Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.3 Earthquake hits Tarapaca, Chile.
5.1 Earthquake hits Fiji.
5.0 Earthquake hits Atacama, Chile.
5.0 Earthquake hits offshore Valparaiso, Chile.
5.0 Earthquake hits the Pacific-Antarctic ridge.
Storms and Floods
Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:
In the Western Pacific: Tropical Storm 03w (Muifa), located approximately 432 nm borth-northwest of Yap, is tracking north-northeastward at 08 knots.
In the South Indian Ocean: Tropical cyclone (ts) 17s (Seventeen), located approximately 179 nm north-northwest of Darwin, Australia, is tracking southwestward at 08 knots.
NewsBytes:
Dominican Republic – Due to the heavy rainfall throughout the country that started on 18 April, some communities in the northern and central areas of the Cibao region are currently displaced and without communications. Weather forecasts anticipate the rains to intensify over the coming weekend. Some 3,512 homes have been flooded while 9 have been destroyed. A total of 17,560 displaced families are currently housed in the homes of friends or family (approximately 88,000 people). Reported damages to infrastructure include 10 bridges and 13 roadways that connect the affected provinces and towns in the north to the south of the country.
Global Warming
Global Warming – Heatwave Hits Chile’s Glaciers
High, high up in the Andes mountains above Chile’s capital, at the foot of the glaciers that date from the last ice age, the temperatures were almost balmy this summer. That threatens long-term water supplies to the city of seven million spread out on the plain below.
At the Olivares Alfa glacier, 4,420 meters above sea level, temperatures rose above 10 Celsius on several days in January and rarely fell below zero, said Andres Rivera, a glaciologist at the Center of Scientific Studies in Valdivia.
“It is not rare to have above-zero temperatures during summer, but high temperatures day and night, for several days in a row, that was unprecedented,” Rivera said.
The glaciers that supply much of Santiago’s water over the hot, dry summer months shrunk by a quarter to 380 square kilometers in the 30 years to 2013/14, according to a study by the Universidad de Chile. The melt will accelerate if the South American nation sees more record breaking heatwaves as global warming increases. Eventually, the shrinking glaciers may force the citizens of Santiago to follow their counterparts in southern California and give up their green lawns and swimming pools.
The Echaurren Norte glacier above the Laguna Negra reservoir has shrunk in height by the equivalent of 20 meters of water over the past 40 years, according to the government’s Water Directorate. That standard measure for glaciers means that the height of the ice has been reduced by about 25 meters since 1976.
That was before this year’s heat wave, with the glacier probably shrinking further in the past 12 months.
The worst wildfires the country has seen in generations burned 614,000 hectares of woodland and crops, dumping ash on the glaciers thousands of meters up in the Andes mountains. That meant the ice absorbed more heat, instead of reflecting it back.
Chile’s giant copper industry probably isn’t helping the glaciers either.
State-owned Codelco’s Andina copper mine and Anglo American Plc.’s Los Bronces both sit right next to the Olivares glacier system. Their operations are impacting the glaciers and the planned expansion of Andina could have an even larger effect, Ferrando said.
“The mine pit has often been drilled on both ice glaciers and rock glaciers,” Ferrando said. “Trucks also lift dust that strong winds move to the glaciers and this changes the way solar radiation lands on the ice and increases the effect of heat.”
The situation may be even more critical in neighboring Bolivia where glaciers have shrunk by 43 percent in 20 years, according to research by Manchester Metropolitan University. The study said new lakes have appeared as a consequence of the melting and at least 25 of them are at risk of causing floods or mudslides.
At some point soon, Latin America needs to prepare for life without glaciers.
Wildlife
US Marines Airlift 1,100 Tortoises to New Home
The U.S. Marine Corps had an unusual mission this month: to airlift more than 1,000 desert tortoises across the Mojave Desert.
Desert tortoises are native to the southwestern desert, and a population of the reptiles had made their home near the U.S. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California. However, plans to expand the Marines’ training grounds for large-scale exercises with live fire would have put the tortoises at risk, so the military took on the massive task of relocating approximately 1,100 desert tortoises.
Vinegar offers hope in Barrier Reef starfish battle
Coral-munching crown-of-thorns starfish can be safely killed by common household vinegar, scientists revealed Thursday in a discovery that offers hope for Australia’s struggling Great Barrier Reef.
The predatory starfish is naturally-occurring but has proliferated due to pollution and run-off at the World Heritage-listed ecosystem, which is also reeling from two consecutive years of mass coral bleaching.
Until now other expensive chemicals such as bile salts have been used to try and eradicate the pest — which consumes coral faster than it can be regenerated — but they can harm other marine organisms.
Tests by James Cook University, in collaboration with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), showed vinegar was safe, effective and cheap.
Study head Lisa Bostrom-Einarsson said crown-of-thorns were injected with vinegar at four sites on the reef over six weeks, causing them to die within 48 hours with no impact on other life.
Wildfires
Wildfires – Arizona, USA
The Green Valley fire had now burned 28.1 square miles (72.8 sq. kilometers), the fire management team said Tuesday afternoon.
There are no reports of injuries or structure damage, but the wind-driven fire has resulted in the evacuation of 40 residences as well as notices to nearly 90 additional dwellings whose residents should prepare for possible evacuation.
Disease
Measles Outbreak in Italy
In a follow-up on the measles outbreak in Italy, the number of cases has increased by 136 since the last report, bringing the total to 1739 cases since the beginning of the year, according to Italian health officials.