April 11, 2016 - DELAWARE, UNITED STATES - A double rainbow is an awesome meteorological phenomenon on its own.
But
when mammatus clouds appear at the same time... It becomes epic.
This
is what happened in the sky of Newark, Delaware on April 7, 2016.
In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and
has the order of its colours reversed, with red on the inner side of the
arc.
Mammatus are pouch-like cloud structures and a rare example of clouds in
sinking air.
Sometimes very ominous in appearance, mammatus clouds are
harmless and do not mean that a tornado is about to form.
In fact, mammatus are usually seen after the worst of a thunderstorm has
passed.
Mammatus are long lived if the sinking air contains large drops
and snow crystals since larger particles require greater amounts of
energy for evaporation to occur.
Mammatus typically develop on the underside of a thunderstorm's anvil
and can be a remarkable sight, especially when sunlight is reflected off
of them. - Strange Sounds.
This eagle is one of 13 found dead on a farm in Maryland in mid-February, raising big questions. Photo: Maryland Natural Resources Police
March 28, 2016 - MARYLAND, UNITED STATES - A single bald eagle found dead in southern Delaware last Saturday didn’t raise red flags for state wildlife officials.
But then a few hours later and a mile away, a startling scene unfolded: Eight bald eagles — distressed and disoriented — were discovered on the ground, barely moving on a fallow farm field.
“Seeing one in a field wouldn’t be irregular, but then so many of them — and they weren’t sitting up,” said Sgt. John McDerby of Delaware’s Fish and Wildlife Natural Resources Police. “It was a devastating sight.”
Three of the eagles died, two were rescued and the rest flew away, officials said. The following day, another dead bird was found during a sweep.
The cluster of deaths comes just a month after 13 bald eagles died about 35 miles away on the Eastern Shore of Maryland — the largest single die-off of bald eagles in the state in three decades.
This mystery surrounding the bird species that has soared back from the brink of extinction has investigators and wildlife advocates asking: Is someone poisoning or intentionally harming these national symbols?
At this point, investigators can’t say, but they aren’t ruling out a criminal act.
In Maryland, necropsies indicated the birds did not die from natural causes, meaning diseases such as avian influenza can be ruled out. But they did not pinpoint a cause of death.
Poison is a popular theory since landowners use it to kill rats, foxes and other nuisances that tear up crops. Eagles, in turn, can eat the poisoned carrion.
But Bob Edgell, who owns the Maryland farm where the eagles were found, told NBC News on Friday that he doesn’t use poison on his property and isn’t sure if anyone else in the area does.
“Our investigation is now focused on human causes,” Catherine Hibbard, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Agency, said in an earlier statement.
McDerby said test results of the eagle carcasses in Delaware could be made available early this week. In the meantime, he added, there is no evidence of a serial eagle killer on the prowl or any direct connection between the Delaware and Maryland cases.
The two birds rescued by the nonprofit Tri-State Bird Rescue of Newark, Delaware, are still under the group’s care. Staff declined to provide information about their recovery because the investigation is ongoing, but said that if the creatures fully recuperate, they’ll be released into the wild.
Edgell said he’s not sure what took down the eagles on his land in Maryland. He found no evidence of tracks, after first thinking someone may have dumped the recognizable white-headed birds of prey on purpose.
He also saw no indications they had been shot or had other signs of trauma.
“I was dumbfounded, shocked and everything else,” Edgell said. “I had never seen that many at one time, especially on my property.”
Spelling his female mate, a male Bald Eagle lands on his nest containing two eggs at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, DC on March 11, 2016. Photo: Linda Davidson/The Washington Post/Getty
Anyone convicted of causing the death of the federally protected bald eagle could be fined as much as $100,000 and sentenced to up to a year in prison.
Wildlife groups have banded together with the government to offer a reward for information leading to anyone who contributed to the birds’ deaths.
The Virginia-based American Bird Conservancy added another $5,000 to the pot last week, boosting the total to $30,000.
Mike Parr, vice president and chief conservation officer for the group, said he’s “completely baffled” as to what happened.
“I can’t see any possible explanation of any sort why anyone would deliberately do something like that. It’s outrageous,” Parr said.
The deaths come as bald eagles have made an impressive resurgence in the past five decades. They were nearly killed off after losing habitat and being threatened by the pesticide DDT. Federal protection status as an endangered species in 1967, however, helped to ensure their survival.
Even into the 1970s, bald eagles were shot fairly regularly, said Kevin McGowan, an ornithologist at the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology.
“The decrease in shooting was part of the reason the eagles have recovered so spectacularly (but just one part),” McGowan said in an email. “Populations are probably at a 100-year high. Growth of the eastern population over the last 20 years alone has been impressive.”
Nationwide, the birds went from fewer than 500 breeding pairs in the Lower 48 in 1963 to over 11,000 pairs in 2007, when they were taken off the endangered species list, federal figures show.
Now, bald eagles — beloved as a national symbol of the United States — are celebrated. A pair of babies born at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., took the Internet by storm this month thanks to a live cam.
But the sudden loss of so many under strange circumstances should serve as a warning that the magnificent birds still need protection, experts say.
“This is a significantly bad and unusual event,” McGowan said. - MSNBC.
February 17, 2016 - UNITED STATES - A large green meteor streaked across the sky Tuesday evening, prompting dozens of reports to the American Meteor Society.
The fireball was seen from New Jersey and Delaware into southern
Virginia around 7:10 p.m. People reported it as green and bright.
It was the second fireball seen in recent weeks in the Mid-Atlantic skies.
On Jan. 30, hundreds of people in the D.C. area reported seeing a streaking meteor, and it was even captured on dash cam.
According to the American Meteor Society, fireballs are very bright
meteors, about as bright as Venus in the morning and evening skies.
