Nuclear Industry's Solar Tsunami Threat

As the nuclear industry tries to side-step the terrible situation unfolding in Japan, its power plant vulnerabilities are clear. No juice - no shutdown. No juice - no backup. In an emergency the reactors wont shut down - but meltdown.

Severe natural disasters are a severe danger to the 'safe operation' of nuclear plants. I am asking: Can the many nuclear power generating reactors around the world continue to function safely in the event of a direct hit from a solar flare? The direct hit that NASA have been warning about. The big one they say is coming .. perhaps in 2012 .. Michio Kaku says it may be some time between 2012 and 2013.

In 2012 the Sun will approach the peak of its 11 year cycle, called the solar maximum, as NASA and other concerned scientists warn that a direct hit from a massive solar flare can potentially burn out generators, burn out transformers and kill power lines. Essentially, stopping society in its tracks.

On the 15th of February, 2011 the Sun released the largest flare in the last four years straight towards the Earth. Because the plasma's magnetic field was parallel to the Earth its impact was reduced. "If the magnetic fields are parallel, then the shields are up. We are well protected," said space weather expert Juha-Pekka Luntama of the European Space Agency. See-Wired: Shields Up

Space weather scientists are concerned the Sun solar maximum may release more frequent and more severe solar flares and that one may impact the Earth directly. A G5 (geomagnetic storm) would shut down power grids. This event would be the world's 'tsunami from space'...

Technically, it is thought that satellites, GPS systems, communication systems as well as electrical generators and the electrical grid could be shut down. Some experts claim that it would take months, if not years to repair the damage done to power grids by a large solar flare.

No one talks about the effect it could have on the world's nuclear generating plants. Can nuclear power plants maintain the electrical power they need to cool the reactors if the electrical grid and backup generators fail? It's never been tested!

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions as well as severe drought (reduction of fresh water supplies), can all pose severe risks. Potentially destroying the systems needed to cool the nuclear reactors and prevent meltdown. In general, this is what is discussed when reassuring people the reactors can withstand the dangers from natural disasters. Nature is already proving them wrong in that respect.

What about the dangers from space? When the solar flare takes out electrical systems, generators, grid connections .. will it leave nuclear power stations intact?

Scientists recently detected two large holes in Earth's magnetic field, the magnetosphere. It is the magnetosphere that protects us from solar radiation. If the Earth is hit by a solar magnetic tsunami what effect would this have on reactor cores filled with nuclear material? Apart from the potential to burn out transformers and electrical systems, how will the Sun's energy affect, or 'charge' a nuclear reactors nuclear reactions?

In 1859 a solar storm wiped out electrical systems. Telegraph systems went 'haywire', as sparks discharged shocks to telegraph operators, even setting the telegraph paper on fire. NASA say: "Even when telegraphers disconnected the batteries powering the lines, aurora-induced electric currents in the wires still allowed messages to be transmitted."

If a direct hit from a massive solar flare takes out transformers, power lines and generators will this have the potential to send nuclear power stations into the handicapped state we see unfolding now at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after the March 11, 2011 tsunami?

Nuclear power plant back-up systems run on electricity. Nuclear reactors will heat up and melt down, when deprived of the power to circulate water around the reactor and cool the rods inside the reactor's core. Should the main power source fail and the back-up power, as in Japan, also fails then the reactor will go critical, its behaviour out of control. Automatic backup cooling systems cannot operate without power.

2011 Sendai Earthquake Tsunami Devastation

A number of tsunamis released by the 8.9 Sendai earthquake and large after quakes have caused most of the coastal devastation in the area close to the epicenter of the earthquake. Whole communities have been swept away and completely destroyed by the fast moving wall of water that was immediately released by the largest earthquake know to Japan in the last 140 years.

A massive whirlpool was filmed from the air in the aftermath of the tsunami that hit the Japanese Northeast coast. The tsunami has destroyed farms, farming communities and precious farmland across the 'granary of Japan'. The low lying rice farms have been inundated with salt water, mud and debris from the tsunami.

Two nuclear power stations were reported to have lost the power to cool the reactors, although the reactors were closed down as soon as the earthquake hit. All through the night fires have been burning following the massive devastation, as Japanese television report spreading wildfires destroying large areas, homes and communities.

Reuters reported a dam breaking in Fukushima prefecture, washing away homes as fires rage uncontrolled in an oil refinery.

Nine foot tsunami waves have suddenly begun hitting the coast of Hawaii as extremely high surges are expected to hit the West coast of Oregon. The tsunami was said to be travelling across the Pacific at one kilometer every four seconds.

From Alaska to Southern California up to 8 foot wave surges have been recorded. Canada, Oregon, California, Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica are evacuating areas faced with a potential high wave surge along the Pacific coastal region.

It seems that Japan has taken the brunt of this massive quake as tsunami alerts for some areas have been lifted. After shocks the size of the Christchurch quake have continued to hit off the Japanese coast as Japan remains on continued tsunami alert.

In a quake briefing speakers for the USGS have said that readings show the Island of Honshu Japan moved (shifted) 2.3 meters out to the East (Eastern movement) as a result of the subduction earthquake.

Antarctica: The Pacific Ring of Fire

At GENI [Global Energy Network Institute] you will find an interesting map of the hottest geothermal regions on the planet... Those countries (coastal regions) sitting on the continental edge of the 'Ring of Fire' could perhaps experience the largest stress should tectonic pressure zones erupt in response to magnetic fluctuations around the Earth's crust.

The powerful earthquakes that shook Chile and New Zealand in 2010 and January/February 2011 appeared to move back and forward between these most Southerly regions of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

However, one vitally important landmass is surprisingly left out of all the 'Ring of Fire' tectonic plate and subduction zone maps: Antarctica! This massive continental landmass at the Southern pole of the Earth, covered in ice, this bleak and barren frozen wasteland needs to be brought back into the understanding of tectonic plate pressure, change and continental crust movement.

What undersea plate tectonic relationship does New Zealand and the most Southerly tip of South America have to Antarctica? I wonder if the Earth's spin slowly twists the whole landmass of Antarctica - I don't know why? But I imagine that imperceptible movements to us surface dwellers could result in crustal stress and - who knows - maybe earthquakes.

If I were a Geologist I would wonder what effect the Antarctic plate has on all the other plates joined to it (touching its boundaries). For example, if I looked at a tectonic plate map that appeared to show the Antarctic plate interacts with the Pacific plate, the Nazca plate, Scotia, the South American plate, the African plate, the Australian plate... that would interest me.

Continental crusts are mostly made of thick granite and the gap between the crusts is apparently filled with a thin crust made of basalt. The Earth's continental crusts are surrounded by Oceanic crusts [plate boundaries].. So, I imagine that stress or movement around the Antarctic crustal plate boundaries may translate into changes in those Northerly plate boundaries affected by any movement in the Antarctic plate. [I have a good imagination]

Below the wintery covering of ice Antarctica's landmass is larger than Europe. From my research its plate boundaries connect to the plate boundaries of the rest of the Earth. I would imagine this landmass is a major player in affecting what takes place North of its location.

Obviously, the plate boundaries all hold each other together, similar to the bone structure of the human skull. In my view the cranial plates of the skull are fitted together in a similar way to the crustal plates of the Earth.

The human skull is composed of the connections between eight major cranial plates. The Earth is said to have seven primary plates: Antarctic plate, North American plate, South American plate, African plate, Eurasian plate, Indo-Australian plate and the Pacific plate, as well as many more secondary and tertiary plates.

I wonder how much the Antarctic plate influences the Pacific Ring of Fire?

In my research it seems we always imagine the pressure of the tectonic plate boundaries pushing from East to West or from West to East. What about up? What if twists in the Antarctic plate is part of the movement? What if this is a major part of the movement? How much stress do the North and South poles alleviate in the Earth's orbit around the Sun?

I imagine in the next 100 years, with the help of satellites, we will come to understand the geometric science of the Antarctic plate and its influence on the release of crustal stress and tectonic movement. The way I see it, as the Earth hurtles through space the crustal plates of the continents are 'sitting on' the Antarctic plate. Does that mean Antarctica is the 'sacrum' of the planet?

