Earth Changes
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Munich hit by heaviest snowfall in 20 years, wakes up to 50 cm (1.6 feet) of snow and severe traffic disruption, Germany
Munich woke up to a record-breaking snowfall of 50 cm (1.6 feet) on December 2, 2023, marking the city’s heaviest snowfall in two decades. The German Weather Service had previously issued Level 2 and Level 3 weather warnings for heavy snowfall in southern Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg, leading to significant disruptions in air travel and ground transportation.
On December 2, 2023, Munich reported a historic snow accumulation of 50 cm (1.6 feet), the most significant in 20 years. This followed the German Weather Service’s advisories on December 1, 2023, warning of heavy snowfall across southern regions of Bavaria and Baden-Wurttemberg. The forecasted snowfall ranged between 10 to 40 cm (4 to 16 inches), but the actual accumulation exceeded expectations.
The issued weather warnings included a Level 2 advisory for parts of southern Bavaria near the Austrian border and a more severe Level 3 warning for areas including Munich and southern Baden-Wurttemberg. These warnings, which are the third-highest and second-highest levels on a four-tier scale, were set to remain in effect at least until late December 2.
The snowfall had already begun impacting the region on December 1, causing disruptions at Munich Airport (MUC) with flight delays and cancellations. This is Germany’s second-largest airport.
From watchers.news
Massive sandstorm engulfs parts of Jordan
A massive sandstorm swept through several areas of Jordan, including the city of Azraq and the capital Amman, on October 15, 2023. The event resulted in drastically reduced visibility and poor air quality, prompting local authorities to issue multiple safety warnings.
The sandstorm that started in the desert regions of southwestern Syria had a considerable impact on Jordan on October 15, 2023.
Urban areas, notably the capital city of Amman, experienced reduced visibility and a significant decline in air quality. The sky turned orange, further contributing to concerns for the well-being of residents.
Jordanian authorities issued several safety guidelines and recommendations in response to the event. Among these were advisories to limit outdoor activities and wear face masks for dust protection. Residents were cautioned to adhere strictly to these guidelines to minimize health risks.
The sandstorm was traced back to the desert regions of southwestern Syria. The severe weather phenomenon then moved southward, affecting multiple regions in Jordan.
While the sandstorm has subsided, authorities have urged the public to remain vigilant and adhere to issued guidelines until air quality levels return to normal. No casualties have been reported, but the storm caught thousands of people off guard.
From watchers.news
Almost 1,000 Birds Died in One Night From Striking a Chicago Building
Another 1,000 were killed in window collisions across the downtown area, amid calls for more bird-friendly architecture and reduced light pollution
In an average year, about 1,000 to 2,000 migratory birds die from striking a lakeside Chicago convention center, reports Clare Marie Schneider for NPR.
But on one single night last week, at least 961 birds were killed after crashing into the building’s glass exterior.
“It was just like a carpet of dead birds at the windows there,” David Willard, a retired bird division collections manager at the Chicago Field Museum, tells Todd Richmond of the Associated Press.
“A normal night would be zero to 15 [dead] birds. It was just kind of a shocking outlier to what we’ve experienced,” he tells the publication. Museum volunteers have tracked bird deaths at the building for four decades, and they say no other single night has been so deadly.
With its mostly glass facade and location beside Lake Michigan, the building, called McCormick Place Lakeside Center, is a well-known bird hazard in the Windy City. Volunteers and researchers from the Field Museum visit the site daily during the spring and fall migration seasons to look for and collect bird carcasses, writes Amanda Holpuch for the New York Times. The center’s previous record was 200 bird fatalities in one night, per the publication.
Birds migrate by night, relying on the stars for navigation—so artificial light emanating from buildings can be highly disorienting. The animals do not recognize windows as solid objects, and reflections on the glass can look like a continuation of the sky or the habitat that surrounds a building.
Chicago has been named one of the deadliest cities for birds because of its high light pollution and its placement along one of the continent’s most trafficked migratory flight paths, known as the Mississippi Flyway. Beyond the avian carcasses collected at McCormick Place last Wednesday, volunteers found an additional roughly 1,000 dead birds across the rest of the downtown area.
From smithsonianmag.org
This is alarming! Tree rings predict the most dangerous radiation storm to hit us soon
In September 1859, astronomers Richard C. Carrington and Richard Hodgson observed the most intense geomagnetic storm ever recorded in human history. It is called the Carrington Event. If such a cosmic burst happens today, it will damage our electric grids to an extent that there will be blackouts across the globe.
However, the Carrington Event is nothing compared to what we are gonna tell you next. Many astronomers believed that in about every thousand years, a solar storm, nearly 12 times more intense, disastrous, and powerful than the Carrington Event takes place in the cosmos. It is referred to as the Miyake Event.
Interestingly, a team of researchers from the University of Queensland (UQ) has proposed that data from tree rings can help us predict when the next Miyake Event is likely to take place.
While explaining the possible impact of a Miyake Event on human life, one of the authors and astrophysicist at UQ, Dr. Benjamin Pope said in the press release, “The leading theory is that they are huge solar flares. We need to know more because if one of these happened today, it would destroy technology including satellites, internet cables, long-distance power lines, and transformers. The effect on global infrastructure would be unimaginable.”
Every time a solar storm occurs, the concentration of the C-14 radioisotope (carbon-14 isotope) increases in the environment. On earth, the excess of C-14 passes through water bodies, air, and living organisms including both plants and animals. While filtering through a tree, the C-14 isotope from a solar flare leaves its marks on tree rings, and therefore the rings act as a record of the event.
According to the researchers, apart from indicating the age of a tree, the rings also contain yearly records of solar radiation. So in order to predict the next Miyake event, they developed a model that could reveal information related to the carbon cycle occurring over a period of 10,000 years. Plus, they also created software to decode the records found on tree rings.
However, this is not the first research work that makes use of tree rings to study the terrestrial carbon cycle and solar flares. Scientists have been studying the concentration of the C-14 isotope in tree rings for a long time. For instance, in 2014, a team of researchers from the University of Arizona revealed that various factors associated with carbon cycles on earth can be understood by studying tree rings.
Last year, another research paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letter highlighted a new past solar radiation event by examining rings in trees located in Finland, California, and Switzerland. There are more such studies dating back to the 1990s but what makes the current research work special is that it tells us about when the next Miyake event is likely to take place.
Based on their findings, Dr. Pope and his colleagues suggest that a Miyake Event might take place within the next decade. However, this is just a possibility and more precisely, there is only a one percent chance of such a solar storm hitting us in the next 15-20 years. Unlike previous studies that consider a Miyake as one large solar flare, the current study proposes that it does not occur in the form of a single explosion.
A Miyake Event is rather a cosmic outburst that may continue for months and even years. “We’ve shown they’re not correlated with sunspot activity, and some actually last one or two years. Rather than a single instantaneous explosion or flare, what we may be looking at is a kind of astrophysical ‘storm’ or outburst,” said first author Qingyuan Zhang.
The current findings are quite alarming and researchers are still not sure how much harm a Miyake Event could cause to people on Earth. This is why they believe that further research is also required to understand the possibility of future Miyake Events in more depth.
The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences.
Solar researcher warns of solar activity decrease, imminent MINI ICE AGE and GLOBAL FAMINE by 2030
In a 2019 interview with the award-winning Canadian journalist Stuart McNish on his program “Conversations That Matter,” Valentina Zharkova, who authored world-leading research as well as numerous groundbreaking publications, explained that they have been observing signs that since 2015, solar activity has been decreasing in a manner only seen during the Grand Solar Minimum, which last occurred during the Maunder Minimum, also known as the “prolonged sunspot minimum,” 400 years ago.
She cited National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and other research organizations have noted this trend in various ways but hid the information from the public. According to her, the significantly reduced solar activity will inevitably lead to dramatic climate and weather changes such as a massive global cooling that could be likened to a mini ice age.
“Between cycle 25 and 11 years of cycle 26 [the least active cycle], and between cycle 26 and 27, will be the coldest period on Earth, and we will feel it through a lack of vegetation,” the researcher and lecturer with a doctorate in astrophysics said. This means that starting after the active period during the ‘Solar Cycle 25,’ from the second half of this decade until the early 2050s, Earth will experience exceptional cold, extreme weather, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Zharkova pointed to 2030 as the year when it will seriously begin, warning that the 2030s will be so cold that it will result in a severe food shortage.
Read full article HERE
Thousands dead in Afghanistan after series of powerful earthquakes rock country
HERAT, Afghanistan – A series of strong earthquakes rocked the northwestern region of Afghanistan on Saturday, killing more than 2,000 people, according to Reuters, which cited the Taliban administration.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the epicenter was located about 18 miles northeast of the Zinda Jan District in the Herat province of Afghanistan.
The first quake, one of the strongest, began just after 11 a.m. local time (2:30 a.m. ET) and registered magnitude 6.3, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The WHO said at least eight aftershocks hit the area within five hours, including one with a magnitude of 5.5 a few minutes after the initial quake, another magnitude of 6.3 about 20 minutes later and a 5.9 just about an hour after the original quake.
According to the Taliban Times, at least 1,240 people have been injured in the earthquakes, and there are fears that the number of injuries and deaths could continue to rise.
In addition, at least 1,320 homes have been destroyed.
The WHO says cold weather will also intensify the vulnerability of those who have been affected by the earthquakes, especially those who have been evacuated from their homes.
Most homes in the regions rattled by the earthquakes remain fragile as they are mostly made from mud and stone.
From foxweather.com
Australia experiences driest September on record, endangering agricultural production
Areas of severe rainfall deficiency are expanding in Australia, following the country’s driest September on record (since 1900), affecting the nation’s farm production and contributing to a 41% predicted fall in average farm incomes in the 2023–24 financial year.
Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology reported on October 6, 2023, that the country witnessed the driest September on record, increasing concerns for the agricultural sector. Rainfall nationwide in September was 70.8% below the average measured between 1961 – 1990. The severe dry spell is part of an El Nino weather pattern, known to bring hotter and drier conditions.
Farmers in parts of southeastern Australia did experience some relief through recent rainfalls, yet the overall impact on the country’s wheat harvest has been negative. The Australian government has indicated that average farm incomes are projected to plummet by 41% in the fiscal year 2023–24.
For the five months since May 2023, all Australian states and territories have seen areas of rainfall deficiencies. Notable regions include large parts of south-west Western Australia and much of the country’s south-east. “Areas of deficiency have generally expanded and become more severe, and new areas have emerged, including along the West Coast district in South Australia and in the Central district in Victoria,” the Bureau said.
In addition, soil moisture levels in September were recorded as below average for much of Australia, ranking in the lowest 30% since 1911, except for northern and central inland areas. Data from New South Wales revealed that although only 3.5% of the state is officially in drought, an additional 28.2% falls under the drought-affected category, indicating weakened agricultural conditions.
Low streamflows were observed mostly at sites in the south and south-eastern New South Wales, south-eastern Queensland, scattered sites in the southwest of Western Australia, and most sites in Victoria and Tasmania.
Storage levels remain low in some parts of southern and central Queensland, south-eastern parts of New South Wales, central Tasmania, and urban areas of Perth.
For November 2023 to January 2024, below median rainfall is likely to very likely (60% to greater than 80% chance) for much of western, northern, and southern Australia, with small areas of northern New South Wales having a slightly increased chance of above median rainfall.
From watchers.news
Typhoon “Koinu” hits Taiwan with record-breaking winds
Typhoon “Koinu” made landfall in Cape Eluanbi, southern Taiwan, on October 4, 2023, breaking wind speed records and injuring 190 people. Despite the high winds and significant rainfall, no deaths have been reported.
Koinu brought record-breaking winds to Taiwan, with wind gusts reaching 343 km/h (213 mph) at 21:53 local time on October 4, 2023, as well as sustained winds that reached 199 km/h (123.5 mph) at 21:40 LT. The wind speeds were measured on Orchid Island, southeast of Taiwan’s main island, by the Central Weather Administration’s Taitung Weather Station. Both values set all-time highs since Taiwan began keeping records of wind speeds in 1897. This was also the 3rd strongest wind gust observation of all time.
The device measuring the wind speeds broke shortly after, said Huang Chia-mei, head of the Central Weather Administration’s Taitung Weather Station.
The typhoon also brought heavy rainfall, particularly affecting the east-coast counties of Taitung and Hualien, as well as the mountainous Pingtung county in the south. By Thursday afternoon (LT), the maximum sustained winds had decreased to 155 km/h (96 mph), with gusts of 191 km/h (119 mph).
A total of 190 injuries were reported by Taiwan’s fire department, primarily in cities along the west coast such as Taichung, Tainan, and Kaohsiung.
From watchers.news
Was Morocco hit by prophetic “earthquake lights”?
Your thunder rumbled like wheels; lightning lit up the world; the earth quaked and trembled.
While scientists cannot explain the phenomenon, the mysterious lights that sometimes appear preceding major seismic events were explicitly described by King David.
On September 8, a massive earthquake devastated Morocco. While the world’s attention was focused on humanitarian relief efforts, scientists began to study a poorly understood phenomenon known as “earthquake light”. A closer look at the Bible may have helped understand this natural light display that connects heaven and earth.
