Earthweek: a diary of the planet

Harsher climate

A new study concludes that extreme weather events will become far more likely and intense around the world, even if the Paris climate agreement’s goal of keeping global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) is met. Researchers from Stanford and Columbia universities expanded on earlier studies of climate records, which demonstrated how carbon emissions have increased the probability of recordingbreaking hot, wet and dry events, even in a current warmer climate. Another report, in the journal Nature Communications, cautions that even if the Paris agreement’s goals are met, sea level is still likely to rise at least 2 to 4 feet by the year 2300.

Earthquakes

Britain’s strongest earthquake in 10 years caused structural damage in southwest England and Wales. A strong quake also wrecked about 200 homes in southern Mexico’s Oaxaca state.

And Earth movements were felt in Iceland, northern Taiwan and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sleep singing

Argentine researchers have found that zebra finches seem to be practicing their songs while they sleep without actually making a sound.

It’s long been known that the birds’ brains spontaneously reproduce the same patterns in their sleep that they use when singing during the day. But scientists from the University of Buenos Aires have found that the finches’ vocal muscles also are moving during their avian

slumber. The only thing keeping the tiny birds from actually singing while sleeping is the absence of an air flow through their throats. Scientists think the sleep “singing” might be how the birds learn new songs or keep their existing tunes stable.

‘Day Zero’ respite

The day of reckoning for drought-parched Cape Town has been pushed back to at least July 9, at which time all water taps across the South African metropolitan area are slated to be turned off due to critically low water reserves. Authorities had warned that “Day Zero” would arrive as early as March. But conservation efforts and leak repairs in recent weeks have given residents more time before they likely will be forced to go to local distribution points for fresh water. Residents and tourists have been asked to use only 13 gallons per day to preserve the remaining supply.

Primate peril

Roughly half of the orangutans living on Borneo have disappeared over the past 16 years due to hunting and vast destruction of their habitat.

Researchers say much of the loss of 100,000 of the island’s orangutans is due to logging operations that clear the land to make way for palm plantations and mining. Field researcher Serge Wich says targeted killings and other direct conflicts with humans are pushing the primates beyond their wellknown ability to adapt to a changing landscape.

Sumatran eruption

A blast from northern Sumatra’s Mount Sinabung volcano sent ash and other debris falling over nearby settlements and crops. A red alert was issued for aviation after the ash plume soared nearly 24,000 feet into jet routes.

Tropical cyclones Remnants of Cyclone Gita triggered widespread flooding and several mudslides across central and southern New Zealand. Roads were washed out, and flights in and out of the capital, Wellington, were halted.

Warm inland “oceans” caused by weeks of flooding rains in the remote desert of northwestern Australia helped Cyclone Kelvin intensify, and even form an eye, after it moved ashore.