About 10 to 15 meteorites fall to Earth each day, but sightings are rare
since streaking fireballs often fall over the ocean, or during daylight
hours when they can't be seen. - InsideNova.
February 10, 2016 - NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES - Down the shore it wasn't snow that people had to worry about - it was flooding.
Roads in Ocean City were flooded Tuesday. Many streets were impassable, but that's not a surprise to locals.
We found Bud Arcaini on 13th Street right on the bay checking on some houses to make sure they didn't get water inside.
Arcaini tells us, "New moon, high tide and the way the wind was blowing
keeping everything in the bay. Water can't leave the bay with that wind
coming out of the north, so this is what you get."
Lauren Perkins says, "This is higher than we get normally because
there's a push from the northeast, but it's not uncommon to see this."
Not uncommon, but residents and business people say it's getting old.
Phyllis Casper says, "It's unsettling because you can't leave
your house. So that's why I'm out early this morning so I can move my
car and go back this afternoon."
"Obviously, there's no place to park and it cuts down on the customers,"
says Bob Farnsworth, who runs the Tuckahoe bike shop on West Avenue.
Part of Farnsworth's shop was flooded Tuesday. He's been repairing bicycles that got wet in the last storm.
He says, "Basically, saltwater and bikes don't mix very well. It gets into bearings, it gets into the spokes."
The flooding situation was much the same in North Wildwood. The area
around Chestnut and Delaware was submerged. Back bay flooding created a
watery mess in a town still recovering from the storm that caused
serious flooding two weeks ago.
WATCH: New Jersey street flooding.
Mark Reimet of Ocean City says, "It seems to be flooding in areas that
didn't flood before. I don't know what's going on, whether there's been
some sort type of change, but it's definitely deepened the normal areas
but more so in areas that typically hadn't flooded."
The good news is, by Tuesday evening much of the flooding had receded
and snow is not expected along the coast, so there won't be that added
element to deal with. - 6ABC.
December 30, 2014 - NORTH AMERICA - People along the East Coast reported seeing a bright fireball in the skies on Monday evening at about 6:35 p.m.
The American Meteor Society says it received more than 330 reports.
The fireball was seen from Montreal, Canada to Maryland and Delaware.
Peter Czech captured video of the fireball on a dashcam as he drove near I-287 and the Route 10 interchange.
One person in New Hampshire reported seeing flames.
A
person in Sicklerville, New Jersey reported that they were driving in
their car and were not sure if it was a fireball or a spent firework
because of what they saw.
Peter Czech captured video of the fireball on a Garmin camera as he drove near I-287 and the Route 10 interchange in Hanover.
WATCH: Huge fireball lights up East Coast.
If you saw the fireball and you would like to report it, you can go to the AMS website. - MYFOXNY.
October 21, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A record number of dolphins washed ashore
following the recent nor'easter, according to estimates by a local sea
mammal stranding group.
A local sea mammal stranding group says more dolphins washed ashore last week than normally do so in a year. Source: File
“This week was outrageous,” said Suzanne Thurman, executive director of Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute. “This is the most we've ever had.”
On Monday, Thurman was trying to catch up after tending to 18 bottle-nosed dolphin strandings and five loggerhead turtles – all found dead this past week along a coastline stretching from Kitts Hummock on the Delaware Bay down to Fenwick Island, she said.
“This is more than we get in a year,” she said.
Moving dolphins that weigh several hundred pounds and burying them is backbreaking work, she said. One of the dolphins found Oct. 14 was lodged against a rock jetty, which made moving it extra tricky for volunteers.
Normally, she said, her group logs in about a dozen dolphin strandings a year. Already this year, there have been 67; the total sea mammal strandings has been about 200.
Most dolphin strandings occurred in August when 58 dolphins died from the morbillivirus, she said. However, Thurman said, they do not know whether the latest dolphin deaths can be attributed to the virus. The dolphins were found in advanced stages of decomposition, and they could not be tested, she said.
The virus found in the earlier dolphins is a similar to measles found in humans and distemper in dogs.
The virus is not contagious to humans, but Thurman warns people to stay away from stranded dolphins because they could have other harmful contagions. Thurman asks anyone who finds a stranded dolphin or sea mammal to call MERR at 228-5029.
Although the storm has passed, Thurman said, she expects more strandings throughout the week.
“I think there will be some that haven't been discovered yet,” she said.
October 01, 2013 - SPACE - Reports of meteor sightings are coming into the American Meteor
Society by the thousands. According to one of the latest reports posted
at the American Meteor Society website, “Its been a busy week for the
AMS as we are bombarded by fireball reports from all different parts of
the country. The latest event took place over Alabama and Georgia last
night September 28th 7:30 PM local time. Over 250 witnesses from
Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama and
Georgia have reported the event so far. Below is a heat map of the
witnesses who saw the event. Click the image below for the event detail
page and witness reports.” [1]
Exactly why these meteors are coming into the atmosphere at this time
is unknown. NASA and NOAA have yet to publish any reports on this
phenomenon, although they did confirm the September 10, 2013 meteor that
streaked across the sky in Alabama in theguardian.com article ‘Meteor
enters atmosphere over Alabama and disintegrates, says Nasa’.An
excerpt from the article reads, “Officials at the Marshall Space Flight
Center in Huntsville say a baseball-size fragment of a comet entered
Earth’s atmosphere above Alabama at 8:18pm CDT Monday. Nasa officials
say the meteor traveled at a speed of 76,000 mph. They say just three
seconds after hitting the atmosphere, it disintegrated 25 miles above
the central Alabama town of Woodstock, producing a flash of light. Nasa
spokeswoman Janet Anderson says that because it penetrated so deep into
Earth’s atmosphere, eyewitnesses heard sonic booms.” [2]
WATCH: Meteor across Alabama - Sept. 9, 2013.
