is predicted to reach a new record high.
The 2024 Global Carbon Budget projects fossil carbon dioxide emissions will be 41.1 billion tons, up 0.8% from 2023.
The report warns that the huge amount of CO2 now being released each year is driving increasingly dangerous global warming.
“The impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly dramatic, yet we still see no sign that burning of fossil fuels has peaked,” said lead researcher Pierre Friedlingstein, of Britain’s University of Exeter.


• Extreme Temperatures: -68°F Vostok, Antarctica; 110°F Telfer, W. Australia

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November 11, 2024 (for the week ending Nov 08)



Earthquakes

• A powerful [magnitude 3.7] quake and aftershocks jolted northern Greece’s Thessaloniki and Halkidiki region.
• Earth movements were also felt in central New Zealand [magnitude 4.9], west-central Argentina [5.4] and the Mississippi Valley [3.7].



Tropical Cyclones

• Typhoon Kong-reydrenched coastal areas of East China and southern Japan after leaving two people dead in Taiwan.
• The far northern Philippines was lashed by Category-3 Typhoon Yinxing, which was the third such storm to strike Luzon Island in less than a month.
• Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and western Cuba were lashed by strengthening Hurricane Raphael.
• Tropical Storm Patty formed briefly near the Azores.



Fiery Eruption

The strongest in a string of eruptions at eastern Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano killed at least 9 people as it spewed fireballs and searing ash on surrounding villages.
Several homes on Flores Island were set on fire by the hot debris.



Heating Peak

Surface temperatures so far this year indicate that 2024 is on track to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels for the first time.
This would, at least temporarily, breach the aspirational limit for global warming set by the Paris climate agreement.
The average surface temperature across the planet last year was already 1.45 degrees above the 1850– 1900 average, which serves as the baseline for measuring Industrial Era warming.
However, the latest NASA satellite measurements of heat entering Earth’s atmosphere and oceans, compared to the amount radiating back into space, indicate the entire climate system is now gaining less heat than it has in several years, following a record spike in 2023.



Tree Extinction

More than 1 in 3 global tree species is threatened with extinction due to climate change, logging, land clearing for agriculture and other human activities.
The Global Tree Assessment was released in an update of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
“Trees are essential to support life on Earth through their vital role in ecosystems, and millions of people depend upon them for their lives and livelihoods,” said IUCN Director General Grethel Aguilar.
The report states that because the number of tree species at risk is “more than double that of all threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians combined,” preserving tree samples in seed banks and botanical gardens is crucial.



More Extreme

The 10 deadliest extreme weather events of the past two decades were made more intense and more likely due to human-caused climate change, a new analysis by the World Weather Attribution group reveals.
But experts have not determined the extent to which global warming may have caused the recent deadly flood catastrophe in eastern Spain.
Earlier studies indicated such storms (DANAs, or Isolated Depressions at High Levels) typically occurred in November half a century ago only once every three to four years, but now spin up more often and year-round.



Spider Rescue

A species of giant European spider is being saved from extinction in its British habitat through a breeding program established after the arachnid nearly disappeared 15 years ago.
The great fen raft spider virtually vanished after its wetland home was destroyed by development.
The BBC reports that baby spiders raised in a project at Chester Zoo had to be bred in individual test tubes to prevent them from eating each other. Staff used tweezers to hand-feed them.
Once the young were strong enough, they were released by the hundreds into habitats restored by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The spiders now number in the thousands.


• Extreme Temperatures: -74°F Vostok, Antarctica; 110°F Tete, Mozambique

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November 04, 2024 (for the week ending Nov 01)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 4.7] earthquake in Death Valley was felt as far away as Las Vegas.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern Colorado [magnitude 3.4], western Guatemala [5.8], south-central Turkey [4.9], Papua New Guinea's New Britain Island [6.0] and Tonga [5.3].



Tropical Cyclones

• Super Typhoon Kong-reykilled at least one person as it slammed into Taiwan with winds of up to 125 mph as a Category-3 tropical cyclone.
  It was the largest such storm to hit the island since Typhoon Herb in 1996.
• Late reports from the Philippines say floods and mudslides from Tropical Storm Trami killed at least 136 people before the storm later doused central Vietnam.
• Cyclone Dana uprooted trees, snapped power lines and caused local flooding as it made landfall in India’s Odisha and West Bengal states.



Popo Eruption

Mexico’s towering Popocatépetl volcano spewed a massive plume of ash that traveled across the entire Gulf of Mexico to Florida, where pilots reported seeing it above Sarasota.
A significant amount of ash also fell on the Mexican city of Puebla, located near the volcano and just to the southeast of Mexico City.



Unbridled Warming

A new U.N. report warns that global warming is now on track to exceed 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 F) by the end of the century and that only a “quantum leap in ambition” to curb greenhouse gas emissions can avert a planetary climate catastrophe.
Global emissions rose by 1.3% between 2022 and 2023, reaching a new high of 57.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the report said. It adds that most nations are not taking steps needed to achieve their long-term net-zero pledges, meaning the planet will continue to suffer unbridled warming.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres cautioned, “We’re teetering on a planetary tightrope. Either leaders bridge the emissions gap, or we plunge headlong [sic] into climate disaster.”



Expanding Drought

Since the 1980s, climate change has tripled the areas of the world that suffer from extreme drought and has brought unprecedented damage to human health, according to a new report.
The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change reports that almost a third of the world experienced extreme drought for at least three months in 2023, compared to an average of only 5% four decades ago.
The increase has been most severe in South America, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.
The report states that 151 million more people faced food shortages last year compared to the 1990s.
Climate change is bringing more severe drought to some areas of the world while more extreme rainfall is drenching others.



Invasive Bird

An expanding population of invasive Indian house crows is ravaging wildlife and poultry farms in eastern Kenya.
Introduced to the country in the late 1890s, the birds quickly adapted to their new environment and now number more than a million.
“They are now predating (preying) on our indigenous species, targeting nests, eggs, chicks and even adult birds,” Kirao Lennox at the conservation group A Rocha Kenya told Reuters.
Authorities and conservation groups have begun using a specific poison called starlicide to target the crows while minimizing harm to other species.



Snowless Fuji

Japan’s famed Mount Fuji remained snow-free, marking the latest point in the year it has been bare since records began in 1894.
The mountain’s peak typically receives its first dusting of snow by early October, but unusually warm weather has delayed its arrival.
Japanese experts note that this late arrival of a snowcap aligns with trends expected under global warming.
The country experienced its hottest summer on record this year, with temperatures between June and August averaging 3.1 degrees Fahrenheit above normal.
Fuji, a volcano about 60 miles from Tokyo, last erupted just over 300 years ago.


• Extreme Temperatures: -74°F Vostok, Antarctica; 112°F Tete, Mozambique

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October 28, 2024 (for the week ending Oct 25)



Earthquakes

• Earth movements were felt in islands of Indonesia’s Molucca Sea [magnitude 5.8], in west-central India [3.8], eastern Crete [4.8] and Argentina’s San Juan province [5.7].



Tropical Cyclones

• At least seven people perished in Cuba as Hurricane Oscar, one of the smallest on record in terms of wind field, lashed the island.
• Tropical Storm Nadine drenched Belize and neighboring parts of Guatemala.
• Dozens in the Philippines perished in floods and volcanic landslides triggered by Tropical Storm Trami's downpours.
• Cyclone Dana approached India’s northern Bay of Bengal coast.
• Hurricane Kristy strengthened over the Pacific.



Alaskan Rumblings

The Alaska Volcano Observatory raised the alert level for the restive Mount Spurr volcanodue to increased signs of unrest.
Mount Spurr is located 75 miles west of Anchorage, which could be threatened by falling ash if the volcano were to erupt violently.



Monarch Paradox

Scientists are struggling to understand why wintering populations of monarch butterflies are declining while their summertime breeding populations remain stable.
University of Georgia researchers used data from 2,600 citizen scientist observations to investigate why monarchs are dying during their fall migration southward to Mexico.
“Either they’re losing their ability to migrate or they’re losing their will to migrate,” said Andy Davis.
It was found that butterfly deaths are not due to a lack of food along the route, as had been previously feared.
The new research reveals that the decline in the number of butterflies along the migration route is also not related to climate or the landscape they encounter.
But some fear an expanding and debilitating parasite is killing the monarchs.



CO2 removal

Land-based plants have been found to remove about 31% more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than previously thought.
The discovery casts doubt on the accuracy of current climate models, which may need to be updated to account for the higher level of carbon removal through photosynthesis.
Tropical rainforests accounted for the largest difference between previous estimates and the new higher figures, which were verified by ground observations.
A team at the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory wrote in the journal Nature that fully understanding how much carbon can be stored in land ecosystems, especially in forests, is essential for making more accurate predictions about future climate change.



Methane Microbes

The recent surge in atmospheric methane has reportedly been driven by microbes and not by the production of fossil fuels.
The short-lived but potent greenhouse gas has been responsible for about a third of Earth’s modern warming.
Levels have tripled in the atmosphere since the 1700s, even though the gas degrades in the air within a decade rather than linger for thousands of years like CO₂.
University of Colorado at Boulder researchers say microbes in landfills, wetlands and cattle account for more than half of emissions, compared to the 30% from fossil fuel production.



Polar Paw Damage

Much higher temperatures across the Arctic due to global warming appear to be causing polar bears to suffer damage to their paws from ice buildups and their effects.
University of Washington scientists report they found lacerations, hair loss, ice buildup and skin ulcerations in two East Greenland polar bear populations.
They said two bears had ice blocks up to 1 foot in diameter stuck to their pads, which caused bleeding cuts and made it difficult for the animals to walk.
“As strange as it sounds, with climate warming, there are more frequent freeze-thaw cycles with more wet snow, and this leads to ice buildup on polar bears’ paws,” said Kristin Laidre.


• Extreme Temperatures: -87°F Vostok, Antarctica; 107°F Kununurra, W. Australia

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October 21, 2024 (for the week ending Oct 18)



Earthquakes

• A wide area of southeastern Turkey was rocked by a magnitude 6.0 temblor, centered in Malatya province.
• Earth movements were also felt in northern Morocco [magnitude 4.0], far eastern India [4.4], eastern Taiwan [5.2], western Costa Rica [6.2] and interior parts of the Los Angeles Basin [3.0].



Fueled by Heat

Hurricanes are 50% more likely to undergo rapid intensification during marine heat waves in the Gulf of Mexico and northwestern Caribbean, according to a new study.
Fast intensifications were clearly evident as hurricanes Helene and Milton exploded over the Gulf in the past month, with disastrous consequences for those in Florida and other parts of the southeastern U.S.
Such storms are far more dangerous for those in their paths because their intensity is harder to predict. They are also expected to become more frequent and stronger due to global warming.
Researchers say marine heat causes more surface water to evaporate, fueling the intensification of storms.



Congo Eruption

Lava began spew- ing from the summit crater of Nyamuragira volcano, located in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
While clearly visible as a fiery glow from the regional capital of Goma, previous eruptions have sent lava away from the city and into the Virunga National Park.



White Blobs

Mysterious gooey blobs that have recently washed up on the beaches of Newfoundland are baffling scientists and local residents. The blobs are littering about 28 miles of coastline.
“They looked just like a pancake before you flip it over, when it has those dimpled little bubbles. I poked a couple with a stick and they were spongy and firm inside,” said Patrick’s Cove resident Dave McGrath.
Ranging in size from dinner plates to large coins, early suggestions that they could be whale mucus, semen or vomit have been ruled out by experts.
What is known is that they are not petroleum-based products, and that a full battery of tests could take months to conduct.



Antarctic Green

Satellite images reveal that the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby islands have been covered by vegetation at a surprising rate since 1986, with the pace accelerating since 2016, mainly due to the growth of mosses.
“The scale of the greening trend we found shocked us,” said Tom Roland at Britain’s University of Exeter.
The study revealed that less than 1 square kilometer (250 acres) of the peninsula was covered by vegetation in 1986, but that amount grew to nearly 12 square kilometers (almost 3,000 acres) by the end of the study in 2021.



Tenacious Life

Scientists have discovered living microbes deep inside a rock in South Africa that is about 2 billion years old. Previously, the oldest rocks containing such microbes were just 100 million years old and found in seabed sediments.
Yohey Suzuki of the University of Tokyo believes the slow-growing microbes were carried into the ancient volcanic rocks by water after they formed, and are not necessarily 2 billion years old.
The rocks were clogged with clay, providing the microorganisms with the nutrients needed to survive so long.



Tardy Tads

Wildlife officials say tadpoles in Cumbria, a northern county in England, have decided not to turn into frogs this year due to extended periods of bad weather.
Jodie Mills of the West Cumbria Rivers Trust said that while Britain’s young amphibians typically begin their metamorphosis into baby frogs in April and May, they are still being seen in waterways well into autumn.
“We are hoping they will survive the winter and have a head start over the tadpoles that will spawn in the spring because they will be bigger,” Mills said.
Tadpoles can survive winter by swimming beneath frozen water surfaces.


• Extreme Temperatures: -86°F Vostok, Antarctica; 112°F Tambacounda, Senegal

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October 14, 2024 (for the week ending Oct 11)



Earthquakes

• A sharp magnitude 5.7 quake and strong aftershock beneath New Zealand’s Cook Strait burst water pipes and cracked buildings around Wellington.
• Earth movements were also felt in Tasmania [magnitude 3.7], central Ethiopia [4.9], and Trinidad and neighboring parts of northeastern Venezuela [5.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• Hurricane Milton pummeled Florida’s central Gulf Coast as a Category-3 storm and the fifth hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. this year. The storm brought storm surges, wind damage and record rainfall.
• Hurricanes Kirk and Leslie, churned the open Atlantic Ocean.
• Typhoon Krathon left two people dead after striking southern Taiwan.
• Tropical Storm Ancha formed in the Indian Ocean.



Java Eruption

Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano spewed 21 flows of lava down the mountain’s southeastern slopes in Central Java.
Authorities advised residents to avoid the valleys where lava flows were most likely to occur.



Arctic Refreeze

A British start-up company has successfully tested a method in the Canadian Arctic to thicken the polar ice cap using seawater, aimed at reversing the recent rapid loss of summer sea ice due to global warming.
The process developed by Real Ice involves pumping seawater onto the Arctic sea ice surface, where it freezes and integrates with the existing ice. The goal is to promote the regrowth of sea ice around the North Pole so it won’t disappear in summer as has been predicted.
The company plans to scale up the project with underwater drones designed to treat vast areas of the Arctic, estimating its deployment costs at $6 billion annually.



Radioactive Bolts

New research using a retrofitted high-altitude spy plane has revealed that most large tropical thunderstorms generate gamma radiation more frequently than previously thought.
It’s long been known that such storms were sources of gamma radiation, but just how often remained a mystery until the recent study.
“There is way more going on in thunderstorms than we ever imagined,” said researcher Steve Cummer at Duke University. “As it turns out, essentially all big thunderstorms generate gamma rays all day long in many different forms.”
But Cummer and colleagues stress that the amount of radiation created in the electrical storms would be dangerous only if a person were very near the heart of the tempest.



Dune Deluges

A rare extratropical storm brought heavy rainfall to southeastern Morocco’s Sahara Desert, exceeding the amount the region would expect in an entire year and creating blue lagoons among the dunes.
The downpour, the heaviest for the region in decades, brought over 4 inches of rain to some areas, refilling reservoirs and groundwater supplies vital to drought-stricken communities.
Meteorologists suggest the event could alter future weather patterns as the air over the arid region still retains moisture, possibly providing fuel for more storms.



Wildlife Losses

The populations of wild animals monitored by scientists have declined by over 70% in the past 50 years, according to the latest World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Index report.
The assessment, which analyzed 35,000 populations from over 5,000 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish, reveals severe declines, especially in biodiversity-rich regions like Latin America and the Caribbean, where losses reached 95%.
The report underscores the urgent need to tackle climate change and habitat destruction, which are behind much of the species decline.
Experts stress that global action to protect ecosystems could prevent even more catastrophic wildlife losses.


• Extreme Temperatures: -92°F Vostok, Antarctica; 117°F Villamontes, Bolivia

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October 07, 2024 (for the week ending Oct 04)



Earthquakes

• [With a 4.2 magnitude,] the largest quake to shake the San Francisco Bay Area in two years awakened residents late at night from Silicon Valley to Monterey Bay.
• Earth movements were also felt in Australia’s northeastern New South Wales [magnitude 3.2], the central Philippines [5.9], northwestern Sumatra [5.0] and islands of the Banda Sea [6.0].



Tropical Cyclones

• Around 200 people perished in flooding and other storm-related disasters as Hurricane Helene ravaged Florida and other parts of the southeastern United States.
• Hurricane John caused at least five deaths as it made a second landfall in Mexico’s Guerrero state.
• Hurricanes Isaac, Joyce , and Tropical Storm Kirk, churned the Atlantic.
• Daily life was brought to a near standstill on Taiwan as Typhoon Krathon lashed the island.
• Typhoon Jebi skirted northeastern Japan.



Polluted Lightning

New research suggests that air pollution may contribute to more severe lightning storms, particularly in some urban areas.
Scientists from James Madison University found that when polluted air is drawn into a cloud through updrafts, the particles become separated, creating a difference in electrical charges, which increases the potential for lightning.
This phenomenon was observed around Kansas City and Washington, D.C., as well as Bangkok.
The researchers found that more lightning occurred downwind from these cities, with urban pollution intensifying lightning that often triggered ground fires.



Hotter Lives

Extreme heat is increasingly causing people to spend less time outdoors and change their transportation choices, according to new research.
Scientists at Arizona State University found that vulnerable groups, such as low-income families without cars, face greater risks from global warming and are less able to avoid exposure to unhealthy conditions.
The researchers emphasized the need for targeted policies, including additional shaded public spaces, the declaration of heat emergencies, and urban design improvements to reduce the risks of rising temperatures.
“We need to take decisive action to ensure that our cities are equipped to protect all residents from the dangers of extreme heat,” said co-author Irfan Batur.



Jet Cooling

Researchers suggest that the global aviation industry could alter some flights to take advantage of the minor cooling effects jet contrails have during the day.
While persistent condensation trails trap heat at night, contributing to global warming, those formed during the day reflect sunlight, producing a net cooling.
A report from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership recommends rerouting flights to areas less likely to promote the formation of persistent contrails and rescheduling nighttime flights to daylight hours to help airlines reduce their overall contribution to global warming.



