Cold Irony: Arctic Sea Ice Traps Climate Tour Icebreaker

27 May 08 – “Cashing in on the panic that has set in with the help of some climate alarmists, tour operators like Quark Expeditions of Norwalk Connecticut are offering polar expeditions catering to that “see it before it’s gone” travel worry. One of them is a trip though the Northwest Passage on a former Soviet Icebreaker called the Kapitan Khlebnikov, a massive 24,000 horsepower Polar Class icebreaker capable of carrying 108 passengers in relative luxury through the arctic wilderness.
Unfortunately, the Kapitan Khlebnikov got stuck in the ice.

One of the passengers wrote: ‘What irony. I am a passenger on one of the most powerful icebreakers in the world, travelling through the Northwest Passage - which is supposed to become almost ice-free in a time of global warming, the next shipping route across the top of the world - and here we are, stuck in the ice, engines shut down, bridge deserted. Only time and tide can free us.’

6.2 Quake in Iceland

Twister Crosses California Freeway

Saturday May 24, 2008 1:14AM
Rick Shaw captured this incredible footage of a tornado in southern California, May 24.

Scientists warn New Zealand volcano may erupt

Mount Ruapehu: a constant source
of concern for those living in its
shadow. (AAP: John Cowpland/
NZPA, File photo)

New Zealand's largest active volcano, Mount Ruapehu in the North Island, has been showing signs of increased activity and scientists are warning it may erupt.

But up on the mountain tourism operators are not too concerned. They are more worried that the media reports have scared off visitors.
Meanwhile newspaper headlines in New Zealand are reading "Restless Ruapehu emits danger signs" and "Molten rock on the move".

Big Quakes Trigger Global Shaking

Big Earthquakes Spark Jolts Worldwide

Quakes can be triggered from other side of globe: study

Ecuador records 125 explosions of Tungurahua volcano

> 5.0 quakes in Atlantic Ridge

2008-05-24 13:21:32.6 0.34S 19.06W 33km 5.1 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

2008-05-24 04:58:19.0 42.47N 30.51W 10km 5.4 AZORES ISLANDS REGION

2008-05-23 19:35:35.7 7.37N 34.89W 10km 6.5 CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

Missing Matter Of Universe Found: Cosmic Web Discovered

This illustration shows how the Hubble Space Telescope
searches for missing ordinary matter, called baryons, by
looking at the light from quasars several billion light-years
away. Imprinted on that light are the spectral fingerprints
of the missing ordinary matter that absorbs the light at
specific frequencies shown in the colorful spectra at right.
The missing baryonic matter helps trace out the structure
of intergalactic space, called the "cosmic web." (Credit:
Image courtesy Space Telescope Science Institute, NASA)



Now, in an extensive search of the relatively recent, local universe, University of Colorado at Boulder astronomers said they have definitively found about half of the missing normal matter, called baryons, in the spaces between the galaxies. This important component of the universe is known as the intergalactic medium and it extends essentially throughout all of space, from just outside our Milky Way galaxy to the most distant regions of space observed by astronomers.

The Cosmic Ray-Climate Connection

Kirkby reports that "diverse reconstructions of past climate change have revealed clear associations with cosmic ray variations recorded in cosmogenic isotope archives, providing persuasive evidence for solar or cosmic ray forcing of the climate." Despite the increasing evidence of its importance, however, he says that "solar-climate variability is likely to remain controversial until a physical mechanism is established." In this regard he discusses two different classes of microphysical mechanisms that have been proposed to connect cosmic rays with clouds, which interact significantly with fluxes of both solar and thermal radiation and, therefore, climate: "firstly, an influence of cosmic rays on the production of cloud condensation nuclei and, secondly, an influence of cosmic rays on the global electrical circuit in the atmosphere and, in turn, on ice nucleation and other cloud microphysical processes." Kirkby reports, in this regard, that "considerable progress on understanding ion-aerosol-cloud processes has been made in recent years, and the results are suggestive of a physically-plausible link between cosmic rays, clouds and climate."

Chinese experts give reasons for magnitude revision of SW China earthquake

BEIJING, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Experts from the China Seismological Bureau (CSB) said on Monday the magnitude revision of the strong earthquake in southwestern Sichuan Province was due to confirmed statistics from more monitoring stations at home and reference from overseas seismological observatories.

