Resentment Brewing Among Gulf Coast Communities

THEY ARE ANGRY!

BP + Obama + Scientists + Academia + Economists + Energy Dinosaurs … Put them Out of Business

Gulf Coast communities are resentful and angry, and this is just the starters!

Image of the Day:

A roadside sign expresses the fishing communities’ take on British Petroleum (BP) and U.S. President Barrack Obama over the  Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, in Grand Isle, Louisiana May 30, 2010.  Credit: REUTERS/Lee Celano. Image may be subject to copyright. More images…

Related Links:

• Oil Disasters
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• 2010: Year One of Human-Enhanced Disasters

TS Agatha Strikes Guatemala, Kills 13

Agatha, the First Pacific Tropical Storm of 2010, Slams into Guatemala, Killing 13 People

TS Agatha struck Guatemala’s Pacific coast close to the Mexican border killing at least 13 people in Guatemala and El Salvador

Guatemalan government declared a state of emergency as torrential rain pummeled the Central American country, triggering mudslides that buried homes, cut off roads and threatened to destroy much of the nation’s coffee crop.

At least four people were killed when mudslide buried their home near Alomolonga, about 200 west of the capital, Guatemala City, according to government sources.

U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm could dump about 50cm of rain over Guatemala, El Salvador and southeastern Mexico, and possibly as much as 65cm in some areas, leading to flash floods and mudslides.

Related Links:

• Tungurahua volcano explodes, villages evacuated
• Pacaya Erupts, Covers Guatemala City with Ash

BP ‘Top Kill’ Dead

‘Top Kill’ Had Less Than Zero Percent Chance of Succeeding

But, it was a psychological game to re-establish the power domains and send a clear message as to who was actually in charge.

“We have not been able to stop the flow. We have made the decision to move on to the next option,” said Doug Suttles, BP Exploration and Productions chief operating officer in the U.S.

Image of the Day:

Redfish Bay in Louisiana’s birdsfoot delta turns black, May 27, 2010. Source: Gulf Restoration Network Handout (via Reuters).

Collapse Survivors Note:
The ultimate ethical expression would be to neutralize the politicians, industry executives and their chains of command responsible for crimes against nature. Corrective action against the wrongdoers should not be viewed as acts of “revenge,” or “punishment,” but as a necessary means of preventing repetitions of similar crimes.

Related Links

• Oil Disasters
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs

Tungurahua volcano explodes, villages evacuated

Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano erupted explosively, forcing the evacuation of a dozen villages and closing down the airport in Guayaquil, the country’s largest city.

The initial explosion from Tungurahua volcano ejected a large plume of ash, lava, fumes and tephra to a height of about 10km  (33,000 feet) a.s.l.

The latest eruption was the volcano’s most significant activity since 2006 when up to a 1,000 homes were destroyed, killing at least 8 people.

Tungurahua is located about 135 kilometers (84 miles) south of Quito, the capital city of Ecuador  (Group D – see map).

Collapse Survivors Note:
Volcanic explosions could play a major role as significant mechanisms of collapse and ultimately depopulation of the planet.

Map of Volcanoes. Background Map: University of Michigan. Designed and enhanced by Fire Earth Blog. Click image to enlarge.

Related Links:

• Pacaya Erupts, Covers Guatemala City with Ash
• Volcanoes [FEWW Links]
• Earthquakes
• Volcano Watch Weekly [6 May 2009]

Gulf Oil Disaster – Image of the Day

World Govt, Big Oil, ‘Economy,’ Energy…

Any other outcome would be an aberration

An aerial view of the marshes nearthe coast of Louisiana, May 27, 2010. Greenpeace handout (Via Reuters).

For an assessment of the role of Greenpeace in the environmental issues, and their relationship with BP search blog contents.

Related Links:

• Oil Disasters
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs

Pacaya Erupts, Covers Guatemala City with Ash

Pacaya Volcano Erupts, Prompting the Authorities to Close Down Guatemala’s International Airport

Pacaya volcano, located about 25 kilometers south of the Guatemalan capital, erupted late Thursday local time depositing as much as 8 cm of ash over parts of the city.

The authorities closed down La Aurora international airport until further notice.

The closest villages to the volcano have been evacuated.

Map of Volcanoes. Background Map: University of Michigan. Designed and enhanced by Fire Earth Blog. Click image to enlarge.

The 2,552-meter Pacaya volcano is in Group F on the above diagram.

The disaster could be exacerbated by heavy rains that would trigger flash floods causing deadly lahars and mudslides.

Major Volcanoes of Guatemala

Casualties and Damage:

Two people have been killed, and 59 others injured so far, with three children reported as missing.

At least 100 homes have been destroyed and many other damaged, as more reports come in. About 2,000 people have been evacuated.

