Sunday Morning Quarterback: Hornets can't be accused of looking ahead - Record Searchlight
Health & Fitness. News; Home & Garden; Publications. Magazines ... Big Valley 74, Redding Christian 60. It's clear the ... Drum Making and Meditation Class Unity in Redding
Barbara Kern: Home care cutbacks will prove costly - Record Searchlight
... be dropping the insurance for the home health ... Health & Fitness. News; Home & Garden; Publications. Magazines ... Drum Making and Meditation Class Unity in Redding
Portsmouth area community calendar - Seacoast Online
Studio located above Portsmouth Health Foods at 147 ... week, and is beneficial for all ages and fitness ... 30 to 9:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 8, at Second Christian ...
Bulletin Board - Memphis Commercial Appeal
Health & Fitness; Home & Garden; Profiles; Style; Travel ... The Pema Karpo Meditation Center offers Tibetan ... Center (NGIC) New Growth In Christ Christian Center
Meditations on Scriptures -- 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A ... - Examiner
Health & Fitness. Healthcare; Women's Health; Men's Health ... Meditation: Notice the similarities in the features of ... Christian beliefs; Isaiah; Judah; St. Paul; Philippians
Community Bulletin Board - Napa Valley Register
Advanced Meditation on Compassion. In-depth class on ... is welcome in this non-denominational, Christian ... Health/Fitness. Yoga: Introduction. An introduction to yoga ...
Faith calendar - Bryan College Station Eagle
... Health & Fitness | Faith & Values | Gardening ... baby items for Phoebe's Home. * First Christian ... in College Station, will hold Morning Meditation at ...
Alvarez loses regulars, game - The Californian
... Friday night to rally the Monte Vista Christian ... El Sol; Off 68; Photos; Crime; Good News; Cold & Flu; Health ... Morning meditation
Scorpio October Horoscope 2011 : Scorpio ( October 23 - November 21) - Zimbio
Meditation, journaling, and all-around emotional ... October 11 Aries full moon illuminates your health and fitness ... Hot off the Runway: Christian Dior Spring 2012
WEEK OF SEPT. 30-OCT. 7 - Florida Times-Union
Health & Fitness; Military; Obituaries; Politics & Government ... - Community Health and Craft Fair, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m., ... Ave., 10 a.m. Saturdays, silent sitting meditation ...
An online business can be rewarding only when it maintains a good online presence that depends on good online marketing. Online marketing has a wider scope. If you have just started your online business, then initially you can start by marketing through blogs that full with keywords. It is also important to get into social media marketing. Lot of people are registered on the social websites and you will surely find your prospective customers there. You can start by creating informative pages of your website and then you can update these posts with new posts. These two measures can surely help in terms of better online marketing.
Join Date
Sep 2010
Age
25
Posts
443
Thanks
6
Thanked: 8
Rep
6
Thread Information
Users Browsing this Thread
There are currently 3 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 3 guests)
According to Washington Post reporter Lisa Rein, Sept. 28, the General Services Administration suffered from toilets literally blowing into tiny shards of porcelain, seriously injuring two federal employees.
?
?
Rein?s article said, ?The toilet explosions became irresistible web fodder for snickering and bad potty humor. ? The rare accident, which started in a water tank on the roof of the agency?s capital region headquarters Monday morning, quickly became representative of Washington?s ills ? from the bureaucratic response to the venom it released against the government and its employees.?
?
?
?
?
Rein reported the D.C. fire department was called to Seventh and D streets SW at 11:50 a.m. and the crew was told about an injured person on the fourth floor. They were directed to the restroom, where a woman had serious cuts to her leg from ?flying debris.? Another toilet on the first floor had exploded within minutes of the first one, injuring another employee using the bathroom at the same time.
?
?
Rein wrote GSA spokesman William Marshall Jr. issued a statement Monday describing a ?building mechanical incident? that injured at least one employee. He re-issued the statement 24 hours later, with assurances that the toilets were working again. He declined to be interviewed about what caused the explosion, the identities of the workers, their condition or which agency employs them, she said.
?
?
Apparently, water in a building as old as the General Services Administration, built between 1930 and 1935, needs to flow at a higher pressure to reach top floors, Rein explained. A storage tank boosts the pressure, using air as a spring to push water through the pipes, she wrote. GSA spokeswoman Emily Barocas explained the tank?s control system malfunctioned, plunging the water level below normal and allowing air to seep into the pipes, where it shouldn?t be because it gets compressed, according to Rein. ?The air hit the toilet bowls when they were flushed, and the result was not pretty.?