Glacial Shift

A portion of the border between Italy and Switzerland is being redrawn as melting glaciers have shifted the historically recognized frontier in the Alps.
Swiss glaciers lost 4% of their volume in 2023, following a 6% loss in 2022.
In response, both countries agreed to adjust the border beneath the Matterhorn, which straddles Switzerland’s Zermatt region and Italy’s Aosta Valley.
“Significant sections of the border are defined by the watershed or ridge lines of glaciers, firn, or perpetual snow,” the Swiss government said. “These formations are changing due to the melting of glaciers.”



Arctic Ice

U.S. ice experts say the ice pack around the North Pole likely reached its annual minimum on Sept. 11, bringing the seventh-lowest coverage in nearly 46 years of reliable satellite observations.
The U.S. Snow and Ice Data Center reported that the ice covered about 1.6 million square miles on that date.


• Extreme Temperatures: -98°F Vostok, Antarctica; 113°F Phoenix, Arizona

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September 30, 2024 (for the week ending Sep 27)



Earthquakes

• A 20-inch tsunami surged ashore on Japan’s Izu and Ogasawara islands shortly after a strong [magnitude 5.9] temblor struck the region.
• Earth movements were also felt in Taiwan [magnitude 4.8], Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island [6.1], northern Greece [4.8], northwestern Argentina [6.0], north-central Chile [5.4] and Los Angeles [3.0].



Tropical Cyclones

• Tropical Storm Pulasan brought unprecedented flooding rains to areas of western Japan still recovering from a devastating quake that killed at least 236 people on New Year’s Day.
• Hurricane Helene raked parts of Florida as it roared ashore in the panhandle.
• Hurricane John killed at least three people in mudslides across southwestern Mexico’s Guerrero state.



Thin Ice

Climate change is making lake ice thinner and less stable, and it is reducing the duration of ice coverage each year, according to new research from Toronto’s York University.
“Ice quality is important because of its direct implications for load-bearing capacity, human safety and the amount of light that penetrates through the ice to sustain life in frozen lakes,” said Sapna Sharma.
She adds that degraded ice is hazardous for skaters, hockey players, snowmobilers, ice anglers and ice truckers. Last December, six people died in Canada after falling through thin ice. Four others perished in Finland in January and February 2024 under similar circumstances.



Unwelcome Guest

The first polar bear to arrive in Iceland since 2016 was shot dead by authorities after it was deemed a threat to local residents.
The bear was rummaging through an elderly woman’s garbage at her remote summer cottage in the far northwest of the island.
Authorities were dispatched after the woman called her daughter for help. “It’s not something we like to do, but the bear was too close to human habitation to risk a relocation attempt,” said Westfjords Police Chief Helgi Jensson.
Polar bears are not native to Iceland but occasionally drift ashore from Greenland on ice floes.
While a protected species, Icelandic law allows polar bears to be killed if they are deemed a threat to human life or livestock.



Rhino Rebound

Tanzanian officials announced that conservation efforts have increased the country’s black rhino population from just 162 in 2015 to 263 today.
The country was home to around 10,000 black rhinos in the 1960s, but rampant poaching in the following decades reduced the population to fewer than 100 earlier this century.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has urged all Tanzanians to play a role in protecting the country’s wildlife by reporting poaching to authorities.
Rhino viewing is a major draw to tourists visiting the country.



Superbug Threat

A new report warns that bacterial superbugs could kill nearly 40 million people worldwide over the next 25 years.
Scientists at Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance say an estimated 1 million people are already dying each year due to drug-resistant pathogens.
The death toll is unevenly distributed, with a quarter of all deaths now occurring in South Asia.
Other Asian regions and sub-Saharan Africa could experience higher death rates in the coming decades.



Butterfly Crisis

Britain’s Butterfly Conservation has declared a “butterfly emergency” after recording the lowest number of the insects on record during this summer’s count.
The group warned that this was the worst year in the past 14 years for once-ubiquitous species such as the common blue, small tortoise-shell, small white and green-veined white. It added that 8 out of the 10 most common species have declined, with many populations dropping dramatically.
It calls on the government to totally ban insect-killing neonicotinoid pesticides.


• Extreme Temperatures: -97°F South Pole, Antarctica; 111°F Abu Dhabi, UAE

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September 23, 2024 (for the week ending Sep 20)



Earthquakes

• [With a magnitude of 5.1,] one of the strongest quakes in Texas history was felt widely from West Texas to Dallas and San Antonio.
• Earth movements were also felt around Los Angeles [magnitude 3.6], coastal British Columbia [6.5], the French Riviera [4.3], eastern Romania [5.2] and Indonesia’s West Java province [5.0].



Tropical Cyclones

• Remnants of Typhoon Yagi took another 226 lives in Myanmar.
• Typhoon Bebinca lashed Shanghai with the highest winds and heaviest rains since Typhoon Gloria struck in 1949. Weaker Tropical Storm Pulasan took a more southerly course days later.
• Tropical Storm Lleana drenched southern Baja California.
• Tropical Storm Gordon churned the central Atlantic Ocean.



Ozone Recovery

The U.N.’s weather agency reports that the planet’s protective ozone layer is on a “path to long-term recovery,” despite a temporary setback from the massive volcanic eruption near Tonga in early 2023.
The eruption shot water vapor into the stratosphere, briefly accelerating ozone depletion over Antarctica.
However, a new World Meteorological Organization report concludes that the ozone layer is gradually thickening after decades of depletion caused by human-made chemicals, which are now being phased out.
According to the agency, if current policies remain in place, the ozone layer could return to 1980 levels, without a hole, by around 2066.



Antarctic Ice

The ring of sea ice surrounding Antarctica reached near-record low levels for the second consecutive year in early September, suggesting a potential permanent shift in the region’s climate.
“Last year we were talking about whether Antarctic sea ice is undergoing a regime shift. Not anymore,” Edward Doddridge from Australia’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies told New Scientist.
“Antarctica has pretty definitively answered that question for us. Now we are talking about what the impacts of that regime shift will be.”
The effect of this trend on Antarctic wildlife is among the greatest concerns.



'Grumpy' Fish

Saudi and American researchers have discovered a new “grumpy” fish species swimming among the coral reefs of the Red Sea.
Despite its small size — less than one inch in length — the grumpy dwarf goby stands out with its long canines and fierce expression.
The team first encountered the species in the Farasan Banks of Saudi Arabia.
The fish’s bright red coloration helps it blend in with the walls and overhangs of the coral reefs, while its large canines are used to catch passing prey.



Jumbo Cull

Zimbabwe announced it will kill around 200 elephants to address a surging population of the animals amid an unprecedented drought.
Most of the elephants will be culled in areas where they have clashed with people, with the meat being dried and packed to supply “some communities that need the protein.”
Similar culls of elephants and other wild animals have already been conducted in neighboring Namibia.



The New Normal

Spurts of intense global heating, interspersed with relatively ‘normal’ conditions, should be considered the new normal for the world’s climate, according to studies from the University of Miami.
Atmospheric scientist Ben Kirtman points to a period in the mid-2000s when there was a slowdown in climate change, prompting some climate deniers to argue that global warming was over and that carbon emissions were not a problem.
“But then, it started to warm again,” said Kirtman. “The fact is, Mother Nature doesn’t draw straight lines. There’s natural variability.”


• Extreme Temperatures: -110°F Vostok, Antarctica; 117°F Yenbo, Saudi Arabia

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September 16, 2024 (for the week ending Sep 13)



Earthquakes

• [With a magnitude of 3.8,] the strongest quake to hit Spain’s Gran Canaria Island in 60 years startled both residents and tourists but caused no damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in the Republic of Georgia [magnitude 4.1], central Pakistan [5.4], central Vietnam 3.3], eastern Taiwan [5.3], Guam [4.5] and a wide area of greater Los Angeles [4.7].



Tropical Cyclones

• Around 200 people were killed in flash floods and mudslides triggered by Typhoon Yagi, which swept from South China’s Hainan Island to northern Vietnam.
  Yagi was the most powerful storm the region had seen in decades.
• Tropical Storm Bebinca is forecast to become a powerful typhoon before striking the Chinese coast near Shanghai next week.
• Louisiana and parts of coastal Texas were battered by Hurricane Francine, which later caused flooding across the lower Mississippi Valley.



Philippine Alert

Toxic gas from increased activity at Kanlaon volcano in the central Philippines has forced hundreds of residents to flee their homes.
Officials have warned residents on Negros Island that the volcano could be on the verge of erupting with lava for the first time since 1902.
Kanlaon has erupted 15 times in the past nine years, but without lava.



Shifting Jets

Climate change appears to be driving a shift in jet streams toward the poles, according to researchers at University College London.
In the Northern Hemisphere, this shift could lead to dramatic changes in weather patterns from the western United States to the Mediterranean.
Atmospheric researcher Thomas Keel and his team found that the wintertime polar jet stream above the North Pacific has moved northward by 18 to 50 miles per decade since 1980, from December to February.
However, Keel pointed out that jet streams in some regions have not moved at all, while others are drifting toward the equator.



Drought Crisis

Brazil is facing its most severe and widespread drought in seven decades of recorded weather history, leading to devastating wildfires and record-low levels of the region’s rivers.
An area the size of Italy has already burned across the country so far this year.
“This is the first time a drought has stretched from the North to the Southeast,” said Ana Paula Cunha, a researcher at Brazil’s National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters.
Dried-up streams have stranded many communities that rely on water access, while the region’s Paraguay and Paraná rivers have fallen so low that boat transport of key commodities, such as soybeans, has been severely limited or nearly halted.



Methane Surge

Despite pledges from more than 150 nations to reduce methane emissions by 30% this decade, the potent greenhouse gas has increased at an unprecedented rate over the past five years.
“This trend cannot continue if we are to maintain a habitable climate,” Stanford University researchers wrote in a Sept. 10 article in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
Atmospheric methane concentrations are now more than 2.6 times higher than preindustrial levels.
At least two-thirds of emissions are generated by such human activities as fossil fuel use, farming and landfills.



Ill Winds

Microbes capable of causing human disease were recently found in air samples high above Japan, having traveled more than 1,200 miles on dust particles.
“Around 30% to 40% of the microbes were ... either well-recognized human pathogens or opportunistic pathogens,” said lead researcher Xavier Rodó from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. These pathogens can harm people with weakened immune systems.
The study also revealed that the dust particles shielded the microbes from exposure to ultraviolet light and dehydration, allowing some to remain viable.


• Extreme Temperatures: -101°F Vostok, Antarctica; 119°F Death Valley, California

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September 09, 2024 (for the week ending Sep 06)



Earthquakes

• Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville Island was strongly shaken by a magnitude 6.4 temblor, but there were no reports of significant damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in Eastern Taiwan [magnitude 5.0], north-central Nepal [4.2] and southern Quebec [3.8].



Tropical Cyclones

• Typhoon Shanshan left seven people dead and around 130 others injured as one of the strongest storms to hit Japan in decades.
• Downpours in the northern Philippines triggered by Tropical Storm Yagi killed at least 14 people in landslides, floods and swollen rivers.
• Tropical Storm Asna spun up over the Arabian Sea.



Heat Deaths

After an earlier decline, heat deaths across the United States have been rising since 2016 due to searing summers from global heating.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says extreme heat is now killing about 1,220 people annually because both high temperatures and humidity are causing increased stress on the human body.
The CDC warns that the elderly and small children are the most vulnerable to the mounting heat, along with those with mental illness or chronic disease.
“As temperatures continue to rise because of climate change, the recent increasing trend is likely to continue,” said Jeffrey Howard at the University of Texas at San Antonio.



Disease Surge

Climate change appears to be a major factor in the sudden spike of mosquito-borne illnesses around the world, as warmer temperatures lengthen the mosquito season and expand the insects’ geographic range.
A New Hampshire man died in late August from eastern equine encephalitis — the state’s first-known case since 2014.
Brazil has seen a more than 800% surge in cases of Oropouche virus, which has symptoms similar to dengue and Zika viruses. More than 8,000 cases have been reported this year across five South American countries.
The year 2024 has also set a record for dengue, with 11 million cases and 7,000 deaths seen worldwide, which is nearly double the historically high number of cases reported last year.



Vanishing Salmon

Sport fishermen and marine life experts are alarmed over the tiny number of wild salmon that returned to Norway’s rivers this year.
Salmon spawned in the country’s rivers typically spend the winter in the Norwegian Sea and the open waters off Greenland, but experts say something dramatic appears to have hindered their return this spring.
Dozens of Norwegian rivers were closed at times during the summer fishing season, the first time on record.
Climate change and higher sea temperatures could be factors to the sudden disappearance of the medium and large wild salmon.



End Protection?

The former head of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) said that whales are now doing so well that the time has come to close the organization that was once established to protect them.
Peter Bridgewater told the Observer that while the IWC did great work to end whale hunting in the 1980s, it has now become a “zombie institution” that should disband itself at its meeting in Lima this month.
“We propose that it hand over several pending issues to other conventions and national governments and then close up shop,” Bridgewater and other conservationists wrote in the August issue of the journal Nature.



Wild Indignation

Ranchers from Colorado to the Alps are expressing outrage over the deaths of their livestock from wolves that have been introduced into the wild after being absent in some areas since the 19th century.
Surging wolf populations have stirred intense emotion in Europe, with Austria now authorizing the controversial killing of the predators.
A string of attacks on Colorado livestock has forced wildlife agencies to rethink their ambitious reintroduction plans, and to relocate some of the wolves.
Ranchers say they want the canines culled or kept in captivity, where the wolves can’t kill their animals.


• Extreme Temperatures: -87°F Vostok, Antarctica; 118°F Al Ain, UAE

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September 02, 2024 (for the week ending Aug 30)



Earthquakes

• A wide area from southern Portugal and southwestern Spain to Morocco was jolted by a [magnitude 5.4] temblor centered off Portugal’s coast.
• Earth movements were also felt in Greece’s Attica region [magnitude 4.5], South Asia’s Hindu Kush region [5.4], islands of Indonesia’s Banda Sea [5.8], eastern New South Wales [4.8], Tonga [6.9] and El Salvador [6.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• Powerful Typhoon Shanshan lashed Japan’s southern-most islands with up to Category-4 force before the weakened storm later caused damage and severe flooding to Kyushu Island.
• Hawaii’s Big Island received flash flooding and some wind damage fromHurricane Hone, which passed just to the south.
• Hurricane Gilma weakened to a depression before reaching northern islands of Hawaii.
• Tropical Storm Hector dissipated over the eastern Pacific.



Eruptive Dangers

Sulfur dioxide gas from the sixth eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula since last December blanketed a wide area of Ireland, the U.K. and western Europe.
Experts said the concentration of the gas, which smells like rotten eggs, was not high enough to be a health risk.
NB: The claim of SO₂ smelling of rotten eggs is false. SO₂ has a strong smell of burnt matches, but it is hydrogen sulfide H₂S that smells of rotten eggs.



Bee Starvation

French beekeepers say this has been a disastrous year for their hives, with their bees starving to death and the nation’s honey production plummeting by 80%.
Cool and wet weather earlier this year prevented bees from collecting enough pollen, and flowers that the bees depend on failed to produce much nectar.
“In June, the bee population increases and the needs of the colonies grow ... some died of hunger,” Brittany beekeeper Jean-Luc Hascoet told AFP.
He added that this year’s bee starvation followed several seasons of scorching heat and delayed frosts, which also caused a plunge in honey production.



Jellyfish Invasion

Nearly 7,500 swimmers on Spain’s Catalan coast have sought medical attention this summer after being stung by jellyfish, which are exploding in numbers and moving northward due to record Mediterranean heat.
Costa Brava resorts have been particularly hard hit by purple barrel jellyfish, with the number of stings reported across the region increasing 41% from the previous year. Similar increases have occurred elsewhere across the Mediterranean.
“For now, we know rising sea temperatures are favorable to jellyfish blooms, but we don’t know what will happen if temperatures rise further,” Macarena Marambio at the Institute of Marine Science in Barcelona told The Guardian.



Antarctic Bird Flu

New research finds that “avian influenza” is spreading across the Antarctic region more quickly than originally feared.
The annual meeting of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research in Chile was told by researchers that 14 new cases of animals affected by bird flu had been detected in penguins, sea lions, Antarctic pigeons and brown skua.
They all tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian flu virus.



'Hormonal' Dolphin

Dolphin attacks on swimmers around the western Japanese town of Mihama have increased in during the past few years, and experts now believe they may be from a single lonely and potentially sexually frustrated marine mammal.
There have been 18 attacks so far this year, with a bite on one child requiring stitches. A swimmer was left with broken ribs last year.
While very rare, dolphin attacks can be dangerous. “Just as in humans and other social animals, hormonal fluctuations, sexual frustration or the desire to dominate might drive the dolphin to (injure the people it interacts with,” said Simon Allen at Australia’s Shark Bay Dolphin Research.


• Extreme Temperatures: -91°F Vostok, Antarctica; 121°F Al Hofuf, Saudi Arabia

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August 26, 2024 (for the week ending Aug 23)



Earthquakes

• An intense [magnitude 7.0] temblor along the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula knocked items off shelves and was followed by a nearby volcanic eruption.
• Earth movements were also felt in the Kashmir and northern Pakistan regions [magnitude 5.1], western Syria [4.8], Jamaica [4.5] and along the Argentina-Bolivia border [5.5].



Tropical Cyclones

• Tropical Storm Jongdari weakened before reaching the Korean Peninsula but still dumped heavy rain on Seoul and other parts of South Korea.
• A near miss on eastern Japan by Category-4 Typhoon Ampil spared the region notable damage.
• After making a direct hit on Bermuda with Category-2 force, Hurricane Ernesto brushed Newfoundland and was predicted to bring heavy rain and high winds to Ireland, the U.K. and parts of Western Europe.
• Gilma reached hurricane force, moving westward over the Pacific Ocean.



Eruption

Far East Russia’s Shiveluch volcano erupted with a plume of ash that blanketed a nearby village.
The TASS news agency reported that the eruption also released a “gush” of lava.



Mediterranean Heat

Water temperatures of the Mediterranean reached record daily highs in mid-August, with experts warning that the unprecedented heat will have long-lasting consequences for marine life.
The water off the Egyptian coast at El-Arish soared to a record of 89.5 degrees Fahrenheit on Aug. 15 while another record was broken the same day along Spain’s Costa Brava at 83.7 degrees.
“With this progressive warming, the Mediterranean will surely end up losing its seasonality. And this will greatly harm many species that now depend on this seasonality,” said marine biologist Xavier Salvador Costa of Spain’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Barcelona.



