Everything at the Membrane Domain
Environment
As part of the Human Induced Climate Change Experiment, we have been predicting the effects of global warming on climate volatility. Indeed, we have seen a marked severity in volatile weather systems.
2012 went down as the hottest year in recorded history. Though we are only several days into January, the year is already setting records. There has been snow in the deserts of China, record heat and wildfires in Australia… while record cold temperatures have killed hundreds in India.
While snow coverage has been retreating in the Northeastern United States, the increased volatile weather systems being caused by global warming are causing it to snow in the desert.
Snow-Covered Desert
Snow-covered deserts are rare, but that’s exactly what the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite observed as it passed over the Taklimakan Desert in western China on Jan. 2, 2013. Snow has covered much of the desert since a storm blew through the area on Dec. 26. The day after the storm, Chinese Central Television (CNTV) reported that the Xinjian Uygyr autonomous region was one of the areas hardest hit.
The Taklimakan is one of the world’s largest—and hottest—sandy deserts. Water flowing into the Tarim Basin has no outlet, so over the years, sediments have steadily accumulated. In parts of the desert, sand can pile up to 300 meters (roughly 1,000 feet) high. The mountains that enclose the sea of sand—the Tien Shan in the north and the Kunlun Shan in the south—were also covered with what appeared to be a significantly thicker layer of snow in January 2013.
PHILADELPHIA, PA — What is up with the weather? Yes, we have seen some freaky storms over the past few years. Global warming is expected to cause volatile weather patterns. Indeed, that is what we have been experiencing; however, overall the Northern Hemisphere is showing a steady decline in snowfall.
NOAA:
Northern Hemisphere average annual snow cover has declined in recent decades. This pattern is consistent with warmer global temperatures. Some of the largest declines have been observed in the spring and summer months.
by Daniel Brouse
The Membrane Domain
Q: Are bio-fuels, ethanol, and re-cycled restaurant oils worse for the environment?
A: Yes.
The more volatile nature and ozone emissions used as a fossil fuel substitute appear to be much more harmful to the environment than fossil fuels. Though fossil fuels need to be eliminated as soon as possible, care should be taken.
CALIFORNIA, USA — State officials have argued since 1999 that the volatility of ethanol, a fuel blend made from corn that evaporates easily, contributes to smog by increasing ozone levels and adding particulates to the air.
REFERENCES:
End The Use Of Bio-fuels
Does Ethanol Use Result in More Air Pollution? More Bad Ozone?
Philadelphia, PA — There was an earthquake in Camden, NJ. In the past several years, the region has become aware of earthquakes.
The USGS says:
EARTHQUAKES IN THE NEW YORK – PHILADELPHIA – WILMINGTON URBAN CORRIDOR
Since colonial times people in the New York – Philadelphia – Wilmington urban corridor have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from infrequent larger ones. New York City was damaged in 1737 and 1884. Moderately damaging earthquakes strike somewhere in the urban corridor roughly twice a century, and smaller earthquakes are felt roughly every 2-3 years.
Earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S., although less frequent than in the western U.S., are typically felt over a much broader region. East of the Rockies, an earthquake can be felt over an area as much as ten times larger than a similar magnitude earthquake on the west coast. A magnitude 4.0 eastern U.S. earthquake typically can be felt at many places as far as 100 km (60 mi) from where it occurred, and it infrequently causes damage near its source. A magnitude 5.5 eastern U.S. earthquake usually can be felt as far as 500 km (300 mi) from where it occurred, and sometimes causes damage as far away as 40 km (25 mi).
FAULTS
Earthquakes everywhere occur on faults within bedrock, usually miles deep. Most bedrock beneath the urban corridor was assembled as continents collided to form a supercontinent about 500-300 million years ago, raising the Appalachian Mountains. Most of the rest of the bedrock formed when the supercontinent rifted apart about 200 million years ago to form what are now the northeastern U.S., the Atlantic Ocean, and Europe.
At well-studied plate boundaries like the San Andreas fault system in California, often scientists can determine the name of the specific fault that is responsible for an earthquake. In contrast, east of the Rocky Mountains this is rarely the case. New York City, Philadelphia, and Wilmington are far from the nearest plate boundaries, which are in the center of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Caribbean Sea. The urban corridor is laced with known faults but numerous smaller or deeply buried faults remain undetected. Even the known faults are poorly located at earthquake depths. Accordingly, few, if any, earthquakes in the urban corridor can be linked to named faults. It is difficult to determine if a known fault is still active and could slip and cause an earthquake. As in most other areas east of the Rockies, the best guide to earthquake hazards in the New York – Philadelphia – Wilmington urban corridor is the earthquakes themselves.