The thousands of sightings of meteors are located at the American
Meteor Society Observation page, where you can also sign-up to be a
registered user. Interestingly, there are reports of meteor sightings from 40 states,
including Atlanta, GA, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky
and Tennessee as of September 28, 2013. Register to make reports at http://www.amsmeteors.org/
One explanation of the increase in sighting is mentioned on the
American Meteor Society website in the article ‘Meteor Activity Outlook
for September 28 – October 4, 2013’ which explains, “The September-October Lyncids (SOL)
are only well seen on 3 nights centered on September 29th. Maximum
occurs on the 30th when the radiant is located at 07:24 (111) +47. This
position lies in western Lynx, 12 degrees north of the second magnitude
star known as Castor (Alpha Geminorum). This area of the sky is best
placed in the sky during the last hour before dawn, when it lies highest
above the horizon in a dark sky. Rates at maximum are expected to be
near one shower member per hour as seen from the northern hemisphere.
These meteors can be seen from the tropical southern hemisphere but
rates would be less than one per hour. With an entry velocity of 67
km/sec., most activity from this radiant would be of swift speed.” [5]
Earthsky.org posted an article by Deborah Byrd titled “U.S. sees
another bright fireball on September 27’ which covers the meteor
sightings in detail, which reads, “The American Meteor Society (AMS) has
reported at least 373 reports of another bright fireball – a very
bright meteor, likely a small chunk of natural incoming space debris –
over the U.S. last night (September 27, 2013). These reports followed a similar event over approximately the same area
the day before (September 26). The AMS called the coincidence of two
bright fireballs, or bright meteors, spotted over approximately the same
region on consecutive days “surprising.” Witnesses from Georgia,
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Wisconsin and West Virginia reported a
bright light moving across the night sky on September 27 at around
11:33 p.m. local time, according to the AMS.” [6]
Sources: [1] Another Massive Fireball Over Atlanta – amsmeteors.org [2] Meteor enters atmosphere over Alabama and disintegrates, says NASA – theguardian.com [3] American Meteor Society Observations – amsmeteors.org [4]Meteor lights up early-morning sky in Midwest – chicagotribune.com [5] Meteor Activity Outlook for September 28-October 4, 2013 – amsmeteors.org [6] U.S. sees another bright fireball on September 27 – earthsky.org
September 30, 2013 - SPACE - The following constitutes several of the latest reports of fireballs, seen in the skies, across the globe.
Huge Fireball Explosion Cuts Power In Mexico Upon Impact.
Sunday evening, a weird sky phenomenon broke up the monotony of a small Maya Town as a huge object, thought to be a fireball, lit up the skies over the town of Ichmul in southern Yucatan at around 8:30 PM local time.
Fragments of Ichmul meteorite or space debris.
The falling object was accompanied by a strong thundering noise and a
loud blast when it crashed onto the ground. The crash was followed by
flashing blue hazes and a power outage. Than flames were observable
until approximately 2 AM at the object’s landing site. The sky
phenomenon was also observed in Saban, Quintana Roo, San Francisco, and
Peto Chikindzonot township.
What was this bright object falling from the sky?
As
you can imagine, people got totally scared by this strange light
phenomenon: flaming object falling from the sky, thundering noise, blue
haze, power outage, fire and so on…
Humanoid forms from Ichmul meteorite that fell on September 29, 2013 in Yucatan, Mexico
So, some courageous witnesses decided to inspect the drop area and found
strange parts embedded in the ground, which had crashed into power
lines leaving the city without electricity.
Fragments of the meteorite that fell on Ichmul Mexico on 29/09/2013.
Some locals picked up the fragments of the object and stored them at the municipal police station to determine its mysterious origin.
WATCH: Asteroid or space junk? Well the police started to play with the gathered pieces and formed humanoid figures whose images have caused wonder and excitement among locals and foreigners as shown in this video in spanish:
If they represent space junk, direct contact with them may be dangerous to humans since they may contain radioactive material. - Strange Sounds.
"Round Ball Of Fire" Reported Over Delaware.
A large fireball was seen streaking through the night sky by at least 21
people - three of them from Delaware - about 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
Witnesses reported the sighting on the American Meteor Society's
website.
Middletown-area resident Dan Foraker said he also spotted it, and described the meteor as a "perfectly round ball of fire."
Foraker, who lives near Drawyers Creek off Shallcross Lake Road, said he
was sitting outside talking on the phone with his son about the
Redskins game, when all of a sudden a ball of fire appeared over the
line of trees.
"I've never seen anything that big. I didn't know if there was a plane
going down," he said. "It lasted for about six seconds and went down
behind the trees. I didn't hear a sound, but I was waiting to hear a
loud boom."
Foraker said he called police and a county officer showed up later and
said that the state police helicopter was the only aircraft that had
been up in the air about that time.
A supervisor with the New Castle County fire board today said no calls
were received about that time and no one was dispatched on any calls for
a plane down.
The American Meteor Society, meanwhile, is
investigating 21 reports from witnesses who saw this fireball over
Washington, D.C., Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Massachusetts, Virginia and West Virginia between 7 p.m. and 8:13 p.m.
The nonprofit scientific organization was established to "inform,
encourage and support the research activities of both amateur and
professional astronomers who are interested in the fascinating field of
Meteor Astronomy."
Observers collect data related to meteors, meteor showers, fireballs and
other meteoric phenomena and report it to the organization.
The ball of fire was reported by a witness in Wilmington about 7:08
p.m., one in Ellendale at 7:14 p.m. and a witness in Lewes at 7:15 p.m.
About that same time, an observer in Salisbury, Md. also reported a
sighting.