?
?
?You get a geyser,? White said. ?A recipe for disaster.? Although the average pressure in a water pipe is about 25 pounds per square inch, the slug of air in the GSA toilets was probably released around 60 pounds, he said in the article.
?
If you have specific questions about federal workers compensation, contact Managed Care Advisors?and mention you read about them from us here at?Work Comp Roundup.??
?
Author Rebecca Shafer, JD, President of Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. is a national expert in the field of workers compensation. She is a writer, speaker, and website publisher. Her expertise is working with employers to reduce workers compensation costs, and her clients include airlines, healthcare, printing, publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality, and manufacturing. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact: RShafer@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
?
?
Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker or agent about workers comp issues.
?
?2011 Amaxx Risk Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. If you would like permission to reprint this material, contact Info@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com.
This entry was posted on Saturday, October 1st, 2011 at 7:04 pm and is filed under Medical Cost Containment & Managed Care, Safety and Loss Control. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
SANAA, Yemen?? An American-born cleric killed in Yemen played a "significant operational role" in plotting and inspiring attacks on the United States, U.S. officials said Friday, as they disclosed detailed intelligence to justify the killing of a U.S. citizen.
Anwar al-Awlaki was killed early Friday in a strike on his convoy carried out by a joint operation of the CIA and the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command, according to counterterrorism officials. Al-Awlaki had been under observations for three weeks while they waited for the right opportunity to strike.
President Barack Obama said al-Awlaki's death "is a major blow to al-Qaida's most active operational affiliate" and that it "marks another significant milestone in the broader effort to defeat al-Qaida."
"This is further proof that al-Qaida and its affiliates will have no safe haven anywhere in the world," Obama said, adding that Awlaki's death was a result of the government of Yemen joining international efforts against the militants.
Only on msnbc.com
Don't skip: Schools waking up on absenteeism
States line up to ditch No Child Left Behind
Can U.S. legally kill a citizen without due process?
Obama Fried Chicken? In China, it's on the menu
China space sendoff music: ?America the Beautiful?
Consumers go AWOL, slowing the recovery
Updated 65 minutes ago
9/30/2011 8:14:13 PM +00:00
Nevada's gamble in China pays off big
Story: Born in US, Al-Awlaki was his birth nation's sworn enemy
He spoke Friday at a retirement ceremony at Fort Myer, Va., for Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta echoed Obama's comments, saying "this has been a bad year for terrorists."
"Awlaki was a primary target because his continuing efforts to plan attacks against the United States," Panetta said, adding, "this country is much safer as a result of the loss of Awlaki."
Following the strike, a U.S. official outlined new details of al-Awlaki's involvement in anti-U.S. operations, including the attempted "underwear" bombing on Dec. 25, 2009, of a U.S.-bound aircraft. The official said al-Awlaki specifically directed the man accused of trying to bomb the Detroit-bound plane to detonate an explosive device over U.S. airspace to maximize casualties.
The official also said al-Awlaki had a direct role in supervising and directing a failed attempt to bring down two U.S. cargo aircraft by detonating explosives concealed inside two packages containing copier ink cartridges mailed to the U.S. The U.S. also believes Awlaki had sought to use poisons, including cyanide and ricin, to attack Westerners.
The U.S. and counterterrorism officials all spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters.
Can U.S. legally kill a citizen without due process?
Al-Awlaki is the most prominent al-Qaida figure to be killed since Osama bin Laden's death in May. He was killed by the same U.S. military unit that got bin Laden.
Second American killed
Another U.S. official said a second American citizen died in the airstrike that killed al-Awlaki. Two other men also perished.
The second American, Samir Khan, edited the slick Western-style Internet publication Inspire Magazine that attracted many readers.?
The online magazine published seven issues offering articles on making crude bombs and how to fire AK-47 assault rifles. U.S. intelligence officials have said that Khan ? who was from North Carolina ? was not directly responsible for targeting Americans.
Story: Plenty of al-Qaida targets remain after Osama bin Laden's death
A senior Obama administration official said al-Awlaki "wrote several articles for AQAP's Inspire Magazine in order to promote al-Qaida's violent narrative to Westerners and encourage individual action against innocent men, women and children," NBC News reported.
U.S. word of al-Awlaki's death came after the government of Yemen reported that he had been killed Friday about five miles from the town of Khashef, some 87 miles from the capital, Sanaa.
