Discovery Strikes Gold With 'Planet Earth'

Skywath-Media Public Announcement

March 30, 2007

The Discovery series "Planet Earth" is receiving rave reviews across the cable networks since first airing this month.

Planet Earth claimed the top two programming spots for the week ended March 25, according to Nielsen Media.

Set to run Sundays through April 22, Planet Earth propelled Discovery into the top five for the first time in recent memory, as the net finished as the week’s second most-watched prime time destination with 1.88 million total viewers. Discovery also finished third among ad-supported cable nets among the adults 18-49 demo, averaging 985,000.

To view a video of this great series click here

FYI

The Discovery Store is now part of the Skywatch-Media News Network of Affiliate Merchandisers. An Product Icon has been placed in the sidebar that will display a wide range of discovery merchandise for your general interest.

The series 'Planet Earth' is also available in DVD format by clicking the image below.

A Public Service Announcement
©2007, Skywatch-Media

132M may starve in Asia because of climate change

Climate Change Alert

Asia

March 29, 2007

Experts are concerned that climate change will threaten some 132 million Asians with starvation by the year 2050, according to a dire report. "Grain harvests in the Asian region will drop by as much as 30 percent, leading to skyrocketing food prices and the starvation of 132 million people in Asia in the 2050s, if fossil fuels continue to be consumed at the current rate." Harvests have already declined in some parts of Asia, and the report says rising temperatures are only part of the problem. Flooding, heat waves and droughts are said to have contributed to the shortfall.

Nasa Releases Striking New Images of Mt Ruapehu Lahar

Earth Observations
Photo: VIEW FROM ABOVE: The US space agency Nasa has released striking before-and-after pictures of Mt Ruapehu's lahar.
March 29, 2007
Mount Ruapehu's lahar has been captured by satellites in striking before-and-after pictures released this week.
On March 18 the lahar on Ruapehu's caldera burst, sending mud and rock down the eastern flank of the mountain.
Nine days later, on March 25, 2007, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite captured this image of Mount Ruapehu and its new lahar. They compared it with an image taken on February 9, 2002.
In both images, green indicates vegetation, dark blue indicates water, and purplish-gray indicates bare rock or hardened lava. The splotches of white at the summit show snow cover, and the billowy white balls nearby are clouds.

Asteroid Flyby

Cosmic/Space News

March 30, 2007

Asteroid 2006 VV2 is about to fly past Earth. On March 30th around 11 pm PDT the 2 km-wide space rock will streak through the constellation Leo only 2 million miles away glowing like a 10th magnitude star. This makes it an easy target for backyard telescopes with CCD cameras.

Last night, Mike Broussard of Maurice, Louisiana, caught the asteroid (Image Shown Above)flying past spiral galaxy M81 in Ursa Major:

The Americas are favored for Friday night's flyby, especially southern California where 2006 VV2 will fly right over the heads of observers at the moment of closest approach. Astrophotographers, ready your cameras! [finder charts] [ephemeris]

News Source: Spaceweather.com

'Flaming debris' nearly hits jet

Meteor Sightings

New Zealand

March 28, 2007

Flaming debris of a possible meteor almost hit plane - The pilots of a Chilean passenger jet reported seeing flaming debris fall past their aircraft as it approached the airport at Auckland, New Zealand. The captain "made visual contact with incandescent fragments several kilometres away". New Zealand and Australian media suggested the debris was from a Russian satellite expected to enter the atmosphere later in the day. But the US space agency Nasa said it was more likely to have been meteors. The pilots reported the near-miss to air traffic controllers, reportedly saying the noise of the debris breaking the sound barrier could be heard above the roar of his aircraft's engines. The debris missed the jet by a margin of 40 seconds. An orbital debris expert at Nasa had checked with the Russians and their vessel - a spacecraft resupplying the International Space Station - had fired its re-entry rockets as scheduled, 12 hours after the Chileans reported the near miss. The Nasa expert said no other space junk was expected to be re-entering atmosphere at that time so the pilots probably saw a meteor.

World Must Invest Now to Counter Impact of Extreme Weather From Global Warning

Global Warming Alert

March 27, 2007

Citing one of the worst cyclone seasons in recent memory in Madagascar as an example, the United Nations body that seeks to mitigate the impact of natural disasters called on the international community to invest more in programs to reduce the effects of extreme weather spawned by global warming. What is currently happening in Madagascar is a good illustration of what can happen in many countries. "The increased severity and frequency of extreme weather events prevents people from recovering before facing the next event, making them more vulnerable to disasters." People in Madagascar are well prepared to face cyclones, and the country has strong national mechanisms in place. But the unusual number of cyclones makes the situation extremely difficult. In November, Madagascar's National Bureau on Disaster Reduction put in place a programme of sand bags that seems to have protected many houses from destruction. The bags were placed on top of the roofs to reduce wind impacts, saving a lot of people. "But we could not avoid the intensity of rains. Soils were completely saturated and many people died because of mud and debris avalanches that could not be stopped." In some parts of the world, climate change will mean more intense and frequent hazards, in others, it will mean facing hazards that communities have not encountered before.

Major cities warned against sea-level rise

Skywatch-Media Special Report
Disaster Preparadness
Sea-level rise 'under-estimated'

For the first time, a scientific study has identified the world's low-lying coastal areas that are vulnerable to global warming and sea-level rise, and urged major cities from New York to Tokyo to wake up to the risk of being swamped by flooding and intense storms if nothing is done. 'Migration away from the zone at risk will be necessary, but costly and hard to implement.' In all, 634 million people live within such areas - defined as less than 10m above sea level - and that number is growing. Of the more than 180 countries with populations in the low-elevation coastal zone, about 70 percent have urban areas of more than five million people that extend into it, including: Tokyo; New York; Mumbai, India; Shanghai, China; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Dhaka, Bangladesh. Asia is particularly vulnerable. The five countries with the largest total population living in threatened coastal areas are China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia. Coastlines already are showing the impact of sea-level rise and global warming and it is expected to worsen. An IPCC report is expected to say that about 100 million people each year could be flooded by rising seas by 2080. By the time the location of the coastal settlements at the most risk becomes evident, "most of the easier options for shifting settlement patterns, and modifying them so that they are better adapted to the risks of climate change, will have been foreclosed." Many such areas have long been vulnerable to natural disasters such as flooding and tropical storms, but climate change is likely to increase that risk. In North America, the two biggest cities, Los Angeles and New York, are at risk of a combination of sea-level rise and storms with waters rising "up to several meters deep." By 2090, under a worst-case scenario, megafloods that normally would hit North America once every 100 years "could occur as frequently as every three - four years."

SOUTH AFRICA. Many photos of the monster wave damage showing the aftermath.[This is the kind of coastal damage the article above is warning about.]
View Aftermath Images



Sea Level Simulator
This animated image shows the repercussions of immense sea level rise on the european, african and asain continents.

Click the image above to view sequencial ocean depths on coastal areas.

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Hurricane winds off the coast

Breaking Earth News
Australia's Southern Ocean

A RARE and unusual phenomenon deep in the Southern Ocean is creating extreme weather conditions, including hurricane-force winds, off the South Australian coast.

Winds of 80 knots, or 150km/h, were recorded south of the Great Australian Bight yesterday, resulting from an intense low which developed since Tuesday. Swells up to 7m were expected to pound the coast last night.
Winds greater than 64 knots, or 118km/h, are classified as hurricane-force - a new category introduced by the Bureau of Meteorology for areas on southern latitudes.

Earth News Journal: Week Ending March 23, 2007

Earth News Journal
Week of March 23, 2007

Warming Impact
The warmest winter on
record across the Northern
Hemisphere has caused
significant changes in the
behavior of plants and wildlife. Italian
vegetables not normally seen until
later in the season have become so
abundant that merchants are unable
to sell them all. The wheat harvest in
the Netherlands was brought in a
month earlier than normal, causing
some scientists to worry that the
warmth may also bring an increase in
grain plant viruses caused by aphids.
Half of the barley crops in some parts
of Germany have been hit by a blight
of yellow dwarf disease, which is carried
by fleas that do not normally survive
winter. Insects are emerging
from cocoons weeks ahead of schedule
across Europe, and wildlife are
migrating much earlier than normal.

Solar Predictions
The next sunspot cycle is
predicted to be 30 to 50
percent stronger than the
last, and will begin almost
a year later than normal, according to
forecasters at the U.S. National Center
for Atmospheric Research. A new
computer model of solar activity will
allow for early warnings of solar
storms, which can slow satellites in
orbit, disrupt global communications
and bring down power grids.
An Australian researcher wrote
in the journal Solar Terrestrial
Physics that increasing sunspot activity
over the next year could bring
above-normal rainfall to eastern Australia,
ending the worst drought in a
century. Professor Robert Baker of
Australia's University of New England
said he made the prediction
based on past solar activity and climate
records. But the country's
Bureau of Meteorology discounts his
theory, saying his study is .significantly
flawed.

