Anonymous
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.0 SOUTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.4 NORTHERN PERU
5.3 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
Yesterday -
8/26/10 -
5.4 NEAR WEST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.1 BANDA SEA
CHINA - A unique landform susceptible to erosion was the main reason behind the deadly landslide in Zhouqu in Northwest China's Gansu Province early this month. Authorities made the announcement at a press conference Tuesday after sending a group of experts to examine the cause of the disaster that took the lives of 1,447 people. Authorities said there was a high occurrence of natural disasters in Zhouqu due to its special geological structure.
Zhouqu is located at the junction of two major valleys where rock erosion is very serious, and geological structures are inherently unstable. In addition, authorities said that Zhouqu was one of the most seriously affected regions of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, leaving mountain rocks in the area looser and more fragile. Normally, it would take three to five years before they regain their stability. Poor vegetation and persistent drought also led to disintegration and cracks in rocks. The torrential rain that followed added excessive weight to soil and debris in Zhouqu county, which led to the disaster.
"The heavy rain on August 7 that caused a catchment area of 40 square kilometers in the Sanyanyu valley and Luojiayu valley had a tremendous impact on the rocks and mountains, directly triggering the landslide." However, local villagers claim the construction of nearby hydroelectric power plants was the real cause of the devasting landslide. Residents said that the reservoir dam had been shoddily built, using inferior materials that were easily destroyed by the landslide. "We didn't see any reinforcement bars in the dam ruins, so how could it prevent a flood?"
TROPICAL STORMS -
Category 2 Hurricane DANIELLE was 600 nmi NE of Beef Island, British Virgin Islands. [SWELLS FROM DANIELLE EXPECTED TO AFFECT PORTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES EAST COAST STARTING TODAY.]
Tropical storm EARL was 1314 nmi E of Bridgetown, Barbados.
Hurricane FRANK was 302 nmi SW of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. [WEAKENING]
HEAVY RAINS, SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
China's heavy rains blamed on UNUSUAL CLIMATE PATTERNS - Helicopters were crucial in evacuating more than 250,000 people in China's northeastern Liaoning province days ago. Torrential rains battered the area and led to severe flooding along the border with North Korea. Weather experts and Chinese officials attribute the heavier than usual rainfall to unusual climate patterns and global warming.
This was the latest of what has become a summer of natural disasters for China. Official media call it the country's worst flooding in a decade, leaving more than 1,500 dead and hundreds of thousands of others displaced and experts say unusual weather patterns are to blame. Earlier in August, heavy rains in northwestern Gansu province triggered landslides that killed more than 1,400 people and left more than 300 others missing. Rain caused smaller mudslides in southwestern China, including in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. Some of the affected areas in Sichuan were previously damaged by a massive earthquake in 2008.
Devastating floods also hurt farm production. Floods wiped out many rice paddies in central Hunan province, one of China's top rice-growing regions, and damaged crops in northeastern Jilin province, China's main grain-growing region.
The Dean of Hong Kong City University's School of Energy and Environment said this much rain is JUST NOT NORMAL. "But it is in a way expected because this is a year following an El Nino." El Nino describes a climate pattern in which warmer surface temperatures of the water in the Pacific Ocean cause UNUSUAL weather around the world. The El Nino pattern showed up in 2009. China's Ministry of Land and Resources blames "extreme weather" for this year's tenfold increase in geological disasters, such as landslides. August and September are the main flooding months and there is still a possibility of more heavy rains.
AUSTRALIA - Adelaide has enjoyed its WETTEST AUGUST IN ALMOST TWO DECADES. The city has already logged rainfall of 112 millimetres so far this month, THE HIGHEST TALLY IN 18 YEARS. In the Adelaide Hills falls of up to 230mm were recorded. "Adelaide and most of South Australia have received well above average rain in August due to the regular passage of cold fronts across the state." Adelaide had been cold during the month, with the city's top temperature averaging just 14.6C, two degrees below the long-term average.
Pakistan floods prompt new alerts - Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis are ordered to evacuate their homes as flood waters threaten several cities in the south of the country.
EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE -
CALIFORNIA - A flash-flood warning was issued Thursday afternoon for portions of northern Los Angeles County. It was turning out to be a day of extreme weather around the region. Excessive-heat warnings have been issued for some parts of Southern California, and high surf has been pounding the coast. Forecasters say the heat wave should give way to cooler temperatures later this week.
SPACE WEATHER -
Upper atmosphere shrinking say scientists - The upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere are unexpectedly shrinking and cooling due to lower ultraviolet radiation from the sun. The sun's energy output dropped to UNUSUALLY low levels from 2007 to 2009, a significantly long spell with virtually no sunspots or solar storms. During that period, the thermosphere, whose altitude ranges from about 90-500km, shrank and contracted from the sharp drop in ultraviolet radiation. The thermosphere cooled by 41 Celsius in 2008 compared to 1996, and shrank by 30 per cent, "MORE THAN AT ANY TIME IN THE 43-YEAR ERA OF SPACE EXPLORATION."
"Our work demonstrates that the solar cycle not only varies on the typical 11-year time scale, but also can vary from one solar minimum to another." A narrower, less dense thermosphere is good news for satellites orbiting Earth, including the International Space Station, since reduced friction means they can remain aloft longer. "This is good news for those satellites that are actually operating, but it is also bad because of the thousands of non-operating objects (debris) remaining in space that could potentially have collisions with our working satellites."
The research shows the sun could be going through a period of relatively low activity, as it did in the early 19th and 20th centuries. "If it is indeed similar to certain patterns in the past, THEN WE EXPECT TO HAVE LOW SOLAR CYCLES FOR THE NEXT 10 TO 30 YEARS."
HEALTH THREATS -
Estimate lowered of typical seasonal flu toll - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday substantially lowered its often-quoted estimate of how many people die in a typical flu season to 24,000 from 36,000.
Contaminated chicken feed is likely to blame for the salmonella outbreak at two major US egg producers that has already sickened some 1,700 people. "We don't know if the feeding ingredients came to the facility contaminated or if the feed got contaminated at the facility." The chicken feed in question had only gone to two Iowa farms - Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms - and not been distributed elsewhere in the country. The two farms recalled more than half a billion eggs last week - the industry's biggest such recall in US history. Several dozen egg brands in 22 US states were affected by the move. "We are looking at all possibilities here of how contamination could have gone into the feed or on to the farm. This contamination can come in through numerous routes -- including rodents, shared equipment, workers - so we are looking into all those possibilities in our investigation."
Some 1,700 people have fallen ill in the United States from salmonella found in fresh eggs between May 1 and August 25. An estimated 400,000 people are infected with food-borne salmonella each year in the United States. It can be deadly to vulnerable populations such as the young, elderly, or those with compromised immune systems. Recent years have seen various massive food recalls in the United States - from salmonella-tainted peanut butter to pistachios to frozen spinach and milk - amid criticism that America's food regulation regime is under-staffed.
