"C'est quand même un peu fort qu'on ne sache pas comment est fait le fond de l'océan aujourd'hui", peste Françoise Gaill, directrice de recherche au CNRS et coordinatrice du comité scientifique de la plateforme Océan et Climat, qui organise avec l'Unesco cette troisième journée dédiée aux océans.......Journée de l'océan: les fonds marins bien moins connus que le sol lunaire
--
Bright Lights, Strange Sounds Detected on Jupiter ...
ReplyDeleteNASA has released a photo showing glowing auroras on Jupiter.
The image was taken using the Hubble Space Telescope and shows the auroras, which are bigger than Earth, lighting up the gas giant’s poles.
While Earth also has auroras, they’re caused by solar storms as opposed to Jupiter’s, which are caused by the massive planet pulling in charged particles from its surroundings as well as the solar winds.
"These auroras are very dramatic and among the most active I have ever seen", says Jonathan Nichols from Britain's University of Leicester and principal investigator of the study. "It almost seems as if Jupiter is throwing a firework party for the imminent arrival of Juno."
The Juno space probe is days away from a rocket burn that will insert the spacecraft into Jupiter’s orbit later this month.....voanews.com
1/7/16
The hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic has begun to shrink, signalling good news for the environment several decades after an international accord to phase out certain pollutants, researchers in the US have said...
ReplyDeleteThe study found that the September ozone hole has shrunk by four million square kilometers (1.5 million square miles since 2000) - an area about the size of India.
"It's a big surprise," said lead author Professor Susan Solomon, an atmospheric chemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in an interview with Science magazine.
"I didn't think it would be this early."
The ozone hole was first discovered in the 1950s.
It reached record size in October 2015, but Prof Solomon and colleagues determined that this was due to the eruption of the Chilean volcano Calbuco.
The overall trend toward recovery became apparent when scientists studied measurements from satellites, ground-based instruments and weather balloons in the month of September, not October when the ozone hole typically peaks in size.
"I think people, myself included, had been too focused on October, because that's when the ozone hole is enormous," said Prof Solomon.
"But October is also subject to the slings and arrows of other things that vary, like slight changes in meteorology."
The study attributed the ozone's recovery to the "continuing decline of atmospheric chlorine originating from chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)," or chemicals that were once emitted by dry cleaning, refrigerators, hairspray and other aerosols.
Most of the world signed on to the Montreal Protocol in 1987, which banned the use of CFCs.
"We can now be confident that the things we've done have put the planet on a path to heal," said Prof Solomon.
AFP
1/7/16
At least 30 homes and a school were destroyed in an earthquake that caused no injuries or deaths in Tajikistan, the ex-Soviet country's state emergencies committee reported Saturday...
ReplyDeleteA committee spokesman told AFP an earthquake of 5.4 magnitude struck in the remote Rasht region roughly 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of the Central Asian country's capital Dushanbe at around 1500 GMT on Friday.
A full assessment of the damage is still being carried out by the committee's team on the ground, the spokesman added.
Mountainous and poverty-struck Tajikistan is prone to regular natural disasters including landslides and earthquakes.
Last week in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan a stronger quake of 6.7 magnitude struck close to the nation's shared border according to the Kyrgyz emergency services ministry, but did not cause damage or casualties.
AFP
2/7/16
At least 31 people were killed in the village of Ursun in the North of Pakistan, when caused by tropical rains flooded a mosque, several houses and a military base, reports France 24...
ReplyDeleteIn Pakistan regularly occurring floods. In April of this year the floods in the North-West of the country killed more than 50 people.
Last summer in the floods caused by monsoon rains in Pakistan have suffered from 250.000 to 600.000 people.
israel-today.ru
3/7/16
A solar-powered spacecraft is spinning toward Jupiter for a close encounter with the biggest planet in our solar system...
ReplyDeleteNASA's Juno spacecraft fires its rocket engine late Monday to slow itself down from a speed of 250,000 kph and slip into orbit around Jupiter.
Juno was put on autopilot days ago, so the critical move comes without any help from ground controllers. The spacecraft's camera and other instruments were also turned off for the arrival so there won't be any pictures at the moment Juno reaches its destination.
Scientists have promised close-up views of Jupiter's poles, clouds and auroras during the 20-month, $1.1 billion mission.
