Buddhist federation speaks out against nuclear power
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/people/AJ201203210053
The Japan Buddhist Federation has called for a society that does not depend on nuclear power not to repeat the mistake Buddhist organizations made…
NASA SDO - X5.4-class Solar Flare, March 7, 2012
Right at midnight UT time the active region 1429 unleashed a powerful X5.4-class solar flare. X-class flares are the strongest of the flares. They are major ...
Seven centuries of records of ancient earthquakes in the Mediterranean region show that the century-scale variations in the number of strong earthquakes closely follow the secular cycle of solar activity. Two well expressed maxima in the global yearly number of earthquakes are seen in the 11-year sunspot cycle - onc coinciding with sunspotmaximum, and the other on the descending phase of solar activity. A day to day study of the number of earthquakes worldwide reveals that the arrival to the Earh of high speed solar streams is related to significantly greater probability of earthquake occurrence.
The possible mechanism includes deposition of solar wind energy into the polar ionosphere where it drives ionospheric convection and auroral electrojets, generating in ‘turn atmospheric gravity waves that interact with neutral winds and deposit their momentum in the neutral atmosphere, increasing the transfer of air masses and disturbing of the pressure balance on tectonic plates.
The main sources of high speed solar streams are the solar coronal mass ejections which have a maximum in the sunspot maximum, and the coronal holes with a maximum on the descending phase of solar activity. Both
coronal holes and CMEs are monitored hy satellite-home
and ground-based instruments, which makes possible to
predict periods of enhanced seismic risk.
It has been determined that in the period of solar activity increase (11-year cycles) there increase seismic and volcanic activities in the compression zone of Earth and at the same time there decreases the activity in the tension zones of Earth.
On the basis of the discovered stable 11-year and 22-year cyclicalities in the seismic and volcanic activities and their high correlation with solar activity there has been made the long-term forecast until 2018. The next maximum of seismic and volcanic activity with very high amplitude for the compression zones of Earth is forecasted for the period 2012-2015.
Solar activities play significant roles in electromagnetic coupling of the Sun - Earth system. By comparing the 11-year sunspot cycles and global earthquake events during 1963 to 2010 period, it is possible to reveal the correlation of solar and seismic activities. In the present paper, the monthly values of sunspot cycles number 20 to 23 and earthquake events at different magnitude scales were analyzed to examine the relationship of these values and to understand the coupling mechanisms in solar and geomagnetic activities. The sunspot numbers are obtained from Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA database, and earthquake events are extracted from Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) database. We found a significant correlation between high speed solar wind (HSSW) and great earthquake events (M ≥ 6.0 Richter scale).http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=6015869
Climate warming accelerates Arctic migration for some species
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/climate-warming-accelerates-arctic-migration-some-species?page=full
"These changes are equivalent to animals and plants shifting away from the Equator at around 20 cm per hour,” added Thomas, Prof of Conservation Biology. “This has been going on for the last 40 years and is set to continue for at least the rest of this century.”
Call it the Goldilocks syndrome. Animals and plants are moving both higher in latitude and elevation much faster than previously thought in response to climate warming. They're chasing that "just right" sweet spot, but it keeps moving.
Rapid Range Shifts of Species Associated with High Levels of Climate Warming
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6045/1024.abstract
The distributions of many terrestrial organisms are currently shifting in latitu...de or elevation in response to changing climate. Using a meta-analysis, we estimated that the distributions of species have recently shifted to higher elevations…
Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project's "Trinity" test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan's nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea's two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).
Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing"the fear and folly of nuclear weapons." It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.
http://www.ctbto.org/specials/1945-1998-by-isao-hashimoto/
Experts urge great caution over radiation risks | The Japan Times Online
Intl comparison of radiation limits in the graph.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20110626x3.html
Recompute - Sustainable Cardboard Computer
http://recomputepc.com/index.php
Say Hello to Recompute! Learn what Recompute is all about and how small changes can make a big impact in our world.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/5707412073/
NASA video release May 10, 2011
[This movie clip contains 10 seconds of surface flows colored by sea surface temperature, followed by 6 seconds of wind currents, followed by ocean currents. ]
Aquarius is a focused satellite mission to measure global Sea Surface Salinity.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-path-to-sustainable-energy-by-2030
Supplies of wind and solar energy on accessible land dwarf the energy consumed by people around the globe.The authors’ plan calls for 3.8 million large wind turbines, 90,000 solar plants, and numerous geothermal, tidal and rooftop photovoltaic installations worldwide.The cost of generating and transmitting power would be less than the projected cost per kilowatt-hour for fossil-fuel and nuclear power. Shortages of a few specialty materials, along with lack of political will, loom as the greatest obstacles.You may remember this article. We are swimming in excessive energy. Solar and wind are widely distributed and cannot be as easily controlled and profitized as plutonium radioactive energy can.
A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030; November 2009; Scientific American Magazine; by Mark Z. Jacobson; Mark A. Delucchi; 8 Page(s)
In December leaders from around the world will meet in Copenhagen to try to agree on cutting back greenhouse gas emissions for decades to come. The most effective step to implement that goal would be a massive shift away from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy sources. If leaders can have confidence that such a transformation is possible, they might commit to an historic agreement. We think they can.