Related Links:

• Volcanoes [FEWW Links]
• Earthquakes

• Volcano Watch Weekly [6 May 2009]

2010 Hurricane Forecast

2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season has an 85% chance of seeing above normal activity: NOAA

NOAA estimate a 70% probability for each of the following ranges of activity in 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season:

• 14-23 Named Storms,
• 8-14 Hurricanes
• 3-7 Major Hurricanes
• An ACE range of 155%-270% of the median.

2010 Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season Outlook (NOAA)

The 2010 Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season Outlook indicates a 75% chance of a below-normal activity, a 20% chance of a near-normal season, and a 5% chance of an above normal stormactivity.

NOAA  estimates a 70% chance of occurrence for each of the following ranges of activity in the Eastern Pacific 2010 season:

• 9-15 named storms,
• 4-8 hurricanes,
• 1-3 major hurricanes,
• An ACE range 45%-95% of the median.

Collapse Survivors

A major challenge for the collapse survivors would the transfer of scientific knowledge and  and know-how from the pre-collapse to post-collapse period.

M7.2 Quake Strikes Vanuatu

Powerful Earthquake Strikes Vanuatu about 215 km NNW of Luganville, Espiritu Santo

The mainshock was followed by at least 4 aftershock, the largest of which measured 6.4Mw.

10-degree Map Centered at 15°S,165°E

EQ Location Map. Source: USGS. Enhanced by Fire-Earth

EQ Details:

• Magnitude: 7.2
• Date-Time
  • Thursday, May 27, 2010 at 17:14:48 UTC
  • Friday, May 28, 2010 at 04:14:48 AM at epicenter
• Location: 13.710°S, 166.507°E
• Depth: 36.1 km (22.4 miles)
• Region: VANUATU
• Distances :
  • 215 km (135 miles) NNW of Luganville, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
  • 340 km (210 miles) SSE of Lata, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Isl.
  • 485 km (300 miles) NNW of PORT-VILA, Efate, Vanuatu
  • 2070 km (1290 miles) NE of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia
• Location Uncertainty:  horizontal +/- 8.6 km (5.3 miles); depth +/- 21.2 km (13.2 miles)
• Source: USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
• Event ID: us2010wubj

Related Links:

• Strong Earthquake Strikes Southern Sumatra

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links

Human Illusions Turning Deadly

Top Kill, Big Kill, Kill Dead …

How to reduce everything into a man-made singularity

A chief measure of human progress is the amount of oil that gushes out of the wells …

Freeze frame from BP ‘spillcam’  shows oil gushing from the Gulf of Mexico oil well on May 26, 2010. Reuters/Handout

Related Links:

• Oil Disasters
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs

Towns and Villages Turned into Lakes

Central Poland Deluged

Flooded areas near the village of Swiniary, Central Poland , Monday. At least 14 people have been killed, thousands of others and tens of thousands of livestock evacuated. Photo: AP. Image may be subject to copyright.

Widespread flooding along the Vistula River in southeastern Poland. Astronaut photograph ISS023-E-50542 was acquired on May 22, 2010.

Other Headlines

Gulf Oil Spill:

• BP tests tricky oil plug plan

Climate:

• China all but dashes hope of climate deal this year
• Girl killed by tornado in Germany

M6.6 Earthquake Strikes Acre, Brazil

Strong Earthquake Measuring up to  earthquake of magnitude 6.6 Mw Strikes Acre,  Brazil, near the border with Peru

The quake was epicentered at 8.095°S, 71.558°W and occurred  at a depth of about 565.3 km (351.3 miles) on Monday, May 24, 2010 at 16:18:27 UTC , USGS/EHP said.

Local authorities in Acre reported NO damage, or injuries.

Two earthquakes measuring 5.4Mw and 5.6Mw struck near Monday’s earthquake in January and June 2009 respectively.

Related Links:

• FEWW Earthquake Links

Shutting Down Oil Wells After the Collapse

Survivors Need to Know How to Shut Down the Oil Wells, Most of Which Would Be Targeted in the Pre-Collapse Wars

The following handout photos were taken by Greenpeace on the south part of East Bay on May 23, 2010.

Marshlands on the NE pass of the Mississippi Delta

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead covers  the beach of Elmer’s Island, a wildlife refuge, Louisiana, May 22, 2010.

A suicidal fish lies dead on the beaches of Grand Isle, thanks to oil pollution from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead, Louisiana May 22, 2010.

More images …

Related Links:

• To the ‘Survivors’ of Man-made Planetary Cataclysms
• The War Racket: Okinawa Base Lives

The War Racket: Okinawa Base Lives

Submitted by a Reader

Okinawa Base Lives, Thanks to North Korea

Did North Korea Torpedo Hatoyama’s Okinawa Base Pledge?

Mr. Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan won a landslide election victory in August on the back of a single promise: To shut down the U.S. Okinawa base.

Then, presumably,  North Korea decided they couldn’t live without the U.S. troops based in Okinawa, so they torpedoed the deal, forcing Hatoyama to withdraw his promise.

How utterly AMAZING!

