Earthbytes

Earth Day: Give Earth a Hand (video)

This is amazing...

 

Earth Day 2013

Earth Observatory Image of the Day: Appalachian Mountains

via earthobservatory.nasa.gov

I loved the article accompanying this photo because it has a great summary of the geologic and tectonic history of Laurasia, Gondwanaland and Pangea in relation to Appalachian mountain building:

The rocks that form this valley-and-ridge province, as it is known, are relatively old (540 to 300 million years old) and were laid down in horizontal layers when North America was attached to Europe in the ancient supercontinent of Laurasia. During this time Gondwanaland—an ancient supercontinent that included present-day Africa, India, South America, Australia, and Antarctica—was approaching Laurasia under the influence of plate tectonics. The northwest coastline of modern Africa was the section of Gondwanaland that “bumped up” against modern North America over a long period (320 to 260 million years ago).

The net result of the tectonic collision was the building of a major mountain chain, much higher than the present Appalachian range. In the process, the flat-lying rock layers were crumpled up into a series of tight folds, at right angles to the advance of Gondwanaland. The collision also formed the singular supercontinent of Pangaea. Over the following 200 million years, Pangaea broke apart; the modern Atlantic Ocean formed; and erosion wore down the once-high mountains. What is left 200 million years later are the coastline of North America and the eroded stumps of the relatively low, but visually striking mountain chain.

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Astronauts take a picture of Appalachian Mountains

The "landman" cometh: Promised Land

All of a sudden some movies that I really want to see are opening soon. Here's one of them:

 

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Why is the Fracking Industry Worried Sick Over Promised Land?

You Need to See This Movie

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NASA Image: "Super Typhoon" Bopha

Here's a NASA image of Super Typhoon Bopha -- or, "Pablo", as people in the Philippines are calling it:

This still image of Super Typhoon Bopha was taken by Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford on Sunday, Dec. 2 from the International Space Station, as the storm bore down on the Philippines with winds of 135 miles per hour. Parts of the orbital outpost are seen in the picture -- the Permanent Multipurpose Module on the left, and Mini-Research Module 1 on the right. Image and caption credit: NASA

Also check out this 3-D analyzation of Bopha provided by NASA's TRMM satellite, and related article linked below.

Some of the hashtags being used on Twitter are #Pablo, #PabloPH, #Bopha, and #Philippines. I found many good informational links being shared there, as well as wishes from people around the world for the well-being of survivors.

Please visit www.ifrc.org for more information from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. They also have some photos of the damage from Bopha on their Flickr photostream.

And please don't forget people here in the United States impacted by Sandy. Here are some recent links:

Hurricane Warning Definition Modified by NHC in Wake of Sandy

Sandy Clean-up Could Lead to Illness , Litigation for Workers

Hurricane Sandy in the Age of Disposability and Neoliberal Terrorism (Henry A Giroux)

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NASA compiles Typhoon Bopha's Philippines Rainfall totals from space

NASA satellites see Super-Typhoon Bopha closing in on the Philippines

'Not a Mistake': NASA in Disbelief over Rate of Melting Ice | Common Dreams

via www.commondreams.org

Researchers have not yet determined whether this extensive melt event will affect the overall volume of ice loss this summer and contribute to sea level rise.

"The Greenland ice sheet is a vast area with a varied history of change. This event, combined with other natural but uncommon phenomena, such as the large calving event last week on Petermann Glacier, are part of a complex story," said Tom Wagner, NASA's cryosphere program manager in Washington. "Satellite observations are helping us understand how events like these may relate to one another as well as to the broader climate system."

Read the whole story at Common Dreams.

Jeff Biggers: Powerful New Music Video Captures Appalachia's Grief Over Mountaintop Removal

Great article from Jeff Biggers and awesome video from Magnolia Mountain:

As millions of pounds of explosives from mountaintop removal strip mining operations continue to devastate historic mountain communities in central Appalachia, a powerful new music video released this week by the beloved American Roots band Magnolia Mountain captures the haunting grief and stories of stricken families in America's cradle of roots and country music.

Driven by Mark Utley's banjo licks and Magnolia Mountain's effortlessly haunting and plaintive harmonies, "The Hand of Man" joins the pantheon of classic mountain ballads and mining tunes, including Kentucky legend Jean Ritchie's "Black Waters" and John Prine's timeless paean to his family's demise in western Kentucky to Peabody coal, "Paradise," and 2/3 Goat's recent metrobilly hit, "Stream of Conscience."

via www.huffingtonpost.com

 

New Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Communities Found in the Southern Ocean - PLoS Biology

Interesting (open access) study of organisms found in hydrothermal vent areas of the Southern Ocean...important discovery relative to biodiversity of species in this underexplored region of Earth's oceans.