Brazil Mudslides Deforestation Building On Flood Zones

In 1816 the Swiss representative of the Canton Fribourg established a colony in an area of Brazil that greatly resembled their geographic mountain homeland, Nova Friburgo. Around one hundred Swiss families inhabited the area and by 1820 the population had grown to 200. Today the population of flood damaged Friburgo is 178,102 people.

Teresópolis, Brazil was once the home for a group of indigenous people. By 1855 the village had a population of 2,000 people. Today the flood prone mountainous area has a population of 150,921 people inhabiting vulnerable land comprising of thin layers of earth on solid rock.

Increasing urbanisation of the area has added to the high rate of deforestation across known 'flood zones'. In heavy rains the water flows fast and unrestricted due to the loss of trees and natural vegetation. By the time the flood waters torrent down the vertical cliffs they carry with them what is left of the fragile topsoil.

You can see with your own eyes the ongoing destruction of forest and natural vegetation if you go to Google Maps, Brazil (satellite): Teresópolis or Nova Friburgo. You have to take time and really look at the surrounding urban spread, deforestation, habitat destruction and the extending roads obviously planning future building on unstable land prone to future mudslides and flooding.

Unrestricted Building In Flood Areas
"The death toll has been aggravated by the failure of municipal governments in the region to control where residents – particularly poorer ones – build their homes. Many neighbourhoods affected were built without planning permission in areas that authorities labelled zones at risk from flooding and mudslides. Experts have warned for years that the deforestation that comes with creeping informal urbanisation is weakening hillsides in areas prone to heavy rains, raising the risk of mudslides. Rio’s governor Sérgio Cabral said a failure to implement planning regulations in areas at risk from flooding meant the disaster was a chronicle of a tragedy foretold. " The Irish Times

The Economist have a very good article on the Brazil floods:
After The Flood - Why did so many die?
"For two centuries the mountains behind Rio de Janeiro have been the perfect Brazilian getaway. Pedro II, a 19th-century emperor, would decamp there with his court to escape Rio’s sweltering summer heat. More recently Rio’s rich have done the same, carving weekend palaces from the sheer granite walls and dense forests shouldering towns with noble names like Petrópolis, Teresópolis and Nova Friburgo. Settled by German and Swiss immigrants, these once-quaint villages of gingerbread architecture have turned into bustling cities. Now they are a shambles."

Deforestation In Brazil Worsen Flooding
"It is important to better understand the risks to people and infrastructure in watershed areas, especially where ecosystems are degraded, contributing to the powerful effect of flooding." ClimateVoices

Northern Australia In 2030

Ach! So! Other people think like me °^° ...

Northern Australia In 2030
Sustainable Development of Northern Australia
Land and Water Task Force

It is the year 2030 and the world's population is approaching 9 billion. While Australia's population has increased by only 8 million in the past 20 years, nearly 6 billion people live in neighboring Asian and South Pacific nations...

...While Indigenous people make up less than 3 percent of Australia's population in 2030, they compromise nearly 50 percent of the population in Northern Australia. In some areas, such as the Kimberley, Indigenous people represent nearly 60 percent of the population.

This PDF is about resource management, water resources and water management and stewardship of the land you live on. The question is should/do/can local people and local Indigenous populations landscape the environment and manage the resources? Why not!

The premise is that planning institutions thousands of miles away do not and cannot understand the local environment and its needs. The land is not only a 'resource' it is a dynamic living phenomenon. Something people have to get to know when they live in an area. For example, you need to know where to build and where not to build and in what style you have to build in order to adapt to the land and climate.

I was researching the history of Queensland floods and I came across the "Waters Futures Forum" .. Northern Australia Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance - NAILSMA

There are some interesting PDF files online, with a wealth of information and relevant proposals. It seems to be a question of regional management of resources and local knowledge of the area.

So What? People of The Eora Nation
In that country on the edge of Kakadu where the great rivers of the north make their way from the majestic Arnhemland escarpment across vast flood plains and on into the Arafura Sea, Aboriginal people are seeking to play their role in the sustaining of the resources that have been entrusted to them from their fathers and mothers and those before them.

Terra Nullius: Land Belonging To No One
In the context of Aboriginal people and government interaction assimilation is aimed at achieving the original colonial dream and assertion that Australia was terra nullius – land belonging to no one...

As a result Indigenous Australians have found themselves standing alongside a group of almost equally politically excluded Australians; those living in the Northern half of the Nation who are non-Indigenous but who have chosen to contribute to the future of the Nation by working for the development and sustaining of our deserts, our northern coastal regions and the pastoral regions of the Northern Territory, Western and South Australia and Queensland.

Recent amalgamations of Shires in Queensland and the creation of local government entities in the Northern Territory has seen the erosion of Aboriginal peoples capacity, in those regions, to have a say in the management of their communities to the same extent that they had hitherto enjoyed.

People in remote Australia, covering most of our continental land mass have found themselves more than ever subject to the decision making processes and priorities of governments authority in southern cities, far removed from the reality of the lives of those in the bush. We require regional empowerment as part of good governance of our regions and resources, especially water.

Queensland Houses Built On Flood Plains

Nature is nature and human stupidity is human stupidity ..

Queensland, Australia is under water as I write. The media extravaganza sell this flood as an abnormal, unimaginable catastrophic visitation of Noah's Flood. Rivers swollen with rain spread across dry plains, and people react as though this has happened for the first time in the entire history of the planet...

The first clue in my research was a comment about the old style historical Queensland houses built on stilts .. wait a minute! Traditional early style Queensland houses were built on stilts? Why would the early Queenslanders build their houses on stilts? Because of flooding?

I am interested in ancient archeology, especially the stilt houses of the early Celtic people in Europe. Some Celtic cultures built houses on stilts at the edge of lakes (or lochs), which may suggest that changes in water levels (floods) took place over short periods at that time. Perhaps the early Celts were used to seeing sudden changes in water levels, flooding, swelling lakes and rivers.

In a dry climate like Australia where droughts can be severe, increases in rainfall would create sensational flooding, especially across the flood plains. To meet increasing demand for housing development, the urbanization of flood plains is irresponsible. When the floods arrive, it creates social and economic problems that dwarf the short-term profits made from building across the vulnerable flood plains.

I took my research in the direction of historical Queensland stilt houses. A building style that has now been eclipsed by modern on-the-ground bungalows and houses.

Many older-style houses up on stilts are taking the current floods in their stride. This is the practical and sensible design approach of our parents and grandparents who knew there would be no one coming to save them in a "Big Wet".

Our mothers and grandmothers knew how to plan ahead, keeping a watchful eye on unseasonal wet weather from August to November (which is precisely what we have had up here) and stocking up. In those days it was powdered milk, tea, sugar, flour and preserved fruit and meat, and a stockpile on high and dry land of cut timber for the stove. TheAge.com.au

If you read this article, take some time to read the comments:
Joe - Don't stop with those areas under water at the moment. Have a look at the rapid development around Cairns and Townsville and other tropical areas over the last 20 years. Plenty of slab floored little boxes with bugger all eaves in NSW/Victorian brick veneer style being built. Many of which must be uninsurable for flood events. The houses don't need to be on 2 metre stumps - but certainly need to be elevated and not built on the floodplain.

Max - what about those QLD pollies wittering hilariously about the "Biblical" proportions of these floods?

is this to distract from the culpability of town planners who've failed to adequately ensure that property is appropriate for flood plain areas?

there's something really suspect about this whole flood thing. but we won't have local and State politicians doing anything other than trying to look good with their pious pronouncements about poor victims.
the victims were victims long before the first drop of rain fell.

"Biblical proportions floods"? "Historical floods"? Well, why does it have a name? The "big wet" .. doesn't that mean periodical big floods? Maybe the people of Queensland should begin a massive tree planting program as loss of tree coverage adds to the free flow of the water during the flooding cycle.

How much of this "disaster" was created by human stupidity?

I mean, stupidity of not paying attention to nature and living according to natures rules. If an area is prone to serious flooding cycles then is that where you build ground level housing?

Rivers flood periodically in order to replenish the richness of life all along the river. The water is feeding the land. Otherwise, without water nothing can survive. Then the land would be like the Sahara desert.

