Wednesday, February 28, 2018 change cartoons

t's 2018 and black lung disease seems to be on the rise

Tiny particles of coal dust can wreak havoc on your lungs. There is no cure for the fatal condition. Mr . Trump , coal is not pretty !
 Popular Science         By      AMAL AHMED       Feb 27th 2018 
You probably realize that inhaling coal dust would be bad for you. But for the people who spend long shifts working in mines to extract the stuff, it’s a tangible occupational hazard. Even with protective gear and federal regulations on dust exposures, tiny particles of dust can enter miners' lungs, causing a plethora of respiratory diseases.

For the last few decades, it looked like mining conditions were improving, along with the health outcomes among most miners. In 1970, the federal government implemented the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, which created the first national standard for safety regulations, including limits for the amounts of dust that coal miners could be exposed to. The Act mandated annual inspections at all underground coal mines, and introduced steep penalties for violations. It also provided health benefits and compensations for miners afflicted with fatal lung diseases like Progressive Massive Fibrosis, or black lung.

The Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program, also implemented in the '70s, provided access to healthcare and preventative care for these types of diseases, and it worked—from 1970 to around 1990, miners who participated in the program rarely got black lung. But a research letter recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds a disturbing reversal of that trend. Since the early 2000s, black lung has been on the rise again, and the cluster of more than 400 cases centers around Kentucky and Virginia.

“It never really went away,” says David Blackley, a researcher at the Centers for Disease Control. “We used to see it in the '70s and '80s, and it was more common among miners in their forties and fifties.” Of the new set of reported black lung cases, the majority of miners are older or retired, but a greater proportion of miners than before are younger and have worked in mines for less than 20 years. It’s the largest cluster of black lung ever identified, and the years spent tracking the disease make it unlikely factors like higher reporting rates or better detection are to blame.

The disease gets its name because dust inhalation causes scarring in the lung tissue, which turns black as the condition worsens. It becomes harder and harder to breathe, until, as one miner told NPR, “You literally suffocate because you can’t get enough air.”

In 2016, the Mine Safety and Health Administration started enforcing a new rule that lowered the allowed dust exposure in mines per each miner’s shift from two milligrams of dust per cubic meter of air, to 1.5 milligrams per cubic meter. Lower limits are almost always better, says Cecile Rose, a pulmonologist and the director of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the National Jewish Health Center. But there’s a key flaw in the regulation: it takes into account the total mass of dust exposure, but not the proportion of specific particles like silica in that dust.

Whereas the Environmental Protection Agency individually specifies the acceptable concentration of hundreds of contaminants in drinking water (for example, there can only be .002 milligrams of mercury per liter), the Mine Safety and Health Administration only regulates the overall exposure to coal dust. So technically speaking, it doesn't matter if there’s a massive concentration of a particular toxin in coal dust, as long as that dust adds up to less than 1.5 miligrams per cubic meter of air. That would be similar to the EPA deciding that there could only be 2 milligrams per liter of any contaminant in the water you’re drinking. Our drinking water wouldn’t necessarily be safe, since some contaminants, like lead, are significantly more dangerous than others, like copper.

It may be the case that the overall dust limit isn’t as effective at preventing respiratory diseases among coal miners as a contaminant-by-contaminant approach. With better technology and techniques, mining companies have been able to profitably mine thinner seams of coal, which have more rock, or overburden. When that excess rock is broken and separated, particles like silicon dioxide and quartz, or crystalline silica dust, could be released at higher proportions.

“Silica is capable of entering the lungs in the way that other components of coal mine dust are not,” Rose says. The particles are smaller and can cause more damage than other components of dust when inhaled. “It is a very toxic dust, so if there’s an uptick in the percentage of the coal mine dust that’s silica, the lower standard may not protect people,” Rose says. In some preliminary research that Rose has worked on, biopsies of coal miners with black lung revealed very high levels of silica in the scarred tissue.

While further research on the impacts of silica and quartz is needed, a leading hypothesis in the scientific community is that the increase of silica is connected to more severe cases of lung disease. A 2011 Department of Health and Human Services report, for example, proposed the same idea. And in 1995, the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety suggested a separate standard for crystalline silica (which was never adopted).

Even with better monitoring and detection—and better access to healthcare—there’s no cure for black lung. Miners who have evidence of the disease are legally allowed to request transfers to mines with dust concentrations even lower than the federal limit. But Blackley says miners who develop black lung will either die from it or with it—most likely from infections that target their weakened respiratory systems. Lung transplants are the last hope for many miners with the disease, but they're costly and dangerous. The only way to truly eradicate black lung would be to eliminate exposure to coal dust entirely. “It begins and ends with that dust,” Blackley says.
Thanx Amal Ahmed
Knight  Jonny  C.