The following issues should concern the survivors:

• What percentage of the world’s stockpiles of exotic, nuclear, biological and conventional weapons will be left behind unused after the collapse, posing additional life threats to the survivors?
• How can those weapons be defused or otherwise neutralized by ordinary people?
  

Related Links:

• Future of U.S. Bases Bolstered in Japan
• World’s Top 5 Arms Exporters, Clients
• USrael/ ZOG/ White House/ False Flags/ FBI …

To the ‘Survivors’ of Man-made Planetary Cataclysms

This blog has now been dedicated to the ‘survivors’ of the planetary collapse forced by man-made cataclysms

The blog Moderators believe that in less than a decade from now the total human population on Earth will fall below 200,000 people.

Most of the ‘survivors’ would be highly evolved, ethical and altruistic humans with the ability to overcome the immense difficulties they will have inherited . . .

Nevertheless, the Moderators believe by identifying the major man-made obstacles that stand in the way, they could, for their part, help to keep the flow of life on this planet uninterrupted.

The Moderators 

Indian Airliner Crashes Killing 158

Air India Express Crashes, Killing 158 People, 8 survive

The Boeing 737-800 plane, flight IX-812 from Dubai to Mangalore, apparently skidded off the runway in rain at Mangalore airport in India’s Karnataka state at about 05:30UTC, killing 158 of 166 people aboard, the Airline said, adding that all the passengers were Indian nationals.

Villagers and rescue workers rush to the scene of the Air India plane crash at Mangalore Airport. Image: AP. Image may be subject to copyright. See Fair Use Notice.

“The accident occurred after the aircraft landed at Mangalore airport and overshot the runway,” Air India said.

According to another report the plane was carrying 163 passengers and 9 crew, and only six people survived the crash.

“The plane had broken into two. I jumped out of the plane after it crashed. I saw two other people also come out,” a crash survivor told a local TV channel.

“There was a tire-burst kind of noise. I tried to get out of the front but saw that there was a big fire. So I went back again and jumped out from there.”

The flight had already landed. There was slight rain. The flight skidded off,” according to an eye witness, “After that it caught fire. Villagers, everyone there, came to rescue.”

A local TV channel showed charred bodies strewn in the forested terrain, according to a report.

Related Links:

• Most Dangerous Airlines

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Gulf Oil Disaster: Images of Despair

Views of Gulf Oil Slick by NASA’s MISR

Original Caption Released with Image:

These unique images of the Deepwater Horizon oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico were obtained by the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument aboard NASA’s Terra spacecraft on May 17, 2010, at around 16:40 UTC (11:40 a.m. CDT). The top panel is a false-color image created by combining data from the red band of the 26-degree forward-viewing camera, where the oil appears dark, with the blue and green bands of the nadir (vertical-viewing) camera, where the oil appears bright. The result causes the oil spill to stand out dramatically in shades of cyan, while other features like clouds and the land appear close to their natural color. The Mississippi Delta is visible in the upper left portion of the image. The red symbol indicates the former location of the drilling platform. The image dimensions are 346 by 258 kilometers (215 by 160 miles) and north is toward the top of the image.

The white arrow in the right-center of the image points to a plume of smoke, most likely from a controlled burn of oil collected on the surface. It appears as a dark streak against the brighter reflection of the sunlight from the ocean. The lower two panels are enlarged images of the area around the smoke plume acquired by MISR’s 46-degree forward-viewing and 46-degree backward-viewing cameras. At these view angles, and for the illumination conditions on this date, the smoke particles appear bright and sunglint from the ocean surface is much weaker. The views at the two different angles cover the same physical area of 42 by 30 kilometers (26 by 19 miles). Controlled burns of the oil began in early May in an attempt to remove oil from the open water. The clouds in the lower right quadrant of these panels have an apparent shift in position with angle of view due to their altitude above the surface. However, a bright point to the south of the plume does not show such a shift, and is likely a boat observing the controlled burn. The apparent shift in position of the smoke plume itself places its altitude at about 560 meters (1,840 feet) above the surface.

MISR was built and is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Terra spacecraft is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The MISR data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center in Hampton, Va. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology. Source: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team

“Controlled burns” give the false impression that the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is under control. May 19, 2010. Source: Chief Petty Officer John Kepsimelis, U.S. Coast Guard.

A dead Northern Gannet covered in oil lies along Grand Isle Beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana, May 21, 2010.  Credit: REUTERS/Sean Gardner. Image may be subject to copyright. More images posted here.

Related Links:

• Gulf Oil Slick Dragon Tail Enters Loop Current

• BP Oil Spill: Turtles Are Dying
• BP Oil Leak: Mega Disaster Enters New Dimension
• BP Leak Already Biggest Oil Disaster in U.S. History
• Fire-Earth Oil Spill forecast
• Gulf of Mexico: A Waiting Disaster
• Oil Disasters [Index Page includes links to other oil spills, news and information]

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Tropical Cyclone Laila Kills 83 in India, Sri Lanka

Cyclone Laila: Leaves 83 dead, 600,000 Displaced

Cyclone Laila weakened into a depression on Friday and later became a low pressure area as it moved toward south Orissa, leaving in its wake a trail of death and destruction including at least 57 dead and 75,000 more people displaced, official sources said.