"We found his body in pieces," said Abubakr al-Awlaki, a leader of the Awalik tribe, to which Awlaki belonged. "Why kill him in this brutal, ugly way? Killing him will not solve their problem with al Qaeda, it will just increase their strength and sympathy for (AQAP) in this region."
The airstrike was carried out more openly than the covert operation that sent Navy SEALs into bin Laden's Pakistani compound, U.S. officials said.
Counterterror cooperation between the United States and Yemen has improved in recent weeks, allowing better intelligence-gathering on al-Awlaki's movements, U.S. officials said. The ability to track him better was a primary factor in the success of the strike, U.S. officials said.
Inspiration to jihadists? Al-Awlaki's death is the latest in a run of high-profile kills for Washington under Obama. However, the killing raises questions that the death of other al-Qaida leaders, including bin Laden, did not.
Al-Awlaki was a U.S. citizen, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, who had not been charged with any crime. Civil liberties groups have questioned the government's authority to kill an American, even one based abroad and with stated anti-American aims, without trial.
U.S. officials have said they believe al-Awlaki inspired the actions of Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan, who is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in the attack at Fort Hood, Texas.
Video: Second American killed in al-Awlaki strike (on this page)
A senior Obama administration official said Hasan attended al-Awlaki's sermons in the U.S., and kept in touch with him via email, NBC News reported. After Hasan allegedly carried out the attack, the official said, al-Awlaki praised his "student and brother" on his blog.
In New York, the Pakistani-American man who pleaded guilty to the May 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt said he was "inspired" by al-Awlaki after making contact over the Internet.
Al-Awlaki also is believed to have had a hand in mail bombs addressed to Chicago-area synagogues, packages intercepted in Dubai and Europe in October 2010.
Intelligence officials also painted a picture of al-Awlaki contrary to his public persona, saying that he wasn't the most pious of individuals and was said to be dating a Croatian stripper.
Awlaki was not a senior Islamic cleric, nor a commander of AQAP, which is led by a Yemeni named Nasir al-Wahayshi, but he played a key role in the group's global outreach.
"Awlaki's death won't hurt al-Qaida's operations because he didn't have a leadership role. But the organization has lost an important figure for recruiting people from afar," said Said Obeid, a Yemeni analyst on al-Qaida.
Al-Awlaki's death "will especially impact the group's ability to recruit, inspire and raise funds as al-Awlaki's influence and ability to connect to a broad demographic of potential supporters was unprecedented," said terrorist analyst Ben Venzke of the private intelligence monitoring firm, the IntelCenter.
Al-Awlaki's writing, preaching
But Venzke said the terror group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula will remain the most dangerous regional arm "both in its region and for the direct threat it poses to the U.S. following three recent failed attacks," with its leader Nasir al-Wahayshi still at large.
Al-Awlaki wrote an article in the latest issue of the terror group's magazine justifying attacking civilians in the West. It is titled "Targeting the Populations of Countries that Are at War with the Muslims."
Video: Second American killed in al-Awlaki strike (on this page)
Earlier in his career, Awlaki preached at mosques in the United States attended by some of the hijackers in the September 11, 2001, attacks. He served as imam at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Va., a Washington suburb, for about a year in 2001.
The mosque's outreach director, Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, has said that mosque members never saw al-Awlaki espousing radical ideology while he was there, and he believes al-Awlaki's views changed after he left the U.S.
Yemen's continuing turmoil
Yemen has been mired in turmoil after eight months of mass protests demanding that President Ali Abdullah Saleh step down, something he has reiterated he will do only if his main rivals do not take over.
"Because if we transfer power and they are there, this will mean that we have given into a coup," Saleh told The Washington Post and Time magazine in an interview published on Friday, a week after he made a surprise return from Saudi Arabia.
He had been recuperating in Riyadh from a June bomb attack on his Sanaa compound that badly burned and wounded him.
His return halted talks over a Gulf-brokered transition plan that had been revived despite violence that has killed more than 100 people in Sanaa in the past two weeks.
Opposition groups accuse Saleh of giving militants more leeway in a ploy to frighten Western powers and convince them that he is the best defense against al-Qaida.
Story: Judge sets 2012 trial date in Fort Hood shooting case
"Awlaki serves the government as a way to scare the West," said protest organizer Manea al-Mattari. "They want to improve their image in the West after all the killing they have done."
