A new study has found that five previously-charted small islands in the Solomon Island chain have slipped beneath the ocean, due to the effects of climate change-related sea level rise, and from the erosion caused by the encroaching ocean. These small islands were thankfully uninhabited, but the study also shows that another six islands in the chain are experiencing severe shoreline recession, with two villages having been lost as a result, forcing the residents to relocate.
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The geologically active region surrounding the edge of the Pacific Ocean, known as the Ring of Fire, has dramatically increased it’s activity over the past week, with numerous earthquakes above magnitude 6.0 occurring in various regions along the Pacific Basin’s periphery. While mainstream geologists and seismologists maintain that the increase in activity in the Ring of Fire over the past four decades can statistically be accounted for as random chance, it’s still far from unusual for large earthquakes in seemingly unconnected regions to occur within days of one another. This raises the obvious question: are these earthquakes somehow related?
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Continuing the trend of upward-spiraling temperatures, February of 2016 broke even more records, with data from both NOAA and NASA agreeing on the trend. Last month was the hottest February on record, 1.21°C (2.18°F) above the 20th century average of 12.1°C (53.9°F); it also set a new all-time temperature record, beating the previous record-holder, December 2015, by 0.09°C (0.16°F). February also marked the sixth consecutive month where a monthly temperature record had been broken.
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Houston was flooded by a record-shattering rainfall on Tuesday. Almost 17 inches of rain had fallen by 2 PM Monday, and more rain is in the forecast. Large areas of the city were flooded, and the waters rose so fast that residents in low-lying parts of the city were unable to leave their homes. Emergency services were overwhelmed, and many residents became involved in ad-hoc community efforts to escape the rising water. The 5 deaths all involved vehicles becoming submerged. In once case, two people were found dead in a car that had driven around a barricade and entered a flash flood area.
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