In Sri Lanka, meanwhile, a week of heavy rains and flooding left at least 26 people  dead and more than half a million others displaced, officials at the Disaster Management Center reported on May May 21.

One of Cyclone Laila’s thunderstorms reached nearly 18km (11 miles) high

This 3-D image of Cyclone Laila was made using data from TRMM’s Precipitation Radar. It shows that the powerful thunderstorms northwest of tropical cyclone Laila shot up to heights above 17.5 kilometers (~57,415 feet/10.8 miles). Source: NASA/SSAI, Hal Pierce

Tropical Cyclone Laila Soaks India

Tropical Cyclone Laila brought heavy rains and strong winds to the Bay of Bengal and parts of India in May 2010. This color-coded image shows estimated rainfall amounts for May 17 through May 19, as well as the storm track from May 17 to May 20. The heaviest amounts of rain—300 or more millimeters (12 or more inches)—appear in dark blue. The lightest amounts of rain—less than 37.5 millimeters (1.5 inches)—appear in pale green. The storm track is indicated by a pink line. The thicker, darker portion of that line shows where the storm intensified on May 19. This image is based on data from the Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis produced at Goddard Space Flight Center, which estimates rainfall by combining measurements from many satellites and calibrating them using rainfall measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Source of image and [edited] caption: NASA E/O. Click image to enlarge.

Tropical Cyclone Laila

Tropical Cyclone Laila hovered over the eastern coastline of India and the Bay of Bengal, and skirted Sri Lanka on May 19, 2010. MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image the same day. Spanning hundreds of kilometers, the storm extends a spiral arm toward the northeast, covering much of India’s coast. In the south, the storm spans most of southern India. Source of image and [edited] caption: NASA E/O. Click image to enlarge.

Related Links:

• Cyclone Laila Forces 50,000 Indians to Evacuate
• 2010 Disaster Calendar [May]
• 2010: Year One of Human-Enhanced Disasters

Statoil Evacuates North Sea Platform

“Unstable” North Sea Oil Well Prompts Evacuation

Norway’s Statoil said it had evacuated the Gullfaks C platform in the North Sea because well pressure fluctuation disabled a valve designed to prevent a blowout.

“There are no leaks and no injuries. The situation on the platform is stable and we are planning for further operations to normalize the situation.” Statoil spokesman said, Reuters reported.

Completed in 1990, Gullfaks C platform sits some 217 meters below the surface, with a total height of about 380 meters.

Gullfaks C (GFC). Source: Petroleum Safety Authority Norway.

Gullfaks is an oil and gas field in the Tampen area of the North Sea which produces about 80,000 barrels of oil per day (previously 250,000bpd) and 400 million cubic meters of gas annually.

Environmental group Bellona called the incident as “very critical.”

“They have a situation in which there is uncontrolled pressure from the well, one of the barriers is gone and one barrier is left,” said Frederic Hauge, head of Bellona, one of the leading environmentalist groups in Norway.

“Uncontrolled pressure is very serious and has the capability of being a large accident,” he said, adding that in the first quarter of 2010, eight incidents took place in the Norwegian oil industry that had “large scale potential.”

“That is very serious,” Hauge said. “Regulatory work in Norway may look nice from outside, but we have a lot of security issues in the Norwegian industry,” he said. More…

Related Links:

• Oil Disasters

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Welcome to Anthropogenic Hell 2010

Man-made Hell’s Fury – Just Wait and See …

Warmest April Global Temperature Ever Recorded: NOAA

2010 January-April Also Warmest on Record

As of posting, global temperatures in some parts of world are about 30 to 45 days ahead of their seasonal norms.

April 2010 and the period from January-April recorded the warmest combined global land and ocean surface temperature, NOAA said. “Additionally, last month’s average ocean surface temperature was the warmest on record for any April, and the global land surface temperature was the third warmest on record.”

(Credit: NOAA) - Click image to enlarge.

The following is a summary of highlights from NOAA’s Temperature Report:

• At 58.1°F (14.5°C), the combined April global land and ocean average surface temperature was the warmest on record,  1.37°F (0.76°C) above the 20th century average of 56.7°F (13.7°C).

• The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was the warmest on record for January-April at 56.0°F (13.3°C), which is 1.24°F (0.69°C) above the 20th century average.
• The global ocean surface temperature was 1.03°F (0.57°C) above the 20th century average of 60.9°F (16.0°C) and the warmest on record for April. The warmth was most pronounced in the equatorial portions of the major oceans, especially the Atlantic.
• The global land surface temperature was 2.32°F (1.29°C) above the 20th century average of 46.5 °F (8.1°C) — the third warmest on record for April. Warmer-than-normal conditions dominated the globe, with the most prominent warmth in Canada, Alaska, the eastern United States, Australia, South Asia, northern Africa and northern Russia. Cooler-than-normal places included Mongolia, Argentina, far eastern Russia, the western contiguous United States and most of China.
• El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) weakened in April, as sea-surface temperature anomalies decreased across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The weakening contributed significantly to the warmth observed in the tropical belt and the warmth of the overall ocean temperature for April. According to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, El Niño is expected to continue through June.