Thousands of pro- and anti-Saleh demonstrators took to the streets of Sanaa again on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer.
Protesters carried 13 bodies, wrapped in Yemeni flags, of people killed in fighting in the capital this week. Asked about al-Awlaki's death, one demonstrator said it was irrelevant.
"Nobody cared about his death today and we wonder why the government announced it now. We have much bigger problems than Anwar al-Awlaki," said Fayza al-Suleimani, 29.
NBC News, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Waterloo ? Manulife Financial?s CoverMe.com website has been awarded the 2011 International Business Award for best insurance website. CoverMe.com is a direct-to-consumer website that markets individual supplemental health insurance, travel insurance, life insurance and critical illness insurance.
Winners of the International Business Awards, more widely known as the Stevie Awards, were selected from over 3,000 entries.
CoverMe.com, which was designed and is operated by Manulife Financial?s Affinity Markets unit, provides consumers with information about plan options and benefit descriptions, as well as tools to help them choose the most appropriate coverage for their individual needs. This award-winning website also features a streamlined online quote and application process, knowledge centre and a referral program.
?We are proud Coverme.com has received this international award as the best insurance website,? noted Gavin Robinson, Senior Vice-President and General Manager of Manulife Financial?s Affinity Markets unit.? ?A great deal of work went into making CoverMe.com accessible, appealing and easy for our customers to find what they were looking for, and to learn more about their insurance options.?
The Stevie Awards were created to honour the achievements and raise the profile of exemplary work done by organizations from around the world. The International Business Awards are overseen by a board of distinguished judges and advisors who are prominent and accomplished professionals from around the world, with sponsors that include several of the top global business publishers and marketers.
The new look and enhanced features of CoverMe.com are the result of a recent redesign, which was undertaken to improve the customer experience online. The redesigned website has translated into positive business outcomes with a 20% increase in online requests for information and a 40% increase in online applications for insurance coverage.
This business success, together with the innovative approach and aesthetic appeal of the website, were key elements in CoverMe.com?s Stevie Award recognition.??????
?In an increasingly digital marketplace, customers expect to find the information they need online, and the new CoverMe.com is an example of our commitment to meet those expectations,? said Bob Doyle, Director of Strategic Marketing at Affinity Markets. ?The site now offers a user-friendly experience that makes it easy for potential customers to choose the appropriate type and level of insurance coverage.?
Stevie Award recipients will be honoured at a gala in Abu Dhabi on October 11.
About Affinity Markets Affinity Markets is a division of Manulife Financial that offers a broad range of life, disability, creditor, health and travel insurance directly to the consumer and through professional and alumni associations, retiree organizations, financial institutions, retailers, travel groups, agents and other specialty distribution channels. With over 200 partner sponsors, insuring over 1 million Canadians, Manulife Financial?s Affinity Markets is the leader in the affinity marketplace for health, life and travel insurance.
About Manulife Financial Manulife Financial is a leading Canadian-based financial services group operating in 21 countries and territories worldwide. For more than 120 years, clients have looked to Manulife for strong, reliable, trustworthy and forward-thinking solutions for their most significant financial decisions. Our international network of employees, agents and distribution partners offers financial protection and wealth management products and services to millions of clients. We provide asset management services to institutional customers worldwide as well as reinsurance solutions, specializing in property and casualty retrocession. Funds under management by Manulife Financial and its subsidiaries were Cdn$481billion (US$498 billion) as at June 30, 2011. The Company operates as Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia and primarily as John Hancock in the United States.
Manulife Financial Corporation trades as ?MFC? on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under ?945? on the SEHK. Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at www.manulife.com.
Media contact:??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Michael May AVP, Media Relations Manulife Financial Canadian Division 519-594-2660
American Geophysical Union journal highlights -- Sept. 30, 2011Public release date: 30-Sep-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kate Ramsayer kramsayer@agu.org 202-777-7524 American Geophysical Union
The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently
published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Paleoceanography (PA),
Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences (JGR-G), and Journal of
Geophysical Research-Oceans (JGR-C).
In this release:
Moon's shadow, like a ship, creates waves
Groundwater depletion's contribution to increase in sea level rise
An atmospheric precursor to the recent Japan megaquake
Peatland images show change due to global warming
Shells of microorganisms record seasonal temperature changes
Using an artificial brain to interpret Adriatic surface currents
Anyone may read the scientific abstract for any already-published paper by
clicking on the link provided at the end of each Highlight. You can also read
the abstract by going to http://www.agu.org/pubs/search_options.shtml and
inserting into the search engine the full doi (digital object identifier), e.g.
