Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (August 23, 2013)

Nuclear Warning
The crisis at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant has deepened during August.  Fresh toxic leaks from the meltdowns prompted the country's nuclear agency to warn that a worst-case scenario is approaching.  "This is what we have been fearing," warned agency chairman Shunichi Tanaka. Japan now rates the disaster's current status at level 3, or "serious incident," on an international scale for radiological releases.  The leaking contamination had previously been rated at level 1 on a scale of seven.  The Fukushima Daiichi plant was once assigned the highest rating of 7 after it was hit by explosions and meltdowns following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.  In July, the Japanese government warned that the plant was leaking around 80,000 gallonsof contaminated ground water every day into the Pacific.  The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., now says an additional 80,000 gallons of contaminated water have spewed from a metal holding tank.  Hundreds of other tanks are also at risk.  A scheme is being drawn up to create a large underground wall of frozen earth around the plant to seal off the groundwater leaks.
Japanese Eruption
A powerful blast from southern Japan's Mount Sakurajima volcano sent a massive plume of ash blowing over the city of Kagoshima, where residents used masks, raincoats and umbrellas to shield themselves from the falling debris.  The Aug. 18 eruption sent ash soaring 3 miles into the atmosphere above southern Kyushu Island, making it the highest plume ever recorded from the volcano.  Sakurajima has erupted every few hours or days since 1955 and shows no signs of calming down.
Bat-MERS Connection
Scientists in Saudi Arabia say they have found the emerging MERS virus in an insect-eating bat, very near to where the first known human case of the deadly respiratory disease was reported.  While the same corona-virus, or one very similar, was recently found in Arabian Peninsula camels, researchers say the strain found in the bat is identical to what has infected at least 96 humans, of which 46 have died.  All cases to date have originated from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.  Bats are carriers of several viruses that can infect humans, including rabies and SARS.  But since people in the Middle East have little contact with bats, and the virus isn't passed easily among humans, scientists believe there is another link in the infection chain between bats and humans.  "Is it food?  Is it another animal reservoir?  That's something to be determined," said lead researcher Ziad Memish, who is also the Saudi deputy minister of health.
Meteoric Dust Belt
The meteor explosion that caused extensive damage around the Russian city of Chelyabinsk on Feb. 15 also sent a massive plume of airborne debris into Earth's stratosphere.  The bus-sized meteor detonated about 15 miles above the surface, sending out a burst of energy 30 times greater than that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.Satellite observations revealed that hundreds of tons of dust remained in the upper atmosphere for a full two months following the explosion.  It took only four days for the dust to blow all the way around the world and again pass over Chelyabinsk.  The latest climate models accurately predicted the path and density of the dust belt, which raced around the globe at about 190 mph.
Earthquakes
Homes around New Zealand's capital of Wellington and the nearby Mariborough region were damaged by a 6.6 magnitude quake that struck less than a month after a comparable quake also roughed up the area.
*   Several houses collapsed when a 6.2 magnitude temblor struck near the Mexican resort of Acapulco.
*   Earth movements were also felt in northern Italy, the southern Philippines and western Washington state.
Tropical Cyclones
Northern Taiwan and China's Fujian province were struck by Category 1 Typhoon Trami.  Downpours from the storm caused local flooding on Taiwan, and winds were clocked at just over 100 mph where it made landfall on the Fujian coast.
*   Tropical Storm Pewa briefly reached hurricane force over a remote stretch of the central Pacific, between Johnston Atoll and Wake Island.
Aquatic Apes
The scientific belief that apes shun water and stay on dry land has been shattered by a video that shows two of the primates enjoying swimming and diving.  Researchers from South Africa's Wits University and the University of Bern found that while most mammals use the so-called dog paddle to maneuver in water, the apes learned how to swim by using a breaststroke technique.  Writing in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology,  Renato Bender and Nicole Bender say that primates ancient adaption to forest life may have caused the difference in swimming style.