The January 2011 floods in Queensland [Fitzroy river] have not hit earlier severe flood levels as seen in 1991 (9.3 meters) and even higher in 1918 .. the Brisbane river in South Queensland rose to the highest known levels to date, while in 1893 a sequence of floods over three weeks saw the highest recorded flood levels in Brisbane. The Fitzroy river in Rockhampton rose to 9.2 and by January 4, 2011 the level of the river was 8.4 meters (still below the 1991 flood levels) .. the 1918 flood level rose 10.11 meters.

If these floods are the political/media... "biblical floods", what would the politicians and media have said in 1918? End of the world??? But we are still here! The shock has not been the flood levels; but the larger area being flooded all at once and all together. But maybe we humans should realise that planet Earth (nature) knows what she is doing. It is possible that these greater cycles of flooding, covering larger areas, do take place and it may get worse. Maybe you should ask the Native Indigenous People of Australia '.)

Natural Flooding: Floods in Australia range from localised flash flooding as a result of thunderstorms, to more widespread flooding following heavy rain over the catchment areas of river systems. Flooding is also a regular seasonal phenomenon in Northern Australia.

Australian towns were built on floodplains despite warnings from local Aborigines. Nyngan (meaning flood in its local Aboriginal language) was severely flooded on 23 April 1990.

Bernadette George, an urban planner writes: "It's a pity that over the past decade in particular, some councils and communities have chosen to ignore the numerous lessons of the past three to 50 years about where not to build.

If you must build houses here, councils should insist they be on stilts."

Wise Use of Flood Plains

Sustainable Water Projects In Europe
Water and floodplain problems - Our management of water is becoming increasingly complex. Past practices have resulted in the disconnection of rivers from floodplains – with a resultant loss in biodiversity and a requirement for complex, expensive and sometimes damaging flood defense schemes. Many of our current demands are incompatible with each other. For example, we want functioning floodplains for flood management and important biodiversity, but people want to live by rivers and we need space to build houses to account for changing demographics.

Intensive agricultural practices can have detrimental impacts on water quality, quantity, and levels that damage aquatic habitats. Water companies and authorities, and thus consumers and taxpayers, must pay to clean up water, that a subsidy or bad practice has polluted. In many countries, the bureaucracy around water management is complex and convoluted. Different aspects of water are managed separately – for example, agriculture, land use planning, water abstraction, water quality, flood management, drought management, and portable water may all be managed in different ways with conflicting objectives and different spatial and temporal scales.

Reconnecting rivers with their floodplains:
Nature Conservancy Council - Allowing periodic flooding of floodplains leads to healthier rivers, lands, and estuaries. Increasingly, techniques are being used to manage flood risks more effectively than rigid use of dams and levees. These techniques include setting levees back from river banks, changing the characteristics of buildings and roads, and protecting floodplain lands through purchase or easements. Examples of relevant projects include the Conservancy’s work on the Yangtze River in China and the Mississippi River in the US.

China's Yangtze: A River Under Threat
A River Under Threat - Originating high on the Tibetan Plateau, the magnificent Yangtze, the third longest river in the world, descends rapidly, stretching almost 4,000 miles as it surges through mountain valleys, cuts through limestone gorges and winds past lowlands to empty into the ocean at the port of Shanghai. As China’s economy rapidly expands, the health of the Yangtze River deteriorates, imperiling extraordinary aquatic species like the finless porpoise, Chinese alligator, sturgeon and paddlefish, as well as the health and safety of the people living near and dependent on the river. This system suffers from numerous threats, including:

• Catastrophic Floods
• Deforestation
• Pollution
• Sedimentation
• Wetlands Destruction
• Global Climate Change
• Altered Water Flows

If The Dam Breaks

Three Gorges Dam's floodgates open in Yichang, 
China's Hubei province, 20-7-2010

Three Gorges Dam

Severe flooding in China is putting pressure on the countries controversial Three Gorges Dam, built to hold back the flow of the Yangtze river. Heavy rains are continuing to fall, creating the worse flooding in a decade.

With floodwaters hovering at times, some 17 meters below the dam's maximum capacity, should human beings consider that maybe it is time to work with nature rather than try to overcome nature? If the amount of water behind the Three Gorges Dam exceeds the capacity of the floodgates, then someone has a problem downstream.

Dams are an environmental disaster. They put masses of water in places nature is not designed to hold masses of water. That alone changes the water/air evaporation rates, as well as changing the rate of seepage into the surrounding landscape and beyond.

Water is heavy and it has a large earth-seepage rate. When a dam is built and the water sits on land it was never meant to sit on, then the builders of the dams also change the way and the rate water is retained in and around the physical landscape. Water does not only evaporate, it sinks creating landslides and potentially causing earthquakes.

I could be wrong, but I think the reason for building the Three Gorges Dam was to decrease flooding .. but that assumes nature does not know what it is doing and human's do know better. It would never occur to the designers and financiers of Geo-Landscaping projects that the way a river is designed allows for environmental changes over tens of thousands of years.

A river like the Yangtze, for example, exists to deal with any variable of climatic change from drought to extreme water from the sky situations .. because that is what the Earth does. We humans may live for 70 to 90 years at one go, but the planet (nature) has ecological growth cycles of hundreds and then thousands of years.

Every now and then inhabitants of the planet will see extreme behavior of the weather, that is all part of a natural cycle. The climate is not always 'stable' down here .. it can be stable, but things can get pretty dramatic. On top of that, when human's dam the lifeblood of the planet? I am sure it can get even more colorful during times of extreme weather cycles.

Aging and Abandoned Dams

As the dams age, and it is not so easy to 'repair' an aging dam, then what alternatives are there to future generations other than to take the dam apart? Even better than that, abandoned dams are left to sit and rot without maintenance because upgrades to the dam are too costly. Rather than abandon them, dams would have to be decommissioned and the surrounding areas rehabilitated. So, what were the Chinese thinking of when they built the Three Gorges Dam?

Technical studies have found that the aging of dams accelerates after 50 years. It would seem that leaves the Yangtze problem for those in 2060, unless nature takes care of it before then.

Research Notes:
Are Large Dams Altering Extreme Weather patterns? #o#
Three Gorges Dam Safety Analysis #o#

Can Large Dams Change The Weather?

Dr. Faisal Hossain, Tennessee Technological University

Ben - Most of the water that we use comes from reservoirs. These artificial lakes are often created by damming a river. Once a large enough body of water has accumulated, you can tap it off, purify it and send it out to peoples’ homes; or you can release it back through turbines in the dam to generate hydroelectric power. Simple as this sounds though, there are environmental consequences, including an effect on the local weather. Dr Faisal Hossain is from Tennessee Technological University, and he joins us on the line now. Hello, Faisal.

Faisal - Hello, Ben. Good afternoon.

Ben - How many dams are there in the world? Do we actually know?

Faisal - Getting a precise number is tough but large dams, which are defined by the International Commission of Large Dams as more than 15 metres in height; they're probably about more than 100,000 of these around the world. And approximately, small and large, we might have about a million dams.

Ben - Right! A million dams sounds like an enormous amount. How long have they been around?

Faisal - Most of them were built in the early 19th century, all the way up to, I think right after the Second World War. Then in the ‘60s, I think the environmental issues of it caught up, and most of them were already built, so it stopped right on that time. So, the typical age is probably a few decades. Maybe two to three decades or more.

Ben - That seems fairly old for something that we rely on quite so much. Were they built to last?

Faisal - Well, dams are generally built to last. You could say, they should last almost forever if they're properly maintained and operated. You should be able to use the dam for what it was built for, for as long as you want. But there are issues with dams, like they get filled up with sedimentation and silt. Sometimes, dredging of the dam and all that gets a little hard and it makes more sense not to use the dam or to decommission or remove the dam from the river.

Ben - I’d imagine, removing a dam is quite an engineering task as well.

Faisal - Yes, it is. It’s still not a very well understood discipline. It’s just coming up because now, we have to worry about what we’re going to do with some of these dams that we built. We really didn’t think about what we were going to do when we built them, if they were not to last forever.

Ben - We can see fairly obviously that dams change the river flow in any particular river that they’re put into, but what influence do they have on the local weather?

