“Every year an average of 50 volcanoes erupt worldwide, putting lives, economic productivity, and homes in danger. USAID is responding to that risk with the world’s only volcano crisis response team. ” Quoted from the USAID press release.
The former port of Aralsk was recently 60 miles from the shoreline of the Aral Sea. However, a dam built by the World Bank and Kazakh government is causing the water to rise – Aralsk is now 15.5 miles from the shoreline.
A fossilized fly found in Burma is thought to represent an all-new family, genus, and species of insect. The strange-looking creature had a horn growing from its head, with three eyes at the tip of the horn. This article includes photos of the fly encased in amber.
Earth Observatory has a satellite image of a smoke plume streaming from a fire at an oil depot near Jaipur, India. The fire started on October 29. Six workers were killed and 150 were injured.
Typhoon Mirinae is expected to make landfall in the northern Philippines early Saturday morning. Satellites are monitoring the storm’s rainfall to predict possible further flooding of the region.
“On October 8, 2009 about 03:00 Greenwich time, an atmospheric fireball blast was observed and recorded over an island region of Indonesia. The blast is thought to be due to the atmospheric entry of a small asteroid about 10 meters in diameter that, due to atmospheric pressure, detonated in the atmosphere with an energy of about 50 kilotons (the equivalent of 100,000 pounds of TNT explosives).” Quoted from the NASA press release. Fortunately the asteroid exploded in the atmosphere and did not cause any injury or damage.
This audio slideshow features Evelyn Mervine, a graduate student doing research at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She is investigating the Samail Ophiolite of Oman and how it can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Women and children in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, are teaming with geologists to identify contaminated ground water. Some water in this area contains dangerous levels of arsenic.
“Dust blows across Turkey’s arid interior and fans out over the Black Sea in this photo-like image taken on October 13, 2009. The thick dust obscures the eastern shoreline and hides the Georgian landscape. At least some of the dust originated in Iraq. No distinct point source is visible in Turkey.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory release.
This video shows the results from landslides triggered in the Philippines by Typhoon Parma. Dave Petley has photos and commentary at his “On The Slide” blog.
This CNN video reports on recent landslides and flooding in the Philippines. Some of the flooding was triggered when water was released from dams that were about to be overtopped.
Shiveluch Volcano, on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, has displayed intermittent activity over the past several months. This NASA image from October 3, 2009 shows a plume of ash and/or steam streaming from the volcano. The satellite also detected a hot spot in the summit caldera which is probably a sign of lava dome growth.
A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that glaciers in the Himalayas are melting rapidly and could be gone by 2035. The loss of meltwater from these glaciers will be an enormous problem for agricultural economies downstream.
Dave Petley reports on landslides in Indonesia that were triggered by the recent earthquake.
“It is interesting to note that in all three of the large earthquakes upon which I have worked (1999 Taiwan, 2005 Pakistan, 2008 China), the media has tended to initially focus their coverage upon urban areas, whilst the real story has actually been in the rural hinterland.”
Tropical Storm Ketsana has dropped heavy rains on the Philippines, causing landslides and severe flooding. At least fifty people are dead and thousands have been rescued by boat.
Spectacular satellite images from NASA’s Earth Observatory show agricultural patterns and farming methods in various parts of the world. Scenes from Kansas, Bolivia, Minnesota, Thailand, Germany and Brazil.
By the end of 2011, Halliburton expects to have 46 more deepwater drilling rigs on duty to service projects in Brazil, West Africa, Pacific Asia and the Gulf of Mexico.
Dr. Erik Klemetti reports that a large eruption is underway at Shiveluch Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula of eastern Russia. It could have an adverse impact on air traffic in that area and east to North America.
Heavy rains on September 9th caused flash flooding in Turkey. This video shows how many people were suprised by the rapidly rising waters and trapped in their cars.
The BBC sent a team to Mount Bosavi, in the Papua New Guinea rainforest, to explore the volcano’s crater. During their visit, they found some new and intriguing species.
Here is a gallery of ten spectacular images of lakes at various worldwide locations. In addition to the impressive photos, each lake has at least one unusual attribute. You have probably not heard of most of these.
Economists using satellite images? Researchers at Brown University are looking at changes in the density of light to estimate the growth in GDP of developing countries.
Kuensel Online, Bhutan’s daily news site, reports that the Department of Geology and Mines in Bhutan is in discussions with foreign interests who would like to have exploration rights to the entire country.
Ralph Harrington has a series of posts at The Volcanism Blog that feature “volcano art”. So far he has art for Mount Asama (Japan), Vesuvius (Italy), Mayon (Philippines), and others. He also has a collection of “volcanoes on matchboxes”.
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