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Fun with Poppa

I  spel beter  now , daddy show me how to use dictionary  , when daddy is gone  I use the dictionary to sit on in mama chair at comptr     daddy say take my time   I wil get beter  daddy is smat lke poppa  . poppa is hapy  we tel the  peple  to put the can in the big trash can , poppa told  old man  live in his car with  a lady  to pick them up  sel  the cans  to hep the man  lady , i know poppa is glad the man is stay in a houe now   they have fod    we  are heping clmte chnge     what you dong  to help . 
My story is about  poppa   me read at daddy ofce   poppa and me have good fun    I was 4 year old poppa get mr. Mac  to take us to the big bok store  in a long car  it was fun  we pick out  boks  .
I got 2   Mary had a litle lamb    Jack and Jill    my sistrs and brothr  and poppa read them to me  , poppa and me  go out on the pato   read the books   poppa say  you read them to me , I read them to poppa  he say that good  poppa told mama    daddy come here  man can read 
mama   daddy grin    mama hug me   daddy say he  he a drink  poppa say bring  him one    poppa   daddy had  wine    poppa gave me some  when mama  not loking 
Poppa cal mr. Mac  to take us to daddy ofce  so we could read to them   I wil tel you  next time   we sing on daddy incom  at daddy ofce    poppa sing  prety    daddy sing like poppa  I can sing lig poppa  .
Poppa  say to  the peple  work  ther  Man will read to you   he is 4 year old     poppa   say read jack and jill  , I read the book   the ladys  kiss me   I  say   to kiss poppa    I read mary had litle lamb   poppa say he can read  with eye close    man say no  i  bet you  money    poppa say puy up      popaa say what bok   the man say jack and  jill    Poppa say ok  poppa gave me the book  say close  you eye    I read the book  I turn the page    the man look at me  say he is a smrt  boy  poppa say he is  just like me     a lady  gave me  mary had a litle lamb  say read this on  agin    I say ok   I read it  for her  , they start grin   say mr  Carano  Man is  smart   he read  the book up  down   poppa grin say I say he is just like me    poppa grin    daddy come out  in  loby    say what gong on   they say we listn to man read   .
I  know poppa  is happy   he is  with my grandmother  Rosa  and my  grand pa  Jon  the are good frend   mr larry went to heavn to be with poppa   uncle Harvey  say poppa keep the ligt on for him   I say uncle  Harvy  poppa  say be hapy     I miss poppa    I know he is happy  .
I wil tel you next post   mama  was gong to spak poppa  my musty but   .
thank you  read my post abot poppa  .
Man C.

Saturday, February 24, 2018

How our satellites in space monitor the Arctic and Canadian North

Space serving the Arctic and the Great Canadian North

Nunavut, is located between the fjords and the Arctic Ocean.

The Canadian North and the Arctic are a vast region of ice and snow, and the home of people with rich and diverse cultures. This region is home to iconic wildlife, such as the polar bear, the walrus and the caribou. Its waters abound with marine mammals, fish, mollusks and crustaceans. Its night sky is lit up with multicoloured auroras, which can impact communications and infrastructures. Its underground is bursting with minerals such as diamonds, gold, platinum, iron and uranium. Many scientists believe that nearly a third of the world's gas and petroleum resources are hidden there.
Scientists, governments and indigenous nations use satellite data to make the best possible decisions to meet the needs of communities in the North and diversify the local economy while simultaneously preserving biodiversity.

Which satellites are used to observe the Arctic?

  • RADARSAT-2: To facilitate marine surveillance, ice monitoring, disaster management, environmental monitoring, resource management and mapping in Canada and around the world.
  • RADARSAT Constellation (in development): To ensure the continuity of the RADARSAT program, facilitate marine surveillance and disaster management, and monitor ecosystems.
  • M3MSat: To locate ships and manage marine traffic from space.
  • SMOS: To map sea surface salinity, monitor soil moisture on a global scale, better understand the water cycle, and map snow- and ice-covered areas.
  • SWOT (in development): To observe ocean surfaces and measure how lakes, rivers, reservoirs and oceans are changing over time.
  • THEMIS mission: To observe and measure disturbances in Earth's magnetic field.

Why use satellites to observe the Arctic?

Looking after the environment

The Arctic has a unique biodiversity, with a variety of wildlife, national wildlife areas and migratory bird sanctuaries. Its snowy peaks and ice floes act as air conditioners for our planet. Its numerous natural resources, including several large mineral deposits, can only be developed by preserving this ecosystem, which has already been heavily affected by climate change.
Governments use satellite data to understand changes in the environment and make the best decisions possible to protect it.
SWOT Satellite mission
What will it do?
The SWOT mission radar will survey 90% of the Earth's surface water, particularly in the Canadian North, where little data are currently collected.
What will it be used for?
These data will provide a unique perspective on changes in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and oceans. Being better informed of the quality and quantity of water resources available, governments will be able to better evaluate the biodiversity and habitats in their areas, and better predict their evolution.

Tracking ice movement with Satellites

An iceberg off the Canadian coast. (Credit: Shane McKay, National Research Council of Canada)
Arctic ice is one of the ecosystems most affected by the increased temperatures caused by climate change. This phenomenon clears entire areas for navigation on the Arctic Ocean. The melting of the Northwest Passage has provided a navigation alternative, reducing the trip from Europe to Asia by 8,000 km.
Local authorities turn to space and satellites to:
  • track ice changes
  • better understand climate change
  • ensure that sea routes and ice roads are safe
  • plan new infrastructures
  • support ship navigation

SWOT Satellite

What will it do?
The SWOT satellite radar will survey surface water in all its forms, including ice.
What will it be used for?
By providing precise data on ice thickness, this satellite will: increase our knowledge of ice, guide marine traffic, help decision makers plan new infrastructures in the North.

