The best climate cartoons according to ClimateProgress.org here.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Enjoyed a great tour around NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center facilities in
Greenbelt, Maryland, this morning. Many thanks to dr. Neil Gehrels (the husband of professor Ellen Williams with whom
Merijn is doing her post-doc at the University of Maryland) and Nina Harris for
this. Somewhat hidden in the woods there's 454 hectares where 9000 scientists
and engineers and others are continuously making history and looking for the
next piece of the existential puzzle.
The data gathered by the satellites combined with state-of-the-art visualization techniques are definitely invaluable boosters of our understanding of the world's (and the universe's) ways and indispensable enablers of timely and effective responses to such things as global warming and deforestation.
Then we visited a spectacular 'piece of junk': a mega-centrifuge - a ~30 m horizontal truss with a van-size thermal vacuum chamber on one end, which was swung around the room at speeds up to 150 miles/hour. It was used to test space equipment for g-loads, but not anymore. Here's some of the cruel tests spacecraft are submitted to:
At the end we were shown the balloon lab, where high-altitude balloon missions are prepared. These fly to an altitude of up to 40 km. It's somewhere between aeronautics and space, a cheap and effective alternative to satellites for measurements that don't care about a little bit of atmospheric molecules still being around. They probably have some GPS-sensor on board to monitor the location, but there's a pretty robust secondary system: people calling that they've seen a UFO. No kidding.
At the visitors center we were given a
demonstration of 'science on a sphere'. Totally captivating. They could plot a satellite
image of the complete globe on a sphere dangling form the ceiling in the
center of the dark room and show the weather and clouds up to as recent as 5
hours ago. Playing back the records for the past 2-3 years we could see how
chains of hurricanes were born over the Sahara and mature while crossing the
Atlantic into the Caribbean. I particularly liked the daily tropical rain
showers that showed like an array of daily puffs of clouds, like a pulsating
heart. And never before had I seen such clear a presentation of the yearly
freeze and melt of arctic sea ice.
The data gathered by the satellites combined with state-of-the-art visualization techniques are definitely invaluable boosters of our understanding of the world's (and the universe's) ways and indispensable enablers of timely and effective responses to such things as global warming and deforestation.
We also got to look into the massive clean room
where pieces of the James Webb Space Telescope - the one
to replace the Hubble - are
constructed and tested.
Then we visited a spectacular 'piece of junk': a mega-centrifuge - a ~30 m horizontal truss with a van-size thermal vacuum chamber on one end, which was swung around the room at speeds up to 150 miles/hour. It was used to test space equipment for g-loads, but not anymore. Here's some of the cruel tests spacecraft are submitted to:
At the end we were shown the balloon lab, where high-altitude balloon missions are prepared. These fly to an altitude of up to 40 km. It's somewhere between aeronautics and space, a cheap and effective alternative to satellites for measurements that don't care about a little bit of atmospheric molecules still being around. They probably have some GPS-sensor on board to monitor the location, but there's a pretty robust secondary system: people calling that they've seen a UFO. No kidding.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Noah's comeback
While crossing the National Mall a strange sight required my attention. Just stranded in the middle of the muddy winter meadow, or anticipating on a coup by the waters of the Potomac?
On the waves of anticipation of the rising sea, Noah seems to be making a strong comeback, in this case as a warning sign from the internet action group AVAAZ. The people of AVAAZ call on the delegates who are negotiating in Copenhagen and on Obama in particular to bring home a "real deal" this week. For a deal to qualify as "real" it should meet three requirements: (1) it should guarantee that global emissions peak by 2015 and decline thereafter, (2) it should incorporate a record-high (but maybe justified) $200 billion per annum commitment to help developing countries cope with climate change and (3) it should be a legally binding, enforceable deal.
The Ark with the Capitol in the background
On the waves of anticipation of the rising sea, Noah seems to be making a strong comeback, in this case as a warning sign from the internet action group AVAAZ. The people of AVAAZ call on the delegates who are negotiating in Copenhagen and on Obama in particular to bring home a "real deal" this week. For a deal to qualify as "real" it should meet three requirements: (1) it should guarantee that global emissions peak by 2015 and decline thereafter, (2) it should incorporate a record-high (but maybe justified) $200 billion per annum commitment to help developing countries cope with climate change and (3) it should be a legally binding, enforceable deal.
Close-up of Ark's hull with the AVAAZ message to Obama amidst calls from passers-by
If the deal won't be real enough, I won't comfortably go with this Plan B. I guess the AVAAZ people are optimistic in nature and anticipate on their Ark to be obsolete in the end.
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