Another massive fireball was sighted about 7:30 p.m. Saturday night in
the Atlanta area and was reported to the scientific organization by 250
witnesses in Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and North
Carolina, according to the website. - Delaware Online.
Fireball Creates Massive Explosion, Obliterates House, Leaving Big Hole In Connecticut.
A firefighter walks through the burning rubble of a
six-bedroom house on Webbs Hill Road in Stamford, Conn. that exploded
on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013. AP Photo/The Stamford Advocate, Lindsay Perry
An explosion leveled a six-bedroom house on Tuesday, scattering debris
hundreds of feet away, but nobody was inside and there were no serious
injuries, authorities said.
The homeowner was outside near a pool
house on the property in Stamford, about 35 miles northeast of New York
City, at the time of the explosion, said the town's director of public
safety, Ted Jankowski. The homeowner was alert and conscious when
emergency crews arrived, and he was taken to a hospital for observation.
Next-door neighbor Charlene Heffernan said she heard the blast.
"I
thought a plane hit my house," Heffernan told The Stamford Advocate. "I
have never heard anything so loud. My house shook from the top down."
AP Photo/The Stamford Advocate, Lindsay Perry
Mayor Michael Pavia said the cause of the blast was under investigation but authorities suspected gas was involved. He said a 500-gallon propane gas tank on site was under a controlled burn Tuesday afternoon.
The explosion left nothing standing of the 6,000-square-foot home in north Stamford. Debris landed hundreds of feet from the house, and three other homes in the neighborhood caught fire.
Neighbor Antonio Pisanelli told Norwalk's The Hour newspaper the "whole house was gone."
Massive And "Unusual" Fireball Seen Over Indiana, Shone As Bright As The Crescent Moon.
The picture you see is of a meteor "Fireball" over Indiana on Friday
night. You might remember that just last week there was one seen over
Canada. And then, just last night (Saturday), many News 2 viewers in Middle Tennessee saw another one. This one was also seen over Alabama according to Twitter posts I have seen.
My good friend James Spann in Birmingham says that Bill Cook from NASA
says that this was the 15th significant one this month and that is "very
unusual". It's hard to catch video like this on your phone because the
meteor goes by too fast. The pictures of the Indiana and Canada meteors
were taken by police "dash board cams".
A video of Saturday night's from James Spann's Google+ page:
Another video of the fireball over Alabama last night... captured by Melanie Witt... who writes...
"I am a band parent of the Cleveland High School Golden Force Marching
Band and videoed the meteor at the band competition in Weaver, Al. We
first thought the band playing on the field had shot something into the
sky as part of their show but everyone decided it was a
WATCH: Alabama fireball.
UPDATE:
A video of last night's "fireball" taken over Alabama and relayed by James Spann of ABC 33/40 Birmingham. He also got some more comments from Bill Cooke, of NASA's Meteoroid Environments Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville:
"I would say the fireball originated in North Alabama and moved east-southeast, finally burning up over Atlanta (we had a bright one over that city 7 days ago!). The video shows that it was about the brightness of the crescent Moon, which means we are talking about a meteoroid a few inches in diameter. hard to be more precise without a speed measurement."
Meteor Creates Massive Explosion, Destroying A House And Killing 2 In Ohio, Debris Scattered Up To Quarter-Mile Away.
Was it a meteor or a satellite that streaked across Ohio last night?
(Photo taken in August 2013). Christopher Furlong Getty Images
Ohioans were dazzled by a bright flash of blue light in the night
sky on September 27, 2013, in southern Ohio around 11:30 p.m., eastern
standard time. Could it have been a meteorite or a satellite predicted to crash to earth on Friday?
A fireball reportedly hit near a home in northern Adams County, Ohio, a few miles outside the city of Peebles causing a house fire. Those reports are unconfirmed. The six alarm fire left fireman battling the blaze into the early hours of the morning. It is unknown at this time if the residents made it out safely.
A neighbor said the meteor crossed over the city and hit near the Locust Grove Cemetery just four miles from the Great Serpent Effigy Mound. In recent years, a crop circle appeared overnight in an adjacent field from the Serpent Mound grounds and thousands of years ago it was the sight of a major meteorite that caused a huge crater.
As of the morning of September 28, 2013, a
home outside of Peebles, Ohio, in the Locust Grove area of Adams County
burned to the ground last night, the two residents of the home, an
elderly couple, Jane and Lyle Lambert, died as a result of smoke
inhalation. The fire is believed to be caused from the meteor or pieces
of the heated meteor that hit the home. The state fire marshal is
investigating the fire. - Examiner.
Firefighters douse hotspots following a house explosion Tuesday, Sept.17, 2013 in Stony Ridge, Ohio.
Neighbors said the blast woke them up around 5 a.m. and that they saw flames at the ranch-style home
near the village of Stony Ridge, about 15 miles south of Toledo. The explosion flattened the home and
scattered pieces of it throughout the yard. The explosion left one person dead and three injured. AP Photo/The Blade, Dave Zapotosky
An explosion leveled a home in northwest Ohio Tuesday morning, killing
two people, injuring three and scattering debris up to a quarter-mile.
Investigators were looking into whether a leaking liquid propane tank
near the home's attached garage sparked the blast, said Troy Township
Fire Chief Randy Woodruff.
The tank was toppled over, and Woodruff said it was too soon to pinpoint the cause of the explosion.
AP Photo/Sentinel-Tribune, Enoch Wu
Neighbors said the explosion woke them up around 5 a.m. and they saw
flames at the ranch-style home near the village of Stony Ridge, about 15
miles south of Toledo.
One man died after being taken to a hospital, and the body of a woman
was found in the rubble about six hours after the explosion.
