NEWS|
Earthweek
15
by Steve Newman
Ocean Acidity
Gorilla Flu
Out of Asia
Earthquakes
Temperatures
Jeff Kirk
Average: Water: High
Atlantic
92° 79° Gulf Stream Low 72° 86°
Rain Gauge Total July rain through the 10th: 0.84”, normal 1.89”, +1.05” for the month. Total 2005 rain: 24.73”, normal 24.82”, 0.09” for the year
An increasing number of white storks is remaining in southern Portugal for the entire year instead of migrating to their historic wintering grounds of Africa. Conservationists say that milder winters due to climate change are partly responsible, but the introduction of crayfish into Portuguese rivers has also provided a food source for the birds during winter. Widespread use of pesticides decades ago killed vast numbers of the frogs, rodents and large insects that the storks fed on, threatening to cause the birds to disappear. But the more temperate winters and arrival of the crayfish have allowed the number of breeding pairs in Portugal to rise to around 7,700, up from about 1,500 in 1985. ◗
Daytime Tides for Wed through Sun: Wed 07:19AM L
01:44PM H
07:52PM L
Thu
08:05AM L
02:32PM H
08:51PML
Fri
08:57AM L
03:22PM H
09:54PM L
Sat
09:54AM L
04:16PM H
10:57PM L
Sun
10:54AM L
05:14PM H
11:58PM L
Call toll free for Jeff’s daily forecast: 1-866-369-2228
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Tropical Cyclones
Year-Round Storks
07 . 1 3 . 05
Volcanoes
Endangered mountain gorillas in Uganda and Rwanda are dying from respiratory illnesses, forcing precautions for tourists, according to a study published in New Scientist. While poaching is the single largest cause of death in the gorilla population, new research shows that a quarter of the 100 primates’ deaths dating back to 1968 were due to illnesses such as 3.7 influenza and other viruses. “In a bid to cut the risk of people passing these diseases on, ecotourists who trek to see the gorillas in the wild already have to stay at least 7 meters (yards) away, and keep their visit to no more than an hour,” according to epidemiologist and report author Chris Whittier.
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A report by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society warned that the rising level of Cindy acidity in the world’s oceans, 4.3 5.5 due to increased greenhouse 3.2 Dennis 3.9 0 gasses in the atmosphere, is +120 3.6 threatening irreversible damage Podor, 6.6 to the marine environment. The Senegal Dora 6.0 6.7 report says the oceans have already absorbed about half of all the carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by humans through the -103 0 burning of fossil fuels over the 4.6 South Pole, past 200 years. This has caused Antarctica pH levels in the oceans to drop by 0.1 units on the 14-point scale. Scientists fear the rising acidity will make it more difficult Week Ending July 8, 2005 for coral and other marine organisms to form skeletons and rebuilding the dome that was destroyed in • A sharp quake in the northwest shells, causing a cascade effect through Sumatra aftershock zone caused further a massive 1980 eruption. the oceans’ food chain. The scientists damage to roads and buildings already warn that higher CO2 levels will also make affected by previous quakes. it harder for many marine fish and Migrating geese and other • Earth movements were also felt in shellfish to breathe and reproduce, and birds infected with bird flu at a northeastern Japan, New Zealand’s North reduce the ocean’s ability to absorb western China wildlife refuge Island, northern India, northeastern and further greenhouse gas from the atmoscould carry the virus to India, southern Iran, central coastal Chile, phere. The latter would accelerate the rate Australia, New Zealand and eventually western Nicaragua and along the of global warming, the scientists said. Europe, according to a report published California-Mexico border. jointly by the journals Science and Nature. An undersea eruption near U.N. scientists announced that more than Tropical Storm Cindy brought Japan’s Minami-Iwojima Island 5,000 migrating birds have been found heavy rainfall and gales as it sent plumes of water vapor infected with the highly pathogenic H5N1 came ashore near the mouth of rising into the Pacific skies strain of avian influenza since it was first the Mississippi River. about 870 miles south of Tokyo. Military discovered on April 30 at Lake Qinghaihu. • An area of disturbed weather in the spotters said the water surrounding the One of the symptoms seen in the infected southeastern Caribbean quickly submerged volcano had become yelbirds was diarrhea, which means the virus strengthened into Hurricane Dennis. The lowish brown due to the activity. Previous could spread in contaminated water elsestorm was approaching the coast of eruptions were observed in the same area where on the birds’ migration routes. southwestern Cuba late in the week and during 1986 and 1993. could later strike the southeastern United • A large chunk of Mount St. Helens’ lava Eight houses were damaged States. dome collapsed, producing an ash plume along Panama’s Pacific coast • Tropical Storm Dora formed briefly off that soared high above the crater in when a magnitude 6.0 temblor western Mexico. southwestern Washington state. The struck just offshore. mountain rumbled back to life last Sept. 23, with rising lava creating tremors and