Morocco suffered a massive 6.8 magnitude earthquake, the most powerful ever recorded in the region, three weeks ago in the province of Al-Haouz. Hitting on September 8, the natural catastrophe killed more than 2,900 people and injured 5,500, and devastated several remote settlements in the Atlas Mountains.
There were also reports of earthquake light sightings (EQL). Also known as earthquake lightning or earthquake flash, this is a luminous aerial phenomenon that appears in the sky at or near areas of tectonic stress, seismic activity, or volcanic eruptions. Sometimes, the lights may appear similar to ordinary lightning, or they may be like a luminous band in the atmosphere akin to a polar aurora. The luminosity is reported to be visible for several seconds but has also been reported to last for tens of minutes. Appearances of the earthquake light seem to occur when the quakes have a high magnitude, generally 5 or higher.
The cause of earthquake lights is unknown. Scientists conjecture that it is due to the ionization of oxygen in certain rocks that may occur during seismic events. Another possible explanation is the local disruption of the Earth’s magnetic field. Scientists are intensely interested in the phenomenon, believing that this may provide more information that will allow seismologists to better predict earthquakes as EQL can appear before the seismic activity.
Read full article HERE
Medicane “Marquesa” makes landfall in Libya, causing severe flash flooding and leaving 2,500 dead and 7,000 missing
Medicane “Marquesa” — a Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone, made landfall in Libya at 01:30 UTC on September 10, 2023, causing severe flash flooding in Benghazi and neighboring regions.
The low that has been spinning in the central Mediterranean since the beginning of the week, bringing exceptionally heavy rains and major flooding to central Greece, has developed a well-organized convective pattern and met the criteria for designation as a medistorm on September 8, 2023.
The Meditteranean Cyclone Center (MCC) named the storm Marquesa at 12:00 UTC on the same day.
The system continued moving toward Libya, before slowing down and meandering off the coast of Libiya early on September 9.
Article from watchers.news
61 000 lightning strikes in just 2 hours result in 12 fatalities, 14 injuries, Odisha
On September 2, 2023, the eastern Indian state of Odisha faced an extreme weather event with a staggering 61 000 lightning strikes in just two hours, leading to 12 deaths and 14 injuries.
A breakdown of Saturday’s tragic events reveals that four of the deceased were from Khurda district, followed by two from Balangir and one individual from each of Angul, Boudh, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Jagatsinghpur, and Puri. Beyond human casualties, the lightning also claimed the lives of eight cattle in Gajapati and Kandhamal districts.
Weather officials have attributed these unusual and extreme lightning activities to the monsoon resuming its course after an extended hiatus. They further clarified that the collision between cold and warm air masses creates the ideal conditions for such unparalleled lightning occurrences.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a stern caution for Odisha, forecasting extreme weather conditions to persist till September 7.
An active cyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal may evolve into a low-pressure area in the upcoming 48 hours. As a result, widespread rain is anticipated throughout Odisha. According to the IMD bulletin, the rain’s intensity is projected to amplify later in the week. A “yellow warning” for heavy rainfall is in effect for the majority of districts until September 7.
Article from watchers.news
Dangerous Fungus is Becoming More Prevalent
SEATTLE (AP) — In 2016, hospitals in New York state identified a rare and dangerous fungal infection never before found in the United States. Research laboratories quickly mobilized to review historical specimens and found the fungus had been present in the country since at least 2013.
In the years since, New York City has emerged as ground zero for Candida auris infections. And until 2021, the state recorded the most confirmed cases in the country year after year, even as the illness has spread to other places, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data analyzed by The Associated Press.
Candida auris is a globally emerging public health threat that can cause severe illness, including bloodstream, wound and respiratory infections. In a small group of patients in the United States, its mortality rate was estimated at 30% to 60%, according to the CDC, and many of those patients had other underlying conditions. Candida auris is a particular risk in healthcare settings for people already with serious medical problems.
Last year, the most cases were found in Nevada and California, but the fungus was identified clinically in patients in 29 states. New York state remains a major hotspot.
Wind carrying away pilgrims amid storm in Mecca
Violent Solar Outburst Hits Earth, Moon, And Mars in Scientific First
An outburst that erupted from the Sun in 2021 was so violent that it was simultaneously felt on multiple Solar System bodies as it blasted through.
For the first time, instruments on Earth, the Moon, and Mars all recorded powerful solar activity, even though the planets were on opposite sides of the Sun at the time.
It’s a suite of detections that can help us better understand solar activity – and assess the potential impact of that activity on space exploration efforts.
The Sun spewing radiation and particles into space is nothing new. It’s kind of the Sun’s whole thing. Nor are coronal mass ejections – in which the Sun ejects billions of tons of material and magnetic fields out into the Solar System – rare or particularly worrisome, mostly.
Here on Earth, our atmosphere protects us from the full brunt of the Sun’s dangerous radiation.
Outside the atmosphere is another matter. Space is considered a hazardous radiation environment, and astronauts who spend time in it may have a higher risk of radiation-induced illnesses. That’s just the ambient environment, too.
A dose of the particle radiation from a particularly powerful coronal mass ejection (CME) could cause radiation sickness – that’s a dose of about 700 milligray – and, at a high enough level, around 10 gray, could prove fatal within a fortnight.
CMEs are capable of delivering those levels; we’ve just been relatively lucky so far.
Space agencies are currently planning crewed missions to the Moon and Mars, neither of which have an atmosphere sufficient to protect against solar radiation. So understanding how powerful a CME can be, and how far it can reach, is important information to have.
On 28 October, 2021, a wealth of this information landed in our laps: the Sun belched out a CME so powerful that it was detected on Earth’s surface. That’s extremely rare. Even rarer was our ability to measure it.
The European space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover, the China National Space Administration’s Chang’e-4 Moon lander, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the German Aerospace Center’s Eu:CROPIS Earth orbiter, and ground-based neutron monitors on Earth all detected the influx of radiation.
Earth and Mars were on opposite sides of the Sun at the time, separated by a distance of around 250 million kilometers (155 million miles); and Mars, of course, is farther from the Sun than Earth. So the detections allowed the scientists to study the way material from a CME propagates, and the effects at various points in the inner Solar System.
On Earth, the orbital dose of radiation would have been 10 milligray, but the surface amount was negligible. The Moon registered an orbital measurement of 31 milligray, and a surface measurement of 17 milligray. Meanwhile, on Mars, the orbital measurement was 9 milligray, and 0.3 milligray on the surface.
“Our calculations of the past ground level enhancement events show that on average one event every 5.5 years may have exceeded the safe dose level on the Moon if no radiation protection had been provided,” says astronomer Jingnan Guo of the University of Science and Technology of China, who led the analysis.
“Understanding these events is crucial for future crewed missions to the surface of the Moon.”
The good news is that, when a CME erupts, we usually have a bit of advance warning.
It takes some time after a CME is launched for the particles to arrive at Earth and beyond, between around 15-18 hours to a few days.
Knowing how CMEs propagate, and how powerfully, will better equip space explorersfor battening down the hatches when a solar storm approaches.
The research has been published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Stunning video capturing the explosion of a meteor above Japan’s active volcano, Mount Sakurajima.
Floods and mudslides claim 21 lives, leave 6 missing in Xi’an, China
Mudslides and floods triggered by excessive summer rains took a devastating toll in the northwestern Chinese city of Xian, Shaanxi Province, on Friday, August 11, 2023, causing 21 deaths and leaving 6 individuals unaccounted for.
China’s emergency management in Xi’an reported that the death toll from the recent mudslides and floods reached 21, with 6 more still missing. This updated figure contrasts with an earlier report from state-run China Central Television (CCTV), which cited 18 people as dead or missing and only two confirmed deaths.
A video distributed by officials, painted a grim picture of the aftermath, capturing scenes of broken trees, destroyed infrastructure, and heaps of rubble strewn across muddy village roads.
The cascading mudslide severely damaged two homes and resulted in power outages for approximately 900 households, as revealed in an official statement from the city’s emergency management authority.
The excessive rainfall battering China can be traced back to Typhoon Khanun, which also affected Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and Russia.
By the time it reached the shores of China’s northeastern Liaoning province on Friday night, Khanun had downgraded to a tropical depression. Adding to China’s weather woes was the previous hit from Typhoon Doksuri. This storm lashed Beijing and Hebei with intense rainfall, resulting in over 100 fatalities.
Article from watchers.news
#India 🇮🇳 Several houses collapsed in Krishna Nagar area, in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh when a huge landslide occurred. Torrential rains and landslides have claimed the lives of more than 50 people in Himachal Pradesh.
Frozen Pathogens Are Waking Up, And Scientists Say The Risk Is Real
Science fiction is rife with fanciful tales of deadly organisms emerging from the ice and wreaking havoc on unsuspecting human victims.
From shape-shifting aliens in Antarctica, to super-parasites emerging from a thawing woolly mammoth in Siberia, to exposed permafrost in Greenland causing a viral pandemic – the concept is marvellous plot fodder.
But just how far-fetched is it? Could pathogens that were once common on Earth – but frozen for millennia in glaciers, ice caps and permafrost – emerge from the melting ice to lay waste to modern ecosystems? The potential is, in fact, quite real.
Dangers lying in wait
In 2003, bacteria were revived from samples taken from the bottom of an ice core drilled into an ice cap on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. The ice at that depth was more than 750,000 years old.
In 2014, a giant “zombie” Pithovirus sibericum virus was revived from 30,000-year-old Siberian permafrost.
And in 2016, an outbreak of anthrax (a disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis) in western Siberia was attributed to the rapid thawing of B. anthracis sporesin permafrost. It killed thousands of reindeer and affected dozens of people.
More recently, scientists found remarkable genetic compatibility between viruses isolated from lake sediments in the high Arctic and potential living hosts.
Earth’s climate is warming at a spectacular rate, and up to four times faster in colder regions such as the Arctic. Estimates suggest we can expect four sextillion(4,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) microorganisms to be released from ice melt each year. This is about the same as the estimated number of stars in the Universe.
However, despite the unfathomably large number of microorganisms being released from melting ice (including pathogens that can potentially infect modern species), no one has been able to estimate the risk this poses to modern ecosystems.
In a new study published today in the journal PLOS Computational Biology, we calculated the ecological risks posed by the release of unpredictable ancient viruses.
Our simulations show that 1% of simulated releases of just one dormant pathogen could cause major environmental damage and the widespread loss of host organisms around the world.
Digital worlds
We used a software called Avida to run experiments that simulated the release of one type of ancient pathogen into modern biological communities.
We then measured the impacts of this invading pathogen on the diversity of modern host bacteria in thousands of simulations, and compared these to simulations where no invasion occurred.
The invading pathogens often survived and evolved in the simulated modern world. About 3% of the time the pathogen became dominant in the new environment, in which case they were very likely to cause losses to modern host diversity.
In the worst (but still entirely plausible) case scenario, the invasion reduced the size of its host community by 30% when compared to controls.
The risk from this small fraction of pathogens might seem small, but keep in mind these are the results of releasing just one particular pathogen in simulated environments. With the sheer number of ancient microbes being released in the real world, such outbreaks represent a substantial danger.
Extinction and disease
Our findings suggest this unpredictable threat which has so far been confined to science fiction could become a powerful driver of ecological change.
While we didn’t model the potential risk to humans, the fact that “time-travelling” pathogens could become established and severely degrade a host community is already worrisome.
We highlight yet another source of potential species extinction in the modern era – one which even our worst-case extinction models do not include. As a society, we need to understand the potential risks so we can prepare for them.
Notable viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, Ebola and HIV were likely transmitted to humans via contact with other animal hosts. So it is plausible that a once ice-bound virus could enter the human population via a zoonotic pathway.
While the likelihood of a pathogen emerging from melting ice and causing catastrophic extinctions is low, our results show this is no longer a fantasy for which we shouldn’t prepare.
Article from sciencealert.com
Why Are So Many Apocalyptic Natural Disasters Suddenly Happening All Over The Globe?
Almost every day there is another “apocalyptic” natural disaster in the news. Have you ever wondered why this is happening? This year there has been an endless parade of unprecedented fires, floods, earthquakes, storms and droughts. On Wednesday, it was Hawaii’s turn. An absolutely horrifying wildfire ripped through the heart of the island of Maui like a lawnmower, and it happened so suddenly that many were not able to evacuate in time. One pilot that has spent 52 years flying over Maui says that he has “never seen anything like that in my life”…
Video footage shot by Air Maui Helicopter Tours over parts of the Lahaina area shows entire blocks were decimated by the flames, with little but ruins and ashes left, and everything still engulfed in a thick, hazy smoke.
“We were not prepared for what we saw. It was heartbreaking, it looked like an area that had been bombed in the war,” Richie Olsten, the director of operations for the tour agency, told CNN’s Jake Tapper Wednesday. “It’s just destroyed.”
“In my 52 years of flying on Maui, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” Olsten added.
By the time it is over, this could potentially end up being the most costly natural disaster in the modern history of Hawaii.