Juno is only the second mission designed to spend time at Jupiter. Galileo, which launched in 1989, circled Jupiter for 14 years.
The Associated Press
4/7/16
The Juno space probe has arrived in orbit around Jupiter in a historic moment for astronomy after a five-year, 2.3 billion-kilometre voyage...
DeleteThe spacecraft, named after the Roman goddess, completed a high-stakes manoeuvre that saw it fire a rocket to slow its 250,000km/hr approach to the planet.
Cheers and applause erupted in mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology when a signal arrived confirming the burn was complete at around 4.54am.
The mission's chief scientist, Scott Bolton, congratulated his team, saying "you've just done the hardest thing NASA's ever done" as the technicians and scientists celebrated completing the complex approach procedure.
However the mission still faces the huge challenge of operating the $1.1 billion probe in one of the solar system's harshest environments, where circuitry-frying levels of radiation and high velocity dust and particles will be a constant threat.
Should all go to plan, Juno's instruments and camera could provide insights into the history of the solar system and return stunning images of the planet......http://www.rte.ie/news/2016/0705/800196-juno-orbits-jupiter/
Après Fukushima, la radioactivité dans le Pacifique quasi normale...
ReplyDeleteLes niveaux de radioactivité à travers l'océan Pacifique sont en train de revenir rapidement à la normale cinq ans après la catastrophe nucléaire de Fukushima au Japon, a révélé une étude publiée lundi.
Le 11 mars 2011, un séisme de magnitude 9 et un tsunami géant avaient dévasté la région du Tohoku (nord-est), faisant près de 19.000 morts et disparus. Le phénomène avait provoqué un grave accident nucléaire à la centrale de Fukushima, à l'origine d'une des plus importantes pollutions radioactive des océans jamais survenues.
Dans les jours qui ont suivi le drame, l'eau de mer destinée à refroidir les réacteurs avait charrié dans l'océan des matériaux nucléaires, ensuite dispersés par les courants.
Cinq ans après, un rapport du Comité scientifique de recherche océanique, qui regroupe des experts internationaux, explique que les substances radioactives avaient été disséminées jusqu'aux côtes des Etats-Unis....AFP
North Korea released water from a dam near its border with the South without warning early Wednesday morning, increasing fears of floods in areas already hit by heavy rainfall in recent days...
ReplyDeleteThe North did not notify South Korean officials in advance of the floodgates opening.
Seoul has said it does not believe that Pyongyang would engage in a "flooding attack," but monitors water levels at the Hwanggang Dam closely.
No major injuries or damages have been reported from Wednesday's discharge, but South Korea has evacuated residents who live along the Imjin river.
Residents in areas prone to mudslides and flooding had been evacuated earlier this week following days of heavy rainfall.....voanews.com
6/7/16
Fourteen wildfires hit Russia's Far East within 24 hours, destroying 1,400 hectares of forest, the local forestry department reported Wednesday...
ReplyDeleteThe Chukotka region suffered the most, it said, adding that wildfires were also reported in Yakutsk, Magadan, and Khabarovsk.
About 500 firefighters, 40 pieces of equipment and ten aircraft were involved in the firefighting efforts, the local administration said.
The Far East region has witnessed 1,044 forest fires so far this year, far more from the same period last year, covering 574.1 hectares of land.
In recent years, relatively hotter summers in the Russian Far East have created prime conditions for wildfires.
globaltimes.cn
6/7/16
Typhoon Nepartak: Taiwan on high alert as storm approaches...
ReplyDeleteTaiwan is bracing itself for the arrival of a vast typhoon, expected to hit the island in the next day.
Thousands of tourists have been evacuated from offshore islands ahead of category five Typhoon Nepartak.
The super typhoon packed winds of up to 263km (163 miles) an hour, some 780km south-east of Taiwan's Hualien city on Wednesday, officials said.
They also warned of the risk of flooding and mudslides as high winds and lashing rains were expected.
"As the typhoon kept gaining strength and approaching Taiwan over the past three hours, the Central Weather Bureau decided to issue a sea warning at 14:30 local time (06:30 GMT)", senior forecaster Chen Yi-liang told AFP.
"Residents must heighten their vigilance."......http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36732266
7/7/16
Four people lost their lives in northern India Saturday after entering a commercial building while it was being demolished, police said...
