for the next several weeks, traveling first to Bergen, Norway, then across the Arctic Circle and ultimately to the Svalbard archipelago following the route depicted on the map. In geology-speak I'm leaving the North American plate, crossing a divergent boundary just east of Greenland (the Mohns ridge, an ultra-low spreading rate mid-ocean ridge), and landing on the Eurasian plate.
could love: Bat Face Shapes Sound. Concluding quote:“This is very good physics,” Simmons says. “It just happens to be on animal parts.”Remember, bats need friends.
from space showing Sarychev Volcano (Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan) in an early stage of eruption on June 12, 2009 (click to enlarge.) Link to detailed image caption.
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
— Douglas Adams
The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean. From it we have learned most of what we know. Recently, we have waded a little out to sea, enough to dampen our toes or, at most, wet our ankles. The water seems inviting. The ocean calls.
— Carl Sagan
"The volcano has buried 12 villages, killed 13 people, displaced more than 42,000 residents and wiped out 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of densely populated farming and industrial land."Moreover, it was created by accident during drilling for oil and gas. Doh.
The sublime and the ridiculous are often so nearly related, that it is difficult to class them separately. One step above the sublime makes the ridiculous, and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again.
— Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
"That means the star's radius has contracted by a distance equal to the orbit of Venus. Though the star is shrinking, its visible brightness has not dimmed significantly over the past 15 years, the researchers say."
"After examining some 300,000 Twitter accounts, a Harvard Business School professor reported last week that 10 percent of the service's users account for more than 90 percent of tweets. The study dovetails with recent analysis by the media research firm Nielsen asserting that 60 percent of Twitter users do not return from one month to the next."I still don't get it, but I'm not into texting either (and besides, I don't have any friends.) There are a lot of abandoned blogs, too.
become apparent in this graphic illustrating light pollution in North and Central America. I pity the amateur astronomer that lives east of the Mississippi.
at EWU and my geohazards class meets Thursday, 8 - 10 am. Good luck everybody - it's almost over.
"The Eastern Washington University Board of Trustees is now accepting input regarding the proposed EWU budget until June 17 at 9 a.m., rather than the old deadline of June 19. The Board plans to carefully review and consider all input received regarding the budget, prior to taking action on the University budget proposal at its June 25 Board meeting."Here's the full statement and instructions on how to comment.
That last bit should be exciting, and here's more about the Moon for inquiring minds."LRO's objectives during its mission orbiting the moon are to identify safe landing sites, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment, and demonstrate new technology. LRO will orbit the poles of the Moon during a one-year exploration mission followed by a planned multi-year science mission.
Approximately four to five months after launch, LCROSS will impact the Moon, providing key information about the lunar composition and presence of water ice or hydrated minerals."
in Hawaii is emanating from an opening vent in the summit, suggesting that lava may soon appear in Halema`uma`u Crater.Be sure to read it and then make up your own mind about this issue.
- "Climate models suffer from numerous deficiencies and shortcomings that could alter even the very sign (plus or minus, warming or cooling) of earth’s projected temperature response to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations.
- The model-derived temperature sensitivity of the earth--especially for a doubling of the preindustrial CO2 level--is much too large, and feedbacks in the climate system reduce it to values that are an order of magnitude smaller than what the IPCC employs.
- Real-world observations do not support the IPCC’s claim that current trends in climate and weather are “unprecedented” and, therefore, the result of anthropogenic greenhouse gases.
- The IPCC overlooks or downplays the many benefits to agriculture and forestry that will be accrued from the ongoing rise in the air’s CO2 content.
- There is no evidence that CO2-induced increases in air temperature will cause unprecedented plant and animal extinctions, either on land or in the world’s oceans.
- There is no evidence that CO2-induced global warming is or will be responsible for increases in the incidence of human diseases or the number of lives lost to extreme thermal conditions."
from space showing Idaho, Montana and Wyoming (click to enlarge.) That's Yellowstone National Park anchoring the center of the image, and if you know your geography one can easily pick out the Spokane valley, lava flows at Craters of the Moon National Monument, the Teton, Wind River and Bighorn mountain ranges, and the Black Hills to name just a few landforms."Because the rocks contain iron, which rusts in the presence of water, they could provide a sensitive gauge of how much weathering has affected the region in recent times."Links to technical abstract and to general information about meteorites found on Mars.
"For humans--and the planet on which they live -- earth science literacy is a prerequisite to a successful future."I can't disagree.
"The Earth could be habitable for another 2.3 billion years, extending previous estimates of life’s horizon by more than 1 billion years."I don't know about you, but I'll sleep easier tonight.