Other Heat-Related Highlights

• Arctic ice cover fell below normal for the 11th consecutive April, covering about 5.7 million square miles (14.7 million square kilometers). This is 2.1 percent below the 1979-2000 average extent and the 15th smallest April extent since records began in 1979. It was, however, the largest April Arctic sea ice extent since 2001.
  

  (Credit: NOAA) - Click image to enlarge.

• Antarctic sea ice extent in April was 0.3 percent below the 1979-2000 average.
• Snow cover extent was the fourth-lowest on record (since 1967), and below the 1967-2010 average for the Northern Hemisphere for the seventh consecutive April. Warmer-than-normal conditions over North America, Europe and parts of Russia contributed to less snow.
• The North American snow cover extent for April was the smallest on record for April. It also was the largest negative anomaly, meaning difference below the long-term average, on record for any month.
• Australian states of Victoria and Tasmania had their warmest 12-month period since their records began.
• According to the Beijing Climate Center, China experienced its coolest April since 1961. Liaoning, Jilin and Shandong had their coolest April on record. Hebei, Anhui and Jiangsu had their second coolest April since records began in 1951.
• China recorded its wettest April 36 years  and Tibet had its wettest ever April on record in 59 years. Germany had its second-driest April on record since 109 years,  behind 2007, German Meteorological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst) said.

Related Links:

• Ocean Accumulated Significant Heat Content Since 1993
• Greenland Glacier Slides Much Faster in Summer
• Verifiable Impacts of Climate Change (Part II)
• Verifiable Impacts of Climate Change Despite Dinosaurs

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Latest Landslide in China

Water reservoir sinks in Fuling District, Chongqing, China

As yet another round of torrential rains struck southern China, a combination of flooding and landslides wreak havoc across the region.

According to China’s Xinhua official news agency:

Parts of Shaoguan City in Guangdong Province have been flooded due to the sudden onslaught of heavy rains.

The city’s sewage system was unable to deal with the volume of rain, forcing the closure of some kindergartens and schools on lower levels.

A student of Guangdong Province said, “The water rose to the level of our knees. We came out from the classroom one by one, and rolled up our trousers and took off our shoes.”

The following excerpts are from the same report  released by Xinhua:

In Chongqing Municipality, continuous storms have caused a water reservoir to sink in Fuling District. A split near the top is over 100 meters long, and is getting worse.

Survivoe Chen Mingshu said, “The width of the crack is 30 centimeters, and the sunken area is more than one meter deep.”

Residents of the surrounding areas have been evacuated to safety. Local authorities have dispatched related experts to monitor the situation around the clock.

The storms have also triggered landslides in Luxi county of Hunan Province. A massive falling rock struck the roof of a restaurant, destroying not only the building, but a van parked nearby as well.

Restaurant employee Xiang Ping said, “I was in the kitchen at 9 o’clock when I heard the sound of the landslide. I immediately ran out, and the rock stopped at the gate. I could not get into the house and ran onto the road.”

Related departments have arrived at the accident site and went to great length to remove the huge rock and resume traffic.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2010-05/20/c_13306419.htm

Meanwhile, 4 miners were reported as missing after a coalmine collapsed in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality Wednesday, Xinhua reported local authorities as saying.

Related Links:

• Violent Storms Kill at least 65 in S China
• Deadly Rainstorms, Landslides Strike Central China
• China Mine Explosion Death Toll Rises to 21
• Another China Mine Disaster Kills 12, Traps 32

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Cyclone Laila Forces 50,000 Indians to Evacuate

Indian Authorities Evacuate up to 50,000 as TC Laila makes landfall

Up to 50,000 people have been evacuated from the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh as Cyclone Laila approaches southern India.

“Already the Andhra Pradesh coast is being battered by high tides and fierce winds. Even though the windfall is expected only in the evening, the waves and the winds have already caused extensive damage in coastal districts, where trees have been uprooted, cars smashed and roads damaged. Communication and power supplies have also been disrupted and air and train services have come to a halt,” a government official said.

At least 13 people have already been killed in the past 36 hours  as a result of  torrential rains, according to various News Bulletins.

Tropical Cyclone Laila. Source of image:  CIMSS Tropical Cyclones Group. Click image to enlarge.

TC Laila has maxi,u, sustained winds of about 92.5km/hr with gusts of up to 120km/hr as of 12:00UTC, 20 May 2010, according to JTWC, CIMSS and other sources.

So far the most damaging aspect of TC Laila has been its accompanying torrential rains that have pounded the  state Tamil Nadu.

