Fireball Meteor Lights Up Night Skies in US

Observers from New Jersey to Ohio got a super sight Sunday night.

A meteor blazed across the sky at a speed of tens of miles per second.

The American Meteorological Society reports it has received almost 200 reports of the fireball. Scientists say the meteor was 60 to 100 miles above the Earth, and about the size of a smart car.

Where did it come from?

It spent the last three to 4 billion years orbiting the sun before entering the Earth's atmosphere.

After thrilling earthlings, scientists say the burning rock probably shot back into space.

Philippines : Ice Pellets Hit Makati in September

People report ice pellets raining down on parts of the city late Wednesday afternoon, spurring a flurry of online activity on the rare weather event

Ice raining down on the streets of Makati? On Wednesday, September 17, it did.

People reported ice pellets raining down on parts of the city late Wednesday afternoon, spurring a flurry of online activity on the rare weather event.

A Rappler editor reported seeing falling ice pellets while in a cab along Ayala Avenue. People who witnessed the phenomenon also posted photos of the weather incident on Twitter and Instagram.

State weather bureau PAGASA forecaster Jun Galang told Rappler on Wednesday the ice pellets were due to cumulonimbus clouds, a type of thunderstorm cloud that affected Makati and other areas.

"It's only normal when there are thunderstorm clouds. It is possible that from the clouds, the ice pellets are originally big in size, but they get smaller as they get nearer to the ground," he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

PAGASA, at around 4:45 pm Wednesday, reported possible thunderstorms affecting parts of Metro Manila, particularly Manila, Pasay, Taguig, Parañaque, Baclaran, and Las Piñas, but also said other areas should expect heavy rain within two hours.

Galang said the occurrence is not a hailstorm.

A hailstorm occurs when precipitation comes in the form of chunks of ice, called hailstones. They are formed in cloud layers with very low temperatures, usually associated with thunderstorms.

Strong wind updrafts in thunderstorm clouds force rain to go up, and these raindrops freeze and turn into lumps of ice, according to the Texas A&M University Atmospheric Sciences site. Rappler

Extent of Antarctic Sea Ice Reaches Record Levels

Scientists say the extent of Antarctic sea ice cover is at its highest level since records began.

Satellite imagery reveals an area of about 20 million square kilometres covered by sea ice around the Antarctic continent.

Jan Lieser from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) said the discovery was made two days ago.

"This is an area covered by sea ice which we've never seen from space before," he said.

"Thirty-five years ago the first satellites went up which were reliably telling us what area, two dimensional area, of sea ice was covered and we've never seen that before, that much area.

"That is roughly double the size of the Antarctic continent and about three times the size of Australia."


AUDIO: Researchers argue the increase in sea ice does not negate the reality of global warming. (PM)
The formation of sea ice around Antarctica every year is one of the biggest seasonal events on Earth.

The ice is generated in what scientists refer to as "sea ice factories" or polynia  - areas of the ocean surface where currents and wind patterns combine to generate sea ice.

The red line is the average for September.

"As soon as sea ice is produced in these polynias it is actually transported away from that so more sea ice can be produced," Dr Lieser said.

As the area covered in sea ice expands scientists have said the ice on the continent of Antarctica which is not over the ocean continues to deplete.

CEO of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, Tony Worby, said the warming atmosphere is leading to greater sea ice coverage by changing wind patterns.

"The extent of sea ice is driven by the winds around Antarctica, and we believe that they're increasing in strength and part of that is around the depletion of ozone," he said.

He said changes to sea ice levels could have implications for the entire Antarctic ecosystem.

"So the sea ice is a very important habitat for krill in particular and for the reproduction of krill and that forms one of the absolute staples of the diet for many species in the Antarctic."

While the Antarctic ecosystem braces for change, the world's Antarctic research vessels will also have to contend with treacherous conditions in the months ahead.

If the Ebola Virus Goes Airborne, 1.2 million Will Die Expert Predicts

Econometrics expert Francis Smart has predicted that if the Ebola virus does mutate into an airborne form, 1.2 million people will die from the disease. Smart, from the Michigan State University, published an article in Econometrics by Stimulation in which he outlined the mechanics of his prediction based on the research done by others.

Currently the World Health Organization (WHO) has predicted that Ebola will kill 20,000 people within the next six months. Smart argues that this number is based on the assumption that the virus will not mutate into a version of itself which travels though air.

Smart used an econometric stimulation model and based his calculations on the prediction of 20,000 infections in six months that the WHO had previously issued.

He also looked at the struggles facing the countries that are currently fighting the Ebola virus. Liberia in particular is facing huge issues as far as controlling the spread of disease is concerned. Medical supplies are desperately low, health workers and doctors are contracting the disease themselves, and there is a degree of civil unrest as panic sets in.

The WHO has predicted that six months is optimistic. This is the minimum amount of time that they think is needed in order to stop the disease from spreading. The statement in which they offered the prediction of 20,000 infections was published on Aug. 28, almost three weeks ago.

The estimate was made in the assumption that the Ebola outbreak control effort would receive compete international back up and that every step in the plan that the WHO had drawn up to tackle the disease spread would be followed. Should international aid not be sufficient, or the plan not be executed sufficiently, the prediction was that the number of people infected with the virus would be far greater.