Atlantic Niña

The Atlantic Ocean has mysteriously been cooling at a record pace over the past three months after more than a year of record warmth.
While there is a cyclical cooling of those waters known as the “Atlantic Niña,” scientists are puzzled as to why it is occurring faster than ever seen before.
The emerging Niña is developing just ahead of a predicted shift to a better-known La Niña cooling in the tropical Pacific.
The combined Atlantic and Pacific cooling could have vast consequences for weather worldwide, which had been influenced by El Niño for most of 2023.
Experts suggest the two Niñas could influence each other, with the Atlantic cooling delaying the development of La Niña in the Pacific, along with its cooling effects on the world’s climate.



Forever Everywhere

Human-made compounds known as “forever chemicals” have now reached many of the world’s most pristine areas, and scientists have found one major way in which they are doing it.
Used in products from nonstick pans to waterproof clothing, and nearly impossible to break down, they were earlier thought to be mainly transported via water.
But a new study using sensors at the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory in Brazil reveal at least one type is also carried in the wind, possibly from factories.



Caspian Shrink

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev expressed concern over the “catastrophic” shrinking of the Caspian Sea in recent years, with water levels falling steadily since the mid-1990s.
He expressed his concerns to visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin in part because water that naturally flows into the Caspian from Russia’s Volga River is being diverted upstream for crop irrigation.
Nazim Mahmudov, the head of the National Hydrometeorological Service, told Reuters the decline in the sea’s level is also due to increased evaporation associated with global heating.
Some ferries that once carried passengers between towns on Turkmenistan’s Caspian coast have stopped operating because of low water levels.


• Extreme Temperatures: -94°F South Pole, Antarctica; 121°F Al Qaysumah, Saudi Arabia

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August 19, 2024 (for the week ending Aug 16)



Earthquakes

• A magnitude 4.2 quake in Armenia cracked walls and caused some buildings to collapse.
• Greater Los Angeles was briefly jolted by a moderate [magnitude 4.6] quake.
• Earth movements were also felt in the Romania-Hungary border region [magnitude 4.4], western Syria [5.0] and Tokyo[ 5.0].



Tropical Cyclones

• Parts of northern Japan received record rainfall from Typhoon Maria.
• Maria was followed by Typhoon Ampil, which skirted the coast near Tokyo before heading out to sea.
• Tropical Storm Son-Tinh dissipated near Japan’s northernmost islands.
• The Windward Islands and Puerto Rico were raked and flooded by strengthening Hurricane Ernesto.



Solar Storm

Earth was slammed by an intense wave of charged particles from a solar storm that ionized the top of the planet’s atmosphere.
Radiation from the solar flare caused shortwave radio blackouts from East Asia and Indonesia to the Middle East and East Africa.
It also triggered vivid displays of the aurora borealis and aurora australis.
Sunspot numbers are now at a 23-year high, and the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center says the current 11-year solar cycle should peak before January.
Earth went through the most powerful solar storm in 20 years during May, causing aurora to be seen at much lower latitudes than normal around the world.



La Niña Watch

U.S. meteorologists continue to predict the La Niña ocean cooling will occur later this year, but they have slightly lowered the odds.
The Climate Prediction Center (CPC) says there is a 66% chance it will develop between September and November and persist through the upcoming Northern Hemisphere winter.
It says there is a 74% chance of the weather-altering phenomenon being in place between November and January.
While water surface temperatures off South America are now slightly cooler than normal, the CPC still considers the tropical Pacific region to be in a “neutral” phase, between an El Niño and La Niña.



Split Vortex

The southern polar vortex swirling over Antarctica appears to be about to split in two for the first time since 2002. This could lead to a sudden warming of the Antarctic stratosphere and bring hotter and drier weather to Australia and southern parts of South America in the months ahead.
The vortex has recently shown signs of instability similar to those in 2002, with slower speeds and shifts in position.
This realignment has caused cold Antarctic air to reach South America, Australia and New Zealand while extraordinarily warm air swept into Antarctica.



Amazon Losses

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon was at its lowest level since 2016 in June after 15 consecutive months of decline.
But a new Brazilian government report says illegal logging and forest clearing skyrocketed again in July at a time it has historically increased before the onset of the dry period from August to January.
The surge is being blamed on an environmental workers’ strike that began in June, drastically curtailing the enforcement of laws against deforestation.



Hotter Nights

Nearly 1 person in 3 around the world is now suffering from an increased number of hot nights brought on by human-induced climate change, according to a new study.
It also found that around 2.4 billion people have experienced at least two weeks of temperatures that didn’t fall below 77 degrees at night over the past decade.
The U.N. says this is just above the threshold where sleep often becomes uncomfortable for humans.
The Indian city of Mumbai endured 60 more days of hot nights than normal during the past 10 years.


• Extreme Temperatures: -104°F Vostok, Antarctica; 122°F Death Valley, California

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August 12, 2024 (for the week ending Aug 9)



Earthquakes

• Nine people were injured by a southern [magnitude 7.1] Japan temblor that created a tsunami almost 2 feet in height on Kyushu Island.
• Earth movements were also felt in Southern California [magnitude 5.2], El Salvador [4.7], southern Italy [5.1], the southern Philippines [6.8] and near Melbourne, Australia [4.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• At least six people were killed in accidents related to Hurricane Debby's drenching of Florida’s Gulf Coast, southern Georgia and the Carolinas. Some of the severe flooding from the storm was unprecedented.
• The four named storms churning the Pacific at the same time off Mexico was the highest number for the region in 50 years.
  Only Hurricane Carlotta lived long enough to travel significantly westward toward Hawaii.



Fatal Impacts

A new study estimates that the death toll of birds from hitting buildings may be over 1 billion a year in the U.S. alone, with only 40% managing to survive impact.
Writing in journal PLOS One, researchers say that earlier beliefs that most stunned birds would recover to fly again were wrong, and that even those that have survived and received urgent care by rescuers still die at a rate of around 60%.
Glass windows and artificial light are the main factors of bird deaths, even though there are well-known building designs that could minimize those fatalities.
“This is happening everywhere — building collisions are a global threat,” says Dustin Partridge at NYC Bird Alliance.



Antarctic Heat

Ground temperatures in East Antarctica soared more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit above normal at the depth of the Southern Hemisphere winter, alarming scientists.
Even with the unusual heat, temperatures across a wide swath of the continent are still hovering around minus 4 degrees.
“The heat wave on the Antarctic Plateau is extraordinary more for its duration than for its intensity, although some values are notable,” said Antarctic temperature analyst Stefano Di Battista.
Contributing to the warmth are the second-lowest sea ice coverage around Antarctica this winter and the recent warming of the stratosphere, high above the southern polar region.



Amazon Drought

The Amazon regions of Brazil, Peru and Bolivia are currently drying out as one of the most severe droughts in recent years is causing river levels to plunge and water emergencies to be declared in communities dependent on the river flows.
A drought last year was the worst on record, killing dozens of river dolphins and sparking fires that choked cities with toxic smoke.
Diminished rivers also isolated some communities dependent on water transportation. Already this year, several rivers in the southwestern Amazon have dropped to the lowest levels on record for the time of year.



Bright & Tough

Some plants that are illuminated all night by streetlights can develop leaves so tough that they cannot be eaten by insects, according to a study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Researcher Shuang Zhang found that the more illumination there was, the tougher the leaves. In the brightest areas, the leaves were extremely tough and showed no sign of insects munching on them.
Zhang says that insects eating vegetation is a normal process that sustains other creatures in the ecosystem, including some species of insect-eating birds.



Doomed Coral

Scientists warn that the hottest water temperatures of the Coral Sea in at least 400 years mean that this generation of humans will probably see the demise of the Great Barrier Reef.
Writing in the journal Nature, Ben Henley of the University of Melbourne says the seven mass coral bleaching events since 1998, due to episodes of unusually warm waters, mean most of the coral will probably not be able to adapt quickly enough to survive.


• Extreme Temperatures: -87°F Vostok, Antarctica; 124°F Death Valley, California

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August 05, 2024 (for the week ending Aug 2)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 4.9] quake centered in the California high desert was felt from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.
• A swarm of wall-cracking quakes[, the largest being a magnitude 4.5,] jolted west-central Texas for a second week.
• Earth movements were also felt in Maine [magnitude 2.9], western Venezuela [5.0], central Bolivia [4.6], Crete [4.6] and central Vietnam [5.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• After ravaging the Philippines and Taiwan during the previous week, Typhoon Gaemi weakened to a tropical storm as it made landfall on South China’s Fujian coast.
  Even as a weakened storm, Gaemi’s remnants had enough power to kill 22 people in disastrous flooding and mudslides across a wide area of China and parts of North Korea.
  In total, Typhoon Gaemi was responsible for at least 77 deaths over a two-week period.
• Tropical Storm Bud formed briefly off Mexico’s Pacific coast.



Japanese Eruption

Sakurajima volcano spewed ash and vapor 15,000 feet into the skies of southern Japan in its 25th eruption so far this year.



COVID in the Wild

A new study finds that the COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) is now widespread among wildlife in the United States, including such backyard animals as rabbits, mice and bats.
Writing in the journal Nature Communications, Virginia Tech researchers say the virus was most prevalent among wildlife near hiking trails and in highly trafficked public areas. This suggests the virus passed from humans to wildlife in some casual way.
In one of the animals tested, the virus had mutated to a strain not seen in humans before. But the scientists stressed there is no evidence of the virus being transmitted from animals to humans, and people should not fear casual wildlife contact.



Earth Backup

Staff at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute are proposing that a genetic backup of endangered life on Earth be placed in a permanently dark location on the moon where no power would be needed to store it for millions of years.
The scheme would bring the potential to restore the organisms should they die out for whatever reason.
The sub-zero Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway’s Arctic was designed as a similar backup, but melting permafrost due to global heating is threatening its long-term security.
The institute’s Mary Hagedorn says a secluded lunar location free of sunlight would guarantee a permanent temperature of minus 320 degrees Fahrenheit, where all biological processes are suspended.



Carbon Imbalance

More frequent extreme heat, wildfires and drought have recently eliminated the overall absorption of carbon dioxide by trees and other elements of the land, and are said to be behind the 2023 jump in atmospheric CO₂ that was far greater than could be explained by emissions alone.
Philippe Ciais at France’s Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute says that these natural “carbon sinks" normally take in more CO₂ as they grow, but they also release it all when they burn or otherwise die.
It’s feared some of these natural air cleaners may become unable to survive the accelerating global heating.



Climate Impacts

A new Chinese study says global heating is causing widespread changes in global rainfall patterns and increasing the strength of tropical cyclones such as hurricanes and typhoons.
Writing in the journal Science, scientists point to how warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, triggering longer rainy periods in some places and longer dry ones in others.
“This is going to increase as global warming continues, enhancing the chances of droughts and/or floods,” the report concludes.
Another recent study led by a pyrogeographer at the University of Tasmania says the world’s most extreme wildfires have doubled in intensity and number over the past two decades, mainly due to climate change and land management.


• Extreme Temperatures: -90°F Vostok, Antarctica; 121°F Al Hofuf, Saudi Arabia

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July 29, 2024 (for the week ending Jul 26)



Earthquakes

• Far northern Chile was strongly shaken by a magnitude 7.4 quake that left one person dead.
• Earth movements were also felt in the Panama-Costa Rica border area [magnitude 5.3], a wide area of northern and western Texas [4.9], Lake Tahoe [3.3] and from the occupied West Bank to western Jordan [3.7].



Tropical Cyclones

• Torrents from the outer bands of Typhoon Gaemi left at least 22 people dead in severe flooding in the Philippines, which turned Manila streets into rivers.
  The storm then battered Taiwan for two days, killing three people and sinking a freighter offshore.



Heat Infections

The record heat that baked a wide swath of the U.S. due to global heating this summer appear to be a factor in the recent unprecedented infections of bird flu in humans.
The U.S. centers for Disease Control and Prevention says at least five poultry workers and 1.8 million chickens have become infected with the virus in northeastern Colorado.
The human infections occurred among workers laboriously culling the chickens in sweltering conditions far too hot to correctly wear their protective clothing and respirators at times.
Large fans used inside the barns to combat the heat may have also helped the virus spread through feathers, dust and other particles.



Cocaine Sharks

Researchers say they have found measurable amounts of cocaine in 12 Brazilian sharpnose sharks that had been swimming in the waters off Rio de Janeiro. They added that the drug had accumulated in fishes’ livers and muscle tissues.
While it is unclear how the sharks became exposed, it’s believed that the cocaine was probably flushed into the ocean in raw sewage that flowed from rivers and urban canals.
Scientists say they don’t know if the drug is affecting the sharks’ behavior, but hyperactivity and erratic movements have been noted in other exposed animals.
More concerning is that sharks are fished for human consumption.



Hottest Day

Earth baked through the hottest day ever measured, breaking the previous record by a tiny fraction of a degree set just a day earlier.
Europe’s Copernicus climate service calculated through satellite observations that the average global temperature on July 22 was 62.76 degrees Fahrenheit. That was 0.0108 degrees hotter than the day before, which itself broke by a small margin the all-time daily high set last July.
This month is typically the hottest of the year worldwide because there are more land areas around the Northern Hemisphere to be heated by the midsummer sun.



Plastic Deaths

At least three donkeys on a Kenyan island are dying from colic each month after eating plastic from trash dumps, which scientists fear could become a global problem affecting other animals.
The Guardian reports that with little grass to eat on Lamu, the donkeys rummage through heaps of plastic and other debris, occasionally ingesting enough plastic to bring on the extremely painful condition.
There have been numerous studies on the effects of plastic pollution on marine life, but little is known about how it is affecting land animals.



Ruminant Plague

An army of vets was deployed across central Greece to test for a viral disease that had forced the culling of about 2,500 sheep and goats.
While it is no threat to humans, the “plague of small ruminants” virus, also known as PPR or “goat plague,” causes fever, sores and lesions, along with labored breathing and diarrhea in infected animals.
Greek officials say they don’t know the source of the outbreak in the regions of Larissa and Trikala.
Elsewhere in Eastern Europe, the PPR virus was also detected in a small Romanian village’s zoo, where 49,000 sheep graze nearby.


• Extreme Temperatures: -88°F Vostok, Antarctica; 124°F Death Valley, California

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July 22, 2024 (for the week ending Jul 19)



Earthquakes

• Nairobi and other parts of southern Kenya were shaken for 30 seconds by a mild [magnitude 4.6] quake centered near the Tanzania border.
• Earth movements were also felt in eastern Japan [magnitude 5.6], Jamaica [3.7], southern Peru [5.7] and northern Illinois [3.4].



Tropical Cyclones

• A minimal and unnamed tropical cyclone brought rain to central Vietnam without being accompanied by high winds or storm surge flooding.



Helium Bonanza

Geologists in northern Minnesota’s Iron Range say a recently discovered reservoir of helium pierced by drilling could be the richest in the world.
The discovery could mean a bonanza not only for party balloons, but also for the manufacturing of semi-conductors and uses in high-energy particle colliders and nuclear reactors.
Testing by Pulsar Helium reveals that the concentration of helium in this deposit, which lies some 2,000 feet underground, is between 8.7% and 13.8%, far higher than the 0.3% that is considered commercially viable.
Helium is scarce, forming in nature only through the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium. There have been regular helium shortages worldwide this century.



Croc Invasion

Hundreds of crocodiles have been flushed into populated areas of northeastern Mexico’s Tamaulipas state this summer by downpours associated with Tropical Storm Alberto and Hurricane Beryl.
Authorities say the heavy rainfall raised the water levels in coastal lagoons, prompting the reptiles to crawl into the cities of Tampico, Ciudad Madero and Altamira, where at least 165 were captured and relocated.
But federal officials say that at least 200 have entered urban areas in total since June, alarming residents.
Crocodiles are a protected species in the country, and attacks by them on humans are rare.



Population Peak

The United Nations says that 1 in 4 of the world’s nations has ready reached its highest population, and declining birth rates will result in slower or reduced growth there in the future.
It predicts that the number of humans on Earth will likely peak at 10.3 billion sometime in the mid-2080s, mainly fueled by continued growth in nations such as Indonesia, India and Nigeria.
For many countries already past peak, it would have occurred sooner if not for immigration, which the U.N. says will be the main source of population growth in more than 50 countries during the next 30 years.



Bison Storage

A single herd of bison reportedly has the capacity to help remove the yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 43,000 U.S. cars, or 123,000 European vehicles, which have higher fuel efficiency.
“Bison influence grassland and forest ecosystems by grazing grasslands evenly, recycling nutrients to fertilize the soil and all of its life, dispersing seeds to enrich the ecosystem and compacting the soil to prevent stored carbon from being released,” lead researcher Oswald Schmitz of the Yale School of the Environment told The Guardian.
Schmitz made the discovery while studying the re-introduction of European bison into Romania’s Tarcu Mountains after an absence of more than 200 years.



River Diseases

Sewage being released into rivers is resulting in waterborne bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics, which scientists say is causing waterways to become “a reservoir of disease.”
A study by Britain’s University of Suffolk found that bacterial strains in the River Deben in Suffolk had acquired the resistance by swapping DNA with antibiotic-resistant E. coli.
“We’re needlessly adding pathogenic and virulence genes to bacteria found in the environment,” Suffolk microbiologist Nick Tucker told the BBC.
He added that the careless seepage of sewage into rivers from domestic cesspits, farms and industrial waste doesn’t necessarily increase the risk of infections in humans, but it does greatly reduce the ability to treat them.


• Extreme Temperatures: -100°F Vostok, Antarctica; 124°F Al Hofuf, Saudi Arabia

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July 15, 2024 (for the week ending Jul 12)



Earthquakes

• A moderate [magnitude 4.8] temblor was felt along Turkey’s southwestern coast and on the nearby island of Rhodes.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern Sumatra [magnitude 5.4], the far southern Philippines [7.1], Hawaii’s Big Island [4.1] and along the Panama-Costa Rica border [5.3].



Tropical Cyclones

• From catastrophic wind damage in the Caribbean to flooding and tornadoes from Texas to New England, former Category-5 Hurricane Beryl left at least 18 people dead in its wake.
• Minimal Tropical Storm Aletta formed for a few hours off Mexico’s Pacific coast.