Volcanoes
A mud volcano on the
Indonesian island of Java
briefly stopped spewing
toxic sludge, which has displaced
15,000 people since last May.
None of our team members knows
for sure what happened, and we are
still trying to determine how it happened,
said Rudi Novrianto, a
spokesman for the government project
trying to plug the flow with concrete
balls. Experts believe that effort
was probably not the cause of the sudden
halt in the flow of mud. They said
it most likely occurred because parts
of the volcano.s funnel collapsed,
creating a temporary obstruction that
was eventually cleared by pressurized
gas within the crater.
A mixture of mud, water and
rocks cascaded down the slope of
Mount Ruapehu volcano on New
Zealand.s North Island after it burst
through a 23-foot wall of volcanic ash
and sand built up during an eruption
12 years ago. Police and civil defense
workers immediately closed roads
and the nation.s main rail line near
the southern base of the mountain
until the surge of debris passed.

Tropical Cyclone
Cyclone Indlala.s rampage
across northern Madagascar
left at least 36 people
dead and nearly 54,000
people homeless. Indlala destroyed
two bridges, six schools, 63 administrative
buildings and three electric
facilities, according to the national
emergencies bureau BNGRC. .In
terms of destruction, it is almost as
bad as Gafilo,. said bureau chief
Jacky Randriaharison, referring to a
cyclone that left 241 people dead after
it pummeled the Indian Ocean island
in March 2004. Madagascar has been
affected by seven tropical cyclones
this season, which normally runs
from November through March.

Smoke Emergency
The Thai government
declared an environmental
emergency in two northern
provinces, including the
popular tourist destination of Chiang
Mai, due to a thickening pall of smoke
caused by wildfires. Deputy Prime
Minister Paiboon Wattanasiritham
told reporters that the emergency declaration
would allow authorities to
evacuate villages if needed, and to
impose stronger measures to stop
farmers from burning agricultural
residue and clearing forests.

Earthquakes
A sharp early morning
tremor sent panicked residents
from their beds into
the streets in Indonesia's
North Maluku provincial capital of
Ternate. There were no reports of significant
damage or injuries.
Earth movements were also felt
in the southern Philippines, northern
New Zealand, metropolitan Tokyo
and New Hampshire.

Jumbo Retirement
Elephants used as beasts
of burden, for joyrides and
at ceremonial occasions in
the southern Indian state
of Kerala will soon be retired when
they reach the age of 65, according to
a report by the IANS news agency.
But Kerala.s forest minister, Binoy
Viswam, told the state assembly that
the animals could still perform light
tasks in semi-retirement if a veterinarian
certifies their physical fitness.
Elephants are widely used in Kerala
to move timber, and for religious ceremonies.
There are about 900 captive
elephants in the state, most owned by
Hindu temples.

Earth News: A Journal of the Planet

Week Ending March 23, 2007

Distributed by: UPS

© 2007-Earth Frenzy Radio

'Sweeping changes' to climate by 2100

Breaking Earth News
Global Warming Alert
Many of the world's climate zones (48 per cent of the earth's landmass) will vanish entirely by 2100, or be replaced by new, previously unseen ones, if global warming continues as expected, a US study predicts. By that point, close to 40 per cent of the world's land surface area would also have a "novel" or new climate. Rising temperatures will force existing climate zones toward higher latitudes and higher elevations, squeezing out climates at the colder extremes, and leaving room for unfamiliar climes around the equator. The sweeping climatic changes will likely affect huge swaths of land from the Indonesian rainforest to the Peruvian Andes, including many known hotspots of diversity, disrupting local ecological systems and populations. "The warmest areas get warmer and move outside our current range of experience and the colder areas also get warmer and so those climates disappear." Even if emission rates slowed due to mitigation strategies, the changes would still affect up to 20 per cent of the earth's landmass in each scenario.

Australia Braces for Cyclone Kara

Breaking Tropical Storm News
Western Australia: Oil and gas operations and iron ore ports are being shut as the West Australia coast braces for its fourth tropical cyclone this year. A severe cyclone warning is current for coastal areas from Mardie to Wallal, and Pilbara communities are being warned to take precautions.

FYI: Cyclone Preparadness
Click the Image To Learn More






Tropical Storms
Cyclone Becky - A tropical cyclone, that has formed northwest of Vanuatu, is now expected to affect land areas as early as this afternoon. Cyclone Becky is moving East-Southeast, bringing gale force winds to the Banks group and extending over Sanma and Penama tonight. Winds are estimated to increase to 55 knots. The sea will be rough with heavy swells. “People including sea going vessels are strongly advised not to go out to sea until the system moves out of the area.
Heavy rainfall and flooding, including coastal flooding is expected in the affected areas.”

NowPublic

Australia Braces for Cyclone Kara

Oil and gas operations and iron ore ports are being shut as the West Australia coast braces for its fourth tropical cyclone this year. A severe cyclone warning is current for coastal areas from Mardie to Wallal, and Pilbara communities are being warned to take precautions.

FYI: Cyclone Preparadness


Tropical Storms
Cyclone Becky - A tropical cyclone, that has formed northwest of Vanuatu, is now expected to affect land areas as early as this afternoon. Cyclone Becky is moving East-Southeast, bringing gale force winds to the Banks group and extending over Sanma and Penama tonight. Winds are estimated to increase to 55 knots. The sea will be rough with heavy swells. “People including sea going vessels are strongly advised not to go out to sea until the system moves out of the area. Heavy rainfall and flooding, including coastal flooding is expected in the affected areas.”

Distributed by: Skywatch-Media: Earth News & Events That Affect Us All

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Cherry blossoms' early appearance has Japanese concerned

Earth Observations: Japan
March 25, 2007

The weather agency inspectors had fanned out to examine designated trees across Japan, eyeballing the branches, looking for blossoms. Government computers had crunched years of temperature data. TV camera crews climbed ladders to get close-ups of the buds' progress.

Last week, inspectors in Tokyo saw what everyone was waiting for -- at least six cherry blossoms on one of the talismanic trees on the grounds of sacred Yasukuni Shrine. They proclaimed "sakura season" officially under way.

Early again. As usual.

The beginning of sakura has been creeping up on the Japanese in recent years. This year's start was eight days earlier than the average in Tokyo over the last half-century, part of a pattern that many scientists here attribute to global warming.

Arctic triggered climate change may have reached tipping point:

Climate News Alert
March 25, 2007
Melting Arctic sea ice may have reached a tipping point triggering global climate change according to a new study. The climate change could reach into Earth's temperate regions. "When the ice thins to a vulnerable state, the bottom will drop out and we may quickly move into a new, seasonally ice-free state of the Arctic." Melting sea ice, unlike land ice melt, does not increase sea levels. However, it decreases the salinity of oceans and creates a greater surface area of ocean that absorbs rather than reflects solar radiation, both of which reinforce the global warming trend. The Arctic sea-ice extent trend has been negative in every month since 1979, when concerted satellite record keeping efforts began. Because temperatures across the Arctic have risen from 2 degrees to 7 degrees F. in recent decades due to a build-up of atmospheric greenhouse gases, there is no end in sight to the decline in Arctic sea ice extent. "While the Arctic is losing a great deal of ice in the summer months, it now seems that it also is regenerating less ice in the winter. With this increasing vulnerability, a kick to the system just from natural climate fluctuations could send it into a tailspin."

Gardens 'attract fewer songbirds'

Breaking Earth News: United Kingdom
March 26, 2007
"Many birds will struggle to cope with the altered weather patterns" Ruth Davis/RSPB

Fewer songbirds visited UK gardens this winter than last year - with the numbers for some species at a FIVE-YEAR LOW. The number of song thrushes spotted in gardens has fallen 65% in a year, while the number of blackbirds fell by 25%. The number of robins spotted has also fallen. The RSPB blamed the mild European winter and a bumper countryside fruit crop, meaning the birds did not have to visit UK gardens for food as often. "A snapshot in winter gives only part of the picture, but the varying birds visiting our gardens is one example of the impact climate change is having on the natural world. Although the mild winter seems to have provided more food for song thrushes in the countryside this year, as changes to our climate become more extreme many birds will struggle to cope with the altered weather patterns."

Technology, climate change spark race to claim Arctic resources

March 24, 2007
Climate change is sparking an international race to claim Arctic resources - oil, fish, diamonds and shipping routes. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic has as much as 25% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas. Moscow reportedly sees the potential of minerals in its slice of the Arctic sector approaching $2 trillion. All this has pushed governments and businesses into a scramble for sovereignty over these suddenly priceless seas. Just a few years ago, reports said it would take 100 years for the Arctic ice to melt, but recent studies say it could happen in 10-15 years, and the United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark and Norway have been rushing to stake their claims. The Arctic melt has also been intensifying competition over dwindling fishing stocks. Fish stocks essential to some regions appear to be moving to colder waters, and thus into another country's fishing grounds. Russian and Norwegian fishermen already report catching salmon much farther north than is normal. In 2004, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the sovereignty issue "a serious, competitive battle" that "will unfold more and more fiercely." "Everybody is talking about the potential for minerals, diamonds, oil and gas, but we mustn't forget that people live there, all the way across the Arctic. [Indigenous peoples like the Inuits and the Sami] They've always been there and they have a major role to play."

Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia report first H5N1 outbreaks

Bird Flu Update: Saudi Arabia

Agriculture officials in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia have confirmed outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza in birds, A FIRST FOR EACH COUNTRY. An H5N1 outbreak could devastate Bangladesh's poultry industry, which includes about 150,000 farms and does $750 million of business annually. The Saudi Press Agency said the outbreak there involved turkeys, parrots, peacocks, and ostriches on private land. The birds were destroyed and the site was sterilized. H5N1 avian flu has been reported in several countries near Saudi Arabia, including Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, and Sudan. Egypt has had 26 confirmed human cases since February 2006, half of them fatal. H5N1 has been found in birds in about 60 countries, not counting Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh. H5N1 has been found in crows in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. Up to 70 dead crows were found in and around the city recently, and 2 of 8 birds tested were found infected. In Myanmar, about 38,000 birds have been destroyed as a result of five outbreaks in Yangon, the capital, over the past 3 weeks. "There are still three countries that are not capable of managing the situation: Indonesia, Egypt and Nigeria, which harbour reservoirs of the virus that can take off elsewhere." Officials said they don't expect to see as many bird outbreaks of H5N1 this year as occurred last year. "On the medical level you see a reduction in terms of viral quantity. The presence of the disease in the population of wild birds is lower than last year when there was a surge in the virus." Wild birds may be growing more resistant to the virus, or the strain may be declining. But it would be unrealistic to think that the virus can be eradicated soon, as it "continues to circulate and can reappear at any time."

Pandemic could cause deep, uneven recession

Viral News

March 22, 2007

An influenza pandemic as severe as the great flu of 1918 could cost the United States $683 billion and plunge the American economy into the second-deepest recession since World War II, a nonprofit health advocacy group warned yesterday. If rates of illness and death matched those of 1918 — when one-third of the population fell ill and 2.5 % of those who were sickened died — US production of goods and services could shrink 5.5% in a year. But the pain would not be spread evenly across the country. States whose economies depend on tourism and entertainment would be hit hardest, with losses as large as 8% of their economic production. "Businesses, governments, schools and other sectors could all face serious disruptions." The consequences would ripple worldwide. "What we do know is that it is highly likely that during the peak of a pandemic, even if the mortality rate is low, you are going to have a lot of people not coming to

Viral Threats

The US Department of Agriculture said it would step up its antismuggling efforts and monitoring of live bird markets this year to protect the country from H5N1 avian influenza. The agency plans to more than double the number of special operations to seize banned poultry products and will expand the monitoring of live bird markets from 12 states to 29 or 30. They also announced a renewal of last year's hunt for the H5N1 virus in wild birds throughout the United States, among other steps. The deadly virus was not found in any of the more than 100,000 wild bird samples tested last year.

Volcanoes observatory ready to record 'slow' quake

FYI: Click on Map

Volcanic News: Hawaii, USA

March 22, 2007

Scientists at the Hawai'i Volcanoes Observatory are geared up to record a "slow earthquake" expected under Kilauea Volcano within the next few days. For reasons scientists cannot yet explain, many slow earthquakes detected around the world seem to happen at regular intervals. At Kilauea, the pattern so far suggests slow earthquakes occur there about every 774 days, with the last one recorded over two days beginning on Jan. 26, 2005. The slow earthquake scientists are poised to record, therefore, was scheduled to occur last Saturday, March 17.

France opens secret UFO files covering 50 years

March 22, 2007
Photo: This 1972 photo from the US Air Force shows a space probe after a test flight in New Mexico. France has become the first country to open its files on UFOs when the national space agency unveiled a website documenting more than 1,600 sightings spanning five decades.(AFP/File)

PARIS (AFP) - France became the first country to open its files on UFOs Thursday when the national space agency unveiled a website documenting more than 1,600 sightings spanning five decades.

The online archives, which will be updated as new cases are reported, catalogues in minute detail cases ranging from the easily dismissed to a handful that continue to perplex even hard-nosed scientists.

GM mosquito 'could fight malaria'

Earth/Science News

March 19, 2007

A genetically modified (GM) strain of malaria-resistant mosquito has been created that is better able to survive than disease-carrying insects.
It gives new impetus to one strategy for controlling the disease: introduce the GM insects into wild populations in the hope that they will take over.
The insect carries a gene that prevents infection by the malaria parasite.
Details of the work by a US team appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

Mystery Foam Discovered Floating Down Green River

Environmental News: Utah, USA

March 20, 2007

Click on Photo to Download Video

Mystery foam discovered floating down Green River - What's causing foul-smelling foam on the Green River in Utah? Government agencies are trying to solve the mystery. Is it illegal pollution or just one of nature's tricks? Most agencies started scrambling on the 18th and 20th, even though the foam was reported more than a week before. There's a good chance the foam, which ran more than 50 miles down the Green River, is a natural phenomenon triggered by the UNUSUAL weather; but there are puzzling, UNUSUAL aspects. The chunks of foam were the size of dining room tables, three feet thick. They covered at least two miles of river. Foam is not unusual on the Green River. It usually comes in late May as snowmelt raises the river and churns organic material. "We see that quite often. It's a little early in the year for that to be happening. But then again, we do have quite UNUSUALLY WARM weather." A gigantic blob of foam was spotted about 35 miles down river. A Bureau of Land Management ranger said it completely covered the river, bank to bank, as far as the eye could see. The BLM observer also reported the foam had a powerful hydrocarbon-like smell and caused a stinging sensation on the skin. A River Guide says he's never heard of anything like it in three decades of river running. To him it adds up to a chemical spill from the booming oil and gas industry

Freak tornado in New Zealand

Breaking Storm News: New Zealand

March 22, 2007

Terrified children ran for their lives as roofing iron and other debris rained around them when a 'tornado' hit a hall next to Pembroke School, near Stratford, yesterday. The tornado missed the children as it passed the school but then slammed into adjacent Pembroke Hall, tearing off roofing iron. The children scattered as the debris flew high into the air then fell down on to the school's parking area, the road, adjacent paddocks, and parts of the school property. Conditions were almost dead-calm when the tornado hit. "It was just a nice day and the kids were outside, playing. Then, suddenly, there was a strange noise that sounded a bit like a truck braking, followed by an explosion. I saw all this debris fly maybe 30 metres into the air, and I immediately thought something really bad had happened out on the road." "It was the strangest thing. There was no indication anywhere else that a twister had been through - normally they leave some sort of trail. But it's like this one just popped in, damaged the hall, and disappeared again.

Al Gore Warns Congress of Planetary Emergency

Republican Congressional Critics Refuse to Take Off Blinders

(AP) WASHINGTON Al Gore made an emotional return to Congress Wednesday to plead with lawmakers to fight global warming with moral courage.The former vice president is a Democratic favorite for the presidential nomination even though he says he's not running. Fresh off a triumphant Hollywood appearance in which his climate-change documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," won two Oscars, Gore drew overflow crowds as he testified before House and Senate panels about a "true planetary emergency.

Special Video Presentation: View the Entire Congressional Testimony of Al Gore Here

News Source: The Great Red Comet

Distributed by: Skywatch-Media

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Gore to Testify on Global Warming

March 21, 2007
WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Al Gore brings his push for government action on global warming to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, testifying in both the House and Senate.
His appearance comes as lawmakers consider legislation to curb emissions tied to global warming, and less than a month after his documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” won an Academy Award.
Gore has called the need for government action on climate issues “the overriding world challenge of our time.”

News Source: The Great Red Comet

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Earth News Journal: Week Ending March 16, 2007

Earth News Journal

Week of March 16, 2007

Crazed by Thirst
Australia's worst drought
in a century has driven
thirsty feral camels into at
least one western desert
community, where the animals damaged
toilets, taps and air conditioners
in a frantic search for water. Glen
Edwards of the Desert Knowledge
Cooperative Research Center told
reporters that a wild camel management
plan is urgently needed. He said
the approximately 1 million feral
camels in the region frequently wreck
native species, tear down fences and
invade Aboriginal sites. The drought
has made the animals. aggressive
behavior far worse than normal. Single-
hump camels were introduced
into the Australian outback as pack
animals during the late 19th and early
20th centuries. Edwards said that an
uncontrolled population explosion
since then means a massive camel
cull, or export for slaughter, is needed
to protect human development and
the environment.

Thailand Pall
The Thai government
declared the northernmost
province of Chiang Rai a
disaster zone due to a thick
layer of hazardous smoke from massive
wildfires raging across the north
of the country. Most outdoor activities
were being prohibited, and pregnant
women, the elderly and children
were advised to wear face masks to
protect against the hazardous smoke.
Air transportation to the region has
also been disrupted due to low visibilities.
Severe drought from the
recent El Niño has left a large swath
of the Southeast Asian nation parched
with an extremely high fire danger.
The uncontrolled blazes have spread
from fires ignited by local farmers
who were burning off vegetation in
preparation for the upcoming rainy
season.

Volcanoes
Ash from Montserrat.s
Soufriere Hills volcano
spewed high above the eastern
Caribbean, disrupting
air traffic in Puerto Rico and prompting
delays or cancellations by several
airlines. Seismologists on Montserrat
said the volcano.s dome of hardened
lava has swollen to near-record levels,
posing a threat of collapse. Such
an event would send clouds of volcanic
material cascading into populated
areas of the island.
. An attempt to plug an Indonesian
.mud volcano. with concrete
balls appears to have slowed oozing
sludge that has displaced 15,000 people
on Java during the past several
months. Hot mud began bubbling up
last May after exploratory gas drilling
appeared to have punctured a cap
over the geothermal area. The sludge
has since spread over a wide residential
area and threatens to block a key
rail line.