When emergency responders arrived, four people were found outside the
house, the Wood County Sheriff's Office said. Five people - all of them
adults - lived in the home. Neighbors said they were a man, his wife,
their two sons and a fiance.
Names of the victims were not released.
The explosion flattened the home and scattered pieces of it
throughout the yard and across farm fields. Piles of insulation,
mattresses, window screens and a door littered the yard. All that was
left standing was a basketball hoop along the driveway.
AP Photo/Sentinel-Tribune, Enoch Wu
Bob Lahey told The Blade newspaper in Toledo that he heard a loud boom and thought a plane had crashed. He said he helped carry one person out of the debris, which smoldered for a couple hours.
Lahey said the family had lived in the house for quite a while and well before he moved in 13 years ago.
Jan Irsak, who lives across the street, said the explosion knocked items off the walls of her home.
AP Photo/The Blade, Dave Zapotosky.
"I just sat up in bed and thought 'What was that?'" she told The Sentinel-Tribune in Bowling Green.
Another house explosion in Stamford, Conn., destroyed a six-bedroom home Tuesday afternoon.Authorities there said the homeowner was outside at the time and not seriously injured. The cause was under investigation. - AP.
August 26, 2013 - UNITED STATES -The bodies of three more dolphins have washed up along the New Jersey shore, bringing the statewide total to 71.
The Asbury Park Press
reports that officials Sunday found dead dolphins at Island Beach State
Park, Stone Harbor and an area off the bay in Strathmere.
On Saturday, officials found two dead dolphins in Sea Girt and Brigantine.
The senior technician with the Brigantine chapter of the Marine Mammal
Stranding Center, Jay Pagel, says it's the "same thing that's been
happening" since July 9.
From New Jersey south to Virginia,
more than 230 dolphin deaths have been reported dead. A precise cause
for the deaths is still unknown.
The deaths have been declared an "unusual mortality event" by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. - 6ABC.
August 23, 2013 - UNITED STATES -The spike in bottlenose dolphin
deaths this summer is showing no signs of stopping: Nearly 300 of the
marine mammals have died along the East Coast as of August 20, according
to the federal government.
Trained responders examine a dead male dolphin on Ocean View Beach in Norfolk, Virginia, on August 1.
Photograph by Dorothy Edwards
The
high death toll, covering an area that stretches from New York to
Virginia, has been labeled an "unusual mortality event," and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has experts scrambling to figure out what's going on.
Based
on the rapid increase in dead bodies washing ashore, and the broad
geographic reach, "an infectious pathogen is at the top of the list of
potential causes," according to NOAA's website.
"We realize that
people are very concerned and anxious to learn what we know about the
dolphin deaths that have been occurring along the mid-Atlantic coast
over the past few weeks," Maggie Mooney-Seus, a spokesperson for NOAA Fisheries, told National Geographic by email.
Experts
have collected quite a bit of information from various animals' blood
and tissue samples, which they're testing for a variety of toxins,
biotoxins, bacteria, fungi, and viruses, she said.
Several of the
dead dolphins have tested positive for morbillivirus, a measles-like,
airborne virus that's often fatal in dolphins. A morbillivirus epidemic
hit East Coast bottlenose dolphins in 1987 and 1988, wiping out at least
900 animals and striking a major blow to that population of migratory
mammals. However, there's no definitive cause yet, and some of the tests
take weeks to complete, Mooney-Seus noted.
"We share the public's desire to get answers to what is causing this and are working as quickly as we can to get those answers."
Determining a Cause of Death
The spike follows a general trend in unusual mortality events that have occurred in recent decades in the United States.
The "concern is we're doing more and more to protect dolphins from harm, yet dolphin strandings are on the rise," Matthew Huelsenbeck, a marine scientist at the nonprofit Oceana, said earlier this month.
"No one seems to have a solid grasp as to what's going on."
But many are working to find out. For example, NOAA has a stranding network of experts who report and collect the corpses of recently deceased dolphins in an effort to determine causes of death.
A
corpse is first taken into the lab for evaluation and basic triage to
see if it has any visible marks that may point to the cause of its
demise. Next, a tissue sample is taken and tested for viruses, which
could identify a direct cause.
Then there's a
longer-term investigation that involves testing blubber and organs, such
as kidneys, for traces of heavy metals. Studies have shown that
stranded dolphins have heavy metals in their systems.
"Dolphins
are some of the most toxic animals on the planet, and it makes their
immune system compromised because they're carrying so many heavy metals
and toxins that accumulate in the food web," noted Huelsenbeck.
He
also noted that the dead bodies that wash ashore are only a small
percentage of the actual death toll. For instance, many dolphin corpses
decompose at sea or are eaten by predators.
"For a lot of these animals," he said, "their story will never be told." - National Geographic.
August 21, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A silent, mysterious plague is claiming the lives of scores of bottlenose dolphins off the mid-Atlantic coast. Over July and August so far, 228 dead or dying dolphins have washed up on beaches from New Jersey to Virginia, and the numbers continue to climb.
Officials examine a dead bottlenose dolphin that washed ashore on Long
Island, N.Y. NOAA has declared a Unusual Mortality Event in the
Mid-Atlantic regions including New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland
and Virginia.
The Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation / Reuters
The dead include adult animals and calves, males and females. Sometimes, the animals that wash ashore are dead for days. Others arrive on their last breath. None have survived.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has formally classified the mass deaths as an "Unusual Mortality Event." The daily arrival of dead dolphins is an ominous sign of a larger, ailing coastal ecosystem, researchers say. It could even signal the return of a deadly sickness that raged for 10 months in the late 1980s, and felled more than 700 bottlenoses before the carnage ended.
"We started getting really alarmed by July 25, when we started getting more than one animal per day. That was the tipping point," Susan Barco, a researcher at the Virginia Aquarium Marine Mammal Center, told NBC News.