Italian Eruptions

Sicily's Mount Etna and Stromboli volcanoes both erupted with plumes of hot ash soaring into the Mediterranean sky as well as with fiery fountains of lava. Following Etna’s eruption, residents and authorities in the nearby city of Catania moved to clean streets and cars that had been left blanketed in volcanic ash.



Heat & Havoc

Last month’s highest air and ocean temperatures on record worldwide helped to supercharge Hurricane Beryl in the Atlantic and Caribbean to Category-5 force while also bringing severe conditions to many other parts of the world.
June’s summertime swelter punctuated 12 straight months of record high temperatures, according to Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
A North American heat wave that began in June continued well into July as severe storms and tornadoes caused destruction and havoc.
Monsoon rains in India have recently triggered deadly floods and mudslides, with similar disasters reported on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island and in South Africa.



Fatal Attraction

Coastal light pollution can attract small fish to their doom, acting as a “midnight fridge” that lures them to be eaten by predators that are also attracted to the light, a new study reveals.
Jules Schligler, the lead author of the study at the Center for Insular Research and Environmental Observatory in Mo’orea, French Polynesia, looked at 12 coral sites, shining underwater light on half of them. He found that lit coral attracted fish larvae first, then the predators that ate them.
Schligler points out that earlier studies of satellite images revealed that almost a quarter of the world’s coastlines, excluding Antarctica, are artificially lit.



Hippo Glide

British animal experts say they have discovered that hippos can trot so rapidly that they actually “glide through the air,” however briefly, when at full speed.
A report by the Royal Veterinary College says the massive mammals, weighing up to two tons, can propel themselves with all four feet off the ground for up to 0.3 seconds at a time.
Hippos are dangerous animals and are usually active at night, which makes them difficult to study.
The researchers also found that hippos are more athletic than elephants but less than rhinos.



Wildfire Emissions

Carbon emissions created by wildfires above the Arctic Circle so far this summer are the third highest in the last two decades of monitoring.
Europe’s Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service estimates that around 7.5 megatons of carbon were released into the air by the blazes during June alone.
It was the third time in the past five years that such intense blazes have raged across the Arctic.
While higher than normal, June’s carbon emissions were roughly half the amount released when the all-time records were set during June 2019 and June 2020.
Such blazes typically peak in the Northern Hemisphere in July and August.


• Extreme Temperatures: -99°F Vostok, Antarctica; 129°F Death Valley, California

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July 08, 2024 (for the week ending Jul 05)



Earthquakes

• A magnitude 7.2 temblor along southern Peru’s Pacific coast shattered windows and knocked items off shelves.
• A minor [magnitude 4.2] quake caused light damage around Quito, Ecuador.
• Earth movements were also felt in upstate New York [magnitude 3.4].



Tropical Cyclones

• Hurricane Beryl killed at least six people while pummeling islands of the Caribbean as the earliest Category-4 and Category-5 storm on record.
  Beryl was fueled by unprecedented oceanic warmth across the Atlantic basin and a lack of wind shear.
• Short-lived Tropical Storm Chris brought rain to Mexico’s central Gulf of Mexico coast.



Flores Eruptions

Indonesia’s Lewotobi Laki-Laki volcano erupted twice in a single day in East Flores province with plumes of ash and vapor.
Nearby residents were advised to refrain from outdoor activities until the air was free of the volcanic debris.



Climate Backups

Rising sea levels and heavier rainfall due to climate change could overwhelm older sewer systems in coastal cities in the northeastern United States, which researchers warn may bring a public health crisis.
Those systems, designed since 1855, were intended to carry sewage as well as stormwater runoff through the same pipes.
But researchers at Drexel University warn that sewage output during heavier and more frequent downpours, coupled with higher tides, could back up into the system and spill out into streets or even people’s basements.
The problem could worsen in the future as population growth along the coast results in discharges rising 21% to 66% above current levels.



Juiced Atmosphere

Almost all of the nearly 165 million tons of water vapor that the massive 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano spewed into the atmosphere remains there more than 2.5 years later.
Studies by NASA and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory found that the eruption increased the concentration of water vapor, a greenhouse gas, by as much as 15% in the stratosphere.
Other scientists say the amount of water vapor has also increased much higher, in an area known as the mesopause, about 55 miles above the surface.
Earlier studies found that the limited warming effect of the record water vapor in the atmosphere will continue until about 2035.



Urchin Peril

Israeli scientists say a marine pandemic that has violently wiped out the Red Sea’s sea urchin population in just a matter of months is now spreading rapidly.
The deaths were first noticed in the Gulf of Aqaba, and have quickly spread southward into the Indian Ocean and eastward toward Southeast Asia.
The same parasite responsible for the deaths also killed 95% of the urchins in the Caribbean two years ago.
The urchins are known as the “gardeners” of the sea because they trim algae off coral reefs that otherwise block sunlight, allowing the coral to thrive.



Chernobyl Farming

Ukrainian experts say the level of contamination from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster has now fallen to safe levels in farmland surrounding the reactor.
“More than 80% of [surveyed] territory can be returned to agricultural production,” said Valery Kashparov at the National University of Life and Environmental Science of Ukraine.
Returning those fields to production could help compensate for fields lost due to Russia’s invasion.
The main exclusion zone immediately around the nuclear plant is still heavily contaminated. But surveys of 6,400 acres farther out found no radiation levels “higher than permissible,” researcher Volodymyr Illienko told New Scientist.


• Extreme Temperatures: -92°F Vostok, Antarctica; 123°F Hassi Messaoud, Algeria

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July 01, 2024 (for the week ending Jun 28)



Earthquakes

• Northeastern Venezuela as well as Trinidad and Tobago were rocked by a strong [magnitude 6.0] temblor that knocked out Trinidad power.
• Earth movements were also felt in northeastern Japan [magnitude 5.0] and around Bakersfield, California [4.1].



Eruptive Pause

Iceland’s fifth eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula since last December came to an end, but geologists say such eruptions may continue to plague the area for years or even decades to come.



Mosquito Rescue

In a last-ditch effort to save Hawaii’s colorful honeycreeper birds from imminent extinction, millions of mosquitoes carrying a form of “birth control” bacteria are being released to save the birds from malaria. At least four species could go extinct within the year without help.
Malaria-carrying mosquitoes that were inadvertently brought to Hawaii on European ships in the 1800s have since ravaged the populations of honeycreepers.
But it is hoped that the naturally occurring bacteria carried by millions of male mosquitoes being dropped on eastern Maui from helicopters will give the birds a chance to survive.
The bacteria stops the eggs of female mosquitoes that mate with the males from hatching.



Epic Flights

Years of research have documented the nonstop 2,600-mile flights of painted lady butterflies discovered on a beach in French Guiana in 2013. The species is typically not found in South America.
After reconstructing wind directions and speeds before the butterflies arrived, an international team of researchers also used genetic analysis to determine they were related to African and European populations. DNA of pollen grains carried by those butterflies was also helpful.
The team believes the painted ladies made their epic voyage across the Atlantic from tropical Africa, after migrating southward from Western Europe, in a flight that lasted five to eight days, buoyed by advantageous wind conditions.



Core Slowing

Researchers say they have proven that Earth’s inner core is slowing down compared to the planet’s surface.
Writing in the journal Nature, the team says the core began to slow down around 2010 and is now moving slower than the surface.
Roughly the size of the moon, the inner core sits more than 3,000 miles beneath our feet. Studying it is difficult, but analysis of seismic waves from earthquakes can determine its movement.
The study shows that the core is moving slightly slower instead of faster than the Earth’s mantle for the first time in approximately 40 years.



Coral Death

Nearly all of the coral on a reef in the north of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef have recently died in one of the worst coral bleaching events ever observed there.
Analysis of drone imagery revealed that 97% of the coral died at a Lizard Island reef between March and June.
Record oceanic heat has resulted in the fifth coral bleaching event in eight years for several parts of the world’s largest reef system.
Bleaching occurs when unusual levels of heat cause coral animals to expel the algae that live in their tissues and provide them their color and much of their nutrition.



Fatal Heat

Extreme heat around the Northern Hemisphere during July has already killed potentially thousands of people in a sign that this summer could exceed last year’s record-breaking heat as the warmest in 2,000 years.
The exact number of those who have perished in the torrid conditions is difficult to determine because most health officials do not typically attribute deaths to heat, but rather the illnesses made worse by it.
Adding to the fatalities are nights that fail to cool off as overnight temperatures warm faster than days in many parts of the world.
Climate experts say heat waves will continue to get more severe because the world has failed to curb greenhouse gas emissions.


• Extreme Temperatures: -94°F Vostok, Antarctica; 121°F Al Qaysumah, Saudi Arabia

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June 24, 2024 (for the week ending Jun 21)



Earthquakes

• A magnitude 4.9 temblor killed at least four people and injured 120 others as it wrecked numerous buildings in Iran’s Khorasan Razavi Province.
• Earth movements were also felt in South Asia’s Hindu Kush region [magnitude 4.8], Trinidad and Tobago [4.0], southern Peru [6.0] and Hawaii’s Big Island [4.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• Tropical Storm Alberto killed at least three people in torrential rainfall across southern Texas and northeastern Mexico.



Orbital Pollution

Orbiting objects, especially those in the vast and growing constellation of Starlink satellites, could damage Earth’s protective ozone layer when they disintegrate upon reentry.
A new study finds the spacecraft spew large amounts of ozone-killing aluminum oxide when they burn up in the atmosphere, which could deplete the ozone layer, according to the research published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Even small satellites produce about 65 pounds of the alumina when they burn up. It is estimated that nearly 19 tons of the chemical compound were created by falling human-made objects during 2022 alone.



Energy Imbalance

The amount of solar energy being trapped in Earth’s atmosphere has increased sharply in recent decades and is now twice what it was in 1993.
Writing in the latest Indicators of Global Climate Change study, an international team of researchers says the finding raises concerns about how much of that heat is being absorbed by the oceans.
Other studies suggest the increased warmth is penetrating thousands of feet into the ocean depths, from where it may take thousands of years to resurface.
Scientists warn that the energy imbalance could affect ocean currents, oxygen levels and the chemistry of the maritime environment.



War Pollution

Israel’s bombing campaign on Gaza for the past eight months has resulted in an unprecedented amount of soil, water and air pollution for the region, according to a new United Nations report.
“All of this is deeply harming people’s health, food security and Gaza’s resilience,” said U.N. Environment Program Executive Director Inger Andersen.
Eoghan Darbyshire, a senior researcher at the U.K.-based nonprofit Conflict and Environment Observatory said that “large areas of Gaza will not be recovered to a safe state within a generation, even with limitless finance and will.”



Snow Drought

Hundreds of millions of people are threatened with water shortages due to low levels of snow this year in the Himalayas and Hindu Kush mountains.
Snowmelt brings a quarter of the total water flow to the region’s 12 major river basins, and this year’s snow cap is the second smallest for the past 22 years, trailing only slightly behind the record low set in 2018.
A report by the Nepal-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development said the lack of adequate snow could have devastating consequences in the future for large populations that rely on runoff.



Farming vs. Wild

Rising demand for seafood has resulted in the amount of fish farmed globally now surpassing the wild catch for the first time in history.
A new report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says that while hauls from fisheries have largely stagnated in recent decades, aquaculture production has soared.
The FAO points to the growing recognition of the nutritional benefits of seafood, such as omega-3 and other micronutrients, for the increased demand.
But environmental advocates say aquaculture can pollute waterways with excess nutrients and fecal waste generated in aquatic farms.
A NOAA report cautions that farmed fish can also be vulnerable to disease transmission and may pass those illnesses on to wild fish.


• Extreme Temperatures: -102°F Vostok, Antarctica; 121°F Adrar, Algeria

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June 17, 2024 (for the week ending Jun 14)



Earthquakes

• A [magnitude 4.8] quake in western South Korea cracked walls and caused other minor damage near the epicenter and was felt nationwide.
• Earth movements were also felt in northern Georgia [magnitude 2.5] and in northern [4.5] and southern [3.3] parts of California.



Volcanic Rumblings

Guatemala’s Fuego (Fire) volcano produced intense explosions at a rate of between four and seven per hour, spewing ash and vapor 16,000 feet into the sky.
An eruption in 2018 killed 215 people while producing rivers of lava that devastated a nearby village.



Heat vs. Health

With record-breaking heat now regularly baking regions around the planet, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an urgent warning over how the unprecedented high temperatures can threaten health at nearly every stage of life.
It says people from newborns to seniors, along with pregnant women and adolescents, can suffer serious complications from the effects of global heating.
“These studies show clearly that climate change is not a distant health threat, and that certain populations are already paying a high price,” WHO’s Anshu Banerjee said in a statement.
A new study also says that exposure to such extreme conditions during childhood can have long-lasting effects throughout life.



Flaming Wetlands

Brazil’s Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland region, is being blackened by wildfires that threaten its fragile ecosystem.
While far southern Brazil has experienced record catastrophic flooding in recent weeks, the wetlands in Mato Grosso do Sul state have suffered a protracted drought, sparking blazes that have scorched 80,000 acres.
The region is home to jaguars, giant anteaters, giant river otters and other unique species.
Fishing guide Amilton Brandao told Reuters: “It’s just sadness, sadness to see a sanctuary like this coming to an end. So much life ends with the flames.”



Solar Storm

A >solar flare has blasted out the strongest solar radiation burst since 2017 as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle of activity.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center said that when a section of the radiation burst hit Earth, it triggered a massive radio blackout from Africa to the Arctic.
The same solar flare responsible for last month’s dazzling aurora displays, and the latest eruption, is again pointing toward Earth.
Forecasters say it has the potential to bring more appearances of the northern and southern lights as well as radio blackouts.



Called by Name

Researchers have discovered that African elephants can communicate with one another by using unique rumbling sounds (names) that are so low in frequency that humans cannot hear them.
Writing in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, biologists say that using a special microphone to monitor the pachyderms, they have been able to detect the matriarch of a large group calling on the group as a whole, as well as individual members of the group, which clearly respond.



Ozone Layer Hope

A new study finds that the human-made chemicals responsible for ravaging Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer are now undergoing a “notable decline” due mainly to the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which has banned them globally since 2010.
“The results are very encouraging. They underscore the great importance of establishing and sticking to international protocols,” said lead researcher Luke Western of the University of Bristol.
The study shows the level of ozone-depleting hydro-chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere peaked in 2021.
Efforts to protect the ozone layer, which keeps radiation from reaching Earth, have now been called “a huge global success.”


• Extreme Temperatures: -98°F Vostok, Antarctica; 123°F Aswan, Egypt

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June 10, 2024 (for the week ending Jun 07)



Earthquakes

• An [magnitude 5.9] aftershock of west-central Japan’s devastating and deadly Jan. 1 temblor collapsed five houses that had been damaged by the earlier shaking.
• Earth movements were also felt in western Angola [magnitude 5.1], far northern Chile [5.1] and three points across California [3.8, 3.5, 3.4].



Tropical Cyclone

• Former Category-2 Typhoon Ewiniar skirted parts of eastern Japan without bringing significant effects onto land.
• Tropical Depression Maliksi drenched South China’s Guangdong province.



Eruptions

• Iceland’s sudden eruption [on the Reykjanes Peninsula] in the previous week subsid- ed considerably, allowing evacuated residents to return home and the popular Blue Lagoon geothermal spato reopen.
• Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted in an isolated area that hadn’t seen an eruption since 1974.
• The Philippine Kanlaon volcano spewed plumes of ash and vapor over the center of the country.
• Indonesia’s Mount Ibu expelled lava and sent ash and other volcanic debris soaring 23,000 feet above North Maluku province.



Rapid Warming

A new study confirms that global heating has been accelerating at an “unprecedented” pace, climbing 0.26 degrees Celsius from 2014 to 2023.
A group of 57 leading climate scientists write in the journal Earth System Science Data that as the world keeps using coal, oil and natural gas, Earth is likely to reach the point in 4.5 years that it can no longer avoid surpassing the 1.5-degree warming limit to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
“But what is happening is already extremely bad and it is having major impacts already now. We are in the middle of a crisis,” said study co-author Sonia Seneviratne at ETH Zurich, a Swiss university.



Tidal Evacuations

Residents of a tiny island off Panama’s Caribbean coast are slowly being relocated to the mainland as rising sea levels, combined with more high winds in November and December, inundate homes and streets.
Gardi Sugdub is the first of about 63 communities slated to be evacuated along Panama’s Pacific and Atlantic shores.
“Lately, I’ve seen that climate change has had a major impact,” said resident Nadín Morales. “Now the tide comes to a level it didn’t before, and the heat is unbearable.”
Some are choosing to remain on Gardi Sugdub until it becomes impossible to live there any longer, while the others will have to adjust to a life in the forest instead of being surrounded by a rising sea.



Deadly Heat

South Asia’s season of “heat and dust” has historically caused misery and even death for many in Pakistan and India, but the heat has become so intense this year that dozens of thirsty monkeys drowned in a well in Jharkhand state.
Parts of the subcontinent have been hit by extreme temperatures of between 113 and 126 degrees Fahrenheit this spring, killing hundreds of people. Relief usually comes in June as the southwest monsoon brings rainfall and cooler temperatures.



Cedar Substitutes

Japan’s Cabinet announced plans to accelerate the felling of the country’s cedar forests and replace them with tree species that release less pollen.
Cedars are said to be mainly responsible for the hay fever that affects about 40% of the country’s population.
The national allergic misery has worsened since 1970 as planted cedar forests grew, bringing such symptoms as runny nose, sneezing and itchy eyes, mainly during the spring.
To achieve the switch, the government says it will secure more workers for logging, promote demand for cedar lumber and increase the production of low-pollen seedlings for replanting in the felled cedar forests.


• Extreme Temperatures: -94°F Vostok, Antarctica; 122°F Jacobabad, Pakistan

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June 03, 2024 (for the week ending May 31)



Earthquakes

• The Tongan capital and other low-lying areas were evacuated due to fears of a tsunami following a massive [magnitude 6.6] undersea temblor that rocked the island nation.
• Earth movements were also felt in Vanuatu [magnitude 6.3], Taiwan [5.3], northwestern Myanmar [5.4] and from northern Morocco to Spain’s Costa del Sol [4.5].