This fire moved so fast that people were literally jumping into the ocean to escape it.
One man that took drone footage of this fire described the destruction that it is causing as “apocalyptic”…
Clint Hansen took drone video Tuesday night that showed wildfires spreading just north of Kihei.
“Lahaina has been devastated,” Hansen told CNN. “People jumping in the ocean to escape the flames, being rescued by the Coast Guard. All boat owners are being asked to rescue people. It’s apocalyptic.”
Of course it isn’t just Hawaii that is dealing with “apocalyptic” fires.
Over in Europe, an absolutely gigantic wildfire has already devastated thousands of hectares of land. The following comes from an article posted by a British news source entitled “Raging Portugal wildfires force hundreds of tourists to flee apocalyptic inferno”…
Hundreds of terrified tourists have been evacuated from dream holidays in southern Portugal after wildfires continue to rage out of control.
The huge blaze has destroyed thousands of hectares of land in the area of Odemira, in the Alentejo region, since the disaster started on Saturday. It has now spread south towards the Algarve, prompting the evacuation of 1,400 people which includes tourists staying at four resorts in the holiday destination, as well as 19 small villages.
We are also seeing lots of unprecedented storms in recent months.
Recently, a cataclysmic hail storm in Germany made it look like it was winter right in the middle of the summer.
Elsewhere in Europe, a month of rain fell on parts of Slovenia in a single day.
Horrendous flooding ensued, and we are being told that this is likely the worst natural disaster in the entire history of Slovenia.
On the other side of the planet, officials in Beijing continue to deal with the aftermath of the nightmarish flooding that recently hit that city…
The death toll from devastating floods in China’s capital Beijing has now risen to 33, according to officials.
Another 18 people are said to be missing following heavy rain and flooding in the aftermath of the recent Typhoon Doksuri – one of the strongest to hit northern China in a decade.
Crops throughout the region were completely wiped out, and the property damage that has been done is off the charts.
Meanwhile, the Sun continues to behave very oddly, and a lot of people are starting to notice.
Earlier today, my attention was directed to a thread on a prominent Internet discussion forum. The man that started this threat very colorfully described what he is seeing in Florida right now…
So as the title has suggested I have a damn good understanding of my surroundings, what’s average and what’s not outside.
I’ve had a tree company/pressure washing company for close to 20 years. I know intimately the cycles and goings on of the sun, the weather, and the little hit of seasonal change we have in Central Fl.
I also know the trees and the foliage and what it means even when they drop their seeds and pollen early or late.
Something ain’t right with the Sun. It’s killing trees. Its frying grass, its killing gardens, its overwhelming air conditioners.
I don’t want to hear that shit about it being hot every summer in Florida. No fucking shit. I have lived here for 30 years.
The Sun is markedly stronger this year. It truly is. We are having heat indexes over 120.
Has it gotten this hot before, sure. But not consecutively. Add that with the Sun. It’s gotten intense. I’m hearing through all my contractor buddies even Mexicans are falling out all over the place on construction and landscape sites….unheard of. Those guys go strong in 100+ degree heat.
This ain’t normal. I’ve been a subscriber to Ben Davidson at Suspicious Observers and for awhile I was beginning to think space was something else, and it may still may be so but… seeing the Sun act like this…maybe there is a 12k year disaster cycle. Maybe we are a blue marble floating along at the whims of our star and galactic sheet and maybe, just maybe in the next 10-20 years we are gonna have front row seats to a reset like the movie 2012.
Because something ain’t right with the Sun. It’s never been the white, this strong, nor taking out this many peeps.
Sadly, he is correct.
The sun has been acting very strangely, and this is something that I have been talking about for quite a while now.
I am entirely convinced that the years ahead will be a time of unprecedented Earth changes, and I believe that the Sun will play a major role in that process.
You could drop a million Earths inside the Sun and still have room to spare. The giant ball of fire that we revolve around is absolutely colossal, but most people want to downplay the impact that solar activity is having on our weather.
And at the same time, it appears that the interior of our planet is also becoming increasingly unstable.
I believe that we are going to see some things happen during the times that are approaching that many people would consider to be impossible.
We are entering an era when it will pay to expect the unexpected, and life will never be quite the same ever again.
Article from endoftheamericandream.com
At least 60 fatalities, 37 missing as severe floods continue affecting China
At least 60 people have lost their lives and 37 others remain missing in eastern China due to widespread floods caused by heavy rains over the past 10 days. The missing people include 51 in Beijing, 28 in Hebei, 15 in Jilin, and 3 in Fujian.
As of Wednesday, August 9, 2023, at least 60 people died while 33 are still missing since the end of July, more than 200 000 houses have been damaged, and more than 15 000 ha (37 065 acres) of cropland have been flooded.
China’s finance ministry announced a significant allocation of 732 million yuan (approximately $102.3 million USD) for disaster relief, targeting the revival of agricultural production impacted by recent floods. The joint initiative by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will distribute these funds across nine provincial regions, including Hebei and Fujian, and to the Beidahuang Group, a key agricultural conglomerate.
The financial support is intended for urgent flood control efforts, disaster relief activities, and to bolster post-disaster agricultural operations. Subsidies are earmarked for essentials like seeds and fertilizers, as well as repairs to damaged agricultural facilities.
This move comes in the wake of the devastation caused by Typhoon “Doksuri,” which resulted in record-breaking rains in northern China, leading to extensive crop damage and urban flooding.
During the four days from July 29 to August 2, three stations in western Beijing recorded rainfall exceeding 1 000 mm (39.37 inches), and 51 stations more than 700 mm (27.56 inches), reaching 1 to 1.5 times the annual rainfall in Beijing.
The country is still experiencing bad weather and suffering casualties.
China’s national observatory continued to issue a blue alert for Tropical Cyclone “Khanun”– which is expected to bring a new spell of rainfall to the country’s northeastern provinces.
Heavy rains are expected to lash Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces beginning Thursday, with some areas likely to be hit by rainstorms, according to the National Meteorological Center (NMC).
The center of the system is expected to reach the southern coast of South Korea around midnight UTC on August 10, with maximum winds of 85 km/h (50 mph).
Rainstorms are also expected to hit some regions south of the Yangtze River as well as parts of south China and Yunnan Province in the coming three days, the NMC said.
The center urged local authorities to prepare for typhoon emergency response and remain on high alert against possible floods and geological disasters.
On August 8, in Ya’an, Sichuan, more than a dozen tourists encountered a flash flood while playing in the water, and 7 people were killed.
Article from watchers.news
The Mystery of What’s Inside The Moon Is Still Puzzling Scientists
Earth has thrown up some surprises lately, with scientists finding that our planet’s inner core is actually a textured sphere that, every once in a while, stops spinning and revolves the other way.
But the Moon’s insides are much more of a mystery. Beneath its cratered crust, the Moon’s mantle sits atop what scientists think is a partially molten layer where clues to the Moon’s formation could lie.
But according to a new study, there might be no oozy layer after all.
If future data confirm new modeling by researchers from Germany, the Czech Republic, and the US, the lunar mantle might be solid all the way through, without a melt-bearing layer like geoscientists currently theorize.
Depending on which interpretation of the lunar interior is correct, future findings could either reset or reaffirm our understanding of the Moon’s inner realms and how they formed.
At this stage, both a molten middle and a solid mid-section are still possibilities for the Moon based on the limited geological data we have. More lunar samples are needed to solve this mystery, the researchers behind this latest study say.
Michaela Walterová, a planetary scientist at the German Aerospace Center in Berlin, and fellow researchers attempted to firm up our understanding of the Moon’s insides based on existing data, prevailing theories, and a few new ideas.
They compared two different models of the lunar interior to see which one realistically explained the measurements we have of the Moon’s shape and motion.
Our lunar companion encircles Earth at an average distance of 384,400 kilometers (238,855 miles). From there it tugs on Earth, yanking tides in our oceans and atmosphere this way and that.
These tidal effects strongly depend on the Moon’s interior density, viscosity, and rigidity. But the pull of gravity goes both ways, and the Moon periodically becomes deformed.
From studying these rhythmic cycles, and measuring the precise shape and motion of the Moon using lunar laser ranging, scientists can infer what its insides might be like. Two scenarios seem likely.
“According to the first one, the lunar interior is hot and a small part of it might have melted, forming a thick layer of weak material buried more than 1,000 kilometers deep under the lunar surface,” Walterová and colleagues write in their published paper.
This model came about as geoscientists tried to reconcile strange measurements collected from a set of lunar seismic stations deployed by the Apollo missions, and operational from 1972 to 1977.
Combined with other seismological data on the tidal effects of the Moon, they thought that the best way to explain their observations was with a partially melted, viscous layer at the Moon’s core-mantle boundary.
This molten layer, they reasoned, could dissipate tidal energy and seismic waves in a way that matched periodic patterns in the data.
But the findings of Walterová and colleagues’ new analysis suggest another explanation is possible.
“According to the second one, there is no such [molten] layer, and the measured deformation [of the Moon] can be explained by the behavior of solid rocks at relatively low temperatures,” the researchers explain.
However, the two possibilities “cannot be distinguished from each other” with existing data. So we’ll have to wait and see what any potential future lunar explorations yield, if they get the go-ahead.
For now, at least we have a deeper understanding of what might lie beneath the surface of our crusty lunar companion, but many questions still remain.
The study has been published in JGR Planets.
Very bright fireball explodes over the eastern U.S.
The American Meteor Society (AMS) received 74 reports from users in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia as well as 7 videos and 2 photos.
There are also reports of loud noises resembling sonic booms from the Appalachia area, NASA Meteor Watch reports.
Analysis of the available data – eyewitnesses, camera data and infrasound – indicate that the meteor first appeared 80 km (50 miles) above the Kentucky town of Krypton, moving roughly southeast at 59 545 km/h (37 000 mph).
The object – a cometary fragment weighing about 34 km (75 pounds) with a diameter of just over 30 cm (1 foot) – traveled 104 km (65 miles) through the atmosphere before disintegrating 48 km (30 miles) above Duffield, Virginia.
The breakup of the fireball generated an energy of roughly 2 tons of TNT, which caused the booms and shakings experienced by some in the region.
At its brightest, the fireball was about 5 times brighter than the Full Moon.
The object was not a part of any meteor shower.
Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q_Crmh4zWw
Article from watchers.news
‘Electrified Cement’ Could Turn The Foundations of Buildings Into Giant Batteries
(I am so sensitive to wifi signals and electric transformer towers, etc, that I wonder what this amount of electricity would do to me? Would I ever get any sleep or relaxation?) article from sciencealert.com
Scientists are constantly searching for better ways to store renewable energy, and MIT researchers have now found a way to turn cement and an ancient material into a giant supercapacitor.
Potentially, this electrified cement could turn building foundations and roads into almost limitless batteries.
To create the new substance, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University in the US mixed together cement, water and carbon black– a material like a fine charcoal that is created from incomplete combustion processes.
“The material is fascinating, because you have the most-used human made material in the world, cement, that is combined with carbon black, that is a well-known historical material – the Dead Sea Scrolls were written with it,” says Admir Masic, a materials scientist at MIT.
“You have these at least two-millennia-old materials that when you combine them in a specific manner you come up with a conductive nanocomposite, and that’s when things get really interesting.”
The particles of carbon black tend to clump together in voids left as water is absorbed by the reacting cement, forming tendril-like shapes in the cement that can act as wires.
That aids conductivity, meaning that the modified cement is able to act as a supercapacitor – a power source that works in a similar way to a battery, but which stores and releases electrical energy much faster.
A standard electrolyte material, such as potassium chloride, can then be added to the material, providing the charged particles that separate – thus allowing the supercapacitor to store and release energy.
Right now, these cement capacitors are relatively small, with enough power to light up a few LED lightbulbs. The materials used are cheap and abundant though, and in theory the process should be able to scale up relatively well.
Next, the team wants to make one of these devices that’s about the size of a car battery.
A house with a foundation made of the supercapacitor cement could store enough energy to power that house for a day, the researchers suggest – and the energy could be produced through renewable sources such as solar or wind.
A Giant Planet Seems to Be Lurking Unseen in Our Solar System
Our Solar System is a pretty busy place. There are millions of objects moving around – everything from planets, to moons, to comets, and asteroids. And each year we’re discovering more and more objects (usually small asteroids or speedy comets) that call the Solar System home.
Astronomers had found all eight of the main planets by 1846. But that doesn’t stop us from looking for more. In the past 100 years, we’ve found smaller distant bodies we call dwarf planets, which is what we now classify Pluto as.
The discovery of some of these dwarf planets has given us reason to believe something else might be lurking in the outskirts of the Solar System.
Could there be a ninth planet?
There’s a good reason astronomers spend many hundreds of hours trying to locate a ninth planet, aka ” Planet Nine” or “Planet X”. And that’s because the Solar System as we know it doesn’t really make sense without it.
Every object in our Solar System orbits around the Sun. Some move fast and some slow, but all move abiding by the laws of gravity. Everything with mass has gravity, including you and me. The heavier something is, the more gravity it has.
