Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal

Brian Cox was host of Wonders Of The Solar System on the BBC earlier this year. As I wrote in a previous post, the series was the first I have seen that surpassed Carl Sagan’s COSMOS.

TED (Ideas Worth Spreading) invited Cox to make a talk on exploration. I do not even have to watch it to know that I should post it here.

I cannot imagine that I’ll disagree with it.

OK, so now I have watched it.

Thought you might like to see the original presentation of Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan. I have the audio. The pictures are from NASA. I might be pushing fair use but it’s only a small clip of audio from an hour long program, and I think Carl Sagan (If he were alive today, and witnessing for himself the war on science underway in America) would approve.

Oh and this- Look who just got an OBE (Order of the British Empire)! (Read down aways)

Oil slick forecast for Noon Tuesday 1 June. Click for full res. ctsy NOAA

Word has it that the oil slick is now just 17 miles off the sugar white sandy beaches of Dauphin Island, Alabama. The ocean currents push the oil and the winds push the ocean. It looks like the oil will be getting very close to the Alabama Coast in the next day or two.

In the summer a large high pressure cell develops off the East Coast of America. Meteorologists call it the Bermuda High. It actually moves around a bit, but it consistently brings a fairly strong southerly flow to the Gulf Coast region. As this high develops the winds will likely spread the oil slick over a much broader area than has been affected so far.

The latest projections from NOAA are hinting at the oil spreading Northward as well.

There is some closely related news worth mentioning as well. Physicist Joe Romm (MIT) has a fascinating guest post on Climate Progress from Craig Severance on Peak Oil. It seems very likely that we have reached it or soon will.

This is profound. If it’s true ( and a LOT of experts are now coming to the same conclusion. The U.S. Defense Dept. as well.) then the World we know is about to change dramatically. With demand for oil rising and the supply falling, the price will skyrocket. Severance says the fact that the easy oil to get to is already gone is why we have the disaster in the Gulf.

Oil Production forecast from ENERGY WATCH

He also predicts that as the prices rise there will be intense pressure to destroy forests and the ANWAR to get every last drop. Even at the risk of more incidents like what is happening 300 miles to my south as I write this post. The crowd demanding cheap oil and cheap food will indeed be loud, but I choose to beleive that a more educated viewpoint will eventually win the day.

What is interesting is that Craig Severance and James Hansen are saying the same thing. We have to switch to natural gas as a stop gap and begin a crash program to convert to sources of renewable energy. Hansen’s book Storms of My Grandchildren is a MUST read. In his book he also mentions Tom Blees’ book Prescription for The Planet. Another must read.

Physicist Richard Muller of UC Berkeley seems to agree today if the interview with him on MSNBC was accurate.

Blees’ book is mainly about the 4th generation nuclear power plants which can solve the problems of air pollution, climate change, and nuclear waste all at once. I find it amazing that this program was canceled by the Clinton administration.

If Severance and the others are right, then the days of cheap transport and even cheaper cheeseburgers are over. (do read his post linked above to understand why). You may not like it but it’s likely true. Covering the beaches of the World with oil and mowing down most of the remaining forests on the planet to squeeze the black gold out of shaley rock beds will not fix the problem or even hold it off long.

We CAN have cheap transport and cheap cheeseburgers, but not using oil to grow the beef and to drive to the burger joint.

The oil economy is coming to an end and if we don’t make the switch to something more sustainable, it will be an economic and environmental catastrophe.

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.

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

NOAA released the first image from GOES 15 today. It will be checked out and then put in orbital storage until we lose either the GOES EAST or GOES WEST. Both are still working and will last awhile longer yet .

This satellite is really not considerably different from the ones in use now. The next generation coming in a few years will be MUCH better and will revolutionise satellite meteorology and forecasting.

The first image is below. Click on it to get the FULL RES. BIG FILE!