Earthwatch

Red Tide

Environmental officials in the Mexican state of Sinaloa announced that an outbreak of red tide caused the deaths of marine mammals and other wildlife around the Gulf of California during the past two months. “It can now be affirmed that the deaths were not caused by a spill of toxic substances,”the Sinaloa Committee for Natural Resource Emergencies said in a report. It had been believed that chemicals used by drug traffickers to mark their shipments had been poisoning the marine life. A separate outbreak of the naturally occurring algae bloom sent about 3,000 tons of rock lobsters “walking out” of the sea onto beaches at Elands Bay in South Africa’s western Cape Province.

Enduring Winter

A combination of flash spring floods, a sudden freeze and a snowstorm over the upper Mississippi Valley and Great Plains produced some of the most miserable conditions in memory. The late-season artic outbreak brought record cold temperatures and a hard freeze southward to the Ohio Valley, causing extensive crop damage.

Earthquake

Two large temblors rocked western China’s Xinjiang region, damaging or destroying thousands of structures and injuring 17 people. The magnitude 6.3 and 6.4 temblors rocked the same region devasted by killer quakes in January and February. Earth movements were also felt in Japan’s southern islands, the northern and central Philippines, northwestern and northeastern parts of Iran, Trinidad, western Nicaragua and central Alaska.

Locust Storm

Madagascar hsarhas been hit by a plague of locusts that threatens to sweep over the entire island nation, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization announced. The Rome-based body said that the migratory locust outbreak was poised to surge across 5 million acres of rich farmland in the south of the country.

En Nino Prospects

Atmosphere scientists in New Zealand announced that the El Nino ocean warming phenomenon could return later this year. The periodic warming of the tropical Pacific’ surface waters disrupts hemispheric weather patterns, causing droughts, intense storms and flooding in various locations around the world. The current phase of the warming and cooling cycle is known as “La Nina,” and has caused an unusually active tropical cyclone season in the South Pacific.

Glow Lambs

British farmers have devised a novel scheme to outsmart hungry foxes-by making their lambs glow in the dark. Researchers discovered that coating lambs with phosphorescent paint discourages hungry predators during the lambing season. The paint is laced with a foul-tasting substance which also puts off any fox in search of a quick meal, said a spokesman for the manufacturers.

Additional Sources: U.S. Climate Analysis Center, U.S. Earthquake Information Center and the World Meteorological Organization.