10.1029/2011GL048604. The doi is found at the end of each Highlight below.
Journalists and public information officers (PIOs) at educational or scientific
institutions who are registered with AGU also may download papers cited in
this release by clicking on the links below. Instructions for members of the
news media, PIOs, and the public for downloading or ordering the full text of
any research paper summarized below are available at
http://www.agu.org/news/press/papers.shtml.
1. Moon's shadow, like a ship, creates waves
During a solar eclipse, the Moon's passage overhead blocks out the majority of the
Sun's light and casts a wide swath of the Earth into darkness. The land under the
Moon's shadow receives less incoming energy than the surrounding regions,
causing it to cool. In the early 1970s, researches proposed that this temperature
difference could set off slow-moving waves in the upper atmosphere. They
hypothesized that the waves, moving more slowly than the travelling temperature
disparity from which they spawned, would pile up along the leading edge of the
Moon's path-like slow-moving waves breaking on a ship's bow. The dynamic
was shown theoretically and in early computer simulations, but it was not until a
total solar eclipse on 22 July 2009 that researchers were able to observe the
behavior.
Using a dense network of ground-based global positioning satellite receivers, Liu
et al. tracked the influence of the 2009 eclipse as it passed over Taiwan and Japan.
The researchers looked for changes in the total electron content in the ionosphere
and find acoustic waves with periods between 3 and 5 minutes traveling around
100 meters per second (328 feet per second) that originated from the leading and
trailing edges of the shadow, analogous to bow waves and stern wake common in
maritime activity. They find that there was a 30 minute time difference between
the arrival of the bow and stern waves suggesting that, were the Moon's shadow a
ship, it would be 1,712 kilometers (1,064 miles) long. The researchers indicate that
this would correspond to the part of the Moon's shadow that produced at least an
80 percent obscuration of the Sun's light.
Source:
Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL048805, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GL048805
Title:
Bow and stern waves triggered by the Moon's shadow boat
Authors:
J. Y. Liu: Institute of Space Science, National Central University, Chung-Li,
Taiwan, Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research, Chung-Li, Taiwan, and
National Space Program Origination, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan;
Y. Y. Sun: Institute of Space Science, National Central University, Chung-Li,
Taiwan;
Y. Kakinami: Institute of Seismology and Volcanology, Hokkaido University,
Sapporo, Japan;
C. H. Chen: Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto
University, Kyoto, Japan;
C. H. Lin: Department of Earth Science, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan,
Taiwan;
H. F. Tsai: Center Weather Bureau, Taipei, Taiwan.
2. Groundwater depletion's contribution to increase in sea level rise
Since the turn of the twentieth century, industrial-scale redistribution of water from
landlocked aquifers to the ocean has driven up the global average sea level by over
12 centimeters (4.7 inches). Between 1900 and 2008, roughly 4,500 cubic
kilometers (1,079 cubic miles) of water was drawn from the ground, largely to feed
an agricultural system increasingly reliant on irrigation. Of that 4,500-cubic km
total (nearly the volume of Lake Michigan), 1,100 cubic km (264 cubic mi) were
pumped out between 2000 and 2008 alone. This early 21st-century groundwater
depletion was responsible for raising global sea level at a rate of 0.4 millimeters
per year (0.016 inches per year), an eighth of the observed total. These updated
values, falling near the middle of the range of previous estimates, are the product
of an investigation by Konikow that draws together a variety of volumetric
measurements of groundwater storage.
The researcher combines the results from a number of previous studies that
estimated groundwater storage using measurements of groundwater levels, satellite
observations of aquifer water volumes, or models designed to track long-term
changes in groundwater storage. Groundwater depletion can have a host of
negative consequences, including land subsidence, loss of wetlands, reductions in
river flow rates, and, of course, the eventual elimination of an important source of
freshwater. With sea level rise already an important facet of the challenge of
planning for future climate change, Konikow notes that it is important to constrain
the historical contribution of groundwater depletion to sea level rise, such that the
range of possible future rates of sea level rise can be reined in.
Source:
Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL048604, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GL048604
Title:
Contribution of global groundwater depletion since 1900 to sea-level rise
Authors:
Leonard F. Konikow: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, USA.
3. An atmospheric precursor to the recent Japan megaquake
Most scientists believe that earthquakes are inherently unpredictable, and reports
of various kinds of earthquake precursor signals have been difficult to verify.
