Every second, lightning flashes some 50 times on Earth. Together these discharges coalesce and get stronger, creating electromagnetic waves circling around Earth, to create a beating pulse between the ground and the lower ionosphere, about 60 miles up in the atmosphere.

This electromagnetic signature, known as Schumann Resonance, had only been observed from Earth's surface until, in 2011, scientists discovered they could also detect it using NASA's Vector Electric Field Instrument (VEFI) aboard the U.S. Air Force's Communications/Navigation Outage Forecast System (C/NOFS) satellite.

In a paper published on May 1 in The Astrophysical Journal, researchers describe how this new technique could be used to study other planets in the solar system as well, and even shed light on how the solar system formed.

"The frequency of Schumann Resonance depends not only on the size of the planet but on what kinds of atoms and molecules exist in the atmosphere because they change the electrical conductivity," said Fernando Simoes, the first author on this paper and a space scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "So we could use this technique remotely, say from about 600 miles above a planet's surface, to look at how much water, methane and ammonia is there."

Water, methane and ammonia are collectively referred to as "volatiles" and the fact that there are different amounts on different planets is a tantalizing clue to the way the planets formed.

Determining the composition of a planet's atmosphere can be done with a handful of other techniques – techniques that are quite accurate, but can only measure specific regions.

By looking at the Schumann Resonance, however, one can get information about the global density of, say, water around the entire planet.

Simoes and his colleagues believe that combining this technique with other instruments on a spacecraft's visit to a planet could provide a more accurate inventory of the planet's atmosphere.

"And if we can get a better sense of the abundance of these kinds of atoms in the outer planets," said Simoes, "We would know more about the abundance in the original nebula from which the solar system evolved."

Accurate descriptions of planetary atmospheres might also help shed light on how the evolution of the solar system left the outer planets with a high percentage of volatiles, but not the inner planets.

Detecting Schumann Resonance from above still requires the instruments to be fairly close to the planet, so this technique couldn't be used to investigate from afar the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system. Instead, scientists imagine something much more dramatic.

After a spacecraft is finished observing a planet, it could continue to detect Schumann resonance as it begins its death dive into the atmosphere.

During the process of self-destruction, the spacecraft would still provide valuable scientific data until the very last minute of its existence.
 
Karen C. Fox works for the NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A man who was convicted of first degree murder for a 1987 shooting has been denied parole for the second time.

On Tuesday, May 1, the Board of Parole Hearings denied parole for Edward Keefe Crawford, age 53, according to the Lake County District Attorney's Office.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff attended the lifer hearing at California State Prison-Solano to argue against Crawford’s release.

Crawford was prosecuted in 1988 by then-Lake County District Attorney Stephen Hedstrom, who now is a Lake County Superior Court judge.

A jury found Crawford guilty of first degree murder for the killing of 28-year-old Glenn Shoemaker. Judge Robert L. Crone Jr. sentenced Crawford to 27 years to life.

Crawford's minimum eligible parole date was Sept. 17, 2006. Tuesday's parole hearing was Crawford’s second.

The murder was investigated by retired investigator Carl Stein at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

According to investigative reports Crawford and codefendant Jon Christ took Shoemaker for a boat ride on Sept. 19, 1987, and stopped at a secluded spot on the shoreline.

Christ reportedly told a witness prior to the incident that they were taking Shoemaker for a one-way boat ride, according to the investigation.

When the three got out of the boat, the victim was shot six times, including twice in the back, with .22-caliber handgun. Shoemaker's body was found 11 days later.

Crawford and Christ both reportedly bragged or confessed to others that they had killed Shoemaker, officials said.

The motive reported at the time was that Shoemaker had recently stolen the same handgun that he was shot with from Christ, and Christ got the gun back and was angry about the theft.

During the investigation Crawford admitted shooting Shoemaker but claimed it was an accident. Crawford claimed Christ gave him the gun, told him it was unloaded and told him to scare Shoemaker with it.

