Blue Hole of Belize

• Fabien Cousteau on his expedition to the Blue Hole of Belize was none other than iconic English business mogul and conservationist Sir Richard Branson. The Virgin Group tycoon was keen on spearheading the fact-finding mission to the bottom of the Blue Hole and to thoroughly explore its depths himself in the team’s submersible.
• As the submarine scoured the sea bed, the team saw what they were faced with: masses of plastic pollution. Empty bottles, covered in underwater grime littered the base of the Blue Hole. Not know what they find initially, the expedition ultimately revealed yet another victim of human consumption, an underwater garbage dump. The team members were saddened and disgusted.
• Branson has stated that he’s looking with grave concern toward the future, noting that his grandchildren will be in their thirties in 2050, and he can’t bear imagining them in a future without coral and other wonders the ocean contains. Belize has pledged to phase out single-use plastic during 2019. But this expedition to Belize was far from the first time that Branson had pledged himself to saving the environment. The amount of plastic waste humankind has created, as evidenced by the sobering finding at the bottom of the Blue Hole of Belize, is one of the largest environmental disasters facing the planet. Some of the world’s most beloved public figures, including Hollywood A-list actors, have pledged to join the fight.

    

https://www.newsweek.com/richard-branson-belize-great-blue-hole-sinkhole-plastic-pollution-1299764

(Images/video taken from google/IE)

A Single Thundercloud Carries 1 Billion Volts of Electricity

• When Benjamin Franklin tied a key to a kite and flew it into a lightning storm, he briefly became an appliance plugged into the strongest power generator on Earth. Franklin knew, as most people do, that thunderstorms are incredibly powerful. Now, in a paper published Mar. 15 2019 in the journal Physical Review Letters, researchers in Ooty, India, have come up with a shocking new answer — thanks to a little help from some cosmic rays. Using an array of sensors designed to measure electric fields and the intensity of muons — heavy particles that constantly rain down from Earth’s upper atmosphere, decaying as they pass through matter — the team measured the voltage of a large thundercloud that rolled over Ooty for 18 minutes on Dec. 1, 2014. The researchers found that, on average, the cloud was charged with about 1.3 gigavolts of electricity, which is 1.3 times 10^9 volts — roughly 10 million times more voltage than is supplied by a typical power outlet in North America. Gupta and his colleagues primarily study muons — electron-like particles that are created when cosmic rays bash into various atoms in Earth’s atmosphere. These particles have about half the spin of electrons but 200 times the weight, and are very good at penetrating matter. A muon raining down from the atmosphere can travel deep into the ocean or miles underground in just a fraction of a second, as long as it has enough energy.
• Thunderstorms have a positively charged layer on top and a negatively charged layer on bottom,” Gupta said. “If a positively charged muon hits the cloud as it rains down from the upper atmosphere, it’s going to be repelled and lose energy.Using an array of muon-detecting sensors and four electric field monitors spread over several miles, the researchers measured the average drop in energy between muons that passed through the thundercloud and those that didn’t pass through it. From this energy loss, the team was able to calculate how much electric potential the particles had passed through in the thunder cloud.

  

(Images/video taken from google/IE)

worm moon

• The Full Moon lights up tomorrow night in the late hours between Wednesday, March 20, and Thursday, March 21. The Supermoon arrives after 1.42am GMT in the UK but depending on where you live, the Moon will reach peak illumination on either of those dates but the spectacle will be equally mesmerising. The Full Moon arrives this week around the time of the astronomical start of spring, which falls on the Spring Equinox on March 20. And if that is not exciting enough, the so-called Worm Moon arrives in the form of a Supermoon – the third and last Supermoon of the year. Many of the Moon’s unusual names like the Worm Moon or Pink Moon originate in Native American traditions tied to the changing season.
• Many tribes along the US east coast, such as Algonquin tribes, named the different phases of the Moon to keep track of the time. The peculiar names reflect changes in the landscape, the wildlife and nature.
• According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the Worm Moon was named after the growing number of earthworms burrowing their way through the soil this time of year. Sometimes, the March Full Moon is also referred to as the Full Sap Moon because the sap from sugar maple trees is collected around this time. This is the time of year when the ground begins to soften and earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of the robin. It is also called the Full Sap Moon because this is the annual time when the tapping of maple trees begins.

  

(Images/video taken from google/IE)

 

Weather forecast techniques and instruments to predict the weather years ago.