"It is a common practice to revise the magnitude of a major earthquake," said Xiu Jigang, CSB deputy director in an interview with Xinhua.

He explained that scientists had to use statistics from a few monitoring stations to estimate the magnitude of the earthquake as soon as possible. Then as they were able to take reference of statistics from more domestic stations and with the estimated figures by the observatories around the globe, they came to a more accurate conclusion.

The first report by CSB set the magnitude at 7.6 on the Richter scale after the quake hit Sichuan Province on May 12. The quake was shortly upgraded to 7.8. Then the bureau revised the magnitude from 7.8 to 8.0 on Sunday.

The magnitude was revised upward after specialists carried out "real-time and detailed measurements of the quake according to international practices," said Luo Zhuoli, an expert with CSB.

Scientists from the United States first put the magnitude of the tremor at 7.8 and then revised it to 7.9, while their counterparts in Europe revised it from 7.5 to 7.9, and Russia, 8.0.

The quake, claiming 34,073 lives as of 4:30 p.m. Monday and leaving 245,108 injured so far, has caused serious damage to buildings, bridges and other public facilities in an area of more than 100,000 square kilometers.

Chilean Floods Strike Town Emptied By Volcano Threat (Update2)

Volcano sparks smog alert in Hawaii

Volcanic haze's health risk unclear


Comet Boattini: Barely Visible Now, Bright in July?















Serious comet chasers — people who track faint comets with telescopes and binoculars — have been aware of Comet C/2007 W1 (Boattini) for quite a while. It was forecast to become quite bright for a telescopic comet, 6th or perhaps even 5th magnitude, making it visible without optical aid to skilled observers at dark sites.

So far, Boattini has exceeded the brightness predictions by more than a full magnitude. If it keeps behaving like this — and that's a very big if! — it could become quite prominent in July.

Right now, unfortunately, the comet is fairly deep in the southern sky, making it a difficult target from mid-northern latitudes. The best sightings have been from the Southern Hemisphere, where it's already visible without optical aid under ideal conditions. But Boattini has also been spotted by many binocular observers in the southern tier of the United States, particularly Arizona and Southern California.

At the time of writing, the nearly full Moon makes Comet Boattini's faint, fuzzy shape almost impossible to see. But there will be a brief window of visibility after the Moon gets out of the early-evening sky (on May 21st) and before the comet disappears into the Sun's glow in June.

Frog march sparks new quake alarm

For the second time this month, residents observed a huge migration of frogs and toads, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Residents of Zunyi, a southern city that saw little damage in China's huge earthquake last week, noticed the amphibians' march yesterday, Xinhua said, quoting Vice Mayor Zeng Yongtao.
Thousands of residents camped out in fear overnight in downtown Zunyi, the news agency said.
"We don't know what else we can do,'' Zunyi resident Liu Yong was quoted as saying.
Their decision to move outdoors coincided with a warning from seismological authorities that there may be another big aftershock in southwestern China's Sichuan province today following last week's tremor.
The May 12 earthquake - which left more than 71,000 people dead, missing or buried in rubble - also came after reports of unusual movement of frogs and toads.
Internet blogs showed footage of frogs and toads covering the streets of Mianyang in the days before the town in Sichuan province was ravaged by the earthquake.

China quake toll exceeds 39,500

Frogs Swarmed in China Before the Quake - Now It's California

In the days prior to the gigantic earthquake that devastated Sichuan province in China, odd swarms of frogs were seen in the streets of cities in the area, and have subsequently been identified as unusual animal behavior of the type that is thought by some geologists to precede earthquakes. Now it has developed that similar frog appearances have been taking place in Bakersfield, California for about two weeks, and nobody is sure why. Strange swarms of frogs also appeared before the 6.9 Loma Prieta Earthquake in October of 1989.
The frogs are emerging from a drainage ditch and are being observed in swarms of hundreds by local residents. Nobody can remember a frog swarm like this in the area. The animals appear to be emerging from a drainage ditch, and it is possible that a lack of natural predators in the water has allowed the overgrowth of frogs.

A more controversial earthquake sign is linear clouds, or clouds that appear arrayed in lines, such as those shown in this photograph, which was taken in Shandong Province, also on May 9, 2 days prior to the Sichuan quake. So far, such clouds have not been observed by Unknowncountry.com correspondents in California.