A planet’s gravity is so large it impacts how things move around it. That’s what we call its “gravitational pull”. Earth’s gravitational pull is what keeps everything on the ground.
Also, our Sun has the largest gravitational pull of any object in the Solar System, and this is basically why the planets orbit around it.
It’s through our understanding of gravitational pull that we get our biggest clue for a possible Planet Nine.
Unexpected behaviors
When we look at really distant objects, such as dwarf planets beyond Pluto, we find their orbits are a little unexpected. They move on very large elliptical (oval-shaped) orbits, are grouped together, and exist on an incline compared to the rest of the Solar System.
When astronomers use a computer to model what gravitational forces are needed for these objects to move like this, they find that a planet at least ten times the mass of Earth would have been required to cause this.
It is super-exciting stuff! But then the question is: where is this planet?
The problem we have now is trying to confirm if these predictions and models are correct. The only way to do that is to find Planet Nine, which is definitely easier said than done.
The hunt continues
Scientists all over the world have been on the hunt for visible evidence of Planet Nine for many years now.
Based on the computer models, we think Planet Nine is at least 20 times farther away from the Sun than Neptune. We try to detect it by looking for sunlight it can reflect – just like how the Moon shines from reflected sunlight at night.
However, because Planet Nine sits so far away from the Sun, we expect it to be very faint and difficult to spot for even the best telescopes on Earth. Also, we can’t just look for it at any time of the year.
We only have small windows of nights where the conditions must be just right. Specifically, we have to wait for a night with no Moon, and on which the location we’re observing from is facing the right part of the sky.
But don’t give up hope just yet. In the next decade, new telescopes will be built and new surveys of the sky will begin. They might just give us the opportunity to prove or disprove whether Planet Nine exists.
Article from sciencealert.com
Two super moons are coming to our skies in August, including a rare blue moon
In a rare astronomical event, August 2023 will offer stargazers the opportunity to see two supermoons, coupled with the appearance of an elusive blue moon. A supermoon takes place when a full moon’s orbit brings it closest to our planet.
As NASA explains, the moon’s orbit around the Earth isn’t perfectly circular but rather shaped like an elongated oval, or an ellipse. This causes the moon to oscillate between closer and farther distances from our home planet as it completes its orbital cycle.
The furthest point the moon travels from Earth is referred to as the apogee, where the moon sits an average distance of 253,000 miles away. Conversely, the point where the moon is closest to the Earth is known as the perigee, where the moon is roughly 226,000 miles from Earth.
It’s at the perigee stage that a supermoon occurs when the full moon aligns with the moon’s closest approach to Earth. When observed from the Earth, supermoons tend to appear larger and brighter than a regular full moon, although the difference is slight.
This year’s supermoon cycle is particularly special because the four occurrences are happening consecutively. The first of this year’s supermoons appeared on July 3, and the final supermoon of this series will occur on September 29.
The term blue moon does not refer to the moon’s color but rather to its frequency. A blue moon is the name given to the second full moon that occurs within a single calendar month.
Because a full moon generally appears every 29 days, and as most months are longer than this, comprising 30 or 31 days, it’s possible for two full moons to fall within the same month on occasion.
Blue moons are infrequent events that usually take place approximately every two and a half years. The most recent blue moon was visible on August 22, 2021.
This year, the month of August is set to play host to two full moons. Excitingly, both of these are also super moons, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.
Article from endtimeheadlines.org
This enormous cougar-shaped shadow on Superstition Mountains, Apache Junction, AZ appears only twice each year
Where and when to view the Superstition Mountains cougar shadow?
- If you want to see this phenomenon in person, head to the vicinity of Superstition Blvd and Goldfield Road in Apache Junction for a relatively unobstructed view.
- Timing is critical. The cougar only appears during the third week of March and September.
- The last 30 minutes before official sunset is prime time for viewing.
Some viewing tips
- There is a wide shoulder on the east side of Goldfield Rd (opposite the homes) where you can pull off to view the cougar and take pictures.
- Check the forecast before you go. The cougar shadow is usually only visible if the western sky (where the sun sets) is free of clouds.
- Be respectful of people who live in the area by keeping music and voices at a low volume. And of course, leave no trace that you were there.
From strangesounds.org
Act of God? Tornado Rips Through Pfizer Plant, Destroys 50,000 Pallets of Product
A Pfizer manufacturing plant in Rocky Mount, North Carolina was severely damaged by a tornado on Wednesday, damaging around 50,000 pallets stocked with Big Pharma products.
A local news report showed the massive amount of destruction and noted no serious injuries have been reported.
One Twitter user noted, “God works in mysterious ways,” as many people blame Pfizer for harming millions of people worldwide via its “medicines” and especially the experimental Covid shots.
There has not been any reporting on which Pfizer products were held at the facility and which medicines were destroyed.
From infowars.com
It is so hot in Arizona that pavements are giving people third-degree burns
For a record-breaking 20 days, Phoenix, Ariz., has been dealing with temperatures exceeding 110 F (43 C). The weeks-long heatwave, which broke a municipal record set in 1974, has gotten so bad that residents are getting third-degree burns after touching doorknobs or falling onto the pavement.
As of July 15, at least 18 people have died of heat-associated causes in Phoenix in 2023, according to the Maricopa County Department of Public Health. Another 69 suspected heat deaths are also under investigation.
Dr. Kevin Foster is the director of the Arizona Burn Centre in Phoenix. He said these kinds of burns are expected in the summer, but this year, the incidence of burns is “twice the normal that we typically see — and it’s not immediately obvious why that is.”
Here’s part of his conversation with The Current guest host Rosemary Barton.
The summertime is always a busy time because of the hot ambient temperatures and sunlight and stuff makes it hot and makes contact burns really a common thing in the summertime.
This summer, because the temperatures are really hot right now and direct sunlight, we are seeing lots of patients who are falling down onto the concrete, pavement, asphalt, and suffering really, really deep burns as a result of that.
Anything that’s in direct sunlight and exposed to the hot temperatures outside. Another common thing we see is hot door handles, hot upholstery in cars, a variety of things within vehicles like the steering wheel, dashboards, seat belt buckles.
Then something that people don’t think about very often, but hose water or water that’s in a hose that’s outside. Oftentimes, it’s very near boiling. Even if you let it run for a while, the water in Arizona does not get cold or cool. It always stays hot.
Article from endtimeheadlines.org
Cave Near Jerusalem Shows Signs of Use as a “Portal to The Underworld”
A cave in Jerusalem’s western hills might have once been a divine prophecy site where Roman-era gentiles attempted to communicate with the dead.
Three skulls and more than 100 ceramic lamps were found squeezed into the cave’s crevices, and two archaeologists in Israel speculate in a new paper that these were likely used to conjure up dead spirits and their secrets – a practice known as necromancy.
The Te’omim Cave has been studied since 1873, and experts have long suspected that the spring water that flows through the underground system was considered healing to those who used the cave between 4000 BCE and the fourth century CE.
Only in the 1970s, however, did archaeologists uncover a series of secret passageways leading to other, hidden inner chambers.
Long, narrow crevices were abundant in these concealed areas, and they housed embedded archaeological artifacts such as coins, pottery, metal weapons, and, importantly, lamps and skulls.
The few human remains weren’t exactly on display. One skull was found with four late Roman-era lamps tucked deep into a crevice that was particularly hard to reach, for instance.
Archaeologists had to use long poles with iron hooks to recover these items from their hiding spot.
Because the lamps were buried so far into the rock, it’s doubtful they were used for lighting the cave.
Instead, ancient writings from the time suggest that the movement of flames was once considered a key way to communicate with demons, spirits, or gods.
Skulls were also commonly associated with sorcery, and daggers, swords, and axes were thought to protect believers from evil spirits.
“The Te’omim Cave in the Jerusalem hills has all the cultic and physical elements necessary to serve as a possible portal to the underworld,” write Eitan Klein from the Israel Antiquities Authority at Ashkelon Academic College and Boaz Zissu from Bar-Ilan University.
Previous studies on the cave have theorized that this was once a sacred place of worship for an underworld deity, but it wasn’t until three human skulls were found that archaeologists began to suspect ritual magical practices took place here as well.
Written sources from ancient Roman and Greek times suggest that necromancy was commonly practiced by witches in tombs or underground shrines, and skulls were a key feature.
On the Greek island of Lesbos, for instance, an ancient passage suggests that the skull of Orpheus was “lodged in a chasm”, where it sang “its prophecies in an earthen chamber.”
Other Greek writings from the fourth and fifth centuries discuss spells to seal the mouths of skulls so they can no longer speak.
Parallel discoveries in Jewish history specifically are not nearly as common; however, there is evidence that rabbis at this time knew that skulls were used for necromancy in the Greco-Roman world.
Caves, in fact, were considered key places of idolatry by Jewish religious leaders. One famous text on Jewish oral traditions suggests that as many as 80 women working in a cave south of Tel Aviv were once hanged for their underground witchcraft.
“As far as we know, other than the use of skulls for sorcery and necromancy, rituals involving human skulls are hardly ever mentioned in classical sources,” the two archaeologists note.
As such, the cave’s unusual combination of artifacts is highly suggestive of ancient divination.
The study was published in the journal Harvard Theological Review.
Article from sciencealert.com
A mysterious source has been sending 20 minute radio signals to Earth for 35 years
A mysterious source has been sending radio waves towards Earth since at least 1988, scientists say.
For the past 35 years, the unknown source has been sending out regular 20-minute blasts of energy that vary in their brightness, however, researchers do not know what object us sending the radio blasts towards Earth.
The wave’s nature does not conform to any models that attempt to explain it.
The emissions appear something like the blasts emitted from pulsars or fast radio bursts, which last for milliseconds to several seconds.
Pulsars are neutron stars that spin around quickly, throwing out radio blasts as they do. When one crosses Earth, the emissions can be picked up very briefly and brightly, like being in the path of the light from a rotating lighthouse.
But the newly discovered source sends radio signals that pulsate on a period of 21 minutes – something previously thought impossible by expected explanations.
However, this new object, called GPMJ1839-10, is beyond the “pulsar death line” – if the magnetic field of the pulsar is strong, and it is rotating quickly enough it can be picked up– if not, there would not be enough energy to see the pulsar from Earth.
This means the source must be spinning fast and strong enough to be detected. But if it is a pulsar, then it is operating in ways that were thought to be impossible.
It is also thought that the object could be a highly magnetised white dwarf or magnetar, an extra kind of neutron star with incredibly strong magnetic fields – but these do not sound out emissions.
The signals have been detected on Earth since at least 1988, scientists found by going through old records, but they had gone unnoticed by those collecting that data. After the source was detected, researchers checked radio archives and found that the source has been repeating for at least 35 years.
The details of this discovery are published in the journal Nature in a paper titled “A long-period radio transient active for three decades.”
Despite having been detected on Earth for over 30 years, they have gone unnoticed by those compiling the data.
Victoria M Kaspi, a professor of physics at McGill University who was not involved with the study, wrote in an accompanying article: “Only time will tell what else lurks in these data, and what observations across many astronomical timescales will reveal.”
Article from nationalworld.com
Japanese designers unveil plan to house 40,000 people in a “Noah’s Ark-like” floating city
Japanese designers have unveiled the design of a “Noah’s Ark-like” floating city that could house and save up to 40,000 people in the event of a global disaster.
Designers from the Japanese firm N-Ark have released renderings for their idea of a post-apocalyptic paradise. This ocean-based mini-metropolis, currently named Dogen City, would provide a “self-sufficient habitat” anywhere in the oceans for its tens of thousands of residents.
The designers claim they took inspiration both from the Biblical Noah’s Ark, for which the company is named, and from Elon Musk’s SpaceX and his long-term goal of turning Mars into a second home for humanity in the event of an apocalypse.
Floating city to be weather-resistant and with buildings that can sail around the inside ring
The design of Dogen City resembles a circular construction with greenery all over the “ring,” which measures about four kilometers (2.49 miles) in circumference. The designers even claim that residents will be able to walk from one end of the city to the other within an hour. In addition, N-Ark claims the circular construction of the floating city is specially designed to protect Dogen City from severe weather.
Dogen City is designed in three parts. The first part is a habitable ring containing the main residential zones. The second part is an undersea data center, complete with other essential institutions like medical and research facilities. The third part is a flexible inner ring with structures that can move freely in the inner bay of the floating city.
N-Ark designers promise to create a fully functioning floating city with all kinds of buildings and amenities, even promising a sports stadium. Some of these structures would even be able to sail to new locations around the ring as needed and will be resilient to the supposed effects of climate change.
The designers want Dogen City to be built in a new maritime economic zone called the “New Ocean.”
“New Ocean is a term intended for the ocean version of the private space business innovation ‘New Space’ started by SpaceX,” said the company in a statement. “We will propose six elements (medical, food, housing, information and electrical services) to realize New Ocean, promote the entry of various companies and promote ocean development activities.”
“Through this, we aim to create maritime innovation and seek to create this future together with participating companies, governments and universities,” concluded the designers.
N-Ark’s overarching goal for New Ocean is to create “a new economic ecosystem” made up of multiple naval cities and to transform the world’s oceans into a globe-spanning “sphere of survival.”