ReplyDeleteOne person was pulled out alive from under the rubble and was undergoing treatment in a local hospital in Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh state, police said.
"We are yet to complete our rescue work but don't think there is anyone else under the rubble," Daya Shankar Dwivedi, a spokesman for the senior superintendent of Meerut Police, told AFP.
Police have registered a criminal case against the Meerut Cantonment Board, which was carrying out the demolition drive after a state court order.
Police said the victims went inside the building without permission while the demolition process was ongoing.
"Initially, the authorities had sanitized the entire structure and its surroundings but the victims, who own a tea shop next to the building, went in on the pretext of collecting some goods when the structure collapsed over them," Dwivedi said.
The victims included a father and his son and two relatives.
The police said their probe will assess whether those in charge of demolition at the site were neglectful in their duties.
AFP
9/7/16
On Sunday evening, July 10, on the North coast of Ecuador earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 and 6.4, according to the European Mediterranean seismological centre (EMSC) and the US Geological survey (USGS)...
ReplyDeleteThis earthquake was preceded by aftershocks of magnitude up to 5.9.
The epicenter was located about 150 km North-West of Quito (capital of Ecuador). Closest to the epicenter of the largest town – the town Rosa Zarate, located 30 km to the South. Hearth lies at a depth of 35-45 km.
Information on destructions and victims did not arrive yet.....israel-today.ru
11/7/16
Solar plane leaves Seville on penultimate leg of round-the-world flight...
ReplyDeleteAn airplane powered solely by energy from the sun took off from southern Spain early on Monday on the penultimate leg of the first ever fuel-free round-the-world flight.
The single-seat Solar Impulse 2 lifted off from Seville at 0420 GMT en route for Cairo, a trip expected to take 50 hours and 30 minutes.
The plane has more than 17,0000 solar cells built in to its wings and travels at a cruising speed of around 70 km per hour (43 mph).
On its journey, which began in Abu Dhabi and is due to end there, it has been piloted in turns by Swiss aviators Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard.
Borschberg is taking this run, the 16th leg, over the Mediterranean Sea, crossing through the airspace of Tunisia, Algeria, Malta, Italy and Greece before ending in Egypt.
(Reporting by Marcelo Pozo; Writing by Paul Day; editing by John Stonestreet)
- Reuters
11/7/16
Flash floods triggered by torrential rain have killed at least 22 people in India and forced more than 170,000 from their homes, officials said Monday, as forecasters predicted more downpours in coming days...
ReplyDeleteIndia's monsoon rains, though vital for agriculture, regularly bring death and destruction. The rain was 35 percent above average in the week that ended on July 6, the weather office said.
Twenty people were killed in the central state of Madhya Pradesh where 70,000 people were left homeless as water rose to dangerous levels along parts of the Narmada river.
Firemen waded through thigh-deep water to rescue women and children in flooded villages while rescue teams used inflatable boats to reach people stranded in urban areas.
"Thousands of people will be evacuated today. We are working on a war footing mode to set up relief camps," additional home secretary Basant Singh said in Bhopal, the state capital.
"The health department is distributing medicines to prevent outbreak of water-borne diseases.".....REUTERS
A Japanese court on Tuesday upheld an order to keep two reactors operated by Kansai Electric Power closed, the utility said, helping keep efforts to get the country's struggling nuclear industry up and running in limbo...
ReplyDeleteThe decision, which backs a petition from residents living near the Takahama atomic station west of Tokyo, means Kansai Electric must go to a higher court to try and win permission to get the reactors back online
The move marks the latest judicial impediment to utilities' attempts to restore atomic power after the Fukushima disaster five years ago. Two out of Japan's 42 operable reactors are running, but a local governor who won election on Sunday has vowed to shut those units down.
While Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government is keen to restore a power source that provided about a third of electricity supply before the meltdowns at Fukushima, the public remains deeply skeptical over industry assurances on safety.
Residents have lodged injunctions against nearby nuclear plants across Japan and lower courts have been increasingly siding with them on safety concerns.
Contentious verdicts are usually overturned by higher courts, where judges tend to be more attuned to government policy, judicial experts say....Reuters
12/7/16
L'avion solaire Solar Impulse 2 atterrit en Égypte, avant-dernière étape de son tour du monde...