Tropical Cyclone

• Cyclone Remal left at least 65 people dead across eastern India and Bangladesh as one of the longest-lasting on record there.
• Typhoon Ewiniar's fury in the northeastern Philippines killed at least seven people amid flooding, toppled trees and fierce winds.



Iceland Eruption

Iceland’s restive Reykjanes Peninsula produced its fifth eruption since December and the most powerful since the volcanic area became active again three years ago.
The country’s Met Office said lava fountains reached 165 feet in height from a fissure 2 miles in length.
Residents of the small fishing town of Grindavik were forced to evacuate yet again as lava surged from the new fissure.
The nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, a popular tourist destination, was also closed and evacuated again.
NB: The specific volcanic feature currently erupting is Sundhnúkur volcano.



Orange Rivers

Scientists say melting permafrost is likely turning dozens of Alaskan rivers and streams an orange color.
The new rusty hue is believed to be caused by minerals once frozen in the soil now flushing into previously crystal-clear waterways.
Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Park Service and the University of California, Davis, say the degraded rivers and streams could have significant implications for drinking water and fisheries in Arctic watersheds.
“We (now) see a lot of different types of metals in these waters,” said researcher Taylor Evinge. “One of the most dominant metals is iron. That’s what is causing the color change.”



Vanished Glaciers

Venezuela has become the first country in the Americas to lose all of its glaciers due to global heating.
The six former glaciated peaks in the state of Mérida were once a source of great pride and the origin of legends that relate them to mythical white eagles.
The International Climate and Cryosphere Initiative recently declared that the remaining Humboldt Glacier, also known as La Corona or “the crown,” is already too small to be classified as a glacier any longer.
“Our tropical glaciers began to disappear in the 1970s and their absence is felt,” astrophysicist Alejandra Melfo told the TV network Telemundo. “It is a great sadness, and the only thing we can do is use their legacy to show children how beautiful our Sierra Nevada once were.”



Bird Flu Vaccine

A new Dutch study finds that bird flu vaccines given to laying hens are effective and could soon be used to protect poultry from a virus that has ravaged birds and other species around the world.
The tests were carried out at two farms and showed the vaccine was effective against the virus for eight weeks after vaccination. Egg prices have soared as the highly pathogenic avian influenza killed or forced the culling of millions of poultry around the world.
Since there is a threat of the H5N1 strain of bird flu mutating to more easily infect people, researchers say swift vaccine development would be our best protection.



Warming Yardstick

Researchers at Britain’s University of Leeds have concluded that three individual years of very high global average temperatures will be enough to say that the world has breached the 1.5 degree Celsius climate warming goal set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Carbon emissions have already caused global temperatures to rise 1.26 degrees above pre-industrial levels, with some years almost reaching 1.5 degrees.
“Once you’ve crossed the 1.5 degree threshold in your annual temperature changes on three occasions (consecutive or not), it’s very likely that we will have crossed the Paris Agreement 1.5 degree level,” said climate expert Lawrence Jackson.


• Extreme Temperatures: -105°F Vostok, Antarctica; 126°F Mohenjodaro, Pakistan

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May 27, 2024 (for the week ending May 24)



Earthquakes

• [With a 3.9 magnitude,] the strongest in the second swarm of earthquakes within a week along the California-Baja California border was felt widely from San Diego to Palm Springs.
• Earth movements were also felt in southeastern Australia [magnitude 3.8], Japan’s remote Ogasawara Islands [5.4] and along the French-Spanish border [4.2].



Tropical Cyclone

• Tropical Storm Ialy skirted the coast of Kenya and far southern Somalia after forming in the Seychelles, unusually far north off Africa for such a storm. It killed two people in Kenya.



Seismic Swarm

Italian residents within the highly populated caldera of an ancient supervolcano spent the night outdoors, in tents or in their cars after the strongest tremors on record jolted the volcanic area. Phlegraean Fields is located just west of Naples. The nearby city of Pozzuoli, home to more than 800,000 people, has seen the landscape altered during the past year by seismic activity brought on by magma flowing below.
There have long been plans in place to swiftly evacuate the population should an eruption seem imminent.



Cricket Invasion

Residents of northern Nevada and parts of neighboring Idaho are being plagued by millions of Mormon crickets, which have blanketed at least one highway so heavily that a tractor was needed to clear them from the pavement.
Social media video showed countless crickets crawling over a house, a church and other properties in Spring Creek, Nevada.
Mormon crickets are said be hard to get rid of, especially when they climb walls or hide in vegetation.
The insects, which are actually shield-back short-winged katydids, can inflict significant damage to crops and rangeland and are notorious for ravaging the fields of early Mormon settlers.



Deadly Heat

Mexico’s searing spring heat wave that has killed at least 26 people since March has also been responsible for the deaths of scores of howler monkeys in the Gulf state of Tabasco this month.
More than 147 of the primates have been found dead or dying on the ground beneath trees since May 5, with some taken to a veterinarian who battled to save them. Several have recovered.
“They were falling out of the trees like apples,” said wildlife biologist Gilberto Pozo. “They were in a state of severe dehydration, and they died within a matter of minutes.”
He says the sudden deaths were brought on not only by the heat, but also by drought and logging that deprives the monkeys of water, shade and fruit.



'Doomsday Glacier'

Scientists say there are signs that “vigorous melting” is currently underway at an Antarctic glacier that has the potential to raise sea levels 2 feet worldwide, threatening low-lying island nations as well as vulnerable coastlines such as in Florida.
Thwaites Glacier has been dubbed the “Doomsday Glacier” because of that threat.
The glacier also acts as a dam for other ice in West Antarctica, which could lift sea levels 10 feet if released.
The report points to warm seawater streaming beneath the glacier as the main cause of the accelerated melt.



Migratory Losses

An update of the Living Planet Index reveals that the populations of salmon, trout, eel, sturgeon and other migrating freshwater fish have collapsed by more than 80% since 1970 around the world.
The loss has been especially acute in South America and the Caribbean, where there has been a 91% drop.
The World Wildlife Fund says factors leading to the losses include habitat loss and degradation, fragmentation of rivers by dams and other barriers, as well as the conversion of wetlands to agriculture.
Also leading to the “catastrophic” decline are pollution, overexploitation and the impacts of climate change.
The report does offer hope, pointing to the recent removal of some dams, creation of new fish sanctuaries and greater legal protections for the migrating fish.


• Extreme Temperatures: -102°F Vostok, Antarctica; 119°F Jacobabad, Pakistan

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May 20, 2024 (for the week ending May 17)



Earthquakes

• A strong [magnitude 6.4] temblor centered along the Guatemala-Mexico border was felt widely from Guatemala City to Mexico’s Chiapas state.
• Earth movements were also felt along the Baja California-California border [magnitude 4.9], eastern Taiwan [5.8] and from western Puerto Rico to eastern Dominican Republic [5.6].



Volcanoes

• At least 67 people perished in a flood caused by “cold lava” rushing down the slopes of West Sumatra’s Mount Merapi volcano.
  Triggered by torrential rainfall, flows of mud and volcanic debris swept people to their deaths and damaged more than 100 structures.
  NB: The term 'cold lava' is a misnomer recently introduced in the news. Instead, experts use the term 'lahar' to describe a rapidly moving flow of volcanic mud and debris. A lava flow involves molten rock, which is not present in a lahar.
• The stronger of two blasts from Indonesia’s Mount Ibu volcano sent ash soaring 3 miles above the remote island of Halmahera.



Arctic Rain

Scientists are scrambling to understand just how much rain has replaced snowfall in the Arctic in recent years, and how the wetter climate is affecting wildlife, indigenous peoples and the landscape.
Rain was once rare in most parts of the Arctic, where it was too cold and dry for clouds to form and absorb moisture.
The increased rainfall is accelerating Greenland’s melting and is triggering flooding, landslides and starvation for Arctic animals.
After rain fell on snow and froze in recent winters, tens of thousands of moose, caribou, sheep and muskoxen starved to death across the Arctic because they could not dig through the ice to reach the plants they needed to eat.



La Niña Alerts

Australia and Colombia issued alerts for the possible development of the La Niña ocean cooling in the Pacific in the latter half of this year.
The cyclical phenomenon has typically brought heavy rains and flooding to parts of both countries.
But meteorologists say that because global sea and air temperatures have been at record levels for months, the current climate models’ abilities to provide accurate projections of future weather are being skewed.
Sea surface temperatures across the tropical Pacific are currently at “neutral” levels, between those of El Niño and La Niña.
The U.S. agency NOAA says there is a 69% chance of La Niña developing between July and September.



Chilean Chill

As areas north of the equator have suffered from the hottest weather ever recorded, residents of Santiago, Chile, are suffering from the longest Southern Hemisphere cold snap on record during autumn.
“Since 1950 onwards, i.e., in the last 74 years, we have not had such an intense cold spell in May, said University of Santiago climatologist Raul Cordero. “We have had days with even lower temperatures, but now we have a succession of eight days with temperatures well below typical values.”
Measures have been taken to help the homeless in many areas to shelter from the cold.



Mosquito Invasion

Climate change has allowed one of the world’s most common types of mosquito to reach Scotland for the first time on record, joining the swarms of biting midges that have long thrived in the country’s mild and wet summers.
Heather Ferguson from the University of Glasgow says she has been surprised to now find at least some of 16 common varieties of mosquitoes in all corners of the country.
But experts stress that the types of mosquitoes that can carry malaria, West Nile and other diseases are unlikely to arrive in Scotland anytime soon.



Solar Storm

The most intense geomagnetic storm to strike Earth’s atmosphere in more than 20 years produced vivid aurora displays around the world as it also disrupted radio communications and brought farm equipment to a standstill at the height of the planting season.
There were also reports that the seven blasts of solar energy caused irregularities in power grids.
Farmers in the Canadian Prairies and the American Midwest suffered hours of shutdowns when the high-precision GPS units on their tractors were knocked out.


• Extreme Temperatures: -98°F Vostok, Antarctica; 118°F Kayes, Mali

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May 13, 2024 (for the week ending May 10)



Earthquakes

• Strong aftershocks continued to jolt a wide area of Taiwan following the deadly April 3 temblor that caused 18 fatalities and collapsed buildings. [The latest quake had a 5.4 magnitude].
• Earth movements were also felt in the Philippine islands of Leyte and Samar [magnitude 5.7], Vancouver Island [5.0], northern Utah [4.4], central Oklahoma [3.5] and the northeastern Caribbean [5.4].



African Cyclone

• Coastal Tanzania was drenched by heavy rainfall from Cyclone Hidaya, which formed unusually far north off the coast of Africa.



Eruptions

• Indonesia will permanently move almost 10,000 residents from the danger zone around Ruang volcano in North Sulawesi province due to the threat of further explosive eruptions.
  Authorities raised the alert status of the volcano to the highest level and warned of a possible tsunami if parts of the mountain collapse into the ocean.
• Indonesia’s Mount Ibu spewed ash high above the island of Halmahera in the eastern province of North Maluku.



Dairy Protection

A new report in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that U.S. dairy farm workers should now wear protective gear to prevent infection from avian influenza in cattle.
The virus is believed to have been circulating among U.S. dairy cows since late last year. It infected one worker in March who was wearing gloves but no respiratory or eye protection.
The worker suffered conjunctivitis, or pink eye, but showed no signs of respiratory infection or fever.
He had been in close contact with sick cows that had experienced decreased milk production, reduced appetite and lethargy due to bird flu infections.



Leafhopper Plague

Argentina’s typically abundant corn crop is being ravaged by an invasion of leafhopper bugs, which are now infesting fields formerly too cool for them to thrive and damage crops.
With climate change bringing less winter frost to curb their numbers and regular summertime heat waves for them to feed in, leafhopper populations in Argentina are now at 10 times the average level, according to agriculture experts.
The ravenous bugs are currently being found about 1,000 miles south of their traditional habitats.
The Rosario provincial grain exchange in the main corn region of the country estimates that leafhopper-related corn losses will be $1.13 billion this year.



Reef Protection

A new project to protect coral in a wide area of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef may be expanded after initial efforts to cull predatory and destructive crown-of-thorns starfish showed great success.
Preliminary undertakings to remove the relentless feeders in a test area kept that part of the reef stable and even resulted in an increase in coral coverage by up to 44%.
Divers from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority kill the starfish by injecting them with either vinegar or ox bile, which also keeps them from releasing larvae to infest other areas.



Heating Records

A combination of climate change and El Niño resulted in the world’s oceans being the hottest on record every single day during the past year, according to data from Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The BBC analysis reveals that ocean warmth was hotter by a wide margin than in any previous year, and that the first four months of 2024 have already been significantly warmer than in the same period last year.
A survey by The Guardian of hundreds of the world’s climate scientists highlights that the experts believe global heating will now far surpass the goals to limit it, rising this century to at least 2.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.
“[Authorities] will be overwhelmed by extreme event after extreme event … I could not feel greater despair over the future,” Gretta Pecl at the University of Tasmania told the daily.


• Extreme Temperatures: -89°F Vostok, Antarctica; 118°F Kayes, Mali

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May 06, 2024 (for the week ending May 03)



Earthquakes

• Several people were injured and hundreds of buildings damaged by a magnitude 6.1 temblor that struck Indonesia’s West Java province.
• Earth movements were also felt in central New Zealand [magnitude 4.5], eastern Taiwan [6.1], far southern Japan [6.5], the Virgin Islands [4.9] and greater Los Angeles [4.1].



Eruption

Indonesia’s Mount Ruang erupted several times, forcing more evacuations on an island of the same name, as well on as others nearby.
In addition to flows of lava and superheated vapors cascading down Ruang’s slopes, ash disrupted air traffic as far away as Borneo.



Bird Flu in Cows

The outbreak of avian influenza now infecting cows in the United States could spread to other countries through migratory birds, according to the World Health Organization’s Global Influenza Program.
Bird flu has been detected in at least 34 dairy cattle herds in nine states this spring.
Evidence of the virus has also been found in milk, but health officials say that the country’s dairy and beef food supplies are still safe because pasteurization and cooking inactivate the virus.
So far, H5N1 has not acquired the ability to easily spread to humans, but it has sickened or killed numerous species around the world since it began infecting migratory birds in 2021.



Rodent Research

Researchers say they believe lab mice might sometimes be doing their own experiments while humans try to experiment on them.
Writing in the journal Current Biology, senior researcher Kishore Kuchibhotla, of Johns Hopkins University, says that when lab rodents suddenly deviate from the expected behavior required to receive rewards, they may actually have just become bored or are curious to see what will happen if they do.
“These mice have a richer internal life than we probably give them credit for. They are not just stimulus response machines. They may have things like strategies,” said Kuchibhotla.
He added that while it may look like a mouse is making lots of errors during experiments, it is really getting smarter by making them.



Antarctic Sunburn

Wildlife on and around Antarctica has been exposed to increased ultraviolet radiation in recent years due to a larger, more stubborn ozone hole that will still take decades to completely heal, scientists say.
Writing in the journal Global Change Biology, biologist Sharon Robinson and colleagues say the ozone hole has been larger and has lasted longer during the past four years, extending past the Antarctic winter and into a time when land and marine animals are more active.
This is when they can suffer more damage to their eyes and body from the radiation.



Hippo Drought

Botswana officials and conservationists have begun pumping water into drought-depleted ponds where about 500 endangered hippopotamuses have become mired in mud.
Botswana is home to one of the world’s largest hippo populations, and the animals need water to protect their delicate skin from southern Africa’s blazing sun and heat.
Since the drought has also withered much of the food the animals eat, bales of alfalfa are being provided to keep the hippos from starving.



Climate Vintage

Extreme weather last year in some of the world’s most productive wine-growing regions brought the worst harvest worldwide in 62 years.
Vines in Australia and Italy were hard-hit, with around 25% drops in production. Spain lost about one-fifth of its usual harvest, and output in Chile and South Africa dropped by more than 10%.
The France-based International Organization of Vine and Wine’s Director John Barker pointed to “drought, extreme heat and fires, as well as heavy rain causing flooding and fungal diseases across major Northern and Southern hemisphere wine producing regions.”
France escaped the losses with a 4% rise, keeping it the world’s largest producer.


• Extreme Temperatures: -112°F Vostok, Antarctica; 117°F Bilma, Niger

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April 29, 2024 (for the week ending Apr 26)



Earthquakes

• Dozens of aftershocks of eastern Taiwan’s destructive magnitude 7.2 quake on April 3 rocked buildings and rattled nerves in the quake-weary region.
• Earth movements were also felt in New Zealand’s North Island [magnitude 4.6], northwestern Iran [4.4] and central Turkey [5.6].



Hot-Cold Paradox

The outbreaks of unusually cold and even unseasonable Arctic blasts that have recently chilled people living in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere are predicted to intensify for the remainder of this decade, despite the ongoing record warming of the Arctic.
Scientists at China’s Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology say these Warm Arctic-Cold Continent (WACC) events are “merely the start of a drastic shift” in climate that will only strengthen in the decades ahead.
Climate expert Jin-Ho Yoon says models predict the WACC events will decline sharply after the 2030s, but they will still cause “more severe consequences when they do occur.”



Marine Life Slump

Record-breaking ocean heat of the past year appears to have brought an unprecedented decline in phytoplankton, algae and bacteria, which many marine species depend upon for food.
A study by Marshall Bowles at Louisiana Universities and colleagues elsewhere studied 21 years of satellite data and found that by April 2023, there had been a 22% drop in the microorganisms compared to the 21-year average.
The study found that almost three-quarters of the global ocean surface saw such a decline.
Zoe Jacobs at Britain’s National Oceanography Center, who was not involved in the study, told New Scientist that marine ecosystems can usually recover from brief drops, but she says the findings are “very concerning.”



Dream Songs

Argentine scientists say they have been able to extract songs from the minds of sleeping birds and generate audible versions of them in the lab.
Based on how vocal muscles move when birds are sleeping, it has long been thought that they are dreaming about singing during their slumber.
Physicist Gabriel Mindlin at the University of Buenos Aires and colleagues converted the muscle movements of several great kiskadees into songs, and were shocked at how similar they were to real birdsongs.



Penguin Peril

Climate change is occurring faster than some emperor penguin colonies in Antarctica can permanently adapt, and a new study says that record-low sea ice levels last year contributed to the second-worst year for chick mortality on record.
Researchers at the British Antarctic Survey say last year’s penguin chick deaths followed a “catastrophic breeding failure” in 2022.
While some colonies fled to icebergs, ice shelves or more stable sea ice to survive, lead researcher Peter Fretwell says this is only a temporary solution and the birds can adapt only so much to a warming climate.