August usually brings about seven strandings to the Virginia shores, but this month, with two weeks to go, Barco has already counted 75 dead dolphins. And calls about new strandings are flooding in daily. "There are days when we cannot get off the phone," she said. "Everyone loves dolphins ... they're certainly concerned."
Wild bottlenose dolphins play off the bow of a sportfishing boat, off the Florida Keys near Islamorada, Fla.
Michael Newman / Florida Keys News Bureau via AP
Of the world's 600,000 dolphins, up to 22,800 coastal migrators — some heading south, to the Carolinas for the winter, and others heading north — are expected to pass through the mid-Atlantic in the summer and fall. "We are worried that ... the elevated strandings will not stop until the dolphins leave our area," Barco said.
Researchers across the U.S. have rallied to support the investigation, at labs, at stranding sites, and at other remote locations. If volunteers find a recently dead animal — a carcass in good shape — they drive them to the aquarium lab facility. There, a team of three or four researchers works for about seven hours collecting swabs, tissue samples, body fluids — material that can be probed for viral or bacterial pathogens. Genetic tests are also on the to-do list.
From whole animals, Barco has recorded respiratory infections, joint infections, skin and mouth lesions. Some animals appear emaciated, as if they suddenly went off their food. But the real killer — likely a bacteria or virus of some kind — is still at large.
Prime suspect: Morbillivirus
Chief among the suspected "causal agents" is the morbillivirus, a bug that turned up in the tissue of one dead New Jersey dolphin. It's still too early to say if the virus killed that animal, much less the rest of the herds.
Morbillivirus does have a track record, however. This virus was behind another mass die-off that claimed the lives of more than 700 dolphins between June 1987 and March 1988. The morbillivirus in that event wasn't found until years later, but the experts say technological progress will help identify the cause faster in this case.
How did those dolphins get so sick a quarter century ago? One theory, Barco explained, is that the coast-dwelling dolphin population caught the virus through exchanging breathed air or body fluids with dolphins that live in deeper waters. The offshore herds are believed to harbor the virus without getting ill from it, unlike their unfortunate coastal cousins.
WATCH: Smithsonian scientist are looking into why dolphins are showing up dead along Virginia's coast. WAVY's Stephanie Harris reports.
"Looking at this event from 10,000 feet in the air, it looks much the same as 1987," Charles Potter, collections manager of marine mammals at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, told NBC News. But, he added, further tests are needed "before we can say if this a repeat or if this is just something that looks similar."
Because of the NOAA Unusual Mortality Event classification, dolphin experts have access to a deeper pool of funding for tools, equipment and salaries for investigation. But budgetary belts are tighter than ever, and this doesn't mean carte blanche. Currently, there is $200,000 available in funding for seven open cases, said one NOAA marine biologist. This mass death is just one of those cases.
Though fatigue is already setting in, experienced marine biologists know this may only be the beginning. Potter, who also helped research the 1980s die off, traveled down to the Virginia Aquarium to help with dolphin necropsies. "All of us would hope that this mortality would just cease. But I don't think it's going to happen," Potter said. A few weeks in, with a long fall ahead, the work is already taking a toll on the humans involved. "We are alarmed and concerned and exhausted," Barco said. - NBC News.
August 19, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Six more dolphins have been found dead on New Jersey beaches in recent days, bringing the total to 52 since July 9.
From right, Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team
members Krystal Rodrique of
Virginia Beach, Va. and intern Liz Schell of
Durango, Co. load a deceased male dolphin
onto a metalstretcher on
Ocean View Beach in Norfolk, Va. (AP)
Officials say severely decomposed dolphins washed up Saturday in
Barnegat Light and Long Beach Township, both in Ocean County, and in
Upper Township in Cape May County.
That came one day after dolphins
washed up in Seaside Heights in Ocean County, Longport in Atlantic
County and Stone Harbor in Cape May County,
(Dorothy Edwards | The Virginian-Pilot)
State
officials have been working with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in
Brigantine to determine why so many dolphins are dying.
WATCH:Cause of mass dolphin death still a mystery.
The federal government has also been investigating the cause of dolphin deaths up and down the Eastern Seaboard this summer, exploring many possible causes such as disease, changes in the environment and human activities. - CBS.
August 14, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Bottlenose dolphins are washing up on mid-Atlantic beaches in staggering numbers this summer. In response, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has declared an "unusual mortality event," and researchers say the death rate is seven times higher than normal for the East Coast in July.
"This is the highest number that we have had for this time of year since
1987," Susan Barco, research coordinator for the Virginia Aquarium
& Marine Science Center told USA Today.
And what happened in '87? Morbillivirus, a virus related to measles,
killed over 740 dolphins along the East Coast in a three month span.
According to the Press of Atlantic City, four of the 28 dolphins that
washed up in New Jersey last month had the morbillivirus, with lab tests
pending for the rest of the carcasses.
"The minute (the dolphins) started coming in, there were similarities
(to the 1987 outbreak)," Bob Schoelkopf, founding director of the Marine
Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, told the Press of Atlantic City.
The huge number of strandings has put an enormous financial strain on
groups like his that lack institutional backing, but the NOAA's
declaration of an "unusual mortality event" will direct some federal
funding to the Center.
An "unusual mortality event" is rare; the Press of
Atlantic City reports that only 59 have been declared nationwide since
1991. This month's declaration comes after a particularly deadly month
for bottlenose dolphins, with at least 124 strandings reported from
Virginia to New York since July. Last month, 13 bottlenose strandings
were reported on Long Island from Long Beach to Montauk, along with one
in Coney Island and one in the Rockaway, Newsday reports.
