Tuesday, 28 October 2014

The Cataclysm That Erased History 12,000 Years Ago

The Younger Dryas stadial, also referred to as the Big Freeze, was a geologically brief (1,300 ± 70 years) period of cold climatic conditions and drought which occurred between approximately 12,800 and 11,500 years BP. The Younger Dryas stadial is thought to have been caused by the collapse of the North American ice sheets, although rival theories have been proposed

The Younger Dryas impact event is a contested hypothesis that an air burst from a purported comet above or even into the Laurentide Ice Sheet north of the Great Lakes set all of the North American continent ablaze around 12,900 years ago. The hypothesis attempts to explain the extinction of many of the large animals in North America and the unproven population decreases in the North American stone age Clovis culture about at the end of the Pleistocene epoch. Proponents claim the existence of a charred carbon-rich layer of soil found at some 50 Clovis-age sites across the continent. It has been criticized for not being consistent with paleoindian population estimates.
Impact specialists have studied the claim and concluded that there never was such an impact, in particular because various physical signs of such an impact cannot be found. Evidence supporting the theory however has been further suggested by the 2012 paper presented to the PNAS (T.E. Bunch et al.) which looked at apparent high temperature impact melt products found in multiple sites of the ‘black mat’ across three continents dating to 12 900 years ago, This is further indicated by the discovery (Kurbatov et al. 2010) of the presence of a rich layer of nanodiamonds in the Greenland ice sheet coinciding with this date
The Younger Dryas stadial, also referred to as the Big Freeze, was a geologically brief (1,300 ± 70 years) period of cold climatic conditions and drought which occurred between approximately 12,800 and 11,500 years BP. The Younger Dryas stadial is thought to have been caused by the collapse of the North American ice sheets, although rival theories have been proposed.
http://khemitology.com/

try the sahara dessert as well then we we have a large earth quake

The Cataclysm That Erased History 12,000 Years Ago | Beyond Science

Sunday, 1 June 2014

Ocean waves influence polar ice extent

By Jonathan AmosScience correspondent, BBC News

The team placed sensors on the floes to track the disturbance caused by ocean waves

Large ocean waves can travel through sea ice for hundreds of kilometres before their oscillations are finally dampened, scientists have shown.

The up and down motion can fracture the ice, potentially aiding its break-up and melting, the researchers told Nature magazine.

They say storm swells may have a much bigger influence on the extent of polar sea ice than previously recognised.

The New Zealand-led team ran its experiments off Antarctica.

They placed sensors at various distances from the edge of the pack ice, and then recorded what happened when bad weather whipped up the ocean surface.

For smaller waves, less than 3m in height, the bobbing induced in the floes quickly decayed. But for waves over 3m, the disturbance sent propagating through the pack ice was sustained for up to 350km.

"At the ice edge, it's quite noisy," explained study lead author Alison Kohout, from New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in Christchurch.

"You have lots of waves coming from all directions with a full spectrum of frequencies. But as the waves move into the ice, this all gets cleaned up to produce one beautiful, smooth wave of constant frequency," she told BBC News.

"The ice floes bend with the waves, and over time you can imagine that this creates fatigue and eventually the ice will fracture. Interestingly, the fractures tend to be perpendicular to the direction of the waves, and to be of even widths."

The recent growth in Antarctic sea ice has been a highly regional phenomenon

Computer modellers have been trying to simulate the recent trends in polar sea ice - without a great deal of success.

They have failed to capture both the very rapid decline in summer ice cover in the Arctic and the small, but nonetheless significant, growth in winter ice in the Antarctic.

Dr Kohout and colleagues say their experiments offer some clues - certainly in the south.

When they compared observed Antarctic marine-ice edge positions from 1997 to 2009 with likely wave heights generated by the weather during that period, they found a strong link.

For example, where storminess was increased, in regions like the Amundsen-Bellingshausen Sea, ice extent was curtailed.

In contrast, where wave heights were smaller, such as in the Western Ross Sea, marine ice was seen to expand.

One very noticeable aspect of the recent growth in Antarctic winter sea ice has been its high regional variability.

The team says that if models take more account of wave heights then they may better capture some of this behaviour.

The group did try to look for a similar relationship in storminess and ice extent in the Arctic but found there to be insufficient data to draw any firm conclusions.