ReplyDeleteDeux jours après avoir décollé d'Espagne pour poursuivre son tour du monde à l'énergie solaire, l'avion Solar Impulse 2 a atterri, mercredi, à l'aéroport du Caire. Prochaine étape : Abou Dhabi, d'où il était parti le 9 mars 2015.
"C'était fantastique", s'est exclamé le Suisse André Borschberg, aux commandes de l'avion solaire Solar Impulse 2, après avoir survolé, mercredi 13 juillet, les très célèbres pyramides de Gizeh en Égypte. Après un périple de 3 700 kilomètres effectués en deux jours depuis l'Espagne, Solar Impulse 2 a atterri à l'aéroport du Caire, avant-dernière étape de son tour du monde avec le soleil pour unique carburant.
"J'ai vu tous les pays : l'Algérie, la Tunisie, l'Italie [...]. C'était magnifique !", a ajouté le pilote. Et de préciser : "Tout a très bien marché".....france24.com
13/7/16
A strong 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck New Zealand's Kermadec Islands in the South Pacific late Wednesday, the US Geological Service that monitors quakes worldwide said...
ReplyDeleteThe quake's epicentre was 201 kilometres (124 miles) north east of Raoul Island -- the largest and northernmost of the main Kermadec Islands, striking 12 kilometres below the surface, the USGS said.
There were no reports of casualties or damage and no tsunami warning was issued.
The uninhabited Kermadecs, New Zealand's northernmost islands, lie 1,100 kilometres north of Auckland.
They are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a hotbed of volcanic and earthquake activity at the intersection of several tectonic plates.
france24.com
13/7/16
Spain has begun its first heatwave of the summer with more than a dozen regions gripped by temperatures in excess of 41 degrees Celcius (106 Fahrenheit), the country's meteorological institute said Monday...
ReplyDeleteClear skies and very dry air are set to allow temperatures to soar across much of the penninsula until at least Thursday, said Angel Alcazar, the agency's spokesman.
EFE
18/7/16
7 dead, at least 7 missing as latest downpours hit China ...
ReplyDeleteThe latest downpours to hit China have killed seven people and left at least seven missing, authorities said Tuesday.
Tuesday's heavy rain in central China's Hubei Province has killed five residents in Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, bringing the death toll in Hubei to six, according to the provincial bureau of civil affairs. One person remains missing.
The downpours since Sunday have affected 807,800 people in 35 cities and counties in Hubei, according to the bureau.
In north China's Hebei Province, strong rain killed one person and left at least six residents missing on Tuesday in Cixian County, according to the local government. Three people are still trapped. Rescuers are trying to reach the site, but flooded roads are hampering rescue efforts.
More heavy rain is forecast to hit China in the coming days, said the China Meteorological Administration. The National Meteorological Center has also raised its storm alert from yellow to orange.
China has a four-tier color-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
The center advised residents to take precautions against possible floods, landslides, mudslides and rock flows.
globaltimes.cn
19/7/16
Rising temperatures caused by climate change may cost the world economy over $2 trillion in lost productivity by 2030 as hot weather makes it unbearable to work in some parts of the world... according to U.N. research published Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteIt showed that in Southeast Asia alone, up to 20 percent of annual work hours may already be lost in jobs with exposure to extreme heat — with the figures set to double by 2050, as the effects of climate change deepen.
Across the globe, 43 countries will see a fall in their gross domestic product (GDP) due to reduced productivity, the majority of them in Asia including Indonesia, Malaysia, China, India and Bangladesh, researcher Tord Kjellstrom said.
Indonesia and Thailand could see their GDP reduced by 6 percent in 2030, while in China GDP could be reduced by 0.8 percent and in India by 3.2 percent....REUTERS
The Philippines is reviewing its "crazy" commitment to severely cut greenhouse-gas emissions in the Paris climate deal, new President Rodrigo Duterte has warned...
ReplyDeleteThe government of predecessor Benigno Aquino had pledged to the United Nations to cut the Asian country's emissions by 70 percent by 2030 from 2000 levels if it got support from developed nations to convert to clean technologies.
"I have misgivings about this Paris (climate deal).... The problem is these industrialised countries have reached their destination," Duterte said in a series of speeches during a visit to the southern island of Mindanao on Friday.