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Gulf Oil Slick Dragon Tail Enters Loop Current

It looks very scary: Russian cosmonaut

As the Tail of Deepwater Horizon Oil Slick Dragon Enters Loop Current Moving Toward Atlantic Ocean, its Ugly Head Penetrates Louisiana Shore

As the tail of BP oil spill enters the powerful  Atlantic-bound Loop Current, the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station report  seeing the oil spill while passing over the Gulf of Mexico.

“It looks very scary,” Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov told reporters via a communication link.

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill trajectory hindcast/forecast based on RTOFS (Atlantic)

This is a joint effort of the Ocean Circulation Group and the Optical Oceanography Laboratory at College of Marine Science, University of South Florida to track/predict the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico using simulated drifters/particles. Drifter trajectories were calculated based on the hourly surface currents from the RTOFS (Atlantic) (data assimilative numerical ocean model hindcast & forecast). Click here for animation page.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal who toured the contaminated shoreline said:

“The day that we have all been fearing is upon us today. This wasn’t tar balls. This wasn’t sheen. This is heavy oil in our wetlands. It’s already here but we know more is coming.”

[NOTE: NASA E/O Headline reads: Gulf Oil Slick Approaching Loop Current. NASA Earth Observatory says the 2nd of the following two images was acquired on May 18. However, it was posted as their image of the day on May 20.  By then the oil slick had already entered the Loop Current.]

Download large image (2 MB, JPEG) acquired May 1 – 8, 2010 — Click image to enlarge.

Download large image (653 KB, JPEG) acquired May 18, 2010 —Click image to enlarge.

Original Caption:

During the first weeks following the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico, oil drifting from the site of the incident usually headed west and northwest to the Mississippi River Delta. But in the third week of May, currents drew some of the oil southeast. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the southward spread increased the chance that the oil would become mixed up with the Loop Current and spread to Florida or even the U.S. East Coast.

This pair of sea surface temperature images shows how the warm waters of the Loop Current connect the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean (top image, May 1–8, 2010) and the dynamic northern margin of the Loop Current a week and a half later, on May 18 (bottom image). Based on observations of infrared energy collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite, the images show cooler temperatures in blue and purple and warmer temperatures in pink and yellow. Cloudy areas are light gray.

The Loop Current pushes up into the Gulf from the Caribbean Sea. The current’s tropical warmth makes it stand out from the surrounding cooler waters of the Gulf of Mexico in this image. The current loses its northward momentum about mid-way through the gulf, and bends back on itself to flow south. It joins warm waters flowing eastward between Florida and Cuba, which then merge with the Gulf Stream Current on its journey up the East Coast.

At a May 18 press conference, NOAA reported that “satellite imagery on May 17 indicates that the main bulk of the oil is dozens of miles away from the Loop Current, but that a tendril of light oil has been transported down close to the Loop Current. NOAA is conducting aerial observations today to determine with certainty whether oil has actually entered the Loop Current…. The proximity of the southeast tendril of oil to the Loop Current indicates that oil is increasingly likely to become entrained. When that occurs, oil could reach the Florida Straits in 8 to 10 days.”

The bottom image shows the location of the leaking well and the approximate location of the southern arm of the oil slick on May 17 (based on natural-color MODIS imagery). Oil was very close to the Loop Current, whose warm waters appear in yellow near the bottom of the image. However, there is also an eddy of cooler water (purple) circulating counterclockwise at the top of the Loop Current. According to NOAA, “Some amount of any oil drawn into the Loop Current would likely remain in the eddy, heading to the northeast, and some would enter the main Loop Current, where it might eventually head to the Florida Strait.”
NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.

Earlier Image:

Download large image (1 MB, JPEG) acquired May 18, 2010 —Click image to enlarge.

Sunlight and oil colored the surface waters of the Gulf of Mexico around the Mississippi Delta on May 18, 2010, as MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this natural-color image. The sunglint accentuates the left-to-right scans that the satellite sensor makes as it passes over the Earth’s surface, and the stripes are perpendicular to the satellite’s path. Besides hinting at the sensor’s scans, the sunglint also illuminates oil slicks on the sea surface. Bright oil slicks appear east and southeast of the delta. As in earlier images, the oil slick spans many kilometers off the delta. Not all of the pale-hued water, however, is slicked with oil. Image and [edited] caption: NASA E/O.

• View all NASA images of this event

How to Preserve [syn: Mummify] The Gulf of Mexico for Posterity

The following images are handout released by Greenpeace (via Reuters) — Click image to enlarge.

A Greenpeace Campaigner attempts to save a small crab covered in oil walking near the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, where it enters the Gulf of Mexico, May 18, 2010.

Oil covers the bank of the breakwater in the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, where it enters the Gulf of Mexico.

Reeds on the banks of the breakwater in the mouth of the Mississippi River are covered in crude oil-dispersant chemical mic, May 18, 2010.

