The Polar Vortex Is Collapsing

• A Polar Vortex is the most dangerous when it weakens as it creates more acute winter conditions and can lead to extreme frigid weather conditions. The polar ice caps help to regulate global temperature by reflecting sunlight back into space.
• A simulated image of the stratospheric winds over the North Pole Jan. 18, 2019, showing how the northern polar vortex has split into two major parts – one over Canada and one over Russia.
• The blast of Arctic weather headed for the United States this weekend could be a first sign of still worse things to come this winter, with signs that a circular low-pressure system of swirling winds that normally keeps frigid air locked up at the North Pole has been disrupted and split into smaller parts.
• The disruption in this counterclockwise-spinning beast, called the polar vortex, is thought to be caused in part by a warm summer over the Arctic and a relatively cold fall over Siberia. A severe winter is lasting throughout February and possibly into March.
• Polar winds – The northern polar vortex is a fast-flowing stream of air that circles the North Pole in the upper parts of the atmosphere, known as the stratosphere, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) above the surface. A similar polar vortex exists over the South Pole.

 

(Images/video taken from google/IE)

Antarctica Is Dumping Hundreds of Gigatons of Ice into the Ocean Right Now

• Antarctica is hurling its guts into the ocean. And it’s happening six times faster now than it was even four decades ago. The southern, frozen continent lost an average of 252 gigatons of ice a year to the sea between 2009 and 2017. Between 1979 and 1990, it lost an average of just 40 gigatons per year. That means that ice loss on Antarctica has accelerated by 6.3 times in just four decades, according to new research published yesterday (Jan. 14) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
• Ice loss in Antarctica is a big deal. As the sea ice at the North Pole melts away, the melting causes negative consequences and ripple effects for the global climate. However, that melting doesn’t directly raise sea levels. North polar ice is already floating on the ocean, so turning it from solid to liquid doesn’t add to the total volume of water in the seas.
• But Antarctica is a landmass buried beneath ice. And it holds the largest reserve of frozen, landlocked water anywhere on the planet. Any ice loss on Antarctica directly contributes to the total volume of water in the oceans, and raises sea levels.
• 252 gigatons a year is a meaningful number when it comes to sea levels. A gigaton is a billion metric tons, and each metric ton is 2,204 pounds — a bit less than the weight of a small car. Each gigaton of ice that flows into the ocean is roughly equivalent in mass to about 720 million Toyota Prius-size vehicles flung overboard.
• In coming decades, as Earth warms even more and the ice melts faster, that rise will increase dramatically, the researchers wrote in the study. Fractions of inches could turn into meters of sea level rise. But the 40-year view offered by this paper shows that whatever variability Antarctica might have year to year, the long-term behavior of its ice is clear, and dangerous for the rest of the planet.

 

(Images/video taken from google/IE)

Exploding ‘Cow’ May Be the First Black Hole Birth Ever Observed

• On June 16, 2018, a stupendously bright explosion tore across the cosmos and lingered in the sky above Earth for several weeks. The mysterious blast traveled 200 million light-years from the gut of the Hercules constellation, shone with the light of nearly 100 supernovas and captured the attention of the world’s stargazers until; finally, it vanished from the sky as mysteriously at it appeared.
• Astronomers named it “The Cow.” From the moment of its discovery, scientists knew that The Cow (officially named AT2018cow, which is a procedurally generated name) was no typical supernova. Now, months later, a team of international researchers is prepared to argue that The Cow is actually an incredible astronomical first: the birth of either a black hole or neutron star, witnessed live from Earth for the first time in recorded history.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2f_vXxokNg?list=PLTiv_XWHnOZp7htSzWONiegbedmQ_60LG&w=641&h=315]

 

Earth’s Magnetic Pole Is Wandering, Lurching Toward Siberia

• The shape of Earth’s magnetic field is the result of both the planet’s north and south magnetic poles as well as the stream of particles coming from the sun. Earth’s north magnetic pole is on the move, unpredictably lurching away from the Canadian Arctic and toward Siberia. The North Pole’s erratic movements are largely the result of Earth’s liquid-iron outer core, known as the core field. (Other factors play a role, too, including magnetic minerals in the crust and upper mantle, as well as electric currents created by the flow of seawater, but these influences are small compared to those from the core field. But the intensity of this so-called bar magnet is decreasing over time, by about 7 percent every 100 years, Merrill told Live Science. That bar magnet is also moving right now, so that it’s tilted toward Canada at slightly less than 10 degrees. Scientists are trying to figure out exactly why magnetic north is shooting toward Siberia. One idea is that its rapid flight is connected to a high-speed jet of liquid iron under Canada, Nature reported. “The location of the north magnetic pole appears to be governed by two large-scale patches of magnetic field, one beneath Canada and one beneath Siberia,”

 

(Images/video taken from google/IE)

Learn to Read Weather Forecast

• The weather forecast is often the most important factor in deciding what to wear. The weather also has an impact on outdoor activities. Knowing how to read a weather forecast is a skill that many people take for granted
• Find the forecast box with today’s date. There will be two numbers. The higher number is the forecast maximum temperature for the day. The lower number is the minimum temperature. Take note of the forecast weather conditions. Symbols like sunshine or lightning are self-explanatory.
• Note the chance of precipitation, which is given as a percentage. If there is no mention of rain or snow, then chances are zero.
• Look at the next day’s forecast. Pay attention to any departures from the current day’s forecast.Look at the remainder of the forecast. Think about your weekly activities, and if the weather has a chance of altering those activities.A weather forecast is never set in stone. The further out in time a forecast goes, the less reliable it becomes. Always be prepared for the unexpected.
• Warning : Severe weather forecasts should be taken seriously. Stay off the road during blizzards. Likewise, don’t go outdoors if a tornado watch is in effect.

 

(Images/videos taken from google/IE)

Petrichor

• Rain is the cleanest and most delicate of all our fragrances. Step outside after the first storm after a dry spell and it invariably hits you.  One of these odors, called petrichor, lingers when rain falls after a prolonged dry spell. , the term was coined in 1964 by two Australian scientists studying the smells of wet weather is derived from a pair of chemical reactions.
• Rain itself has no scent. But moments before a rain event occurs, an earthy smell known as petrichor does permeate the air. People call it musky, fresh, generally pleasant. A byproduct of their activity is an organic compound called geosmin which contributes to the petrichor scent. It means a specific scent moving on. This smells the result of bacteria commonly found in the soil. Certain microbes, particularly Streptomyces, produce spores during overly dry periods.

 

(Images/video taken from google/IE)

Avalanche bursts into Swiss hotel as heavy snow continues across Europe ski resorts

• An avalanche (a large mass of snow, ice, earth, rock, or other material in swift motion down a mountainside) engulfed a Swiss hotel as heavy snow battered Europe’s ski resorts. Three people were injured in the avalanche and Hotel Säntis confirmed that there were no missing guests.
• The avalanche occurred at around 4pm on Thursday afternoon (Jan 10, 2019) in the Schwägalp pass area. There was a huge noise and a load of snow came in from the back of the restaurant. Outside, the street in front of the hotel was completely buried with several cars and a bus under the snow.one person was dug out of the snow. The incident comes as parts of Europe are battered by heavy snow which has left at least 17 dead. 9,000 households in the Czech Republic were without electricity on Thursday due to heavy snow. In Norway’s Svaldard islands, more than 200 people have been evacuated due to a storm and a risk of avalanche. Schools were also closed in the Athens region.

(Images/video taken from google/IE)

Human-made weather disasters (a few of importance)

