Corexit and Crude Oil Still in Gulf A Year After BP Disaster;
Marine Life Dead and Some People Sick
New evidence that Corexit dispersant is degrading very slowly while sea floor marine life suffocate covered by oil. Dolphin stillborn deaths in January and February 2011 were ten times normal and many Gulf coastal residents are sick.
© 2011 by Linda Moulton Howe
To read more go to:
http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1828&category=Environment
by NANCY ATKINSON on MARCH 31, 2011
Although they aren’t particularly fond of the comparison, scientists from the GOCE satellite team had to admit that new data showing Earth’s gravity field – or geoid — makes our planet look like a rotating potato. After just two years in orbit, ESA’s sleek and sexy GOCE satellite (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) has gathered sufficient data to map Earth’s gravity with unrivalled precision. While our world certainly doesn’t look like a spinning tuber, this exaggerated view shows the most accurate model of how gravity varies across the planet.
The geoid is nothing more than how the oceans would vary if there were no other forces besides gravity acting on our planet.
To read more go to:
http://www.universetoday.com/84532/new-results-from-goce-earth-is-a-rotating-potato/
UNDER THE WILD GRASS: Yesterday in Michigan, Kevin Jung laid down among the wild spring grass, pointed his camera toward the sky, and–snap!–recorded a luminous ring around the sun:
“It was a really nice sun halo,” he says. “The grass blocked the glare so I could photograph it using my Canon DLSR.”
Sun haloes are caused by ice crystals in high cirrus clouds, and they can be very photogenic.
fr/spaceweather.com
check out this for some great sunspot images:
SOLAR RADIO STORM: Did you know sunspots can make noise? Consider the following: “Over the past few days, I have been recording a sustained solar radio storm at 180 MHz,” reports amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraftof New Mexico. “It consists of Type I radio bursts and sounds like ocean surf.Here is an audio sample from March 27th at 1930 UT. The sun seems to be entering a new phase of dynamism.”
Radio emissions like these are caused by plasma instabilities in the sun’s atmosphere above sunspots. With the sun becoming ‘radio-active,’ it’s no coincidence that sunspots are emerging in abundance. Leading the way is behemoth active region AR1176,…
to read more go to: spaceweather.com
fr/spaceweather.com
ICONIC ERUPTION: A huge filament of magnetism and hot plasma blasted off the sun’s southwestern limb on March 19th around 1200 UT. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action:
Click to view a full-disk, high-resolution image
The eruption was not Earth-directed, but it did attract plenty of attention on our planet. Many amateur astronomers in Europe witnessed the blast and said it was the biggest one they’d ever seen. This event continues the recent trend of increasing solar activity, and shows anew that Solar Cycle 24 is gaining steam after a long period of relative quiet.
Lightning erupts from the crater of Mount Shinmoedake on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
© Reuters New Agency
And check out this link for another amazing photo of the lightning”
MAGNETIC FILAMENT: A long and sinuous filament of magnetism is snaking over the sun’s western limb. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the 200,000 km-long structure in mid-twist on the morning of March 18th:
Long filaments like this one are often unstable. If this one erupts, it could hurl pieces of itself toward Earth. More likely, the filament will continue to wind over the western limb, active but intact. Either way it’s a good show.
fr/spaceweather.com
fr/http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979119030
China had two suns recently and there seems to be no valid explanation for the odd phenomenon. The appearance of the two suns comes just weeks after a rumor sent the web into a frenzy by saying that a star would soon blow up causing two suns to appear in the sky. Was this the star showing up or is there some other explanation for the odd event?
Even though the story was debunked, it seems that it happened anyway. The suns appeared next to each other in the sky, creating a dual sunset. One of the sun’s was fuzzy and orange, while the other sun appeared to be more yellow.
According to Jim Kaler from the University of Illinois, the two suns can be explained scientifically, but it’s not something that even science completely understands. Though this is an extremely rare event, the double sun in the sky is actually just an effect of optical refraction, Kaler said.
“I doubt it’s been computer modeled,” Kaler said. “There must have been some blob of atmosphere somewhere that caused this truly spectacular phenomenon, which in a sense is a mirage.”
Other scientists and astronomers agree with Kaler.
“This is not a common optical phenomenon that we’re seeing here,” said Grant Perry, who is an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Institute for Satellite and Meteorological Studies. “I’m asking myself if this is an artifact of the lens, but if that were the case — if it’s reflections of the lens elements — then the images would move in relation to each other as the camera moves…But that doesn’t happen.”
What do you think of the two suns? It definitely looks like some sort of optical illusion, but at the same time, it’s amazing to think that it is actually a natural phenomenon. Those who witnessed it first hand are very lucky!
Photo Credit: MSNBC
