Tropical Storm Joaquin- 1/10/2015 bahames

NASA's GPM Satellite Captures Hurricane Joaquin: View 2
Joaquin became a tropical storm Monday evening (EDT) midway between the Bahamas and Bermuda and has now formed into Hurricane Joaquin, the 3rd of the season--the difference is Joaquin could impact the US East Coast.

NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite captured Joaquin Tuesday, September 29th, 2015 at 21:39 UTC (5:39 pm EDT).

At 2:10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (18:10 UTC) on September 29, 2015, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of Tropical Storm Joaquin. At the time, the storm was located about 650 kilometers (400 miles) east of the northwestern Bahamas (off the left side of the image). The storm was between a tropical depression and tropical storm in strength.

By September 30, Joaquin had strengthened to a category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 70 knots (80 miles per hour). The hurricane tracked toward the southwest at 5 knots (6 miles per hour). Forecasts suggest that the storm could affect the U.S. East Coast.

Hurricane Joaquin is still gaining strength as a Category 3 storm Thursday, and is now blasting the central Bahamas with hurricane-force winds, storm surge flooding and torrential rain.

The first U.S. landfalling hurricane in 15 months may still occur later this weekend along some part of the East Coast, however, considerable uncertainty remains at this point.

The Latest

• Hurricane Joaquin's center is located about 80 miles south-southeast of San Salvador in the central Bahamas.
• Maximum sustained winds are estimated at 125 mph, a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.
• Joaquin has undergone rapid intensification that mayCONTINUE, bringing it to Category 4 intensity sometime Thursday.
• This system is moving slowly to the southwest and this is expected to continue through Thursday before turning north Friday into Saturday.
• Hurricane watches and warnings are in effect for a large part of the Bahamas, where life-threatening conditions are expected in some areas.
• Joaquin may directly or indirectly affect the East Coast late this weekend or earlyNEXT week, and a landfall is still possible.
• Moisture and/or energy associated with Joaquin could enhance rainfall along the cold front in the Northeast late this week. Regardless, the East Coast will see significant impacts from the larger scale weather pattern taking shape.

Joaquin Blasting the Central Bahamas

Joaquin's eyewall is hammering Samana Cays, the Acklins, Crooked Island, and Mayaguana in the central Bahamas, and is nearing Rum Cay, San Salvador and Long Island (Bahamas).

Flooding from storm surge and torrential rainfall has been documented on Long Island and the Acklins. AWeather Underground personal weather station at Pitts Town, Crooked Island, has reported winds up to 80 mph, so far.

With the Category 3 hurricane passing close to the islands at a relatively slow speed, and perhaps even intensifying to Category 4 status, a catastrophic situation may unfold there with a prolonged period of intense hurricane conditions.

Hurricane Joaquin Information

The latest statistics as provided by NOAA's National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane warnings continue in a large swath of the Bahamas and tropical storm warnings have been expanded to include the Turks and Caicos.

(MORE: Expert Analysis | Hurricane Central)

An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance aircraft flying through Hurricane Joaquin Thursday morning found estimated surface winds of 117 knots, or roughly 135 mph, in the southwestern eyewall's deep thunderstorms.

Infrared satellite imagery late Thursday morning showed Joaquin attempting to pop a distinct eye, another sign of itsCONTINUED intensification. Since early Wednesday morning, Joaquin has gone from a strong tropical storm to a major hurricane, with a pressure drop of 46 millibars in about 30 hours.

Hurricane Joaquin continues to intensify as wind shear – harmful to the intensification of tropical cyclones – has lessened substantially from a few days ago, and a complicated atmospheric pattern makes its future track – including any potential landfall on the U.S. East Coast – extremely difficult to forecast.

Residents along the East Coast of the U.S. should pay close attention to the forecast now through this weekend. It's a particularly difficult forecast that hinges on the behavior of several different atmospheric features over North America and the North Atlantic Ocean.

Aware Threat Index

A graphic highlighting areas that need to pay close attention to forecasts as significant impacts could possibly be felt beneath the orange shaded area within theNEXT few days.

Computer forecast models – and the meteorologists who use them for guidance – are grappling with a complex interaction between Joaquin, a cold front near the East Coast, the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida, a strong bubble of high pressure aloft over the North Atlantic Ocean, and a potentially strong area of low pressure aloft digging into the southeastern U.S. later this week.