RADARSAT satellites

What do they do?
Whatever the weather conditions, the RADARSAT radars easily detect ice edges, types, topography and structure.
What are they used for?
RADARSAT-2 data enable northern communities to: accurately plan their routes, on water or ice, for hunting or fishing expeditions, monitor the impact of climate change
RADARSAT Constellation satellites will be particularly useful for: quantifying the density and strength of ice and icebergs, better understanding the formation cycle of ice and ridges, ensuring safe navigation.

Preserving our land

Inuit fishermen travelling on ice.
The Arctic Archipelago and the Canadian North represent over 40% of Canada's land territory. Because of climate change, this territory is changing quickly. The ice is melting, thereby changing the landscape, leading communities to change their habits and opening waterways for navigation.
It is essential to:
  • monitor and protect the Canadian North
  • look after its resources
Because they provide a comprehensive picture of the land and water, satellites offer unique solutions in this regard. They enable us to:
  • ensure that activities conducted, even in isolated areas, comply with Canadian laws and respect the environment
  • manage marine traffic effectively to minimize impacts on the environment and the land
  • prevent or intercept any illegal activities along Canadian coasts or at sea

RADARSAT Constellation

What will it do?
Data collected by RADARSAT Constellation satellites will provide an accurate and continuous picture of ecosystems, ice, wind, pollution and ships.
What will it be used for?
We will be able to better monitor our land and ensure its safety, particularly in the Arctic.

M3MSat    Satellite monitoring Ocean traffic

What does it do?
Ships are equipped with an automatic identification system that transmits important information on their identity, direction and cruising speed. The M3MSat satellite is equipped with the same technology.
What is it used for?
Thanks to this satellite, we have an overview of marine traffic. Used alone or with RADARSAT-2 information, these data enable us to identify ships and observe their activities in our waters.

Satellites assisting medicine in remote regions
In northern communities, it is not always easy to access medical care. Technological progress in satellites has led to the creation of systems and applications that are revolutionizing public health care services, particularly for people living in remote or isolated regions. In the health care field, the use of these technologies is called "telemedicine."

Observing and studying the northern lights

A collaboration between the University of Calgary, the City of Yellowknife, Astronomy North and the Canadian Space Agency, AuroraMAX is a public initiative designed to study and share the science and the splendour of the northern lights, and how the sun's relationship with Earth can affect our daily lives.
The northern lights are caused by wind, explosions, radiation and storms around the sun. Though their beauty is unparalleled, these space weather phenomena can have a direct impact on our daily lives, such as: interfering with radio, cell phone and GPS communications, disrupting power grids.

The Aurora MAX Satellite studies Northern Lights

By studying solar activity, scientists can better predict the northern lights. We can also better prepare ourselves. Researchers are also beginning to understand the phenomena associated with the Earth's magnetic field and the magnetosphere, which protect us from the sun's deadly rays.

What causes auroras? Solar bursts have complex interactions with the upper atmosphere and the Earth's magnetic field, causing a range of effects including the northern lights.
The satellites collect data on the particles, electricity and magnetism that cause the northern lights. These data are then enhanced by pictures taken every three seconds by cameras at 20 observatories in North America.
What is it used for?
By analyzing this information, we can better understand the phenomena of the solar corona and of other distant and exotic objects in the cosmos to better understand the universe.

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Journey through the Solar System: Planet Earth

by Carolyn Collins Petersen
Updated February 19, 2018
In the range of solar system worlds, Earth is the only known home to life. It's also the only one with liquid water flowing across its surface. Those are two reasons why astronomers and planetary scientists seek to understand more about its evolution and how it came to be such a haven. 

Our home planet is also the only world with a name not derived from Greek/Roman mythology. To the Romans, the goddess of Earth was Tellus, meaning "the fertile soil," while the Greek goddess of our planet was Gaia or Mother Earth. The name we use today, Earth, comes from Old English and German roots. 
Humanity's View of Earth
 Earth As Seen From Apollo 17. The Apollo missions gave people their first look at Earth as a round world, not a flat one. Image Credit: NASA
It's not surprising that people thought Earth was the center of the universe only a few hundred years ago. This is because it "looks" like the Sun is moving around the planet each day. In reality, Earth is turning like a merry-go-round and we see the Sun appear to move.

Belief in an Earth-centered universe was a very strong one until the 1500s. That's when Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus wrote and published his grand work On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres. In it pointed out how and why our planet orbits the Sun. Eventually, astronomers came to accept the idea and that is how we understand the position of Earth today.  
Earth by the Numbers
Distant Earth and Moon
 Distant Earth and Moon as viewed from a spacecraft. NASA
Earth is the third planet out from the Sun, located at just over 149 million kilometers away. At that distance, it takes slightly over 365 days to make one trip around the Sun. That period is called a year.  

Like most other planets, Earth experiences four seasons each year. The reasons for the seasons are simple: Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees on its axis. As the planet orbits the Sun, different hemispheres get more or fewer amounts of sunlight depending on whether they are tilting toward or away from the Sun.

