“Americans can confidently and safely enjoy Gulf seafood once again … In fact we had some yesterday.”
President Obama on Monday
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“The government is telling us the waters and seafood are safe, but I would not feed my family on anything I catch out there now.”
Jerry Miller, who has fished off Mississippi’s coast for 35 years
Tonight’s full moon (it actually became full at 11:05 AM MDT) will be the smallest looking of the year. That’s because tonight it will be at apogee, the most distant point in its monthly elliptical orbit around Earth.
There’s about a 12% variation in how large the moon appears when it is full at perigee (closest) and when it is full at apogee (farthest) like tonight. Tonight’s full moon is much dimmer too.
The moon was about 31,000 miles closer to us during 2010′s brightest full moon. That was January 29th.
Joe Posnanski on What 600 Homers Means. A lot less than it used to, he concludes.
And The Big Picture shows some recent work of Mother Nature.
In the past several months, powerful storms have wreaked havoc in many places, torrential rains in central Europe and parts of China, tornadoes in Australia, Montana and the American Midwest, and strong thunderstorms across the northeast. Now, as Tropical Storm Bonnie makes landfall in Florida and heads into the Gulf of Mexico, oil cleanup is being suspended, and the final “kill” operation is delayed for at least one more week. These storms have been destructive and deadly, but beautiful and awe-inspiring at the same time. Collected here are a handful of photographs of stormy skies, lightning strikes and storm damage from the past several months. (37 photos total)
This photo, found at The Sky This Week on the Naval Oceanography Portal was taken Saturday at Morattico, Virginia.
Link via Ah, Wilderness!
. . . Death Valley. On this date in 1913, the hottest temperature ever reported in North America was recorded at the Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, California. 134ºF/56.7ºC — in the shade.
62 days have passed since the initial explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and the crude oil and natural gas continue to gush from the seafloor. Re-revised estimates now place the flow rate at up to 60,000 barrels a day – a figure just shy of a worst-case estimate of 100,000 barrels a day made by BP in an internal document recently released by a congressional panel. Louisiana’s state treasurer has estimated environmental and economic damages from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could range from $40 billion to $100 billion. Collected here are recent photographs from the Gulf of Mexico, and of those affected by the continued flow of oil and gas into the ocean. (37 photos total)
In the northern hemisphere, summer began at 5:28 AM MDT (11:28 UTC).
It’s the longest day of the year for locations north of the equator. The further north, the more daylight. That means 14 hours and 31 minutes of daylight in Albuquerque, 14 hours and 59 minutes in Denver, Colorado, 15 hours and 44 minutes in Billings, Montana, and 21 hours 50 minutes in Fairbanks, Alaska.
[Sunrise today in Fairbanks was at 2:57 AM. Sunset tonight will be at 12:47 AM Tuesday. Of course, with twilight, it is light all night.]
What this means astronomically speaking is that at 06:46 Universal Time today (June 21) the northern hemisphere of the earth was tilted 23.4° toward the sun; the southern hemisphere was tilted 23.4° away.
This is best explained with an orange and a flashlight.
A good summary about the solstice from National Geographic begins with this:
The summer solstice is a result of the Earth’s north-south axis being tilted 23.5 degrees relative to the sun. The tilt causes different amounts of sunlight to reach different regions of the planet.
Today the North Pole is tipped closer to the sun than on any other day of 2010. The opposite holds true for the Southern Hemisphere, for which today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.
The solstice is at 5:28 AM MDT Monday, 11:28 UTC.
Tomorrow has the longest daylight of the year in the northern hemisphere. The latest sunset, however, is about a week from now. The earliest sunrise of the year in the northern hemisphere was about a week ago.
“They said the current could propel the oil to Florida’s Atlantic coast within weeks, with the spill spreading as far north as Cape Hatteras in North Carolina by July or August before turning east.”
The “they” is the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. The Center says the possibility is based on computer modeling and not a forecast.
But so much for the Outer Banks this year.
In the three weeks since the April 20th explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, and the start of the subsequent massive (and ongoing) oil leak, many attempts have been made to contain and control the scale of the environmental disaster. Oil dispersants are being sprayed, containment booms erected, protective barriers built, controlled burns undertaken, and devices are being lowered to the sea floor to try and cap the leaks, with little success to date. While tracking the volume of the continued flow of oil is difficult, an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil (possibly much more) continues to pour into the gulf every day. While visible damage to shorelines has been minimal to date as the oil has spread slowly, the scene remains, in the words of President Obama, a “potentially unprecedented environmental disaster.” (40 photos total)
And probably will. The oil has a good chance of reaching the prime oyster beds.