• Barometer: Weighing the air since the 1600’s – The barometer is one of the most important instruments in weather forecasting.
• Anemometer measures Wind Speeds – Wind speeds can be accurately measured using devices called anemometers.
• Radar Can Detect Airplanes and Rainfall – used, primarily, to locate precipitation, track it and estimate its type (snow, rain etc) and intensity. Radar can also be used to forecast precipitation associated with thunderstorms, hurricanes and winter storms. Modern stations use pulse-Doppler Radar that is actually capable of detecting the motion of rain droplets as well as the intensity of the precipitation. They typically use dual-polarization radar that sends and receives vertical and horizontal pulses.
• Rain Gauges – Been Used to Measure Rain Since 500 BC – Rain gauges are pretty simple instruments used to directly measure the amount of liquid precipitation in one location over a period of time. They are vital instruments for meteorologists and hydrologists alike and are one of the world’s oldest and most basic weather instruments around. Some of the first recorded apparatus dates back to Ancient Greece around 500 BC.
• Weather Balloons take Weather Forecasting to New Heights – Weather or sounding balloons are effectively mobile weather stations that carry scientific instruments into the upper atmosphere. They tend to be equipped with suites of sensors to measure weather variables like atmospheric pressure, temperature, and humidity.
• Humble Thermometer is a Vital Piece of Kit – Another basic yet fundamental instrument used for weather forecasting is the humble thermometer. They are generally used for measuring the ambient temperature of the air.
• Hygrometers Measure Indicates Relative Humidity – Hygrometers are tools used to measure humidity or air moisture content in the atmosphere, soil or indoors. The very first, though crude, hygrometer was invented by the Italian genius Leonarda da Vinci in around 1480. More modern versions were created by Swiss polymath Johann Heinrich Lambert in 1755.
• Weather Satellites provide a ‘Space-eye’ View – One of the newer ‘kids on the block’ weather satellites are the highest tech options available to weather forecasters. They are able to view and gather large amounts of data about the Earth’s weather and climate with unparalleled views.
• Pyranometers measure Solar Irradiance – Pyranometers are a special type of weather forecast equipment used to measure solar irradiance on a given planar surface.
• Disdrometers can measure Rain Drops -weather forecasting instruments that are used to measure the drop size distribution and velocity of raindrops (hydrometeors in the meteorological parlance).
• Transmissometer Help Determine Local Visibility – Transmissometers are weather forecast instruments used to measure the extinction coefficient of the atmosphere and seawater and by proxy estimate the visibility.
• Ceilometer can calculate Cloud Height – Ceilometers are devices that use lasers or other light sources to determine the height of clouds or cloud bases, it can also be used to determine cloud thickness. They also have applications for determining aerosol concentrations and volcanic ash in the atmosphere.
• Stevenson Screen’s make Weather Forecasting More Accurate – Also known as an instrument screen, the Stevenson screen forms the basic enclosure around meteorological instruments the world over. The main purpose of this innovation is to protect instruments from precipitation and direct heat radiation from the sun whilst allowing ambient air to circulate through to the instrumentation inside.Automated weather stations are progressively replacing Stevenson Screen type monitoring stations the world over.
• Weather Ships were Important to Shipping the World Over – Weather ships aka Ocean Station Vessels were ships that were stationed strategically around the world’s oceans as platforms for surface and upper atmosphere weather observations. They used to be vital means of data collection for weather forecasting before the advent of weather satellites. Weather buoys have largely replaced weather ships as platforms for collections weather and ocean data around the world.
• Dew cells help Record Local Vapour Pressures are specialized hygrometers and weather forecast instruments used to determine the dew point at any one point and time. Each one consists of a small heated element surrounded by a solution of lithium chloride.

  

(Images/video taken from google/IE)

Tons of Pressurized Oxygen Could Be Hiding Out in Earth’s Molten Iron Core

• Oxygen is getting pumped into Earth’s liquid outer core. Bit of evidence that something like oxygen is hiding out in the iron core Earthquakes. The rumblings we feel on the surface are the result of waves that move throughout our entire planet. And the behavior of those waves offers clues to Earth’s contents — almost like an ultrasound of the whole planet.
• When earthquake waves bounce off the core and back to the surface, their shape indicates that the liquid iron outer core is significantly less dense than the pressurized solid iron core inside it. And that density difference impacts the shape of earthquakes and the behavior of volcanoes on the surface.
• But as extreme pressures force the inner core into a solid state, the atoms there form a more rigid lattice of chemical bonds. And that stricter structure doesn’t accommodate foreign elements as easily. As the solid core formed, it would have spat oxygen atoms and other impurities into its liquid surroundings like toothpaste shooting out of a squeezed tube.
• Our planet formed from the dust clouds of the early solar system, and we know what elements were present there. The research team ruled out other elements, like silicon, that might theoretically be present in the core based on the makeup of that cloud but don’t explain the observed effect.
• Earth’s Core has an Inner Core of Its Own. Geologists from the University of Illinois and Nanjing University in China applied earthquake resonance wave data to ‘look’ all the way through the Earth’s center, they found was a nugget smaller than the moon.