A year ago former vice president Al Gore threw down a gauntlet: to repower America with 100 percent carbon-free electricity within 10 years. As the two of us started to evaluate the feasibility of such a change, we took on an even larger challenge: to determine how 100 percent of the world's energy, for all purposes, could be supplied by wind, water and solar resources, by as early as 2030. Our plan is presented here.
http://atmc.jp/
has added radioactivity plume forecasts from various (foreign--and domestic!) sources
拡散予測： 日本気象庁 | ドイツ気象局 | オーストリア気象局 | イギリス気象局 | ノルウェー気象局 | 台湾気象局
with translate.google
| Diffusion: | Japan Meteorological Agency | Weather Bureau Germany | Austria Weather Bureau | Bureau of Meteorology, UK | Norwegian Meteorological Bureau | Bureau of Meteorology Taiwan |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LPGzzaSsbU
Japan Earthquake - Ground shifts, water seeps during quake in Chiba, Japan
blackcat123ciao in Urayasu, who also had liquefaction
http://www.youtube.com/wat
A better example of it getting a little out of hand indoors was the one in Mito:
http://www.youtube.com/wat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FsOw2SKhxM
Mito City
水戸市の震災状況 (3.11 15：15頃 M7.4余震時）
Liquefaction in NZ
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevetaylors/5489428369/
Liquefaction demonstration in a wheelbarrow
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/christchurch-earthquake-videos/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503037&gal_cid=1503037&gallery_id=117058
driving inside the evacuated zone, seeing many abandoned animals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp9iJ3pPuL8&feature=share
http://www.videonews.com/
Tokyo - The Japanese government has issued the evacuation order on March 12 for the residents living within the 20 kilometer radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Since then, residents have left their homes...
"Pay attention
not to fall victim to
rumors or
Demonstrations."
“There is some trial and error,” said Kuni Yogo, a former atomic energy policy planner in Japan’s Science and Technology Agency. “But this is the beginning of a three- to five-year effort to seize the damage.”
As of 11 p.m. Saturday, some 99 products, including milk and vegetables, were found contaminated in Tokyo and five prefectures to its north and east, according to the ministry's statement on its website.
Chiba detected above-maximum radiation on 11 vegetables, including red-leaf lettuce, Kyodo reported Sunday.
The German boars roam in forests nearly 950 miles (1,500 kilometers ) from Chernobyl. Yet, the amount of radioactive cesium-137 within their tissue often registers dozens of times beyond the recommended limit for consumption and thousands of times above...
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-03-18/japan-disaster-caps-decades-of-faked-reports-accidents.html
This March 18 article in BusinessWeek details the lies and cover-ups in Japan's nuclear industry.
IAEA experts said the ocean will quickly dilute the worst contamination. Radioactive iodine breaks down within weeks but cesium could foul the marine environment for decades.
In Minamisoma, a city of 71,000 about 20 miles north of the nuclear plant, all but one or two shops shut their doors because of a lack of goods and customers, said city official Sadayasu Abe.
"Commercial trucks are simply not coming to the c ...ity at all due to radiation fears," he said Saturday.
Military troops and some private companies took up the task of delivering rice, instant noodles, bottled water and canned foods to eight central spots in the city, Abe said.
He said the city was urging the 10,000 or so still holding out to leave since the situation at the plant remains precarious.
"Life is very difficult here," he told The Associated Press by telephone. "We have electricity, gas and running water, but no food."
Jacob Namminga, one of our radiation safety advisors, spoke to me via Skype about today's sampling trip in a rural area of Japan, to the north west of the Fukushima nuclear plant. We'll be reporting the details of our findings once they are compiled...They must be hoping those levels come down fast or i don't see how they really have any choice but to evacuate Fukushima City. It's only 280,000 people, not so big in Japan. At 50 miles away from F#1 , it is consistent with or a little bey...ond the US recommendation that people stay 50 miles away. That's a little worse than the evacuated area at Chernobyl. They must be reluctant because Fukushima is the major link to points north, including the main expressway and shinkansen. Without that and the eastern coastal road, the north is two-thirds severed. I also wonder whether people would welcome irradiated evacuees. http://maps.google.com/map
As we found out today, the radiation levels are high in Fukushima city -- our measurements confirmed levels that have been reported in newspapers and by the government -- in some places so high that you would get your "maximum annual dose" (if you believe in such things) in about 8 days. It's a bit strange to see people biking and going about their business.
A major crash at the Japanese Fukushima nuclear power plant may entail the same disastrous aftermath as the awful blast at the Ukrainian Chernobyl nuclear power plant, chairman of the Ukrainian State Committee for Nuclear Regulation Yelena Mikolaichuk told reporters here.
The risks to human health from Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant are limited to an evacuated area adjacent to the facility, according to the U.K.’s Chief Scientific Officer John Beddington .
CNN's Drew Griffin reports on a pattern of cover ups in Japan's nuclear power industry.
(Reuters)- Japan is under global scrutiny over the handling of its nuclear crisis after a huge earthquake crippled several reactors at a nuclear power complex, raising fears of an uncontrolled radiation
Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Tuesday restated the Obama administration's commitment to keeping nuclear power in the mix of renewable sources under development in the U.S., but treaded carefully around questions of how the nuclear disaster in Japan might affect that effort.
"the unprecedented scale of Friday's earthquake and tsunami left questions about not only the adequacy of the measures but the basic policy of pursuing nuclear power in a country as earthquake-prone as Japan"no kidding!
OSAKA — Severe damage to the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant had the central government and local authorities in neighboring towns racing Saturday to evacuate residents and implement previously agreed upon emergency response measures.