The circumference of our planet at the equator is about 40,075 km, and 
Earth's Temperate Conditions
Earth's atmosphere seen from the ISS
 Earth's atmosphere looks very thin when compared to the rest of the planet. The green line is airglow high in the atmosphere, caused by cosmic rays striking the gases up there. This was shot by astronaut Terry Virts from the International Space Station. NASA
Compared to other worlds in the solar system, Earth is incredibly life-friendly. That's due to the combination of a warm atmosphere and a large supply of water. The atmospheric gas mixture we live in is 77 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, with traces of other gases and water vapor The affects Earth's long-term climate and short-term local weather. It's also a very effective shield against most of the harmful radiation that comes from the Sun and space and swarms of meteors our planet encounters. 

In addition to the atmosphere, Earth's has abundant supplies of water. These are mostly in the oceans, rivers, and lakes, but the atmosphere is water-rich, too. Earth is about 75 percent covered with water, which leads some scientists to call it a "water world."
Habitat Earth
earth and the life it carries
 Views of Earth from space show evidence of life on our planet. This one reveals streams of phytoplankton along the California Coast. NASA
Earth's abundant water supplies and temperate atmosphere provide a very welcome habitat for life on Earth. The first life forms showed up more than 3.8 billion years ago. They were tiny microbial beings. Evolution spurred more and more complex life forms. Nearly 9 billion species of plants, animals, and insects are known to inhabit the planet. There are likely many more that have yet to be discovered and cataloged.
Earth from the Outside
Earthrise - Apollo 8
 Earthrise - Apollo 8. Manned Spacecraft Center
It's clear from even a quick glance at the planet that Earth is a water world with a thick breathable atmosphere. The clouds tell us that there's water in the atmosphere as well, and give hints about daily and seasonal climate changes.

Since the dawn of the space age, scientists have studied our planet as they would any other planet. Orbiting satellites give real-time data about the atmosphere, surface, and even changes in the magnetic field during solar storms.

Charged particles from the solar wind flow past our planet, but some also get entangled in Earth's magnetic field. They spiral down the field lines, collide with air molecules, which begin to glow. That glow is what we see as the aurorae or the Northern and Southern Lights
Earth from the Inside
earth cutaway
 A cutaway showing Earth's interior layers. The motions in the core produce our magnetic field. NASA
Earth is a rocky world with a solid crust and a hot molten mantle. Deep inside, it has a semi-molten molten nickel-iron core. Motions in that core, coupled with the planet's spin on its axis, create Earth's magnetic field. 
Earth's Long-time Companion
Picture of the Moon - Moon Color Composite. JPL
Earth's Moon (which has many different cultural names, often referrerd to as "luna") has been around for more than four billion years. It is a dry, cratered world without any atmosphere. It has a surface that is pockmarked with craters made by incoming asteroids and comets. In some places, particularly at the poles, the comets left behind water ice deposits.

Huge lava plains, called "maria," lie between the craters and formed when impactors punched through the surface in the distant past. That allowed molten material to spread out across the moonscape.

The Moon is very close to us, at a distance of 384,000 km. It always shows the same side to us as it moves through its 28-day orbit. Throughout each month, we see different phases of the Moon, from crescent to quarter Moon to Full and then back to crescent. 
Thanx    Carolyn Collins Petersen
Knight  Jenny  C.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Ignorance and Apathy

Steve Sack / Minneapolis Star Tribune

"There are none so blind as those who will not see." Global, climate change deniers prove that adage every day. In February 2015 when Eastern United States and Canada were suffering under a polar vortex, Oklahoma senator James Inhofe threw a snowball onto the senate floor in Washington, saying, "It's very, very, cold outside. Very unseasonable."
"This is proof," he argued, " The science  behind climate change is all wrong,"
A few weeks ago,  Mr. Twitter-in-chief, Trump said something similar, noting the cold temperatures in Florida and calling global warming a hoax.
 What is most aggravating about these individuals, is not their 'AHA!' ' I've got you now!', smugness or their incomprehension about how climate and weather work, it's the fact that they willingly don blinders and ear plugs whenever climate issues are discussed.
 The polar vortex that affected us in 2015 and this winter in the continental United States and Canada did not affect Alaska. In fact the temperature in Nome Alaska, the day the senator threw the snowball on the senate floor, and we are speaking of an area near the Arctic Circle, was nearly 36 degrees Fahrenheit,  warmer than it was in Tampa Bay Florida on the same day.
 So what Inhofe and Trump were citing  as evidence against climate change was actually proof of the instability that global climate change creates.

Tom Janssen / The Netherlands

Why was it freezing here while Alaska basked in such balmy weather? Alaska's normally cold air shifted east and sat over our area for an extended period, while the warm balmy air from the North pacific settled over Alaska.
 This is very bad for Alaska, since a lot of that state is built upon the permafrost which is becoming unstable. Houses are tipping and roadways are crumbling as the frozen ground beneath turns to mud.
In 2016 Alaska had the warmest February on record with average temperatures across the state at 10 degrees warmer than usual.
Alaska's warmth has serious implications for the rest of us. Tons of carbon dioxide and methane are trapped in the permafrost. The sinkholes and craters  suddenly appearing in Siberia are evidence of that methane surfacing and escaping into the atmosphere. This reinforces the Greenhouse effect and further heats up the planet.

R.J. Matson / Roll Call

 The deniers are like people who have turned their backs to a tidal wave and telling you the wave is a hoax as they are swallowed  by the surf.  We, however are facing the wave and watching it come to sweep our kids away. Those kids are going to deal with the consequences of the mess we have made.
 If they regard us with disgust for what we have wrought, it's no more that we deserve.



Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Here's What You Can Expect from This Spring's Weather

By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | February 15, 2018 
The three-month weather outlook shows which areas will be colder than usual (blue), warmer than usual (red), wetter than usual (green) and drier than usual (yellow).
Credit: NOAA
Is the United States heading into a chilly and rainy spring, or a tepidly warm and drought-ridden one? The answer, as always, depends on your location, according to the March, April and May weather outlook released today (Feb. 15) by the U.S. Climate Prediction Center (CPC).

Temperatures will be lower than usual in parts of the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies. But higher-than-average springtime temperatures are expected in northern Alaska and parts of the West, Southwest, South, Southeast and Northeast, according to the CPC, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Meanwhile, keep your umbrella handy if you live in northern Alaska, or the upper parts of the United States, as greater-than-normal precipitation is expected. In contrast, the lower part of the country will likely see extremely dry weather, and maybe even drought conditions, the CPC told reporters.




As for what's behind this weird weather, experts say you can thank La Niña and climate change.

La Niña is a natural climate cycle that features cooler-than-usual ocean waters around the central and eastern Pacific. In fact, it describes the predicted spring 2018 weather almost to a T.

La Niña tends to "lead to more of a chance of below-normal precipitation across the southern United States," said Dan Collins, a weather forecaster at the CPC. "And it leads to more of a chance of above-normal precipitation across much of the northern parts of the United States."

Large swaths of the Southwest are expected to experience a drought (brown) this spring.  

Meanwhile, La Niña also has a tendency to create "below-normal temperatures across parts of the northern United States, especially [in] the Northwest and into the Midwest," Collins said. And "La Niña tends to produce above-normal temperatures across much of the southern United States."

Scientists also factored long-term, climate change trends into the three-month seasonal outlook by looking at the last 10 to 15 years of temperature and precipitation across the country.

"Recent decades have been generally warmer than previous decades, and that influences our seasonal outlook," Collins said. "This is particularly true in the Southwest, and it's less so in other regions."

But the above-normal level of rain predicted to hit the Northeast "is partly attributable to decadal trends," Collins said.
Thanx : Laura  Geggel
Knight  Jonny  C.

Friday, February 16, 2018


FROM THE WEBSponsored By ZergNet

Is Global Warming Real?

There is proof the earth is warming, but the debate continues.
Snow-mantled crags frame the severe beauty of Queen Maud Land in central Antarctica. 
In recent years, global warming has been the subject of a great deal of political controversy. As scientific knowledge has grown, this debate is moving away from whether humans are causing warming and toward questions of how best to respond.

Signs that the Earth is warming are recorded all over the globe. The easiest way to see increasing temperatures is through the thermometer records kept over the past century and a half. Around the world, the Earth's average temperature has risen more than 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius) over the last century, and about twice that in parts of the Arctic.
This doesn’t mean that temperatures haven't fluctuated among regions of the globe or between seasons and times of day. But if you average out the temperature all over the world over the course of a year, you see that temperatures have been creeping upward.

Although we can't look at thermometers going back thousands of years, we do have some records that help us figure out what temperatures and concentrations were like in the distant past. For example, trees store information about the climate in the place where they live. Each year, trees grow thicker and form new rings. In warmer and wetter years, the rings are thicker. Old trees and wood can tell us about conditions hundreds or even several thousands of years ago.

Keys to the past are also buried under lakes and oceans. Pollen, creatures, and particles fall to the bottom of oceans and lakes each year, forming sediments. Sediments preserve all these bits and pieces, which contain a wealth of information about what was in the air and water when they fell. Scientists reveal this record by inserting hollow tubes into the mud to collect sediment layers going back millions of years.

For a direct look at the atmosphere of the past, scientists drill cores through the Earth's polar ice sheets. Tiny bubbles trapped in the gas are actually pieces of the Earth's past atmosphere, frozen in time. That's how we know that the concentrations of greenhouse gases since the industrial revolution are higher than they've been for hundreds of thousands of years.

Computer models help scientists to understand the Earth's climate, or long-term weather patterns. Models also allow scientists to make predictions about the future climate. Basically, models simulate how the atmosphere and oceans absorb energy from the sun and transport it around the globe. Factors that affect the amount of the sun's energy reaching Earth's surface are what drive the climate in these models, as in real life. These include things like greenhouse gases, particles in the atmosphere (such as from volcanoes), and changes in energy coming from the sun itself.

Knight  Sha  C .

