TIZER'S SCIENCE NEWS

[Tizer]

I think the tortoise tracking was only meant for in the house and garden, so he could walk around with his smartphone and detect it amongst the kids stuff or in the bushes.

[Tizer]

It's good to know the satellite is doing it's job well but I've linked this article primarily because of the last image showing male in the Maldives. It's staggering - just think what sea level rise means there!
`'Dog kennel' satellite returns first ocean observations' LINK
`The new satellite that will become the primary orbital tool for tracking sea-level rise is in excellent shape. Sentinel-6 "Michael Freilich" was only launched three weeks ago, but already it is mapping ocean features in exquisite detail. The dog kennel-shaped spacecraft is a joint endeavour between Europe and the US. It is the latest iteration in a series of missions that have been measuring sea-surface height going back to 1992...'.

[Stanley]

The image of Malé is staggering. I had always imagined the Maldives as being largely green islands. How can real-estate have any value when under threat like that?

[Tripps]

Sorry I can't help it. . .

I have difficulty with a system which claims to measure the height of the sea to an accuracy of millimetres. That's the sea remember - which is constantly moving up and down and from side to side.

We have been scared by predictions of a 10 metre rise in sea levels - so a couple of mm is surely trivial.

I see the 'fiddle factor is alive and well - "But for Thursday's mission update, sample data was given special processing to produce an image that would be more recognisable to the lay observer. "

The Maldives was a possible posting for me a long time ago, to the RAF staging post named Gan in the South of the archipeligo. It was rather regarded as a punishment posting, due to the total lack of any social facilities, and the tour length was reduced to just a year, followed by another 18 months in Singapore as compensation. The base seems now to be a highly sought after holiday destination.

How can real-estate have any value when under threat like that?

Doesn't seem to worrying the locals too much, as there are reports that there have been four or five new airports opened recently.

[plaques]

I'm still trying to come to terms with tidal flows. Sun and moon gravity attraction and all that jazz and why we get simultaneous high tides on opposite sides of the Earth. I tend to think its more to do with polarising the water molecules than pure attraction. Ok. so we take some accurate measurements today then wait 10 years for a comparison. On the other hand write your conspiracy theory here.....

[Tizer]

Sorry I can't help it. . .
I have difficulty with a system which claims to measure the height of the sea to an accuracy of millimetres. That's the sea remember - which is constantly moving up and down and from side to side. We have been scared by predictions of a 10 metre rise in sea levels - so a couple of mm is surely trivial.

I'm don't know where you got the 10 metre figure. The Royal Society estimates that global sea level has risen by 3.6 cm over the last decade but it's accelerating. The official predictions are for the level to rise to 30 cm above 2000 levels by 2100 on a low-emissions pathway and 69 centimetres on a high emissions scenario. Even a few cm is important...



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Plaques, see this web page...
`Tides and Water Levels: Gravity, Inertia, and the Two Bulges National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[plaques]

Plaques, see this web page...
`Tides and Water Levels: Gravity, Inertia, and the Two Bulges National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Obviously they haven't heard of my theory.

[Tripps]

I'm don't know where you got the 10 metre figure.

From that great source of scientific knowledge the Daily Express. Sea levels

From the map - I'll be able to paddle from my front door.

[Stanley]

30 metres is a favourite figure for historians describing how much sea levels rose as the ice melted at the end of the last Ice Age. That may be how it got into the DE.

[Tizer]

If all the ice and snow melted everywhere then, yes, you could get those massive increases in sea levels but I assumed Tripps was referring to predictions for this century. The evidence for past rises of 30 metres or more is very obvious and you've only got to go to the coast around Britain and look at what's known as the `raised beaches' and you can see for yourself that it was that much higher in the past. There are often several raised beaches visible at different levels. (It used to be always quoted as 100 feet but it's now 30 metres since we went metric!)

[Stanley]

Tiz raised beaches would suggest falling sea levels but in most cases you'll find that they are due to rising land levels. The raised beaches you see on the West Coast of Scotland are due to the land rebounding more after the removal of the ice than it did in the East due to the geology. This is partially the reason why we lost Doggerland, tilting of the UK and rising sea levels due to ice melt.

[Tripps]

This thread came to mind today when I saw this -

sizewell.jpg

Is it such a good idea to put nuclear power station Sizewell C - shown as an impression on the right - so near to the rising sea?

[chinatyke]

Another Fukushima waiting to happen?

[Stanley]

And, according to the protesters, an eroding coast line.
Is this the same design as Hinkley Point? I thought EDF had yet to complete and commission the ones it is already building. Or have I got this wrong.

[Tizer]

Tiz raised beaches would suggest falling sea levels but in most cases you'll find that they are due to rising land levels. The raised beaches you see on the West Coast of Scotland are due to the land rebounding more after the removal of the ice than it did in the East due to the geology. This is partially the reason why we lost Doggerland, tilting of the UK and rising sea levels due to ice melt.

