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| The sinkhole near Central City. |
The sinkhole happened at the end of Gregory Street just east of Central City. The asphalt on the side of the road gave way to a small cavern early Saturday morning. By midday the cavern had turned into a crater. Officials said an old mine shaft caved in. There's some speculation that recent, heavy rains and heavy Memorial Day weekend traffic may have been a contributing factor.WATCH: Massive sinkhole in Central City.
The shaft is about 30 feet wide by 50 feet deep. Crews will fill it in with large rocks and then add filler to the rock for stabilization. Experts say such collapses aren't uncommon in Gilpin County. "It's known for being one of the richest square miles on Earth, maybe in the United States. I mean this place was hopping back in the early 1900s," Deb Zack with the Division of Reclamation, Mining, & Safety said. Crews don't believe that the shaft continues under the road but they'll be keeping a close eye on the spot. Traffic will be down to one lane in the small section in between the two towns until crews can get the hole filled in and stabilized. - CBS Denver.
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| An increasingly common sight on Russia's and Ukraine's Black Sea coast. |
The dolphins started washing up along Russia's Black Sea coast several weeks ago. They have also been spotted on Ukrainian shores. Environmentalists are now talking about the biggest dolphin die-off to date in the region, with an estimated 300 animals dead so far. Local authorities have made no serious attempt to investigate the deaths, saying the animals are too decayed by the time they reach the shore for laboratory tests to be conducted. Officials have blamed poachers and fishing nets. They say the unusually cold winter has driven dolphins from the Sea of Azov to the warmer Black Sea. Some experts, like local zoologist Konstantin Andramonov, point to a possible killer virus. "The death toll is constantly growing, unfortunately," Andramonov says. "We are now witnessing the same in Ukraine. There is a hypothesis that we are dealing with an infectious disease that occurs roughly every 20 years."
Most experts, however, believe the real culprit is ever-increasing pollution in the Black Sea region. Valery Brinikh, who works for the prominent environmental group Ecological Watch, says the scale of the dolphin deaths belies official accounts faulting poachers and fishing nets. "This happens every year in Sochi -- sometimes there are more deaths, sometimes fewer," Brinikh says. "But the scale this time suggests unnatural causes, probably sea pollution or a loss of orientation of the dolphins, which can also be linked to pollution." Environmentalists say pollution levels have risen dramatically around Sochi since the city was selected to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. They have long warned that unbridled construction is inflicting irreparable ecological damage to Sochi's unique ecosystem. Olga Noskovets, a local ecologist, suspects that the authorities are perfectly aware it is pollution that is killing the dolphins. She says pollution levels are highest in areas close to the Olympic construction sites that dot Sochi and its outskirts.
According to Noskovets, the most affected area is Sochi's Lazarevsky district, where tourist Aida Kobzh recently spotted the dead dolphins. "The biggest hazard is posed by a river that runs through the Lazarevsky district, an area with a high concentration of sanatoriums, including for children," says Noskovets. "The infamous Olympic dump lies nearby, and it has no waste-treatment system. This small mountain stream, which used to have fish, is now cloudy, brown and foamy. It collects waste and carries it to beaches that once counted among the most beautiful in the area." Noskovets says the dolphin die-off should act as a wake-up call. She says the authorities must urgently sound the alarm and warn visitors about the health hazards of bathing on certain Black Sea beaches before the tourist season reaches its peak. "If sea creatures that are adapted to life in the sea react this way, what will the consequences be for humans?" Noskovets says. "Every year, numerous people suffer poisoning incidents after bathing in the sea, and these are always blamed on food poisoning. It is a nasty lie from our authorities, who are afraid of telling the truth -- that the Black Sea is simply being poisoned." - RFERL.
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| Men load a trailer with the carcasses of dead saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan. |
According to the Kazakh agriculture ministry, the carcasses were found in the Kostanai region.
"Aviation monitoring today (Thursday) discovered a new concentration of saiga deaths with the approximate number of dead animals reaching beyond 400," the ministry said.
Last year, at least 12,000 saiga antelopes died in Kazakhstan, presumably from pasteurellosis infection and from overeating. In November 2010, Kazakhstan introduced a ban on saiga hunting.
The latest statistics put the number of saiga antelopes in Kazakhstan at 85,500. The country spends $800,000 annually to prevent the deaths.
Saiga were virtually exterminated in the 1920s but then their numbers increased in the 1950s. The animals mostly became endangered because of hunting and the high demand for their horns in traditional Chinese medicine. Saiga are also found in Russia's Kalmykia region and in Mongolia. - Zee News.
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| FROSTY: Ice on the grass at Allanson, near Collie in the South West, where the temperature plunged to around -3C overnight. |
Bureau of Meteorology spokesman, Neil Bennett, said Perth's overnight low equalled the record temperature set on May 11, 1914 at 7am this morning. Mr Bennett said the chill was caused by a "very large" high pressure system sitting on the south coast of WA which produced clear skies, which meant sunny days but a lack of cloud cover to slow the cooling down overnight. "With no clouds and light winds, the cooling down is going off at its maximum rate," Mr Bennett said.
Jandakot recorded -0.6C at 5.49am, the only spot in the metropolitan area to fall below zero, while several centres in the South West also dipped below zero. Early risers in Jandakot and Bibra Lake had to scrape the ice off car windscreens before they left for work and lawns were covered in a layer of frost. Mr Bennett said Perth can expect more cold nights over the next few days with no major changes in the weather patterns expected. According to the Bureau, the coldest night ever experienced in Perth was -0.7C on June 17, 2006.
The coldest night on record in WA was -7.2C in Eyre, near the Nullarbor, on August 17, 2008. He said Perth has hit zero on a number of occasions in July. Perth's chilly 1.3C minimum was recorded at 7am. Dwellingup, 97km south of Perth, also recorded -1.1C. Wandering, 120km south-east of Perth and traditionally known as the coldest spot in WA, recorded a bracing -3.4C, while the ice would also have been crackling on the lawn in Bridgetown at -1.7C. Collie East recorded -3.1C at 7am. Even Bunbury, normally warmer on the coast, dipped below zero, with -0.1C. Cunderdin, north-east of Perth, and Salmon Gums in the far south-east had -0.5C. Conditions will remain similar for the next week, with fine, sunny weather tipped for Perth with maximum temps in the low to mod 20s, but overnight temperatures should rise. - Perth NOW.
According to Gombosi, we are heading into Solar Maximum – the period of greatest solar activity that happens once every 11 years. During that time, a solar storm will occur approximately every month, and preventative action needs to be taken to avoid damage to our infrastructure.
The Center for Space Environment Modeling (http://csem.engin.umich.edu/) at the University of Michigan is attempting to simulate these solar flares in order to aid in the forecasting of solar storms, and to allow for that preventative action.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:WATCH: 2013, Solar Maximum and Forecasting Solar Storms.
Tamas Gombosi is the Rollin M. Gerstacker Professor of Engineering in the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences (http://aoss.engin.umich.edu/). His research focuses on planetary science, space weather, heliospheric and magnetospheric physics and high-performance scientific computing. To find out more about Gambosis, visit his website at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~tamas/. - Michigan Engineering.
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| A dead dolphin lying on a beach on the northern coast of Peru, close to Chiclayo, some 750 km north of Lima, in March 2012. Thousands of crustaceans were found dead off the coast of Lima following the mystery mass death of dolphins and pelicans, the Peruvian Navy said Friday |
The cause of death is under investigation, said Industry and Fishing Minister Gladys Triveno, warning that "it would be premature to give a reason for this phenomenon." The Navy said it presented a report on the find to the Agency of Environmental Evaluation and Control to determine the cause. Biologist Yuri Hooker of Cayetano Heredia University said the species found on Pucusana Beach, 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of Lima, was a type of red krill about three centimeters (1.2 inches) long. "They live mostly along the coast of Chile up to the coast of northern Peru.
