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Archive for January 4th, 2016
This year’s El Niño not giving up
Posted by Environmental News Network: Jpl Nasa on January 4th, 2016
Environmental News Network: The current strong El Niño brewing in the Pacific Ocean shows no signs of waning, as seen in the latest satellite image from the U.S./European Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 mission.
El Niño 2015 has already created weather chaos around the world. Over the next few months, forecasters expect the United States to feel its impacts as well.
The latest Jason-2 image bears a striking resemblance to one from December 1997, by Jason-2's predecessor, the NASA/Centre National d'Etudes...
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Low water levels on Rhine hampers Danube shipping in Germany
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 4th, 2016
Reuters: Low water levels mean cargo vessels still cannot sail fully loaded on the Rhine and Danube rivers in Germany, traders said on Monday.
Low levels since the summer have created logistical problems for buyers and distributors of commodities including diesel, heating oil and grains as vessels could at best sail half-loaded. An unplanned shut down of Switzerland's only oil refinery exacerbated the problem.
The Rhine is too shallow to allow vessels to sail with full loads in its entire length south...
Insurance cost of natural disasters falls in 2015: Munich Re
Posted by Reuters: Jonathan Gould on January 4th, 2016
Reuters: Insurance claims from natural disasters such as storms and earthquakes fell to $27 billion in 2015 as the overall cost of natural catastrophes dropped to its lowest level since 2009, reinsurer Munich Re said on Monday.
The climate phenomenon known as 'El Niño' last year helped reduce the development of hurricanes in the North Atlantic, which traditionally cause some of the heaviest claims for the insurance industry, the world's largest reinsurer said in its annual review of natural catastrophes....
Permit for $1.4 billion telescope revoked by Hawaiians
Posted by Sentinel: None Given on January 4th, 2016
Sentinel: Earlier this month, the Hawaii Supreme Court revoked a construction permit to build the largest telescope in the world at the summit of a sacred Hawaiian mountain.
The construction of the $1.4 billion Thirty-Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea, which is considered hallowed ground to native Hawaiians, was led by an international coalition of astronomers, including key personnel from UC Santa Cruz such as Michael Bolte.
Bolte is a UCSC professor of astronomy and a member of the Thirty Meter Telescope...