The geography at the poles is quite different. The Arctic is in large part an ocean enclosed by land, whereas the Antarctic is a land mass totally surrounded by ocean. Many of the ice behaviours and responses are different as a result.

"I think what's interesting for us in the Arctic is that the 'fetch' is increasing - the distance from the shores to the ice edge is increasing," commented Prof Julienne Stroeve from University College London and the US National Snow and Ice Data Center.

"That would allow the wind to work more on the ocean to produce larger waves that can then propagate further into the ice pack.

"[Another recent paper has already suggested] that wave heights are going to change with increasing distance from the ice edge to the land, and that could have more of an impact on ice break-up."

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter:@BBCAmos

Monday, 17 February 2014

The weather pattern, which typically sees rainfall shift eastward away from Australia, is regularly linked to dry years with active fire seasons for southern and eastern parts of Australia

Graziers' emergency: Sheep eat feed given to them so they survive the drought affecting NSW.

Sheep eat feed given to them so they survive the drought affecting NSW. Photo: Peter Stoop

Farmers and firefighters, already dogged by a hot, dry summer for much of Australia, may face worsening conditions later in the year as prospects grow for an El Nino weather pattern in the Pacific.

A series of heatwaves and a spreading drought is expected to cut the output of summer crops by 25 per cent for 2013-14 to the lowest level since 2009-10, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) said on Tuesday.

Victorian fire authorities, meanwhile, continued to battle at least two dozen uncontained fires on Tuesday, with 21 homes destroyed and some 330,000 hectares burnt out. The Rural Fire Service in NSW, which has sent 240 firefighters to Victoria for the rest of the month, is also working to suppress 37 fires across the state, four of them uncontained, a spokesman said.

Last six months: rain in Australia falls mainly in the west. Photo: BoM

The outlook for longer-term relief, however, is dimming, with meteorological agencies and researchers raising the odds that an El Nino will form this year.

The weather pattern, which typically sees rainfall shift eastward away from Australia, is regularly linked to dry years with active fire seasons for southern and eastern parts of Australia.

The Bureau of Meteorology said in its fortnightly update on Tuesday that neutral conditions for the El Nino-Southern Oscillation are likely to persist at least until the end of autumn. However, warming of the Pacific is expected in coming months, with "some, but not all, models" indicating temperatures in the central Pacific "may approach El Nino levels by early winter".

Areas to receive NSW government drought help. Photo: NSW government

Researchers in Germany, however, say there is at least a three-in-four chance that an El Nino event will occur this year, according to a study published in the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

Kevin Tolhurst, a fire ecologist at the University of Melbourne, said an El Nino would probably raise fire risks for next summer.

''We're heading back into a dry period again," Professor Tolhurst said, noting that fires were not only spreading further than in recent years but proving harder to put out.

"In El Nino years, you have much larger and more destructive fires because there's much more of the landscape available to burn," he said. Ferny gullies that often slow or stop a fire in normal years have much less moisture.

As a result, fire authorities will need to devote more resources to suppressing fires. That effort doesn't rely on "our big helicopters and the massive numbers of fire trucks - which are all really important in the emergency situation", he said. "This is the hard slog, days after the main fire run has finished, before the next series of bad weather."

Peter Collins, manager of ABARES's agricultural commodities unit, said that while it is too early to say whether El Nino conditions will take hold, farmers are struggling with very low soil moisture levels in many regions.

"A continuation of this dry weather would not be good news for next season's winter crop," Mr Collins said. "If it stays as dry and as hot as it has been recently, then there will be lower production [for the summer crop] than what we have forecast."

While there was a bumper winter crop, land planted for summer crops fell 15 per cent on a year earlier. Output is expected to drop by 25 per cent to about 4 million tonnes of crops ranging from wheat to sorghum and cotton, ABARES said

UK storms:

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UK storms: Footage shows deadly waves from cruise ship

16 February 2014 Last updated at 22:37 GMT

Footage has emerged a cruise ship being rocked by a severe storm, around 45 minutes before a passenger on board was killed.

James Swinstead, 85, of Colchester, Essex, died when a huge wave crashed into the British vessel, Marco Polo, on Friday.

His widow, Helen, praised the crew but criticised the vessel as "badly maintained".

Operator Cruise and Maritime Voyages (CMV) said the ship was fully compliant with "strict" maritime regulation.