Sinking China

Chinese researchers warn that a quarter of their country’s coastal land will sink below sea level within the next century, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk of flooding.
Writing in the journal Nature, they say the subsidence is the result of unbridled groundwater pumping and the sheer weight of buildings being constructed as urbanization increases.
The report also says that nearly half of all major Chinese cities are sinking.



Deadly Heat

Extreme heat of up to 119 degrees Fahrenheit that has caused numerous deaths from the Sahara to Nigeria in recent weeks was made more acute by greenhouse gas emissions warming the climate, experts say.
“Heat waves with the magnitude observed in March and April 2024 in the region would have been impossible to occur without the global warming of 1.2 degrees Celsius to date,” the orld Weather Attribution academic collaboration said in a report.


• Extreme Temperatures: -103°F Vostok, Antarctica; 117°F Tillabery, Niger

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April 22, 2024 (for the week ending Apr 19)



Earthquakes

• Nine people were injured in a sharp [magnitude 6.6] quake that rocked a wide area of southern Japan.
• Earth movements were also felt in eastern Papua New Guinea [magnitude 6.5], southeastern South Australia [4.1], Italy’s Tuscany region [3.4], the desert resorts of Southern California [3.8] and West Texas [4.4].



Eruption

A massive evacuation of thousands of people was launched after Indonesia’s Mount Ruang stratovolcano in North Sulawesi province spewed lava and other volcanic debris.
The volcanic island of the same name was evacuated, and houses on a nearby island were riddled with holes from falling volcanic stones.



Safe Passage

Bird experts are asking residents across the United States and Canada to help prevent the up to 30 bird deaths per second that can occur during the spring migration from Feb. 15 to June 15 due to collisions with human-made objects.
“Up to a billion birds die each year in the United States when they crash into windows and other structures made with reflective or transparent material,” said Andrew Farnsworth at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
He recommends homeowners turn off nonessential lighting from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., or to draw curtains. He also suggests adding shields to external lighting to direct light downward instead of up into the sky.



El Niño Fades

Climate experts say that a switch in the coming months from a strong El Niño warming of the tropical Pacific to a possible La Niña cooling later this year will help them determine if the recent unprecedented high temperatures worldwide have been due to accelerated climate change or not.
NOAA predicts there is an 85% chance the El Niño warmth will be gone some time before June, while Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology says the tropical Pacific sea surface already “cooled substantially” during mid-April.
The absence of that heat will reduce the vertical wind shear that typically squashes hurricane and tropical storm development in the Atlantic Basin, possibly leading to a very active hurricane season.



Dog Sperm Bank

Scientists in Africa are freezing sperm from genetically diverse male African wild dogs to be used in an artificial insemination program designed to help the endangered species survive.
Only around 6,600 are believed to still exist in habitats that have become highly fragmented due to human encroachment. This is causing the canines to interbreed, reducing their genetic diversity.
It is hoped that collecting sperm from many isolated communities and using it for breeding across Africa will also bring resistance to canine distemper and other illnesses that have decimated wild dog populations.



Coral Bleaching

Coral reefs across at least 54 countries and territories are suffering from a global bleaching phenomenon brought on by an unprecedented warming of the world’s oceans for more than a year.
Bleaching occurs when coral becomes stressed and turns white because the water it lives in is too hot, causing it to expel the symbiotic algae that normally cover it.
The global bleaching started last year in the Florida Keys when water there became as warm as a hot tub. It then spread to the Southern Hemisphere and now affects more than half of the world’s coral.



Plastic Seabeds

A new international study estimates that there are now vast amounts of plastic pollution blanketing the planet’s seabeds.
“We discovered that the ocean floor has become a resting place, or reservoir, for most plastic pollution, with between 3 to 11 million tonnes of plastic estimated to be sinking to the ocean floor,” said senior research scientist Denise Hardesty of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.
It’s believed the majority of the plastic is clustered around continents and resides less than 660 feet beneath the surface.


• Extreme Temperatures: -99°F Vostok, Antarctica; 115°F Maïné-Soroa, Niger

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April 15, 2024 (for the week ending Apr 08)



Earthquakes

• The northeastern United States was jolted by a magnitude 4.8 quake centered in New Jersey.
• Earth movements were also felt in central Virginia [magnitude 2.1], the San Francisco Bay Area [3.4], the Northern Mariana Islands [6.8] and southwestern Japan [6.2].



Tropical Cyclones

• Cyclone Olga attained Category-4 force over the Eastern Indian Ocean.
• Tropical Storm Paul spun up over the far northern Coral Sea.



Smoke Rings

Nearly perfect circles of gas spewing from Sicily’s Mount Etna delighted residents and tourists alike thanks to a rare set of atmospheric and volcanic conditions that caused the gas to wrap upon itself in a vortex motion.
The volcano towers over the historic port city of Catania. It is the largest in Europe and one of the most active in the world. It is also a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The vapor bands have prompted local residents to rename the volcano “Lady of the Rings.”



Warming Gases

Atmospheric concentrations of the three most potent greenhouse gases rose to new record levels in 2023, highlighting the failure by world leaders and industry to curb carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
While the increases in each did not quite match the record jumps of recent years, the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and livestock farming have brought the world’s CO2 levels 50% higher than they were before the onset of the Industrial Revolution.
“As these numbers show, we still have a lot of work to do to make meaningful progress in reducing the amount of greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere,” said Vanda Grubišić, director of NOAA’s global monitoring laboratory.



Cross Infections

With growing concerns that animal diseases such as bird flu may now be infecting humans more frequently, scientists say people pass on far more viruses to domestic and wild animals than we catch from them.
Writing in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers say that when viruses cross over from animals to humans, a process known as zoonosis, they can cause disease outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics such as Ebola, flu or COVID-19.
But their study found that roughly twice as many pathogens were going from humans to other animals in a process known as anthroponosis.
It also revealed that many animal-to-animal infections occur without involving any humans.



Smart Vests

Chinese scientists say they have devised tiny electronic vests that can be attached to fish to monitor their movement based on the disturbances created as they swim through water.
Writing in the journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering, researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences say the wearable electronic devices can, in ways never before possible, measure when a fish turns, speeds up or dips.



'Forever' Pollution

A study of more than 45,000 water samples from around the world found that about 31% of groundwater tested, not collected near any clear source of contamination, had levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) considered harmful by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Often referred to as “forever chemicals,” PFASs can also be found in nonstick pans, rain jackets, firefighting equipment and a host of other products.
Their chemical bonds are so strong that they don’t break down for hundreds to thousands of years, if at all, scientists warn.
Exposure to high levels of some PFASs have been linked to elevated cholesterol levels, liver and immune system damage and high blood pressure, as well as kidney and testicular cancer.


• Extreme Temperatures: -102°F Vostok, Antarctica; 115°F Tambacounda, Senegal

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April 08, 2024 (for the week ending Apr 05)



Earthquakes

• Taiwan’s strongest temblor in 25 years[, a magnitude 7.4 quake,] left at least 10 people dead, more than 1,000 others injured and buildings toppled.
• Earth movements were also felt in northeastern Japan [magnitude 6.0], eastern Turkey [4.8], the republic of Georgia [4.7], southwestern Greece [5.8], Costa Rica [4.9] and northeastern Ohio [3.0].



Tropical Cyclones

• Cyclone Gamane killed at least 18 people in Madagascar and triggered severe flooding that partially submerged villages on March 27.



U.S. Bird Flu

The nearly worldwide epidemic of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza has now reached dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas. One Texas man tested positive for the virus after coming in contact with an infected cow but suffered only mild symptoms.
USDA experts believe the livestock were infected by migrating waterfowl and should soon recover without threatening the nation’s supply of beef.
The largest producer of fresh eggs in the U.S. was forced to halt production and cull 2 million birds in a Texas plant after avian influenza was found in its chickens.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the risk of bird flu for humans is low.



Death Spiral

Scientists in the Florida Keys are so far stumped as to why dozens of fish species, including sharks and rays, have been observed spinning and swirling in the water since last October before sometimes dying.
“Whatever this is, it does not discriminate based on species size, migratory pathways or behavior,” said Bonefish & Tarpon Trust biologist Ross Boucek.
Particularly affected are the critically endangered smalltooth sawfish, which are being moved to marine labs for protection.
In some cases, spinning fish have recovered after being moved to cleaner water, and a likely suspect is a toxin produced by an algae called Gambierdiscus.
It can be lethal to humans and is currently at levels five to 30 times higher than observed in the past 10 years.



Dog Domination

Hybrid wolfdogs are breeding with Europe’s decimated wolf pollution, which experts say is “polluting” the native canines’ genetic stock.
“In some regions they are all hybrids, and there is nothing you can do. You cannot send the army and kill everything,” Italy’s leading wolf expert Luigi Boitani told The Guardian.
Other experts say the crossbreeding may actually create canines better adapted to survive in a world where they are increasingly forced to live in Europe’s urban environments.



Longer Heat Waves

A study of all heat waves around the world over the past 40 years finds not only are they more frequent now, but they last for an average of 12 days compared with 8 days at the beginning of the study.
Researcher Wei Zhang at Utah State University says that the heat waves are also traveling farther in the global atmospheric circulation, meaning larger areas are being affected.
The study concludes that the more frequent and longer-lasting heat waves could lead to more devastating impacts on society, health and nature if greenhouse gases keep rising due to human activities.



Demand Surge

A new report reveals that the world’s fossil fuel producers, led by the U.S., are set to significantly increase oil and gas extraction, nearly quadrupling approved projects by the end of the decade.
Despite warnings from the International Energy Agency that new oil and gas infrastructure is not compatible with keeping global heating below the goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius under the Paris climate agreement, countries and companies have surged ahead with new projects.
New oil fields equivalent to at least 20 billion barrels of oil have been discovered since 2021.
U.S. utility companies have nearly doubled their forecasts for additional power needed by 2028, largely due to the growing demand from data center expansions, including crypto mining.


• Extreme Temperatures: -101°F Vostok, Antarctica; 119°F Kayes, Mali

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April 01, 2024 (for the week ending Mar 29)



Earthquakes

• Seven people perished and 1,000 homes were destroyed during a [magnitude6.9] temblor that struck northern Papua New Guinea.
• Significant damage was reported in East Java from a magnitude 6.4 quake.
• Earth movements were also felt in Indonesia’s Savu Sea region [magnitude 5.7] and in the Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border area [5.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• Category-2 Cyclone Gamane raked the northern tip of Madagascar with high winds and heavy rain before taking aim on Réunion and Mauritius.
• Former Category-4 Cyclone Neville lost force over the eastern Indian Ocean.



Toxic Eruption

A massive plume of toxic gas from Iceland’s llatest volcanic eruptionblew high over Ireland and the United Kingdom before slowly dissipating across Scandinavia. But officials said the gas did not pose any health dangers.
Scientists did caution that the 110 pounds of sulfur dioxide emitted every second on March 17 had the potential to react with ozone molecules in the stratosphere around the Arctic.
This could have depleted the amount of the protective gas that shields Earth’s surface from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.



Fungal Threat

Medical experts are sounding the alarm over a growing global wave of infections caused by fungi that are becoming more drug-resistant, leaving patients with fewer options should they become critically ill.
Epidemiological data published in the journal Microbial Cell says the rise in fungal infections has brought 150 million new cases annually, with almost 1.7 million deaths globally.
“The World Health Organization has recognized it as a widespread threat that has the potential to impact entire healthcare systems if left unchecked,” said professor of dermatology Thomas McCormick at Case Western Reserve University.



Dusty Climate

A plume of dust from the arid expanses of the Sahara Desert that arrived in Spain on southerly winds during late February was the latest sign that such dust clouds are reaching Europe more frequently.
Sara Basart of the World Meteorological Organization points to several warm “calima” winds that brought dust to the Canary Islands and western Mediterranean so far this year.
Such dust clouds can create unhealthful air quality, cause flight cancellations and dim the sunlight feeding solar panels.
Researchers point to ongoing drought in northwestern Africa and blocked weather patterns in the western Mediterranean that resulted in more winds blowing north from the Sahara toward Europe.



Geomagnetic Storm

The strongest and fastest-moving solar storm to strike Earth’s magnetic field since Sept. 7, 2017 failed to disrupt high-frequency communications as another such storm did during mid-December 2023.
The timing of the arrival of charged particles from a massive solar flare caused New Zealand to be the recipient of colorful auroras instead of the Northern Hemisphere, which was also spared any radio blackouts this time.



No Anthropocene

The scientific body responsible for Earth’s geological time scale rejected a proposal to designate the period since 1952 as the Anthropocene Epoch, or “Human Age,” to officially reflect the vast impacts humankind has had wielded on the planet.
The International Union of Geological Sciences rejected the proposal by a large group of scientists dubbed the Anthropocene Working Group, which proposed that radioactive isotopes spread worldwide by hydrogen bomb tests in the 1950s marked the beginning the new epoch.
The decision cannot be appealed, and Earth officially remains in the Holocene Epoch, which started at the end of the last ice age, around 11,700 years ago.


• Extreme Temperatures: -96°F Vostok, Antarctica; 111°F Garoua, Cameroon

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March 25, 2024 (for the week ending Mar 22)



Earthquakes

• A sharp [magnitude 5.4] temblor rocked the western Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
• Earth movements were also felt in central New Zealand [magnitude 4.6], eastern Taiwan, Japan’s Fukushima coast [5.8], greater Tokyo [5.3], India’s Maharashtra state [4.6], the Kansas City area [3.5] and from northern Morocco to southern Spain [4.5].



Tropical Cyclones

• Late reports from Mozambique say Tropical Storm Filipo killed one person and injured seven others when it passed through the south of the country during the previous week.
• Category-2 Cyclone Megan swamped a remote part of far northern Australia, along the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
• Tropical Storm Neville strengthened to hurricane force over the eastern Indian Ocean.



Eruption

Lava erupted for the fourth time since December on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula. Experts had warned for weeks that another eruption was imminent as pressure appeared to be building beneath the restive landscape.



Bovine Bliss

A new study by the University of British Columbia shows that it is possible to reduce the stress cows experience during routine handling, turning their encounters with humans into something playfully anticipated.
By using a food reward system to encourage the animals to enter a chute for handling by humans, it was observed that the trained group displayed more play behavior, such as jumping and running, than the control group.
“The increases in play behaviors suggest that positive reinforcement training had a positive effect on the animals’ emotional state before handling,” researcher Jennifer Heinsius wrote in the Journal of Dairy Science.



Twister Fuel

The late-winter tornado outbreak that killed at least three people and caused widespread destruction in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana was the result of the record warmth the region has experienced so far this year, according to leading experts.
It was one of five outbreaks that have occurred across the Midwest since February during a winter with only one real Arctic blast.
Tornadoes have historically occurred in April or May, and there have not been any studies that link specific tornado outbreaks to human-caused climate change. But given how extreme the warmth and other climate variables have been so far in 2024, Victor Gensini of Northern Illinois University said, “If there ever was a fingerprint of climate change on severe weather, it would be this year.”



Climate 'Red Alert'

The latest State of the Global Climate report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says not only was 2023 the hottest year on record, it also punctuated the hottest decade.
“The WMO community is sounding the Red Alert to the world,” said the U.N. agency’s secretary-general, Celeste Saulo.
The report adds that the heat was accompanied by rising sea levels, unprecedented ocean warmth and Antarctic sea ice loss.
Floods, droughts, wildfires and tropical cyclones were made worse by the heat, which is expected to become even hotter in 2024.
Find the related news release at WMO here



Marine Disruptions

Recent marine heat waves in the northeastern Pacific Ocean have caused complex disruptions of the ocean food web, benefiting some species but threatening the future of others, according to a new study.
Writing in the journal Nature Communications, the landmark research looked at how the ongoing oceanic heat affected the ecosystem in the northern California Current — off the coasts of Northern California, Oregon and Washington.
“What this showed us is that these heat waves impact every predator and prey in the ecosystem through direct and indirect pathways,” said lead author Dylan Gomes of Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute.


• Extreme Temperatures: -79°F Vostok, Antarctica; 113°F Kayes, Mali

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March 18, 2024 (for the week ending Mar 15)



Earthquakes

• A magnitude 5.4 temblor caused scattered damage when it hit Montenegro and neighboring western Balkans countries.
• Earth movements were also felt in the New South Wales [magnitude 3.6], the far southern Philippines [6.0], Taiwan [4.6], east-central Japan [4.6], eastern Afghanistan [5.0], South Carolina [2.8] and coastal San Diego County [3.3].



Tropical Cyclones

• Tropical Storm Filipo brought much-needed rainfall to southern Mozambique after forming over the Mozambique Channel.



Methane Leaks

Emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas methane from the energy industry remained near a record high during 2023 despite pledges from the sector to fix its leaking infrastructure.
The gas is responsible for about a third of global heating since preindustrial times, and the International Energy Agency says the oil and gas industry inadvertently allowed more than 120 million metric tons of it to leak into the atmosphere during 2023, up slightly from 2022.
The agency believes new methane-detecting satellites with high-resolution imagery will help pinpoint more of the leaks, which are said to be significantly underestimated by the industry.



Storm Deaths

Intense winter storms this year have caused hundreds of starving guillemot seabirds to fall dead onto France’s Atlantic beaches.
Environmental advocates say the rough conditions had prevented about 500 of the birds from feeding, leaving them exhausted before falling to the beaches and dying.
A member of Sea Shepherd France says such deaths happen regularly each winter, but not on the scale of recent weeks.
“Climate change is an indirect cause as it increases the frequency and intensity of storms, particularly winter storms, which are the main reason for massive strandings of seabirds,” said French National Center for Scientific Research scientist Jerome Fort.



Jackal Arrival

The first live golden jackal ever to be seen in Spain was photographed on Feb. 24 by an automatic camera along the Ebro River.
Canis aureus is native to Asia, but it has expanded westward across Europe during the past decade, now finally reaching Spain.
A dead jackal was found on a highway in Álva during January 2023, indicating that the species had only recently arrived in Spain.
“For now, we cannot say if it is good or bad news. But yes, it is something very important to evaluate,” said José Garcia of the Spanish Society for the Conservation and Study of Mammals.



