Arctic Ice All Gone By 2012?

An already relentless melting of the Arctic greatly accelerated this summer, a warning sign that some scientists worry could mean global warming has passed an ominous tipping point. One even speculated that summer sea ice would be gone in five years.

Greenland's ice sheet melted nearly 19 billion tons more than the previous high mark, and the volume of Arctic sea ice at summer's end was half what it was just four years earlier, according to new NASA satellite data obtained by The Associated Press.

This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally said: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."

• Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts >

What is C19A?

C19A is now the largest iceberg in the world.

Icebergs like C19A are named I believe in part to their coordinates on a map.

With an approximate size of 2,264 square miles in size, C19A became the largest iceberg in the world after the previous largest iceberg, B15 broke into two different pieces. The B15 weighed in at around 4,400 square miles in size. As the B15 iceberg continues to break up, the C19A takes the title of largest 'berg until it starts to cracks.

A giant crack across the B15 iceberg broke it off into two pieces in the last month.

• Antarctic Meteorological Research Center>
• National Ice Center (NIC) >

5.6 quake in San Jose rattles Bay Area

(10-30) 21:09 PDT San Jose -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 and an epicenter in the South Bay shook the Bay Area at 8:04 p.m. tonight, rolling and jolting buildings so powerfully that it prompted some people to duck for shelter.

No reports of injuries or major damage were called in to police or fire agencies. The San Jose Earthquake is just another bad incident for the citizens of California who have been battling wildfires for the last few weeks.

• San Francisco rattled by earthquake>
• 5.6 quake in San Jose rattles Bay Area>
• Bay Area Earthquake>

Twelve Months On Earth

Twelve Months On Earth

The New 7 Wonders Of The World - 360 Degree Panoramas

Take a look at the newly announced 7 Wonders of the World in breathtaking 360 degree panoramic pictures.

From Rio to the Great Wall of China to Chichen Itza (the only one I've seen in person), this collection of all 7 sites has a high-res Fullscreen QTVR picture that allows you to not only turn around but to zoom in for higher detail. [+more]

Atlas of Faith

The world religions are highlighted on this colorful map of the different faiths around the globe. [ ...more ]

Lawn Map of the U.S.

As people convert natural landscapes to human-tailored ones, we change the cycling of water and carbon dramatically. Across the United States, water supplies are under increasing pressure as populations grow. Forests and soils that were once a sink for atmospheric carbon can become sources as the natural landscapes are disturbed.

Among the human-tailored landscapes that influence carbon and water cycles in America are lawns. This color-coded map shows satellite-derived estimates of the fractional turf grass (lawn) area across the United States in shades of green. Areas where a large fraction of the land surface is lawn-covered are deepest green, while locations where the lawns cover a very small (or no) fraction of the land surface are lightest green or white. [ ...more ]

The clearest ocean waters on Earth

As clear as the clearest lakes on the planet, salty as ocean waters, and roughly the size of the Mediterranean – this, say researchers, is the clearest and most lifeless patch of ocean in the world. And it is in the middle of the Pacific.

"Satellite images that track the amount of chlorophyll in ocean waters suggested that this was one of the most life-poor systems on Earth," explains Patrick Raimbault of the University of the Mediterranean, in Marseille, France [ ...more ]

How the Arctic Ocean was born

Some 20 million years ago, the Arctic Ocean was best described as a very large lake, whose fresh water leaked southwards through a narrow strait into the Atlantic.

Then, 18.2 million years ago, something happened. Drawn by shifting tectonic plates, the strait began to widen. Slowly, over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, salt water from the Atlantic began flowing into the Arctic turning it into the ocean we know today. [ ...more ]

Singapore Waterspout - Hitting Ships (Close-up)

Singapore Waterspout - Hitting Ships (Close-up)

Flags of the World by Color Usage

The Flags of the World are seen in a different way with these color breakdowns of nation's flags. Here's an example of Canada's flag (left). For anyone that has ever had to do pie chart data on their maps then you'll definitely appreciate the effort that went into analyzing all the flags and charting their colors out. [ ...more ]

Pollution turning Taj Mahal yellow

Pollution is turning the Taj Mahal yellow, despite efforts by the Indian government to control air contamination around the poignant 17th century monument and keep it shimmering white, a parliamentary committee has said.

In a report to parliament this week, the standing committee on transport, tourism and culture said airborne particles were being deposited on the monument's white marble, giving it a yellow tinge.

But the committee said that while air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide gases were generally within permissible limits, "suspended particulate matter" had been recorded at high levels except during the rainy season. [ ...more ]

Oceans around Antarctica Absorbing Less CO2

Corinne Le Quéré, of the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Jena, Germany, and her team "examined atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements taken from points around the world during the past 24 years," and expected to find that the Southern oceans would absorb CO2 at a rate consistent with the growth in emissions.

They discovered, however, that climate change and the Antarctic ozone hole were actually hampering these waters natural ability to mop up rising carbon levels.

The problem appears to be an increase in winds over these oceans, and Le Quéré and her colleagues believe this is a result of "an increase in greenhouse gases and less ozone, which have both changed how heat is distributed in the atmosphere." [ ...more ]

10 Cleanest & 10 Greenest Cities

A few more tweaks to GIS Pilot today. New Mexico and Maine get a quick update. New Mexico GIS is easy to update because there's only a few for the state. Not much there. Anyway, I still have to sift through the Maine links to see if all are active and add a few more, but the process has begun...