Monday, 10 February 2014

River Thames

Police have declared a 'major incident' in east Berkshire as the Environment Agency issues 14 severe flood warnings

UK winter floods

Flooded homes along the River Thames are being evacuated and thousands more are at risk, with water levels expected to rise further over the next 24 hours.

Residents in one Berkshire village say the scenes are from a "horror movie".

Fourteen severe flood warnings are in place in Berkshire and Surrey, while two remain in Somerset.

PM David Cameron - who is in flood-hit Dorset - said it was not the time to change personnel amid criticism of Environment Agency head Lord Smith.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles is answering an urgent question put by Labour in the Commons on the flooding crisis.

Homes in the Berkshire village of Datchet are underwater and thousands more along the lower River Thames, as far as Shepperton, are under threat.

Several Thames gauges are showing their highest levels since being installed in the 1980s and 90s.

AnalysisDavid ShukmanScience editor, BBC News

At the heart of this blame game is the difficult question of who gets defended and who does not.

The blunt truth is the budget has never been big enough to help everyone, so awkward decisions have to be made. The priority is to save people and property.

Calculations are done to assess the value of any flood defence scheme. First, the cost must be outweighed by the benefit - the Treasury insists every pound spent must yield at least eight in economic gain. Second, you add up households at risk and third, you count up deprived households. In all these cases, urban areas are likely to score highest. Farmland is lower in the pecking order.

There are bound to be winners and losers. If the future becomes stormier, and more people are at risk, disputes will become more contentious. And this raises the hardest question of all: how much should we all pay to keep vulnerable areas dry?

Read more from David

Fire crews, who have been rescuing people from their homes in Staines, say they have never known waters so deep or a flood rescue operation on this scale.

In Windsor, Councillor Colin Rayner pleaded for the police and Army for help.

"We've got 50 volunteers here, we've got the vulnerable people out of their homes, now we need to get everyone else out," he said

Nearby, in the Berkshire village of Colnbrook, resident Asif Khan said his whole street was under water, his house was flooded and his fridge "just went bang".

"It's something out of a horror movie," he said, adding that he was now about to try to evacuate with his two small children.

Hurst village resident Paul Palmer said sewers there were blocked and they have been unable to use the toilet since Friday.

"It's starting to back up into the toilet - it's like going back to the dark ages," he told the BBC.

Berkshire fire and rescue crews rescue residents whose houses have been flooded in Staines-upon-Thames

Stranded residents in Staines-upon-Thames are rescued by fire crews

A man struggles to cycle in the flood at Datchet

A total of 10,000 sandbags have been distributed in Datchet in Berkshire

Swans wander down a flooded street in Worcester

Speaking from Portland, off the Dorset coast, Mr Cameron said: "I am only interested in one thing and that is making sure that everything government can do is being done and will go on being done to help people through this difficult time.

"There will be time later on to talk about things. Right now everybody's got to focus on the job in hand."

Mr Cameron's comments follow a deepening political row.

Speaking earlier, Lord Smith said his staff knew "100 times" more about flooding than any politician and pointed out that they were bound by rules laid down by government.

He has insisted again he will not resign.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles previously said ministers had been given bad advice by the Environment Agency over river dredging.

Meanwhile, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson and Mr Pickles are thought to be at odds over the performance of the Environment Agency.

No 10 did not deny Mr Paterson had complained about his colleague, who is standing in for him after he had an eye operation, but said both were doing an "excellent job".

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who was in Burrowbridge in Somerset, said dredging should have been done over the last few years but added: "I don't think now is the time to point the finger of blame."

Among other developments:

Environment Agency has issued 14 severe warnings - meaning "danger to life" - along the River Thames, in areas including Staines, Chertsey and Datchet
Two severe warnings are in place for the south-west of England in Salt Moor and East Lyng, in Somerset
Large parts of Worcester city centre could be closed for a weekbecause of flooding, the county council has said. Twenty-nine flood warnings remain in place across Herefordshire and Worcestershire
An earth bank has been built to protect the town of Bridgwater, on the edge of the Somerset Levels, from flooding
Dyfed Powys police have found a body in their search for a kayaker who went missing on the River Usk on Sunday
A meeting of the emergency Cobra committee will take place later. Mr Cameron will take part by phone from the South West.
Essex County Council says it is releasing £1m of emergency funds to tackle road flooding across the county

Map showing flood warnings and alerts in place along the river Thames

Major incident

Thames Valley Police have declared a "major incident" in east Berkshire.