To realize its goal, N-Ark has set up several working groups that will study potential activities and policies in three key areas that can realize New Ocean – ocean business development, ocean technology development and ocean deregulation.
N-Ark’s goal is to receive approval for the construction of Dogen City in a specific part of the ocean by 2027, and for the city itself to be completed by 2030.
From survival.news
Media is pure evil. This isn’t environmentalism, this is evil.
Extreme heat and weather around the world
Mud and debris cover a street following a flood in Tanushimarumachi in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka prefecture, 10 July, after heavy rains hit wide areas of Kyushu island, Japan.
The Rabbit fire burns in Moreno valley, Riverside county, California on 14 July. Tens of millions of Americans faced dangerously high temperatures from a powerful heat wave stretching from California to Texas.
People shelter on a bridge near the Yamuna river in New Delhi, India, 13 July, amid flooding. The river exceeeded the danger mark in Delhi leading to flood warnings.
Aerial view of flooding after heavy rains hit Golyaka village in Duzce, Turkey, 12 July.
This 22 June picture shows wildfire damage in the Tantallon area in Canada, which is headed for its worst wildfire season on record, with about 3.3m hectares (8.2m acres) burned in 2023, according to official data.
Nibiru already is visible to the Eye in South Africa
The report comes from Capetown in South Africa. The person who took the photographs is the son of a person that the author knows.. This son may not be so young, and while the photographs are criticized, to me they look pretty good. The camera at night would have been on a tripod to collect more light and the shutter delayed for some seconds, which is the reason why the light pollution from Capetown and the atmosphere moves to give the appearance of poor photography. But the image, itself, of the Nibiru looks clear with a little bit of red glow around it. So, please read on and see what you think.
The author of the post here, asked her, … “Do you know the star?… Then, she replied, “No, I don’t, but it is out for a while..” …. then he asked , “The bright red?” And she replied: “Yes, it is red, yes.” … and completed here,.. “difficult to not see. It is enormous.” But what caught my attention the most was this, people. … “My son said it came from the northeast side of where we are and that it was 9:30 at night.”
You know well when I do an update here of the planet Nibiru, it already is visible in the sky at 21 hours and 30 minutes – it already is a little high in the sky. So the time that her son here took the pictures matches the location of the Nibiru.
And the author says that ‘A guy from Around the World said that Nibiru will be visible in a few weeks.’ In other words, people, ‘Nibiru already is visible to the naked eye, in a live interview on July 6, 2023.’ That is, people, not only in Brazil and in the Middle East who are looking for Nibiru, but ‘yes’ the whole world.
And here are the images that were captured by the son of Samantha. Let’s see them here. Here is the first photo. ..Come and let’s admit it, the photo is terrible. I do not know what model of cellular phone this was, I know that the picture is bad, but we can see a red point here in the sky. I do not know if it is the Nibiru or something else, but according to Samantha it was a star – a red star and very bright.
Well, if it is really the Nibiru. I do not know, but it is good for us to begin to look to the sky because it already can be appearing to the naked eye. This is getting more and more exciting. I’m going to try to see the Nibiru in the sky with the naked eye even tonight.
Article from beforeitsnews.com
Ocean temperatures off Florida coast hit ‘hot tub-like’ NINETY-SEVEN degrees
A sizzling heatwave has sent temperatures soaring across much of America, causing the oceans off the coast of Florida to soar to almost 100 degrees.
Millions flocked to the Sunshine State to bask in the rays over the Fourth of July holidayweekend, while just off the coast the scorching temperatures could spell doom for the region’s picturesque coral reefs.
Scientists have warned that the ‘hot tub-like’ conditions are disastrous for the reefs, with ‘coral bleaching’ already devastating a majority of the ecosystem in the state.
The heatwave has seen sea surface temperatures in Florida hit their highest levels since satellites began recording ocean data in 1985.
And although temperatures in the region routinely skyrocket as the summer sets in, experts are warning reefs are more at risk than ever before as the heatwave hit earlier, and likely for longer, this year.
‘We didn’t expect this heating to happen so early in the year and to be so extreme,’ said Derek Manzello, a coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Coral Reef Watch, to CNN.
‘Ocean warming is only getting worse, bleaching events are getting more frequent, so it’s really an existential crisis for coral reefs as we know them.
‘This appears to be unprecedented in our records.’
The ‘unprecedented’ heatwave has been particularly disastrous for coral life, with similarly devastating effects seen in other parts of the world such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
The issue stems from when reefs are eroded by high temperatures for too long, which causes a process of ‘bleaching’, ultimately causing the coral to die off.
The condition sees the reefs expel their algal food source, causing their vibrant color to fade while the coral slowly starves.
Last year, a shocking study published by the NOAA found that over 70 percent of Florida’s coral reefs had been eroded by climate-induced coral bleaching and disease.
Significant explosion at Shishaldin volcano, Alaska
The explosion produced an ash cloud that initially reached 9 to 12 km (30 000 to 40 000 feet) above sea level and drifted south over the Pacific Ocean. A second smaller explosion occurred at 15:10 UTC and reached approximately 4.5 km (15 000 feet) above sea level.
The National Weather Service issued a SIGMET for these events and suggested a maximum cloud height of 7.6 km (25 000 feet) above sea level for the drifting ash cloud. Web camera images and pilot reports show continued low-level ash emissions, including a small ash cloud near the summit around 18:30 UTC.
The public is advised to stay away from the volcano and to be aware of the potential for ashfall in the area. Ashfall can cause respiratory problems and can damage vehicles and equipment.
Eruptions from Shishaldin have produced minor and on occasion significant ash clouds in the past. These can occur with little warning.
Shishaldin is monitored by local seismic and infrasound sensors, web cameras, and a telemetered geodetic network. The local monitoring network is partially impaired, therefore AVO is also using nearby geophysical networks, satellite data and regional infrasound and lighting data to detect activity.
Geological summary
Shishaldin is the highest and one of the most active volcanoes of the Aleutian Islands. The 2857 m (9 379 feet) high, glacier-covered volcano is the westernmost of three large stratovolcanoes along an E-W line in the eastern half of Unimak Island.
The Aleuts named the volcano Sisquk, meaning “mountain which points the way when I am lost.” A steady steam plume rises from its small summit crater. Constructed atop an older glacially dissected volcano, it is Holocene in age and largely basaltic in composition.
Remnants of an older ancestral volcano are exposed on the west and NE sides at 1 500 -1 800 m (4 920 – 5 900 feet) elevation. There are over two dozen pyroclastic cones on its NW flank, which is blanketed by massive aa lava flows.
Frequent explosive activity, primarily consisting of strombolian ash eruptions from the small summit crater, but sometimes producing lava flows, has been recorded since the 18th century.
From watchers.news
Geological mystery in California as homes slowly slide into canyon
Cause of landslide that destroyed a dozen homes remains unclear as officials say nothing can be done to stop descent. Three days after a landslide destroyed a dozen hillside homes in southern California, the cause of the disaster is still unclear, even as the homes continue their slow descent into a canyon.
Sixteen people have been displaced since the land between the homes began shifting and sliding over the weekend.
Janice Hahn, the LA county supervisor whose district includes Rolling Hills Estates, described the damage as “astonishing”. “There’s nothing we can do, I’ve been told, to stop what’s happening,” Hahn told the Los Angeles Times. “That’s why it’s wait-and-see at that point. Waiting for the homes to fall.”
The county assessor has promised to reassess property values for the homes that have been destroyed and potentially lower or eliminate their property taxes, the city said in an online statement.
The city council of Rolling Hills Estates, where the ground movement is happening, plans to declare a state of emergency on Tuesday.
From theguardian.com
Do You Know About The 3 Eclipses That Will Combine To Create A Giant “Aleph” Over America?
(This article was not written by me, but I noticed something about the image further down this page. This may not be a good omen- it also resembles the ‘Anarchy’ symbol! ~Linda)
I am about to share something with you that is truly remarkable. The paths of three eclipses will combine to form a giant “Aleph” over America, and hardly anyone knows about this. Of course the Aleph is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet. The second letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Bet. Most people don’t realize this, but our word “alphabet” originally came from a combination of Aleph and Bet. But is the fact that a giant “Aleph” will soon be completed over the United States significant? I believe that it is, and I will explain why in this article.
In the 21st chapter of Luke, Jesus warned us that “there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars” in the last days.
So we should be watching for such things.
In order for an eclipse to happen, both the sun and the moon must be involved. Previously, I have explained how the “Great American Eclipse” of 2017 would later combine with the “Great American Eclipse” of 2024 to create a giant “X” across America. The following is an excerpt from my book entitled “7 Year Apocalypse”…
Well, what would you say if I told you that an enormous “X” that is in the process of being marked across the United States will be completed in the year 2024?
I know that may sound very strange, but stick with me and you will soon understand what I am talking about.
On October 14th, 2023 an annular solar eclipse will cross the United States from Oregon to Texas.
If you overlay the path of that annular solar eclipse on top of the paths of the Great American Eclipse of 2017 and the Great American Eclipse of 2024, you will see that those three eclipses actually combine to create a giant “Aleph” across America.
A tweet that was posted by Randy Sevy about this phenomenon has created quite a stir…
I just saw this and got the shivers. Look at that. Those are the 2017, 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses on the United States. That’s God’s signature. That’s an Aleph. 𐤀
The Aleph is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The Aleph in Hebrew has a numerical value of one. The Aleph is also representative of God and the oneness of God. The One true God.
The Aleph is also made of three lines. Also the number of God; The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The number three biblically represents divine wholeness, completeness and perfection.
This Aleph 𐤀 is from the Paleo-Hebrew script, also Palaeo-Hebrew, Proto-Hebrew or Old Hebrew. The writing system found in ancient inscriptions of biblical Israel and Judah.
When you look at the map that Randy Sevy shared on Twitter, there is no doubt that it looks like an Aleph..
Scientists discover huge, heat-emitting blob on the far side of the moon
Scientists have discovered an anomalous blob of heat on the far side of the moon.
This mysterious hotspot has a strange origin: It’s likely caused by the natural radiation emanating from a huge buried mass of granite, which is rarely found in large quantities outside of Earth, according to new research. On the moon, a dead volcano that hasn’t erupted for 3.5 billion years is likely the source of this unusual hunk of granite.
“This is more Earth-like than we had imagined can be produced on the Moon, which lacks the water and plate tectonics that help granites form on Earth,” lead study author Matt Siegler of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, said in a statement.
Siegler and his colleague Rita Economos of Southern Methodist University discovered the heat with a new method using microwaves to measure subsurface temperatures via the Chinese lunar orbiters Chang’E 1 and 2. They also used data from NASA’s Lunar Prospector and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiters.
What they found was an area about 31 miles (50 kilometers) across where the temperature is about 18 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) warmer than the surroundings. This region was below a 12.4 mile (20 km) diameter spot on the surface that is rich in silicon and that is thought to be a collapsed volcanic crater. The dead volcano last erupted 3.5 billion years ago, but magma from its plumbing system is likely still sitting below the surface, giving off radiation.
“This find is a 50 km-wide batholith; a batholith is a type of volcanic rock that forms when lava rises into the Earth’s crust but does not erupt onto the surface,” Economos said in the statement. “El Capitan and Half Dome, in Yosemite in California are examples of similar granite rocks which have risen to the surface.”
The researchers reported their initial findings in the journal Nature on July 5 and presented additional details July 12 at the Goldschmidt Conference on geochemistry in Lyon, France.
The findings are “incredibly interesting,” Stephen M. Elardo, a geochemist at the University of Florida who was not involved in the study, said in the statement. Granite is extremely common on Earth, but not elsewhere in the solar system, added Elardo.
“People don’t think twice about having a granite countertop in their kitchen,” he said. “But geologically-speaking, it’s quite hard to make granite without water and plate tectonics, which is why we really don’t see that type of rock on other planets. So if this finding by Siegler and colleagues holds up, it’s going to be massively important for how we think about the internal workings of other rocky bodies in the Solar System.”
Article by Stephanie Pappas, livescience.com
Five rescued, nine missing after massive landslide in central China’s Hubei Province
Rescue operations are in progress in central China’s Hubei Province after a massive landslide struck a highway construction site on Saturday, July 8, 2023. The landslide, which involved over 500 000 m3 (17.6 million ft3) of soil, has led to the rescue of five individuals, while nine others remain missing, according to a statement from local authorities.
The disaster occurred in Yueshan Village, Tujia Autonomous County of Wufeng, at around 16:00 LT on Saturday. By 08:00 LT the following day, five people had been successfully rescued.
Tens of thousands of people have been moved to shelters amid heavy flooding in northern, central and southeastern China. Seasonal flooding is a regular occurrence in China, but this year’s rising waters have been accompanied by unusually prolonged stretches of high temperatures, AP reports.
This incident is part of a series of extreme weather events affecting China this summer, which include heatwaves, flooding, and drought. In response to the scorching heat, cities have opened their air raid shelters to provide residents with respite.