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

My Poppa

My daddy show me how to make captal letter on key boad  , he skow me how to make captal I  ,I use my dictionary  to help me spel  my word   daddy say  it wil take time    he say stop typng so fast  take my time 
What  you dong to help clmate chnge   you tel  peple   do you sit on your big  musty but  and do nothng   the  earth need your help   I help al I can   I help mama at he meting .
Today  I  will  tel you about  poppa  baby sitng us  when daddy  tok mama to vegs   to have fun  I was just a baby   my  brother   sisters told me we had fun 
poppa say  go to vegs  have fun  the kids  wil be good    poppa  like  wrtng on  the comptr  talk with  peple   poppa was  talk , my big sistr say I was caling mama   I  was in my bed   poppa  got me  we got  cakke   poppa  stat to talk  on  comptr  
Poppa  made breakfst   it was  good   we had  weinr  cake  ice crem   pikle   , jenny say I  did not eat my bred    poppa made lunh for us   he  got  the lunch  from  the rib place   poppa got pie sald  lot  good food   
   Elise is mama helpr  , she say to poppa  we ned a bath  clen clothe  My brothe r    7  my big sistr  6  my litle  sistr  5   they say I was  9 month   poppa put clean diper on me   he let me go  outside  to play  , my diper  come of   mama  came opver  told poppa  I did not have  diper  on
poppa call Jenny told her  to brng  a dipr  for me    poppa put the diper on me   put me down to play  yhe dipr  came of    mema say  let me put it on him   poppa say no  he in charge   poppa told  Sha to brng him diper   brng him jenny  drawr  poppa put  diper on me   poppa put Jenny drawr on top   poppa  say  mema  the diper will stay on  . 
Sha say  mema  look at poppa    roll her eye   sat down    poppa say  he  need no help   we is full    happy  
mama    daddy  come home     we is in her bed   we  had no bath  poppa say mama   say to daddy  we slep on pato   poppa say mama say to daddy  we go again we wil get a baby siter  for poppa  .
mama got  a meting room at daddy ofice    when I was 3  poppa  say when mama go to front to talk  you go behid her  and walk like her   poppa teach me to walk like mama    it was fun 
when mama pass by  poppa say go  walk like mama   I say let me by to the man  he look at poppa    poppa he can let me out   I say thank you to the man   I start walk like mama   peple  start grin   lady say  is  youhurt   I say no I walk like my mama   lady say he is  not hurt  he is walk like his mama   all peple start  grin  
mama look back  poppa stod up say run Man to your daddy  he  in the door   I look daddy in the door  at hal  to his ofice  daddy  grin so hard  he  was layng on the  wal   mama come   I run to daddy   poppa  run to daddy   mama  start grin    I like for poppa to keep me   my brother   sistrs  go to schol  , I  play with poppa  he was fun .
I have lot of  good story to tell about poppa , my daddy go out town  I  will wait  for him to come home   my brother   sistrs  wanr ro  corect  my posts   daddy say I have to learn   to do it .
I did a lot good stuf with poppa   we stay in troble   poppa tech me how to clib on table  to get  cake   cokie  
poppa is  hapy in heavn   he is with my grany  my gramp  I never  saw him he is mama daddy    daddy say gramp  know about me   daddy say gramp  die   5 month befor I born  poppa has a lot of frend in heavn  to talk to  . 
I grin when I  talk about poppa   I know poppa love me   poppa say be happy  he wil away be  near me  
I love you poppa 

Knight  Man  .C

Starman drives his Tesla into space....Live stream


Monday, February 12, 2018

Bill Nye explains climate change with emoji : What if all the ice melted ?

The complex science behind climate change isn't easy to understand, but when Bill Nye the Science Guy explains it, somehow all the facts make sense.

In this video posted by AsapScience on Wednesday, Nye reveals that melting sea ice due to warmer weather affects the habitats of marine animals such as polar bears, seals and walruses because their natural habitats are literally disappearing right underneath them.

Thumbs-up: Bill Nye explains climate change with emoji
Bowhead whales and narwhals are also feeling the effects of melting ice. As the water becomes less dangerous to commercial ships, they' re using seismic blasting to cover more territory looking for oil. This can also negatively impact marine wildlife in the Arctic Ocean.

According to Nye, if all the ice on Greenland and Antarctica melts, sea levels will rise significantly. In fact, they could rise to 70 meters (230 feet), which will mean the billions of people who currently live in coastal cities such as Tokyo, New York, Sao Paulo, Mumbai and Shanghai will have to relocate.

A rising sea level of just 10 meters (about 33 feet) would displace more than 630 million people, or 10 percent of the world's population, according to the video. At 25 meters (82 feet), that would affect 1.4 billion people, or 25 percent of humanity. And at 70 meters, the rising sea levels would drown out most of the US eastern seaboard, much of the West Coast, the entire state of Florida and huge areas of Asia. It would also create a new inland sea in Australia.
Thanx     ASAP Science 
Jenny the Crusader  & Nanook

Sunday, February 11, 2018

How do we know the climate is changing ? Read and Learn

So what if Earth gets a tiny bit warmer?
NASA Climate Kids 
Cartoon polar bear stands on small chunk of ice.
The sky is still blue. Trees are still green. Wind still blows. Clouds are still white and fluffy. Rain still pours from the sky. Snow falls and it still gets really cold sometimes in some places. Earth is still beautiful.

So what is the problem? What is the fuss about climate change and global warming?

Well, after observing and making lots of measurements, using lots of NASA satellites and special instruments, scientists see some alarming changes. These changes are happening fast—much faster than these kinds of changes have happened in Earth's long past.
Artwork showing six satellites in orbit above Earth.
All these satellites, plus a lot more, are studying Earth and all the changes happening with the air, ocean, land, and ice.

Global air temperatures near Earth's surface rose almost one and one-half degrees Fahrenheit in the last century. Eleven of the last 12 years have been the warmest on record. Earth has warmed twice as fast in the last 50 years as in the 50 years before that.

One and one-half degrees may not seem like much. But when we are talking about the average over the whole Earth, lots of things start to change.