CALIFORNIA, USA — It has been a long time coming, but finally the United States has started creating a market to tax pollution.
The Environmental Defense Fund says:
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) released the results from California’s first cap-and-trade auction held last Wednesday, November 14. The CARB summary report demonstrates that the auction was transparent and fair, with oversight mechanisms in place to ensure the integrity of the auction.
Both vintage years 2013 and 2015 carbon allowances were available at auction at a floor price of $10.00 per allowance. One hundred percent of the 23,126,110 vintage 2013 carbon allowances were sold at a settlement price of $10.09 each, while 5,576,000 of the 39,450,000 vintage 2015 carbon allowances were sold at a settlement price of $10.00 each.
“This inaugural auction was a successful first step in setting a fair price on carbon,” said Nathaniel Keohane, Vice President (and former Chief Economist) for the Environmental Defense Fund. “The demand for 2013 allowances was greater than the supply, showing that businesses are ready to be active participants in cleaning up California’s air.”
The auction set into motion a robust carbon market that will aid California in achieving its climate change pollution goals in a cost effective manner. By establishing a price on carbon, the new market gives regulated industries a market incentive to find innovative solutions to reduce their pollution.
“The smooth execution of this first auction paves the way for a cleaner California,” said Timothy O’Connor, Environmental Defense Fund’s Director of California Climate and Energy Initiative, who also blogged on the topic. “With cap and trade, Californians don’t have to choose between the environment and the economy. It will attract more investments in clean energy, keep California competitive, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”
The next allowance auction is scheduled for February 2013. Quarterly auctions, combined with as needed cost containment reserve sales of allowances, will ensure sufficient opportunity for bidders to obtain the allowances they will need for compliance.
What do grasshoppers do to deal with human’s noise pollution?
PARIS – For city grasshoppers, noise just isn’t cricket. Loud traffic drowns out the song the male grasshopper makes, rubbing a toothed file on his hind legs against a protruding vein on his front wings, to lure a mate. But, German biologists have discovered, the clever insect has found a way to get his offer of romance through the din.
Grasshoppers change the song so that it boosts lower-frequency notes, making it audible over the rumble from the road.
Ulrike Lampe and colleagues from the University of Bielefeld captured 188 male bow-winged grasshoppers (Chorthippus biguttulus), half from quiet locations and half from beside busy roads. The team made nearly 1,000 lab recordings of each grasshopper, placing a cute female grasshopper nearby to encourage a serenade.
“Bow-winged grasshoppers produce songs that include low- and high-frequency components,” said Lampe.
“We found that grasshoppers from noisy habitats boost the volume of the lower-frequency part of their song, which makes sense since road noise can mask signals in this part of the frequency spectrum.”
The findings add insects to the list of animals, including species of birds, whales and frogs, that have been found to alter their sounds in order to cope with man-made noise. The paper appears in Functional Ecology, published by the British Ecological Society (BES). Bow-winged grasshoppers are a common species in central Europe.
The male’s courtship song consists of up to half a dozen phrases, each about two or three seconds long. The phrase starts with a ticking sound, becomes louder and ends in a buzz. – Sapa-AFP
ITALY — Six of Italy’s top seismologists and natural disaster scientists, as well as, a government official have been sentenced to prison terms over the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. The quake killed 300 people and destroyed the city.
The court ruled the scientists guilty of manslaughter and sentenced them to 6 years in jail.
Over 5000 international scientists sent an open letter to President Giorgio Napolitano denouncing the trial.
Enzi Boschi (former president of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology) said, ”I am disappointed and devastated. I thought I would be cleared. I still don’t understand of what I am accused.”
Natural Disasters in August, 2012
From the Bangkok Post:
A new species of fish with a penis on its head has been identified in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, researchers said on Wednesday.
A preserved specimen of Phallostethus cuulong, a new species of fish with a penis on its head that has been identified in the Mekong delta in Vietnam. Researchers said Wednesday that Phallostethus cuulong is the newest member of the Phallostethidae family — small fish found in Southeast Asian waters that are distinguished primarily by the positioning of the male sexual organ.
Phallostethus cuulong is the newest member of the Phallostethidae family — small fish found in Southeast Asian waters that are distinguished primarily by the positioning of the male sexual organ.
Male phallostethids have a copulatory organ, termed the priapium, under the throat for holding or clasping onto females and fertilising their eggs internally, according to conservationists.
“We have scientifically identified a new penis-head fish in Vietnam,” researcher Tran Dac Dinh from Can Tho University told AFP.
The fish was known to Vietnamese people in the Mekong Delta but had not been described scientifically before a team identified the species last year, he said.
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