Crawford claimed when he pulled the trigger to scare Shoemaker the gun discharged twice into the victim, then Christ shot the victim four more times.

Christ also was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 31 years to life in prison, the District Attorney's Office reported.

During his time in prison, Crawford gave officials differing versions of the motive for the murder.

In 1991 Crawford told prison officials he shot Shoemaker because Shoemaker had allegedly molested Crawford’s child.

In 2007 Crawford said he and Shoemaker went water skiing. When they stopped to use the bathroom, an argument ensued over stolen property, Shoemaker stabbed Crawford in the arm and Crawford shot Shoemaker.

In January 2012 Crawford said he killed Shoemaker because Shoemaker had molested his neighbor's children.

At his parole hearing on May 1, Crawford claimed he killed Shoemaker because Shoemaker was a child molester. Crawford claimed he confronted Shoemaker about the alleged molestation and Shoemaker stabbed him.

Crawford admitted it was never proven Shoemaker was a child molester, and stated he shot Shoemaker because he was really angry at him.

During his time in prison – where he has been since 1988 – Crawford has made no effort to address his alcohol, drug or anger issues, the District Attorney's Office said.

Crawford had taken no drug or alcohol addiction classes and had not participated in any anger management or alternatives to violence classes.

He also was caught making alcohol in prison twice, and admitted he had been placed in administrative segregation in prison for his own protection for not paying a $100 drug debt for heroin he purchased from other prisoners while in prison.

At the parole hearing Tuesday – which lasted more than two and a half hours – Hinchcliff asked the Board of Prison Hearings to deny Crawford parole on the grounds that he still presented an unreasonable risk of danger to the public if released.

Although Crawford claimed to be remorseful at the hearing, the Board of Prison Hearing commissioners agreed that Crawford still posed an unreasonable risk of danger to the public and  denied him parole for at least 10 years, the District Attorney's Office reported.

Crawford’s next parole hearing will be in 2022, officials reported.

After cooling the eastern tropical Pacific for the second winter in a row – and teaming with other large-scale weather patterns to wreak havoc on North American winter – La Niña ended in April 2012.

Researchers from the Climate Prediction Center of the U.S. National Weather Service reported on May 3 that the Pacific has transitioned to “neutral conditions, which are expected to continue through northern summer 2012.”

La Niña and El Niño are alternating patterns of ocean and atmospheric circulation that have a distinct impact on weather around the Pacific basin.

La Niña brings cooler waters and stronger trade winds to the tropical Pacific, boosting precipitation in western Pacific nations like Australia and Indonesia and drying out southern North America.

The pattern can alter the path of the jet stream and other atmospheric phenomena.

The images above depict sea surface height (SSH) anomalies for the Pacific Ocean in January and April 2012, as observed by the radar altimeter on the OSTM/Jason-2 satellite.

Shades of blue show regions where the sea surface height is lower than the average, while reds show heights that are above average.

The animation linked below the image shows the see-saw pattern of sea surface heights over the past four years.

Over yearly scales, the height of the ocean surface is driven by the temperature of the water – warmer water expands to a greater volume than cooler water – and by winds.

“Sea surface temperatures (SST) show the surface manifestation of La Niña and El Niño; this is what the atmosphere ‘feels,’” said Bill Patzert of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “Sea surface height shows how much heat has been redistributed in the equatorial Pacific. These are very complementary. SST shows what the atmosphere is responding to, while SSH shows how intense the event is.”

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) is calling upon bicycle riders and motorists alike to be cautious during May, National Bicycle Safety Month, and every other month during the year.

The total number of bicycle deaths in California have remained flat for the last two reporting years, while injuries have increased 4.6 percent.

Encouragingly, deaths and injuries for bicycle riders under age 15 have continued to fall.

OTS partners with other state departments, bicycle advocates and local agencies in an ongoing, multi-faceted campaign for bicycle safety through the California Strategic Highway Safety Plan.

“Bike Month is a great occasion for Californians, whether out with friends or family or on their own, to strap on a helmet, hop on a bike, and see just how fun and welcoming our streets and bike paths have become,” said Christopher J. Murphy, director of the Office of Traffic Safety. "Californians now see biking as a real transportation option. The key is to ensure that biking is safe for everyone."

Bicycles are associated with more childhood injuries than any other consumer product except automobiles.

Child bicycling deaths can increase 45 percent above the month average in the summer. More adults are choosing bicycles, both for commuting to work and for exercise.

Learning how to ride a bike is a rite of passage in childhood, and often reintroduced to adults.

Here are some important things for you or your child to consider before jumping on that bike:

Helmets – Every time, every trip

• Make it a rule: every time you and your child ride a bike, wear a bicycle helmet that meets the safety standards developed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. It’s your main source of protection in a crash or spill.
• If your child is reluctant to wear a helmet, try letting him or her choose their own.
• Make sure the helmet fits and that everyone knows how to put it on correctly. A helmet should sit on top of the head in a level position, and should not rock forward, backward or side to side. The helmet straps must always be buckled but not too tightly.
• EYES check: Position the helmet on your head. Look up and you should see the bottom rim of the helmet. The rim should be one to two finger-widths above the eyebrows.
• EARS check: Make sure the straps of the helmet form a "V" under your ears when buckled. The strap should be snug but comfortable.
• MOUTH check: Open your mouth as wide as you can. Do you feel the helmet hug your head?

The right bike

• Ensure proper bike type, size and fit. Get help from an expert or read up on your own before choosing a bike. Bring your child along when shopping for a bike for them. Buy a bicycle that is the right size for the child, not one he will grow into. When sitting on the seat, the child’s feet should be able to touch the ground.
• Make sure the reflectors are secure, brakes work properly, gears shift smoothly and tires are tightly secured and properly inflated.

Ride safe

• Ride wisely. You are a vehicle. Learn and follow all laws.
• Be predictable. Act like a driver of a motor vehicle.
• Be visible. See and be seen at all times.
• Stay focused. Stay alert.

Drive safe

• Motorists need to safely share the road.
• Don’t crowd bicyclists.
• Keep an eye out for bicyclists, as well as motorcycles and pedestrians.

Married persons, and registered domestic partners, need to consider how much control they want to allow one another – acting alone – over their community property assets.  

This is important when creating their powers of attorney, wills and joint trust.  

The analysis involves three time periods: First, while both are alive and competent; second, when one spouse becomes incompetent while the other is alive; and, third, after the first spouse dies while the surviving spouse remains competent.

First, what authority do they want to give each other independently to control community property assets – both those inside and outside of a joint trust, as relevant – while both are competent? Should either spouse alone be allowed to make gifts without the other’s participation or consent?  

This issue can be thorny in blended families when one spouse wants to help his or her child(ren) and the other spouse may not be quite as enthusiastic.  

Second, if and when one spouse becomes incompetent, what authority should the other spouse then have over community property assets? Should the competent spouse be authorized to change their community property assets into his or her own separate property to qualify the incompetent spouse for Medi-Cal eligibility?  

California law requires each spouse’s consent to name death beneficiaries of the community property non probate assets – retirement accounts, annuities and life insurance.  

Does the couple want the competent spouse to be able to change designated death beneficiaries on such assets to reflect unforeseen changed family circumstances? If so, each spouse’s durable power of attorney should be drafted to enable the other spouse to do so.   

Third, after the first spouse dies, what authority should the surviving spouse have over the couple’s community property assets?

If they want the surviving spouse to have complete control, then the surviving spouse will need to be granted legal authority over the decedent’s one half interest in the community property assets after death.  

In that regard, let us consider assets inside their joint trust and their other non probate assets.

Even if their trust says the surviving spouse may amend and revoke the trust, case law shows that such provision should not be depended upon to allow the surviving spouse to amend or revoke the trust with respect to the deceased spouse’s one-half interest in the joint trust’s community property assets.  

Rather, the joint trust should either provide that any community property assets are included in the surviving spouse’s sole trust, or that the joint trust would grant the surviving spouse a power of appointment over the deceased spouse’s one-half interest in community property assets.      

Next, let us consider the death benefits on any retirement accounts, annuities and life insurance policies titled in the surviving spouse’s name, which are either wholly or partially community property.  

The deceased spouse has a community property interest in such assets. For the surviving spouse to change who receives the death proceeds it is necessary for the deceased spouse, while alive, to have given the surviving spouse written authority over the deceased spouse’s interest. This is typically accomplished through a will.  

Otherwise, failing such authority in the deceased spouse’s will, any changes made by the surviving spouse are only partially effective; that is, only effective over the surviving spouse’s own one-half interest in the community property  and any separate property interest of the account only.

The foregoing limitation, however, does not apply to the surviving spouse’s ERISA qualified retirement plans (i.e., pensions and 401(k) plans).  

Federal law allows the participant spouse exclusive control to name death beneficiaries.

Lastly, the foregoing approach requires the drafting attorney to strike the right balance between flexibility and caution.  

Doing so entails imposing sensible limitations that curtail flexibility in order to prevent undesired results.

Dennis A. Fordham, attorney (LL.M. tax studies), is a State Bar Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Law. His office is at 55 First St., Lakeport, California. Dennis can be reached by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 707-263-3235. Visit his Web site at www.dennisfordhamlaw.com .

COBB, Calif. – A woman was reportedly shot to death on Cobb Friday evening.

The shooting was reported before 7 p.m. on Cobb.

Radio reports indicated the woman was shot to death near the Adams Springs Golf Course in the area of Hogan Hill Lane.

The possible suspect was a male, the woman's boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, said to be in his 40s. No further descriptions of the suspect were immediately available.

Sheriff's deputies and Kelseyville Fire responded to the scene of the shooting, radio reports indicated.

A REACH air ambulance also responded and landed at the Boggs Mountain helitack just before 7:15 p.m. However, once on the ground dispatch informed REACH that it could return to quarters as the patient had died.

Shortly after 9 p.m. deputies were called from the scene on the report of a man in the Middletown area threatening to shoot his girlfriend, according to radio traffic.

Additional details will be posted as they become available.

COBB, Calif. – A Cobb man is being held on $1 million bail for allegedly killing his girlfriend.

James Michael Carpy, 44, was arrested following the discovery on Friday of his girlfriend's dead body in their Cobb home, according to Capt. Chris Macedo of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

The name of the 33-year-old victim has not been released by the sheriff's office. Macedo said the woman's name is being withheld pending notification of family members.

At 6:52 p.m. Friday Lake County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a residence on Hogan Hill Lane on Cobb on the report of a suspicious death, Macedo said.

The reporting party advised dispatchers that he had arrived at his daughter’s house and found her deceased, according to Macedo.

When deputies arrived on scene they located an unidentified female lying on the floor inside the residence. Deputies determined that woman was in fact deceased, but Macedo said the deputies were not able to determine the possible cause of her death.

Macedo said the deputies contacted the woman's father, who had found her, and he informed them that he went to his daughter’s residence to check on her as he had not heard from her since Thursday evening.

The woman's father informed sheriff’s deputies that his daughter lived at the residence with her boyfriend, Macedo said.

The man went to the Hogan Hill Lane residence with his girlfriend and his other daughter. He reported that Carpy answered the door, according to Macedo.

Macedo said the victim's father entered the residence and found his daughter deceased in a rear bedroom. The father then told his girlfriend to go to the neighbor’s house and call 911.

After interviewing the victim's father deputies contacted Carpy inside the residence, Macedo said. Carpy was detained without incident and transported to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office for questioning.

After questioning, Carpy was arrested and booked at the Lake County Hill Road Correctional Facility for murder and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, with bail set at $1 million, Macedo said.

Lake County Sheriff’s detectives were summoned to the scene to conduct the investigation, which is ongoing, Macedo said. He said no further information on the case will be released until Monday, May 7.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the Lake County Sheriff’s Office at 707-263-2690.

WILLITS, Calif. – On Friday Caltrans issued a statement regarding “misconceptions and misinformation” it said is being circulated about the Willits Bypass project, which is at the heart of a lawsuit filed earlier this week.

Caltrans said the $210 million dollar highway improvement project will relieve congestion, reduce delays and improve safety for traffic currently passing through Willits.

On Tuesday, the Center for Biological Diversity, Willits Environmental Center, Redwood Chapter of the Sierra Club and Environmental Protection Information Center filed a lawsuit in federal court against Caltrans, the Federal Highway Administration and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, alleging that the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act were violated in approving the project, as Lake County News has reported.

The groups alleged that the four-lane freeway would hurt wetlands, salmon-bearing streams and endangered plants.

Caltrans said in a Friday statement that the federal lawsuit has not put the project on hold, and the agency plans to keep the project on schedule.

The bypass project is anticipated to go out to bid on May 14 and a mandatory pre-bid meeting will be held June 13 for all contractors who wish to submit bids or participate as subcontractors, Caltrans reported.

Current traffic counts in Willits show that a four-lane bypass will meet traffic needs, and that a two-lane bypass will not be sufficient, Caltrans reported.

Caltrans said it thoroughly investigated two-lane alternatives prior to selecting the four-lane bypass. The selection process involved rigorous involvement and analysis by traffic engineers and other traffic specialists with extensive experience in planning roadways and projecting traffic needs.

The data showed – and continues to show, even with current fluctuations in traffic counts – that a two-lane bypass would provide insufficient traffic service in terms of congestion and delays, which also affect traffic safety, Caltrans said. A four-lane bypass, in contrast, will relieve congestion and delays for decades to come

The 2006 environmental document has been revalidated and supplemented to keep it compliant with State and Federal environmental protection laws. Caltrans' 2006 Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) substantiates the need to provide a four-lane bypass around the city of Willits.

In order to ensure the viability of its conclusions as time has passed, and as several project and funding changes have occurred, Caltrans conducted several revalidations of its 2006 environmental analyses. On all but one occasion, Caltrans' analysis revealed that the 2006 EIR/EIS remained valid and did not require supplementation.

When a state-listed threatened plant species, North Coast semaphore grass, was discovered in the bypass area during field studies, Caltrans prepared and circulated a supplemental EIR in 2010 to assess potential impacts and protective measures for the plant. Caltrans firmly stands behind our 2006 environmental documents, our revalidations, and Supplemental EIR as fully compliant with state and federal environmental protection laws.

Caltrans works with local transit authorities when developing highway projects. The agency said it examines public transit options when considering alternatives to freeway projects. Although Caltrans facilitates public transportation systems by administering public funds to local transit authorities, the actual building of transit facilities is not within its legal limitations.

The majority of local and regional community members do not support the continued reliance on existing roadways where congestion results in daily delays, according to Caltrans.

The project's mitigation measures will increase the overall quality of fisheries habitat in the area, the agency said. These headwaters of the Eel River will not only be preserved by a detailed plan to minimize impacts during construction; the mitigation being funded due to this project will greatly increase the overall quality of fisheries habitat in this area.

Culverts on Haehl and Upp Creeks are being removed and two culverts on Ryan Creek will be replaced with natural bottom culverts. Removal of the culverts at Haehl and Upp Creeks will open the headwater sections of those creeks to spawning fish, Caltrans said.

Installing natural bottom culverts on Ryan Creek will allow summering juvenile Southern Oregon-Northern California Coasts Coho salmon, a species designated as threatened, to seek summer rearing habitat and greatly increase the species long-term survival outlook, according to Caltrans.

Along all creeks within the mitigation properties, invasive non-native plants will be removed and replaced with native plants. Caltrans said fencing also will be installed along all of the creeks within the mitigation properties keep cattle out of the creeks and riparian zones increasing water quality and fisheries habitat.

Agencies which reviewed and approved the project mitigation measures are California Department of Fish and Game, National Marine Fisheries Service, North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. U. S Army Corps of Engineers and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – University of California, Berkeley, scientists are drilling into ancient sediments at the bottom of Northern California’s Clear Lake for clues that could help them better predict how today’s plants and animals will adapt to climate change and increasing population.

In the video above, produced by Roxanne Makasdjian, UC Berkeley Professor Cindy Looy and graduate student Liam Reidy explain how drilling into Clear Lake can reveal the consequences of past climate change, and help us predict the future consequences of global warming.

The lake sediments are among the world’s oldest, containing records of biological change stretching back as far as 500,000 years.

The core drilling is part of a unique, multifaceted effort at UC Berkeley to determine how Earth’s flora and fauna responded to past changes in climate in order to improve models that project how life on Earth will adapt to today’s environmental pressures.

What the researchers learn from their look-back in time will be crucial for state or local planners clamoring for better predictive tools to guide policies crucial to saving ecosystems threatened by climate change.

“We are reconstructing the past to better forecast the future, because we need to know what’s coming in order to adequately prepare for it,” said Looy, the project leader and an assistant professor of integrative biology.

Looy and 16 other UC Berkeley faculty members – including paleontologists, pollen experts, botanists, ecologists and climate modeling experts – will examine the lake cores for pollen grains, charcoal and fresh-water organisms going back at least 130,000 years, long before humans arrived in the area.

Using isotope and chemical analysis as well as carbon dating, the researchers will obtain a long series of detailed snapshots – ideally, every 10 years – of the plant and animal communities in the Clear Lake area and how the communities changed in response to “natural” global warming events.

The analysis will also provide a measure of the temperature, oxygen content and nutrient levels of the lake, which reflect rainfall and water level.

“One way to check our predictions is to go back in time to a state very similar to today, with the same plants and animals and about the same temperature. The fossilized plant and animal remains from Clear Lake will give us a baseline for what this region of California looked like under similar climatic conditions, and when it was colder or warmer. We use that information to fine-tune predictive models being developed today,” Looy said. “Rates of global warming almost as fast as what we see today last happened during the shift from the last glacial to the current interglacial roughly 12,000 years ago, so that is one time interval we will focus on.”

Focusing on two glacial-to-interglacial transitions

Looy and her team also will look at an even earlier transition from a glaciated Earth 130,000 years ago to a time 113,000 years ago when it may have been locally warmer than today.

Learning what the area looked like during that time will help Northern Californians anticipate how conditions will change as global temperature continues to rise over the coming decades.

“There are indications from ice cores and ocean drilling cores that the beginning of the previous interglacial may have been warmer than it is now, which is where it becomes interesting,” said Looy. “We know what the Earth is like at today’s temperature, but a lot of people are trying to predict what will happen if the earth warms 1 or 2 degrees Celsius (2-4 degrees Fahrenheit), or even more.”

Charcoal in the lake sediments will also tell the researchers how Native Americans altered the environment through deliberate fires designed, for example, to increase acorn production by oaks.

One member of the team, Anthony Barnosky, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology, will correlate this information with mammalian fossils collected from cave deposits in the area and that have been stored for decades in the Museum of Paleontology.

“You can view the core as a time machine by which we can define a continuous record of change, both climatic and vegetational, though the past 130,000 years, and then we have all these floating snapshots of the ecosystem – the mammal communities – from cave deposits around here,” Barnosky said. “We can put names on these fossils and radiocarbon-date them and begin to build a 3-D picture of change through time from the late Pleistocene, some 130,000 years ago, through the last glacial/interglacial transition 13,000 to 11,000 years ago, all the way up to the present.”

The study will help to evaluate and refine current models that predict how plants and animals will adapt to a changing world by testing predictions of the models against what actually happened during past times of climate change.

Such models are important for state and local planning agencies that must deal with future consequences of climate change, including sea level rise, water shortages and increasing fire incidence that can threaten ecosystems.

“Based on this type of research at UC Berkeley, we want to make the case that adaptation to a changing climate is an issue we have to take more seriously, we have to bring it more into the mainstream of Bay Area planning,” said Bruce Riordan, director of the Bay Area Joint Policy Committee, which coordinates regional planning agencies in responding to climate adaptation. “By starting planning now and understanding the problems, the strategies we need to implement and the costs involved, we may find less costly solutions today rather than later. The research can really help inform about both the problems and about the solutions.”

Half million years of sediment

Clear Lake is unusual in having survived the advance and retreat of glaciers that scoured and obliterated most lakes outside the tropics, including the large lakes in California’s Sierra Nevada.

Previous coring in Clear Lake by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1973 and 1980 revealed lake sediments half a million years old, with only three breaks in continuity.

At the site where UC Berkeley plans to obtain cores, in the upper arm of the lake about one to three miles west southwest of the town of Lucerne, the USGS obtained a continuous core in 1973 going back 130,000 years.

Looy and her team hired Utah-based DOSECC (Drilling, Observation and Sampling of the Earths Continental Crust), a non-profit scientific drilling company, to obtain two 120 meter-long (400-foot) cores, each about 8 centimeters (3 inches) in diameter.

The cores are obtained in 3-meter (10-foot) chunks that are capped and labeled at the site and will be shipped to a cold-storage facility in Minnesota operated by LacCore (National Lacustrine Core Facility), a nonprofit organization funded by the National Science Foundation and the University of Minnesota.

In the facility’s cold lab, the team will split each chunk longitudinally, photograph the halves, and then bring one half of each chunk back to UC Berkeley for analysis.

While the USGS sampled its cores once every meter, Looy and her team will sample parts of their cores every centimeter, the equivalent of about 10 years of sediment.

“We will get 100 times better time resolution, and can follow what happens when you rapidly warm the Earth up,” Looy said.

“The detail we can get from Clear Lake is really impressive,” she added. “The material is well preserved, and the USGS did a great job in describing the whole time interval so that now we know what the interesting areas are to focus on. We know this is not a shot in the dark.”

The Clear Lake drilling project is one of seven research projects involving global change forecasting funded by a $2.5 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to UC Berkeley’s Berkeley Initiative in Global Change Biology, or BiGCB.

Each project focuses on a particular California environment and leverages UC Berkeley’s unique museum collections of vertebrates, insects, plants and fossils to provide details about past changes in plant and animal populations.

Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.

THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON UPGRADED THIS QUAKE’S MAGNITUDE FROM 4.3 TO 4.5. 

COBB, Calif. – A 4.5-magnitude earthquake was reported early Saturday morning near The Geysers geothermal steamfield.

In its preliminary report, which was reviewed by a seismologist, the U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred at 2:23 a.m.

The quake's epicenter was located three miles east of The Geysers, three miles southwest of Cobb, four miles west northwest of Anderson Springs and 24 miles north of Santa Rosa at a depth of 1.7 miles, according to the report.

It was quickly followed by more than a dozen smaller aftershocks, the largest of which was 2.3 in magnitude, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Several residents of the Cobb area reported on Lake County News' Facebook page that they had been awakened by the quake, which some also reported seemed to last longer than usual.

Within a half-hour of the quake taking place the U.S. Geological Survey had received more than 70 shake reports from 23 zip codes.

Responses came from Clearlake, Hidden Valley Lake, Kelseyville, Lower Lake and Middletown, as well as areas in Napa and Sonoma counties, and the Bay Area, with responses coming from as far away as Sacramento and San Francisco.

The last time a quake of similar magnitude was reported in the Cobb area was on Feb. 12, when a 4.3-magnitude quake – also located three miles east of The Geysers – occurred, as Lake County News has reported.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

MENDOCINO COUNTY, Calif. – A Mendocino County jury on Tuesday found a Fort Bragg resident guilty of two felony and four misdemeanor counts of reckless driving, stemming from a three-car accident that happened nearly a year ago.

Jurors deliberated slightly more than two hours before rejecting defendant Randall Douglas Jennings’ defense that he was suffering from something akin to sleepwalking in the time leading up to the May 27, 2011, accident on Highway 1 on the Mendocino Coast, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors called a dozen witnesses – including five witnesses to Jennings’ driving that day – three victims, three CHP officers, and one medical expert.  

The witnesses testified that they observed Jennings driving north of Cleone on Highway 1 at high speeds, passing several cars across double yellow lines and around blind corners.  

At the intersection of Little Valley Road and Highway 1, Jennings’ vehicle narrowly missed a southbound vehicle, before losing control and colliding head-on with two other southbound vehicles, injuring a total of six victims.  

The defense called three witnesses, including the 43-year-old defendant and Dr. Richard Miller, in support of the defendant’s attempted defense of “sleep driving.” Jennings testified that he remembered driving north on Highway 1, but did not remember reckless driving or the accident.

The two felony convictions entered were for reckless driving causing specific injury to two passengers in the first car hit by Jennings.

The four misdemeanor reckless driving convictions entered were for injuries to passengers in the two additional cars struck by Jennings’ vehicle. All six victims were visiting from out of county on the day of the accident.

“I would like to thank the jurors for their careful consideration of the evidence and for reaching a just verdict,” said prosecutor Jared Kelly.
 
District Attorney David Eyster said the verdict “is evidence of how the California Highway Patrol, concerned citizens and the DA’s Office continue to work together towards the common goals of seeking justice for victims of crimes and safeguarding our roads.”

Judge Clayton Brennan referred the defendant’s matter to the Probation Office for a sentencing report and recommendation.

The sentencing hearing was then calendared for 9 a.m. June 18 at the Fort Bragg courthouse.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Due to the lack of bidders for the tax delinquent properties in the February online auction, the Lake County Treasurer-Tax Collector has scheduled a re-offer of the unsold properties.

This reoffer auction starts Saturday, May 12, and ends Tuesday, May15, online at www.bid4assets.com .

In hopes that a lower deposit may spur interest, the treasurer-tax collector’s office has reduced the deposit to $2,500 from the previous $5,000. Some minimum bids have also been reduced.

The deposit for bidding is due no later than Tuesday, May 8. Full details on where and how to send the deposit to the auction company – plus their $35 processing charge – may be found on www.bid4assets.com . The county tax sales link is on the home page.  

February’s online auction started with 138 properties, but after many were redeemed or postponed, 83 went on the auction block.

The local paper listed the parcels over several weeks in January. By the close of auction, only 23 properties had been sold, some for just the minimum bid of a few thousand dollars, according to the Lake County Treasurer-Tax Collector's Office.

Staff at the treasurer-tax collector's office said the small number of properties sold was due to the economy.

Past auctions often resulted in excess proceeds, coming in over the amount needed to pay taxes and fees.

According to the rules of county tax sales, available the Bid4Assets Web site, excess proceeds can be claimed by the previous owner after a waiting period.

In recent Lake County auctions there have been very little excess proceeds, the county reported.

Property owners of delinquent parcels that still wish to redeem their properties before the auction should contact the Lake County Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office.

Although it is now common for most counties to sell their tax delinquent properties through this Web site, many only list the parcel numbers.

Lake County has listed both the parcel number and the address of each property. This makes it easier to map the property online and appeals to a wider range of bidders, especially those out of the area.

The Bid4Assets auction company discourages “sniping” – that last-minute bidding that foils your bid – by adding the “overtime” feature. Any bid entered within the last five minutes of the auction will automatically go into overtime, extending the auction until no bids are entered for a five-minute period.

This allows the property to fetch as high an amount as possible, with overtime periods sometimes running for several hours.  

Since not all parcels in the auction will close their bidding at the same time, it is important to make a note of what time the bidding ends for a particular parcel.

On the auction Web site, auction times are generally posted in Eastern Standard Time, which isn’t always the local time zone of all bidders.

The Web site can email an alert to bidders when their parcel is open for bidding and also allows placing a maximum bid amount ahead of the auction. This amount is not visible to the public, but usually can’t be reduced until bidding ends for that parcel.