Oct 31 2012

Climate change mitigation ‘far cheaper than inaction’

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Tackling the global climate crisis could reap significant economic benefits for both developed and developing countries, according to a new report. The impacts of climate change and a carbon-intensive economy cost the world around US$1.2 trillion a year — 1.6 per cent of the total global GDP (gross domestic product), states 'Climate Vulnerability Monitor: A Guide to the Cold Calculus of A Hot Planet'.
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Oct 31 2012

Hurricane Sandy Update: Eight to Ten Million Cumulative Power Outages Predicted

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Hurricane Sandy is weakening and moving faster than anticipated. Therefore a computer model developed by an engineer at The Johns Hopkins University is now predicting fewer power outages than initially expected. Seth Guikema is predicting that an overall cumulative total of 8 to 10 million people will lose power in the wake of the hurricane, based on the last storm track and intensity forecast at 2 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 30. It is important to note that the computer model predicts cumulative outages, not peak outages. Cumulative means the total count of anyone who has lost power, versus peak, which is the number of people without power at any one point in time. For instance, in Maryland, the local utility company reported approximately 290,000 cumulative power outages as of 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 29, but their peak was approximately 210,000 because they were actively restoring outages while new outages were occurring.
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Oct 29 2012

The Connection between Climate Change and Hurricane Sandy

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While scientists are still debating some fundamental questions regarding hurricanes and climate change (such as: will climate change cause more or less hurricanes?), there's no debating that a monster hurricane is now imperiling the U.S. East Coast. A few connections between a warmer world and Hurricane Sandy can certainly be made, however: rising sea levels are likely to worsen storm surges; warmer waters bring more rain to increase flooding; and hotter temperatures may allow the hurricane to push both seasonal and geographic boundaries.
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Oct 29 2012

Iceberg Breakup

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Icebergs start as ice sheets attached to the land or a glacier. They are large monsters of solid ice but they do break off the ice sheet before they float out to sea. How do they break up afterwards at sea? An international team of scientists has discovered a previously unknown mechanism by which large tabular icebergs break up out at sea as part of a study carried out on the Peterman Iceberg in Baffin Bay over the summer. Scientists observed that the gradual creation of a huge underwater ice foot produced so much buoyancy that it broke large chunks off the main iceberg thus causing the iceberg to slowly disintegrate. This discovery was captured on camera as a film crew followed the expedition for Operation Iceberg.
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Oct 29 2012

Smartphone apps allow users to see critical environmental issues

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With smartphones and tablets becoming increasingly popular, so are their applications or 'apps'. And trust me, they have an app for just about anything. From games to news outlets, weather trackers, and finding the best shopping deals, apps are there to provide us with entertainment and to make our online experience easier. Apps can also be used for educational purposes and recently, two developers have come up with new and exciting technology on how we can see environmental issues in app format.
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Oct 29 2012

What’s A Lake Doing In The Middle Of The Desert?

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One place you don't expect to see waves lapping against the shore is in the middle of a desert. But that's exactly what's happening deep inside the United Arab Emirates, where a recently formed lake is nestled into the sand dunes, and a new ecosystem is emerging.
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Oct 29 2012

Toxic chemicals used for leather production poisoning India’s tannery workers

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India’s tanning industry has started tackling environmental issues but its progress on worker safety is woeful. As Peter Bengtsen found out, illness and deaths linked to toxic tanning chemicals appear worryingly common. The day began as every other day for 32-year-old tannery worker, Ramu. He woke at five in the morning next to his wife, Tamil Arasi, and four children in the family’s one-room hut in a tiny rural village in southern India. After his usual breakfast of rice and lentils, he left to clean waste tanks at some of the hundreds of tanneries in Vaniyambadi. He never returned home.
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Oct 29 2012

Hurricane Sandy Update

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The National Hurricane Center advises that high wind warnings will remain in effect until 9 am in New Jersey and nearby states. There is also a high risk of coastal and inland flooding as extremely heavy rains are expected in what looks to be an extended period of heavy rain. Wind gusts will exceed 65 mph over the area today and this evening. The storm is intensifying as it passes over the Gulf Stream and will be very powerful as it slams into the New Jersey coast this evening with periods of widespread damaging wind gusts up to 85 mph. Conditions are forecast to worsen this afternoon and storm preparations should be complete by noontime or early afternoon.
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Oct 28 2012

Hurricane or Tropical Storm, Sandy packs a punch

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As Hurricane Sandy approaches the Mid-Atlantic coast of the US, it is creating major concerns for prolonged heavy rain and a significant storm surge with the potential for serious flooding and beach erosion. The unfortunate coincidence of a full moon on Monday exacerbates high tides and will only add to the potential for coastal flooding. The ability to predict flooding from storms like Sandy will be improved by work being undertaken by the US Geological Survey. The USGS is installing more than 150 storm-tide sensors at key locations along the Atlantic Coast -- from the Chesapeake Bay to Massachusetts -- in advance of the arrival of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy. Working with various partner agencies such as NOAA, FEMA, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the USGS is securing the storm-tide sensors, frequently called storm-surge sensors, to piers and poles in areas where the storm is expected to make landfall. The instruments being installed will record the precise time the storm-tide arrived, how ocean and inland water levels changed during the storm, the depth of the storm-tide throughout the event, and how long it took for the water to recede. "In the hours and days before Irene made its epic sweep up the eastern seaboard last year, USGS deployed a record number of storm-surge sensors that yielded important new information on storm tides along some of the most populated coastline in the United States," said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. "Now with Sandy we have the opportunity to test and improve predictive models of coastal zone impact based on what we previously learned."
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Oct 26 2012

Saturnian Storms

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The idea of storms on other worlds is not uncommon. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has tracked the aftermath of a massive storm on Saturn. Data reveal record-setting disturbances in the planet's upper atmosphere long after the visible signs of the storm abated, in addition to an indication the storm was more forceful than scientists previously thought. Saturn's usually bland atmosphere occasionally exhibits long-lived ovals and other features common on Jupiter. In 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope imaged an enormous white cloud near Saturn's equator that was not present during the Voyager encounters and in 1994, another, smaller storm was observed. Data from Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) instrument revealed the storm's powerful discharge sent the temperature in Saturn's stratosphere soaring 150 degrees Fahrenheit above normal.
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