Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet (Dec. 5, 2014)

A World of Change
Earth has already undergone significant climate and environmental changes since world leaders first gathered to try to solve global warming more than two decades ago.  Diplomats from more than 190 nations are now meeting in Lima, Peru, to prepare for a new treaty slated to be signed next year to finally reduce greenhouse gas emissions ------ albeit many years from now.  An Associated Press survey found that worldwide CO2 emissions are up 60 percent, sea level has risen 3 inches and the average global temperature is up 0.6 degree Fahrenheit since 1996.  Almost 5 trillion tons of ice that once covered Greenland and Antarcitica also have melted during the period.  The number of climate, water and weather diseasters each year has more than doubled, compared to the period from 1983 to 1992.  "Simply put, we are rapidly remaking the planet and beginning to suffer the consequences," Michael Oppenheimer, professor of geosciences and international affairs at Princeton, told the A.P.
Earthquakes
A sharp tremor centered near the Arizona resort of Sedona tossed items off shelves and caused some furniture to topple.
*      Earth movements were also felt in northwestern Montana, the Dallas-Fort Worth area, south-central Alaska, northern Chile and metropolitan Melbourne, Australia.
Tropical Cyclones
Category-5 Typhoon Hagupit was bearing down on the northern Philippines late in the week with sustained winds of nearly 165 mph.
*     Tropical Storm Sinlaku drenched south-central Vertnam and northeastern areas of Cambodia.
A Decade to Warm
It takes 10 years for a single greenhouse gas emission to wield its greatest warming influence on the atmosphere, rather than the several decades previously believed, according to new research.  Scientists from the Camegie Institution for Science combined data on how quickly oceans, plants and other natural elements absorb CO2 with information from climate models used in the lastest U.N. climate models assessment.  They found the average time a single CO2 emission reached its greatest warming was 10.1 years, and reaffirmed that most of its warming then lingers for more than a century.  "This means if we avoid an emission, we avoid heating that would otherwise occur this decade.  This will benefit us and not just our grandchildren," wrote researcher Ken Calderia in the journal Environmental Research Letters.
Early Frogspawn
An unusually mild November in the U.K. has encouraged some frogs to reproduce five months ahead of schedule in the earliest frogspawn observed for nearly a decade.  Frogs typically lay their eggs in March across Britain, followed by the appearance of tadpoles about a month later.  The earliest occurrence of frogspawn was on Oct. 26, 2005.  "This year, I first saw frogspawn was on 21 November, which is early, but not unheard of in a Cornish context," said Rachel Holder, the ranger who first spotted the frogspawn on Cornwall's Lizard Peninsula.  She added that the "gamble of getting ahead in the breeding game must be worth taking, and the risk of a severe cold snap which could freeze the spawn is worth braving."  Other species of plants, insects and animals have been observed responding to climate change.
Japanese Eruption
Japan's Mount Aso spewed out chunks of lava for the first time in 21 years, causing flight cancellations in the south of the country.  A column of ash and vapor soared almost 5,000 feet into the atmosphere.  Ash and smoke damaged nearby crops and even reached the city of Kumamoto, more than 25 miles from the volcano.  Mount Aso's caldera is one of the largest in the world, dominating the landscape of the country's main southern island of Kyushu.  The volcano erupted several times between 1945 and 1993, with volcanic activity often continuning for months at a time.
Snake House
A total of 310 garter snakes have been removed from the home of an unnamed Saskatchewan family after the serpents invaded the basement, kitchen and even some upstairs bedrooms.  Snake experts were called in after the Camadian prairie family from outside Regina captured 221 of the snakes on their own, but saw quite a few others they couldn't easily reach.  It's believed the snakes were looking for a place to winter and came in through cracks in the foundation that grew wider after the basement flooded last spring.   It's also possible some of the snakes were freed at a nearby nature preserve, while others are being cared for beneath heat lamps over the winter at the Salthaven West wildlife center in Regina.  The family says the snakes are more of a nuisance than terrifying.  They asked to remanin anonymous so other family members and friends could visit without fear.