• The Bhopal Gas Leak: In 1984, a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, resealed 30 metric tons of methyl isocyanite into the atmosphere.
• Jilin Chemical Explosion: In November the thirteenth, 2005, a petrochemical plant in Jilin, China was the site of series of explosions. The event released 100 tons of pollutants, mainly benzene and nitrobenzene, into the environment.
• Tennesse Coal Ash Spill the Kingston Fossil Fuel Power Plant like any other of its kind produced fly coal ash as a byproduct of the coal combustion.
• North Pacific Garbage Patch: A gyre is a marine phenomenon, caused by the relationship of neighbouring currents. Essentially, it’s a vortex of trapped water which spins around a center point.
• Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Considered the worst oil spill in history, on April, the twentieth, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank in the sea. This left the drill hole completely open and petrol began to blow out directly into the waters, much like a gun wound in the chest.
• Guiyu E-Waste Dump In China: The Americans, although completely deserving, are not the only ones to blame for the current state of the Earth. The Guiyu dump in China is the biggest e-waste landfill in the world. A total of 52 square kilometers of land is buried in iPhones, Galaxy S4s and other famous electronic devices.
• Baia Mare Water Cyanide Contamination: The gold mining company Aurul is a venture by the Australian company Esmeralda Exploration and the Romanian government. One of the processes, used to extract the precious metal from the ore is gold cyanidation.
• London’s Great Smog: {the winter of ‘52 was a cold one for Londoners. At the time, people heated their homes with mainly coal powered heaters. Naturally, the consumption increased to battle the chills. It was found that four thousand people have died prematurely and a hundred thousand more developed dreadful respiratory illnesses.
• Door to Hell: It is a natural gas field in Derweze, Turkmenistan, which to this day forth still continues to burn, after it was set on fire in 1971. Soviet scientists began to drill and excavate the resource in the same year. However, during their work the ground under the drilling rig gave weight and collapsed. A giant crater formed and started to blow out methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, right into the atmosphere.
• Castle Bravo: This was the code name given to the biggest nuclear bomb ever discharged by American hand. The blast had a force of 15 megaton of freedom, a thousand times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

  

(Images/videos taken from google/IE)

Weather Facts (a few)

• Hot and Cold weather facts:
  Al’Aziziyah in Libya has the highest recorded temperature on earth at a sweltering 58°C on the 13th Sept, 1922. The lowest ever recorded world temperature was at Vostok Station, Antarctica on the 21 July 1983 at a bitter -89.6°C
• Wet and Dry facts about weather:
  Mawsynram in India is noted as being the wettest place on earth is with over 11 meters of rain falling every year. In contrast, Antofagasta in Chile is the driest place on the planet getting less than 0.1mm per year, and with many years having no rainfall whatsoever.
• Sunny facts:
  Yuma in the state of Arizona has over 4,000 hours of sunshine per year – making it the sunniest place on the planet! The South Pole is the least sunny place – only 182 days a year get sunshine.
• Windy Facts:
  The windiest place on earth is Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica where winds of 200mph have been recorded. The strongest ever recorded wind was on Mt Washington, New Hampshire, USA at an amazing 231mph.
• Stormy Weather facts:
  Nearly 2,000 thunderstorm cells are estimated over the planet at any given time. The U.S. has over 100,000 thunderstorms every year, with over 16 million taking place across the world in a year. 9 out of 10 lightning bolts strike land rather than oceans. A storm named John was the Longest-lasting Pacific tropical storm continuing for 31 days. As it crossed the dateline twice, it changed status from a hurricane to a typhoon and back to a hurricane. “Ginger”, was the longest-lasting Atlantic tropical storm, which spun around the open ocean for 28 days in 1971.
• Snowy Weather Facts:
  The world’s largest snowflake was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records, at 38 cm wide and 20 cm thick. The snow flake fell at Fort Keogh, Montana, USA on 28 January 1887. With tyres for his mouth and trees for arms, ‘Angus’ – the tallest snowman, was made by residents of Bethel, Maine, USA, measuring a whopping 34.63 metres. ‘Angus’ took 2 weeks to build, and was completed on 17 February 1999. The greatest snowfall recorded was on Mt Rainier, Washington State, USA – Over 30metres fell during the winter of 1972.
• Weird Weather Facts:
  On 14th April, 1986 Bangladesh was hit by the biggest hail stones ever recorded weighing in at over 1kg each – killing 92 people.
• Thunder rumbles why – Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending on the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a sharp, loud crack to a long, low rumble (make a continuous deep, resonant sound). The sudden increase in pressure and temperature from lightning produces rapid expansion of the air surrounding and within a bolt of lightning.

   

(Images/video taken from google/IE)