What is happening is that these crustaceans are being affected by the warming of Pacific waters in the north of the country," he said, adding that the phenomenon occurs "with some frequency." Hooker explained that the warmer temperatures led the shrimp-like creatures that usually live far away from the coast to move in closer to land, where they died. Nearly 900 dolphins washed up along Peru's northern coast between February and April. A government study said the marine mammals died of natural causes, while environmental groups insist the massive toll was linked to offshore oil exploration in the area. Peruvian officials have suggested that the dolphins, along with 5,000 dead sea birds -- mostly pelicans -- died due to the effects of rising temperatures in Pacific waters, including the southern migration of fish eaten by the birds. - Yahoo.
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| In this oblique view, the path of near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 is seen passing close to Earth on Feb. 15, 2013. |
The asteroid will pass by satellites in geostationary orbit about 35,800 kilometers (22,245 miles) above the equator, reportedly putting a communications satellite at risk of being hit. "That's very unlikely, but we can't rule it out," Paul Chodas, a planetary astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told National Geographic. "The orbit for 2012 DA14 is currently very Earthlike, which means it will be very close to Earth on a regular basis." But other than the small possibility of smashing a satellite, the asteroid poses no serious threat. It has a tiny 0.033 percent--or 1 in 3,030--chance of Earth impact, according to data on NASA's website.WATCH: Asteroid 2012 DA14 Close Approach.
The space rock should, however, offer some cool skywatching. Good binoculars or a telescope are needed to view the flyby since the asteroid will appear faint to the naked eye. "Next year it will be nice to watch through a pair of binoculars, but there is nothing to worry about," Dr. Gerhard Drolshagen, a near-Earth object observer from the European Space Agency's Space Situational Awareness office, told the Press Association. "In future times the possibility of a collision cannot be completely excluded. It is highly unlikely, but the chance is greater than zero." If asteroid 2012 DA14 were to hit Earth, the impact would release the rock's energy of about 2.4 megatons (so think of an explosion around that same size--boom!) The asteroid was discovered by the La Sagra observatory in Spain, and isn't the only rock on NASA's radar. In observing asteroid activity, researchers recently identified about 4,700 near Earth that are "potentially hazardous" if they strike our planet. - Huffington Post.
The European Union is now moving to create a mandatory electronic ID system for all EU citizens that would be implemented across Europe to standardize business both online and in person, authenticating users via a common ‘electronic signature.’ A single authenticating ID would guard access to the Internet, online data and most commerce. It is nothing short of an attempt to phase in a Mark of the Beast system, and a prominent Bilderberg attendee is behind the scheme. Neelie Kroes is the EU’s Digital Agenda Commissioner, and is introducing legislation she hopes will force “the adoption of harmonised e-signatures, e-identities and electronic authentication services (eIAS) across EU member states.” The extent of such a system would, of course, expand over time, particularly as many EU nations have resisted the big government encroachment of ID requirements on civil rights grounds, which even now smack of the Nazi regime’s draconian “papers please” policies that empowered their other avenues of tyranny. According to EurActiv.com, Neelie Kroes would later “widen the scope of the current Directive by including also ancillary authentication services that complement e-signatures, like electronic seals, time/date stamps, etc,” as the supra-national body attempts to corral more nations into participation.
This big brother system will be implemented in Europe first and later pushed in North America and the remainder of the globe, as the world is nudged step by step towards a total cashless control grid in the name of ‘safe, verifiable commerce,’ and of course, in the name of “security.” Nevermind that the plan would invite the hacking of identities and fast track forgeries. In the case of Europe, special emphasis is placed in part on “establishing a truly functioning single market” — part of the larger EU goal even now floundering. Neelie Kroes has been a long term Bilderberg attendee, showing up annually since 2005. She was on the official list for the 2006 meeting in Ottawa, Canada, then the 2007 meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, 2008 in Chantilly, Virginia, 2009 in Vouliagmeni, Greece and 2010 in Sitges, Spain as a delegate from the European Commission. But in 2011, Kroes came to the table in St. Moritz, Switzerland with a new title: the EU’s Commissioner for Digital Agenda, so obviously now seeing development on that agenda was not unexpected. Kroes latest effort will surely be bolstered during the 2012 meeting now just days away. It dovetails with the creation of US CYBERCOM in recent years and the appointment of NSA head Gen. Keith Alexander, who also meets annually at Bilderberg, to wage offensive cyberwar across the globe. Further, technocrats from Silicon Valley and other locales have also converged around the secretive meetings to coordinate their developments with emerging regulations, new Internet laws and treaties, and to further the data mining efforts of the clandestine intelligence communities they work with. - Info Wars.