Faisal - The first thing is, it’s a dam. It impounds the river and it creates an open body of water which is an artificial reservoir or a lake and that itself, being exposed to the sky and the sun, creates a huge source for moisture in the air. That as a quantity may not be much, but if you factor in the other applications for which a dam is being built in particular like say, irrigation; in which you're drawing the water from the dam, the reservoir, and then you're irrigating thousands and thousands of square miles or kilometres, you're actually adding a tremendous amount of water vapour to the air. Thereby, you can actually change a lot of the dynamics of how the rainfall used to form in the pre-dam era. You can drastically change it to have more rainfall and much heavier rainfall than normal.

Ben - So it’s not just the building of the dam itself, but it’s what you're then going to use the water for?

Faisal - Yes. If you just look into the dam itself, that won't be much. You have to look into the changes in the landscape and the land use that it triggers, and most dams do because a dam will typically make a region downstream safer from floods. So there’s more urbanisation which again has impact on the weather; then you can have more irrigation, or more recreational uses. So you do change the landscape in a fairly drastic way, systematically. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it happens on scales over a few decades, and that in turn will lead to some significant changes in the local climate, depending on what kind of climate zone it is in.

Ben - This all seems very logical - that when you bung up a load of water and spread it out around the land that you're going to end up with changes in the weather. But do we have any actual evidence that this is happening?

Faisal - Actually, we do because there were a lot of studies done by some of my colleagues that we’re trying to work with now. At the University of Colorado, Dr. Roger Pielke, who was an expert on climate, he and his colleagues have shown that actually, with irrigation and particularly if you have a very heterogeneous landscape, you can increase the thunderstorm activity. In other words, you can make the thunderstorms more frequent and you can make them much heavier. So there’s short bursts of cloud water pouring in. You can make them much more extreme. So those studies have been there, but the connection to the dam and the reservoir as a triggering mechanism has really been looked into from an engineering perspective.

Ben - And thinking of the engineering perspective, if building a dam does cause an increase in local rainfall, does this mean that actually, the dams themselves have been designed for less water flow than we now get?

Faisal - That is a possibility. Of course, the impact that a reservoir, with its land use change, creates is not uniform or consistent throughout the world. Usually, you might see most of the impact in arid and semi arid regions as we are seeing in our research. If they do change a lot of the rainfall patterns and you end up seeing more rainfall than the “normal” for which it was designed, yes. That, together with the compounding problem of increasing sedimentation or loss of storage can make the situation a little worse. In other words, you’ll have more water coming in from upstream, but then every year we’re losing a lot of storage in the dam. So it means you actually have them to keep the gates open more than what was designed for. So that is always a possibility.

Ben - Does that, in turn, mitigate some of the beneficial effects that you get such as reducing flood risks, if actually, you're keeping the gates open a large proportion of the time anyway? Do you still get the floods downstream that you would’ve got before the dam was built?

Faisal - I think it still does mitigate the big floods. I'm a civil engineer by training, and by the nature of my training, I am very much a pro-dam person. But as engineers, when we built the dams, we always treated all these design parameters for which we build the dam as static . As in, it’s going to be the same a hundred years down the road or 500 years down the road. We never considered that the very structure that we’re building and the applications that they're serving might itself compromise the design parameters. So, yes - it may not be as successful or as effective as it was before for flood control, but it will still have some value. I think the key thing is to understand for which regions and what type of dams and land use this will be an issue, and to modify our practice of operating the dams that’s much more climate friendly and much more sustainable in the 21st century.

Ben - With a better knowledge of the impact of building a dam, are we now in a position where we can predict a bit better what would happen if we were to build a dam or if we were to decommission one? What sort of predictions could we actually make?

Faisal - Actually, we are - independently, a study of the impact of human activities on the local weather has been going on since a few decades ago. So there’s a rich body of research that’s been done. People have looked into how urbanisation affects local weather, how irrigation does, how other types of land use change impacts weather - especially the rainfall. So I think we’re poised at a very interesting time where we can connect all this to the dam building practices, and we’ve got excellent computer models that can actually project either 50 or 100-year scenarios into the future of how the local weather might change. And I think this is what the civil engineering profession has to embrace - to be able to do a much better lifecycle analysis, throughout the entire lifespan, predict the major extreme conditions and kind of plan for it in the design itself.

Ben - Well I think that sounds like a very promising future for the future of dam design and dam building. That was Dr. Faisal Hossain. He’s a researcher at Tennessee Technological University, where he’s been looking at how dams alter the local weather. [#Source]

Strange Fog - Twelve Thousand Saiga Antelopes Dead

Saiga Antelopes Dying In Western Kazakhstan

On May 20, 2010 about 1200 corpses of antelopes were found in the Western Kazakhstan Oblast, AMI Novosti-Kazakhstan reports with the reference to press-service of Ministry of Agriculture. . . . Earlier the emergency ministry reported the death of about 200 saigas.

. . . The inspectors affirm that on May 15-17 they observed some "strangely grey fog" in the above-mentioned area, although the weather was clear.

"The external examination of the dead bodies revealed the abdominal distention, foam and diarrhea. The dead bodies were delivered to the laboratory", the message specifies. Wildlife Disease News (May 24)

Central Asian News: On May 20, 2010 about 1200 corpses of antelopes were found in the Western Kazakhstan Oblast, AMI Novosti-Kazakhstan reports with the reference to press-service of Ministry of Agriculture. At the same time, this message has not been posted at the ministry website – perhaps, the press-service prefers the targeted spread of information instead of reaching wider audience.

Earlier the emergency ministry reported the death of about 200 saigas. According to the Western Kazakhstan Oblast state inspection forest and hunting department, on May 18 about 100 dead bodies of saigas were found in the area of Karaoba, Janibek, Talovka settlements.

The specially established committee started the investigation of the matter on May 20. It revealed over 1000 dead bodies (mainly female saiga) in the Janibek district.

The inspectors affirm that on May 15-17 they observed some "strangely grey fog" in the above-mentioned area, although the weather was clear. "The external examination of the dead bodies revealed the abdominal distention, foam and diarrhea. The dead bodies were delivered to the laboratory", the message specifies.

The Prosecutor General’s office, the ministries of internal affairs, defense, environmental protection, education and science, Western Kazakhstan Oblast Akimat all are informed about the accident.

In the last 20 years the saiga population in Kazakhstan shrank by 24.7 times. In 2009 there were about 81 thousand saigas versus about 1 million in 2000, Kazakhstan Today reports. On the other hand, it was reported in February of 2010 that thanks to the appropriate measures the number of saigas is gradually growing. According to Kazinform, the number of saigas in Kazakhstan increased from 21 000 to 81 000 during 2003-2009.

There are three types of saiga population in Kazakhstan: Betpakdol (domestic population that never left Kazakshtan), Ural (Western Kazakhstan Oblast, occasionally visiting Russian territory) and Ustyurt (Aktobe Oblast, migrating to Uzbekistan in the winter).

The dead bodies of the saiga were the part of Ural population (prior to the accident there were about 26.6 thousand of them). Saiga is listed in the International Red book.

AFP AFP: Mystery Disease Kills Rare Kazakh Antelopes
BBC Mystery Mass Antelope Deaths Kazakhstan

Footnotes:

December 1952: Thousands of Londoners were killed when a toxic fog descended on the English capital. The fog, carrying a deadly mixture of dense coal smoke, literally poisoned the populace and is still considered one of the deadliest environmental incidents on record. The black fog was so thick that some reported they could not even see their feet as they walked the London streets. The lethal fog lasted from December 5 to the 9th, and in the end as many as 12,000 were dead from its effects. [Earth Mysteries]

Life On Planet earth? Is Not What It Seems!

For the Future of Our Planet

Mankind - the hu-mans on planet Earth are spirit (limitless) merged with physical matter (limited) .. this implies that free-floating spirits - with intelligence - can navigate and apply the laws of mysterious cosmos to experiencing (navigate through) matter = physical density. Light transformed to matter = enlightenment of (base)matter.

I carefully watched a YouTube Videoby Dr. Albert Bartlett on the issue of: Exponential Growth .. implying on a Mathematical level that human society is out-of-balance, and in crisis, with a series of choices ahead as to how mankind on planet Earth will return to 'balance'.

One thing I have to say, having observed the self-centered yammering of Media controlled websites on the state of the Euro and other issues relating to panic of the global international (bankrupt) finance industry - who are seeking to make profits on casino-debt-government roulette .. that is to say, these people have no idea how beneficial this "timeline" is for mankind.