Why is Earth getting warmer?
Cartoon Earth with fever thermometer in 'mouth.'
Why is Earth getting warmer? Here's one clue: As the temperature goes up, the amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, in the air goes up. And as the carbon dioxide goes up, the temperature goes up even more.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. That means it traps heat from Earth's surface and holds the heat in the atmosphere. Scientists have learned that, throughout Earth's history, temperature and CO2 levels in the air are closely tied.
Line graph show carbon dioxide levels over the past 400,000 years. Shows sharp increase starting around 1950.
This graph shows carbon dioxide levels over the past 450,000 years. Notice the sharp increase starting around 1950.

This graph shows CO2 levels over the past 450,000 years. As you can see, for 450,000 years, CO2 went up and down. But CO2 levels never rose over 280 parts per million until 1950. But then something different happens and CO2 increases very fast. At the end of 2012, it is 394 parts per million*. Why?

Because of us and our fossil fuels.

Now, let's look at that graph again, but adding the temperatures for that same period of Earth's history.
This graph shows how carbon dioxide and temperature have risen and fallen together in Antarctica over the past 400,000 years.
You can see how CO2 levels change with temperature. Look at what it is doing now.

* Reference NOAA's Earth system Research Laboratory, Global Monitoring Division,

Cartoon ice core.
How do we know what Earth was like long ago?
A big part of the answer is ice cores.

In Antarctica, scientists have drilled down two miles below the surface and brought up samples of the ice. These samples are called ice cores. It's like what you get if you plunge a drinking straw into a slushy drink and pull it out with your finger over the end of the straw. What you will have inside the straw is an ice core—although a very slushy one.

The layers in an Arctic ice core are frozen solid. They give clues about every year of Earth's history back to the time the deepest layer was formed. The ice contains bubbles of the air from each year. Scientists analyze the bubbles in each layer to see how much CO2 they contain. Scientists can also learn about the temperatures for each year by measuring relative amounts of different types of oxygen atoms in the water. (Remember, water is H2O: two hydrogen atoms, and one oxygen.)
Six photos as described in caption.
(Clockwise from top left) Ice coring machine, hole in ice, pulling ice core from machine, man with hands on ice core tube in ground, scientist holding up ice core in triumph, man hand drilling ice core.

Other scientists study cores of sediment from the bottom of the ocean or lakes. Or they study tree rings and layers of rocks to give them clues about climate change throughout history. They compare all their findings to see if they agree. If they do, then their findings are accepted as most likely true. If they don't agree, they go back and figure out what is wrong with their methods.

In the case of Earth's climate history, the facts agree from a lot of different kinds of studies.

Cartoon ice cube in a puddle of water.
How can so little warming cause so much melting?

Water can soak up a lot of heat. When the oceans get warmer, sea ice begins to melt in the Arctic and around Greenland. NASA's Earth satellites show us that every summer some Arctic ice melts and shrinks, getting smallest by September. Then, when winter comes, the ice grows again.

But, since 1979, the September ice has been getting smaller and smaller and thinner and thinner. Check out the Climate Time Machine and watch the ice shrink.
Two images of Earth's Arctic area as described in caption.
Earth's Arctic area: On left, the ice cap covers a large part of the Arctic Ocean. this image is an average of the ice extent during Septembers of 1979-1981. On right, however, a much smaller area is covered by ice in September 2007. 

Three sets of two images each, showing how glaciers have shrunk over time. Columbia Glacier from 1980 - 2005; Arapaho Glacier from 1898 to 2003; and Grinnell Glacier from 1940 - 2006.
See how much three glaciers have shrunk over time. Columbia Glacier from 1980 - 2005; Arapaho Glacier from 1898 to 2003; and Grinnell Glacier from 1940 - 2006.

Glaciers are another form of melting, shrinking ice. Glaciers are frozen rivers. They flow like rivers, only much slower. Lately, they have been speeding up. Many of them flow toward the ocean, then break off in chunks--sometimes huge chunks. In places such as Glacier National Park, the glaciers are melting and disappearing. The air is getting warmer, and less snow is falling during winter to renew the melted parts of the glaciers.

Cartoon saguaro cactus with ocean lapping around its trunk.
Doesn't rising sea level just bring us closer to the beach?

As more sea ice and glaciers melt, the global sea level rises. But melting ice is not the only cause of rising sea level. As the ocean gets warmer, the water actually expands! Sea level has risen 6.7 inches in the last 100 years. In the last 10 years, it has risen twice as fast as in the previous 90 years. If Greenland's ice sheet were to melt completely, sea level all over the world would rise by 16-23 feet (5 to 7 meters). The map above of the southeastern U.S. shows in red the area that would be under water if sea level were to rise by 20 feet (6 meters).

Double yipes!
Map shows southeastern U.S. Many areas along the coastlines are colored red. If sea level were to rise 6 meters (about 20 feet), all the areas in red would be under water.
Play with the Climate Time Machine to see what rising sea level will do to other parts of the world.

How does climate change affect other species?

Cartoon Red  Eye Tree Frog
Life is a web, with every strand connected to every other strand. One species of plant or animal changes, and a whole chain of events can follow involving many other species.

For example, herds of caribou live in cold, Arctic locations. Caribou hate mosquitoes. In the past few years, warmer temperatures in summer have allowed mosquito populations to explode. So the caribou spend a lot more energy swatting away the mosquitoes. All this swatting leaves the caribou less energy to find food and prepare for the next long winter. Female caribou are especially troubled because it takes so much energy to give birth and raise their young.