Complicating the forecast is the fact a more reliable forecast model keeps Joaquin appreciably away from the East Coast.

Overnight Wednesday night, another pair of somewhat less reliable forecast models moved their tracks substantially farther east, still affecting the U.S. East Coast, but, again, farther east than previous forecast model runs. NOAA Gulfstream aircraft surveillance missions and extra balloon soundings launched from National Weather Service offices on the mainland may have contributed to the eastward shift in some of the model guidance overnight Wednesday night.

Ensemble Forecast Model Tracks

The lines on this graphic represent several of the many ensemble track forecasts from various computer models. This is not an official forecast, but models such as these are often used as guidance for creating the projected path for a storm.

Despite all that, there still remains considerable uncertainty in Joaquin's future track, and, thus, its potential impact on the U.S. this weekend.

The National Hurricane Center says hurricane watches may have to be issued for parts of the East Coast, but no sooner than Friday.

Visible Satellite

During daylight hours, you will see the clouds more or less as they would look to the naked eye from space. At night, it's too dark to see the clouds, so this image will display infrared satellite data instead.

The government of The Bahamas has issued warnings and watches for much of its territory. Here are the details as of 11 a.m. EDT:

• A hurricane warning remains in effect for parts of the central, northwestern and southeastern Bahamas including the Abacos, Berry Islands, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama Island,NEW Providence, The Acklins, Crooked Island and Mayaguana. This includes both Nassau and Freeport.
• A hurricane watch remains in effect for Bimini and Andros Island.
• A tropical storm warning is now in effect for the Turks and Caicos in the southeast Bahamas.
• A tropical storm warningCONTINUES for the rest of the southeastern Bahamas not in the hurricane warning, including the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Hurricane Joaquin: Watches and Warnings

This map shows watches and warnings issued by the Government of the Bahamas. The latest position of the hurricane is also shown, along with the forecast path over theNEXT 24 hours (dark red) and 48 hours (dark orange).

(MORE: Bahamians Prepare for Hurricane Joaquin)

Joaquin will eventually make a sharp right turn and head north sometime Friday, but it's already too late for that turn to spare the Bahamas from dangerous impacts.

Current Satellite and Winds

Displayed are current winds in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos along with the latest satellite image of Joaquin. Wind plot data may be missing at times.

Given the forecast, potential impacts for the central Bahamas (and any other islands the eyewall of Joaquin touches) include:

• Catastrophic wind damage: Even well-built homes may lose their roofs and experience failure of one or more exterior walls. Most trees will be snapped and many uprooted. Given the small size of the islands, the electrical grid will likely experience a complete blackout and may be partially or completely destroyed. Recovery may take weeks or months.
• Dangerous storm surge and waves: In areas where the wind blows toward shore, water levels may rise 5 to 8 feet above normal tide levels, flooding areas, especially near the immediate shore. Extremely high waves from the open ocean may then damage or destroy any structures flooded by seawater.
• Extreme rainfall: Rainfall totals in excess of 20 inches are possible, leading to potentially life-threatening flash flooding. Storm surge and the generally low elevations of the islands will greatly limit the ability of rainwater to run off into the ocean, further aggravating the situation.

The northwestern Bahamas, including Nassau and Freeport, are less likely to encounter Joaquin's dangerous core – but we can't rule out at a period of hurricane conditions later Thursday into Friday.

Track Forecast: Still Extremely Challenging

As discussed above, it is still too soon and the uncertainty remains high to be confident about specific impacts from Joaquin itself for the U.S. East Coast at this time.

The National Hurricane Center's official forecast cone is below. The official forecast remains a compromise between the competing scenarios from the computer models.

(MAP: Track Hurricane Joaquin with our New Interactive Storm Tracker)

Projected Path

Regardless of the ultimate outcome of Joaquin's path, portions of the East Coast will still see multiple impacts from the evolving large-scale weather pattern, including flooding rainfall, coastal flooding, high surf, beach erosion, and gusty winds. Click the link below for more information on that story.

(MORE: Significant Impacts Likely on East Coast)

CHECKback with us at weather.com and The Weather Channel for the latest developments on Joaquin.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Retired Atlantic Basin Hurricanes and Tropical Storms PHOTOS)

HURRICANE INGRID (2013)

1 of 77

Flooding and landslides triggered by Joining forces with also-retired eastern Pacific Tropical Storm Manuel claimed at least 155 lives in Mexico in mid-September 2013. (Image: NASA) 

Βρετανία: Άνοιξε η γη-Δημιουργήθηκε τρύπα 20 μέτρων-Britain: Opened the earth-created hole 20m

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 1 Οκτ 2015

Μία τεράστια τρύπα άνοιξε σε δρόμο της Βρετανίας, μετά από υποχώρηση του εδάφους.

