Balkan drought highlights years of farm neglect – Serbia corn yield halved – Croatia corn ‘rare as gold’

By Daria Sito-Sucic, with additional reporting by Zoran Radosavljevic in Zagreb and Matt Robinson in Belgrade; Editing by Matt Robinson and Pravin Char20 Aug 2012 KALESIJA, Bosnia (Reuters) – As crops wilt and die in the Balkans, farmers struck down by a particularly harsh drought this year are ruing the region’s failure to upgrade irrigation […]

China declares emergency as two typhoons close in – Typhoon Tembin to dump 1 meter of rain in Taiwan mountains – Typhoon Bolaven to be strongest storm yet this season

23 August 2012 By Wang Qian (China Daily) – Two powerful typhoons are heading toward China, putting the weather-beaten nation on alert again after four storms have caused landfalls across the country since the start of August. “Typhoons Tembin and Bolaven may have a combined impact on coastal areas in the coming 10 days,” Zhang […]

Food security worsens in Sudan – 16 million people face stressed/emergency levels in East Africa

27 July 2012 (Famine Early Warning System Network) – There are about 16 million people facing Stressed (IPC Phase 2) to Emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of food insecurity in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda. The main drivers of food insecurity in these countries are poor rains, conflict, high food prices, and […]

Expedition finds frequency of Siberia forest fires is increasing

By Joanne Howl15 August 2012 From Dr. Jon Ranson: […] But the common face of the forest can be summed in one word: change. Whether viewed from helicopter, boat, or on foot, huge areas of forest show the effects of fires. Some fires are recent, but most burned a couple of decades in the past. […]

Image of the Day: Satellite view of Typhoon Tembin, 20 August 2012

Caption by Michon Scott21 August 2012 After four other Typhoons—Saola, Damrey, Haikui, and Kai-tak—made landfall in eastern China in just three weeks, Typhoon Tembin appeared ready to do the same. Tembin formed as a tropical depression over the western Pacific Ocean on 19 August 2012, and strengthened to a typhoon the next day. The Moderate […]

Oceans face ‘increased extinctions and extinction risks caused by human factors’

Contact: Jenny Lappin, CoECRS, +61 417 741 638 Jan King, UQ Communications Manager, +61 (0)7 3365 1120 Professor John Pandolfi, CoECRS and UQ, +61 7 3365 3050 or (m) +61 400 982 301 Life in the world’s oceans faces far greater change and risk of large-scale extinctions than at any previous time in human history, […]

Typhoon Kai-Tak kills 27 in Vietnam – Typhoon Tembin hits Philippines, heads for Taiwan and China – Typhoon Bolaven lines up

Strong wind and rain in northern Vietnam unleashed by Typhoon Kai-Tak have killed at least 17 people, damaged thousands of houses and submerged valuable crops, authorities said Monday. The typhoon, which made landfall late Friday, brought winds of about 100 kilometres (62 miles) per hour, according to the national committee on flood and storm control. […]

No drought-busting rains seen for U.S. crop belt

By Sam Nelson; editing by John Wallace21 August 2012 CHICAGO (Reuters) – Benign weather is expected for the next week or two in the U.S. Midwest crop region, with no serious delays of early harvest but also no significant relief to corn and soybeans from the worst drought in half a century, an agricultural meteorologist […]

Graph of the Day: Retreat of the Ata Glacier, 1915-2005

The Ata Glacier (29° 10′ N, 96° 48′ E), with a length of 16.7 km and an area of 13.8 km2, is on the southern slope of Mount Kangri Karpo in the southeastern TBP (Fig. 3d). The glacier was photographed in 1933 (ref. 21), 1976 (ref. 20) and 2006 (this study). We studied this glacier in detail using the historical photos, […]

‘Pervasive effects of climate change’ shifting Massachusetts butterfly species

By Jeremy C. Fox 20 August 2012 Harvard scientists say they have found shifts in the Massachusetts butterfly populations tied to climate change, according to a new study published Sunday in the scholarly journal Nature Climate Change. The study, which used data collected during 19 years by amateur enthusiasts from the Massachusetts Butterfly Club, found […]

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