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You are browsing the archive for February 2011 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.

28 February 2011

One Dead in Tennessee Tornado

A busy day for me today. Lots of wind damage across North Alabama and a tornado just over the line in Tennessee. This is what the radar looked like at the time of the touchdown. Damage is heavy across the north end of the county, and three mobile homes near Estill Springs are just gone. One of the fatalities occurred there. While on the air, the image below is what …

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26 February 2011

Yes, People are Breathing This-Smog over China

It’s called the ABC. The Asian Brown Cloud. The air pollution from cooking fires, coal fired power plants, and gasoline/diesel engines are the cause. This air pollution is measurable across the Pacific and into the West Coast of the U.S. Air pollution (from different areas of the world) has its own unique signature. A recent study indicated that about 30% of San Francisco’s particulate levels are from China.

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24 February 2011

Quackery Update

It’s been awhile since I wrote about the i-Renew or Power Balance bracelet scam, but there are some interesting developments in the quackery area. My wife grabbed this shot at our local Wal-Mart last week. It seems you can now buy one without calling a number seen on TV! More interesting, perhaps, are the lack of claims that it will help your balance (or health) in any way. They are …

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22 February 2011

Some Tears For Beautiful Christchurch

If you go to Antarctica with the U.S. Antarctic Program (NSF), you will be very familiar with Christchurch. It’s the take off and return point for all of those who go to work, and do science “on the ice”. Last night, when I emailed a friend at Amundsen Scott station (at the South Pole) about the quake, I quickly got a request for more information. Everyone “on the ice” loves …

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21 February 2011

Huge Quake Brings Down Christchurch Cathedral

I took the photo on the right a year ago on New Years Day 2010. Christchurch New Zealand is one of the most beautiful cities you will ever see. Without doubt that building was the most famous in all of NZ. It’s now mostly destroyed. The quake struck just after 12:51PM Tuesday, in Christchurch, a magnitude 6.3 quake struck the city. It was centered just 5 km below the city …

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18 February 2011

Bats In The Radar

Every forecaster can tell you about seeing birds and bats on radar. It actually happens quite frequently. I’ve long thought that this data could be of value to biologists, and now it seems they do as well! Great report from the BBC on it below.

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17 February 2011

“Wow” Video of X-Class Flare From NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

Take a look at this! The X class flare was caught by the SDO and it’s expected to kick off a nice geomagnetic storm starting tonight. I am betting on some great pics of the Aurora by tomorrow morning! The incredible video, of the flash below, is from two spacecraft. The sun itself is from the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the red region around it is from the SOHO spacecraft. …

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The Great Backyard Bird Count

You can play a role in adding to scientific knowledge tomorrow. The great backyard bird count runs from Friday, February 18th through Monday, Feb. 21st. Click the image below to go to the website. It’s easy to do, and science needs your help! Canadians, we need your help too. A big thank you to Earth Gauge for the heads up on this. I missed it last year!

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16 February 2011

Despite What You Saw on Twitter- January 2011 was 17th Warmest.

The National Climate Data Center released the January temp. anomalies today. In spite of the cold and snowy January in the Eastern USA, it was the 17th warmest on record. The global sea temps. were the 11th warmest on record. What is really eye catching is the intense cold in Central and East Asia. The weakening La Nina, in the Pacific, is also to be seen along with the intense …

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15 February 2011

What is it about climate change that makes smart people say silly things?

I am constantly amazed at the number of smart people who make a right turn into a brick wall when it comes to climate change. There are plenty examples and they all have one thing in common. They usually come from well educated people, (with a science background) who repeat myths about climate change that they’ve read or heard. If they took the time to research the claim they are …

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