Οι κάτοικοι στη γειτονιά του Σεντ Όλμπανς όπου άνοιξε η τρύπα, αναγκάστηκαν να αφήσουν τα σπίτια τους τα ξημερώματα.

Το Σεντ Όλμπανς βρίσκεται βόρεια του Λονδίνου.

Η τρύπα που έχει διάμετρο 20 μέτρα και βάθος 10 μέτρα, άνοιξε μπροστά μπροστά από ένα κήπο σπιτιού.




Πριν εμφανιστεί ο τεράστιος κρατήρας, οι κάτοικοι της περιοχής, είπαν ότι άκουσαν τον ήχο μιας ισχυρής σύγκρουσης. 

Video: when wild dogs and hyenas meet

ΚΑΠΩΣ ΕΤΣΙ ΣΥΜΒΑΙΝΗ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΟΟΙΚΟΝΟΜΙΚΗ  ΖΩΗ ΤΟΥ ΠΛΑΝΗΤΗ ΜΑΣ,ΓΙΑ ΤΟ ΨΗΤΟ, ΔΗΛΑΔΗ ΤΟ ΧΡΗΜΑ.

Video: when wild dogs and hyenas meet

Posted: September 25, 2015

The below videos are of an early morning encounter between wild dogs and hyenas in the Sabi Sands area of the greater Kruger region.

Scott Peterson describes the scene, “We had all got up for our morning game drive, and were drinking our wake-up coffee, when one of the guests said that there was a hyena on the dam wall right by the lodge. Our ranger Sean Gilbert looked over and said it was a wild dog. Lucky the Landy was ready to go and we all pilled in really fast. We drove the 30 seconds it took to get in proper position on top of the dam wall and began filming.

The battle happened in the ravine below the dam, and ultimately involved 10 dogs against two hyena. As you can see, the dogs won.”

Sean Gilbert, the ranger at the scene, also submitted a video of the same event to Kruger’s Sightings. Here is his description of the event, “We were having our early morning coffee before our game drive when suddenly, my guests shouted, ‘Look look hyena!’ We came around the corner to discovered that it was, in fact, a wild dog. We all rushed to the open game vehicle and watched the nature take its course at Lodge Dam.”

Watch Sean’s account of the attack here:

Pluto's 'Snakeskin' Terrain Revealed In High Resolution | Video

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 29 Σεπ 2015

NASA's New Horizons has been squirting its recorded data (to antennas of the Deep Space Network) since the probe’s high speed flyby on 14 July 2015. Features as small as 270 yards (250 meters) across can now be discerned.

Pluto Mystery Tour: A Weird 'Snakeskin' Landscape?

Ian O'Neill, Discovery News   |   September 25, 2015 03:21pm ET

In this extended color image of Pluto taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, rounded and bizarrely textured mountains, informally named the Tartarus Dorsa, rise up along Pluto’s day-night terminator and show intricate but puzzling patterns of blue-gray ridges and reddish material in between.CREDIT NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI View full size image

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from NASA’sNEW Horizons flyby on July 14, it’s that we have a really incomplete understanding of planetary evolution. And now, in a new image release by the Pluto mission, there’s yet another landscape (actually, landscapes) that, for now, defies explanation.

PHOTO: New Horizons Returns Photos of Hazy ‘Arctic’ Pluto

In an eerie observation of Pluto’s terminator (the line that separates Pluto nighttime from sunlight on the dwarf planet’s surface) is a very alien-looking landscape with regular ripples that resemble the scale patterns on a snakeskin. The most exciting thing about this image is that, like most of the high-resolutionVIEWSbeing beamed back from the Kuiper belt, planetary scientists only have a vague idea as to what might be going on. [On Pluto's Doorstep: Latest Photos by New Horizons Probe]

“It’s a unique and perplexing landscape stretching over hundreds of miles,” said William McKinnon, New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging (GGI) team deputy lead from Washington University in St. Louis, in a Sept. 24 news release. “It looks more like tree bark or dragon scales than geology. This’ll really take time to figure out; maybe it’s some combination of internal tectonic forces and ice sublimation driven by Pluto’s faint sunlight.”