The finance-casino addicts are so greedy and so selfish that they have lost their humanity. The April 14, 2010 Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruptions were mild compared to what could have happened. On other timelines those eruptions wiped out two-thirds of Europe. Humans on Earth in 2010 - this timeline - have been given a "breathing-space". We really have nothing to complain about .. the Icelandic eruptions have been mild in comparison to what they could have been.

If the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruptions had been more violent, over a longer period, extending the spread of heavy volcanic ash-dust across Europe and setting off the Katla volcano (in April/May of 2010) the whole world from America to China would feel the consequences. No part of the planet would escape the economic turmoil this would cause.

I seriously doubt that the financially-retarded (immersed-in-greed) 'traders' and 'institutions' deserve to be part of a world in transition .. something has tipped the balance in our favour - even as the service-to-self mob grasp at their Hedge-fund-casino straws.

For many years I have observed - through the eyes of a small town - whether it is viable to continue endlessly with unrestricted growth in all areas of human development. For the "growth-development" crowd the Earth and all space are an asset for expansion of capital, and the way this works is: every square meter of space in an equity expansion area generates SHORT TERM economic profit. Built up areas begin to decay as the 'developers' look for space elsewhere.

Pay attention to your surroundings! It may not benefit your current relationship with the insane society we live in - but on a Soul level it will make a difference to who you are and to your 'future'. We share this planet with animals, birds, insects and plants ..

A small town is a place where natural space exists, in which birds can feed - grass and plants can grow. A town grows and becomes a city when the 'space' is used as an economic growth asset in which trees are cut down, the space is built on (developed) and where the local birds and animals must struggle to survive in ever decreasing circles. Who are we and what have we become, if we continually degrade nature at the expense of 'growth', 'development funds' and expansion?

Pay attention to how small birds, trees, plants, grass, insects and animals use the natural space to exist in towns and cities. People do not watch nor pay attention to nature. A small green area beside a road can be the place where local birds feed. Take that away and you take away their feeding ground. Even worse - these birds, animals and insects have existed in these local areas longer than mankind... what are we doing to life on this planet?

Eyjafjallajökull - Which Way The Winds Blow

As "experts" claim the eruptions from Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland will not affect global climate or weather .. and there is talk of an "International Relief Flight Center" from Spain (because the theory goes that Icelands volcanic eruptions over the centuries have not crossed Spain), the most recent dust and ash cloud steaming from the eruption on Thursday and Friday shut down flights from Spain, South of France, Portugal and Ireland.

Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano bulging slightly - The Eyjafjallajökull volcano is starting to bulge out, or experience "significant changes in horizontal movement," according to volcanologists at the Icelandic Meteorological Office and the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland. Between 20 and 30 earthquakes have been picked up beneath the ice cap since Monday, at between one and 15 miles deep. This increased seismicity "suggests that new material is intruding from deep below Eyjafjallajökull and latest GPS-observations suggest inflation,"

With increasing earthquakes and lava flow new eruptions are being predicted, and this activity could continue for a year or longer. I don't know who the media's "experts" are or what planet they live on, but it seems absurd to claim that volcanic ash emissions will not alter or affect the weather. Just as it was absurd to assume the ash would not reach Spain, when in reality it depends which way the winds blow. On Saturday, 19 Spanish airports were closed, as ash-dust from the latest eruptions drifted over their airspace.

From what I observe it is obvious that volcanic dust has electromagnetic properties and affects the weather in ways we humans do not completely understand. These are not just "dust-particles" floating around and getting in the way of planes and plans. I am guessing '-) .. these particles have to be charged, and so they must alter the electrical charge of the atmosphere .. surely? So, I did a search .. and it seems that on small and large scales (depending on the size and duration of the eruptions) volcanic activity DOES affect climate!

Nano- and microscale particles and global electromagnetic resonances in the Earth-ionosphere cavity; Besedina and Popel stated: "The presence of dust particles in the atmosphere also influences the annual average temperature near the Earth's surface. For instance, violent volcanic eruptions are accompanied by an appreciable decrease in the annual average temperature."

You would have to take time to read this for yourselves: "The formation and propagation of volcanic clouds can be accompanied by intense electrical processes... Electrical processes in volcanic clouds are very similar to those in thunderclouds..." [Yu. N. Besedina and S. I. Popel; Institute of Geosphere Dynamics, Russian Academy of Sciences - April 5, 2006]

I would surmise that 2010 could be cooler, if the volcanic dust interacts with the atmosphere in such a way as to stimulating electrical flow, cloud formation - perhaps heavy rainfall and storms/thunderstorms. Surely, atmospheric storms, winds, rainfall are all electrical flow? These are currents - flow - movement.

As Spain has suffered severe drought over the past years, will the activities of Eyjafjallajökull bring much needed rain to drought areas? Will the Iceland volcanic eruptions bring a climatic adjustment across Europe? I don't know, but I find it interesting. I would imagine the volcanic relationship to the Earth's atmosphere is so dynamic and yet to subtle that it would be difficult to say which process created which condition.

NASA write that: Large-scale volcanic activity may last only a few days, but the massive outpouring of gases and ash can influence climate patterns for years.

When people get annoyed that they cannot do business-as-usual and get on a plane .. What if the eruptions bring much needed rain to the surface of the planet? After the April 14 volcanic eruptions skies over Europe were clear as overall humidity rapidly decreased and temperatures rose dramatically .. clouds did not form for weeks and there was certainly no rainfall. However, the Earth is a living master alchemist - and as volcanic ash-dust mixes with air-flow, then low pressure is added, then humidity increases, wind direction changes, clouds form and rain falls .. or there can be heavy downpour and flooding. No matter what, we need fresh water from rain.

People forget that the earth is 97% salt water and 3% fresh water - H2O - and so how many of us ask why is it that land animals cannot drink the water in the seas and oceans? The human body is about 70 percent water, and human tears are salty :o) .. and yet humans cannot drink salty sea water, and if seawater invades fertile land plants and trees cannot grow on that land. well, the fact is volcanoes also send water out into the atmosphere! [Volcanoes & Water * Water Vapor In Magma]

Keywords: Seawater Greenhouse - Sea Water & Human Survival - Salinity - Andalucia's Biggest Secrets

Tremors & Ash - Iceland Continues To Shake

Geologists have warned that new tremors under the volcano adds new unknowns to the ongoing eruptions. As the ash billowing from the Eyjafjallajökull appeared to lessen, powerful tremors were felt across the countryside.

Across Europe, the ash is slow moving. When you are dealing with volcanoes each sunrise reveals Nature's slow, precise, hour-by-hour progression. The skies are cloudless. As the sun rises the whitish density is thickening day-by-day and becoming a dull grey. This fine ash covering is all the way from Northern Scandinavia to the Southern French Mediterranean coast, heading across Greece, Turkey and forecast to reached the Middle East.

We have this incredibly slow moving ash building up concentration over most of Europe, and on the surface of the planet this flash in the pan fast moving society of humans are stunned. The much greater force of nature on a head to head with human society .. will probably bring change from way up there to our world down here.

It is tough for an animal that is used to doing what it wants, when it wants, and do it fast .. to be brought to a complete standstill. If the eruptions cease, maybe we can pretend we won - until the next eruption .. but what do we do if Katla erupts? What do we do if Eyjafjallajökull continues for months? I guess, we organise our lives differently.

Individual airlines and businesses will not survive long term disruption on this scale over longer periods. I imagine air travel will be organised in a different way, probably not run by companies for profit.

If you are a structural engineer you look at the weak point and find out where the bar bends or breaks. Air travel breaks at: "We are not making a profit". If we had a different reason for these services then maybe the bar would not break. If we had different values. Otherworld concepts like 'co-operation' come to mind.

In the 2010 Viking Sagas - the powerful invasion of the great warrior Eyjafjallajökul, defeated the spreading cultures of 'Life for Profit', and went on to father new communities of 'co-operation'. The Saga Writers may say: The people in the South had become so corrupt that Odin sent forth his youngest son, Eyjafjallajökul. The great Viking went forth at Odin's bidding to clear the ancient lands of the 'Profit' tribes, who had so debased the lives of his children that no one knew anymore who they could trust.

