Earthweek: A Diary of the Planets (Feb. 14, 2014)

Carbon Warming
Britain's national weather service says there is no longer any doubt that recent larger and more damaging storms are connected to a warming global climate.  Much of the U.K. is suffering from the worst in a series of inundations that have submerged vast tracts of the nation during the past three years.  A barrage of winter storms in recent months has seen some flood-weary communities swamped more than once.  While the Met Office's chief scientist, Dame Julia Slingo, says it is not possible to blame any specific storm on global warming, she said a trend toward more volatile weather patterns due to climate change is clear.  Slingo's comments came just before Australian researchers announced that human greenhouse gas emissions were the likely cause of last year's record-breaking heat in the country.  Climate experts Sophie Lewis and David Karoly told the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society's annual conference that human activities, particularly emissions of carbon dioxide, are clearly to blame for the record heat.
Ecuadoran Eruption
Ash from powerful blasts at Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano has damaged crops around the towering mountain, causing a produce shortage and higher food prices for residents.  Thousands of acres of farmland have been damaged by the volcanic debris, including pastures that were the main source of food for 110,000 head of livestock.  Panicked farmers were forced to harvest tomatoes, potatoes and corn before the crops reached maturity.  The volcano roared to life on Feb. 2, sending a giant plume of ash soaring 8 miles above the Andes and pyroclastic clouds cascading down Tungurahua's slopes.
Whoopers Shot
Three of North America's 600 whooping cranes were killed by gunshots over the past few months with the latest found shot dead in southwestern Louisiana on Feb. 7.  A pair of lifelong mates was shot in Kentucky during November.  One of the birds survived but was later euthanized after rehabilitation efforts failed.  Whooping cranes are America's tallest birds and were once a common sight across parts of the country.  But by the 1940s, the use of the pesticide DDT, hunting and habitat loss wiped out all but 14 of the birds.  Careful breeding has restored some of the population, but numbers are still sufficiently low that shootings, drought and other factors can pose a dire threat to the species' survival.  Only 13 are released into the wild each year by the conservationists who supervise their captive breeding.
Giant Jelly
A huge specimen of an unnamed species of jellyfish washed up on a beach south of Hobart, Australia, last month.  A photo taken of the nearly 5-foot-wide creature by Josie Lim after her family came across it caught the attention of experts at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), who are in the process of naming the new type of lion's mane jelly.  These jellyfish "look like a dinner plate with a mop hanging underneath.......they have a really raggedy look to them," said CSIRO expert Lisa-ann Gershwin.  She called the find a "truly magnificent animal."  Recent years had seen huge blooms of jellyfish in Tasmanian waters, and Gershwin says scientists are not sure why.  She told reporters that such a population explosion is likely to be having a significant impact on the marine ecosystem off southeastern Australia.
Tropical Cyclone
Tropical storm-force Cyclone Fobane churned the open waters of the Indian Ocean.  It later dissipated to the south of Rodrigues Island after menacing remote shipping lanes for nearly a week.
Earthquakes
Western China's Xinjiang region was rocked for nearly a minute by a powerful temblor that toppled almost 150 homes and damaged 3,300 others in Yutian county.
*      A relatively weak tremor in central Oklahoma caused minor damage to the Logan County Jail in Guthrie.  The region experiences frequent light earthquakes.
*     Earth movements were also felt in Hollywood, western British Columbia, southeastern Massachusetts, southeastern Azerbaijan and northeastern Japan.
Squirrel Poaching
A new Russian fad of nabbing squirrels out of parks to keep them as pets has officials threatening large fines for those who continue to squirrel away the animals.  Some nature lovers say they are outraged by the poaching, which has led to Moscow's Ecological Control unit beefing up survelillance in the city's parks to protect the wildlife.  People who collect the bushy-tailed animals can resell them as pets for about 5,000 rubles ($144).   Tears welling in her eyes, Alexandra Mishenko, a retiree who feeds the squirrels in Moscow's parks, told The Associated Press:  "We should gather people together and pelt the person who does that with snow."