Earthquakes
Several houses on
Indonesia.s North
Maluku island of Halmahera
were wrecked by a
magnitude 5.4 temblor. Two people
were injured by falling debris.
. Six schoolchildren were injured
when two sharp tremors jolted central
Mozambique within two hours.
. Earth movements were also felt
in northeastern Ohio and along the
California-Nevada border.

Fiji Floods

Video Presentation
Six Fijians drowned in
flash floods that swamped
the western part of the
South Pacific island
chain. A further 13 people escaped
being swept to their deaths by clinging
to a treetop. Flash floods have also
washed away homes and roads, and
caused damage to sugarcane farms.

Tropical Cyclones
The second cyclone to
strike the same area of
northwestern Australia
within three days brought
heavy rainfall and high winds to the
region. Cyclone Jacob moved ashore
between Whim Creek and Port Hedland
with winds of up to 65 mph. Residents
there were still cleaning up
from Cyclone George.s rampage,
which left three people dead and
injured more than 20 others.
. Category 4 Cyclone Indlala
slammed into Madagascar.s northeastern
coast with winds of up to 145
mph. It was the fourth such storm to
strike the Indian Ocean island nation
within as many months.

Spiritual Loophole
Malaysian Buddhist
monks issued a death sentence
for fire ants that
have infested their temple
for years even though they themselves
are prohibited from ending the
earthly lives of any living creature. A
professor volunteered to eradicate the
stinging pests after the monks tried a
variety of non-lethal methods to get
rid of them. Temple devotees in the
country.s northern Penang state even
resorted to using a vacuum cleaner to
suck up all the ants and relocate them,
according to The Star newspaper. But
the poisonous ants soon returned and
have stung temple visitors and some
of the monks. The temple.s chief
monk told the newspaper that the professor
has been given the go-ahead to
destroy the huge ant colony. He
added that while monks were forbidden
to kill anything, outsiders were
free to do so as long as the intention
was to protect other human beings.

Earth News: A Journal of the Planet

Week Ending March 16, 2007

Distributed by: UPS

© 2007-Earth Frenzy Radio

Ex-White House Aide Denies Distorting Climate Reports

US National News
March 19, 2007

Robinson report - Download (mp3) 1.9 MB

Listen to Robinson report

The former chief of staff of the White House environmental policy office has denied charges that he sought to politicize government reports on the causes and effects of global warming. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill Philip Cooney defended himself before a congressional committee.

As chief of staff of the White House Council on Environmental Quality until 2005, Philip Cooney is a central figure in the continuing debate involving allegations by some government climate scientists that the Bush administration tried to suppress findings supporting global warming.

Storm Surge City

Disaster Preparadness: NYC, USA
March 14, 2007

Click the Image to Enlarge

Allstate is already refusing to renew policies in metro New York because of storm vulnerability. Sand underlies much of downtown above the Financial District. If a storm surge pushes through the West Village it is going to scour the sand that supports lots of unreinforced buildings, causing them to collapse or otherwise be unusable. It's not just the West Village, Red Hook is mostly fill, Coney Island and the Rockaways are nothing more than semi-permanent barrier islands, all the islands within Jamaica Bay are only a couple feet above sea level, as are JFK and LaGuardia airports. Shiny new glass buildings are also a problem. Under the current building code, windows have to withstand wind gusts up to 110 miles an hour. That's fine for a minor hurricane, but it offers little protection in a major storm. The options for holding back the sea are not pretty. A seawall would have to be dozens of feet high. A wall that high needs to be really wide. To deal with these problems the mayor has set up PLANYC, the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. Global warming is driving up the sea level - five inches higher by 2030 and another couple inches by 2050. While that doesn't sound like much, a slightly higher sea level lets water from a storm surge travel much further inland. Couple sea level rise with a likely increase in the frequency and strength of storms, both tropical and nor'easters, and you greatly increase the risk of an infrastructure disaster.

Predicting Rogue Waves

Earth News: Germany

March, 2007

Image: Scientists from the German Space Agency use satellite data indicating average wave heights to calculate where rogue waves could occur. Credit: German Space Agency

Scientists from the German Space Agency say they have mapped incidents of extremely large waves, known as rogue waves, using synthetic aperture radar satellite data, and will soon publish a massive wave atlas for the first time.

Such waves can mysteriously surge 100 feet (or about the height of a 12-story building) and sink massive cargo ships in their wake. There are a relatively small number of buoys or oil platforms collecting such data, and they are rarely deployed in remote oceans and seas where rogue waves are thought to be more likely to appear. During the very rare circumstances when high waves do surge against buoys or oil platforms, wave-height sensors are often damaged. Ship sinkings and ensuing deaths caused by the phenomenon are probably more numerous than officially recorded, given the large number of vessels that simply disappear without a trace every year. Now that they've located where these huge monster waves have appeared, the researchers know where they are likely to occur again. With their real-time weather data and average-wave-height forecasts, the rogue-wave maps could help save lives.

Force of nature

The eastern coast of Australia is witnessing a rare and unpredictable phenomenon: a vast maritime cyclone. But why do these whirlpools occur?
Click on Image to Learn More

Giles Foden explores one of science's last unfathomed mysteries Friday March 16, 2007
The Guardian

In Edgar Allan Poe's short story A Descent into the Maelstrom, the unnamed narrator, watching from a cliff on the Norwegian coast, describes the appearance of a giant whirlpool: "The edge of the whirl was represented by a broad belt of gleaming spray; but no particle of this slipped into the mouth of the terrific funnel, whose interior, as far as the eye could fathom it, was a smooth, shining, and jet-black wall of water, inclined to the horizon at an angle of some forty-five degrees, speeding dizzily round and round with a swaying and sweltering motion, and sending forth to the winds an appalling voice, half shriek, half roar . . ."

Ocean Vortex Photo

Article Continues

Don't Blame Sun for Global Warming

Ever since Al Gore's Documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth" won an oscar for its exemplary coverage of the controversial issue of Global Warming, the skeptics have crawled out of the woodwork to contradict the indisputable findings of leading scientists across the globe. The debunkers have and will continue to dispute the facts surrounding climate change and greenhouse gases because it disrupts their ultimate purpose in this world, which is to get rich regardless of the consequences.

News Source: The Great Red Comet

Distributed by: Skywatch-Media

NowPublic

Jurassic Crocodile Is Unearthed From Blue Mountains In Eastern Oregon

Breaking Earth News: Oregon, USA

March 19, 2007

An ancient sea-going crocodile has surfaced from the rocks of Crook County in eastern Oregon.

It's discovery by the North American Research Group (NARG), whose members were digging for Jurassic-age mollusks known as ammonites, is another confirmation that the Blue Mountains consist of rocks that traveled from somewhere in the Far East, says retired University of Oregon geologist William Orr, who was called in to examine the find for the state.
The remains - about 50 percent of a 6- to 8-foot reptile, including long, needlepoint teeth - were found imbedded in Jurassic rock on private property in the Snowshoe Formation of the Izee Terrane south of Dayville, Ore. Rocks containing the fossils were slowly cut out of the rock, after NARG members realized that the linear appearance of the fossils in the region's hard rocks suggested that a whole creature had been found, Orr said.

'Millions' more bird flu masks needed

Breaking Viral News: Australia

March 19, 2007
Bird Flu Update

Photo: The study says Australia does not have enough masks for hospital staff in a bird flu pandemic. (ABC TV

Stockpiles of special masks for hospital staff to wear while treating bird flu patients are likely to be inadequate and quickly run out in a pandemic, an Australian study suggests.
Insufficient stocks of protective wear will lead to more people becoming infected, depleting stockpiles of antiviral drugs sooner, it concludes.
The study, to be presented at the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases annual scientific meeting in Hobart this week, shows millions more of the high-filtration masks are needed, and an adequate supply will help reserve drugs for the ill.

Esperance water tested as more birds die

Earth News: Australia
March 16, 2007

Esperance residents remain deeply concerned over possible exposure to lead poisoning which has been cited as the likely cause of thousands of bird deaths in the area. The mystery deaths of about 4,000 birds near the town, in Western Australia's south, between December 7 and January 2, had perplexed the Department of Environment and Conservation until tests recently showed the birds probably died of lead poisoning. Another 187 birds have died in the town during the past week. The DEC ordered the Esperance Port Authority to stop all lead carbonate shipments. "We don't know what's going on at the port, it all seems like a bit of a cover-up. There have probably been spillages and leakages for goodness knows how long ... people have no trust in the port." "We've got thousands of birds dead and everyone's asking the question, 'What about our own health?' Why did the system let us down, where are the health authorities, where are the environmental authorities, how was this ever allowed to happen?"

Build a volcano, save the planet?

Environmental News
March 16, 2007
Crazy-sounding ideas for saving the planet are getting a serious look from top scientists, a sign of their fears about global warming and the desire for an insurance policy in case things get worse. There’s the man-made “volcano” that shoots gigatons of sulfur high into the air; the space “sun shade” made of trillions of little reflectors between Earth and the sun, slightly lowering the planet’s temperature; the forest of ugly artificial “trees” that suck carbon dioxide out of the air; and the “Geritol solution” in which iron dust is dumped into the ocean. “Of course it’s desperation. It’s planetary methadone for our planetary heroin addiction. It does come out of the pessimism of any realist that says this planet can’t be trusted to do the right thing.”

Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels Threaten Marine Life

Earth News

March 11, 2007

Ocean acidity is rising as sea water absorbs more carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from power plants and automobiles. The higher acidity threatens marine life, including corals and shellfish, which may become extinct later this century from the chemical effects of carbon dioxide, even if the planet warms less than expected.

Continue

Global warming affecting crop yields adversely

Global Warming Alert

Decline Expected to Impact Food Supply, Biofuel Production

Article Last Updated: 03/16/2007
Global warming is creating a drag on production of the world's leading food and feed crops, as well as the raw materials for biofuels, according to scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University.
In today's edition of the journal Environmental Research Letters, two ecologists report that yields of corn, wheat and barley have declined by about 40 million tons every year since 1981 from what farms worldwide should have produced. The annual value of those lost crops is about $5billion.
Crop yields, in general, are climbing, continuing to ride almost half a century of improvements in plant varieties, fertilizers and irrigation.
But new analysis by Livermore climate scientist David Lobell and Christopher Field, head of Carnegie's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford, concludes the gains have been retarded by rising heat around the globe in the last 20 years.
"At least for wheat, corn and barley, temperature trends in the last few decades have been in the direction of holding yields down," Field said. "They're still increasing, but if temperatures hadn't been warming, they would have been increasing more."
For wheat and corn alone, the annual global losses are equal to the wheat and corn production of Argentina. The researchers likened the effect of global warming on crops to driving a car with the parking brake on. As a result, they said, farmers and plant scientists will have to work harder at meeting rising food demand — and harder still if farming for energy as well.

World may get greener, then wilt, due warming

Breaking Earth News: Norway

March 15, 2007

Global Warming Analysis

OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming is expected to turn the planet a bit greener by spurring plant growth but crops and forests may wilt beyond mid-century if temperatures keep rising, according to a draft U.N. report.
Scientists have long disputed about how far higher temperatures might help or hamper plants -- and farmers -- overall. Plants absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, as they grow and release it when they rot.
"Global agricultural production potential is likely to increase with increases in global average temperature up to about 3 Celsius (5.4 Fahrenheit), but above this it is very likely to decrease," the draft said.
Plants in tropical and dry regions from Africa to Asia are set to suffer from even a small rise in temperatures, threatening more hunger linked to other threats such as desertification, drought and floods.
But some plants in temperate regions, such as parts of Europe or North and South America, could grow more in a slightly warmer world, according to the draft.

Mystery tremors bring new twist to quake prediction

Breaking Earth News

March 15, 2007

Mysterious tremors deep in the Earth's crust could provide a way to predict future catastrophic earthquakes, according to scientists. Weak "non-volcanic tremors", first discovered five years ago near Shikoku in Japan, pose no dangers in themselves and have previously been dismissed as insignificant by many scientists. But a new study shows that they are related to low-frequency earthquakes (LFEs), slow-moving seismic activity deep underground which can potentially build up enough force over time to cause a major earthquake at the surface. Both non-volcanic tremor and LFEs are found mainly in subduction zones, where violent events happen once every 100 to 600 years. Scientists think that they are often preceded by LFEs which can last days, months or years without being felt at the surface. "Some people believe that LFEs and tremor are separate phenomena, but what we've shown in this paper is that they are actually the same thing. Tremor is simply a swarm of low-frequency earthquakes, but rather than happening quickly and impulsively like ordinary earthquakes, tremor shakes the Earth for hours, days or even weeks at a time." Non-volcanic tremors have been found in Japan, under California's San Andreas Fault, and in the Cascadia subduction zone, which stretches from northern California to British Columbia.

Smithsonian study concludes Caribbean extinctions occurred 2M years after apparent cause

Environmental News
March 12, 2007

Photo: Aaron ODea collecting fossil sediments along the Caribbean Coast of Panama, August, 2006. Click photo for info

Smithsonian scientists and colleagues report a new study that may shake up the way paleontologists think about how environmental change shapes life on Earth. The researchers summarized the environmental, ecological and evolutionary consequences for Caribbean shallow-water marine communities when the Isthmus of Panama was formed. They concluded that extinctions resulting when one ocean became two were delayed by 2 million years.
Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and London's Natural History Museum report their study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on March 12.
Three to 4 million years ago, the Isthmus of Panama land bridge rose to connect North and South America, and divided one vast ocean into two. In response, a major extinction of marine animals that had flourished under open seaway conditions occurred on the Caribbean side of the new Isthmus.
"We may be way off-track when we search for the causes of extinctions by looking only at the time the extinctions occur in the fossil record, which is what paleontologists normally do," said Aaron O'Dea, postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. "In our case, we see that most coral and snail species died off a good 2 million years after the environmental change that caused their demise."

Earth News Journal: Week Ending March 9, 2007

Earth News
Week of March 9, 2007

Asia Smog Melts Arctic
The sharp increase in
industrial pollution across
India and China during the
past three decades has
amplified the North Pacific storm
track and significantly contributed to
the recent warming of the Arctic,
according to a report by a Texas
A&M University researcher. Atmospheric
science professor Renyi
Zhang wrote in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences that
his team analyzed weather patterns
between Asia and North America
from 1984 to 2005 and found that the
Pacific’s unique deep convective
clouds seemed to surge by as much
as 50 percent as atmospheric pollution
from Asia blew into the Pacific.
The resulting amplified storms transferred
significant heat high into the
Arctic. Zhang said the trend appeared
to be unrelated to other climate conditions,
such as El Niño. “It possibly
means the polar ice caps could melt
more quickly than we had believed,”
wrote Zhang.

Aborted Hunt
Japan’s Antarctic whaling
fleet cut short its
annual hunting expedition,
which was dogged
by an aggressive Greenpeace ship,
widespread condemnation from Australia
and New Zealand and a fire that
badly damaged one of its ships. The
six-vessel fleet has captured only half
of its intended catch since setting out
on a five-month hunt in mid-November,
according to the Japan Fisheries
Agency. Japan has used a loophole to
get around an international moratorium
on commercial whaling by saying
its catches are for research purposes.
But most of the meat eventually
winds up on Japanese dinner
plates. Japan says it plans to expand
its hunt next season to include the
killing of humpback whales.

Too Many Elephants
South Africa’s environment
minister announced
the country could reintroduce
elephant culling following
a sharp increase in the number
of the animals over the last
decade. Marthinus van Schalkwyk
told reporters that since the government
launched a moratorium on
killing elephants in 1995, their numbers
have surged from about 8,000 to
about 20,000 at the beginning of this
year. “Elephants are potentially difficult
to confine within protected
areas, and if they leave the area, they
pose a threat to the lives and property
of neighbors,” said van Schalkwyk.

Earthquakes
Initial reports from Sumatra
said that around 70
people perished during a
6.4 magnitude earthquake
on the Indonesian island. Several
strong aftershocks also shook the
region. A separate 5.9 magnitude
quake caused panic in Sumatra’s Nias
region the following day.
• At least 35 people in southwestern
Iran were injured when a 4.8 magnitude
quake damaged buildings
around the town of Doroud.
• Earth movements were also felt
in Indonesia’s Papua province and
Moluccas islands, northern New
Zealand, Japan’s Akita prefecture
and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Tropical Cyclones
Australia’s Northern Territory
was drenched by a
tropical disturbance that
later became Cyclone
George. The storm gained force off
the country’s northwest coast before
slamming into Western Australia.
• Cyclone Jacob was a threat to
shipping over the northeastern Indian
Ocean between Java and northwestern
Australia.

Andean Eruption
Ecuador’s Tungurahua
volcano spewed columns
of ash and heavy smoke
high above the northern
Andes during the mountain’s most
intense activity since last August.
That eruption killed four people and
wrecked nearly 5,000 homes. The
volcano began showering nearby villages
with incandescent rocks again
last month, and authorities advised
hundreds of local residents to voluntarily
evacuate their homes due to the
latest increase in activity.

Mystery Bird
A wetland bird that was
believed to have been
captured only once in
India in 1867, and presumed
to be extinct, has been rediscovered
in Thailand. The finding was
announced on the Birdlife International
Web site on March 7. Ornithologist
Philip Round was banding wild
birds around a wastewater treatment
plant near Bangkok last year when
one of the birds he caught seemed
very odd. “Then it dawned on me ...
I was probably holding a large-billed
reed warbler,” said Round. Only one
sample of the bird was initially
believed to have been captured 139
years ago. But six months after the
rediscovery, another specimen was
uncovered at the Natural History
Museum at Tring, England. DNA
comparison with both samples
proved that Round’s discovery was
indeed the same species. The bird
was released after being extensively
photographed and having the DNA
sample collected. Almost nothing is
known about the bird, and studies are
being planned to determine the range
of its habitat.

Earth News: A Journal of the Planet

Week Ending March 9, 2007

Distributed by: UPS

© 2007-Earth Frenzy Radio

Old Earthquake Faults Worn Smooth Over Time Due to Friction, Research Shows

Earth/Science News

March 13, 2007
Earthquake faults are worn smooth over time by friction, like the brake pads of an old car, according to a new study. The finding suggests old and new faults might generate different types of earthquakes. Because old and new faults are so different, everything about the earthquakes they generate — their birth, strength and propagation — could be different as well, the researchers speculate. “We don’t know how the amount of shaking from the same size earthquake acts on different kinds of faults. It could be that the smoother, mature faults give you a less bumpy ride.”

