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"Environmental Hazards Newsletter - Oct / Nov 2019" 23rd Nov 2019

The most prominent coverage from around the world in recent weeks has discussed the impact of climate change on the planet’s environments and ecosystems and on its links with the devastating wildfires that have once again ravaged California and Australia. In this edition we also bring focus to the growing threat of Hurricanes and Cyclones, and how these events are allegedly fuelled by mutating climatic conditions. We hope you’ll enjoy the read and don’t forget that you can access daily coverage discussing environmental hazards that are affecting our planet in our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hazardsnews

Extreme Temperatures
A Scary Year for Climate Change
Scientists’ warnings about climate change have intensified over the past 12 months. Will world leaders finally listen?
Climate crisis opportunity: Making money on the road to hell
Extreme weather events are reinforcing the urgency. In Alaska, more than 90% of days were warmer than normal in 2019, bushfires are raging in Australia and cyclones and floods hit parts of Africa that are not accustomed to extreme weather
Stalled weather patterns will get bigger due to climate change: Relationship between jet stream, atmospheric blocking events
Climate change will increase the size of stalled high-pressure systems that can cause heatwaves, droughts and other extreme weather, according to a new study.
Photos from space reveal what climate change looks like, from melting Arctic ice to rampant California fires
In 2019 alone, satellites captured images of the northeastern US ravaged by a polar vortex event, Europe's back-to-back deadly heat waves, and wildfires that spread through California as well as parts of Russia, Greenland, and Canada. Photos from space also show how Antarctic and Arctic glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates: The extent of Arctic sea is currently the second smallest it has been since 1979.
Climate change isn’t just about extreme weather. Entire ecosystems are collapsing.
As fires rage on land, a massive ecosystem just off California’s northern coast that has buoyed a thriving fishing industry has collapsed. It’s an example of a much larger, potentially more ominous climate change story: the ongoing collapse of our planet’s biodiversity.
1.5 million more people may die in India by 2100 due to extreme heat by climate change: Study
Around 1.5 million more people may die in India each year due to extreme heat by 2100, a new study has found. The study conducted by Tata Centre for Development (TCD) at the University of Chicago, USA, which was released at UChicago Centre here on Thursday, said that continued high emissions of greenhouse gases are projected to lead to a four degree celsius rise in average annual temperature in India by 2100.
Climate change reinforces inequalities - even in developed countries
Climate change exacerbates inequalities, not only in poor, developing countries, but also in industrialized, wealthy ones. The poor should be given special importance when planning, experts say
El Niño weather events are about to become more extreme thanks to climate change, study says
Climate change will cause El Niños to be stronger, a new study suggests.
Hurricanes and Cyclones
A new paper concludes that hurricane damage is increasing
Hurricanes are fed by warm ocean waters, so it's expected that we'll see larger, more dangerous storms as the planet continues to heat up due to climate change.
Hagibis storm intensifies and becomes strongest on Earth
Haitian Migrants, Devastated by Dorian, Face Deportation From Bahamas
More than 100 Haitian migrants were deported on Thursday, six weeks after Hurricane Dorian leveled Abaco and Grand Bahama in the northern Bahamas with a devastating wallop that struck the Haitian community especially hard.
NASA Smallsats Can Aid Hurricane Forecasts with GPS
Eight briefcase-size satellites flying in a row may be key to improving forecasts of a hurricane's wind speed - detecting whether it will make landfall as a Category 1 or a Category 5.
Earthquakes
Research sheds new light on earthquake that killed 9,000 people
A new understanding of a fault that caused a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 2015 that killed nearly 9,000 people, injured 22,000 and destroyed 600,000 homes in Gorkha, Nepal, can help scientists better understand where and when the next big one will hit.
Haiti and the failed promise of US aid
After an earthquake struck in 2010, the US pledged to help rebuild the Caribbean country. A decade later, nothing better symbolises the failure of these efforts than the story of a new port that was promised, but never built.
Drones reveal earthquake hazards hidden in the abyss
a team led by David Chadwell, a geophysicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California, has found a way to cut costs by replacing the expensive GPS equipped ships with ocean-going drones.
Distinguishing earthquake foreshocks and aftershocks
The results of a study recently published in Nature by Laura Gulia and Stefan Wiemer from the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at ETH Zurich awaken hopes that we will soon be able to predict whether a powerful earthquake is likely to be followed by one of even greater magnitude.
Southeastern France rocked by 5.4-magnitude earthquake
An unusually strong earthquake hit southeastern France on Monday, seriously injuring at least one person, authorities said.
Thailand earthquake: High rise buildings sway as quake hits Bangkok and Laos
Powerful Earthquake Shakes Northern Thailand and Rattles BangkokThe New York Times500 year old temple shaken in Nan earthquake this morningThe ThaigerEarthquake shakes Thailand, Laos, sways Bangkok high-risesThe Washington PostStrong earthquake strikes near Thai-Laos borderreuters.comView full coverage on Google News
Iran earthquake: 'significant casualties likely' after 5.9 tremor hits north-west
Five die, 120 injured when the shallow quake struck near the town of Hastrud, 500km north-west of Tehran just before 2.30 am
Indonesia issues tsunami alert following 7.1 magnitude earthquake
