Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (May 9, 2014)

A Powerful Warming
Weather agencies around the world are predicting that the El Nino ocean-warming in the tropical Pacific is likely to return within the next few months.  Some say the weather-altering phenomenon could arrive as early as July and warn that nations typically affected by its weather shifts should prepare for an unusually strong outbreak.  El Nino typically begins when ocean water spreads eastward from Indonesia and rises to the surface.  El Nino robs rain from Australia and Indonesia then dumps it on parts of the Pacific coast of North and South America.  This often brings drought to Australasia and floods to Peru and California.  El Nino could also weaken storms in the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season.
Rising Magma
Washington state's Mount St. Helens volcano is showing signs that magma is rising deep inside, but geologists say that an eruption is not likely anytime soon.  The volcano exploded on May 18, 1980, killing 57 people, Seismologist Seth Moran at the Cascades Volcano Observatory told CBS News that the Volcano could accumulate pressure inside for a long time before it starts to erupt.  "The reassuring thing is, when it's really ready to erupt, it gives lots and lots of signs."
Earthquakes
A sharp quake centered about 60 miles south of Tokyo injured 17 people, mainly due to the victims stumbling while trying to take cover.
*       A strong temblor centered in far northern Thailand cracked roads and buildings across a wide area.
*       Earth movements were also felt in Tonga and Fiji, central New Zealand, northwestern Sumatra, Los Angeles and central Oklahoma.
Relative Temperaments
Scientists say that chimpanzees have nearly the same personality traits as humans, revealing just how akin we are to our closet relatives in the animal kingdom.   The similarity seems to result from the two species comparable neurobiology.   Researchers from Georgia State University found that the most fundamental personslity traits in chimps, like humans, vary according to whether the animal is a generally dominant "Alpha" or a more playful and sociable "Beta".   They also identified five personality factors that combine differently in each of the 174 individual chimpanzees studied.  Those include conscientiousness, dominance, extroversion, agreeableness and intellect.  This mirrors the five-factor model of the human personality but the specific factors are a bit different in chimps.
Solar Strokes
More people suffer strokes following solar storms directed at Earth than when the planet's geomagnnetic field is relatively calm, but scientists say they don't know why.  Researchers in New Zealand found that of the more than 11,000 stroke suffers studied in Europe, Australia and New Zealand between 1981 and 2004, the sudden disruption of blood flow in the brain was almost 20percent more likely to happen on days with geomagnetic storms.  Medical researcher Valery L. Feign and her colleagues found that while most strokes occur around the age of 70, the connection to geomagnetic storms was greater for people under 65.  "What we were particularly surprised with was the size and consistency of the effect of geomagnetic storms on the risk of stroke occurrence, suggesting that geomagnetic storms are significant risk factors for stroke," Feigin told Reuters.
Bargain's End
The discount prices for lobster feasts at restaurants across North America could be coming to an end due to a sharp drop in the seafood's numbers off the New England coast.  Maine's Department of Marine Resources says the population of baby lobsters appears to have plunged y nearly 50 percent from 2007 levels.  While there has been no conclusive explanation for the crustacean crash, scientists think warmer ocean temperatures, pollution and climate change could all be to blame.  It takes about eight years for lobsters to grow to legal catching size.  That means despite the record catches over the past two years, the lobster boom could soon be a thing of the past.  The plunge could return the delicacy to being the luxury item it once was.
Fish Rain
A rare atmospheric phenomenon brought villagers in western Sri Lanka a bounty of small fish, which rained from the heavens still alive.  The BBC reports that people in the district of Chilaw say they heard the sound of something heavy falling on May 5 and went outside to find that more than 100 pounds of fish had been deposited.  Some ate the free food right away while others kept the prized commodity in water for a later meal.  Meteorologists have determined that such "fish rain" is due to a waterspout, or a tornado moving over a body of water, sucking up the fish and sometimes carrying them for quite a distance.  Prawns, eels and even frogs have also been observed falling from the sky due to such a phenomenon.