ANALYSIS: Pluto: A Very Different Beast to Neptune’s Moon Triton

In short, it’s a conundrum, but it sure makes for an intriguing mystery.

While scientists ponder this latest stop on Pluto’s mystery tour, more stunning imagery has been downlinked, including the highest-resolution colorVIEW of Pluto yet, with zoomed-in potions of the tiny world’s heart-shaped region, on a plane informally called Sputnik Planum. You can get lost in the full-resolution image here.

Detail of the interface between Sputnik Planum and surrounding mountainous region.

CREDIT NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

View full size image

The region, that has already been identified as possessing vast flows of exotic ices, also has what appear to be small rocky islands of material focused around the adjoining “cells” of icy material. Dunes, or features with a dune-like appearance, are also present. Closer analysis of these cells have revealed the icy surface is of a corrugated texture — another feature that is being explained by educated guesswork. Mission scientists think the texture may be down to sublimation processes — where ice is heated and turns into gas, creating Pluto’s thin atmosphere.

Detail of the high-resolution images of Pluto's Sputnik Planum taken by NASA’sNEWHorizons spacecraft just before closest approach on July 14, 2015, are the sharpest images to date of Pluto’s varied terrain—revealing details down to scales of 270 meters.

CREDIT NASA/JHUAPL/SWRI

View full size image

Additional information about the distribution of methane ices have also been acquired, presenting more questions than answers. One puzzle is that methane ices are abundant across Sputnik Planum’s planes, but mysteriously lacking from another large region informally called Cthulhu Regio. Besides Sputnik, methane ice seems to be abundant in brighter regions of the surface, accumulating in planes and crater rims. Inside craters, however, there’s none.

PHOTOS: New Pluto Pics Show Beautiful, Complex World

“It’s like the classic chicken-or-egg problem,” said Will Grundy,NEWHorizons surface composition team lead from Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz. “We’re unsure why this is so, but the cool thing is that New Horizons has the ability to make exquisite compositional maps across the surface of Pluto, and that’ll be crucial to resolving how enigmatic Pluto works.”

We have only just begun exploring Pluto and its alien landscape and, as these new observations can attest, we are probably decades from fully appreciating the underlying dynamics that drive Pluto’s atmosphere and surface composition. And the best thing is that we’ve only just begun our tour of Pluto; New Horizons willCONTINUE to relay data to Earth well into 2016, revealing a surprisingly dynamic little world on the outskirts of the solar system.

When Nature Strikes - Landslides

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 29 Σεπ 2015

Landslides occur when material like debris, rock, and soil become dislodged from the earth and slide downward at speeds that can approach 100 miles per hour. David Montgomery at the University of Washington studies past and present landslides to try to understand what causes them. "When Nature Strikes" is produced by NBC Learn in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

Chase in Okla. tops 100 MPH, Ends in Crash

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 29 Σεπ 2015

KWTV-TV reports that a woman is under arrest after a chase in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says the chase exceeded speeds of 100 miles an hour. (Sept. 29)

Violence instead of democracy: Putin slams ‘policies of exceptionalism and impunity’ in

Violence instead of democracy: Putin slams ‘policies of exceptionalism and impunity’ in UN speech

Published time: 28 Sep, 2015 16:16Edited time: 29 Sep, 2015 07:48

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses attendees during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters inNEW York, September 28, 2015. © Mike Segar / Reuters

The export of so-called ‘democratic’ revolutions hasCONTINUED, but has unleashed poverty and violence instead of the triumph of democracy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said addressing the UN General Assembly.

TrendsUNGA70

Attempts to push for changes in other countries based on ideological preferences have led to “tragic consequences and degradation rather than progress,” said Putin in his speech to world leaders and policy makers gathered at the UN General Assembly’s anniversary 70th session inNEW York on Monday.

“We should all remember what our past has taught us,” Putin said. “We, for instance, remember examples from the history of the Soviet Union.”

It seems however that some are not learning from others’ mistakes, but keep repeating them, he said, adding that “theEXPORT of so-called ‘democratic’ revolutions continues.”

“I cannot help asking those who have caused this situation: Do you realize now what you have done?” he asked. “But I am afraid the question will hang in the air, because policies based on self-confidence and belief in one’s exceptionality and impunity have never been abandoned.”

He cited the example of revolutions in the Middle East and Northern Africa, where people have wished for change. However, instead of reforms and the triumph of democracy and progress “we’ve got violence, poverty and social disaster, and human rights, including the right to life, to which no weight is given.”

“Rather than bringing about reforms, aggressive foreign interference has resulted in the brazen destruction of national institutions and the lifestyle itself,” he said.

A single center of domination emerged in the world after the Cold War era ended, Putin stated. Those who were at the “top of this pyramid” were tempted to think that “if they were so strong and exceptional, they knew what to do better than others."

“Therefore they do not have to reckon with the UN, which instead of automatically authorizing, legitimizing the necessary decisions often creates obstacles or in other words ‘stands in the way’.”

Russia believes that attempts to undermine the authority and legitimacy of the United Nations are“extremely dangerous” and could lead to the collapse of the entire system of international relations, the Russian President said. Speaking to the world leaders and policymakers gathered before him, he urged for unity in the further development of the UN.

‘Stop playing games with terrorists, join under UN against ISIS’

Power vacuums in the Middle East or regions of North Africa have led to the emergence of lawless areas which immediatelySTARTED to be filled with extremists and terrorists, Putin said.

Islamic State militants (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), who gained a foothold in Iraq and Syria, are now seeking to dominate the whole of the Islamic world, he said.

“[Islamic State] ranks include former Iraqi servicemen who were thrown onto the street after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Many recruits also come from Libya – a country whose statehood has been destroyed as a result of gross violations of UNSC resolution 1973.”

Some of the extremists have defected from the ‘moderate’ opposition in Syria, which has been supported by some Western states, he stressed.

“First, they are armed and trained and then they defect to the so-called Islamic State. Besides, the Islamic State did not just come from nowhere. It was also initially forged as a tool against undesirable secular regimes,” he explained.

He described it as “hypocritical and irresponsible” to turn a blind eye to the channels through which terrorists are financed while making declarations about their threat to the whole world.

“We believe that any attempts to play games with terrorists, let alone arm them, is not only short-sighted, but ‘fire hazardous.’ This may result in a global terrorist threat increasing dramatically and engulfingNEW regions of the world,” he said.

IS trains militants from many nations, including Europe, and Russia is not an exception, he said. Putin urged for cooperation with Syrian government forces fighting terrorists on the ground.

“We think it is an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the Syrian government and its armed forces who are valiantly fighting terrorism face to face,” he said.

“We should finally acknowledge that no one but President Assad's armed forces and Kurdish militia are truly fighting Islamic State and other terrorist organizations in Syria,” he added.

Russia has been providing military-technical assistance to Iraq, Syria and other states who lead the fight against terrorism in the region, he noted.

Putin proposed the joining of efforts and the creation of a broad international coalition against terrorism. He proposed discussions at the UNSC about a resolution aimed at coordinating forces to confront IS and other terrorist organizations, based on the principles of the UN Charter.

‘Final solution to refugee crisis is recovery of Middle East’

If a comprehensive strategy of political and economic stabilization of crisis-struck countries is developed, then there will be a hope of tackling the problem of the refugee crisis, Putin stated.

“The flow of people who were forced to leave their homeland has literally flooded the neighboring countries and then Europe,” he said calling it a NEW painful migration of peoples.”

He stressed that the fundamental solution to the refugee crisis is rooted in restoring statehood where it has been destroyed, strengthening government institutions where they are weak and providing comprehensive assistance to the peoples’ countries of origin.

‘Ukraine’s territorial integrity cannot be ensured by arms’

Cold War thinking and the desire to explore new geopolitical areas are still present among some in the international community, said Putin.

“First theyCONTINUED their policy of expanding NATO,” he said. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, “they offered post-Soviet countries a false choice – either to be with the West or with the East. Sooner or later the logic of confrontation was bound to spark off a grave geopolitical crisis. This is exactly what happened in Ukraine where the discontent of the population with the current authorities was used and a military coup was orchestrated from the outside that triggered civil war as a result.”

Putin once again called for the full implementation of the Minsk accords brokered by the Normandy Four in February. He said that the accords will guarantee Ukraine’s development “as a civilized state.”

“Ukraine’s territorial integrity cannot be ensured by threats and the force of arms. What is needed is the genuine consideration of the interests and rights of people in the Donbass region, [and] respect for their choice.”