Related Links:

• BP Oil Spill: Turtles Are Dying
• BP Oil Leak: Mega Disaster Enters New Dimension
• BP Leak Already Biggest Oil Disaster in U.S. History
• Fire-Earth Oil Spill forecast
• Gulf of Mexico: A Waiting Disaster
• Oil Disasters [Index Page includes links to other oil spills, news and information]

• Reuters Image Gallery

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Serial No 1,745. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a unique serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by Google/the authorities in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).

VolcanoWatch Weekly [20 May 2010]

Summary of Weekly Volcanic Activity Report

[Source: SI/USGS]

New Activity/Unrest (12 May-18 May 2010)

• Eyjafjallajökull, Southern Iceland   [Group A]
• Kanlaon, Negros I [Group K]
• Pagan, Mariana Islands (Central Pacific)   [Group L]
• Villarrica, Central Chile   [Group D]

Map of Volcanoes. Background Map: University of Michigan. Designed and enhanced by Fire Earth Blog. Click image to enlarge.

Ongoing Activity:

• Arenal, Costa Rica
• Bagana, Bougainville
• Chaitén, Southern Chile
• Dukono, Halmahera
• Gaua, Banks Islands (SW Pacific)
• Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka (Russia)
• Kilauea, Hawaii (USA)
• Kliuchevskoi, Central Kamchatka (Russia)
• Llaima, Central Chile
• Sakura-jima, Kyushu
• Shiveluch, Centra
• Kamchatka (Russia)
• Soufrière Hills, Montserrat
• Suwanose-jima, Ryukyu Islands (Japan)
• Turrialba, Costa Rica

For additional information, see source.

Related Links:

• Messages From Earth’s Powerhouse
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 19 March 2009

• A New Era of Intense Volcanic Unrest May Have Begun
• Tonga’s Metis Shoal may be erupting
• Rumble III Volcano “blew its top!”

FEWW Volcanic Activity Forecast

• Sumatra’s Mt Kerinci Erupts

• Volcano Watch Weekly: 23 April 2009

• Weekly Volcano Watch: 16 April 2009
• Weekly Volcano Watch: 2 April 2009

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links

• Earth’s Climate: A Solar Powered System

Other Related Links:

• U.S. Volcano Status Map
• Elevated Activity Page
• U.S. Volcano Webcams

Recent Posts on Chaitén:

• Chaitén: A New Phase of Activity?
• Chaitén Still Awake!
• Chaitén: Volcano with a Mission?
• Chaitén: Volcano that Doesn’t Sleep

Ocean Accumulated Significant Heat Content Since 1993

Just How Much Warmer?

Can you imagine the power required to light on 500 100-watt light bulbs for every person on the planet (assume a population of 6.7 billion people).

That’s an estimate of how much warmer the the upper layer of the world’s ocean has become in since 1993, which points to “a strong climate change signal,” according to a new study called Robust Warming of the Global Upper Ocean.

“We are seeing the global ocean store more heat than it gives off,” said John Lyman, an oceanographer at NOAA’s Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, who led an international team of scientists that analyzed nine different estimates of heat content in the upper ocean from 1993 to 2008.

Current Sea Surface Temperatures

Source: SSEC/Wisc Uni. Click image to enlarge.

“The ocean is the biggest reservoir for heat in the climate system,” said Josh Willis, an oceanographer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and one of the scientists who contributed to the study. “So as the planet warms, we’re finding that 80 to 90 percent of the increased heat ends up in the ocean.”

Global sea level rise is a direct effect of ocean warming. As the ocean heats up the seawater expands taking up more space.  The expansion is responsible for about 30% to 50%   sea level rise globally, researchers say.

“Combining multiple estimates of heat in the upper ocean – from the surface to about 2,000 feet down – the team found a strong multi-year warming trend throughout the world’s ocean. According to measurements by an array of autonomous free-floating ocean floats called Argo as well as by earlier devices called expendable bathythermographs or XBTs that were dropped from ships to obtain temperature data, ocean heat content has increased over the last 16 years.” NOAA reported.

The data, however, is subject to some “uncertainties and some biases,” researchers note.

“The XBT data give us vital information about past changes in the ocean, but they are not as accurate as the more recent Argo data,” said Gregory Johnson, an oceanographer at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. “However, our analysis of these data gives us confidence that on average, the ocean has warmed over the past decade and a half, signaling a climate imbalance.”

“Data from the array of Argo floats­ – deployed by NOAA and other U.S. and international partners ­– greatly reduce the uncertainties in estimates of ocean heat content over the past several years, the team said. There are now more than 3,200 Argo floats distributed throughout the world’s ocean sending back information via satellite on temperature, salinity, currents and other ocean properties.” NOAA said.