However, in a new study, Heki reports a possible ionospheric precursor to the
devastating 11 March 2011 magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake in Japan. Analyzing
data from the Japanese GPS network, he detects an increase in the total electron
content (TEC) in the ionosphere above the focal region of the earthquake
beginning about 40 minutes before the quake. The TEC enhancement reached
about 8 percent above the background electron content. The increase in TEC was
greatest above the earthquake epicenter and diminished with distance from the
epicenter. The researcher also analyzes GPS records from previous earthquakes
and finds that similar ionospheric anomalies occurred before the 2010 magnitude
8.8 Chile earthquake, possibly the 2004 Sumatra magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and
possibly the 1994 magnitude 8.3 Hokkaido earthquake, but TEC enhancements
were not seen before smaller earthquakes.
Although previous studies have shown that earthquakes could trigger atmospheric
waves that travel upward and disturb the ionosphere, it is unclear how an
ionospheric disturbance could occur before an earthquake begins. In addition, the
ionosphere is highly variable, and solar storms can trigger large TEC changes, so
nonearthquake causes of any TEC enhancement need to be ruled out. The
researcher states that, unlike previously suggested earthquake precursors, the TEC
enhancement before the Tohoku quake had obvious spatial and temporal
correlation between the quake and precursor signal as well as clear magnitude
dependence. Further research is needed to verify that TEC enhancements can
indeed be a precursor to large earthquakes.
Source:
Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL047908, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GL047908
Title:
Ionospheric electron enhancement preceding the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake
Authors:
Kosuke Heki: Department of Natural History Sciences, Hokkaido University,
Sapporo, Japan.
4. Peatland images show change due to global warming
As global average temperatures rise, vast tracks of peatland currently encased in
permafrost will be affected. As the ground thaws, peatlands will evolve in either of
two directions. Along one path, land that was previously propped up by supportive
permafrost subsides, forming a shallow basin that fills with water-a thermokarst
lake. In the new lake, peat undergoes anaerobic bacterial decay, releasing methane
to the environment. Alternatively, permafrost thawing can result in lake drainage.
In the drained lake beds, fen vegetation and mosses can grow, drawing down
atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The prevalence of these two processes, and
their relationship with changing temperatures, remains an important question in
understanding the consequences of permafrost thaw on the global carbon cycle.
Using high-resolution satellite imagery and aerial photography stretching back to
the 1950s, Sannel and Kuhry track the transformation of three permafrost
peatlands: a Canadian and a Russian site with relatively cold ground temperatures,
and a Swedish peatland with permafrost temperatures close to 0 degrees Celsius
(32 degrees Fahrenheit). The authors find that as winter precipitation, average
atmospheric temperatures, and average ground temperatures increased throughout
the study period, the Canadian and Russian peatlands saw small changes in lake
extent. However, the Swedish site had 7.6 percent of its lake area overgrown by
vegetation per decade, along with the formation of some small new lakes. The
authors suggest that there is a threshold air temperature, between -5 degrees
Celsius and -3 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit and 26.7 degrees
Fahrenheit), above which temperature and precipitation changes begin to
significantly affect peatlands.
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, doi:10.1029/2010JG001635,
2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010JG001635
Title:
Warming-induced destabilization of peat plateau/thermokarst lake complexes
Authors:
A. B. K. Sannel and P. Kuhry: Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary
Geology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
5. Shells of microorganisms record seasonal temperature changes
When microorganisms in the ocean known as planktonic foraminifera form their
shells, the magnesium to calcium (Mg/Ca) ratios in those shells are sensitive to
water temperature. This has enabled paleoceanographers to use Mg/Ca ratios
measured from multiple fossil foraminifera shells in sediments as a proxy for
average water temperatures in the past.
Now Haarmann et al. show that some foraminifera Mg/Ca ratios can even be used
to determine seasonal variations in temperature. The researchers suggest that
because planktonic foraminifera calcify over a period of a few weeks to months,
the Mg/Ca ratios in single specimens could capture seasonal temperature
variations. They tested this in samples of three different foraminifera species
collected off the coast of northwestern Africa, where there is strong seasonal sea
surface temperature variability. The researchers find that one of the three species
shows strong variations in Mg/Ca that tracked seasonal temperature changes and
thus could potentially be used to reconstruct seasonality in the near and distant
past.
