Aqvaria

» The death spiral of arctic ice

Scientists are concerned of the extent of sea ice cover that has gotten smaller and smaller over the summers since the 1980s. Not just because the ice melt as a consequence of global warming, but also because the sea ica has acooling effect by reflecting sunlight back into space. So when the ice shrinks and opens up more ocean, more of the sun’s heat is soaked up by the dark sea.

“With the climate feedbacks kicking in,we’ll lose the summer ice cover probably by the year 2030.” said Mark Serreze, an Arctic climate expert at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Phdcomics.com

simko:

While traveling recently, I sat across from a couple that was ~~hearing impaired~~ Deaf. At some point during the trip, they got into an argument - their facial expressions turned angry, and the speed of their signing rapidly increased. Like most couples, they eventually stopped fighting and came to some sort of an agreement. She smiled at him, he smiled at her, and they resumed signing at a more casual pace… Witnessing the argument made me realize just how unnecessary yelling is when you’re trying to get a point across.

Reminds me of a my own little mystery last term. I work as a swim teacher, and last term R was my assistant. R always talked with very, very low voice and very slow (showing insecurity, according to me). The mysterical thing is that the children always (most of the times at least) became quiet and listened to him anyway. I made an experiment and lowered my own voice, talking slower, but they never even realized that I spoke. How did it work so well for R?!

Blue, blue and blue

Fluffy

Blue, white, black (almost)

There has been some thunderstorms during the summer, some stronger than others. Unfortunally I have not been in reach of a camera most of the times, but once I managed to get home in the end of a thunderstorm and got some pictures of the clouds leaving.

Algal bloom of the Baltic Sea

The recent warm sunny weather in northern Europe has triggered an algal bloom in the Baltic Sea. The last week a lot of people of the Swedish east coast have been forced to stay out of the water in spite of the heat due to the poisionus algae, or more correct, cyanobacteria. The Swedish National Space Board have requested a series of pictures of the current algeal bloom in the Baltic Sea from the European Space Agency, ESA. The pictures shows how the algaes are driftting and that concentration varies a lot between different parts of the sea.

July 24th:

The baltic Sea on July 24th

July 25th:

The baltic Sea on July 25th

July 27th:

The baltic Sea on July 27th

July 28th:

The baltic Sea on July 28th

(Via openarms)

» Four examples of "human-made" natural disasters

The mud vulcano in Java - since May 29th 2006 the Lusi Mud Volcano has puored out between 7000 and 15,000 cubic metres of mud each day, displacing eleven villages.The blowout in the Banjar Panji-1 gas well was the most likely mechanism for triggering the Lusi eruption according to the latest study.

Earthquake in Koyna, India - A magnitude 7.5 quake struck the area killing 200 people and injuring thousands more in the largest dam-induced earthquake on 11 December 1967. The area was a nearly non-seismic region, but, since a large dam was built and its reservoir filled the region has experienced frequent earthquakes. By artificially holding a large volume of water in one place, dams increase pressure on fractures beneath the surface of the earth and likely to cause quake. Drilling and mining are also known to cause earthquakes.

The disappearence of Lake Peigneur, Louisiana - On 20 November 1980 the lake vanished into the ground in an enormous whirlpool. It is believed that the cause was a Texaco oil rig drilling into a salt mine directly beneath the lake. The water to poured into the mine and the oil rig and eleven barges were sucked down.

The flooding of Rapid City, South Dakota -In June 1972, more than 200 people died and 3000 were injured when he Canyon Lake Dam burst. The burst eas caused by a storm where more than 35 centimetres of water fell in six hours over the Black Hills. Scientists that had been carrying out cloud-seeding experiments nearby were later blamed for the floods. But scientists of today says it is highly unlikely that the cloud-seeding caused the heavy rainfall.