“Louisiana’s coast serves as a winter resting spot for more than 70 percent of the country’s waterfowl, and the region is used by more than a hundred tropical migratory birds.”
Melanie Driscoll, director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society’s Louisiana Coastal Initiative, as reported by National Geographic.
Late on the night of April 20th, 50 miles from the shore of Louisiana, a fire broke out aboard the Transocean Deepwater Horizon oil rig under lease by BP, with 126 individuals on board. After a massive explosion, all but 11 of the crew managed to escape as the rig was consumed by fire, later collapsing and sinking into the Gulf. Safeguards set in place to automatically cap the oil well in case of catastrophe did not work as expected, and now an estimated 5,000 barrels (over 200,000 gallons) of crude oil is pouring into the Gulf of Mexico every day – and could possibly continue to do so for months as complicated efforts are made to stop the leak. Collected here are several recent photos of the developing situation along Louisiana’s Gulf Shore – one with the potential to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in scope and damage. (32 photos total)
Click the image for larger version and to learn more.
“Nature is boss, and she is pitiless.”
As ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano continued to keep European airspace shut down over the weekend, affecting millions of travelers around the world, some government agencies and airlines clashed over the flight bans. Some restricted airspace is now beginning to open up and some limited flights are being allowed now as airlines are pushing for the ability to judge safety conditions for themselves. The volcano continues to rumble and hurl ash skyward, if at a slightly diminished rate now, as the dispersing ash plume has dropped closer to the ground, and the World Health Organization has issued a health warning to Europeans with respiratory conditions. Collected here are some images from Iceland over the past few days. (35 photos total)
Many planet Earths would fit under that ribbon of gas photographed on the sun last week. Click the image to see a larger version and to learn more.
Today, British civil aviation authorities ordered the country’s airspace closed as of noon, due to a cloud of ash drifting from the erupting Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. The volcano has erupted for the second time in less than a month, melting ice, shooting smoke and steam into the air and forcing hundreds of people to flee rising floodwaters. The volcanic ash has forced the cancellation of many flights and disrupted air traffic across northern Europe, stranding thousands of passengers. Collected here are photos of the most recent eruption, and of last month’s eruptions, which were from the same volcano, just several miles further east. (17 photos total)
Awesome!
Well, not awesome for Jill. The aviation shutdown has Byron stranded in the U.K. “Flights have been canceled because volcanic ash contains silicates, or glass fibers, which can melt inside jet engines, causing them to flame out and stall.” (NY Times)
“Go outside tonight and see one of the more interesting planetary conjunctions of recent years. Just after sunset, the planets Mercury and Venus are visible quite near each other.”
Click the image for a larger version and to learn more.
Stewart Udall has died at age 90.
I’ve posted the following before, but it seems a fitting tribute to a man who led an active life.
Just this last year [Stewart Udall] rafted down the Colorado River from Lees Ferry — named for Udall’s grandfather — and, with a grandson, trekked from the floor of the Grand Canyon up Bright Angel Trail some 7,000 feet to the South Rim. His family had cautioned against it, and he rejected a Park Service offer of a mule. “They wouldn’t have liked it if I hadn’t made it,” he recounted, “but what a way to go.” Once at the South Rim, Udall marched straight to the bar at the Tovar Lodge and ordered a martini.
Udall was 84 when the above took place.
Stewart Udall was U.S. Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. During his eight years at Interior he made lasting and important contributions to the environment and the American landscape.
He was the father of New Mexico’s U.S. Senator Tom Udall and uncle to Colorado’s U.S. Senator Mark Udall.
Excerpt from a 2005 Los Angeles Times profile of Udall.
The spring equinox (for us in the northern hemisphere) is tomorrow, March 20th, at 11:32 AM MDT (17:32 UTC).
The weather forecast for Albuquerque:
Breezy. Numerous rain and snow showers in the evening… then numerous snow showers after midnight. Snow accumulation 1 to 3 inches. Lows in the mid 20s to lower 30s. North winds 15 to 25 mph becoming east 10 to 20 mph after midnight.
Denver is forecast to receive 6-10 inches of snow today.
I watched the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove this evening.
The Cove follows an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers as they embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Taiji, Japan, shining a light on a dark and deadly secret. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. The result is a provocative mix of investigative journalism, eco-adventure and arresting imagery, adding up to an unforgettable story that has inspired audiences worldwide to action.
The film makes you marvel, makes you cry, makes you angry, makes you frightened — not for the dolphins — for us. We are indeed a soulless species.
If you haven’t seen the film, you should. It’s good enough to win an Oscar and it’s important.
If you have seen it, what are we going to do about this tragedy?
Click image for larger version and to learn more.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
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