Title:
Mg/Ca ratios of single planktonic foraminifer shells and the potential to
reconstruct the thermal seasonality of the water column
Authors:
Tim Haarmann: MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Bremen,
Germany;
Ed C. Hathorne: IFM-GEOMAR, Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences, University
of Kiel, Kiel, Germany;
Mahyar Mohtadi: MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Bremen,
Germany;
Jeroen Groeneveld: MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences,
Bremen, Germany, and Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany;
Martin Klling: Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Bremen,
Germany;
Torsten Bickert: MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Bremen,
Germany.
6. Using an artificial brain to interpret Adriatic surface currents
The Adriatic Sea is largely cut off from global-scale ocean circulation patterns - it
lies between the Italian peninsula and the northwestern Balkan nations, and is
separated from the Mediterranean Sea by the Strait of Otranto. As a whole, the
Adriatic has a permanent counterclockwise circulation, but in the shallow northern
reaches, surface currents vary dramatically over short spans of time, with
potentially dangerous consequences for maritime activity. To understand the
primary drivers of the fluctuating surface currents, Mihanovic et al. perform self-
organizing map (SOM) analysis-an emergent computational technique in
oceanographic research-on data provided by three high-frequency radar stations
operating in the region.
As a neural network technique, SOM analysis uses complex mathematical
algorithms to train computers to pull patterns from jumbles of data, reducing
complex multidimensional observations into simple visual maps. The approach is
meant to emulate the learning abilities of biological brains. The researchers' SOM
analysis reveals 12 patterns that explain the majority of northern Adriatic surface
currents. By comparing SOM analyses run using radar data against those
performed using the radar data along with surface wind data derived from a high-
resolution operational model, the researchers deduce that surface currents in the
northern Adriatic are controlled largely by surface winds. They find that three of
the 12 patterns are linked to regularly recurring, dry, northeasterly winds (bora),
and three are tied to moist southeasterly winds (sirocco) that are equally prevalent
in the region. The remaining six surface current patterns are associated with calm
conditions or with what remains of the basin-wide thermohaline circulation's
influence. The number of patterns associated with each force indicates its relative
importance in driving surface currents. The researchers suggest that their SOM
analysis-derived patterns potentially could be used within operational
oceanography systems to provide real-time estimates and forecasts of surface
currents for the northern Adriatic.
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, doi:10.1029/2011JC007104, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011JC007104
Title:
Surface current patterns in the northern Adriatic extracted from high-frequency
radar data using self-organizing map analysis
Authors:
Hrvoje Mihanovic: Hydrographic Institute of the Republic of Croatia, Split,
Croatia;
Simone Cosoli and Miroslav Gacic: Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di
Geofisica Sperimentale, Sgonico, Italy;
Ivica Vilibic, Damir Ivankovic and Vlado Dadic; Institute of Oceanography and
Fisheries, Split, Croatia.
###
Contact:
Kate Ramsayer
Phone (direct): 202-777-7524
Phone (toll free in North America): 800-966-2481 x524
Email: kramsayer@agu.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
American Geophysical Union journal highlights -- Sept. 30, 2011Public release date: 30-Sep-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kate Ramsayer kramsayer@agu.org 202-777-7524 American Geophysical Union
The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently
published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Paleoceanography (PA),
Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences (JGR-G), and Journal of
Geophysical Research-Oceans (JGR-C).
In this release:
Moon's shadow, like a ship, creates waves
Groundwater depletion's contribution to increase in sea level rise
An atmospheric precursor to the recent Japan megaquake
Peatland images show change due to global warming
Shells of microorganisms record seasonal temperature changes
Using an artificial brain to interpret Adriatic surface currents
Anyone may read the scientific abstract for any already-published paper by
clicking on the link provided at the end of each Highlight. You can also read
the abstract by going to http://www.agu.org/pubs/search_options.shtml and
inserting into the search engine the full doi (digital object identifier), e.g.
10.1029/2011GL048604. The doi is found at the end of each Highlight below.
Journalists and public information officers (PIOs) at educational or scientific
institutions who are registered with AGU also may download papers cited in
this release by clicking on the links below. Instructions for members of the
news media, PIOs, and the public for downloading or ordering the full text of
any research paper summarized below are available at
http://www.agu.org/news/press/papers.shtml.