Related Links:

• El Niño
• Verifiable Impacts of Climate Change (Part II)
• Verifiable Impacts of Climate Change Despite Dinosaurs

Links to Entries on Ocean Health:

• Ocean Deserts Source of GHG
• North Atlantic Ocean Garbage Patch
• Back from the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”
• WILD FACTS SERIES: Our Oceans Are Dying!
• Southern Ocean already losing ability to absorb CO₂

• Oceans, Where Life Started, Are Dying – Part IV :  Researchers found evidence of corrosive water about 20 miles off the west coast of North America from Canada to Mexico.
• Human carbon emissions make oceans corrosive : ‘Carbon dioxide spewed by human activities has made ocean water so acidic that it is eating away at the shells and skeletons of starfish, coral, clams and other sea creatures …’
• The Eight Steps that Help Kill More of Our Fish : How Your Car’s Exhaust Emissions Helps Create Dead Zones and Kill Our Fish.
• Global warming could starve oceans of oxygen: study : Areas of the eastern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with low amounts of dissolved oxygen have expanded in the past 50 years, apparently in line with rising temperatures.
• The Floating Toxic Garbage Island : A patch of garbage twice as large as the continental United States and dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch floats in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in North Pacific Gyre.
• Oceans, Where Life Started, Are Dying – Part III : Tourism: The Most Destructive Human Activity After Warfare
• Oceans, Where Life Started, Are Dying – Part II : Major Problems: Fertilizer Runoff; Tourism; Coastal Developments [and Ocean Warming due to climate change]
• Oceans, Where Life Started, Are Dying – Part I : Our Oceans Are Now Dying!

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Serial No 1,743. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a unique serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by Google/the authorities in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).

BP Oil Spill: Turtles Are Dying

More Turtles Are Dying Than Before Oil Leak: Experts

At least 156  dead or dying sea turtles have been found along the U.S. Gulf Coast since April 30, some 10 days after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded.

This number of dead or dying turtles that have been washed up along the coasts of Alabama, Florida Louisiana and Mississippi is greater than the number of dead and injured  turtles that that we expect to see this time of the year, said Dr. Michael Ziccardi, a veterinarian and  director of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network in California.

“The toll among sea turtles has been steadily rising since the deep-sea well ruptured last month, and the stranding count began to reach an unusually high level in the past week,” Ziccardi was reported as saying.

In Gulf of Mexico: A Waiting Disaster

Moderators introduced the Thunder Horse platform, the world’s largest semisubmersible facility, as another likely candidate that might cause another oil spill mega disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Which of the Gulf of Mexico’s Deepwater Wells Would Leak Next?

Located 150 miles (241 kilometers) southeast of New Orleans in Mississippi Canyon Block 778 in a water depth of approximately 6,050 feet (1,844 meters), the Thunder Horse platform is the world’s largest semisubmersible facility. British Petroleum received approval from the Minerals Management Service to debottleneck the topside production facilities to 275,000 barrels of oil and 220 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day. As of March 20, 2009, production was approximately 260,000 barrels of oil and 210.5 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day from seven wells. The Thunder Horse Field is the largest producer in the Gulf of Mexico. (Image courtesy of BP America Inc.). Source: DOI, MMS Report. Mississippi Canyon Block 778 could turn out to be another “Challenger” of deepwater oil production.

In 2005 Hurricane Dennis forced the crew to evacuate Thunder Horse, which was later found listing when the crew returned.Source: USGC.

The Atlantis

Blog Moderators have since learned that the U.S. government has decided to investigate another big BP oil rig, the Atlantis.

Atlantis PQ is believed to be a BP plc/BHP Billiton joint venture deepwater semi-submersible oil platform which is located over the Green Canyon Atlantis Oil Field in Gulf of Mexico, about 300 km (185 mi) south of New Orleans.

The Atlantis PQ oil and gas production platform is the  deepest moored oil and gas extraction facility in the world producing about 200,000bpd.  BP is the majority shareholder with 56 percent of the oil field while BHP owns the remaining 44 percent. Image is a BP copyright and is included here for educational purposes.

Growing Oil Slick in the Gulf of Mexico

Nearly a month after a deadly explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, the damaged well on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico continued to spill oil. In the weeks since the accident occurred, the oil slick has periodically drifted northeast toward the Mississippi Delta and reached the the Chandeleur Islands. On May 17, 2010, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this natural-color image, a large patch of oil was visible near the site of the accident, and a long ribbon of oil stretched far to the southeast. Image and [edited] caption: NASA E/O. Download large image (1 MB, JPEG) Click image to enlarge.

Related Links:

• BP Oil Leak: Mega Disaster Enters New Dimension
• BP Leak Already Biggest Oil Disaster in U.S. History
• Nightmare Plume and ‘Cozy Relationship’
• Gulf Oil Disaster Like Apollo 13 Explosion: BP CEO
• Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster – Oil Leak Estimate
• Fire-Earth Oil Spill forecast
• Gulf of Mexico: A Waiting Disaster
• Oil Disasters [Index Page includes links to other oil spills, news and information]

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Serial No 1,742. Starting April 2010, each entry on this blog has a unique serial number. If any of the numbers are missing, it may mean that the corresponding entry has been blocked by Google/the authorities in your country. Please drop us a line if you detect any anomaly/missing number(s).