NOAA says it's too early to attribute the death toll to Morbillvirus,
and cautions that "there are no unifying gross necropsy findings,
although several dolphins have presented with pulmonary lesions... Based
on the rapid increase in strandings over the last two weeks and the
geographic extent of these mortalities, an infectious pathogen is at the
top of the list of potential causes for this UME, but all potential
causes of these mortalities will be evaluated."
To report a live or dead stranded dolphin in the Northeast U.S., call
the local marine mammal stranding network (1-866-755-6622). - Gothamist.
August 10, 2013 - UNITED STATES - An unusually high number of bottlenose dolphins are dying off the East Coast this summer, the deadliest period for the sea mammals since a virus killed off more than 700 in the late 1980s, federal officials said Thursday.
July. 3, 2013: An Atlantic bottlenose dolphin named Tanner is shown
during a demonstration at the
Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key in
Marathon, Fla. (AP)
Researchers are investigating what may have killed the 124 dolphins found stranded in coastal areas in the Mid-Atlantic region since July — seven times the historic average, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said. All but seven of the dolphins were already dead when they were discovered, and each of those eventually died or had to be euthanized.
It isn't clear whether an infectious disease is causing the deaths; scientists plan to test blood and tissue for viruses, bacteria, fungi and biotoxins, among other things. But humans and marine mammals do share common pathogens, and anyone who finds a dead dolphin is being urged to stay away from it and contact authorities.
The discoveries have led the federal agency to declare an unusual mortality event for bottlenose dolphins, a significant designation that Congress created in the wake of the in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and previous dolphin kill-off.
The declaration means scientists will have access to additional research funding. That investigation and analysis by teams of national and international experts could take months or even years to finalize, and officials say there is likely little they can do to stop the deaths unless the root cause is ultimately blamed on humans. And determining a cause is difficult: Of the 60 unusual mortality events declared since 1991, causes have been determined for only 29 of them.
Among dolphins, other strandings have also been caused by trauma, starvation, algal blooms and pollution.
At the top of the suspect list for the deaths is the same disease that led to 740 dolphins dying between New Jersey and Florida in 1987 and 1988, a morbillivirus infection. Morbillivirus is found in a broad range of marine mammals like seals, and its symptoms often involve lesions appearing in the lungs and central nervous tissues. Many of the dolphins have washed up badly decomposed, and lesions have been found in some of them.
One of the washed-up dolphins has already preliminarily tested positive for morbillivirus, but officials say it is too early to tell if that is the culprit for the other deaths. So far, necropsies haven't revealed a unifying cause. The morbillivirus passes from dolphin to dolphin, and bottlenose dolphins are typically found in groups of two to 15.
"We're not saying that this is a morbillivirus outbreak," Teri Rowles, NOAA's National Marine Mammal Stranding Coordinator, said in a conference call with reporters. "But because of the size of it right now, everybody's making that link at this point. But that is not a confirmed diagnosis or cause of this event at this point."
Officials say the spike in strandings began in early July, with dead dolphins reported in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. There are two different stocks of dolphins that populate that region, with the northern stock having between 7,000 and 9,000 dolphins, while the southern stock has between 9,900 to 12,000 dolphins, according to federal estimates. Rowles said the population is too large for there to be a plan to vaccinate or otherwise treat the animals.
Virginia has experienced the largest increase in dolphin strandings this year, with most occurring along heavily populated beaches at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Officials say the number of dolphins that have died is likely greater than the number reported, with many more likely dying at sea and not washing up. - FOX News.
August 08, 2013 - UNITED STATES - The number of dead dolphins that have washed ashore this year in Virginia reached 100 over the weekend.
From right, Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team members Krystle
Rodrique of Virginia Beach, Va. and intern Liz Schell of Durango, Co.
carry a deceased male dolphin on a metal stretcher from Ocean View Beach
in Norfolk, Va. on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013. This was their third dolphin
retrieval of the day. (Dorothy Edwards | The Virginian-Pilot)
Since Thursday, 13 dolphin corpses have been recovered in the state,
bringing the total for 2013 well above the typical 64 found annually by
the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team.
Some of
the dolphins have been severely decomposed, making it difficult for
marine biologists to understand what is causing the die-off.
"We
get calls from people who see them floating, but we don't have the
equipment to track them down," said Joan Barns, spokeswoman for the
Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center. "Unfortunately, there
are probably more dead dolphins out there, but they just haven't landed
yet."
According to marine biologists, dolphin
strandings peak in May and June. But this year, 44 dolphins were found
dead on Virginia beaches in July, most in the southern part of the
Chesapeake Bay. On average, only six or seven dead dolphins are picked
up by the team in July.
(Dorothy Edwards | The Virginian-Pilot)
(Dorothy Edwards | The Virginian-Pilot)
(Dorothy Edwards | The Virginian-Pilot)
(Dorothy Edwards | The Virginian-Pilot)
(Dorothy Edwards | The Virginian-Pilot)
The team alerted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to the elevated numbers after seeing the monthly spike, as did the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, N.J., after picking up at least 21 dead or dying dolphins in New Jersey in July. The death toll of dolphins in New Jersey also rose over the weekend, reaching 25 on Friday afternoon, according to reports from The Press of Atlantic City.
Delaware and Maryland have also seen a recent uptick in dolphin deaths this year. According to The Press, 10 dead dolphins were picked up in Delaware between June and early July, when typically only five or six are recorded. In Maryland - although a spike has been noticed - the number of dead dolphins was unknown, the paper reported. - Pilot Online.
August 05, 2013 - UNITED STATES - Officials are trying to determine the cause of a sharp increase in dolphin deaths in Virginia and other East Coast states.