Here's a few links in the science fields that I found interesting:

• Carbon Gas Is Explored as a Source of Ethanol
• Coca-Cola To Spend $3 Million To Green Its Headquarters
• China to Force Rain Ahead of Olympics
• China: World's biggest polluter
• NASA satellite blasts off to study mysterious polar clouds
• Solar Forecast: Sunny With Chances for Moderate Coronal Ejections
• The World's Cleanest Cities
• Top 10 Greenest Cities
• African states call for a 20-year ban on trade in ivory
• One of 34 Remaining Rare Leopards Killed
• Amazing Footage of an Underwater Nuke
• Australia's epic drought: The situation is grim
• Ontario to Ban Sale of Incandescent Bulbs by 2011
• Wave farms are the hot new alternative energy source

A Moment On Earth

On August 5th, 2004, the world came together in the form of photographs. The images were part of the Moment on Earth project put together to make a Mosaic that you can enjoy even further by zooming in on each of the individual pictures that taken. All the pictures were taken on August 5th and the variety of how people live around the world led to the diversity of the site.

Scientists Predict Southwest Mega-drought & 10 Things You Can Do To Help The Earth

For the record, these scientists predicted a huge hurricane season last year. Let's just say they were off. But, for now, they are calling for a drought in the Southwest.

The odd thing is that with the El Nino starting up there should be more moisture coming that way. So, one of my teachers is wrong...

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Also, here's a list of 10 things you can do to help the Earth. Simple things like conservation are now becoming practical if not necessary for some areas. But, it's a good reminder of how much damage you can be doing with a few bad habits.

Water Found in Extrasolar Planet's Atmosphere

Great find by some hard working scientists. Maybe soon I'll be doing flood mapping for other planets :)

Astronomers have detected water in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system for the first time.

The finding, to be detailed in an upcoming issue of Astrophysical Journal, confirms previous theories that say water vapor should be present in the atmospheres of nearly all the known extrasolar planets. Even hot Jupiters, gaseous planets that orbit closer to their stars than Mercury to our Sun, are thought to have water.

The discovery, announced today, means one of the most crucial elements for life as we know it can exist around planets orbiting other stars.

“We know that water vapor exists in the atmospheres of one extrasolar planet and there is good reason to believe that other extrasolar planets contain water vapor,” said Travis Barman, an astronomer at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona who made the discovery.

Global Warming Around the World

Skyfarming

A Columbia professor believes that converting skyscrapers into crop farms could help reduce global warming and make New York cleaner. It’s a vision straight out of Futurama—but here’s how it might work. It would be tough and expensive to pull off, which might negate being able to do this. Just think of the cost of square footage in Manhattan and the cost of trucking in veggies. It's a great article on thinking outside the box.

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Wind Power Is Spain's Top Energy Source This Week

Taking advantage of a particularly gusty period, Spain's wind energy generators this week reached an all-time high in electricity production, exceeding power generated by any other source, the nation's electricity network authority said in a statement.

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10,000 kW Electrical Power Generation in Your Backyard

Want to get off the grid? the Electric grid that is. The QR5, from U.K.-based Quietrevolution, is a residential-scale wind turbine that generates enough electricity to power a standard U.S. home or a small office. It also looks like a piece of wind-powered sculpture. Unlike the shape of a conventional windmill propeller, it’s a Vertical-axis wind turbine.

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The World's Most Polluted City

In the most polluted city on earth, the smog is so thick that it seems to consume its source. Iron foundries, smelting plants and cement factories loom out of the haze then disappear once more as you drive along Linfen's roads. The outlines of smoke stacks blur in the filthy mist. No sooner are the plumes of carbon and sulphur belched out than the chimneys are swallowed up again.

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California being warmed by urbanization, not Global Warming

Average temperatures across California rose slightly from 1950 to 2000, with the greatest warming coming in the state's big cities and mostly caused by urbanization -- not greenhouse gases -- authors of a study said.

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New, unknown climate zones seen by 2100

Global warming could re-make the world's climate zones by 2100, with some polar and mountain climates disappearing altogether and formerly unknown ones emerging in the tropics, scientists said on Monday. And when climate zones vanish, the animals and plants that live in them will be at greater risk of extinction.

How Fat Is Your Country?

A handy chart that graphs how fat the population for various countries are. No surprise to see the U.S. at the tops of the list. Glad to see we're taking down Mexico with us. Odd that Canada isn't higher, seeing how they use Mayo on everything.

It's easy being green: Google goes solar

Google's commitment to "green" means that the company sources carpet and sofas made without PVC, paints without volatile organic compounds, and cafeteria food from local growers. It's not surprising, then, that they would roll out the largest commercial solar deployment in the US—a 1.6MW installation that covers most of the buildings at Google's campus and extends even to shaded parking spaces. At the ETech conference in San Diego this week, Google's Anthony Ravitz explained how Google did it, and why.

The move to solar made sense for Google, and not just "hippie Gaia-loving" sense. Ravitz said that Google will earn its investment back in 7.5 years, after which it will continue to enjoy inexpensive power for decades. With the company sprawled across a large campus of many low buildings, roof space was easily available. Solar also has the unique property of pumping out more energy when power is the most expensive—peak afternoon hours. When air conditioners across California kick into action on sunny days, Google generates the most power. [...continue article]