Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

6.6 Earthquake hits near the coast of Nicaragua.

5.8 Earthquake hits the Bougainville Region, Papua New Guinea.

5.5 Earthquake hits the Solomon Islands.

5.4 Earthquake hits the Bougainville Region, Papua New Guinea.

5.3 Earthquake hits the Solomon Islands.

5.1 Earthquake hits the Bougainville Region, Papua New Guinea.

5.1 Earthquake hits the Bougainville Region, Papua New Guinea.

5.1 Earthquake hits the Solomon Islands.

5.1 Earthquake hits the South Sandwich Islands.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms

In the Southern Indian Ocean:

Tropical cyclone (tc) 23p (Ita), located approximately 31 nm west-northwest of Cairns, Australia, has tracked south-southeastward at 06 knots over the past 6 hours.

NewsBytes:

Lightning 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 had taken refuge beneath a tree near Los Rios. One cow survived, but was left blinded, according to rancher. In a similar incident, nine other cows died beneath a tree hit by lightning near El Pilar.

Global Warming

Arctic Winter Sea Ice Still in Decline: Fifth-Lowest Ever

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.

This winter’s maximum coverage of Arctic sea ice was much lower than the average for the past 30 years.

Disease

Human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus – update

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP), Hong Kong, SAR, China and the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) of China recently notified WHO of 2 additional laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus.