Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Arctic, arctic ice, CH4, climate, global warming, greenhouse gases, methane, mryhsnr, science, Wadhams
Wadhams measures the ice.
via http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/17/arctic-collapse-sea-ice
“At first this didn’t [get] noticed; the summer ice limits slowly shrank back, at a rate which suggested that the ice would last another 50 years or so. But in the end the summer melt overtook the winter growth such that the entire ice sheet melts or breaks up during the summer months.
“This collapse, I predicted would occur in 2015-16 at which time the summer Arctic (August to September) would become ice-free. The final collapse towards that state is now happening and will probably be complete by those dates”.
Wadhams says the implications are “terrible”. “The positives are increased possibility of Arctic transport, increased access to Arctic offshore oil and gas resources. The main negative is an acceleration of global warming.”
“As the sea ice retreats in summer the ocean warms up (to 7C in 2011) and this warms the seabed too. The continental shelves of the Arctic are composed of offshore permafrost, frozen sediment left over from the last ice age. As the water warms the permafrost melts and releases huge quantities of trapped methane, a very powerful greenhouse gas so this will give a big boost to global warming.”
Filed under: maps | Tags: Cedar Heights, climate, Colorado Springs, Crystola, fire map, fire perimeter, forest fire, Garden of the Gods, Garden of the Gods Fire, Green Mountain Falls, Manitou, Manitou Springs, Mountain Shadows, science, Waldo Canyon Fire, Woodland Park
Today’s Events:
Fire activity is expected to increase today and tomorrow, with higher temperatures and decreasing humidity. Possible afternoon thunderstorms could also bring strong, gusty winds. Temperatures are expected to reach at least 15 degrees above season normal.
On the west side of the fire, crews will hold and improve line from Rampart Ridge Road south to Highway 24, eliminating hotspots where required, extinguishing roll-out logs, and continuing structure protection, with the aim of re-opening the highway as soon as possible. Night crews successfully performed a burnout operation in this area overnight.
Smoke may again be visible from Colorado Springs, as a large island of fuel within the fire perimeter continues to burn, but poses no threat.
Aircraft will make retardant drops on the northern perimeter as firefighters attempt to hold the fire south of Monument Creek. Three spot fires northeast of Rampart Reservoir are being aggressively attacked by air, bulldozers and hand crews. Firefighters will also continue construction of a contingency bulldozer line along Mt. Herman Road north of the fire.
Air resources will continue to be used to suppress fire activity in Williams Canyon on the southern flank of the fire.
via http://inciweb.org/incident/article/2929/14645/
Yesterday’s perimeter map:
click to enlarge
Filed under: maps | Tags: climate, energy, Kalamazoo, Lansing, license renewal application, Michigan, nature, NRC, nuclear accident, nuclear energy, nuclear power, nukes, palisades, Palisades nuclear plant, radiation, radiation leak, radioactivity, reactors, renewal applications, science, South Bend
…which is leaking, perhaps exploding, etc.
The 41-year-old plant’s license was due to expire, but in 2007 the NRC granted a 20-year extension.
click to enlarge
Via the Palisade license-renewal application (pdf): http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/palisades/palisades_er.pdf
Filed under: maps, Uncategorized | Tags: climate, environment, fire danger, forest fire, Gila, science, she ran callin wildfire, wildfire, wildland fire
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: environment, fresh water, global water supply, global water volume, H2O, nature, Peak Water, science, USGS, water
Via USGS: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html#.T7Fqm7_rybJ
If all of Earth’s water (oceans, icecaps and glaciers, lakes, rivers, ground water, and water in the atmosphere) was put into a sphere, then the diameter of that water ball would be about 860 miles (about 1,385 kilometers) across, a bit more than the distance between Salt Lake City, Utah to Topeka, Kansas. The volume of all water would be about 332.5 million cubic miles (mi3), or 1,386 million cubic kilometers (km3). The picture at the top of this page illustrates this. A cubic mile of water equals more than 1.1 trillion gallons. A cubic kilometer of water equals about 264 billion gallons.
Less than you thought?
Filed under: maps | Tags: cold shutdown, debris, environment, Fukushima, meltdown, nuclear accident, reactor 4, science, spent fuel pool
Dug out of a report and translated by EX-SKF:
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/04/debris-map-inside-reactor-4-spent-fuel.html
click to enlarge
Sand-like sediments?
