Earthweek: Diary of a Changing World
Week ending Friday, March 29, 2024
Fungal Threat
Medical experts are sounding the alarm over a growing global wave of infections caused by fungi that are becoming more drug-resistant, leaving patients with fewer options should they become critically ill.
Epidemiological data published in the journal Microbial Cell says the rise in fungal infections has brought 150 million new cases annually, with almost 1.7 million deaths globally.
“The World Health Organization has recognized it as a widespread threat that has the potential to impact entire healthcare systems if left unchecked,” said professor of dermatology Thomas McCormick at Case Western Reserve University.
Earthquakes
Seven people perished and 1,000 homes were destroyed during a temblor that struck northern Papua New Guinea.
• Significant damage was reported in East Java from a magnitude 6.4 quake.
• Earth movements were also felt in Indonesia’s Savu Sea region and in the Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border area.
Dusty Climate
A plume of dust from the arid expanses of the Sahara Desert that arrived in Spain on southerly winds during late February was the latest sign that such dust clouds are reaching Europe more frequently.
Sara Basart of the World Meteorological Organization points to several warm “calima” winds that brought dust to the Canary Islands and western Mediterranean so far this year.
Such dust clouds can create unhealthful air quality, cause flight cancellations and dim the sunlight feeding solar panels.
Researchers point to ongoing drought in northwestern Africa and blocked weather patterns in the western Mediterranean that resulted in more winds blowing north from the Sahara toward Europe.
Toxic Eruption
A massive plume of toxic gas from Iceland’s latest volcanic eruption blew high over Ireland and the United Kingdom before slowly dissipating across Scandinavia. But officials said the gas did not pose any health dangers.
Scientists did caution that the 110 pounds of sulfur dioxide emitted every second on March 17 had the potential to react with ozone molecules in the stratosphere around the Arctic.
This could have depleted the amount of the protective gas that shields Earth’s surface from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.
Geomagnetic Storm
The strongest and fastest-moving solar storm to strike Earth’s magnetic field since Sept. 7, 2017 failed to disrupt high-frequency communications as another such storm did during mid-December 2023.
The timing of the arrival of charged particles from a massive solar flare caused New Zealand to be the recipient of colorful auroras instead of the Northern Hemisphere, which was also spared any radio blackouts this time.
No Anthropocene
The scientific body responsible for Earth’s geological time scale rejected a proposal to designate the period since 1952 as the Anthropocene Epoch, or “Human Age,” to officially reflect the vast impacts humankind has had wielded on the planet.
The International Union of Geological Sciences rejected the proposal by a large group of scientists dubbed the Anthropocene Working Group, which proposed that radioactive isotopes spread worldwide by hydrogen bomb tests in the 1950s marked the beginning the new epoch.
The decision cannot be appealed, and Earth officially remains in the Holocene Epoch, which started at the end of the last ice age, around 11,700 years ago.
Tropical Cyclones
Category-2 Cyclone Gamane raked the northern tip of Madagascar with high winds and heavy rain before taking aim on Réunion and Mauritius.
• Former Category-4 Cyclone Neville lost force over the eastern Indian Ocean.