  

https://www.livescience.com/64940-pressurized-oxygen-earth-core.html

(Images/video taken from google/IE)

Earth started out with an atmosphere

• Earth’s original atmosphere was probably just hydrogen and helium, because these were the main gases in the dusty, gassy disk around the Sun from which the planets formed. The Earth and its atmosphere were very hot.
• We believe the Earth started out with an atmosphere a bit like [that of] Venus, with nitrogen, carbon dioxide, maybe methane,” said Jeremy Frey, a professor of physical chemistry at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. “Life then began somehow, almost certainly in the bottom of an ocean somewhere.”
• After around 3 billion years, the photosynthetic system evolved, meaning that single-celled organisms used the sun’s energy to turn molecules of carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen gas. This dramatically increased oxygen levels, Frey told Live Science. “And that is the biggest pollution event, you might say, that life has ever done to anything, because it slowly transformed the planet,” he said.
• Nowadays, Earth’s atmosphere consists of approximately 80 percent nitrogen and 20 percent oxygen, Frey said. That atmosphere is also home to argon, carbon dioxide, water vapor and numerous other gases, according to the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
• It’s a good thing these gases are there. Our atmosphere protects the Earth from the harsh rays of the sun and reduces temperature extremes, acting like a duvet wrapped around the planet. Meanwhile, the greenhouse effect means that energy from the sun that reaches Earth gets waylaid in the atmosphere, absorbed and released by greenhouse gases, according to the NCAR. There are several different types of greenhouse gases; the major ones are carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane and nitrous oxide. Without the greenhouse effect, Earth’s temperature would be below freezing.
• However, today, greenhouse gases are out of control. As humans release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, Earth’s greenhouse effect gets stronger, according to NCAR. In turn, the planet’s climate gets warmer. Intriguingly, no other planet in the universe has an atmosphere like Earth’s. Mars and Venus have atmospheres, but they cannot support life (or, at least, not Earth-like life), because they don’t have enough oxygen. Indeed, Venus’ atmosphere is mainly carbon dioxide with clouds of sulfuric acid; the ‘air’ is so thick and hot that no human could breathe there. According to NASA, the thick carbon dioxide atmosphere of Venus traps heat in a runaway greenhouse effect, making it the hottest planet in our solar system. Surface temperatures there are hot enough to melt lead. So, Earth’s atmosphere is life — and without it, life as we know it wouldn’t exist. “Earth needed the right atmosphere [for life] to get started,” Frey said. “It has created that atmosphere, and it has created circumstances to live in that atmosphere. The atmosphere is a totally integral part of the biological system.”

 

(Images/Video taken from google/IE)

snow roller

• A snow roller is a rare meteorological phenomenon in which large snowballs are formed naturally as chunks of snow are blown along the ground by wind, picking up material along the way, in much the same way that the large snowballs used in snowmen are made. They can be as small as a tennis ball, but they can also be bigger than a car. Most snow rollers are a few inches/centimeters wide.
• Alternative names for snow rollers include: snow bales, snow donuts, snow nuts and wind snowballs. Unlike snowballs made by people, snow rollers are typically cylindrical in shape, and are often hollow since the inner layers, which are the first layers to form, are weak and thin compared to the outer layers and can easily be blown away, leaving what looks like a doughnut or Swiss roll.
• The following conditions are needed for snow rollers to form: There must be a relatively thin surface layer of wet, loose snow, with a temperature near the melting point of ice. Under this thin layer of wet snow there must be a substrate to which the thin surface layer of wet snow will not stick, such as ice or powder snow.The wind must be strong enough to move the snow rollers, but not strong enough to blow them part.Alternatively, gravity can move the snow rollers as when a snowball, such as those that will fall from a tree or cliff, lands on a steep hill and begins to roll down the hill.Because of this last condition, snow rollers are more common in hilly areas. However, the precise nature of the conditions required makes them a very rare phenomenon.

  

(Images/video taken from google/IE))