Salmon Die-offs

Warming ocean waters due to climate change appear to be a significant factor behind an increasing number of large-scale die-offs of farmed salmon. But disease outbreaks have also been well documented as the cause of numerous deaths.
With the die-offs becoming more frequent and larger in scale, the controversial salmon farms are now under renewed scrutiny.
“They (salmon) are plagued by sea lice and disease, suffer from stressful handling and treatments, and live a monotonous life in barren, crowded cages,” said One-Kind spokeswoman Kirsty Jenkins.



Reef bleaching

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral system, is now suffering its fifth mass coral bleaching event in only the last eight years.
Scientists say the “devastating” trauma to the reef is due to a combination of global heating and the now-waning El Niño ocean warming across the Pacific.
Marine experts say the reef began to show signs of renewed bleaching in early February.
The first mass bleaching of the reef occurred in 1998 and was followed by others in 2002, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and now in 2024.
NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch program says the planet is on the cusp of a fourth global mass coral bleaching event, affecting reefs in the Pacific and Atlantic, and potentially the Indian Ocean.


• Extreme Temperatures: -85°F Vostok, Antarctica; 111°F Tillaberi, Niger

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March 11, 2024 (for the week ending Mar 08)



Earthquakes

• A powerful [magnitude 5.3] temblor along the border of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan broke windows and cracked walls but did not cause any injuries.
• Earth movements were also felt in far northern India [magnitude 3.2], southern Iran [5.4], far western Turkey [4.3] as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina [3.3].



Eruptions

• Iceland's Blue Lagoon was briefly evacuated after a swarm of tremors indicated a fresh eruption was about to occur. Volcanologists say that another eruption could occur with only 30 minutes’ warning.
• Ecuador’s La Cumbre volcano spewed lava and ash over an uninhabited island in the Galapagos archipelago.



Sinking Cities

A new analysis of satellite images and GPS sensors shows that major cities along the U.S. East Coast are sinking at an alarming rate, amplifying the dangers posed by rising sea levels.
A NASA-funded team of scientists at Virginia Tech says the subsidence is happening rapidly enough to threaten infrastructure, farmland and wetlands. It is being caused by factors ranging from the extraction of groundwater to dams and the weight of other human construction.
One of the fastest-sinking cities is Charleston, South Carolina, which experienced 0.157 inches of subsidence per year between 2007 and 2020. It has suffered a sharp increase in tidal flooding during recent decades.



El Niño Heat

The El Niño ocean warming in the tropical Pacific is likely to bring a second consecutive year of record global heat despite predictions of the phenomenon waning over the next few months.
A new analysis by the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences finds there is a 90% chance that global temperatures will set a new record high this year.
“This impending warmth heightens the risk of year-round marine heat waves and escalates the threat of wildfires and other negative consequences in Alaska and the Amazon Basin,” said lead researcher Ning Jiang.
Areas expected to experience unprecedented heat stretch across the Americas, Europe, China, the Philippines and the Caribbean.



Soundscape Noise

A new study highlights how noises made by ocean shipping are drowning out the songs baleen whales make to communicate.
This is a particular problem at mating sites, where the noise pollution can disrupt reproduction at certain times of the year.
Writing in the journal Nature, scientists say baleens have evolved with a unique U-shaped structure instead of vocal cords that lets them create low-frequency songs that can travel across long distances through water.
But those songs have frequencies of up to 300 Hz, which are within the range of noise made by ships.



Emissions Record

Greenhouse gas emissions from power generation hit a record high in 2023, to a large extent due to the increased use of fossil fuel in regions where drought curbed hydroelectric power.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that those emissions rose by 1.1% last year.
“Without this (drought) effect, emissions from the global electricity sector would have fallen in 2023,” the IEA report said. Emissions fell by 4.1% in the U.S. and by 9% in Europe, but China saw a rise of 5.2%.



Climate Breach

Earth’s average temperature was 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) warmer than in pre-industrial times across an entire year for the first time on record, according to a new European climate report.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service says the period from February 2023 to January 2024 reached 1.52 degrees of warming.
This exceeded the aspirational goal to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees as outlined in the landmark Paris climate agreement.
Experts say this first year-long breach doesn’t mean the world has permanently exceeded that amount of warming, but it does show we are closer to doing so.


• Extreme Temperatures: -82°F Vostok, Antarctica; 111°F Rivadavia, Salta, Argentina

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March 04, 2024 (for the week ending Mar 01)



Earthquakes

• Tremors rattling southern Texas for weeks are linked to oil and gas drilling in the region. [The largest quake had a magnitude 3.5.]
• Earth movements were also felt in the Oregon-Idaho border area [magnitude 4.9], New Zealand’s South Island [4.6], eastern Taiwan [5.0], Japan’s Hiroshima prefecture [5.1] and along the China- Kyrgyzstan border [5.4].



Tropical Cyclones

• Heavy rainfall from dissipating < a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023%E2%80%9324_Australian_region_cyclone_season#Tropical_Cyclone_Lincoln" target="new2">Tropical Storm Lincoln ended a protracted drought on the northwestern tip of Australia but also caused crop damage for some growers.



Eruptions

• Ongoing eruptions of Mexico’s Popocatépetl volcano caused ash to fall in nearby Mexico City and forced some airlines to cancel flights at the capital’s international airport.
• Indonesia’s Mount Semeru produced five eruptions within three days in East Java province.



Placenta Plastic

Studies have found that microplastic pollution is accumulating not only in our arteries, but also in all 62 human placentas examined.
This raises concerns over the potential health impacts plastic pollution may be having on developing fetuses.
While there is no direct evidence such contamination is harming human health, the particles have also recently been found in human blood and breast milk, which indicates we are being exposed to the pollution on a massive scale, as are other creatures.
“If we’re seeing effects on placentas, then all mammalian life on this planet could be impacted,” said lead researcher Matthew Campen of the University of New Mexico.



Antarctic Influenza

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has now reached the mainland of Antarctica for the first time.
Researchers at Argentina’s Primavera Base research station say the virus was found nearby in two dead scavenging birds known as skuas.
“The problem is how long is it going to take before it transmits to other species like penguins,” said Antonio Alcamí from Spain’s National Research Council.
It was earlier warned that if the virus starts killing penguins on Antarctica, it could become one of the largest ecological disasters in modern times.
Avian influenza reached islands of the Antarctic region in October, and the new discovery means that H5N1 has now spread to every continent except Australia.



Ice-free Antarctic

The extent of summer-time ice coverage around Antarctica has reached an “alarming low” level for the third consecutive year, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center.
It says sea ice cover fell to 768,343 square miles on Feb. 21. The record low was 687,261 square miles set last February. The 2024 minimum tied for second-lowest since satellite observations began in 1979.
After a very low sea ice maximum last September, what ice did form in the Southern Hemisphere winter was thin and melted easily.



Heat Starvation

Marine biologists say thousands of humpback whales starved to death in the North Pacific between 2012 and 2021 due to a massive marine heat wave sometimes referred to as “the blob.”
After decades of population growth due to conservation efforts and the end of commercial whaling, 20% of the marine mammals apparently perished because the warmer ocean waters produced less food.
Writing in the journal Royal Society Open Science, scientists say tufted puffins, sea lions and seals also saw population declines during the heat wave.
“This will hit humpback whales and other whale species, but we should recognize these whales are indicators of ocean health,” said Ted Cheeseman of Australia’s Southern Cross University.


• Extreme Temperatures: -73°F Vostok, Antarctica; 113°F Nullabor, S. Australia

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February 26, 2024 (for the week ending Feb 23)



Earthquakes

• The hurricane-battered Mexican resort of Acapulco was jolted by two earthquakes, the strongest registering magnitude 5.0.
• Earth movements were also felt in southern Texas [magnitude 4.7], southern Portugal [3.3], Bosnia and Herzegovina [4.3], northern Afghanistan [5.0], eastern Nepal [4.1], and western Myanmar [4.7].



Tropical Cyclones

• Northwestern Australia was drenched by slowly moving < a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023%E2%80%9324_Australian_region_cyclone_season#Tropical_Cyclone_Lincoln" target="new2">Tropical Storm Lincoln. The storm strengthened after moving out to sea again, and was expected to make a second landfall on the far northwest coast.
• Tropical Storm Eleanor looped around the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and Réunion.



Popo Eruption

Mexico's restivePopocatépetl volcano spewed a massive plume of ash, water vapor and volcanic gases that could be clearly seen 30 miles to the northwest in Mexico City.
The country’s civil protection agency said the eruption produced 27 exhalations and nearly a thousand minutes of tremors.
Popocatépetl is one of the most active volcanoes in the country and is located on the borders of the states of Morelos and Puebla, as well as the state of Mexico.



Potassium Deficit

A new study warns that potassium, a key element needed for crops to grow, is running low in farmlands around the world, threatening food security.
Writing in the journal Nature Food, researchers from University College London say potassium is being removed from the soils during harvests more often than it is being replaced by fertilizers, leaving 20% of fields severely lacking the nutrient.
“This is an unsustainable phenomenon known as soil nutrient mining,” said lead author Will Brownlie. “Geological reserves of potash, a key component of potassium fertilizers, are concentrated in a handful of countries... making them vulnerable to supply disruptions.”



Ocean Heat Surge

Part of the unprecedented ocean warmth that has puzzled experts over the past year includes the tropical Atlantic surface temperatures, which are now at levels typically seen in mid-July.
This is causing concern about the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season because the record heat could provide extra fuel for developing tropical systems.
The record Atlantic warmth last year helped an above-average number of named storms to form, even with the typically dampening effect of El Niño.
A new study by the University of Reading warns that the past year of record-high ocean temperatures could become the norm if the world heats to 3 degrees Celsius (5.3 F) above pre-industrial levels.



Rhino Return

Conservationists have returned 21 eastern black rhinos to a plateau in central Kenya, decades after they were wiped out there by poachers.
The horned animals were transferred from three wildlife parks, where they were becoming overcrowded, to the private Loisaba Conservancy.
“It’s been decades since rhinos roamed here—almost 50 years ago,” said Loisaba security manager Daniel Ole Yiankere. “Now our focus is on rejuvenating this landscape and allowing rhinos to breed, aiming to restore their population to its former splendor.”



Early Bloomers

Unseasonably warm weather across parts of Japan prompted many Tokyo residents to take off their jackets and enjoy some of the cherry blossoms that have emerged weeks earlier than usual.
But forecasters said the warmth would end soon, with temperatures dropping to around 37 degrees.
The Japanese Meteorological Agency predicts the cherry blossoms will start to appear en masse in Tokyo on March 18 and peak on March 30.
Cherry blossom buds are formed between the summer and autumn, become dormant in late autumn, and re- main so through the winter.


• Extreme Temperatures: -77°F Vostok, Antarctica; 120°F Carnavon, W. Australia

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February 19, 2024 (for the week ending Feb 16)



Earthquakes

• A moderate [magnitude 4.8] quake along the U.S.-Baja California border was felt from Arizona to Palm Springs and San Diego.
• Earth movements were also felt in Los Angeles [magnitude 4.6], South Texas [3.9], Hawaii’s Big Island [5.7], the southern Philippines [5.8], South Asia’s Hindu Kush region [4.9] and India’s Assam state [3.7].



Tropical Cyclones

• An unnamed, short-lived and minimal tropical storm drenched central parts of the Vanuatu archipelago before dissipating near Fiji.



Eruptions

• Another fissure opened up in southwestern Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula, spewing lava over the eruption- weary area for several hours.
  Geophysicist Benedikt Ófeigsson of the Icelandic Met Office told reporters that the area can expect an eruption every month or so during the next few months.
• Rumblings at Grenada’s nearby Kick ’em Jenny undersea volcano were felt in northern parts of the Caribbean island.
• Southern Japan’s Sakurajima volcano spewed plumes of ash high above the summit crater for the first time since 2020.



Polar Hunger

With Canada’s Arctic region becoming ice-free longer in summer due to global heating, polar bears are facing even more desperate struggles to find enough food to survive.
A new study says that the 25,000 surviving polar bears are forced to scavenge and swim longer distances to find food but are not having much success with either.
Historically, in late spring and early summer, the bears used sea ice as floating platforms to hunt seals. But human-caused climate change is extending the ice-free summer across the Arctic.
Bears that now spend more time on land in summer are losing weight, with a higher risk of starvation.



Current Collapse

Scientists developing an early warning system for the breakdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) say the complex network of ocean currents is nearing a “devastating tipping point.”
Writing in the journal Sciences Advances, they say the AMOC, of which the Gulf Stream is a part, is on track toward an abrupt shift — something not seen for more than 10,000 years.
It has already declined by 15% since 1950 and is being eroded by a faster-than-expected melt of Greenland’s glaciers and the Arctic ice sheets in recent years.
The conveyor belt of currents moderates the climate of Britain and northern Europe, and its collapse would result in climate consequences from Europe to South America.



Migratory Decline

A landmark U.N. report warns that migrating animals, from humpback whales to seabirds, are under mounting threat from human activities. The State of the World’s Migratory Species says that almost half of those species are in decline, with about a quarter at risk of extinction.
The report concludes that pollution, hunting and killing of animals, habitat destruction, climate change and the noise and light pollution brought on by human development are major threats to the migrators.



Greener Greenland

The area of Greenland covered in vegetation roughly doubled over the three decades between the late 1980s and the late 2010s as an estimated 11,000 square miles of the island’s ice sheets and glaciers melted.
A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports says the melt has created wetlands that are increasingly home to species of grasses and grasslike plants capable of living in the newly ice-free and waterlogged soil.
Since the green landscapes absorb more energy from the sun than areas covered in ice, they have the potential to speed up Greenland’s already rapid melt.
The expanding wetlands are also becoming a significant source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that could further amplify Greenland’s melt.


• Extreme Temperatures: -65°F Vostok, Antarctica; 116°F Dampier, W. Australia

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February 12, 2024 (for the week ending Feb 09)



Earthquakes

• Oklahoma and neighboring states were jolted by an unusually strong [magnitude 5.1] temblor, centered east of Oklahoma City.
• Earth movements were also felt in Vietnam [magnitude 4.0] and from Trinidad to Venezuela [4.9].



Tropical Cyclones

• Cyclone Nat skirted parts of French Polynesia after forming to the east of American Samoa.
• Tropical Storm Osai formed near the U.S. territory [of American Samoa], but drifted southeastward toward the Cook Islands.
• A new study suggests that hurricanes, typhoons and other tropical cyclones are becoming so strong that a new Category-6 rating is needed to classify “mega-hurricanes” with sustained winds of 192 mph or higher.



Cicada Duets

The din of two separate broods of cicadas will fill the air in a few places of the U.S. this summer for the first time since Thomas Jefferson was president in 1803.
In Illinois, billions of both the 17-year and the 13- year cicadas will emerge at the same time. The 17-year brood will mainly sing across the north of the state while the 13-year brood will be heard in the south.
Insect curator Bruno de Medeiros of Chicago’s Field Museum says that central areas of the state will probably have both, possibly leading to crossbreeding.
“These really rare events are opportunities for those cicadas to be out and maybe for the species to meet each other, for crossings between species to occur, for evolution to happen,” said Medeiros.



Mammal Bird Flu

The recent unprecedented deaths of around 17,000 baby seals from avian influenza along Argentina’s Patagonia coast suggest the highly contagious H5N1 strain of the virus is being transmitted between mammals.
After emerging in China during 1996, H5N1 was initially confined to domesticated birds. But it began infecting wild bird species in 2021 and has since spread around the world, recently killing Antarctic penguins and one Arctic polar bear.
Now that it has infected 25 mammal species, more than any previous strain of avian flu, researchers warn that H5N1 is a growing threat to the world’s biodiversity, possibly including humans.



Uneven Warming

A growth in temperature differences between the day and night as the planet heats up has scientists concerned that the increase could potentially affect all life on the planet.
A team from Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology points out that global heating has not been uniform throughout the day and night. This “asymmetric warming” increased between 1961 and 2020.
The larger day-vs.-night temperature difference could potentially affect crop yields, plant growth, animal well-being and human health, the researchers say.



cyclone Damage

Two tropical cyclones that struck Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in rapid succession have officials worried vast flooding onshore and heavy waves from the storm may have damaged the world’s largest coral reef.
It is feared massive runoff from December’s Cyclone Jasper and late January’s Cyclone Kirrily could have flushed massive amounts of fresh water, contaminated with agricultural nutrients and sediments, into the reef.
Such fresh water and rough seas can contribute to coral bleaching, starve the reefs and surrounding seagrass meadows of sun and promote the growth of algae.



Orca Freedom

A pod of about a dozen orcas became trapped in a mass of drift ice off Japan’s Hokkaido Island, causing concern among officials and environmental groups.
Also known as killer whales, the orcas were spotted by a fisherman, who reported them to officials in the town of Rausu.
They immediately traveled to the pod by helicopter and saw them bobbing up and down in the ice.
It’s believed the marine mammals were able to free themselves from the drift ice and escape two days later.


• Extreme Temperatures: -57°F Verkhoyansk, Siberia; 113°F Rivadavia, Salta, Argentina

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February 05, 2024 (for the week ending Feb 02)



Earthquakes

• A sharp [magnitude 6.5] quake in a remote part of far western Brazil was also felt across neighboring Peru.
• Earth movements were also felt in Guatemala and El Salvador [magnitude 6.1], Tokyo [4.8], Taiwan [5.2], the southern Philippines [5.1], Azerbaijan [3.5], western Turkey [5.1], Spain’s Grand Canary Island [3.1] and far western Scotland [3.3].



Tropical Cyclones

• Australia’s central Queensland coast escaped significant damage when Cyclone Kirrily moved ashore. However, interior areas of the state were doused by up to 16 inches of rainfall.
• Cyclone Anggrek churned the Indian Ocean for a third week.
• Tropical Storm Candice formed briefly south of Mauritius.



The Body Plastic

A new study by the Ocean Conservancy and the University of Toronto found microplastics now contaminate more than a dozen kinds of protein consumed by humans, including beef, breaded shrimp and even tofu.
The breaded shrimp examined contained nearly 400 tiny pieces of microplastic per servings, followed by plant-based nuggets with around 80 bits and chicken nuggets with around 65. Pollock fish sticks were found to contain around 55.
Researchers estimate that Americans could be consuming at least 11,000 pieces of microplastic each year.
“There’s no way to hide from plastics if you’re eating,” said George Leonard, one of the study’s authors.