Howard Davidson, from the Environment Agency said he expects conditions in Berkshire to deteriorate as more rain falls over the coming days.

"We have issued flood warnings from Datchet down to Shepperton, and we urge people to take heed of the flood warnings. We are anticipating another three or four inches on the Thames over the next 24 hours."

Weather information

Flooding at Burrowbridge on the Somerset Levels

Severe delays

The flooding has also caused severe delays on several train lines, National Rail said.

Robin Gisby, managing director of Network Rail, said his team were watching "several hundred" sites across England carefully.

Analysis

Norman SmithChief political correspondent, BBC News Channel

It's certain to infuriate those residents affected by flooding - but the floods crisis now appears to have developed into an ugly 'blame game' among the politicians.

First Communities Secretary Eric Pickles pointed at the Environment Agency and its boss Chris Smith, suggesting he should consider his position and accusing the agency of "misjudgements."

Now Lord Smith has hit back saying his staff know one hundred times more about floods than any politician and accusing ministers of "playing politics".

At the same time, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has protested to the prime minister over Mr Pickles' bruising criticism of the Environment Agency.

No wonder then that this morning Energy Secretary Ed Davey publicly appealed for an end to the blame game.

What does it tell us? That the floods crisis has all the potential to turn into a serious political crisis - hence the reason politicians are already taking sides.

"What I think is really significant, and it has got worse overnight, is Oxford down to the Thames Valley through Didcot, Reading, Maidenhead and into Paddington.

"This isn't now just flooding, this is groundwater. The land is so saturated we have got water rising up, just as much as flowing on to it. So it is difficult."

The main rail route into Devon and Cornwall via Bridgwater remains cut off because of problems caused by flooding and storm damage.

The line from Paddington to Exeter via Newbury is expected to reopen later following a drop in flood water levels at Athelney.

The line from Waterloo to Exeter via Yeovil, closed due to a landslip at Crewkerne on Saturday, has reopened.

More than 300 less serious warnings and alerts have been issued by the Environment Agency, mostly in southern England and the Midlands.

The Met Office has no rain warnings in place for Monday, but it is warning of ice across much of the UK.

But forecasters say another area of low pressure is expected to reach the UK on Monday night and into Tuesday, bringing more heavy rain.

Peter Sloss, of the BBC Weather Centre, said Monday would be the "driest day of the week" but he warned there would be 20-40mm (1-2in) of rain for many areas by the end of Thursday.

He said some showers would be wintry, with snow likely on higher ground in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.

A flooded River Thames at Staines, Surrey

Some residents in Staines, which borders the River Thames, were woken by telephone flood alerts

Sandbags stacked up in Burrowbridge, Somerset

In Burrowbridge, Somerset, sandbags are stacked up ready for use

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is interviewed by the media next to the flooding sites at Burrowbridge, Somerset

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg fields questions from reporters nearby in Burrowbridge

The floods at Datchet move across rail lines

Rail services have been cancelled in parts of Surrey and Berkshire

Friday, 7 February 2014

Water Level Management Action Plan

The Somerset Levels and Moors project has
focussed on the Parrett Catchment, which
represents half of this area of highly engineered
floodplain. The area has a long history of
conflict between stakeholders and a number of
new challenges. As a result, the Wise Use of
Floodplains project (WUF) has targeted
creating a new consensus on how water is to be
managed, in particular looking at new ways to
achieve sustainable benefits for all stakeholders.
The project has worked very closely with the
Parrett Catchment Project (PCP), aiming to
encourage integrated catchment management,
and the Water Level Management Action Plan
(WLMAP), Environment Agency strategy for
the day-to-day management of water in the

Levels and Moors.

Somerset Levels and Moors Stakeholders
Environment Agency
English Nature
RSPB
Somerset County Council
Levels & Moors Partnership (LAMP)

The project aims:
to demonstrate methods to appraise the economic,
social and environmental effects of flood and coastal
plain wetland restoration and management options
to determine how European and national policies might
need to change to facilitate the restoration of flood and
coastal plain wetlands
to facilitate ‘on the ground’ floodplain restoration
across Europe through dissemination of guidelines and
project results

.The Parrett Catchment
The Parrett Catchment is the largest river system in
Somerset, covering 50% of the county and containing five
major rivers: the Parrett, Isle,Tone,Yeo and Cary.