The international deal aimed at curbing emissions was signed in Paris in December last year, but only 19 countries including France and island-states threatened by rising sea levels have so far ratified the agreement.
It cannot become effective until 55 countries accounting for 55 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions have fully approved it.
"There is no treaty to honour. We have not signed the treaty," Duterte said, according to transcripts of his comments released by the presidential palace Saturday.
Duterte, who was elected to a six-year term in May, also said poor countries such as the Philippines should be allowed to pursue industrialisation to improve the lives of their people.
"My plan is to put up industrial zones everywhere," said Duterte, with China an "easy market" for such a move.
"If you will not allow us to reach parity, you are already there and we are still here, then I'm saying that's crazy. I will not agree to that."
Duterte said the treaty restrictions would be difficult to implement and the legislature was already reviewing the document...AFP..channelnewsasia.com
23/7/16
La tormenta tropical Darby amenaza a Hawái este sábado, motivo por el que el gobernador David Ige ha declarado el estado de emergencia...
ReplyDeleteSe espera que el fenómeno climatológico ocasione fuertes vientos y lluvias durante esta jornada.
Los meteorólogos dijeron que Darby llegará con vientos de 95 kilómetros por hora y que unos 40 cm de lluvia podrían caer, según alerta la Administración Nacional Oceánica y Atmosférica. "Insto a los residentes y empresarios a seguir las instrucciones de emergencia, prepararse para la tormenta y tomar medidas para proteger a sus familias, empleados y propiedades", informó Reuters citando al gobernador.
RT.COM
23/7/16
Oil spill triggers Sask. city to shut down water intake...
ReplyDeleteThe sighting of an oily sheen on the North Saskatchewan River from last week's Husky Energy pipeline leak has prompted the City of Prince Albert to shut down the intake at its water treatment plant.
City manager Jim Toye says the slick was spotted near the Saskatchewan community of more than 35,000 shortly after 6:00 a.m. today.
Toye says reservoirs have a two-day supply of water and the city may get permission to tap its storm retention pond for treatment and distribution, which would add another four to five days worth of water........http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/oil-spill-triggers-sask-city-to-shut-down-water-intake-1.3001021
25/7/16
A magnitude-5.3 earthquake rocked Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture area just north of the country's capital of Tokyo late Wednesday...
ReplyDeleteJapan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said the quake, which struck at 11:47 local time, measured lower 5 on Japan's seismic scale that peaks at 7, and was centered just north of the capital in neighboring Ibaraki Prefecture.
According to the weather agency, a tsunami advisory has not been issued.
The temblor struck at a latitude of 36.4 degrees north and a longitude of 140.6 degrees east and at a depth of 50 km, JMA said.
There have been no immediate reports of accident or injury as the result of the quake.
All nuclear reactors are showing no signs of abnormalities, the nuclear watchdog here has said.
globaltimes.cn
27/7/16
Floods and landslides in Nepal and India have killed more than 90 people in recent days, with at least two million residents forced to flee their homes, officials said Thursday...
ReplyDeleteNepal has been worst hit, with homes and bridges destroyed after days of torrential monsoon rains, although water levels were now receding.
"Since Monday, 73 people have been killed in the floods and landslides," home ministry deputy spokesman Jhanka Nath Dhakal told AFP, increasing the death toll from Tuesday after the discovery of 15 more bodies.
"Our teams are working continuously in affected areas to search and rescue. We are also providing relief to the victims."
Images released by the army, which is involved in the operations, showed villagers waiting on rooftops to be evacuated in motorboats.
The worst-hit district was Pyuthan, 250 kilometres (150 miles) west of Kathmandu, where dozens of houses have been swept away.
Scores of people die every year from flooding and landslides during the monsoon rains in Nepal and neighbouring India....AFP
Indian authorities on Saturday tried to rescue thousands of people stranded in flooded villages after a week of heavy rain killed at least 52 people and uprooted tens of thousands of others from their homes in the states of Assam in the remote northeast and Bihar in the east...
ReplyDeleteTwenty-six deaths have been reported in Assam, where incessant downpours have damaged roads and snapped telephone cables in several districts, a government statement said.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh flew over the worst-hit areas on Saturday and said the floods were "very serious."...AP
30/7/16