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United States
Hurricane Ian Sweeps Florida
Hurricane Ian hit Florida at 3:00 PM on Wednesday near Cayo Costa as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm. Sustained winds of about 150 miles per hour buffeted southwest Florida, quickly caused flooding in streets and buildings, and left 1.1 million homes and businesses without electricity. Off the coast of Florida, the hurricane also sank a boat carrying Cuban migrants. Twenty passengers remain missing, with only four successfully swimming to shore after the sinking. As the hurricane moved inland last night, Ian’s winds weakened to a “dangerous” Category 2 storm, but Floridians remain cautious as the slow-moving storm’s effects will linger through the weekend.
This map depicts the projected movement of Hurricane Ian from September 27 to October 2 as the storm continues through Florida. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Al Jazeera
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Switzerland
Alpine Ice Melt Accelerates
In 2022, Switzerland experienced the worst melt rate of its glaciers in the 100 years since monitoring began. According to the Swiss Glacier Monitoring Network, Alpine glaciers lost roughly six percent of their volume in the last year. In Engadine and the southern Valais regions, a 13 to 20 feet layer of ice at 9,483 feet (2,890 m) above sea level disappeared. Consequently, rocks held together by the ice are becoming unstable, leading to Alps resorts closing when the location is deemed no longer safe for visitors due to potential rockslides. More importantly, thawing of the Alps glaciers is threatening Europe’s water supply of major rivers including Germany’s Rhine, France’s Rhône, and Italy’s Po. The dramatic melting this year is caused by low winter snowfall, coupled with consecutive summer heatwaves. If current climate trends continue, Switzerland is expected to lose about 80 percent of its glaciers by 2100.
This map depicts the location of glaciers in Switzerland’s Alps, which recent measurements show are losing ice volume at record-setting rates. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: BBC
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China
Oldest Teeth Ever Found
Fish fossils uncovered during road excavations in China’s Guizhou Province include what may be the oldest fossilized teeth ever found. The discovery from the rock layers known as the Rongxi Formation pre-date the time when scientists had previously assumed that teeth emerged in fish by around 15 million years. The earliest fish, which were also the earliest vertebrates, were filter feeders without bony jaws or teeth. The evolution of toothy jaws for grasping prey or pulling food from plants greatly expanded the kinds of foods that fish could consume and the environments they could inhabit. The fossils discovered came from a fish called Qianodus duplicis, an ancestor of modern-day sharks, and are roughly 439 million years old.
This map depicts the location in China’s Guizhou Province where the oldest-known fossils evidencing toothy jaws in an early fish species were discovered. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: The United States Board of Geographic Names established the term Salish Sea to refer to what?
A:
The Salish Sea was the name designated in 2009 to refer to the collective waters of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Strait of Georgia. Puget Sound, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean where freshwater and saltwater meet, is located along the northwestern coast of Washington state. Its complex system of interconnected marine waterways and basins make up the second largest estuary in the U.S. after Chesapeake Bay. Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, and Everett all border the sound. Around 14,000 years ago, ice from the Vashon ice sheet began to retreat and eroded the land, forming today’s Puget Sound. Its diverse environment provides habitat to over 200 fish species, 100 seabird species, and 13 marine mammals, including Orcas.
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Q: The Polynesian peoples living throughout the Pacific Ocean share ethnic, cultural, and linguistic connections. But where did recent genetic analysis find they all originated?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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