The prediction was also made under the assumption that the virus would not mutate into an airborne form. This, according to experts such as Michael Osterholm, is a big assumption.

Osterholm, Director at Minnesota University’s Center for Infectious Disease research and Policy, explains that viruses do mutate, and to assume that this one will not could be a mistake. Other strains of the Ebola virus, such as Ebola Reston, have previously demonstrated the ability to mutate into airborne versions of themselves. Osterholm says that due to the density of the spread in the most recent outbreak in West Africa, there is the chance that the virus could change itself each time it replicates.

Smart says that death toll numbers based on the more pessimistic opinion that the Ebola virus could mutate and go airborne are much greater. He believes that 20,000 is “vastly too small” and the prediction is “entirely based on effective and well-funded international relief mission..”He went on to predict that by Oct. 24 there will already be over 20,000 cases of the disease, a far shorter time period that the six months that the WHO predicted. Smart continues his analysis to conclude that as many as 4.7 million people will become infected and 1.2 million will die.

The populations of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone are approximately 4 million, 10 million and 6 million respectively. Smart asks if Liberia and the other heavily effected nations will continue to have the resources to control the disease spread even to the extent that they are doing now. He thinks not.

The calculations of Smart, an expert in econometrics, led him to urge that the global effort to fight the disease in West Africa increase resources and prioritize reducing the spread of the virus. Smart wrote that it is “extremely foolish” of any nation to think that they are immune to the Ebola virus. He said that the possibility for the disease to become airborne would lead to a global spread, an “unprecedented number of deaths,” and that as many as 1.2 million people could die from the disease. Liberty Voice

NOAA – 246 Low Max Records Broken or Tied From Sept 1 to Sept 10

 246 Low Max Records Broken or  Tied From Sept 1 to Sept 10 according to the NOAA.

NOAA

A “Low Max” means that the maximum temperatures for the day was the lowest it has ever been. This indicates daytime cooling.

Below is a screenshot showing location and the biggest difference between old record and new record.

The list is just the ones I could capture in a screenshot. sunshine hours

Incredible Photos of Bardarbunga

Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano has been erupting since Aug. 29, with lava shooting out of the ground on the Holuhraun lava field about halfway between that volcano and a neighboring volcano called Askja. The lava has flown out of the collapsed crater of Bardarbunga, known as a caldera, in a nearly 30 mile long dyke, before reaching the Earth's surface.

Scientists studying the volcano from the air and the ground have had to contend with hazardous plumes of sulfur dioxide gas that are streaming from the fissure in the ground that opened up on the Holuhraun lava field, like a scrape on a person's skin. The gases may pose a health hazard to populated areas downwind of the eruption, and have been detected as far away as Norway.
 

The scientists are still unsure exactly how the eruption will proceed from here. It could eventually result in flooding or an ash-producing eruption that would disrupt trans-Atlantic air travel and, if it is large enough, exert a cooling influence in the Earth's climate.

Ebola in the air? A nightmare that could happen

A child stops to look at a man who is suspected of suffering from the Ebola virus on a main street in Monrovia, Liberia, on Friday, September 12. Health officials say the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the deadliest ever. More than 4,700 cases have been reported since December, with more than 2,400 of them ending in fatalities, according to the World Health Organization.

Today, the Ebola virus spreads only through direct contact with bodily fluids, such as blood and vomit. But some of the nation's top infectious disease experts worry that this deadly virus could mutate and be transmitted just by a cough or a sneeze.

"It's the single greatest concern I've ever had in my 40-year public health career," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "I can't imagine anything in my career -- and this includes HIV -- that would be more devastating to the world than a respiratory transmissible Ebola virus."

Osterholm and other experts couldn't think of another virus that has made the transition from non-airborne to airborne in humans. They say the chances are relatively small that Ebola will make that jump. But as the virus spreads, they warned, the likelihood increases.

Every time a new person gets Ebola, the virus gets another chance to mutate and develop new capabilities. Osterholm calls it "genetic roulette."

As of Friday, there have been 4,784 cases of Ebola, with 2,400 deaths, according to the World Health Organization, which says the virus is spreading at a much faster rate now than it was earlier in the outbreak.

Ebola is an RNA virus, which means every time it copies itself, it makes one or two mutations. Many of those mutations mean nothing, but some of them might be able to change the way the virus behaves inside the human body.

"Imagine every time you copy an essay, you change a word or two. Eventually, it's going to change the meaning of the essay," said Dr. C.J. Peters, one of the heroes featured in "The Hot Zone."

That book chronicles the 1989 outbreak of Ebola Reston, which was transmitted among monkeys by breathing. In 2012, Canadian researchers found that Ebola Zaire, which is involved in the current outbreak, was passed from pigs to monkeys in the air.

Dr. James Le Duc, the director of the Galveston National Laboratory at the University of Texas, said the problem is that no one is keeping track of the mutations happening across West Africa, so no one really knows what the virus has become.

One group of researchers looked at how Ebola changed over a short period of time in just one area in Sierra Leone early on in the outbreak, before it was spreading as fast as it is now. They found more than 300 genetic changes in the virus.

"It's frightening to look at how much this virus mutated within just three weeks," said Dr. Pardis Sabeti, an associate professor at Harvard and senior associate member of the Broad Institute, where the research was done. CNN