The people in the South laughed at the appearance of Odin's youngest son, Eyjafjallajökul .. although his might was great and his appearance covered all the land. Because of this arrogance Odin sent forth the great dragon Katla .. and the tribes in the South were met with guð og dreka [god and dragon] fighting side by side .. and the people for profit said: There is no hope! But the people of the heart said: Why is there no hope? We have cooperation to guide us.

This is how Sagas are written once the events unfold .. written by the societies who live through the event and adapt to the event, move with the cycle, are part of the force that alters who we are and how we live.

Some view Eyjafjallajökul as an annoyance, an inconvenience, while others see a Viking warrior in the skies bringing change - something new - the end of the dinosaurs. Is the volcanic ash to blame for our current situation? Or are we to blame, as everyone argues how to deal with this. Or is the problem the way we humans organise our lives, our society? Look at the 'only for profit' dinosaur .. it is already a fossil and only the first son, Eyjafjallajökul has crossed our borders.

Airlines Claim: "There Is No Ash Up There" :o)

News reports suggest pilots want to take off within European airspace and conduct low level flights, as airlines say they are 'unconvinced' by threat of volcanic dust clouds.

As the volcanic clouds thicken some pilots are asking, why can't we fly beneath it? The Dutch have sent a plane up and they claim, hey! There is no ash up there! On Saturday, German Lufthansa flew 10 empty long-haul planes to Frankfurt Airport from Munich. The pilots flew the planes at low altitude under so-called visual flight rules, in which pilots don’t have to rely on their instruments .. as the planes were empty with no passengers on board the flights were allowed. The Lufthansa planes flew at various levels between 3,000 and 8,000 metres.

I don't find that funny .. how can you have pilots from all over the world taking off over Europe and flying between 3,000 and 8,000 meters following visual flight rules, with no reliance on their instruments? Because if something does go wrong .. a crash would cost airlines less than the losses they are making not flying .. and that is a fact.

I surmise that National and International air routes all have their flight altitudes, their flight paths (take off and landing) and cruising flight corridors. A highly complex system set out over European airspace, that airlines have to follow, and that connect to International flight corridors and routes. On a technical level I imagine it is encoded into the autopilots of the planes, and is set as part of the flight system, with altitude regulation, connecting to the flight controller hubs - who have to regulate the air traffic.

Flights using visual flight rules, when landing, the incoming flight path is a lot lower than it normally is. Sending 7 planes in one direction when the whole airspace is clear of any other traffic, under low altitude flight using visual flight rules is not the same as resuming commercial flights across Europe .. and what if the weather changes en route?

Visual flight rules (VFR) are a set of regulations which allow a pilot to operate an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. [Wikipedia VFR]

Even better than that! "Visual Flight Rules require a pilot to be able to see outside the cockpit, to control the aircraft's altitude, navigate, and avoid obstacles and other aircraft."

I am sure there are Airlines, pilots and passengers who would take the risk and see what comes .. To avoid collisions, the VFR pilot is expected to "see and avoid" obstacles and other aircraft .. You have go to that link and read it all.

Rules governing flight during periods of generally good visibility and limited cloud cover (i.e., a pilot’s ability to fly and navigate by looking out the windows of the airplane). Aircraft flying under the VFR system are not required to be in contact with air traffic controllers and are responsible for their own separation from other aircraft. The visual flight rules (VFR) system is utilized almost exclusively by recreational pilots or low-flying piston-engine airplanes.

Airlines are said to be conducting test flights on 'ash cloud safety'. It's safe until one of them comes down. The flight issue seems to be the unknown question of where the ash is and where it is going - due to ongoing weather fluctuations and the fact that the ash is entering the same air routes aviation use to fly around.

This is the old situation between commerce, industry and safety. As we see, it is not economical to be 'safe', when facing a complex unknown. Businesses who rely on the whole flight industry are losing a lot of money. The flight industry are losing a lot of money. The latest news is that airlines are searching for a safe path through the volcanic ash '-)

The volcanic ash plume does not show up on the radar of commercial aircraft .. maybe the pilots can just look out the window and try to fly through it.

Smaug Woke Up ..

I am not a Vulcanologist, although I am not totally Volcanically illiterate - I know Mr. Spock (Star Trek) comes from Vulcan '-) .. and I have seen a volcano - I even climbed on one. It's called, Àrd-thir Suidhe [Gaelic] - Arthur's Seat - and is situated in Edinburgh, Scotland. Of course, it was (for me) a dangerous climb. I was told, "This is an extinct volcano." .. I thought .. who says it will stay extinct?

I read J.R.R. Tolkien's, The Hobbit! They once thought Smaug was extinct, until he woke up and started flying around! .. Leaving Arthur's friendly, slumbering extinct volcano behind, I happily climbed back to our here-we-are-now reality level, and formed my own Historical Philosophy.

As a kid I read everything I could find about the ancient world. I was fascinated by Troy, and disgusted by the Roman Empire - who blanketed Europe in a mono-linear cultural dictatorship that lasts until today. I was fascinated by the ancient world, its cultures and artifacts .. but our view of that world is a Disneyland version. If you cannot go there and see it, you do not really know what happened.

From the bits and pieces of clues I gathered, a pattern began to emerge (in my mind). I began to understand that Empires (civiisations) grow in times of abundance, when the Earth is relatively quiet. During times of chaotic upheaval in the earth's climate Empires and civilisations decline, or come to an end.

Most recently, the expansion of Europe into the other continents of the world, and the growth of America as the world's dominant power .. all took place in a quiet period where all out expansion and growth had no counterweight to it. Humans were just free to expand, cultivate, dig, extract, fly, increase populations .. which could be described as times-of-abundance. So, current generations generally know only unrestrained growth, unrestrained indulgence, take what you want, get what you can - the more the better.

The fact that the Katla sub-glacial volcano in Iceland has not erupted in the last 90 years, is an indicator that the 50 year eruption cycle was broken by this period of calm where human populations expanded unrestricted and unchallenged .. by nature.

Look all around you .. every species has its counterweight so that balance is maintained. Only when man interferes and introduces a non-natural species into a country, where there is no counterweight, do problems arise. In Australia rabbits (introduced by the Europeans) have become an 'invasive species', whose unchecked spread cause serious (and sometimes irreversible) ecological damage.

The counterweight to man is Nature itself. I don't think human populations will be left to grow unchecked. In 2010 we have inconvenient disruptions brought about by hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, flooding and severe storms. In the future the inconvenience is going to be man's counterweight.

As a species we are intelligent enough not to over-populate, but man overpopulates anyway. Doing what he wants, when he wants, in the way he wants has become an Alpha Dog signature of the dominant male and his dominant side-kick. It is a sign of power and prestige to breed as often and as many as you can, to dig as deep as you can and bring out more, to grow bigger and expand in food production, in food sales, in exports, in population, in success .. without thought and without end.

As I write there is an unprecedented cloudless hole over the skies of Germany and France. It has been like this since the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, as all air traffic ceased. Totally cloudless skies, I have never seen anything like it .. I often wondered, what would it be like to live on a planet where not one single plane crossed the sky? A planet where planes do not exist, and the skies are silent and peaceful. I imagined one would have to be born on another planet or live in another time to know the stillness of a sky without planes ..

"His fire belched forth, the hall smoked, he shook the mountain-roots. [...] He issued from the Gate, the waters rose in fierce whistling steam, and up he soared blazing into the air and settled on the mountain-top" - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

Iceland's Katla Caldera Sub-glacial Volcano

Geophysicists are warning that Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull eruptions could potentially lead to a larger eruption of the Katla subglacial volcano. Eruptions at Eyjafjallajökull in 920, 1612 and in 1821, were followed by much larger eruptions at Katla.

In terms of volcanic explosions, the current activity at Eyjafjallajökull is considered by Vulcanologist as being relatively small. Nearby Katla is considered to be the most dangerous volcano on Iceland. From our perspective, as 'volcanically illiterate' observers, the only question is: When will it stop?

Probably, to a Vulcanologist, that is a very stupid question .. once a volcano is active and sending ash high into the atmosphere, eruptions can continue on and off for weeks, months or years. The last time Eyjafjallajökul erupted - in 1821 - activity continued until 1823. The Katla volcano is known to erupt every 40 to 50 years, and the last known eruption of Katla occurred in 1918.

Iceland's Katla is a volcanic caldera under a glacier .. at this point no one really knows will there be an eruption of Katla or not .. but assume there will be an associated eruption - the next question is: How bad can it get? Forget about European airspace, if the caldera erupts it will be a question, for the people of Iceland, of wind direction.

If the wind is stationary at the time of a Katla eruption the ash would fall on Iceland, and that could be a disaster for them. Obviously, they do not want a severe amount of ash to blow across Reykjavik and have a serious eruption cover farmland in ash, killing farm animals en mass - if the eruption was serious enough.

The fact that April 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption has blown across Europe and is being sucked East into the Jet Stream, means that the cloud of ash did not blow West across Iceland [out into the Atlantic]. Sat24 gives a birds-eye view of the volcanic ash flow across Europe.

Sitting under a ton of ice, if the Katla caldera explodes it will throw a massive amount of ice, water and steam out, and the water ash mix carries into the atmosphere (which is water friendly). The reason Earth does not look like Mars, is because the Earth's atmosphere is 'water friendly'. You have this dynamic living reaction taking place, one that seeded life on this planet .. and we are watching that process in tiny miniature each time a volcano erupts.

What do we do? The first reaction is, if only we could stop it. That is the wrong reaction. To stop this process now would be to create an even more destructive explosion later. You can delay it, but you cannot prevent it .. and so the first relationship with these environmental changes is to realise that the Earth knows what she is doing - just as simply as your heart knows how to beat.

The rational (scientific) mind questions that the Earth is a living conscious being, and they would say - how does the Earth know? The answer is, the Earth knows in the same way your body knows how to survive. It is a biological process on one level and a ecological psychic living biology on other levels. For example, what tells your blood to clot when you cut yourself? From the day you are born until the day you die, your heart beats. It is the same with the planet.

We humans, the animals, plants, insects, birds and fish come from the Earth - so how could our biological processes be different than the Earth's? It isn't different .. we are a biological miniature of the Planet we are born from and inhabit. The Earth just has bigger and longer cycles, heartbeats, blood flow, breathing of the atmosphere, pulse of the Ocean - over thousands of years, rather than minutes.

I think that this timeline - our space in the continuum - is not as bad as it could be. The Iceland eruptions could have been a lot worse .. they could have been devastating. I have seen probable futures a lot worse than the one we are living now. Therefore, people have nothing to complain about, even if they are stuck somewhere and unable to travel. We are fortunate these eruptions were as mild as they have been. We still have a chance. We are still navigating the currents of the past, into the present and part of the future.

It is wrong thinking to think that the current eruptions should come to an end now .. because, it is possible the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions, letting off pressure, letting off steam, are reducing the explosiveness of a potential Katla eruption.

As inconvenient as this may seem, and as frustrating as it may seem, it could be a lot worse. Eyjafjallajökull is gently, for a volcano, letting off steam. Just be aware that the Earth has the same body you do, only it is a lot bigger and supports all diversity of life. So, Katla may explode in the future - it will explode, no one knows when - but from the signs we are receiving .. we are lucky .. things are not as bad as they could be '-)

Volcanic Ash Begins Drift Across Europe

On March 20, the Iceland volcanic eruption at the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier - the first since 1821 - caused an evacuation of the small population living in the area. Now, more recently, the volcano began a more powerful eruption sequence spectacularly melting part of the glacier, and sending rivers of water crashing down to flood the land below.

We are living through spectacular times where nature does what nature does. Volcano's are part of the life support system of this planet. They seed life onto the planet, but when they are active it is not so good to be downwind of them ..

The New Moon April 14 eruption, sent explosive plumes of smoke and ash 6,000 meters into the air from fissures of the active Iceland volcano. A dense cloud of ash has begun drifting slowly over Northern Europe. A finer cloud is drifting South, down across Britain and eventually across Southern Europe.

Flights have been cancelled across Britain, as the fine ash can cause engine problems (seizure) in planes. Down on the ground the slowly drifting ash will probably cause a cooling of the weather, and if the volcano really erupts will potentially effect food production.

It was 1816, called "The Year Without Summer" .. low Solar activity and the largest eruption known in over 1,600 years - The Mount Tambora eruption of 1815. We humans can be very arrogant, and forget how vulnerable we are - how dependent we are on climate, water and stable weather patterns to grow our crops.

Everything we have today is built on our ability to feed ourselves, growing crops for food. You need water, but you do not really need energy as you can eat your food raw. Our technology, the way we live, our computers and transport systems depend on our ability to grow food and obtain water. People tend to forget that. We should show more respect to the Earth, because the planet provides us with everything we have and everything we need.

The volcanic ash and dust wont go away too fast. It is dense and slow moving, and I would imagine that changes from an eruption evolve across years - not days or weeks. The 1783 Laki eruption (South Iceland), sent 120 million tons of Sulphur Dioxide into the atmosphere, and across Europe. The meteorological impact of Laki resonated on, contributing significantly to several years of extreme weather in Europe. In North America, the winter of 1784 was the longest and one of the coldest on record.

The Vatnajökull glacier is Europe's largest glacier, with an area of 8300 square km and with an ice sheet up to 1000m thick. On March 23 MSNBC wrote, "Scientists say history has proven that when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupts, Katla follows — the only question is how soon." Experts are warning that these eruptions could go on for a long time.

Atmospheric cooling occurs when large amounts of Sulphur Dioxide from an eruption combine with water vapour, creating a sulphric acid mist that reflects sunlight away from the Earth. The April 14 eruption is inside the main Eyjafjallajokull crater and is much more powerful.

Authorities in Britain claimed Thursday that the volcanic ash clouds are so high in the upper atmosphere they will cause no health problems .. although residents in the Shetlands Isles, Scotland reported a strong sulphuric smell of rotten eggs .. maybe the Shetland Isles are not part of mainland Britain? I guess they're classed as Vikings.

Volcanic activity, from my own observations, are magnetic as well as what we observe in terms of spectacular eruptions, magma flow, clouds and ash. From what I am seeing, I would imagine that something much finer that we do not see flows out from an eruption altering the climate (weather) long before the slow moving ash spreads into the upper atmosphere. The only word that comes to mind is Aether, that mysterious force whose existence is denied by modern science.

Dense ash and dust clouds stopping flights and closing airports is the most obvious outcome of a large volcanic eruption, but there are finer mostly overlooked activities, electrical fields and kinetic energy oscillations. Therefore, do volcanoes when active show fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field? The lava does not explode out, it bubbles and dances - reacting to something unseen.

I imagine that magnetic or Aether fluctuations / alterations precede the spread of ash into the upper atmosphere and out into the lower atmospheric streams. As matter (movement) is the visible form of energy (magnetic force), wind currents are energy .. something other than ash is being seeded into the atmosphere. The clouds of ash are the visible spectrum of that something else. [I have a good imagination]

Of course, layers of volcanic ash are going to suffocate pastures and any growing living matter nearby, and animal forms don't want to breath it in. However, long term the primordial nutrients from volcanoes nourish the soil - and the elements falling with the rain must also feed primordial nutrients into the soil, fertilising our planet.

Sadao Shoji and Tadashi Takahashi (Japan) reported in October 2002 that volcanic ash soils are among the most productive in the world. They concluded that, "With proper management volcanic ash soils are capable of high productivity and long term agricultural and environmental sustainability."

In the short term volcanic eruptions close to populated areas are either an inconvenience or they are a threat to life. In the long term this is one way planet Earth distributes nutrients for long term wealth of future generations. I am sure the ash must revitalise the earth, atmosphere and soil in some way .. cooling the planet, retaining water and increasing rain penetration, perhaps increasing water retention of the soil '-)

Keywords: Iceland Eruption Chokes Europe's Skies - Iceland Flooding Past The Worst - How Volcanoes Affect The Weather - Volcanoes & Climate

Source of Pearl River Drying Up In Yunnan?

This is from the front page of the Zhujiang Evening Post, March 26, 2010 - On the front page of the Zhuhai Evening News (珠海晚报) is a picture showing the source of the Zhujiang River, or Pearl River, which is apparently near to drying up.

The photo was taken on March 25 in Yunnan province, Zhanyi county (云南省沾益县), and released by Xinhua. The caption informs that the water level has lowered significantly; the trace of the current water imprint around half a meter higher than the water.

The Xi Jiang [Zhu Jiang] (Pearl) River is the third long river aside from the Yellow River and the Yangtze. The drought that is blazing through southwestern China has been covered in newspapers all across China this week.

Yunnan Province is in the far South of China on the border to Tibet, Burma, Laos and Vietnam. The the origin of the Pearl River, Qujing city is located in the eastern of Yunnan Province, it is the third longest river in China, which forms the Pearl River Delta that flows out into the South China sea between Hong Kong and Macau. Beginning high Starting high in the Yunnan-Kweichow mountains, the Xi Jiang runs for more than 1,300 miles (2,000 km) .. The Pearl River Delta is one of the most advanced regions in China and its per capita GDP and income are among the highest in the world.

In 2007 the Autumn rains in China fell by 90 percent [Reuters] .. the current drying up of the source of the River Xi has been a long term - and will continue to be a long term issue in an area that produces much of the rice and fish consumed across China. In 2010 the worst drought in a Millenium is creating severe food shortages in China.

Cultivation of rice in Japan, India and China require vast amounts of water. Perhaps in the coming years, in a world experiencing a dramatic fall in fresh water supplies, people will apply the teachings of Masanobu Fukuoka [see - The One Straw Revolution]. Of course, letting go of the dams .. as it will probably take 100 to 200 years for the river systems to recover from the mess human interference has created.

Drought turns southern China into arid plain - Human Error Worsen Drought - Dams Have Dried Up In Southwest China - China Plan 15 Mekong Dams

Solar Eclipse Frequency-Oscillation Anomalies

I had noticed in 1999 how the August 11 Total Solar Eclipse triggered heavy dark dense rain cloud formations, powerful thunder storms and torrential downpours. These Solar powered swirling watery effects continue around the globe for months, if not years. I imagine that Lunar and Solar Eclipses electrically seed weather patterns, rainfall patterns, flooding, and probably effects lava flow within the earth's crust, as well as earthquakes due to the push and pull of water. I do not see the effects as destructive, but regenerative. If we don't have rain we don't have water - very important to life on earth.

It is the same with the July 22, 2009 Total Solar Eclipse. Dark heavy clouds, sudden downpours, while the moon and the sun continue to exert pull on the earth for many weeks as the orbits

Floods in Mongolia, the worst in decades, 22 July 2009. A serious mudslide in Japan after extreme torrential downpour, 23 July 2009. Landslide creates lake in south-west China's Sichuan province, 23 July 2009. This is the same area in south-west China that experienced the devastating May 12, 2008 earthquake.

*Update 24 July, 2009: Heavy rains continue in Japan, with flash floods and landslides. In Europe heavy storms and torrential rain cause flooding chaos. Powerful storms cross Poland, Czech Republic and Southern Germany, with areas experiencing 100 km an hour winds - sweeping roofs from houses and uprooting trees. Across Spain and France, giant waves and winds up to 150 kmph batter the Atlantic coast, uprooting trees and collapsing walls. Northern Spain recorded 20 meter high waves.

It occurred to me that Solar and Lunar Eclipses form magnetic vortices and standing wave turbulence, which can lead to changes in frequency oscillations in matter. No, I am not a physicist, I simply have a good imagination...

A seiche (pronounced /ˈseɪʃ/ "saysh") is a standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, swimming pools, bays and seas. The key requirement for formation of a seiche is that the body of water be at least partially bounded, allowing the formation of the standing wave. The term was promoted by the Swiss hydrologist François-Alphonse Forel in 1890, who was the first to make scientific observations of the effect in Lake Geneva, Switzerland. The word originates in a Swiss French dialect word that means "to sway back and forth", which had apparently long been used in the region to describe oscillations in alpine lakes.

If the turbulence and change of frequency in magnetic field oscillations would effect the weather, increasing heavy downpours in certain areas - it is not the flooding alone that causes dramatic landscape changes. Unseen and unrecorded standing wave oscillations in parts of the earth's magnetic field would also lead to the sudden collapse of matter. These are maybe stress points. The effect would converge on that point, taking the stress in the variation of frequency oscillations resulting in a landslide, or dramatic changes in landscape.

I am sure that steady wave oscillations are behind the apparently fixed physical structures on the surface of the planet. Including ourselves, and that we all depend on a certain frequency spectrum to exist and function. Lunar and Solar Eclipses shake all that up, activating powerful magnetic and electrical field shifts.

This is an early account of an Island disappearing after the appearance of A large river tsunami or seiche produced upriver in the New Madrid bend area, in an historical account of the New Madrid Earthquake of 1811/1812: "The island had disappeared; and it was the disintegrated fragments sweeping down the river, that had struck the vessel from time to time and caused the noises that Mrs. Roosevelt had been disturbed by."

Transformative Energies - Solar Eclipse 2009

The 2009 Total Solar Eclipse began 23:58 UTC/GMT (July 21st) and ended at 04:18 (July 22) UTC/GMT, crossing India, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Japan, moving out across the Pacific Ocean.

The moon is traditionally associated with moods, feelings, psyche and emotions. Effecting tides and lava flows, the moon is also part of breeding cycles, influencing the behaviour of fish and amphibians as well as effecting the growth of plants,

The effect of the phases of the moon on seed germination and growth was first studied by L. Kolisko in 1930. Using wheat, Kolisko found that seeds germinated faster and more prolifically when sown at the full moon. The new moon gave him the most unsuccessful results. Later experiments on cress confirmed Kolisko's findings. Recent studies at Northwestern University, conducted by Professor F. Brown, have shown that, even under equal temperatures, seedlings absorb more water at the full moon than at the new moon. The findings lend credibility to adages that recommend harvesting at full moon. It seems plants have less water content at the new moon phase. Planting Moon Phases

I could feel the effects of the Solar Eclipse (here in Europe) two hours before it began to cross Central Asia. At Midnight little birds were talking to the night sky, like they were restless. The Eclipse was amazing. The energy surrounding the Solar Eclipse was very powerful, and we shall be feeling its effects in the coming weeks as the pull influences our electrical weather system and alters the magnetic field of the earth. There is a lot of water in the air.

The rational-linear mind reports that people were disappointed they did not see the actual Eclipse because of heavy cloud cover as the Moon crossed the face of the Sun. I can't believe people are so dense. One hour before an Eclipse until one hour after its end, one can feel the effect. The atmosphere is much more intense, eclipsing light and the visual senses. When there is cloud cover, the feeling is even more powerful - even more incredible.

On August 11, 1999 Europe experienced a Total Solar Eclipse. At the time there was pretty dense cloud cover. We saw some ghostly appearance of the actual visual Eclipse through breaks in the cloud, but this was nothing to the feeling. All around, in the trees, the birds began to sing and did not stop. You did not see the dimming of the light, you felt it. The energy of the Eclipse activated an older part of the mind and the senses.

Cloud cover during an Eclipse takes nothing away from the awesome experience. It is life-changing and it changed my life. In fact, cloud cover leaves no distraction, no escape from the incredible energy and other world presence that seems to fill every particle and every space.

Trees and plants go silent, and a stillness creates a sense of listening that suddenly all life forms share in one space. You don't have to see the Eclipse, you are part of it. The water in the air and clouds seem to amplify the strange energy. After that I think it rained as I had never seen it rain before. On August 17, 1999 a 7.6 Magnitude Earthquake hit Izmit, Turkey.

The big Earthquakes of 1999 all took place after the August 11 Solar Eclipse, killing over 20,000 people worldwide. This is probably why human cultures across the centuries viewed Solar Eclipses as a bad omen. Between August 23 and October 16, four Earthquakes above Magnitude 7.0 had rattled the tectonic plates of the Earth.

With the 2009 Lunar Eclipse on July 7, the Solar Eclipse on July 22 and the Lunar Eclipse on August 6 the Earth will experience three Eclipses in one Lunar Month.

Astronomers Synodic Month is the period of time between one new or full moon to the next. The Saros cycle is an eclipse cycle with a period of about 18 years 11 days 8 hours (approximately 6585 days) that can be used to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon. One cycle after an eclipse, the Sun, Earth, and Moon return to approximately the same relative geometry, and a nearly identical eclipse will occur west of the original location.