Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (Sept. 19,2014)

Flying Rivers Disappear
Unprecedented drought parching Sao Paulo and many other areas of Brazil has been brought on by the drying up of what a leading climatologist calls the "flying rivers" of the Amazon.  A combination of deforestation and climate change has reduced the role of the Amazon rain forest, which used to release billions of gallons of water vapor from trees into the low-level winds.  Those moist breezes typically brought crucial rainfall to other parts of the country.  But the flying rivers failed to arrive during January and February for the first time since 2010.  A real-time deforestation detection system revealed that after declining  for two years, the felling of the Amazon rain forest for agricultural purposes rose by 10 percent between August 2013 and July 2014.  This, and ongoing global warming, appear to have disrupted the Brazilian climate.
Philippine Eruption
The most active volcano in the Philippines began to spew massive globs of lava, which flowed down its slopes in what authorities have warned could lead to a far more violent eruption.  Residents across Albay province, southeast of Manila, have been able to see the glowing lava emerging from Mount Mayon's 8,070-foot summit.  The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology elevated the volcano's warning status to "critical" due to the accumulating lava and worrying tremors.  The provincial governor ordered the evacuation of at least 12,000 people living within a 5-mile radius of the volcano.  Mayon is known for its almost perfect cone shape, and has erupted about 50 times since modern record keeping began in 1616.  A violent eruption of Mayon in 1814 killed more than 1,200 people when volcanic mud buried  a town.
Lagging Evolution
A new study warns that humankind has now reached an evolutionary paradox - not evolving fast enough to adapt to the environmental changes it's causing while at the same time being unable to control the constantly evolving pests and diseases that threaten its survival.  Writing in the online Science Express, a team of international scientists argues that new evolutionary thinking is necessary to address these challenges.  "Evolutionary biology is often overlooked in the study of global challenges," said lead author Scott Carroll of the University of California, Davis.
Tropical Cyclone
 Former Category-5 Hurricane Odile made a direct hit on the southern tip of Baja California, causing extensive damage around La Paz and the popular resort of Cabo San Lucas.  High winds of over 100 mph left a trail of destruction.  Odile later triggered flash flooding over a wide area of the Baja peninsula and southwestern United States..
*    Typhoon Kalmaegi brought flash flooding to the far northern Philippines before later drenching parts of  southern China and neighboring areas of Vietnam.
*    Hurricane Polo was predicted to pass to the south of Baja California.
*    Hurricane Edouard churned the open waters of the mid-Atlantic.
Earthquakes
Sweden's strongest earthquake in a century was felt across Scandinavia, knocking items off shelves.
*    Earth movements were also felt in metropolitan Tokyo, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, northwestern Mexico, Washington's Puget Sound and central Oklahoma.
Cove Slaughter
The Japanese village made notorious for its dolphin slaughter in the award-winning film "The Cove" has begun its annual killing season of the marine mammals, according to the conservation group Sea Shepherd.  The environmental activist group webcast live images of the hunt in Taiji Bay, southwestern Japan, and provided text updates via social media.  "First dolphin murder of the drive hunt season is complete as dead bodies are dragged to Taiji butcherhouse."  While the slaughter has brought international condemnation, Japan argues the dolphins are not endangered and points to the much larger number of cows, pigs and sheep butchered for food around the world.  Sea Shepherd counters that dolphin meat is not in high demand and contains dangerous levels of mercury.
Sockeye Shift
A pool of unusually warm water off Washington's Olympic Peninsula has sent the bulk of this season's sockeye salmon northward into Canada, leaving Puget Sound fishermen with nearly empty nets.  This diversion could be the highest on record, according to the Pacific Salmon Commission.  Ocean temperatures more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit above normal this summer aren't directly linked to climate change, but are due to a long stretch of cool, windless and foggy conditions last winter.  That combination prevented the usual upwelling of cool waters from the deep.   Since sockeye prefer cooler waters, all but a few of them swam north of Vancouver Island and often into Canadian nets.