Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (April 11, 2014)

Arctic Ice Maximum
The winter ice cap around the North Pole reached its greatest extent on March 21, but it also fell to the fifth-lowest peak coverage on record.  Arctic sea ice usually grows to the largest expanse for winter on or about March 9.  The U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center said the annual peak would have occurred about then and been even smaller than the eventual coverage of 5.76 million square miles had it not been for strong and frigid surface winds that swirled around the Arctic in mid-March.  The Colorado-based center said the latest measurements reinforce previous studies that have revealed ice around the North Pole is disappearing much faster than earlier predictions.  The ice has steadily declined by an average of 12 percent per decade since 1978.  Experts predict the Arctic will lose all of its summer ice within decades, if not sooner.
Smog Domes
A London-based firm has a solution to China's smog crisis ---- botanical gardens enclosed in giant "bubbles" where residents can take refuge.  Orproject presented the idea to Beijing officials, including plans for a light-weight dome that would house a climate-controlled park with air kept clean by the plants inside and filtered air from outside.  "The buildings surrounding the park, which are connected to the controlled air system, can house apartments, offices and retail, but may also offer sports or medical facilities which make specific use of the healthy air," the company said.  Critics say more should be done to combat the pollution at its sources.  They also point out that the domes would separate those living inside from those unable to afford the luxury.  Beijing smog has become so acute that outdoor sports are often banned.
Earthquakes
The at least 110 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or higher that have shaken Oklahoma so far this year totalmore than those during all of 2013.  They come in the wake of the state's recent explosive growth in fracking, or underground hydrological fracturing, used in the extraction of natural gas and oil.  Before fracking became common, Oklahoma experienced fewer than six quakes per year.
*        A strong quake centered in southwest China's Yunnan province injured 26 people as it wrecked 75 homes and damaged thousands of others.
*        Earth movements were also felt in southern Greece, southeastern France, far northern Chile and interior parts of California's San Diego County.
Volcanic Merger
Two small Japanese volcanic islands have merged into one after the younger islet grew to overwhelm its older brother.  Niijima Island broke through the ocean's surface last Nov. 20 next to Nishinoshima, about 600 miles south of Tokyo.  While scientists at the time questioned how long the island would survive before being eroded by the sea, it defied expectations and grew to merge with its neighbor and form one landmass.  The newer portion is now larger than the original Nishinoshima, which last 40 years ago.  he combined islands have reached about 200 feet in height above sea level.
Tropical Cyclone
Heavy storms that eventually collected into Cyclone Ita triggered floods in the Solomon Islands that killed 23 people and left 25 others missing.  Ita strengthened to a Category 4 storm late in the week as it approached Australia's northern Queensland coast.
*       Tropical Storm Peipah buffeted the western Pacific island nation of Palau, then dissipated before reaching the Philippines as a tropical depression.
*       Tropical Storm Ivanoe formed briefly in the eastern Indian Ocean.
Ebola Crisis
Less than a month after West Africa's first Ebola outbreak emerged, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns it is the "most challenging" to strike since the disease first appeared four decades ago.  More than 100 of the 157 people suspected of being infected have died in Guinea, where the hemorrhagic fever first struck in mid-March.  A mob in the south of that country has since attacked international aid workers, whom they blame for bringing in the disease.  Neighboring Liberia and Mali have also reported a few suspected infections.  Despite isolated resistance.  WHO is rushing in workers to teach residents how to avoid being infected, and how to handle those who are.
Bovine Tragedies
Lightening from freak thunderstorms, stronger than some southern Chile residents can remember ever experiencing before, killed 63 cows in two separate strikes.  A single bolt killed 54 dairy cows that hadtaken refuge beneath a tree near Los Rios.  One cow survived, but was left blinded, according to rancher Cecil Fourt.  In a similar incident, nine other cows died beneath a tree hit by lightning near El Pilar.  "We have electrical storms here, but never like this," Carlos Godoy, administrator of the Las Cascadas estate, told Chile's El Universo daily.