Earthweek: a diary of the planet
Worms in a row
The severe floods that recently submerged parts of Texas also brought out clumps of earthworms that were inexplicably organized along a straight line. Rangers at Eisenhower State Park, on the shores of Lake Texoma near Denison, were mystified to find the spaghetti-like piles oriented in such a way. Park superintendent Ben Herman said rangers checking back roads during the storms found the worms had grouped in writhing piles. Rangers theorize the lines could be where the crawlers found the driest stretches of pavement to escape the floods.
Warming migration
Rising ocean temperatures are driving fish toward the poles in a trend that could expose the creatures to less hospitable habitats and threaten some of their survival. University of Washington researchers say it’s not just the ocean warmth driving the migration, but also the drop in oxygen levels when the oceans warm. Oceanographers say they may now face more predators.
Record rains
Most residents in floodravaged parts of America’s southern Plains won’t argue with the finding that May turned out to be the wettest month since record-keeping began 121 years ago. The average rainfall for the month across the contiguous United States was 4.36 inches, or 1.45 inches greater than average. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calculated that more than 200 trillion gallons of water fell from the American sky during May. Despite the Texas and Oklahoma deluges during the month, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and South Carolina each recorded a top 10 driest May ever.
Deadly earthquake
The bodies of 17 hikers and one of their guides were recovered from Malaysia’s highest peak after a rare and strong temblor unleashed deadly landslides. Climbers from 16 countries had ascended to the summit of Mount Kinabalu on June 5 just before the 6.0-magnitude quake.
Sumatran rumblings
The lava dome at Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung volcano grew so much during recent weeks that officials warned farmers and residents near the mountain’s slopes that an explosive eruption could occur at any moment. Columns of ash and steam could be seen towering above farmers.
No warming pause
An update of recent temperature records released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reveals that the highly advertised hiatus in global warming this century never happened. The agency says that more data from a doubling of reliable weather stations on land reveal that Earth’s average global surface temperature warmed 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit each decade since 1950, without interruption. The director of the agency’s National Climatic Data Center says that with new data and calibrations, “this (warming) hiatus or slowdown simply vanishes.”
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