Earlier this week, Beijing recorded more than nine consecutive days with temperatures soaring above 35 °C (95 °F). This level of sustained heat has not been witnessed since 1961. In reaction to these conditions, health alerts have been issued, and outdoor work has been suspended in the capital and other areas.
However, amid concerns over the potential impact on the economy’s recovery, many workers continue to engage in outdoor activities such as package delivery, bricklaying, and goods transportation.
The extreme heat has already claimed two lives in Beijing. Health authorities confirmed that a tour guide collapsed and died from heat stroke on Sunday while leading a tour of the Summer Palace, an extensive 18th-century imperial garden.
From watchers.news
Carbon dioxide isn’t a pollutant; it’s the building block of ALL LIFE on Earth
Ecologist, environmentalist, and Greenpeace co-founder Dr. Patrick Moore has a message for the world: carbon dioxide, or CO2, is not bad and does not contribute to so-called “global warming.”
An expert on the subject with more than 50 years of experience, Dr. Moore was involved with Greenpeace for only 15 years before leaving. Why did he depart from the very thing he helped create? Because the group lost its way by falling for all the modern-day “green” deception that paints humans and their existence as contradictory to the Earth’s survival.
“When Greenpeace began, we had a strong humanitarian orientation, to save civilization from destruction by all-out nuclear war,” the Canadian scientist says. “Over the years, the ‘peace’ in Greenpeace was gradually lost and my organization, along with much of the environmental movement, drifted into a belief that humans are the enemies of the Earth.”
Dr. Moore gave a presentation at the annual Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) lecture that was held on Oct. 14, 2015, about how humans are actually vital to the survival of the planet, as well as the persistence of all life that lives on its terrain. Without humans, Earth would be lost in in many ways.
Everything the “green” cult says is bad for the planet is actually good – so keep on living!
One major issue that Dr. Moore addressed during his speech is the misguided ideology that suggests CO2 and other “greenhouse gases” are somehow bad for the planet. The truth is that CO2 and other natural elements are critical for supporting the subsistence of life itself.
“Today, our children are taught that CO2 is a toxic pollutant that will destroy life and bring civilization to its knees,” Dr. Moore stated.
“Tonight, I hope to turn this dangerous human-caused propaganda on its head. Tonight, I will demonstrate that human emissions of CO2 have already saved life on our planet from a very untimely end – that in the absence of our emitting some of the carbon back into the atmosphere from whence it came in the first place, most or perhaps all life on Earth would begin to die less than two million years from today.”
All those “nasty” hydrocarbons we keep hearing about that are “emitted” by human industries like agriculture, driving cars, and raising cattle, are actually good for the environment. They are naturally produced by solar energy anyway, and by burning them as fuel, humans are contributing to the “greening” of the planet, making it more habitable and more livable in the process.
“Hydrocarbons, the energy components of fossil fuels, are 100 percent organic, as in organic chemistry,” he explained.
“They were produced by solar energy in ancient seas and forests. When they are burned for energy, the main products are water and CO2, the two most essential foods for life. And fossil fuels are by far the largest storage battery of direct solar energy on Earth. Nothing else comes close except nuclear fuel, which is also solar in the sense that it was produced in dying stars.”
To top it all off, Dr. Moore also told the room to reject the lie that CO2 and other greenhouse gases are in any way “warming” the planet.
“There is no definitive scientific proof, through real-world observation, that carbon dioxide is responsible for any of the slight warming of the global climate,” he said.
“But there is certainty beyond doubt that it is the building block for all life on Earth and that without its presence in the global atmosphere at a sufficient concentration this would be a dead planet.”
Carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is the stuff of life, the staff of life, the currency of life, indeed the backbone of life on Earth.
Article by Ethan Huff, climate.news
STUDY: Farming sector of Ukraine, the “breadbasket of Europe,” won’t recover for at least 20 years
After the war in Ukraine comes to an end – and who knows when that might be? – it will take at least 20 years for the country’s agricultural sector to recover, according to a new report from the Kyiv School of Economics.
Once known as the “breadbasket” of Europe, Ukraine’s farming industry has been severely disrupted following the Russian invasion. Staple crops like maize (corn), oats, rapeseed (canola), and rye are not expected to fully recover to pre-invasion production levels until at least 2050.
Barley, sunflower, wheat, and other sectors could recover sooner, the report states, but not until at least 2040.
“This means that it may take as long as 20 years for Ukraine to regain its strength in agriculture after the devastation brought by the Russian military assault,” researchers say.
Prior to the war, Ukraine produced about 10 percent of global wheat exports; 15 percent of barley and corn exports; and 50 percent of sunflower oil exports. These figures have since dropped precipitously.
Keep in mind that the report came out prior to the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Southern Ukraine near Kherson, an event that further destroyed Ukrainian agriculture in one of the most farming-intensive regions of the country. The loss of all that water will effectively turn the land into deserts.
In 2021 before the war, Ukraine harvested about 106 million tons of grain and oilseed. According to the agriculture ministry, this year’s harvest could be as low as 65 million tons.
The effects of this are already being seen across the earth as about 345 million people have now been forced into a state of “food insecurity,” which is a nice way of saying that they could starve to death.
By Ethan Huff, Natural News
Cars Swept Away, Residents Trapped As Flash Floods Hit Spain’s Zaragoza After Heavy Rainfall
The heavy downpour resulted in several streets being inundated, causing some drivers to become trapped in their cars.
Police in Zaragoza have warned residents to avoid unnecessary travel and not to drive through flooded areas. According to The Express, Parque Venecia is one of the seriously impacted areas where individuals are stranded inside their cars. The authorities have stated that despite the widespread property damage, there haven’t been any recorded deaths or missing persons as of yet.
Meanwhile, Zaragoza’s mayor, Natalia Chueca, evaluated the extent of the damage caused by the “torrential rain” and provided specific measurements, stating that within ten minutes, 20 litres of rainfall per square meter were recorded, and within one hour, it reached 56 litres per square meter.
More than 4 700 earthquakes detected between Fagradalsfjall and Keilir in 48 hours, Iceland
More than 4 700 earthquakes have been detected in the area between Fagradalsfjall and Keilir, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland since the start of the seismic swarm at 14:00 UTC on July 4, 2023. Ground deformation (GPS) observations show significant movements, indicating magma propagation in the region where earthquakes are highly concentrated. Magma intrusion is close enough to the Earth’s surface that a volcanic eruption could occur without further escalations in seismic activity or ground deformation.
The current swarm is characteristic of a new dike intrusion beneath the Fagradalsfjall area, extending to the northeast towards Keilir. The largest earthquake was M4.8 at 8:21 UTC on July 5. Thirteen earthquakes above M4 have occurred and tens of earthquakes above M3. The largest earthquakes were felt widely in the SW part of Iceland.
Between 00:00 and 12:30 UTC on July 6, IMO detected 1 300 earthquakes, with the total number of earthquakes since July 4 exceeding 4 700.
Although the intensity of the swarm has decreased slightly, both in terms of the number of earthquakes and earthquake magnitudes, since 04:00 UTC on July 6, the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) specialists said care should be taken by steep slopes where rockfall can occur following strong earthquakes.
Residents in the vicinity of the area are encouraged to pay attention to loose and in-stock items.
Norway discovers massive underground deposit of high-grade phosphate rock
The ‘new’ deposit was discovered back in 1998… BUT they are delivering the news now.
Weird, no? What have they done inbetween? Why reporting about it now?
To me it smells very fishy and may be another lie/farce to show the West/Europe is not being dependent on North African regions and Egypt (Muslim countries) as well as Chinese and U.S. natural resources… Could this be related the current riots in France?
A massive underground deposit of high-grade phosphate rock in Norway, pitched as the world’s largest, is big enough to satisfy world demand for fertilisers, solar panels and electric car batteries over the next 100 years.
The Norwegian deposit is estimated to be worth 70 billion tonnes at least, which is just under the 71 billion tonnes of proven world reserves as evaluated by the US Geological Survey in 2021.
By far the largest phosphate rock deposits in the world – around 50 billion tonnes – are situated in the Western Sahara region of Morocco. The next biggest are located in China (3.2 billion tonnes), Egypt (2.8 billion tonnes), and Algeria (2.2bn tonnes), according to US estimates.
“Now, when you find something of that magnitude in Europe, which is larger than all the other sources we know – it is significant,” said Michael Wurmser, founder of Norge Mining, the company behind the discovery.
In an emailed statement to EURACTIV, the European Commission welcomed confirmation of the massive Norwegian deposit of phosphate rock.
“The discovery is indeed great news, which would contribute to the objectives of the Commission’s proposal on the Critical Raw Material Act,” said a spokesperson for the EU executive.
No News Today, but here’s a Cool Link:
Sun activity: Solar Cycle 25 surpasses Solar Cycle 24’s peak
Today’s top news: Solar Cycle 25 has exceeded expectations, with its June 2023 sunspot count surpassing the maximum reached by Solar Cycle 24. A couple of weeks ago we reported that the sun had 16 labeled sunspots on its Earth-facing side, a high point for the year. We mentioned that this high point could help to record a peak for Solar Cycle 25, and today it is confirmed: the sunspot count for June 2023 reached 163, beating Solar Cycle 24’s highest monthly value of 146 back in February 2014. We have not seen a count like this since September 2002. This points to Solar Cycle 25 being stronger than its predecessor, and stronger than predicted. Solar Cycle 25’s current levels are a year and a half to two years ahead of the forecast. And we have not reached the solar maximum yet … So, more action is on its way!
Last 24 hours: While Solar Cycle 25’s activity is exceeding expectations, activity on the sun today is low, with only 19 C flares produced between 11 UTCyesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest was a C8.9 from sunspot AR3360 at 21:12 UTC on July 3. The past day’s lead flare producer was AR3358, with seven flares. The previous leader, yesterday’s X1.1 producer AR3354, fired off four C flares. It’s showing decay and is almost over the edge on the northwest limb, but it still retains its delta configuration. Will it release another powerful flare before departing? We’ll see. The sun currently has six numbered active regions on its Earth-facing side. Stay tuned!
Next 24 hours: The forecast is a 99% chance for C flares, a 65% chance for M flares, and a 25% chance for X flares.
Next expected CME: A coronal mass ejection (CME) was observed at around 21:12 UTC on July 3. It was associated with the C8.9 from AR3360. GOES-18 SUVI imagery shows some ejecta. Modeling and analysis are ongoing to determine if there was an Earth-directed CME. No other Earth-directed CMEs were observed in available imagery.
Current geomagnetic activity: Earth’s magnetic field is quiet at the time of this writing (11 UTC on July 4). Mostly quiet conditions are expected through the rest of today. Quiet to unsettled levels are expected tomorrow due to high-speed solar wind from a coronal hole. The sun currently has three large coronal holes. Two of them will move to a more geoffective position in the next couple of days. We’ll keep watching.
From earthsky.org
The Tunguska explosion, 115 years ago in 1908
115 years ago, the largest asteroid impact in recorded history struck on a warm summer morning in Siberia, Russia. Now, we observe Asteroid Day each year on June 30, on the anniversary of what’s now known as the “Tunguska explosion”.
The explosion happened over the sparsely populated northern forestland above the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is present-day Krasnoyarsk Krai.
Incredibly, the blast released enough energy to kill reindeer and flatten an estimated 80 million trees over an area of 830 square miles (2,150 square km). Witnesses reported seeing a fireball – a bluish light, nearly as bright as the sun – moving across the sky. In addition, a flash and a sound similar to artillery fire was said to follow it. Moreover, a powerful shockwave broke windows hundreds of miles/kilometers away and knocked people off their feet.
Yet, ultimately, decades passed before anyone could explain the event.
Tunguska explosion largest in recorded history
A mysterious aspect of the Tunguska event was that, surprisingly, no one ever found a crater. But, even without a crater, scientists still categorized it as an impact event. They now believe the incoming object never struck Earth, but instead exploded in the atmosphere, causing what’s known as an air burst. This type of atmospheric explosion was still enough to cause massive damage to the forest in the region.
Scientists determined the object was most likely a stony asteroid approximately the size of a 25-story building. And the asteroid was traveling at a speed of about 33,500 miles (54,000 km) per hour and exploded 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 km) above Earth’s surface.
The Truth About Antarctica
The only continent with no history of human habitation, the vast ice fields of Antarctica have formed a blank slate onto which humanity can project itself: all of itself, from the imperial superego to the conspiratorial id.
By Allegra Rosenberg
Feb 21, 02023
The “ice wall,” or the idea that Antarctica is not a continent at the bottom of the globe but really a wall that circumscribes the Flat Earth, is a common refrain; as is the concept that “nobody is allowed” to go to Antarctica: that “they” (shady government agents) will prevent anyone from visiting, in order to keep whatever lies behind the ice wall hidden.
Where gaps in public knowledge exist, conspiracies spring into life. Any post by a scientist or public figure about Antarctica will inevitably rack up comments accusing the original poster of “hiding” something, or of working for the government. Today’s landscape of Antarctic conspiracies is a tangled web — comprising everything from AI-generated Lovecraftian images purporting to be from turn-of-the-century expeditions, Nazis and UFOs, global warming denial, and flat-earthery. It’s a locus of conspiratorial thinking from all corners of the political compass, all converging, like lines of longitude, on the ice.