El Flip

Forecasters are predicting that the strong El Niño affecting weather patterns worldwide may soon be replaced by a La Niña cooling that could affect this summer’s Atlantic hurricane season.
It is rare for El Niños to last for more than a year, even strong ones that are typically soon followed by La Niñas.
Climate experts say water temperatures across the eastern tropical Pacific will return to near normal by the latter half of the Northern Hemisphere’s spring, with a further drop in sea-surface temperatures possible by the peak of the hurricane season.
The current El Niño is linked to drought in southern Africa, flooding in East Africa, wildfires in Colombia and a string of flood disasters in eastern Australia.



Bird Flu Deaths

The first suspected bird flu death of a penguin in the Antarctic region has scientists concerned the deadly H5N1 strain could rapidly spread through colonies that are now gathered closely together for breeding season.
The dead king penguin was found on South Georgia Island, where a gentoo penguin was also suspected to have died from the avian influenza virus.
Around 900 miles to the west, one gentoo penguin was confirmed dead from H5N1 on the Falkland Islands, with more than 200 dead chicks found nearby.



'Deviant' Wolves

A Dutch court has ruled that authorities can shoot with paintball guns wolves that could pose a threat to people.
It acknowledged that at least one “deviant” wolf in De Hoge Veluwe National Park has been approaching cyclists and hikers, showing no signs of a fear of humans.
Using pepper spray as a deterrent was deemed too dangerous, so the court ruled, “There is no other satisfactory solution than shooting the wolf with a paintball gun.”
Once near extinction, strictly protected European wolf populations have soared in recent years, with tens of thousands of domesticated animals said to be killed by the predators across the continent each year.



Groundwater Loss

A new study of 1,700 aquifers has found an “alarming” decline of water resources around the world.
Researchers from University of California, Santa Barbara say groundwater is dropping in 71% of the aquifers — accelerating in many places, mainly due to pumping. But they say there are places where the levels have stabilized or recovered.
“This study shows that humans can turn things around with deliberate, concentrated efforts,” said co-lead author Scott Jasechko.
He points to the water allotted from the Colorado River that has been used to replenish an aquifer near Tucson, Arizona.


• Extreme Temperatures: -66°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 112°F Rivadavia, Salta, Argentina

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January 29, 2024 (for the week ending Jan 26)



Earthquakes

• A massive [magnitude 7.0] quake along far western China’s border with Kyrgyzstan killed at least three people in the sparsely populated region, injured scores of others and destroyed numerous homes around the epicenter.
  The powerful shaking also caused extensive damage and at least 67 injuries as far away as the former Kazakhstan capital of Almaty.
• Earth movements were also felt in Vanuatu [magnitude 6.3], the Northern Mariana Islands [6.1], eastern Greece [4.5], northern Chile [5.4], western Brazil [6.6], western Colombia [5.6], interior Alaska [5.3] and Southern California [4.2].



Tropical Cyclones

• Australia’s central Queensland coast was under threat of a second round of severe flooding within a month as Tropical Storm Kirrily made landfall.
• Cyclone Anggrek strengthened to hurricane force over the open waters of the eastern Indian Ocean.



Eruptions

• A new eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Merapi forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes in central Java. Huge clouds of ash and superheated gas cascaded down the mountain while lava streamed for more than a mile from the summit crater. Ash blanketed nearby villages and farmland.
• Mount Marapi in Sumatra also produced a series of eruptions, forcing around 500 nearby residents to flee.



Zombie Viruses

Scientists are planning an Arctic monitoring network to pinpoint and contain the emergence of deadly viruses that have been frozen in the permafrost for hundreds of thousands of years, and that threaten to spark frightening new pandemics.
“There are viruses up there that have the potential to infect humans and start a new disease outbreak,” geneticist Jean-Michel Claverie of France’s Aix-Marseille University told The Guardian.
The deepest layers of permafrost could be preserving viruses that inhabited the planet up to a million years ago, long before humanity’s most ancient ancestors walked the Earth. This means we would have no natural immunity against the “Methuselah microbes.”



Snow Decline

A new study finds that human-caused climate change produced a clear decline of snowpack in at least 31 locations around the Northern Hemisphere between 1981 and 2020.
The changing snowfall patterns threaten people in areas that depend on spring snowmelt as a source of fresh water.
Writing in the journal Nature, scientists say that when snow doesn’t accumulate in winter, droughts can follow during the spring and summer.
They found that when a region warms to a winter-time average of 17.6 degrees Fahrenheit, it reaches a tipping point at which snow melts away more quickly as the seasons change.



New Colonies

Analysis of satellite images revealed four previously unknown emperor penguin colonies, with one populated by more than 5,000 of the Antarctic birds.
Scientists spotted the dark stains of guano that the penguins leave behind as they move over the otherwise icy-white landscape.
While the discoveries bring the number of known colonies to 66, scientists say the recent arrival of bird flu to the Antarctic, along with climate change, are serious threats to the birds.



New Year's Bloom

Visitors to Japan’s Chorakuji temple experienced a New Year’s surprise when a 300-year-old red plum tree burst into full bloom much earlier than expected.
The Yomiuri Shimbun daily reports that the temple’s chief priest said the tree’s flowering period varies from year to year.
The blossoms emerged in Honshu Island’s Kihoku township on Jan. 2 and were expected to last a month.


• Extreme Temperatures: -68°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 115°F Oodnadatta, S. Australia

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January 22, 2024 (for the week ending Jan 19)



Earthquakes

• Greater Oklahoma City was jolted by 19 quakes during a two-day period], the largest being a magnitude 4.3]. Such tremors in the past have been linked to wastewater injection wells from oil and gas extraction.
• Earth movements were also felt around San Diego [magnitude 4.4], in the Alaska Panhandle [5.9], southeastern South Australia [3.5] and the Azores [4.9].



Tropical Cyclones

• Parts of the Indian Ocean island of Réunion were swamped when Category-2 Cyclone Belal became the first such storm to make a direct hit on the French overseas territory in decades. Nearby Mauritius also experienced heavy flooding and one death from the passing storm.
• Tropical Storm Anggrek drifted around the eastern Indian Ocean near Australia’s Cocos Islands.



Fresh Eruption

The second eruption in less than a month on Iceland’s rugged Reykjanes Peninsula sent lava flowing into the evacuated town of Grindavik, destroying three homes and damaging water and electricity facilities before subsiding.
It was the fifth eruption there since 2021, and the Icelandic Meteorological Office warned new fissures could open without warning.



Emissions Decline

Greenhouse gas emissions fell by 1.9% in the United States last year even as the country’s economy grew, a leading research organization says.
The New York-based Rhodium Group says that while the drop is noteworthy, the country must curb its planet-warming emissions by an average of 6.9% annually from 2024 through 2030 to meet its target under the Paris Agreement.
The 2023 decline was driven by an 8% drop in emissions in the power sector and a 4% decline in residential and commercial buildings. U.S. emissions remained below pre-pandemic levels in 2023 and were also 17.2% below those in 2005.



Ocean Heating

An international team of scientists says Earth’s oceans absorbed a record amount of heat during 2023, contributing to the overall unprecedented planetary heat and triggering more climate-related disasters worldwide.
Writing in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Science, researchers say temperatures of the upper 6,500 feet of the oceans, responsible for soaking up about 90% of global heating, were hotter each year between 2012 and 2023 than the year before.
The oceanic heat is also said to be “supercharging” the weather, with the higher heat and extra moisture in the atmosphere creating more severe storms, more powerful winds and heavier downpours that amplify flooding disasters.



Mystery Blasts

Scientists say they may have solved a decade-long mystery of why several deep, cylindrical craters have formed in violent explosions on northwest Siberia’s Yamal peninsula, sometimes tossing bus-sized chunks of ice hundreds of yards from the crater.
Researcher Helge Hellevang at the University of Oslo says these “gas emission craters,” first discovered in 2012, could be forming because of global heating.
He and colleagues believe the hot, methane-rich natural gas upwelling from a deeper source may be blasted through the permafrost because it has melted so much.



Sardine Bonanza

Countless millions of sardines beached themselves in the far southern Philippines, turning the coastline a shimmering silver and sending local residents to the coast to collect as much of the seafood as they could carry away. One family said they hauled off a half-ton of the tiny fish.
While the area was hit by a sharp earthquake around 48 hours later, experts say the two events were not related and other factors were likely to blame for the mass stranding in Maasim, located near the southern tip of Mindanao Island.
Recent research finds that the cats are also spreading to wildlife the brain-altering parasite that causes toxoplasmosis.


• Extreme Temperatures: -67°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 111°F Rivadavia, Salta, Argentina

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January 15, 2024 (for the week ending Jan 12)



Earthquakes

• Parts of western Japan were hit by a [magnitude 5.9] offshore quake while still recovering from a catastrophic temblor that killed more than 200 people on Jan. 1.
• Earth movements were also felt in the far southern Philippines [magnitude 6.7], Southern California [4.2] and from eastern Afghanistan to northern India [6.4].



Flores Eruption

Around 5,000 people were forced to flee their homes on Indonesia’s Flores Island when Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted with columns of ash.
The eruption came after weeks of rumblings due to what seismologists said was “fluid moving at depth.”



Disaster Losses

Damage from quakes in Turkey and Syria in 2023, combined with destructive storms in the United States and other natural disasters around the world, caused an estimated $95 billion in insured losses last year.
Reinsurer Munich Re says that the cost was less than in 2022 but still higher than the long-term average.
NOAA said that “billion-dollar” disasters like the wildfire on Maui, the severe floods in California, Hurricane Idalia, two tornado outbreaks and a string of winter storms added to the fifth-costliest year on record in the U.S.
NOAA chief scientist Sarah Kapnick said such disasters will continue to worsen due to climate change.



Nuclear Evolution

New research finds that the wolves roaming around Ukraine’s Chernobyl Exclusion Zone have developed anti-cancer abilities during the 35 years since the world’s worst nuclear disaster occurred there.
The canines have been exposed to upward of 11.28 millirems of radiation every day for their entire lives, over 6 times the legal safety limit for the average human.
A study by evolutionary biologist Cara Love from Princeton University found that Chernobyl wolves have altered immune systems, similar to cancer patients who have undergone radiation treatment.
She says she hopes to identify protective mutations that increase the odds of humans surviving cancer.



Raptor Decline

A new study finds that Africa’s large birds of prey are now facing a human-driven extinction crisis, even in protected areas.
Writing in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, researchers say the raptors have experienced wide-spread population collapses during recent decades.
The declines were found to be the most extensive in western and central Africa, where the expansion of agriculture and underfunding of protected areas contributed to the losses.
Threats to the birds include shooting, trapping, poisoning and electrocutions or collisions with power lines.



Seismic Thrust

An uplift of the ground during the massive magnitude 7.6 quake that struck western Japan on New Year’s Day exposed around 650 feet of new coastline on the Noto Peninsula’s northwestern shores.
Seismologists said the thrust quake was triggered by faults that had been dormant for around 3,000 to 4,000 years. Satellite-based radar observations revealed that the ground rose 13 feet during the massive seismic upheaval.



Killer Kitties

The first attempt to document the damage cats inflict on biodiversity finds that the felines eat more than 2,000 species, including turtles and insects — possibly more.
“The breadth of the diet that cats have is pretty far beyond what we’ve seen with a lot of other carnivores or predators,” said Christopher Lepczyk of Alabama’s Auburn University. “There’s not much cats won’t eat.”
While his work did not point to ways to protect wildlife from the feline assaults, measures found to help include keeping cats indoors or in fenced gardens.
Recent research finds that the cats are also spreading to wildlife the brain-altering parasite that causes toxoplasmosis.


• Extreme Temperatures: -67°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 116°F Pardoo, W. Australia

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January 08, 2024 (for the week ending Jan 05)



Earthquakes

• Scores of people perished in a massive [magnitude 7.5] seismic thrust [earthquake] that devastated western Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture. The ground rose by more than 13 feet in places and shifted sideways by more than 3 feet.
• Earth movements were also felt in western Java [magnitude 4.8], northwestern Sumatra [5.6], Bosnia and Herzegovina [4.7], islands of the eastern Caribbean [4.7], New York City [1.7], the greater District of Columbia [2.3] and Los Angeles [4.1].



Tropical Cyclones

• Cyclone Alvaro, the first of 2024, brought heavy rain and strong winds to southern Madagascar after forming over the Mozambique Channel.



Icelandic Eruption

Huge lava flows stopped suddenly over Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula during late December after days of a colorful eruption that drew tourists and residents to the otherwise desolate landscape.
But the Icelandic Met Office issued new warnings at the new year of another possible eruption due to fresh cracks and fissures that were appearing in the ground near the mostly evacuated town of Grindavik.



Deer-Elk Plague

A new, highly contagious, incurable and invariably fatal disease is spreading among the animal population of the western U.S.
Zombie deer disease, or chronic wasting disease (CWD), was first discovered in a dead deer at Yellowstone National Park in November and has since been found in 32 other states.
It is spread by prions, a set of proteins that are almost indestructible and can affect humans and animals.
Around a year after becoming infected with CWD, animals show symptoms such as dementia, wobbliness, drooling, aggression and weight loss.
Officials warn against eating infected deer and elk, because prions can survive at temperatures much higher than used to cook meat.



Even Hotter

Meteorologists warn that the record heat of 2023 is likely to be exceeded this year due to a combination of factors, including an El Niño now peaking across the tropical Pacific.
“We’ve never had a big El Niño like this on the background of global warming,” said Adam Scaife of the British Met Office. “We are really entering an unprecedented situation.”
Historically, El Niño’s warming influence is greater the year after it develops.
The World Meteorological Organization’s initial analysis of data from 2023 indicates that the world averaged 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit above the pre-Industrial Age average, measured between 1850 and 1900.
Greenhouse gas emissions are believed to be responsible for 2.3 degrees of last year’s heating.



Oldest Tree

Scientists have examined an ancient tree still growing in a remote part of central Chile’s Alerce Costero National Park, claiming it could be the oldest in the world.
They believe it has survived for more than 5,000 years, making it older than California’s 4,850-year-old Methuselah, the bristlecone pine officially recognized as the world’s oldest.
Known as “Gran Abuelo,” or Great-Grandfather, the Patagonian cypress can be accessed only by an hour- long hike and is patrolled by a number of park rangers to make sure it is not harmed.



Global Population

The world’s human inhabitants now number more than 8 billion as we enter 2024, according to analysis by the U.S. Census Bureau.
It says the worldwide population grew by just under 1% in 2023. The United States experienced half that growth rate, at just over a 0.5% increase.
The bureau projects that there will be one U.S. birth every nine seconds in 2024, while one person is expected to die every 9.5 seconds.
The U.N. says the world population surpassed 8 billion more than a year ago, proclaiming Nov. 22, 2022, the “Day of 8 Billion.”


• Extreme Temperatures: -68°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 119°F Dampier, W. Australia

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January 01, 2024 (year 2023 in review)



Earthquakes

• A pair of the most severe earthquakes to strike Turkey since 1939, [magnitude 7.8 quakes,] killed more than 59,000 people and inflicted catastrophic damage to the south of the country and neighboring parts of Syria on Feb. 6.
• Eighteen people perished in southern Ecuador and neighboring parts of Peru on March 18 during an intense [magnitude 6.8] quake.
• [At a magnitude 4.8,] one of the strongest quakes to strike France in modern times damaged dozens of homes on June 17.
• A catastrophic [magnitude 6.8] temblor in Morocco’s Marrakesh-Safi region on Sept. 8 killed 2,960 people and leveled entire villages near the epicenter.
• Four magnitude 6.3 earthquakes in western Afghanistan’s Herat province from Oct. 7 to Oct. 15 killed almost 1,500 people, mainly during the initial shaking.
• At least 153 people perished when a magnitude 5.7 temblor hit western Nepal and northern India on Nov. 3.



Tropical Cyclones

• Cyclone Freddy eft 1,434 dead across Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi during the first two weeks of March after crossing the entire width of the Indian Ocean. With a life span of five weeks and four days, it was the longest-lived storm on record.
• At least 17 people were killed when Cyclone Biparjoy tore roofs off houses, uprooted trees and brought flash floods to the western India-southern Pakistan border region on June 16.
• Super Typhoon Doksuri brought eastern China the heaviest rainfall on record, killing 46 people in late July as the most costly such storm in Chinese history.
• From western Cuba to Florida and the Carolinas, Hurricane Idalia caused extensive damage, massive flooding and storm-surge inundations, especially across northern Florida from late August to early September.
• Hurricane Otis quickly reached Category-5 force overnight before laying waste to Acapulco with little warning on Oct. 25[, killing upward of 52 people].



Java Blast

A sudden eruption of Java’s Merapi volcano on Dec. 3 killed 23 climbers, who were caught by surprise on the slopes of Indonesia’s most active volcano. Nearby villages were blanketed with ash.



Hottest Year Yet

Early calculations by the U.N. weather agency and Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service indicate that 2023 has been the warmest year on record globally. Two days in November were 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) warmer globally than in preindustrial times.
On average, Earth in 2023 was approximately 1.46 degrees Celsius (2.63 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than in preindustrial times.



In Hot Water

A new study finds that the ocean surface is now warmer than at any other time since satellite records began, with the new heat energy threatening to super-charge storms around the world.
Earlier studies revealed that the oceans are now heating more quickly than in the past 2,000 years.



Record Emissions

A new report says this year’s carbon dioxide emissions are likely to reach an all-time high despite climate experts and the U.N. calling for them to be slashed to curb global heating.



Darkest Winter

Residents across the eastern Great Lakes and Ontario endured their darkest winter in 73 years.
Toronto saw weeks in December 2022 and January 2023 with scant sunshine.



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, “coquí,” over the past 23 years reveal the change in pitch, says researcher Peter Narins of the University of California, Los Angeles.
They write that the calls grew higher in pitch at every location studied.



Current Slowdown

The deep ocean currents that carry vital heat, oxygen and nutrients throughout the world are slowing down around Antarctica in a trend scientists warn could have a massive effect on climate.
Scientists say the trend is caused by rapidly melting Antarctic ice.



Orca See, Orca Do

Yacht owners around the Iberian Peninsula reported that orcas attacked their ships in a behavior marine mammal experts suggest is being copied by others of the species.
Several of the craft were sent to the bottom of the sea by the assaults.


• Extreme Temperatures: -110°F Vostok, Antarctica; 128°F Death Valley, California

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