In public, Israeli ministers still talk as though they believe in results from the Six-Power talks with Iran, which Thursday May 24 limped into their second day in Baghdad with the parties still miles apart. But the presidential veto has essentially cast Israel outside the loop of influence on the outcome of diplomacy. When Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the Pentagon on May 17 he was told that Obama had rejected Israel’s toned-down demands for Iran to at least to halt high-grade uranium enrichment, export its stocks of material enriched higher than 3.5 percent grade and shut down production at the Fordo nuclear plant near Qom.
For six months, the Obama administration tried to sweeten the bitter pill of this rejection by bumping up security aid. The latest appropriation covered another $70 million for manufacturing more Iron Dome short-range missile interceptors. After talking to Panetta, Barak turned to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon in the hope of winning their support for softening Obama’s ruling. Clinton replied she was not involved in the negotiations with Iran and Donilon, that a personal decision by the president was not open to change. A week of consultations followed the defense minister’s return home, during which it was decided to tear up Israel’s pledge to refrain from attacking Iran during the US presidential campaign. Wednesday, May 23, the day the Baghdad talks began, Barak signaled Washington to this effect.
It was conveyed in a little-noticed early morning radio interview with the defense minister. To make sure his words reached the proper address without misunderstandings, the defense minister’s office issued a verbatim English translation from the Hebrew: "There is no need to tell us what to do, and we have no reason to panic. Israel is very, very strong, but we do know that the Iranians are accomplished chess players and will try to achieve nuclear capabilities. Our position has not changed. The world must stop Iran from becoming nuclear. All options remain on the table." As the Baghdad talks went around in circles, Israel’s military option was put back firmly on the table and on the US-Iranian chessboard. - DEBKA.
Beryl was centered about 230 miles (375 km) east-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, carrying maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph). It was moving southwest with tropical storm force winds extending about 115 miles (185 km) from the storm's center. Tropical storm warnings were in effect for Sunday from the Volusia/Brevard County line in northern Florida to Edisto Beach, South Carolina. Forecasters predict the storm will eventually turn back toward the Atlantic on Monday or Tuesday, posing no threat to oil and gas production facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.WATCH: Weather Channel's forecast for Beryl.
The hurricane center said dangerous surf conditions and unusually high tides are possible along the coasts of northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina over the Memorial Day weekend. Beryl is being called a subtropical storm, which usually have a broader wind field than tropical storms and shower and thunderstorm activity farther removed from the storm's center. Beryl formed off the South Carolina coast late on Friday and is the second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which has had an early start. The season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. - Reuters.
“If I were empress of the Universe I would insist on every individual having a unique ID permanently attached - a barcode if you will; an implanted chip to provide an easy, fast inexpensive way to identify individuals. It would be imprinted on everyone at birth. Point the scanner at someone and there it is. Having such a unique barcode would have many advantages. In war soldiers could easily differentiate legitimate targets in a population from non combatants.
This could prevent mistakes in identity, mistakes that result in the deaths of innocent bystanders. Weapons systems would record the code of the use, identifying how fired which shot and leading to more accountability in the field. Anonymity would be impossible as would mistaken identity making it easier to place responsibility accurately, not only in war but also in non-combat situations far from the war.”
You can listen to Elizabeth discuss her idea with aerial warfare expert Elizabeth Quintana and war ethics authority David Rodin in more detail on the BBC World Service programme The Forum, where you can also download more 60-second ideas. - BBC.
