Earthweek: a diary of the planet
For the week ending Friday, June 16.
Earthquakes
A 6.9-magnitude quake killed five people and wrecked buildings along the western Guatemala-Mexico border.
One woman was killed by a 6.3-magnitude quake that damaged homes on the Greek island of Lesbos.
Earth movements were also felt in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, West Java and northern Arkansas.
A wetter tropics
NASA says Earth’s tropical climates are likely to experience more rainfall than predicted as the planet continues to warm, even as the region’s high clouds thin out in the decades ahead. In a counterintuitive process of heating and cooling, less high cloudiness means the air above the tropical surface would actually cool without those clouds capping in the heat below. Researchers say this would alter Earth’s “energy budget” and create more tropical rainfall. Most climate models have failed to factor in this process, thus underestimating future tropical rainfall.
Iceberg siege
An unusually dense flow of melting ice from the Arctic trapped boats off Newfoundland during the first half of June, bringing the Maritime Province’s fishing season to a halt. The Canadian Coast Guard says the ice has been so bad that its icebreaker has been unable to free the vessels. The Coast Guard has instead been forced to rescue several crew members aboard the ships by helicopter. The snow crab season has been open for weeks, but most fishermen have been stuck ashore.
Late nesters
Birds and bumblebees that nest later in the year are under threat and declining in population because of habitat losses. Researchers from the University of Exeter discovered that species that nest in April or May rather than in February or March are disappearing more rapidly. A loss of wild shrubs and trees that line fields and roads, along with disappearing meadows in many countries, are factors in the declining populations. Fighting over nest sites may be part of the reason.
War zone refuge
An Afghan wetland just outside Kabul will soon become a protected sanctuary for hundreds of migratory bird species. The U.N. has designated the marsh a conservation site, where each spring, storks, egrets, flamingos and pelicans stop on their migration. It was once a royal hunting ground but became a human sanctuary during the 1979 Soviet invasion and other conflicts.
Avian influenza
China reported 37 more human fatalities in May from the H7N9 strain of bird flu, which has killed at least 268 people since October. Health authorities say bird flu deaths typically wane after winter but advised the public to stay away from live poultry. Bird farmers and sellers have ramped up sanitation efforts.