Scientist predicts disastrous sea level rise

Click The Image Above To Learn More

Breaking Earth News
Climate Change Perspective
Broadcast: 13/03/2007

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

7.30 Report
TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT

By Reporter: Kerry O’Brien

KERRY O'BRIEN: What are your particular fears with regard to the melting of the polar ice caps?

JAMES HANSEN: Well, the problem is that the climate system in general has a lot of inertia and that means that it takes time for the changes to begin to occur but then, once they do get under way, it becomes very difficult to stop them and that is true in spades for the ice sheets. If we once begin to disintegrate it will become very difficult, if not impossible, to stop them and we are beginning to see now on both Greenland and west Antarctica disintegration of those ice sheets. They're both losing ice at a rate of about 150 cubic kilometres per year and that's still not a huge sea level rise. Sea level rise is now going up about 3.5 centimetres per decade. So that's more than double what it was 50 years ago. But it's still not disastrous; it's a problem, but it's not disastrous. But the potential is for a much larger sea level rise. If we get warming of two or three degrees Celsius, then I would expect that both West Antarctica and parts of Greenland would end up in the ocean, and the last time we had an ice sheet disintegrate, sea level went up at a rate of 5 metres in a century, or one metre every 20 years. That is a real disaster, and that's what we have to avoid.

Full Transcript

GRC Has A New Look

From the Editor's Desk:
March 13, 2007

Skywatch-Media is pleased to announce that The Great Red Comet website has a new and improved look.

If you haven't yet checked it out, take a few minutes and go to our new site at Skywatch-media.com

Among the new features that can be found are as follows:

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* In the Sidebar you will notice several changes. A new Language Translation Tool has been added near the top of the page. This tool can be used by all foreign visitors to translate the English content of this website into their native language.

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* Also listed under Item Search is a list of Viewer's Choice book & video publications which can be purchased directly from our website. This is a unique and innovative alternative to internet shopping. Just hover your mouse over the link, and a message will pop up complete with images and information on the subject content. Merchandise content will change on a periodic basis.*Note: In order to properly use this shopping technique, you must first wait for the GRC website to fully download unto your internet browser.

NOTE: Skywatch-Media has a new email address for website communication. Please use the following address when submitting inquiries or suggested news links: skywatch.media@gmail.com An Email Icon has been placed on the Sidebar immediately before the links section. This is the only email that should be used for website feedback.

* The Blog Archives is a new website format being implemented by Blogger. By clicking the yellow/gold arrows, a dropdown list shows all the posted news articles for each month and year since our inception. You can choose to have the list remain open, or fold it up at your descretion.

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Skywatch-Media would like your imput on our new design features, and will welcome any suggestion you may have on ways to further improve our site. We are committed to providing our viewers with fast breaking earth news that effects us all in these troubled times. As always, we desire to make your browsing experience more informative and viewer friendly.

Sincerely,

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©2007, Skywatch-Media. All Rights Reserved

Thousands of Dead Fish In Thai River

Breaking Environmental News: Thailand
Photo: Fish piled up on river bank

March 13, 2007

Fishermen have pulled 100 tons of dead fish from Thailand's Chao Praya River.

Authorities launched an investigation into possible pollution along the country's longest river.

The dead fish are worth almost £500,000 or 30 million baht.

They amount to the "biggest damage ever to the Chao Praya's fishing industry," said Charanthada Kannasuta, of the Fisheries Department.

Most of Thailand's fishing industry is dependent on catches from the sea.

But the Chao Praya serves as a major source of food and income to riverside communities and markets across central Thailand.

It runs for 230 miles, through 10 provinces and the capital Bangkok, to the Gulf of Thailand.

South Africa: UN Warns of Hunger On Drought, Floods

Earth News: Africa
March 09, 2007
"We are now pulling together an assessment team to determine the extent of crop failure and the likely impact on the country’s food supply, but initial findings are grim... "
Erratic weather patterns in southern Africa, from searing droughts to raging floods, have devastated harvest prospects for millions of people and could spell yet another year of widespread food shortages, the severely under-funded United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.
“All indications are that southern Africa could be heading for yet another year of critical food shortages,” WFP Regional Director Amir Abdulla said. “Assessments need to be carried out as soon as possible to determine the impact agricultural losses may have on these groups, but already the early indications for several countries are alarming.”

Egypt Reports Its 24th Human Bird Flu Infection

Viral News: Egypt

Bird Flu Update

March 11, 2007

A four-year-old boy has tested positive for bird flu in the Egyptian Nile Delta province of Dakahlia, national newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Sunday quoting a statement by Egypt's health ministry.

Since the first outbreak of bird flu in Egypt in 2005, 13 of 24 people who contracted the illness have died. After an initial panic which saw many Egyptians getting rid of their birds, people in rural areas have since resumed raising poultry domestically to sell at public markets or as a source of cheaper protein. Previous cases of infection were usually accompanied by exposure to sick birds. Generally, if a person is infected, the Egyptian health ministry monitors the rest of the family members for signs of the disease.

Viral Threats

BURMA reported bird flu outbreaks in two towns.

INDONESIA has recorded 85 bird flu cases, after a 20-year old woman was positively infected by avian influenza. The woman from East Java province had a history of contact with chickens. Indonesia has recorded 64 fatalities out of 85 people who contracted the disease. The number of bird flu cases in the country has increased recently after months of absence of new cases. Over 32 million families in Indonesia's vast archipelago have been raising chickens in back yards.

The next tsunami: history could tell

Breaking Earth News: Sydney, Australia
Click Map to Enhance

March 12, 2007
AUSTRALIA had a reputation as a region where few tsunami hit, but there have been 37 reported in the last 150 years. "Relatively speaking, this is a much higher rate of occurrence than many other regions of the globe." One tsunami hit in August 15, 1868, after a large earthquake had rocked Chile the previous day. When it hit Australia, its impact was felt hardest in the west, where a four-metre wave inundated the coastline near Shark Bay, carrying rocks, coral and fish up to 300 metres inland.

Mystery Booms Return

Earth News: USA

March 08, 2007

SOUTH CAROLINA - Newsrooms were flooded with calls about the mystery rumble observed Thursday morning. According to the National Earthquake Information Center, there is nothing to indicate there was an earthquake in the Charleston area. It doesn't rule out the possibility that it was a smaller quake, but they said it was most likely a sonic boom. However, the Charleston air traffic controller said there was nothing in the pattern at that time that is capable of producing a sonic boom. There are no reports of damage.

A big boom, followed by earthquake-like tremors. That's how people are describing what they felt Thursday morning. "The ground was shaking, the house was shaking, the windows were banging.” All those who felt it say it lasted seconds. Even the National Weather Channel was reporting a possible earthquake felt in the Charleston area. But since the 1800s, not a single report of a quake in that area has been confirmed. The National Earthquake Information Center says this isn't an earthquake since nothing was recorded on their seismographs. There is another possible explanation for this mystery according to the US Geological Survey. There is an unexplained phenomenon called Seneca Guns that sound like sonic booms and shake homes. There have been reports of Seneca Guns along the coasts in South Carolina and also in North Carolina and Virginia. In addition, there have been reports of such booms around Lake Seneca and Lake Cayuga in New York State. Some speculate this could be gas escaping from vents in the earth's surface, but no exact cause is known.

Don't discuss polar bears, scientists told

Breaking Earth News

Global Warming

March 09, 2007

Polar bears, sea ice and global warming are taboo subjects, at least in public, for some US scientists attending meetings abroad, according to environmental groups and a top federal wildlife official. Environmental activists called it scientific censorship, which they said was in line with the Bush administration's history of muzzling dissent over global climate change. "This administration has a long history of censoring speech and science on global warming."

Crash pilots 'blame wind gust'

Disaster News: Indonesia
Photo: A Garuda Boeing 737-400 plane crashed on landing at Yogyakarta airport in Java, Indonesia. The plane, carrying 140 people, burst into flames as it landed, killing at least 21 people and injuring nearly 100 others. View All Images

March 07, 2007

The pilots of the Garuda plane that crashed on landing at Yogyakarta Airport are blaming a huge gust of wind for the accident. The pilots told Indonesian authorities the aircraft hit the runway hard because of the wind. "They say that there was some interference with the landing and that was a natural interference caused by a huge gust of wind that took the plane off track as it came into landing." The deadly fireball that engulfed the jet was likely sparked when the plane's front wheels snapped off on landing, investigators say.

Israel probes hospital superbug

Viral News: Israel

March 07, 2007

Health officials are investigating a superbug outbreak in some of the country's hospitals that may have killed around 100 patients. Medical experts are unsure if the antibiotic-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae germ caused the deaths. The bacteria is harmless to healthy people, doctors say, but can infect people with weakened immune systems.

Meat-loving calf eats chickens

Strange Animal Behavior: India

March 08, 2007

When 48 chickens went missing in a month from a remote West Bengal village, everyone blamed the neighborhood dogs. But the owner eventually solved the puzzle when he caught his cow - a sacred animal for the Hindu family - gobbling up several of them at night. "We were shocked to see our calf eating chickens alive. Instead of the dogs, we watched in horror as the calf, whom we had fondly named Lal, sneak to the coop and grab the little ones with the precision of a jungle cat." Local television pictures showed the cow grabbing and eating a chicken in seconds and a vet confirmed the case. "We think lack of vital minerals in the body is causing this behaviour. We have taken a look and have asked doctors to look into the case immediately. This strange behaviour is possible in some exceptional cases."