Aug. 1, 2013: From right, Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team
members Krystal Rodrique of
Virginia Beach, Va. and intern Liz Schell of
Durango, Co. load a deceased male dolphin onto a metal
stretcher on
Ocean View Beach in Norfolk, Va. (AP)
Five beached dolphins were found in Virginia alone on Thursday. In
July, nearly four dozen dead dolphins were found, mostly in Norfolk and
along the southern part of the Chesapeake Bay. That's up from the
typical six or seven usually picked up in July by the Virginia Aquarium
Stranding Response Team.
"We've had a steady number coming in at the beginning of the summer,
and starting last week, the numbers spiked," Susan Barco, research
coordinator for the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, told
The Virginian-Pilot (http://bit.ly/11x9uEv). "We're just trying to keep
our head above water."
Delaware and Maryland also have seen an uptick in dolphin deaths.
According to The Press of Atlantic City, 10 dead dolphins were picked up
in Delaware between June and early July, when in a typical year only
five or six are recorded. In Maryland, authorities said a spike had been
noticed but exact numbers of deaths were not known.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has sent
inquiries to stranding centers along the East Coast to determine whether
spikes have been seen elsewhere.
In New Jersey, initial necropsy results have pointed to pneumonia,
but Maggie Mooney-Seus, spokeswoman for NOAA's National Marine Fisheries
Service, was not ready to connect Virginia's die-off to what may be
affecting dolphins in other states.
"We don't know at this point what has caused the upswing," she said.
"Virginia is higher than New Jersey, but we don't know anything
particular because we're still collecting data."
Virginia's stranding team says the elevated numbers are reminiscent
off the mass deaths that occurred in 1987, when more than 750 carcasses
washed ashore from New Jersey to Florida. A few years later,
morbillivirus -- similar to measles -- was determined to be the culprit,
as dolphins exhibited symptoms associated with measles and pneumonia.
"It's eerily familiar," Barco said of the recent strandings. "That is one virus we're looking for now."
In Virginia this year, the response team has collected the remains of
87 dolphins. The team typically picks up around 60 dolphins in an
entire year.
On Thursday, Krystle Rodrique, a volunteer with the stranding team,
and Liz Schell, an intern, worked to dig up the tail of a dead dolphin
as waves crashed in, hampering their efforts. The team documents where
the animals were found and takes photos.
Rodrique cradled the corpse, setting it down lightly on a wooden
deck. Despite her gloves, the smell -- a mix of pet store and rotting
fish -- will remain on her hands.
"You get used to the smell, but I never can really get it off my hands," she said. "I try to scrub them over and over again."
The sooner workers find the dolphins, the better chance they have of figuring out what is causing the deaths.
Barco said teams haven't seen any physical trauma that would indicate
entanglements or sonar damage, as midfrequency naval sonar has been
linked in the past to whale and dolphin deaths. Ted Brown, a spokesman
for the Navy's Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, said "there has been no
change or increase in sonar use that could be related" to the recent
surge.
Barco said her team of 60 volunteers, eight staff members and six
interns are logging extra hours and have postponed its annual dolphin
count in order to keep up with the deaths. The program is funded by
grants, donations and contracts, and she says it's short on time and
money.
"I just put in for overtime that we can't afford to pay. We don't
have a lab like some places do, so we're working out of a tent," Barco
said. "This event is going to stretch us." - FOX News.
In the weeks between late May and June, five sea turtles washed ashore along Delaware’s beaches. Then, over last weekend into Monday, that number more than doubled: six additional dead turtles were found. Along New Jersey beaches, four dead sea turtles washed in on Sunday alone. And along the Virginia coast, the number of dead turtles was abnormally high during May.
Delaware marine officials examine a dead sea turtle that washed up on Dewey Beach.
State and federal officials who monitor sea turtle populations said they don’t know if the numbers indicate any problem. “This time of year, turtles are migrating,” said Edna Stetzer, a state biologist. “They might be more concentrated.” And several days of onshore winds may have driven dead and dying turtles — creatures that wouldn’t typically be discovered — up onto beaches in the area, said Suzanne Thurman, executive director of the MERR Institute, Delaware’s marine stranding organization. Kate Sampson, the federal sea turtle stranding and disentanglement coordinator in this region, said federal, state and regional stranding coordinators from Maine to Virginia are gathering for planned quarterly meetings next week and will discuss what they have been seeing. Sampson said that turtles typically begin arriving along the Virginia coast in April and May, then move north. The Chesapeake and Delaware bays are popular summer feeding grounds for juvenile loggerhead turtles.
“Once turtles start moving into an area, the strandings start to increase,” she said. The one concern in Virginia is that strandings in May numbered 58 sea turtles. So far in June, there have been 39, she said. Typically, those numbers would be reversed, she said. So the question is: “What is that all about?” she said. “So far, there is no one smoking gun.” One factor may be the impact from a warmer-than-usual winter and early spring — something that affected everything from horseshoe crab spawning to plant flowering. Another may be the strong onshore winds of the last few weeks. What is not known is whether other factors — boat strikes, marine pollution or disease — also could be playing a role, she said. Delaware’s numbers, for instance, are a little higher than normal but not alarming, she said. Warmer water temperatures do allow species such as sea turtles to move north sooner to forage for food, she said. One thing officials in Delaware look for is whether the turtles show signs of injury, such as from a boat strike or entanglement with fishing gear, Stetzer said. The bigger concern, she said, is if they are washing up for no apparent reason. The state Division of Fish & Wildlife and the MERR Institute hold a joint permit to respond to turtle strandings. Rob Rector, with the MERR Institute, responded to one stranding in early June. The turtle was a 200-pound sub-adult loggerhead, he said. It showed no signs of a propeller strike. “We know that for a fact,” he said. The shell did have some dislocations, but that could be caused by tumbling in the surf, he said. Of the Delaware turtle strandings, all but one have been loggerheads. One of the strandings last weekend was a leatherback. - Washington Post.