A great deal of Antarctic theories, whether their proponents are aware of it or not, have roots in the original polar conspiracy of John Cleve Symmes Jr. Symmes was a US Army officer from Cincinnati who devoted his life to promoting his theory of the “hollow earth.” His claims changed over time, but the central thrust of the idea was that the earth was a hollow shell 800 miles thick, with thousand-mile-wide openings at both of the poles, through which a fertile interior could be accessed by intrepid explorers. In the late 01810s he confined his ideas to privately printed circulars and pamphlets, but by 01820 had begun lecturing around the country. He became somewhat well known, with his theories gaining traction after publication in outlets like the National Intelligencer; and it was his disciple Joshua Reynolds who helped drum up government support to launch the Wilkes Exploring Expedition of 01839, America’s first official venture to Antarctica.
The presence of Symmes’s theories in the public consciousness is visible in Edgar Allan Poe’s novella The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (01838), in which the titular character is carried in an open boat below the Antarctic Circle to a tropical land populated by dark-skinned subhumans, and thence to a frigid whirlpool at the North Pole, seemingly leading to some kind of mysterious interior space, inhabited by a giant shrouded figure: “And the hue of the skin of the figure was of the perfect whiteness of the snow.”
The desire for polar and Antarctic space to be indeterminate and undiscovered, for something beyond human understanding to be hiding underneath or within the ice, is a common underlying feature to Antarctic conspiracies.
At least 13 die in extreme heat wave in US
At least 13 people have died from the extreme heat wave that has been tormenting the southern United States for two weeks, officials said Friday.
The highest death toll, 11 people, was registered in Webb County, Texas, near the Mexican border.
“As of Wednesday, there has been 11 total deaths,” local officials said in a statement to AFP. “Ten are Webb County residents, the eleventh death was from a neighboring county that was brought to a local hospital and unfortunately passed away.”
A 14-year-old died last week when he was hiking in Big Bend National Park in Texas, where temperatures reached 119 Fahrenheit (48 Celsius).
Tragically, the victim’s stepfather died in a car accident as he was rushing to the boy’s rescue.
And a 62-year-old woman died in the neighboring state of Louisiana last week, after a storm left thousands of families without power and thus without air conditioning, according to local officials.
In recent days, temperatures in some southern US cities have felt like 113 degrees Fahrenheit, with the pavement cracking in Houston, Texas and authorities setting up cooling centers in the city of with 2.3 million.
New Crop Circle – June 4, 2023 Winterbourne Bassett, Wiltshire, UK
It says “the poles are switching”
My question is “How do they know what it says?” and more importantly, “Who are THEY?”
Spain: Heat strokes and dehydration deaths soared in summer of 2022, the hottest year on record
Deaths in Spain from heat stroke and dehydration in the hottest months of 2022—the hottest year on record—jumped by 88% compared to the same period in 2021, the National Statistics Institute said Tuesday.
The Institute said 122 people died of heat strokeand 233 of dehydration between May and August last year when temperatures soared in a succession of heat waves. A total of 189 people died from the two conditions in 2021.
The data came as Spain sizzled in its first official heat wave of the year, with the state weather agency, AEMET, predicting temperatures to hit 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) in much of the country during a hot spell expected to last until Thursday.
Officials in southern Spain said Monday that a 47-year-old agricultural worker had died from heat stroke, the first on record in Spain this year.
The weather agency noted that heat waves have become more common during the month of June over the last 12 years.
On Monday, the government announced a new department to investigate and alleviate the effects of extreme temperatures on human health.
Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera said the country’s rising temperatures put vulnerable populations at risk, and more work is needed to understand how to prepare for longer, hotter summers.
The statistics institute said the total number of deaths in the May-August period last year were 157,580, 21% more than in 2019, the last comparable year before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The institute said excess heat increased deaths especially among people over 75 years of age and with prior health ailments such as lung disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.
Spain has banned outdoor work during periods of extreme heat after the death of a municipal worker in Madrid last summer and set legal maximum and minimum temperatures for workplaces.
Last year was Spain’s hottest ever, and spring 2023 was also declared the hottest on record. The Iberian Peninsula is currently the driest territory in Europe as a prolonged drought extends into summer.
By Ciarán Giles, Phys.org
10 temples, tombs and monuments that align with the summer solstice
From the Mediterranean to North America, there’s a lot of evidence that the day the ‘sun stands still’ has been important to humans for thousands of years.
Sunrise and sunset on the summer solstice appear to have fascinated humans for thousands of years. While at the equinoxes — when the sun appears directly above the equator — the sun rises and sets due east and west, respectively, during June’s solstice it rises in the northeast and sets in the northwest. Across the world, there are hundreds of monuments, temples and other buildings aligned to the solstice. Here are 10 intriguing examples.
1. Stonehenge, Wiltshire, UK
One of the most famous monuments aligned with the summer solstice is Stonehenge. This 5,000-year-old Neolithic monument’s Heel Stone is lit up by the rising sun immediately before the summer solstice, and thousands of people spend the night around this mysterious ring of standing stones to witness the event. Livestream the event from 11:00 p.m. ET on June 20, 2023, on English Heritage’s Facebook page, with the solstice sun rising at 11:49 p.m. ET.
2. Khafra and Khufu pyramids, Giza, Egypt
The 4,500-year-old Pyramids of Giza are known mostly for being the tallest standing human-made structures until 1311, but it’s perhaps less known that they are aligned to the cardinal points. From in front of the Sphinx, the sunset on the solstice takes place between the Khafra and Khufu pyramids. Around the equinoxes, the sunset takes place on the shoulder of the half-man, half-lion statue.
3. Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, in a remote canyon in northwestern New Mexico, hides huge structures called kiva built by the Ancestral Puebloan people between A.D. 850 and 1250. Be at Casa Rinconada — a “great kiva” — for sunrise on the day of the summer solstice (and a few sunrises on either side) and you’ll see a rectangle of light shine through a window and settle in a niche.
4. Piedras Blancas, Antequera, Spain
Archaeologists are discovering monuments that align with the sun all the time. In May 2023 archaeologists in Andalusia, southern Spain reported their discovery of a 5,400-year-old tomb in a region known for its megaliths. The solstice sunrise lights up decorative rocks on the walls of a chamber deep within. The site is at the foot of a prominent mountain called La Peña de los Enamorados, which the nearby (and much more famous) Dolmen de Menga is aligned with.
5. Sun Tunnels, Great Basin Desert, Utah, USA
Not all aligned monuments are thousands of years old. The Sun Tunnels, a modern art creation constructed between 1973 and 1976 in the Great Basin Desert in northwestern Utah, is the work of artist Nancy Holt. The installation consists of four massive concrete cylinders that are separately aligned with sunrise and sunset on the summer and winter solstices.
6. Puerco Pueblo, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA
The prehistoric people of the Southwest U.S. appear to have used the solstice to create ancient calendars. One of the most famous of these is a petroglyph at Puerco Pueblo, where a shaft of sunlight is projected onto a spiral solstice marker on a boulder, touching its center about 9 a.m local time. This happens each morning for about a two-week period around the summer solstice. Close by is Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument, a rock face with over 650 petroglyphs.
7. Hagar Qim, Malta
A spectacular megalithic temple on the Mediterranean island of Malta, Hagar Qim is one of the oldest free-standing buildings in the world. It was constructed between around 3600 to 3200 B.C. At sunrise on the summer solstice, the first rays of the rising sun enter the structure through an elliptical “oracle hole” in the monumental walls, which projects the disk of the sun onto a stone slab.
8. Ballochroy standing stones, Kintyre, UK
These three vertical standing stones, oriented northeast to southwest, may not look like much, but they’re thought to be an ancient observatory. The three stones align with sunset on the day of the solstice, with the sun setting behind mountains on the Isle of Jura.
9. Kensington Gardens, London, UK
Sometimes solstice alignments are hiding in plain sight. Kensington Gardens, which has been inhabited by members of the British monarchy since 1689, is no exception. In 2017, a physics professor calculated that one of the main avenues radiating out from its Round Pond is oriented for sunrise on the summer solstice.
10. Parowan Gap, Iron County, Utah, USA
Just northwest of Cedar City in southern Utah is a 600-foot (180 meters) V-shaped gap in the mountains that the sun appears to roll down at sunset, when seen from the east. The phenomenon can be observed any evening depending on where the viewer stands, but cairns mark the exact places to stand on the summer and winter solstices. The cairns are thought to have been put there about 10,000 years ago by Fremont and Paiute Native American people. Within the Parowan Gap itself is a vast panel of petroglyphs, one of which is V-shaped and thought to represent the alignments as a solar calendar.
From the Live Science website
Effects of Solar Flares on Earth
From Sci-tech Daily
Solar flares can have a wide range of effects on Earth. Here are a few:
- Radio Communication Disruption: When solar flares interact with the Earth’s atmosphere, they can cause disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field, which can interfere with radio and GPS signals, causing blackouts and navigation issues.
- Geomagnetic Storms & Aurora: If the solar flare is accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields released into space, it can lead to geomagnetic storms. These storms can induce electric currents in power grids, potentially causing power outages. However, they can also create stunning auroras (Northern and Southern Lights).
- Radiation Risk: Solar flares produce high levels of radiation that can pose a risk to astronauts in space or passengers in high-altitude flights. They’re also a concern for electronic systems on satellites and spacecraft.
- Effect on Satellites: The high-energy particles from a solar flare can damage satellites, leading to malfunctions or loss of data.
It’s important to note that Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere protect humans on the ground from the harmful effects of solar flares; most of the concern is for space-borne technology and astronauts. However, in the event of a particularly strong solar flare, the consequences could be more severe. That’s why space weather monitoring organizations keep a close watch on solar activity.
How are Solar Flares Measured
Solar flares are measured in terms of their x-ray intensity in the Earth’s vicinity. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) classifies solar flares in three categories:
- X-class flares: These are big; they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms.
- M-class flares: These are medium-sized; they can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare.
- C-class flares: These are small, with few noticeable consequences here on Earth.
Each class has a tenfold increase in intensity from the last, so an X is ten times an M and 100 times a C.
It’s no wonder that the more you know about solar flares, the more this Bible verse scares you!
Rev 16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
What is this mysterious light in the sky over Detroit, yesterday? Possibly a Sun Pillar.
You’ll most often see sun pillars when the sun is low in the western sky before sunset, or low in the east just after the breaking of dawn. However, you might even see a sun pillar when the sun is below the horizon. On the other hand, you can see light pillars at any time of night.
They’re called sun pillars when the sun helps make them. But the moon or even streetlights can create this light phenomenon, too, in which case the name light pillar is more appropriate.
30 minute warning before a killer solar storm hits Earth based on AI computational models – I think it’s much less…
We’ve touched on the hazards of solar storms plenty of times in the past. We’ve also recently started reporting even more stories involving some sort of AI, especially in the last few months since it has come back to the forefront of many discussions around technologies. So it should come as no surprise that a team at NASA has been busily applying AI models to solar storm data to develop an early warning system that they think could give the planet about 30 minutes notice before a potentially devastating solar storm hits a particular area.
That lead time is thanks to the fact that light (i.e., what radio signals are made out of) can travel faster than the solar material ejected out of the Sun in the event of these solar storms. In some events, such as one that impacted Quebec around 35 years ago, they can shut off power for hours. More extreme events, such as the Carrington event that happened more than 150 years ago, can cause massive destruction of electrical and communication infrastructure if they were to happen today.
Hundreds of dolphins and sea lions have washed up dead or sick in California amid toxic algae outbreak
The scene is unsettling: hundreds of sea lions and dolphins are sprawled across the beaches in Southern California, either dead or sick and exhibiting abnormal behavior.
Officials have received more than 1,000 calls in recent weeks from beachgoers, tourists and residents reporting sick, dying and dead sea mammals washed ashore from Santa Barbara to San Diego County, amid a growing toxic algal bloom in the waters off the coast.
The wave of dead or sick animals is “one of the largest in memory,” Justin Greenman, a stranding coordinator with NOAA Fisheries, told CNN. “It’s completely overwhelming.”
And, Greenman said, it doesn’t appear to be ending any time soon.
Marine-life experts believe the harmful algal bloom is to blame, though they are waiting on test results to confirm it. The algae, Pseudo-nitzschia, produces a neurotoxin called domoic acid, which can be poisonous to seabirds and fish once ingested. It can then travel across the food chain to larger marine animals like dolphins, sea lions and even humans.
Scientists discover giant crater from ice age explosion that has methane-spewing mud volcano inside it
Wait, what? A huge source of methane? Hmm…
The Borealis Mud Volcano is only the second found in Norwegian waters and releases a continuous stream of methane-rich, muddy liquid from deep below Earth’s crust.
Ocean explorers in the Arctic have discovered an underwater volcano spewing mud and methane from inside another, larger crater that probably formed after a catastrophic blowout at the end of the last ice age.