Animals that hibernate in the winter also suffer from warming temperatures. Marmots, chipmunks, and bears are waking up as much as a month early. Some are not hibernating at all. These animals can starve if they stay awake all winter, because they can't find enough food. If they wake up too early because it feels warm enough to be spring, the days may not yet be long enough to signal the plants to start their spring growth. So, again, the wakeful animals go hungry.

Many trees in the Western U.S. are already suffering from climate change. Droughts leave trees thirsty and stressed. Pine trees need cold winters, too. With warmer, drier conditions, the trees are more likely to become infected with insects. These bugs bore into the trees and lay their eggs. Eventually, they kill the tree. Some forests in the West have lost over half their trees already to pine beetles. When the forest is gone, birds and small mammals that lived there have to find new homes--if they can.

There are many more plant and animal species and communities struggling to adapt to the rapidly changing climate.
Satellite photo of huge smoke plume over the Los Angeles area.
September 2009 Station Fire near Los Angeles.

This satellite image shows the "Station Fire" of September 2009, which burned one-fourth of the Angeles National Forest (near Los Angeles). In the future, drought conditions and record hot temperatures could make fires like this more frequent and intense.
Thanx   NASA Climate kids
Knight  Jonny  C.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

The Arctic is full of toxic mercury, and climate change is going to release it

 By Chris  Mooney            February 5 , 2018
We already knew that thawing Arctic permafrost would release powerful greenhouse gases. On Monday, scientists revealed it could also release massive amounts of mercury — a potent neurotoxin and serious threat to human health.

Permafrost, the Arctic’s frozen soil, acts as a massive ice trap that keeps carbon stuck in the ground and out of the atmosphere — where, if released as carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas would drive global warming. But as humans warm the climate, they risk thawing that permafrost and releasing that carbon, with microbial organisms becoming more active and breaking down the ancient plant life that had previously been preserved in the frozen earth. That would further worsen global warming, further thawing the Arctic — and so on.

That cycle would be scary enough, but U.S. government scientists on Monday revealed that the permafrost also contains large volumes of mercury, a toxic element humans have already been pumping into the air by burning coal.

There are 32 million gallons worth of mercury, or the equivalent of 50 Olympic swimming pools, trapped in the permafrost, the scientists wrote in a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. For context, that’s “twice as much mercury as the rest of all soils, the atmosphere, and ocean combined,” they wrot


The scientists performed the research by taking cores from permafrost across Alaska. They measured mercury levels and then extrapolated to calculate how much mercury there is in permafrost across the globe, where it covers large portions of Canada, Russia and other northern countries.

“We figure that this represents the buildup of mercury during and since the last Ice Age,” Schaefer said.

Mercury, a naturally occurring element, binds with living matter across the planet — but the Arctic is special. Normally, as plants die and decay, they decompose and mercury is released back to the atmosphere. But in the Arctic, plants often do not fully decompose. Instead, their roots are frozen and then become buried by layers of soil. This suspends mercury within the plants, where it can be remobilized again if permafrost thaws.

How much would be released depends on how much the permafrost thaws — which in turn depends on the volume of greenhouse-gas emissions and subsequent warming of the planet. But permafrost thaw has begun in some places and scientists project that it will continue over the course of the century. The study says that with current emissions levels through 2100, permafrost could shrink by between 30 and 99 percent.

The question then becomes where this mercury will go, and what it will do — and the scientists say they aren’t sure of that. It could flush out through rivers into the Arctic Ocean. Or it could enter the atmosphere. Or both. That remains to be determined.

The problem is that mercury, although naturally occurring, is damaging to humans and wildlife, especially in certain forms. We’re already causing buried mercury to enter the atmosphere by burning coal, which lofts the element into the atmosphere, where it travels long distances. When it rains out into the ocean or lakes, it enters the food chain, first accumulating in the bodies of microorganisms and then growing increasingly concentrated in predators that feed off smaller organisms — for instance, larger fish.

When humans consume mercury-laden fish in quantities too large, it can be dangerous — especially for pregnant mothers.

In the Arctic, mercury can also accumulate in the bodies of major mammal predators, such as polar bears or narwhal, a phenomenon that has been documented. If the Arctic mercury burden further increases, it could be yet another way that climate change takes a toll on the native communities living there.

“We expect a bunch of it to be released, but we don’t know exactly how much, and when, and where it will be released,” Schaefer said.

Sue Natali, a permafrost expert at the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Research Center who was not involved in the study, said in a statement: “The results of this study are concerning because what we’re learning is that not only is permafrost a massive storage for carbon that will feedback on global climate, but permafrost also stores a globally significant pool of mercury, which is at risk of being released into the environment when permafrost thaws. This is especially concerning, given the predominance of wetland ecosystems in the Arctic — these wetland and aquatic ecosystems are areas where mercury is converted into a form that is taken up into the food web, placing humans and wildlife at risk.”

“But the magnitude of this risk is as yet unknown,” Natali continued. “The best option for managing these permafrost-related risks is to keep the permafrost — and the carbon and mercury contained in permafrost — frozen, through immediate reduction of fossil fuel emissions.”
Thanx  to Chris Mooney  
Sha  C .                  Jenny and Nanook's Knight