Earth Report – Global Disaster Watch
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.7 earthquake hits Salta, Argentina.
5.4 earthquake hits the Kermedec Islands.
5.1 earthquake hits southern Sumatra, Indonesia.
5.1 earthquake hits the Andreanof Islands in the Aleutian Islands.
5.1 earthquake hits Samar in the Philippines.
5.1 earthquake hits Tonga.
5.0 earthquake hits the Fox Islands in the Aleutian Islands.
5.0 earthquake hits Tonga.
5.0 earthquake hits the southwest Indian ridge.
5.0 earthquake hits Taiwan.
Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:
There are no current tropical Storms.
Newsbytes:
Iran – The Red Crescent in Iran reported flooding in 8 provinces of the country after days of heavy rain. Areas affected are in the province of Ilam, Bushehr, Khuzestan, Fars, Qazvin, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Golestan and Lorestan.
Italy – At least three people have died in flash flooding that struck after heavy rain on the island of Sardinia, Italy, from 28 November 2020. Three fatalities were reported in the municipality Bitti in Nuoro Province. Flood waters and mud swept through the streets of the town of Bitti. Heavy rain also caused landslides in the area. Roads, bridges, houses and vehicles have all been damaged or destroyed. Around 40 people were evacuated. Flooding and severe weather including strong winds affected other parts of the island. Italian fire and rescue service, Vigili del Fuoco, said on 29 November that it had responded to over 300 interventions.
India – Officials in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, said at least 3 people died during the passage of Cyclone Nivar after it made landfall to the north of Puducherry on 26 November 2020. Wind gusts of 145 km/h caused severe damage across Tamil Nadu, including over 1,000 trees uprooted. According to reports from news agency Press Trust of India (PTI), some low-lying areas were marooned due to water-logging in Tamil Nadu including parts of Chennai, following heavy rains in the wake of the cyclone. Flooding was also reported in the union territory of Puducherry. Authorities in Tamil Nadu said thousands of people had been moved to safe shelters across the state in preparation. A public holiday was declared for 25 and 26 November in order to limit damage from the storm.
Ocean Plastic Pollution
The international nonprofit advocacy organization, Oceana, released a new report this month that lists plastic pollution as the #1 killer of marine wildlife. The team of researchers surveyed government agencies, organizations, and institutes to collect data on how plastic pollution is impacting marine life.
The researchers say the biggest problem they found was animals consuming plastic. This can happen due to an animal mistaking plastic for food or inadvertently swallowing plastic materials while swimming. Becoming entangled in plastic was also listed as a frequent problem. This can lead to the animal choking, suffering physical trauma, or not being able to feed properly.
Meteor over Japan
A fireball “as bright as the full Moon” was seen in the skies over western Japan early on Sunday morning, according to Japanese media. The object is believed to have been a bolide, which is a very bright meteor. Takeshi Inoue, director of the Akashi Municipal Planetarium in Hyogo Prefecture, told Kyodo News that meteors this bright are rare and that the meteor seems to have been “as bright as the full moon,” accompanied by a rumbling sound.
Wildfires – Australia
Scores of bushfires are threatening parts of Australia during a record heat wave — including an out-of-control blaze that prompted evacuations in Sydney Sunday and another fire ravaging the popular Queensland tourist destination of Fraser Island. In the western Sydney suburb of Northmead, families were evacuated as the bushfire burned “dangerously close” to homes. Later reports say at least one home was destroyed by the fire.
COVID-19
The countries with the 10 greatest number of Covid-19 cases:
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.5 earthquake hits the southern east Pacific rise.
5.4 earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.4 earthquake hits Chiapas, Mexico.
5.1 earthquake hits southern Iran.
5 ways climate change is already hurting your health
Heat-related illness – As the planet gets warmer, people across the globe are beginning to feel the heat. More heat-related deaths are occurring. Heat waves aggravate illnesses like asthma, diabetes, mental health disorders and kidney disease.
Infectious disease – As climate change alters environmental conditions across the planet, so too does it affect the geographic distribution of infectious diseases. Warmer temperatures around the globe cause rising sea levels, warmer seawater, and either more frequent or increasingly severe natural disasters like hurricanes and flood. And each of these events is associated with a range of infectious diseases, including life-threatening diarrheal disease, respiratory infections, and skin infections.
Extreme weather events – 2020 has also witnessed a record-breaking hurricane season as well as wildfires and floods across the globe — and climate change is thought to be contributing to the severity of all of these extreme weather events.