Researchers spotted the unusual feature about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Norway’s Bear Island, or Bjørnøya, in the Barents Sea. The volcano, which the team named the Borealis Mud Volcano, is only the second of its kind discovered in Norwegian waters.
“Exploring the seabed and discovering new methane [seeps] is like finding hidden treasures,” said Stefan Buenz, a professor at The Arctic University of Norway (University of Tromsø) and co-leader of the Advancing Knowledge of Methane in the Arctic (AKMA) expedition that made the discovery. “Every time we go down to the seabed, we get the feeling that we have just begun to understand the great and incredible diversity of such [seep] systems,” Buenz said in a translated statement.
Giant African land snail spotted in Florida, forcing quarantine in parts of county
Parts of Broward County, Florida, are under quarantine after a giant African land snail — described as “one of the most damaging snails in the world” — was detected earlier this month, agriculture authorities said.
Officials “confirmed the detection” of the snail in the Miramar area of Broward County on June 2 following a report to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
A quarantine area was established Tuesday from Pembroke Road and South University Drive, south to NW 215th Street and east to SW 62nd Avenue, the agency said. A map shared by the department shows two specific treatment areas.
Under the quarantine, it’s illegal to move the snail or move plants, compost, soil, or building materials through or from a quarantine area without a compliance agreement.
The giant African land snail, which is illegal to import or have in the U.S. without a permit, consumes at least 500 different types of plants, according to the FDACS. They can be devastating to Florida agriculture as they “cause extensive damage to tropical and subtropical environments,” the agency said.
The creatures also pose “serious health risk to humans” by carrying parasite rat lungwort, or meningitis in humans, the FDACS said.
A mesmerizing video …
captured by a tourist in Florida shows a rare and rather wondrous weather phenomenon, known as a crown flash, wherein a peculiar beam of light appears moving among the clouds in the sky. The very strange scene was reportedly filmed by a Birmingham resident who was visiting Miami Beach over the weekend and the footage was subsequently passed along to Idaho meteorologist James Spann. In the video, the puzzling illumination can be seen seemingly scanning the sky from within the clouds in a manner some have likened to a searchlight.
While many observers online were quick to suggest that the beam was alien in nature, Spann explained that it actually has a scientific explanation. “I believe that is a crown flash,” he said, “this is caused by ice crystals at the top of the cloud and when lightning happens, the electric field changes.” The result of such an occurrence, Spann observed, is that it transforms the ice crystals in a manner such that it creates “this effect of somebody shining a flashlight.”
Marine Heat Wave
A map shows the sea surface temperature anomaly on Sunday, June 18. Temperatures off the coast of the UK and Ireland are several degrees higher than usual.
Temperatures in parts of the North Atlantic Ocean are soaring off the charts, with an “exceptional” marine heat wave happening off the coasts of the United Kingdom and Ireland, sparking concerns about impacts on marine life.
Parts of the North Sea are experiencing a category 4 marine heat wave – defined as “extreme” – according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In some areas, water temperatures are up to 5 degrees Celsius (9 Fahrenheit) hotter than usual.
Global oceans have been exceptionally warm for months. April and May saw the highest ocean surface temperatures for those two months since records began in 1850.
What’s behind all the giant hail that has pelted the South?
Significant storms across the South this week have produced an array of severe weather with tornadoes and wind damage reported across the region but hail likely cemented itself into the history books.
The FOX Forecast Center said that for five straight days, hail that measured at least 4 inches in diameter, which is unusually large for the South in June, fell over communities in Oklahoma, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas.
Local National Weather Service offices issue Severe Thunderstorm Warnings when hail the size of a quarter, or an inch in diameter, is anticipated, but these storms crushed even what is typically considered sizable.
Cell phones helping to create the world’s biggest earthquake detection system.
Google has been working with USGS and academics at a number of universities in California to develop an early warning system that alerts users a few seconds before tremors arrive. It is a brief window of warning, but a few seconds can give enough time to shelter under a table or desk. It can also be enough time to slow trains, stop planes from taking off or landing and keep cars from entering bridges or tunnels. As such, this system is likely to save lives when stronger quakes hit.
It uses data from two sources. Initially, the system relied upon a network of the 700 seismometers – devices that detect earth tremors – installed across the state by seismologists at USGS, the California Institute of Technology and University of California Berkeley and the state government. (Seismometers in two other US states – Oregon and Washington – also feed into the system, known as ShakeAlert.) But Google has also been creating what is the world’s largest earthquake detection network through phones owned by members of the public.
Most smartphones running Google’s Android operating system have on-board accelerometers – the circuitry which detects when a phone is being moved. These are most commonly used to tell the phone to re-orientate its display from portrait to landscape mode when it is tilted, for example, and also helps provide information about step-count for Google’s onboard fitness tracker. But the sensors are surprisingly sensitive, and can also act like a mini seismometer.
US energy regulator beefs up grid readiness for extreme weather
The U.S. energy regulator on Thursday took measures to push operators of power transmission lines to address vulnerabilities to extreme weather conditions, as it released early findings of an inquiry into historic winter storm Elliot.
FERC staff in a presentation said a “robust and growing” body of scientific evidence attributes increasing extreme weather events to climate change, and indicates that this trend will persist.
Since 2011, the United States has experienced at least seven major extreme weather events which stressed electric grid operations, FERC said.
Among them, winter storm Uri in February 2021 resulted in the largest controlled blackout in U.S. history, claiming over 200 lives and leaving 4.5 million people without power in Texas alone.
Earlier in February this year, FERC approved new standards for electrical grid reliability during extreme cold weather, acting on recommendations from an inquiry into Uri.
DVD size hail? NWS report spurs confusion and comebacks on hail size in Oklahoma
A National Weather Service graphic saying parts of Oklahoma could see “DVD size” hail spurred reactions on social media.
The meteorological organization’s website clarified on their website that hail the size of baseballs would be possible. A DVD is much wider than a baseball, measuring at 4 3⁄4 inches compared to just under 3 inches for a baseball.
Shared by the NWS Tornado account and later by the Norman office, the graphic warned residents of several Oklahoma counties being under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. Thursday, noting the potential for 90 mph winds and a few tornadoes. But the mention of the hail size is what spurred responses online. Here’s a few:
Hawaii’s erupting Kilauea volcano is spewing ‘vog’ and may launch dangerous glass shards
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano started erupting last week. Wind around the eruption site could carry volcanic smog and thin glass shards across the Big Island.
In a fiery and ongoing eruption, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano began spewing lava on June 7, sending molten rock to the surrounding crater and reaching temperatures as high as 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit (1,150 degrees Celsius), according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Kilauea, located on Hawaii’s Big Island, is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, and has been erupting almost continuously since 1983. The USGS briefly deemed the eruption a code red, the highest risk alert level, but downgraded it to orange the next day “because the initial high effusion rates have declined, and no infrastructure is threatened,” the USGS said in a June 8 statement, adding that the lava from the eruption is confined to the Halemaʻumaʻu pit crater within Kilauea’s summit.
However, officials warned Wednesday (June 14) that high levels of volcanic smog, known as vog, from the eruption could travel downwind and potentially affect air quality. They added that the eruption may sprout off thin, sharp glass fibers called Pele’s hair, named after Pele (PEH-leh), the Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes. Resembling golden straws of hay, the strands are formed when gas bubbles in the lava pop at the surface and then cool into gossamer glass needles. If Pele’s hair is blown downwind, it could irritate people’s eyes and skin or contaminate drinking water.
Heavy skyscrapers causing New York City to sink, geologists warn
Geological research published in Earth’s Future journal earlier this month revealed that the weight of skyscrapers in New York City (NYC) is causing the Big Apple to sink lower into its surrounding bodies of water at a rate of one to two millimeters a year, with some areas subsiding much faster.
The more than one million buildings in NYC, which include the iconic Empire State Building and Chrysler Building, were found to weigh nearly 1.7 trillion pounds, which is roughly the equivalent of 140 million elephants.
Climate experts have expressed fear that New York will be underwater in less than 80 years.
“There could be as much as six feet of sea level rise [give or take] by the end of the century … then we will have a real problem on our hands in the city,” said geophysicist Klaus Jacob, a professor emeritus at Columbia University‘s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
He told the New York Post that the best way to deal with rising sea levels combined with storm surges would be, of course, retreating to higher ground. However, moving skyscrapers to higher ground would be impossible. And so, the scientist came up with an unorthodox proposal to manage what might come around at the turn of the century – turn lower Manhattan into a “modern Venice” and accept that its thoroughfares will become canals that people can live and work on.
Ecological alert: Menhaden fish wash ashore by thousands at Quintana Beach, Texas
Quintana Beach County Park was hit by an unexpected ecological event when thousands of menhaden fish washed up dead on the shore on June 10, 2023. Texas Parks and Wildlife confirmed the cause as reduced dissolved oxygen levels in the water.
Consequently, officials advised the public to refrain from visiting the beach until the removal of the deceased fish was complete. Crews were mobilized to undertake this task, although they had to wait for the tide to recede several more meters before all the fish could be removed. With dead fish still in the water and washing up on the beach, it was also not recommended to swim due to high bacterial levels and the risk posed by the fish’s sharp fins.
Various factors led to this tragic event, beginning with warm water temperatures exceeding 21.1 °C (70 °F). Cool water has a higher oxygen-holding capacity than warmer water, and menhaden struggle to get enough oxygen in waters warmer than 21.1 °C (70 °F). Shallow waters heat faster than deeper ones, putting fish in shallow areas at higher risk of hypoxia. This phenomenon leads to erratic behavior in fish, which further depletes the water’s oxygen levels.
Japan Begins Secretly Releasing Irradiated Water From Fukushima Disaster Into the Ocean
Tokyo Electric Power Company (better known as TEPCO) started releasing irradiated seawater from Monday afternoon into an underwater tunnel that has been built to release Fukushima nuclear contaminated water into the sea, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said on Tuesday.
According to TEPCO, the tunnel will be filled with some 6,000 tons of seawater by around noon on Tuesday.
The process, according to China Daily, was carried out “secretly” on Monday because Japan’s unilateral decision of dumping more than 1.3 million metric tons of treated but still radioactive water into the ocean provoked consistent protests from neighboring countries, such as China, Pacific Island communities and civil society groups in the most affected prefectures such as Fukushima, Iwate and Miyagi.
Under Japan’s plan, once filled with seawater, the tunnel, which was completed this April, will guide contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant to a point about 1 kilometer offshore. And now, the whole release system is almost complete, except for a reservoir that will store those contaminated water before its release. TEPCO said before that all construction work will be done by the end of this month.
If it’s done, the release would be sufficient to fill about 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools and the water has been used to cool highly radioactive damaged reactor cores as the massive earthquake and tsunami destroyed the Fukushima plant’s cooling systems, triggering the meltdown of three reactors and the release of large amounts of radiation.
Canadian village incinerated by record temperatures
The small village of Lytton in British Columbia hit the global media when it smashed Canada’s highest temperature record in June 2021, at 49.6C (121.28F) Two days later, a wildfire burned the entire village to the ground. In the ashes of their homes, this cohesive but diverse community, which includes a majority of First Nations people, had to confront the realities of climate displacement by being relocated away from their ancestral lands. Through the stories of three residents we find a community searching for answers while relying on a collective spirit to heal.
Is Italy’s SUPERVOLCANO about to blow?
A ‘supervolcano’ in a densely populated part of Italy could be on the verge of its first eruption since 1538, researchers have warned.
The Campi Flegrei volcano near Naples, southern Italy, has become weaker and more prone to rupturing, making an eruption more likely, the experts say.
Located about nine miles (14.5 km) to the west of Naples, it is one of the few active supervolcanoes in the world.
Around 360,000 people live at Campi Flegrei and may need to evacuate if experts think it’s in immediate danger of an eruption, although scientists say there’s no guarantee one will occur anytime soon.
When the volcano eventually blows it is likely to be comparable in size to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79.
Eruption of Tonga underwater volcano found to disrupt satellite signals halfway around the world
Date:May 22, 2023
Source:Nagoya University
Researchers found that the Hunga-Tonga eruption was associated with the formation of an equatorial plasma bubble in the ionosphere, a phenomenon associated with disruption of satellite-based communications. Their findings also suggest that a long-held atmospheric model should be revised.
The Tonga volcano eruption was the biggest submarine eruption in history. This allowed the team to test their theory using the Arase satellite to detect EPB occurrences, the Himawari-8 satellite to check the initial arrival of air pressure waves and ground-based ionospheric observations to track the motion of the ionosphere. They observed an irregular structure of the electron density across the equator that occurred after the arrival of pressure waves generated by the volcanic eruption.
“The results of this study showed EPBs generated in the equatorial to low-latitude ionosphere in Asia in response to the arrival of pressure waves caused by undersea volcanic eruptions off Tonga,” Shinbori said.
The group also made a surprising discovery. For the first time, they showed that ionospheric fluctuations start a few minutes to a few hours earlier than the atmospheric pressure waves involved in the generation of plasma bubbles. This could have important implications because it suggests that the long-held model of geosphere-atmosphere-cosmosphere coupling, which states that ionospheric disturbances only happen after the eruption, needs revision.