We're talking about the same thing, it all happens in cycles as ice ages come and go. The raised beaches were formed when the ice sheets melted, raising sea level, and then left behind when the ice formed and locked up the water again and/.or the land surface went down due to isostatic adjustment. The south-west peninsula has tilted downwards, which is why the Rivers Fal and Dart can be used to park tankers and cruise ships but there are raised beaches all around Cornwall.

Is it such a good idea to put nuclear power station Sizewell C - shown as an impression on the right - so near to the rising sea?

Probably not but if it's built inland would a river provide the required massive amounts of cooling water? Even if the river had sufficient and constant flow the released hot water might kill off everything in the river downstream.

We could end up with this problem in the UK too...
`China biodegradable plastics 'failing to solve pollution crisis'' LINK
`A massive increase in biodegradable plastic production in China is outpacing the country's ability to degrade the materials, according to a new report published by the charity Greenpeace. China - the world's largest producer of plastic waste - introduced bans earlier this year on several types of non-degradable single-use plastics, prompting manufacturers to ramp up production of biodegradable versions. According to Greenpeace, 36 companies in China have planned or built new biodegradable plastic manufacturing facilities, adding production capacity of more than 4.4 million tonnes per year - a more than sevenfold increase in less than 12 months. China's e-commerce industry is on track to generate an estimated 5 million tonnes of biodegradable plastic waste per year by 2025, when the country's single-use plastic bans come into effect nationwide, the charity said....

`Biodegradable plastics can be broken down by living organisms, but most require specific industrial treatment at high temperatures to be degraded within six months. Left in landfills under normal circumstances, the materials can take much longer to begin to break down and will still release carbon into the atmosphere. "In the absence of controlled composting facilities, most biodegradable plastics end up in landfills, or worse, in rivers and the ocean," said Greenpeace's East Asia plastics researcher Dr Molly Zhongnan Jia. "Switching from one type of plastic to another cannot solve the plastics pollution crisis that we're facing," she said. A woman collecting plastic at a dump in China. Millions of tonnes of plastics are wasted every year.

[PanBiker]

One small contribution by the RSGB is that my monthly members magazine RadCom is now posted in a corn starch based biodegradable jacket. I always save it and we put the veg peelings in for the composter in the front garden. That type seems to work OK.

[Stanley]

Private Eye have done the same thing. Made the sleeve for the postal delivery 100% degradable.
Looking at the evidence it seems to me that we have already gone past the tipping point as far as plastics are concerned. They are embedded right through nature. We aren't fit to have a planet.

[Tizer]

Much of the so-called biodegradable plastic doesn't degrade in domestic composting or in landfill because it requires the high temperature of industrial composters to break down. Scientist Mark Miodownik has done a lot of trials and surveys and they did one with Radio 4 Inside Science.
`There is ‘no value’ in biodegradable plastic (at the moment)' LINK

[PanBiker]

I will have to check the coal face so to speak and have a look in my compost bin. My mag jackets have been going in there for quite while now. I will give it a stir at some point.

[Tizer]

It'll be interesting to see what composts and what doesn't!

[Stanley]

I remember a while ago clearing out the drawer where I put plastic carrier bags for re-use and the old Co-op ones at the back were brittle and shattered as soon as you touched them. Bio degradable?

[Tizer]

Self-destruction by the sound of it!

We watched a recording of last Sunday's Sky at Night and it was marvellous. On `The State of Astronomy' the web site caption says: `The Sky at Night looks back at the last ten years of astronomy and ponders the most significant milestones and revelations. With the help of six distinguished astronomers, Chris and Maggie consider the state of astronomy in 2020 and wonder what new, exciting discoveries await us across the rest of the decade, as a host of new ground and space telescopes come online. Astronomer Royal Lord Martin Rees is among the guests to walk along the Astronomical Wall of Discovery in this one-hour special.'

The astronomers are so enthusiastic it's a joy to watch and the topics are literally `out of this world'! I can strongly recommend it. LINK Especially notable is the last part where they deal with questions from the public. Some of these questions are fascinating. One in particular was asking if there could be a binary star system with a planet orbiting in such a way that anyone, anywhere on the planet would always be in `daylight' and therefore wouldn't ever see stars! This had Martin Rees extending the idea and suggesting that a small star with a likewise small planet orbiting it would be equivalent to the Moon orbiting Earth and therefore the rotation of the small planet would be locked with the same side always facing the star. He said most people on the planet would probably want to be on the `sunny' side but all the astronomers would want to be on the dark side to watch the sky!

[Stanley]

I cab see I shall have to look for it....

[Tizer]

It's useful to have good graphics when discussing extra dimensions!....
`Does the universe have hidden dimensions?' LINK

[Stanley]

That was a very seductive link Peter! I had to tear myself way from it. I really do like string and membrane theory for exactly the reason that the lady suggests. We don't know if it is correct but at least it suggests an explanation that fits the observable facts. That can't be a bad place to start from. It's how I make progress in the shed and the rest of my life.