Earth News Journal: Week Ending March 3, 2007

Earth News
Week of March 3, 2007

Antarctic Eden
Marine biologists
announced the discovery
of a pristine seabed
ecosystem that became
visible when massive ice shelves
broke off of Antarctica. Those collapses
of the Larsen ice shelves
revealed a 3,800-square-mile
expanse of thriving seabed that had
been roofed over by ice for up to
12,000 years. The Census of Marine
Antarctic Life project says it found
several previously unidentified
species in the area, as well as more
common ones that are now able to
survive in the Antarctic environment
due to climate change. The scientists
say they found four new species of
cnidarians, creatures that are related
to coral, jellyfish and sea anemones.
Prior to the collapse of the Larsen B
ice shelf in 2002, scientists were able
to get only glimpses of the seabed
through boreholes.


La Niña Returns
U.S. climate experts
announced that the weakening
El Niño ocean-warming
phenomenon in the
tropical Pacific is rapidly being
replaced by its opposite phase, known
as La Niña. The relatively mild El
Niño was responsible for a mainly
quiet hurricane season in the Atlantic
last year, as well as severe droughts
in Australia and parts of Southeast
Asia. Forecasters at the U.S. environment
agency NOAA say that
depending upon how strong the La
Niña ocean cooling becomes, it could
produce a more active Atlantic hurricane
season this summer and create
an entirely different set of global climate
disruptions than its warm water
counterpart. NOAA forecaster Vernon
Kousky said that La Niñas tend
to develop from March to June,
reaching their peak intensity at the
end of the year.


Dolphin Slaughter
A massive annual hunt
of dolphins is drawing
to a close at a central
Japan whaling town. As
many as 20,000 of the marine mammals
may have been herded up since
October so they could be either
butchered or sold to marine parks
around the world. Despite drawing
outrage from animal-rights groups,
the dolphins were surrounded on the
open sea by fishermen in motorboats
from the port of Taiji. The animals
were then herded into small coves,
where they were stabbed or speared
with lances. The youngest and most
attractive are usually captured alive
to be sold for up to $100,000 to theme
parks, according to environmentalist
Richard O’Barry, a former trainer
with the classic television series
“Flipper.” The annual hunt and sale
of whale meat in supermarkets has the
support of the Japanese government,
which environmentalists say ignores
testing results that show dolphin meat
contains 13.5 times the amount of
mercury contamination permitted in
food. Fishermen defend the hunt as
being part of the traditions and cuisine
of the region, as well as being
key to their livelihoods.


Volcanoes
Southern Italy’s Stromboli
volcano suddenly began
spewing large amounts of
lava into the Tyrrhenian
Sea off Sicily, prompting authorities
on the windswept island of the same
name to warn residents of possible
small tsunamis. Islanders who live in
homes less than 33 feet above sea
level were urged to move to higher
ground until the lava flows subside.
• Far East Russia’s Klyuchevskoi
volcano spewed a column of black
ash high above the Kamchatka peninsula.
The nearby village of Klyuchi
was later blanketed by falling ash.


Tropical Cyclones
Category 3 Cyclone Favio
slammed into the coast of
southern Mozambique,
killing at least five people
in the town of Vilanculos before
drenching a nation that was already
in the grip of a flood crisis.
• Two people were killed on the
Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, and
nine hurt on nearby Reunion, when
Topical Cyclone Gamede brushed
both islands.
• Cyclone Humba formed briefly
over the central Indian Ocean.


Earthquakes
Two earthquakes jolted
the southern Caribbean
island nation of Trinidad
and Tobago within a fourday
period. No damage or injuries
were reported.
• Earth movements were also felt
in southern Chile, northwestern California,
northwestern Greece, eastern
Turkey and southwestern China.


Warming Escape Route
A leading Australian
environment official
announced plans to create
a wildlife corridor
stretching nearly 1,740 miles down
the country’s east coast to allow
species to find new habitats as global
warming makes living in their old
homes impossible. New South Wales
state Environment Minister Bob
Debus told the Sydney Morning Herald
that the idea is to persuade private
landowners to release their property
so that national parks along the Great
Eastern Ranges can be linked
together. “We have to create, protect
and restore ecological corridors that
will allow species to move and to find
new areas of sanctuary,” said Debus.

Earth News: A Journal of the Planet

Week Ending March 3, 2007

Distributed by: UPS

© 2007-Earth Frenzy Radio

Guangdong is 'the source of deadly bird flu'

Breaking Viral News: Washington

Bird Flu Update

March 07, 2007
China's southern Guangdong province is the source of the dangerous H5N1 avian flu virus, according to a genetic analysis.
And Guangdong appears to be the source of renewed waves of the H5N1 strain, which has killed or forced the destruction of hundreds of millions of birds, the team at the University of California Irvine reported on Monday.
"We show that the Chinese province of Guangdong is the source of multiple H5N1 strains spreading at both regional and international scales," the researchers wrote in their report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"It is probably still originating there and spreading," Walter Fitch, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview.

Snow woes plague farmers, city dwellers

Earth News: Canada
March 06, 2007
Farmers in southwest Saskatchewan are concerned about the lack of snow cover on their fields and are raising the alarm about drought. We've had these two extremely dry years and the extreme heat, with the drought, especially last year, devastated the crop production." Cattle farmers are also preparing for the worst. "The pastures are so depleted in this area that many ranchers are reducing cow herds and in some cases, entire cow herds are going to … the market." Not only is there little water but the quality is so poor, it's been making livestock sick.

Geologists Reveal Secrets Behind Supervolcano Eruption

Breaking Earth News: USA
Photo: A piece supervolcano and extracted quartz crystals analyzed for titanium

March 06, 2007
Science Daily — Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered what likely triggered the eruption of a "supervolcano" that coated much of the western half of the United States with ash fallout 760,000 years ago.
Using a new technique developed at Rensselaer, the team determined that there was a massive injection of hot magma underneath the surface of what is now the Long Valley Caldera in California some time within 100 years of the gigantic volcano's eruption. The findings suggest that this introduction of hot melt led to the immense eruption that formed one of the world's largest volcanic craters or calderas.
The research, which is featured in the March 2007 edition of the journal Geology, sheds light on what causes these large-scale, explosive eruptions, and it could help geologists develop methods to predict such eruptions in the future, according to David Wark, research professor of earth and environmental sciences at Rensselaer and lead author of the paper.

Global impact of Asia's pollution

Breaking Environmental News: Asia

March 06, 2007

SMOG - Industrial pollution coming from Asia is having a wider effect on global weather and climate than previously realised, research suggests. The "Asian haze" of soot is boosting storms in the Pacific, scientists find. It is also enhancing the growth of large clouds, which play a key role in regulating climate globally. Researchers say impacts may be felt as far away as the Arctic. Some studies have suggested that accumulation of these particles is changing the properties of Arctic ice, making it absorb more of the Sun's energy. While clean air legislation has reduced production of industrial aerosols - fine particles of dust, soot and sulphur - in Europe and North America, the opposite trend is seen in Asia. Here, rapid industrialisation has led to the formation of a pollution haze which is especially marked in winter as coal burning increases. Sulphur emissions have increased by more than one-third over the last decade. These aerosols drive cloud formation, as water droplets coalesce around the tiny particles.

Moon turns red over Britain

Lunar Eclipse

Photo: The eclipse seen against one of the birds on top of the Liverbuilding in Liverpool

March 04, 2007

Thousands of people enjoyed the most spectacular lunar eclipse in more than a decade, thanks to clear skies across most of the country.

The first total eclipse of the moon in three years was visible across swathes of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as a showery day gave way to a crisp night.
The surface of the full Moon first went dark before turning a coppery red, to the delight of the many people who went outside to watch the display.

Stargazers Watch Ominous Eclipse

Photo: A Lunar Eclipse is seen over the Westminster Abbey in London, Saturday, March 3, 2007. Amateur star-gazers and astronomers worldwide dusted off their telescopes and unsheathed their binoculars Saturday for the first total lunar eclipse in three years.

LONDON (AP) - The moon darkened, reddened, and turned shades of gray and orange during the first total lunar eclipse in nearly three years, thrilling stargazers and astronomers around the world.The Earth's shadow took over six hours Saturday night to crawl across the moon's surface, eating it into a crescent shape before engulfing it completely in a spectacle at least partly visible on every continent.

Cows feel the heat

Animal Behavior

Climate Change Analysis

Photo: HOT COWS: Climate change can cut milk production by 280 litres of milk annually for each cow.

March 05, 2007

Six years ago, CSIRO scientists Roger Jones and Kevin Hennessy studied the potential impact of heat stress caused by climate change on dairy cattle at farms around Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley of NSW.
Cool cows produce more milk, and when summer temperatures soar above 35 degrees, hot cows are less able to cool themselves by increasing their respiration rate or dilating blood vessels. A hot dairy cow is a very distressed cow, and severe heat stress can kill dairy cattle and their embryonic calves.
According to a study by dairy scientists at Virginia State University in the United States, heat stress in dairy herds is "associated with difficult births, heat exhaustion, fatty liver and mastitis, as well as adverse reactions to vaccinations leading to abortions and death". The study also found heat stress "can contribute to lameness, perhaps due to acidosis or increased output of bicarbonate".
Heat-stressed cattle eat less frequently and feed during cooler times of the day, but they eat more at each feeding. As temperatures rise, the cows' respiratory rate increases "with panting progressing to open-mouth breathing" and a rapid loss of carbon dioxide.