Authors Summary:

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are mainly associated with seafloor spreading at mid-ocean ridges and in basins near volcanic island arcs. They host animals found nowhere else that derive their energy not from the sun but from bacterial oxidation of chemicals in the vent fluids, particularly hydrogen sulphide. Hydrothermal vents and their communities of organisms have become important models for understanding the origins and limits of life as well as evolution of island-like communities in the deep ocean. We describe the fauna associated with high-temperature hydrothermal vents on the East Scotia Ridge, Southern Ocean, to our knowledge the first to be discovered in Antarctic waters. These communities are dominated by a new species of yeti crab, stalked barnacles, limpets and snails, sea anemones, and a predatory seven-armed starfish. Animals commonly found in hydrothermal vents of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, including giant Riftia tubeworms, annelid worms, vent mussels, vent crabs, and vent shrimps, were not present at the Southern Ocean vents. These discoveries suggest that the environmental conditions of the Southern Ocean may act as a barrier to some vent animals and that the East Scotia Ridge communities form a new biogeographic province with a unique species composition and structure.

via www.plosbiology.org

Coalition Files Three Lawsuits to Demand National Coal LLC Treat Pollution from Coal Mines

Here's the joint press release filed today, November 8, 2011 by Sierra Club, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM) and the Tennessee Clean Water Network (TCWN):

Company’s Own Records Show Violations Of Legal Limits of Iron, Selenium, Other Heavy Metals in Local Waterways

Knoxville, TN – Earlier this week, the Sierra Club and its partners, the Tennessee Clean Water Network and Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, filed three suits in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee to enforce pollution limits on two coal mines and one coal mine waste disposal area owned and operated by National Coal, LLC. According to the company’s own monitoring, National Coal continues to violate legal limits on its selenium discharge into local waterways. The coalition filed suit in order to protect the residents and wildlife of Tennessee that depend on the state’s waterways for clean water.

The Clean Water Act governs the legal limits of various forms of pollution allowed in mining and waste disposal. The Clean Water Act also requires mining companies to test and disclose the results of water sampling at mining and disposal sites. National Coal’s records show consistent violations for selenium, iron, and manganese at these sites. As a result of these egregious violations, the coalition has now filed suit in federal court under the citizen suit provisions of both the Clean Water Act to enforce the permit limits. 

“The kinds of pollutants National Coal is releasing into Tennessee’s waters can cause health problems as well as serious environmental damage,” said Axel Ringe, Vice Conservation Chair for the Tennessee Chapter Sierra Club. “Repeat violators like National Coal need to know that wanton polluting of Tennessee’s waterways has serious consequences for local residents and won’t be allowed to continue unchecked.” 

Today’s lawsuits follow several other recent Clean Water Act enforcement actions brought by the Sierra Club and other partner organizations that have resulted in significant protections for Appalachian streams and the communities that rely on them, including the installation and operation of treatment technology that will reduce selenium pollution from mines owned by Arch Coal and Patriot Coal.

“Citizens must continue to hold a zero-tolerance attitude toward companies that pollute our watersheds,” said Cathie Bird, chair of the E3 Committee of Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment.  “Without clean water, communities can’t thrive. That’s why we have laws to protect our water, and we’ll work hard to hold companies accountable when they pollute our streams.” 

Selenium, a toxic element that causes reproductive failure and deformities in fish and other forms of aquatic life, is discharged from many surface coal-mining operations across Appalachia.  At very high levels, selenium can pose a risk to human health, causing hair and fingernail loss, kidney and liver damage, and damage to the nervous and circulatory systems. Further, in clinically toxic doses, manganese can lead to motor imbalance and psychiatric disorders and over consumption of iron can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and heart conditions.

"Tennesseans rely on our rivers, lakes and streams for clean water," said Renée Victoria Hoyos, Executive Director, of the Tennessee Clean Water Network. "National Coal regularly and knowingly pollutes the waterways around these three locations. It is simply unacceptable and these suits are critical to ensuring that polluters like National Coal take our health and the impacts their actions have on the environment seriously."

The coalition is represented by Joe Lovett and Mike Becher with the Appalachian Mountain Advocates, and Gena Lewis and Michael Bernard. For more information on selenium visit http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/downloads/Seleniumfactsheet.pdf

###

Contact:

Sean Sarah, Sierra Club, 202 548-4589, sean.sarah@sierraclub.org

Casey Self, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM), 865-249-7488 x105, casey@socm.org

Renée Victoria Hoyos, Tennessee Clean Water Network, 865-522-7007 x100, renee@tcwn.org

 

Dr. Douglas Fields: Science cuts through the hysteria for answers to worldwide increase in fatal shark attacks

A great article today by neurobiologist Douglas Fields (at Huffington Post) explores growing numbers of shark attacks in the world's waters...I enjoyed his analysis, which includes interesting pieces of shark's natural history:

Is there a scientific explanation for these alarming data and the spike in recent fatal shark attacks?

Yes, both experts agree. The steady increase in shark attacks is easily explained by the increase in human population and growing popularity of water related sports and recreational activities. "The increase in shark attacks is largely a function of human demographics and growth. The number we get in any given year is purely a function of how many people went into the water," says Burgess.

There are, however, some new patterns emerging from Burgess' data on shark attacks. "There has been an increase this year [in shark attacks] in a number of areas where we have not traditionally had such attacks, undoubtedly by white sharks, most notably the three series of attacks in Russia in areas of cold water most of the time," he says. This, he explains is due to warming of waters, possibly associated with global warming, that are allowing sharks to expand their range farther north and south into waters that they normally do not go, and also because warmer water induces more people entering the sea.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

At the end of the article, George Burgess, shark researcher and curator of the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History has some good advice for us terrestrial humans:

"When we enter the sea, we need to understand that we are visiting a foreign environment," Burgess observes. "We are terrestrial animals. Our evolution occurred on land. We don't have gills. We can't swim very well, and as such every time we enter the sea it is a wilderness experience for us...."