Dan’s Wild Wild Science Journal

From Asia Society- GRIP (1921 by G. Mallory)

The Glacier Research Imaging Project (GRIP) has released some stunning images of Everest taken from the same spot In 1921 by George Mallory and in 2007.

Go to the Asia Society web site and see the changes for yourself.

Click the pic to go to the site.

Compare that with Michael Mann’s famous graph.

More threads: Reconstructions of the Earth's temperature. Most by Dr. Micheal Mann Penn State. Image from Gavin Schmidt NASA/Real Climate.

The reason scientist come to have faith in a theory is NEVER based on one single line of evidence. A strong theory is made up of a rope of intermingled threads of independent evidence. This is why those who search in vain for that one study that will prove climate science is a big hoax are destined to always be grasping at threads that break.

The thick rope of AGW theory just added another thread in the form of two pictures. This thread is not a biggy. It doesn’t prove anything  other  than the fact that there is much less ice at Everest in 2007 than in 1921. Not much in itself, but when you add it to thousands of other interwoven threads, a thick rope forms.

There are lots of these ropes in science. Copernicus and Galileo started one that is as thick as my thigh now. So did Charles Darwin and that rope is just as thick. Alfred Wegener started one in the early 1900’s. He  did not live to see the strong rope of plate tectonic theory that holds modern Geology together.

I’m about to leave the map for two weeks.  I head to Northern Greenland on Sunday. While on the icecap at NEEM there will be no internet, TV and not much of a phone! I may be able to get a brief post out of Kangerlussuaq but no promises.

Alfred Wegener died on the Greenland Ice Cap in 1930. I will be thinking about him while looking at the midnight sun.

Dan

Satellite images do not see the oil slick in the Gulf very well. IF the sun angle is just right you can see some of it, and it’s huge. The CBS tonight showed a different view. The oily water is slightly cooler than the regular Gulf water. The oil slick shows up well in the Infrared spectrum.

NASA’s AQUA satellite made a pass over Nashville and the Gulf at 1850GMT today. (1:50pm Central U.S. summer time).

The flooded rivers around Nashville are clearly evident in the image (see below). Nashville is at the center of the image. Accurate rain gauges from Central Tennessee show a rain event of incredible proportions. Areas around Nashville had over 17 inches of rain in 24 hours. This is more than one third the annual rain for Nashville in one day!

Image of flooded rivers around Nashville (dead center of image). The Grand Ole Opry has water up to the stage. NASA AQUA MODIS image.

A few minutes later the satellite passed over the Gulf and spotted the thickest part of the oil slick. The slick is much bigger than it looks in this image. You are seeing only the thickest part.

Oil slick is visible just SE of the mouth of the Miss. River. (Bottom left of image) From NASA AQUA Satellite at 1850 GMT. Click image for full size.

Ocean currents are driven in a large part by winds and the winds will be picking back up again in 48 hours.

Oil slick forecast from NOAA for 23GMT Wednesday 5 May. (6 pm US Central Summer Time)

Some oil is now likely to be pushed to the WEST of the Mississippi Delta. The forecast of the oil slick for tomorrow at 6 pm CDT shows the oil may very well have arrived at shore along the Delta in Louisiana.

This data is based on ocean models being run by NOAA. These models also take into account the wind.

If the oil continues to leak into the Gulf over a long period, the currents will spread it eastward toward Florida. The gulf loop current will eventually pick it up and take it around Florida and out into the Gulf Stream.

How far it goes depends on how much is leaking and how long it leaks…

Both of those estimates remain very fuzzy.

Dan

PS More info coming soon on the ash from Iceland’s volcano…

The Spirit Rover on Mars hasn’t been heard from in a few weeks now.

This was expected because it’s winter up there and the sunlight, and the cold, have drained the batteries. It is assumed that Spirit went into hibernation mode as it was designed to do. Hopefully it will wake up in the Spring.

Hopefully.

There are no guarantees and we cannot claim we didn’t get our moneys worth. They were designed for 90 days. They’ve been going for 5 years!!

Now, here is the rabidly cool part.

Before it hibernated, it took pics of where it was parked for the winter. On a slope, so that the solar panels would face south and get a bit more sun.

It took pictures of itself and of the surrounding area. Using newly developed software, NASA created an image of Spirit sitting on Mars from Spirit’s own pictures. The image below shows what you would see standing a few feet from Spirit on Mars! It’s not a simulation. It’s taken by the camera you see on the Rover!

All I can say is DUDE!

Here it is below:

Spirit Rover on Mars. The camera that took the picture is on the white mast. Click the image for a much larger version!

I wonder what is around that bend up ahead….

dan

Lee Hotz of the Wall Street Journal discusses a lunch invitation with a Skua in Antarctica.

Here is another video/slide-show of my January trip courtesy the National Science Foundation to see the Science underway in Antarctica. I am planing 5 parts now, because I want to spend more time on the astronomy and climate science being done. My travel colleague Ann Posegate of NEEF is also working on a similar project and I’ll post her’s here as well soon.

This was all edited on my macbook pro. The pictures were taken with a Canon 400d and 500d dslr. Movies were mainly done on a canon sd970 pocket cam that shoots incredibly good 720p video. I also had a station camera that shoots in full 1080p. I highly recommend the little sd-970. Best video for the price I’ve seen. We used the video for the “on TV” pieces in many spots and you could hardly tell the difference!

So here is more of what I saw, and the people I met. Extraordinary people with one common goal.

Conducting science, while enduring the harshest climate, at the most remote location on Earth.