Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.1 Earthquake hits the Gulf of California.
5.1 Earthquake hits the Bouvet Islands.
5.1 Earthquake hits south of the Mariana Islands.
Storms and Floods
Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:
In the North Atlantic:
Hurricane Nicole is located about 55 mi…85 km SSW of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds…125 mph…205 km/h. Present movement…NNE or 30 degrees at 15 mph…24 km/h.
In the Eastern Pacific:
Invest 98E is an area of disturbed weather in the East Pacific that has the potential for further tropical development.
Invest 99E is an area of disturbed weather in the East Pacific that has the potential for further tropical development.
In the Western Pacific:
Tropical depression 22w (Aere), located approximately 54 nm northeast of Da Nang, Vietnam, is tracking westward at 14 knots.
Tropical depression 24w (TwentyFour), located approximately 495 nm east of Manila, Philippines, is tracking northwestward at 06 knots.
In the Central Pacific:
Invest 95C is an area of disturbed weather in the Central Pacific that has the potential for further tropical development.
Newsbytes:
Iceland – Rivers in South and West Iceland have begun swelling, as a result of heavy rain, which began yesterday. The water level is expected to continue rising in the next couple of days.
Wildlife
Salmon Survival – USA
Early this month, a federal judge forced discussion of a radical step to save endangered salmon: taking out four somewhat large hydroelectric dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington State.
These four dams include Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite Dams. They are fairly old dams and were not optimized for salmon survival. They were built primarily for navigation of barge and various river traffic, for low-carbon power, and to lesser degrees for flood control and irrigation.
And despite millions of dollars spent on fish passage improvements, adult salmon still die in the reservoirs behind the dams, especially as the water can get quite warm sitting there during the summer. In addition, the Snake River is the gateway to thousands of square miles of pristine, high-elevation habitat in Idaho, Washington and Oregon, essential for salmon survival in a warming climate.
Significantly, the necessity of these dams for navigation has fallen since the region’s rail system has dramatically improved and truck transport can handle the rest.
But it’s the power generation of these dams that gives us an environmental conundrum. Which is more important, salmon or carbon emissions?
Ice Harbor Dam produces 1.7 billion kWhs/yr, Lower Monumental 2.3 billion kWhs/yr, Little Goose 2.2 billion kWhs/yr and Lower Granite 2.3 billion kWhs/yr, which total about 4% of the State’s electricity generation.
Space Events
New Craters Appearing on the Moon
New craters are forming on the surface of the moon more frequently than scientists had predicted, a new study has found. The discovery raises concerns about future moon missions, which may face an increased risk of being hit by falling space rocks.
The moon is dotted with a vast number of craters, some billions of years old. Because the moon has no atmosphere, falling space rocks don’t burn up like they do on Earth, which leaves the moon’s surface vulnerable to a constant stream of cosmic impacts that gradually churn the top layer of material on its surface.
For example, the scientists found an 18-meter (59-foot) impact crater that formed on March 17, 2013, and it produced over 250 secondary impacts, some of which were at least 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) away.
Disease
Zika Virus – Hawaii
The State Department of Health’s Hawai’i Island District Health Office and the County of Hawai’i jointly announced a single imported case of Zika virus on Hawai’i Island.
This is the first travel-related case of Zika in Hawai’i County this year confirmed by the DOH State Laboratories Division. The Hawai’i resident has a history of recent travel to the South Pacific, and is past the point of being infectious to mosquitoes. Hawai’i has no locally acquired Zika cases at this time, and no mosquitoes are transmitting the disease within the state.