“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.
Today is the first day since November 13th that the temperature has risen above 60ºF officially in Albuquerque. It’s 62 63 and sunny. Convertible weather.
The official low here this winter was 12ºF on December 4th, a record for the date. The temperature dropped into the teens just eight times; six of those mornings were in December.
(The all-time record low temperature for Albuquerque is minus 17ºF on January 6, 1971. Yikes!)
There has been exactly 1 inch of precipitation since Halloween; 2.6 inches of it as snow. (It takes about 10 inches of snow, on average, to equal one inch of precipitation.)
We probably had about eight or nine inches of snow altogether at Casa NewMexiKen a thousand feet above the valley. I don’t think any of it lasted more than a few hours except as patches in shady spots. A couple of times it snowed an inch or two, then melted, then snowed another inch or two, then melted, all on the same day. That’s ideal. I’ve always thought it was nice to watch snow fall, to admire its beauty when everything is covered, then to magically wish it away. More often than not, that’s snow in Albuquerque.
There is a 6.0 or greater earthquake somewhere on the planet on average 152 times a year (during the past 20 years). Eighteen of these are 7.0 or greater. One of these on average is 8.0 or greater.
Last year there were 159 earthquakes 6.0 or greater. Seventeen were 7.0 or greater. One was larger than 8.0.
There are about 50 earthquakes a day that are measurable. That’s 18,250 a year.
Saturday’s Chile earthquake was so powerful that it likely shifted an Earth axis and shortened the length of a day, NASA announced Monday.
By speeding up Earth’s rotation, the magnitude 8.8 earthquake—the fifth strongest ever recorded, according to the USGS—should have shortened an Earth day by 1.26 millionths of a second, according to new computer-model calculations by geophysicist Richard Gross of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
NOAA’s preliminary forecast energy map.
If the earthquake in Chile stands as 8.8, it’s the fifth strongest earthquake since 1900.
Largest Earthquakes in the World Since 1900
Number one was the 1960 quake in Chile — 9.5, as USGS puts it: “the largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in the world.”
Flying into Florida for a winter vacation? If you look out the plane window once you’re near your destination and the ground seems to be writhing, it’s because the entire state is covered with pythons. Checking out the bathtub in your hotel room? Python. Looking in the back seat of your roller-coaster car at Walt Disney World? Python. Rental-car trunk? Restaurant toilet? Rest-stop trash can? Curbside mailbox? Python, python, python, python.
Key point: “The snakes can be 26 feet long and as thick as telephone poles, we’re told.”
Amazing to consider.
According to reports, it was only the 13th time in 140 years — but second time this winter — that Washington got more than a foot of snow.
Power’s off.
Update: The electricity was off for an hour and forty minutes.