Indonesia issued a tsunami alert after a powerful earthquake struck in the sea near the Moluccas, prompting panicked islanders to flee to higher ground, according to residents and a media report
Third Strong Earthquake This Month Jolts Philippines
The third strong earthquake this month jolted the southern Philippines, further damaging structures already weakened by the earlier shaking.
Pakistan: Magnitude 5.2 earthquake hits various parts of country
A moderate earthquake measuring 5.2 magnitude on the Richter scale hit various parts of the country including Peshawar,Chitral, Malakand, Swat, Mardan, Islamabad, Abbottabad. No damage and causalities have been reported.
Volcanic Activity
The largest known volcano in the world has been discovered in the Philippine Sea
It's official, the Philippines has the earth's largest known caldera. In a recently-published study, titled "Benham Rise unveiled: Morphology and structure of an Eocene large igneous province in the West Philippine Basin," a group of marine geophysicists found the seismically active underwater region in the Philippine Sea.
NASA mission explores Santorini’s submerged volcano with Greek and Australian participation
A NASA-funded oceanographic seabed survey of the submerged Columbus volcano of Santorini was launched on Wednesday night at the port of Lavrion. The international mission has the participation of 30 scientists from the US, Greece, Australia and Germany, who will research the submarine volcano located seven kilometers northeast of Santorini.
Unlocking the Secrets of Explosive Volcanism for Better Eruption Prediction
Examination of samples from Indonesia’s Mount Merapi show that the explosivity of stratovolcanoes rises when mineral-rich gases seal the pores and microcracks in the uppermost layers of stone. These findings result in new possibilities for the prediction of an eruption.
Africa is Splitting in Two, Creating Dozens of Volcanoes
The process of rifting in Africa means that the continent is slowly breaking apart and with that comes lots of volcanoes, some with the potential for massive explosive eruptions
Indoneisa's most active volcano erupts, sending plumes of ash 3,000 feet into the air
Mount Merapi erupted at 10.46 a.m. local time, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPNP) said. The eruption lasted for 155 seconds, according to the agency.
White Island's volcanic alert level raised to two
An increase in volcanic activity has led to a rise in White Island/Whakaari's alert level. The island now has an alert level of two, with an aviation colour code of yellow.
Volcanic eruption creates new island in Tongan archipelago
An undersea volcanic eruption in the Tongan archipelago has sunk one island and created another one that is three times larger, according to Taaniela Kula, of the Tonga Geological Service
After epic volcano eruption, Hawaii’s national park is rebuilding
Visitors of the National Park near Kilauea volcano can now easily witness the resulting dramatic transformation of the park’s summit area, and return to most of the previously closed sites
Watching this volcano erupt from space is absolutely epic
NASA astronauts were treated to an amazing sight this past summer when the Raikoke Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Eastern Russia erupted into a massive cloud of dark smoke
Wildfires
California wildfires signal the arrival of a planetary fire age
The transition to a fossil fuel civilization affects how people in industrial societies live on the land and what kind of fire practices they adopt.
Australia Wildfire Map: Homes Destroyed As About 150 Fires Burn in New South Wales, Queensland
The wildfire threat in Australia's New South Wales (NSW) could be catastrophic, and with about 150 fires burning in both that state and Queensland, officials said flames still posed a risk to residents.
Scientists disprove Bolsonaro government claim devastating Amazon wildfires had nothing to do with deforestation
Fires raging across the Amazon this summer were not “normal” new research shows, counteracting claims made by the Brazilian government that they were “below the historical average”.
Brazil wildfires: Blaze advances across Pantanal wetlands
A 50 kilometre-long (31 mile) wildfire is advancing across Brazil's Pantanal wetlands.
Landslides
The landslide laboratory
n Taiwan, Taroko National Park, famous for a precipitous marble gorge that cuts through it, is in a futile fight with gravity. The scars of at least a dozen landslides punctuate the view in all directions. Maintenance crews are perpetually spraying concrete on slopes in a last-ditch effort to stabilize them
A country notoriously prone to landslides
The collapse of Highland Towers in Ulu Klang, Selangor in December 1993 is one of the most tragic in Malaysia's history of landslides.
The mountain valley 'one landslide away' from radioactive catastrophe
Decades-old uranium stockpiles are threatening the water supply of millions of people in the mountainous peaks of Kyrgyzstan - prompting an urgent call for help to prevent a radioactive catastrophe.
Dozens killed in Cameroon landslide
At least 42 people were killed after their houses were swept away Tuesday in a landslide caused by torrential rain in the western Cameroon city of Bafoussam, state media reported, showing images of rescuers desperately sifting through rubble for survivors.
Rescuers hunt for missing as landslides, floods kill 10 in Japan
Rescuers worked by hand to clear debris from a landslide triggered by heavy rains in central Japan, as the toll from the storms rose to 10 dead with a further three people reportedly missing.
Floods
‘We have nothing’: Somalia floods raise spectre of famine
Communities already hit by war and drought face fresh disaster as 370,000 are forced from homes
Venice floods: Race to save art as 70% of Lagoon city submerged by floods
St Mark's Square was closed to tourists as it was covered in knee-high water, while shops and hotels were submerged
UK weather: More rain falls overnight as floods force 1,200 homes to evacuate
The Environment Agency said around 830 properties have been flooded, with homes evacuated in Bentley and Fishlake, near Doncaster.

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