The area is predominantly rural with 70% grassland and
30% arable (cereals and forage maize).The Levels & Moors
covers 64,000 ha and is the most important remaining
lowland wet grassland in England. It is a unique cultural
landscape with farmland criss-crossed by numerous ditches,
and its communities are located on ridges and ‘islands’ of
higher ground.The Levels are a coastal barrier of marine
clays, which lie about 6 m above mean sea level. In contrast,
the Moors are inland and ground levels can be as much as
6 m below peak tide levels.The Moors are prone to
frequent flooding and act as temporary reservoirs during
large flood events.About 10% of the area is designated as a
wetland of outstanding ecological importance in a European
context (a Special Protection Area).
The Somerset issues and focus
The new challenges for Somerset include recent severe
floods and the general crisis in agriculture, exacerbated by
global warming and sea level rise.There is also a drive to
sustainable development and integrated rural development,
as well as new legislation emerging from Europe, such as the
Water Framework Directive.All of these factors affect the
area in different ways.Add in the various interests of all the
stakeholders and the urgent need for an integrated
approach to sustainable water management is evident.
The project has generated the best debate on water
management in 30 years, creating a new consensus
between conservation, farming, drainage and rural
community views. Settlements and strategic assets must
be protected from flooding while securing a farmed
freshwater wetland environment that restores and
maintains biodiversity.
The project area looked at the common ground amongst
stakeholders:
Deep, prolonged floods benefit no-one.
Whole sectors benefit from better flood management.
Wetland habitats should be protected from tidal
inundation.
A combined approach is needed as no single solution
will work.Contacts and Further information:
The Wise Use of Floodplains project is a trans-national partnership, in six project areas
throughout England, Scotland, Ireland and France.The objective of the project is to
demonstrate how floodplain wetlands could contribute to the sustainable management
of water resources within river basins. It highlights the importance of organisations and
communities working together to create a holistic and sustainable approach to the
management of water at catchment level and an important aim is to assist Member
States on the implementation of the Water Framework Directive. For further
information, please refer to the ‘Wise Use of Floodplains Overall Guidance Note’.
For further information regarding this project, please refer to the sponsoring
partners and organisations listed below:
Agence de l’Eau www.eaufrance.com
Birdwatch Ireland www.birdwatchireland.ie
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology www.nwl.ac.uk/ih
English Nature www.english-nature.org.uk
Environment and Heritage Service www.nics.gov.uk/ehs
Environment Agency www.environment-agency.gov.uk
Institution Interdepartmentale pour l’Aménagement du Fleuve Charente
LPO www.lpo-birdlife.asso.fr
Ministère de l’Aménagement du Territoire et de l’Environnement
www.environnement.gouv.fr
Conseil Regionale de Poitou Garonne
Rivers Agency www.dardnt.gov.uk
RSPB www.rspb.org.uk
SEPA www.sepa.org.uk
SNIFFER www.sniffer.org.uk
Thames Water www.thameswater.co.uk
WWF www.panda.org/europe/freshwater
Disclaimer:
The project wishes to stimulate debate on the wise use of floodplains. However, the
views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the opinion of all the
Wise Use of Floodplain partner organisations.
Wise Use of Floodplains technical reports:
Hydrological Impact Assessment: Modelling the impacts of floodplain restoration
Participatory Processes: A tool to assist the wise use of catchments.
Policy Analysis:Analysing Barriers to Change: A tool to assist river basin planning
Options Appraisal: Lessons for floodplain appraisal
Further publications available from website or on CD
from partner organisations:
Beneficial use of floodplains: Identification of appraisal techniques (RPA)
Participatory techniques for land use planning – a review (Mark Toogood)
Identification of techniques for appraisal of floodplain wetlands (RSPB)
Analysing barriers to change methodology (WUF)
A review of twelve WWF river restoration projects across Europe
(Christoph Zockler)
Policy and economic analysis of floodplain restoration in Europe – Opportunities
and obstacles (Tim Jones)
Hydrological model scoping study (CEH)
Cherwell catchment restoration scenarios (University of Southampton)
Hydrology guideline: Summary report to modelling the impacts of floodplain restoration
For further information, please visit www.floodplains.org or refer to the partner
organisations listed above.

Tuesday, 28 October 2014

try the sahara dessert as well then we we have a large earth quake

Sunday, 1 June 2014

Ocean waves influence polar ice extent

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