A Double Whammy? - Antipodal earthquakes

The NASA finding gives little comfort to those who still believe that volcanism alone did in the dinosaurs. But they are encouraged by a novel "double-whammy" theory suggesting that an impact on one side of the earth could produce massive volcanic activity at the antipode -- a point directly opposite on the far side -- and that the combined effect would cause disaster. Says Jon Hagstrum, the U.S. Geological Survey paleomagneticist who co-authored the theory: "This would be the best way to trigger worldwide mass extinctions because you have both hemispheres affected."

China on alert against quake radiation leaks

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is on precautionary alert against possible radiation leaks from the deadliest earthquake to hit the country in three decades, according to government website seen on Friday.

The disaster area is home to China's chief nuclear weapons research lab in Mianyang, as well as several secretive atomic sites, but no nuclear power stations.

Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian convened an emergency meeting late on Monday, hours after the 7.9 magnitude tremor rocked the southwestern province of Sichuan, and activated the lowest tier of a four-stage system of ranking radiation leaks, the ministry said on its website (www.zhb.gov.cn).

President Hu Jintao flew to Mianyang on Friday, four days after the quake, which is thought to have killed more than 50,000 people, state television and the official Xinhua news agency reported, in an indication the risk was low.

Xinhua didn't say if Hu had inquired about nuclear facilities there.

But nuclear scientists were evacuated from the area as a precaution, a source with knowledge of the evacuation said.

"Everyone was evacuated. No one was left," the source, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.

Key molecule discovered in Venus's atmosphere

Hydroxyl, an important but difficult-to-detect molecule, is made up of a hydrogen and oxygen atom each. It has been found in the upper reaches of the Venusian atmosphere, some 100 km above the surface, by Venus Express’s Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer, VIRTIS. Credits: ESA (Image by C. Carreau)

China quake kills 3,000-5,000 in one county

BEIJING, China - A powerful earthquake in southwest China has killed up to 5,000 people and left as many as 10,000 injured, state media said, as hundreds of children remained trapped in at least eight collapsed schools.

The temblor was felt as far away as Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand.

An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 people were killed in Beichuan county of mountainous Sichuan province alone after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region during the early afternoon on Monday, Xinhua news agency said, citing the local government.

Strong 7.8 earthquake hits Sichuan, China

2008-05-12 09:42:25.1 31.58N 104.07E 10 5.5 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
2008-05-12 09:23:34.5 32.16N 104.85E 10 4.9 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
2008-05-12 09:07:04.7 31.23N 103.76E 40 5.2 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
2008-05-12 08:54:16.2 32.12N 105.08E 34 4.8 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
2008-05-12 08:47:25.3 32.28N 105.02E 10 5.0 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
2008-05-12 08:26:12.2 31.40N 104.00E 10 4.9 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
2008-05-12 08:21:40.4 31.57N 104.03E 10 5.1 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
2008-05-12 08:11:03.3 31.25N 103.53E 40 5.1 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
2008-05-12 08:08:24.8 31.86N 104.46E 30 4.7 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
2008-05-12 07:34:42.2 31.27N 103.64E 10 5.5 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
2008-05-12 06:54:18.4 31.17N 103.86E 10 5.6 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
2008-05-12 06:43:13.7 31.32N 103.77E 2 5.8 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA

2008-05-12 06:27:59.0 31.12N 103.24E 10 7.8 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA

Chile eruption spurs evacuations

Ghosts and smell of victims haunt survivors of the Burma cyclone

The stench of death hung over the Irrawaddy delta town of Labutta, where the blackened bodies of people and animals, rotting in the tropical heat, were washed aground as Burma’s cyclone floodwaters receded.

Struggling to breathe through the overpowering smells, residents wrapped layers of cloth around their faces and rubbed in balm to mask the odour. Death pervades this town so completely that many said they cannot sleep because ghosts of the cyclone victims torment them. One said: “We can’t sleep at night, because we can hear people shouting at night. Maybe these are the ghosts of the villagers."

Grossly bloated bodies lay strung out along the roads running atop embankments between paddies in a region that was the country’s rice bowl, but is now the centre of one of the world’s worst natural disasters.

One man said: “I cannot describe how I felt when I saw so many dead bodies.”