Continue

Researchers hopeful of new H5N1 vaccine

Breaking Viral News: USA

Bird Flu Update

March 05, 2007

Researchers in the U.S. believe they have found an easily-produced vaccine for the killer H5N1 bird flu. The vaccine would be "easy to produce, fast to produce and as broadly protective as possible. Tests on mice have shown the animals had produced the antibodies necessary to fight the disease. A doctor claims to have overcome the problem of manufacturing enough of the vaccine to get it out fast enough to halt a pandemic. The process involves copying genetic material from flu virus protein and combining it with antibodies to help stimulate the immune system. The technique could be easily applied to other forms of flu virus too.

Early spring causes havoc for hedgehogs

Climate News: Great Britain

March 04, 2007

England experienced the second warmest winter on record with winds from the south and southwest bringing mild, moist air up from the subtropics. The usually warm spell helped a farmer in Kent grow a crop of strawberries which were picked last week. "This change in temperature is a big problem. Our winters are becoming more topsy-turvy with a particular feature now being very mild periods interspersed with sudden cold snaps." The warm British winter has tricked thousands of young hedgehogs into thinking that spring is well under way. Once awake, they are unable to find enough food because their usual diet of snails and insects do not start appearing until later in the year. Traditionally, the creatures are nocturnal, but increasing numbers are being spotted during the day time in the desperate hunt for food. Since September, 550 hedgehogs have been handed in to the rescue hospital, compared with 300 over the same period last winter. Hedgehogs are not the only animals to be affected by the FREAK weather conditions. Newts, bats and grass snakes, which should all be in hibernation, have been found in distress by members of the public and taken to the rescue hospital. Butterflies and bumblebees that do not usually emerge until spring have been spotted as early as December and frogspawn was first seen in South Wales on December 1, several weeks earlier than usual. The Royal Horticultural Society is recommending for the first time that gardeners prune roses and clematis in January rather than the traditional month of March. With an average temperature of 9.5C for the six months from September to February, up from 7.8C on the previous corresponding period, increasing numbers of householders are now mowing lawns year-round to prevent grass becoming unmanageable by the spring.

Kuwait finds two bird flu cases in chickens

Viral News

Bird Flu Update

KUWAIT, March 3 (Reuters) - Kuwait said on Saturday it had found two new cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu in chickens, raising to 48 the total number of infected birds in the Gulf Arab country this year.

Bird Flu

LAOS - A second case of human bird flu is suspected in Laos, only a week after confirmation of the Southeast Asian country's first case.

Food scare has some worried about supply

Disease News: USA

Image: Micro-organismes, E. Coli

March 03, 2007

With all the recent publicity about outbreaks of food-borne illness, consumers may be wondering whether anything is safe to eat anymore. Contaminants are cropping up in products that are supposedly wholesome: peanut butter, fresh spinach, even organic baby food. E. coli comes from fecal matter, so theoretically it should not be a problem with plant-based foods. But crops can become contaminated if they are adjacent to areas where livestock are kept. Without an overhaul of the agricultural system,it will be difficult to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Consumers should expect that any type of fresh produce carries the possibility of contamination. "We're eating more raw produce, so there's more exposure to foods that have a higher risk." Consumers need to take more responsibility for their own health, because there are fewer watchdogs to oversee the nation's food supply. An investigation by the Associated Press last month showed that FDA food safety inspections decreased 47 percent between 2003 and 2006, and safety tests on U.S.-produced food dropped by almost 75 percent. "Expect more outbreaks in the future, because the U.S. is importing more and more of its produce from countries that are far less sanitary than ours." The FDA inspects less than 1 percent of our imported food. If the trend continues, Americans may need to reassess their assumption that the food supply is safe. "When you travel to a developing country, the only way to avoid illness is to cook all food before eating it. If you are susceptible to illness, you might want to consider doing that even if you live in the United States."

FYI

What is salmonella?
Salmonella is a bacteria that causes diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts four to seven days.
Is it deadly?
Most people recover without treatment, but in some cases the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized and treated with antibiotics.
How is it transmitted?
By eating foods contaminated with animal feces. Contaminated foods usually look and smell normal, and are often of animal origin. Foods such as beef, poultry, milk or eggs are usual culprits, but all foods, including vegetables, may become contaminated.

Russian Astronomer Cites Global Warming On Mars

Climate News

A Global Warming Perspective

St. Petersburg, Russia

March 02, 2007

A Russian astronomer says that polar ice caps on the planet Mars are melting, and the Red Planet is experiencing a warming trend at the same time as the Earth. He cites this is evidence that solar radiation is the main cause of global warming. Scientists who support the view that human beings are responsible for global warming have dismissed the claims. In their view, the Martian heat wave is caused by changes in the Red Planet's rotation on its axis rather than more solar radiation. In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row. Most scientists now fear that the massive amount of carbon dioxide humans are pumping into the air will lead to a catastrophic rise in Earth's temperatures, dramatically raising sea levels as glaciers melt and leading to extreme weather worldwide. The Russian astronomer believes instead that "the solar irradiance began to drop in the 1990s, and a minimum will be reached by approximately 2040. It will cause a steep cooling of the climate on Earth in 15 to 20 years."

Ruapehu: The mountain that will explode

Volcanic Warning
Photo: Ruapehu, the tallest mountain on the North Island, is a massive andesite stratovolcano. The currently active vent is an acidic crater lake near its summit. The volcano has a volume of 110 cubic km and the surrounding ring plain has a similar volume. Photo is looking south across the flank of Ngauruhoe to the September, 27, 1995 eruption of Ruapehu. Photo courtesy of Thor Thordarson.

By Christopher Zinn in Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand
Published: 04 March 2007

Any day now, a massive torrent of mud and rocks is going to roar down the slopes of Mount Ruapehu, on New Zealand's North Island, engulfing everything in its path.
It is one of nature's most awe-inspiring and dangerous threats, known as a "lahar", and it can be far more lethal than lava flows. In Colombia in 1985, 24,000 people were buried alive when a lahar swallowed up the town of Armero, following an eruption by the Nevado del Ruiz volcano. Another lahar in 1953 caused New Zealand's worst rail disaster, killing 151 people.

Continue

Earth Crust Missing In the Center of the Atlantic

Earth News: Atlantic Ocean
Click on Map to Enhance

March 01, 2007
Scientists have discovered a large area thousands of square kilometers in extent in the middle of the Atlantic where the Earth’s crust appears to be missing. Instead, the mantle - the deep interior of the Earth, normally covered by crust many kilometers thick - is exposed on the seafloor, 3000m below the surface. Marine geologist Dr Chris MacLeod, School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences said, “This discovery is like an open wound on the surface of the Earth. Was the crust never there? Was it once there but then torn away on huge geological faults? If so, then how and why?”

Stone towers make up oldest observatory in Peru

Breaking Earth News: Peru, S.A.
Earth Discovery
March 02, 2007
A line of 13 stone towers that top a coastal hillside in Peru are in fact the Western Hemisphere's oldest solar observatory, researchers said on Thursday. The 2,300-year-old site points to a sophisticated culture that used the dramatic alignment of the sun and the structures for political and ceremonial effects, the researchers said. The site, called the Thirteen Towers of Chankillo, precisely spans the annual rising and setting arcs of the sun when viewed from two specially constructed observation points. "Thousands of people could have gathered to watch impressive solar events. These events could have been manipulated for a political agenda," said Ivan Ghezzi, who made the discovery while a graduate student at Yale University and who is now archeological director of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (National Institute for Culture) in Peru. For instance, at the time of the summer solstice in June, the longest day of the year, the sun rises just to the left of the northernmost tower, Ghezzi said in a telephone interview. Chankillo is a large ceremonial center laid out over several square miles (kilometers). It has a heavily fortified hilltop structure, thick walls and parapets. But no one quite understood a 300-yard-long (meter-long) line of towers that sits on a nearby hill like spines on a dragon's back.Reuters

Health experts bet on spread of bird flu

Breaking Viral News: USA

Slideshow

March 1, 2007

ATLANTA - Think bird flu will become a worldwide threat this summer? Wanna put some money on that?

In an unusual effort to better predict the advance of a potential flu pandemic, public health experts will be staked about $100 apiece to bet on the spread of bird flu. This type of grim futures market has also been created to predict hurricanes and temporarily, a few years ago, terrorist attacks.
In this case, the goal is to develop a faster way to collect expert opinion about the potential spread of a deadly disease outbreak.

Warm spring weather may cut into rice crop

Earth News: Vietnam

Feb 28, 2007

The warm weather this winter could reduce the output of the winter-spring rice crop, agricultural officials warned as they convened in Ha Noi for a meeting on Monday. The country has experienced UNUSUALLY WARM weather since earlier this year. In the first two weeks of this month, the average temperature was at 20-22 degrees Celsius, or about five degrees higher than the same period in previous years. This February was the HOTTEST IN 50 YEARS. The National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting forecast that the warming would continue in March and April. If the weather was still warm in the next two months and water sources remained tight for irrigation, winter-spring rice would mature earlier. This could lead to a decrease in output and an increase in insects.