Air quality – Another way climate change affects human health is through its impact on air quality. While the burning of fossil fuels directly pollutes the air, global warming that’s a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion also contributes to and exacerbates worsening air quality. Increasing wildfires also impact of air quality.
Mental health and trauma – The psychosocial impact of extreme weather events is huge. People have their possessions and homes destroyed. They must move and rebuild and often are doing so with much of their wealth obliterated. This can cause significant mental distress, rates of depression and anxiety, as well as PTSD rise in survivors of such events.
Satellite images confirm uneven impact of climate change
Researchers have been following vegetation trends across the planet’s driest areas using satellite imagery from recent decades. They have identified a troubling trend: Too little vegetation is sprouting up from rainwater in developing nations, whereas things are headed in the opposite direction in wealthier ones. As a result, the future could see food shortages and growing numbers of climate refugees.
More than 40 percent of Earth’s ecosystems are arid, an amount that is expected to increase significantly over the course of the 21st century. Some of these areas, such as those in Africa and Australia may be savannah or desert, where sparse rainfall has long been the norm. Within these biomes, vegetation and wildlife have adapted to making use of their scant water resources, but they are also extraordinarily vulnerable to climate change.
Conversely, vegetation in arid areas of the world’s wealthier countries seems to be coping better with climate change. This is likely due to the intensification and expansion of larger farms, where more economic resources allow for, among other things, irrigation and fertilization.
COVID-19
The countries with the 10 greatest number of Covid-19 cases:
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
5.1 earthquake hits the southern mid-Alantic ridge.
5.0 earthquake hits the Solomon Islands.
5.0 earthquake hits the South Sandwich islands.
5.0 earthquake hits off the east coast of Kamchatka.
Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:
There are no current tropical Storms.
Newsbytes:
South East Asia – Around 25,000 people have been affected and thousands of homes damaged after recent flooding in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Malaysia reported that over 550mm of rain fell in Marang district of Terengganu State from 23 to 25 November. As of 27 November, the Kemaman and Tebak rivers in the state were both above danger levels. Meanwhile across the Malacca Strait from Malaysia, further heavy rain has affected parts of Sumatra Island of Indonesia, with severe flooding reported in Jambi Province in particular. In Sarolangun Regency, flooding has damaged 1,417 homes, affecting 7,085 people. Southern and central parts of Thailand also saw severe weather during this period, including thunderstorms, strong winds and heavy rain. Around 2,000 people from 268 households were affected by flash floods in Kanchanaburi, Phuket, Songkhla and Yala provinces.
Greenhouse Rise
The U.N. weather agency says that while global carbon emissions fell by as much as 17% globally at times during the COVID pandemic, the levels of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere have continued to rise to even higher records this year.
“The lockdown-related fall in emissions is just a tiny blip on the long-term graph,” said World Meteorological Organization chief Petteri Taalas. “We need a sustained flattening of the curve.”
He added in a statement that such a rise in carbon dioxide levels as observed over the past four years has never been seen before, either in direct measurements from the atmosphere or in ice-core samples that reveal CO2 concentrations from up to 800,000 years ago.
Trees Lose their Leaves Earlier Due To Global Warming
Trees will start to shed their leaves earlier as the planet warms, a new study has suggested, contradicting previous assumptions that warming temperatures are delaying the onset of fall.
Every year, in a process known as senescence, the leaves of deciduous trees turn yellow, orange and red as they suspend growth and extract nutrients from foliage, before falling from the tree ahead of winter. Leaf senescence also marks the end of the period during which plants absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.
Global warming has resulted in longer growing seasons — spring leaves are emerging in European trees about two weeks earlier, compared with 100 years ago, researchers said.
Increases in spring and summer productivity that come as a result of elevated carbon dioxide, temperature and light levels then actually drive trees to lose their leaves earlier, the experts found. The experts now predict by the end of the century, leaves might even fall off three to six days earlier than at present.
Blue Whales Return
Critically endangered blue whales, the largest creatures ever known to have existed, are returning to Britain’s sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia.
U.K. scientists say the whales appear to be growing in numbers around the island after being nearly wiped out by whaling 50 years ago. While only a single blue whale was seen there between 1998 and 2018, 58 were spotted in a survey in February of this year.
Another recent study found that humpback whales are also returning to the same waters.
COVID-19
The countries with the 10 greatest number of Covid-19 cases:
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.9 earthquake hits eastern Turkey.
5.6 earthquake hits Luzon in the Philippines.
5.3 earthquake hits the southwest Indian ridge.