Guam
University classrooms around the world are becoming more like the highly diverse classrooms that prevail at the University of Guam.
Five giant non-native snake species would pose high risks to the health of ecosystems in the United States should they become established here, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report released today.
Melor has become a Super Typhoon with sustained winds near 130 mph, and is crossing Guam and its islands this weekend. Warnings and watches are already up for the region.
Being a typhoon seems to be the "in thing" lately for tropical cyclones in the Western Pacific, and Melor is now one of the "in crowd." NASA's QuikScat and Aqua satellites helped the U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center confirm that Melor now has sustained winds near 115 knots. The Marianas Islands have posted watches and warnings anticipating Melor's arrival.
Two tropical cyclones in the Western Pacific are keeping in tune to the 1969 hit song by the Beatles, "Come Together." Tropical Depression 18W and Tropical Storm Parma are already beginning to merge now that 18W made landfall in Guam and dissipated. 18W did bring gusty winds and heavy downpours to Guam, and will continue to affect the surf over the next day or two.
Microwave imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite revealed extremely high thunderstorms in Typhoon Choi-Wan as it began passing the island of Sai-Pan in the Western Pacific Ocean. The U.S. National Weather Service has already issued a tropical storm warning and a typhoon watch for Tinian, Saipan and Agrihan in the Northern Mariana Islands.
In May 2008 the island of Guam became a living laboratory for scientists as they attached acoustic equipment to coconut trees in order to listen for rhinoceros beetles. A grant from USDA IPM allowed Richard Mankin, a recognized world-class expert on acoustic detection of insects, to travel to Guam to collaborate with island scientists on the Guam Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Eradication Project.