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| Fuego volcano. |
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| The lake's water comes from ice melting from the Colonia Glacier, located in the Northern Patagonian ice field |
The glacier normally acts as a dam containing the water, but rising temperatures have weakened its wall. Twice this year, on January 27 and March 31, water from the lake bore a tunnel between the rocks and the glacier wall. The result: Lake Cachet II's 200 million cubic liters of water gushed out into the Baker river, tripling its volume in a matter of hours, and emptying the five square kilometer (two square miles) lake bed. Cachet II has drained 11 times since 2008 -- and with global temperatures climbing, experts believe this will increase in frequency. "Climate models predict that as temperatures rise, this phenomenon, known as GLOFs (Glacial Lake Outburst Floods), will become more frequent," said glaciologist Gino Casassa from the Center for Scientific Studies (CES). Casassa, a member of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told AFP there have been 53 similar cases of lakes draining in Chile between 1896 and January 2010, with increased frequency in the later years. CES research assistant Daniela Carrion was camped out with a small research team taking measurements of the Colonia Glacier when the lake drained in March. "When we woke up, we saw a change in the valley," Carrion told AFP. "The paths that we walked on had flooded, and the whole area was filled with large chunks of ice."
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| Lake Cachet II has drained 11 times since 2008. |
The lake dropped 31 meters (90 feet) when the water drained out, according to a report from the General Water Directorate, which monitors lake levels in Chile using satellite data. When the lake starts draining an alarm system is triggered, giving residents in the sparsely-populated area up to eight hours to move animals and flee to higher ground. The Tempanos Lake, also in far southern Chile, drained in a similar fashion in May 2007. Forest rangers working to save endangered huemuls -- mid-sized deer native to the region -- were surprised when they came across the empty lake. There were ice floes on the floor of the ten square kilometer lake bed, but no water. Forestry officials had visited Tempanos in April and it was full, and when a team of scientists and naval officials flew over the area in July they found that the lake, which also is fed by waters from a nearby glacier, was starting to re-fill. The GLOF phenomenon is not exclusive to Patagonia: it has happened in places like the Himalayas, and in Iceland due to volcanic activities, Casassa said. In a phenomenon also related to rising temperatures, a slab of ice the size of a city block broke off Peru's Hualcan glacier and slid into a high mountain lake with destructive consequences in April 2010. The crash unleashed a giant wave that breached the lake's levees, causing a tsunami of mud on a village in the northern province of Carhuaz that destroyed more than 20 homes and leaving some 50 people homeless, regional Civil Defense chief Cesar Velasco told the state Andina news agency. A 2009 World Bank report said that in the last 35 years, Peru's glaciers have shrunk by 22 percent, leading to a 12 percent loss in the amount of fresh water reaching the coast, home to most of the country's citizens. - AFP.
During the past week, strong vulcanian explosions from the Showa Crater often occurred multiple times per day, and generated tall ash plumes reaching 4 km altitude. A small pyroclastic flow reaching 300 m length occurred during an explosion on 21 May. Tokyo VAAC often reported plumes up to 1.8-3.7 km height during 16-20 and 22 May, and pilots observed ash plumes during 16-17 May that rose to altitudes of 2.7-4 km (9,000-13,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted E and SE. Very small eruptions were also reported from the second crater Minami-dake on 18 and 19 May. - Volcano Discovery.WATCH: Sakurajima's explosive eruptions.
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| Volcán de Fuego is known for being in an almost constant state of low-level eruption. Smoke rises from its crater almost daily, but larger eruptions are rare. |
Authorities quickly diverted aircraft and closed sections of highway as black ash from Fuego volcano reached up to 16,400 feet above the crater. Fountains of lava were seen gushing nearly 1,300 feet high, threatening to flow down on stretches of roadway below. While no evacuations had been ordered, the country’s national disaster agency cautioned nearby villagers to be vigilant and prepared to move quickly should the mountain become more dangerous.WATCH: Spectacular eruption of Guatemala's Fuego volcano.
Guatemala has four active volcanoes that have caused catastrophic damage in the past. The explosive eruption of Santa Maria in 1902 was one of the world's largest eruptions of the 20th century. In 2010, a blast at Pacaya volcano coated the current capital, Guatemala City, in a thick layer of ash and rock. This forced hundreds of families to evacuate and officials to temporarily close the international airport. - Earthweek.