1. Moon's shadow, like a ship, creates waves
During a solar eclipse, the Moon's passage overhead blocks out the majority of the
Sun's light and casts a wide swath of the Earth into darkness. The land under the
Moon's shadow receives less incoming energy than the surrounding regions,
causing it to cool. In the early 1970s, researches proposed that this temperature
difference could set off slow-moving waves in the upper atmosphere. They
hypothesized that the waves, moving more slowly than the travelling temperature
disparity from which they spawned, would pile up along the leading edge of the
Moon's path-like slow-moving waves breaking on a ship's bow. The dynamic
was shown theoretically and in early computer simulations, but it was not until a
total solar eclipse on 22 July 2009 that researchers were able to observe the
behavior.
Using a dense network of ground-based global positioning satellite receivers, Liu
et al. tracked the influence of the 2009 eclipse as it passed over Taiwan and Japan.
The researchers looked for changes in the total electron content in the ionosphere
and find acoustic waves with periods between 3 and 5 minutes traveling around
100 meters per second (328 feet per second) that originated from the leading and
trailing edges of the shadow, analogous to bow waves and stern wake common in
maritime activity. They find that there was a 30 minute time difference between
the arrival of the bow and stern waves suggesting that, were the Moon's shadow a
ship, it would be 1,712 kilometers (1,064 miles) long. The researchers indicate that
this would correspond to the part of the Moon's shadow that produced at least an
80 percent obscuration of the Sun's light.
Source:
Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL048805, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GL048805
Title:
Bow and stern waves triggered by the Moon's shadow boat
Authors:
J. Y. Liu: Institute of Space Science, National Central University, Chung-Li,
Taiwan, Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research, Chung-Li, Taiwan, and
National Space Program Origination, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan;
Y. Y. Sun: Institute of Space Science, National Central University, Chung-Li,
Taiwan;
Y. Kakinami: Institute of Seismology and Volcanology, Hokkaido University,
Sapporo, Japan;
C. H. Chen: Department of Geophysics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto
University, Kyoto, Japan;
C. H. Lin: Department of Earth Science, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan,
Taiwan;
H. F. Tsai: Center Weather Bureau, Taipei, Taiwan.
2. Groundwater depletion's contribution to increase in sea level rise
Since the turn of the twentieth century, industrial-scale redistribution of water from
landlocked aquifers to the ocean has driven up the global average sea level by over
12 centimeters (4.7 inches). Between 1900 and 2008, roughly 4,500 cubic
kilometers (1,079 cubic miles) of water was drawn from the ground, largely to feed
an agricultural system increasingly reliant on irrigation. Of that 4,500-cubic km
total (nearly the volume of Lake Michigan), 1,100 cubic km (264 cubic mi) were
pumped out between 2000 and 2008 alone. This early 21st-century groundwater
depletion was responsible for raising global sea level at a rate of 0.4 millimeters
per year (0.016 inches per year), an eighth of the observed total. These updated
values, falling near the middle of the range of previous estimates, are the product
of an investigation by Konikow that draws together a variety of volumetric
measurements of groundwater storage.
The researcher combines the results from a number of previous studies that
estimated groundwater storage using measurements of groundwater levels, satellite
observations of aquifer water volumes, or models designed to track long-term
changes in groundwater storage. Groundwater depletion can have a host of
negative consequences, including land subsidence, loss of wetlands, reductions in
river flow rates, and, of course, the eventual elimination of an important source of
freshwater. With sea level rise already an important facet of the challenge of
planning for future climate change, Konikow notes that it is important to constrain
the historical contribution of groundwater depletion to sea level rise, such that the
range of possible future rates of sea level rise can be reined in.
Source:
Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL048604, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GL048604
Title:
Contribution of global groundwater depletion since 1900 to sea-level rise
Authors:
Leonard F. Konikow: U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, USA.
3. An atmospheric precursor to the recent Japan megaquake
Most scientists believe that earthquakes are inherently unpredictable, and reports
of various kinds of earthquake precursor signals have been difficult to verify.
However, in a new study, Heki reports a possible ionospheric precursor to the
devastating 11 March 2011 magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake in Japan. Analyzing
data from the Japanese GPS network, he detects an increase in the total electron
content (TEC) in the ionosphere above the focal region of the earthquake
beginning about 40 minutes before the quake. The TEC enhancement reached
about 8 percent above the background electron content. The increase in TEC was
greatest above the earthquake epicenter and diminished with distance from the
epicenter. The researcher also analyzes GPS records from previous earthquakes
and finds that similar ionospheric anomalies occurred before the 2010 magnitude
8.8 Chile earthquake, possibly the 2004 Sumatra magnitude 9.2 earthquake, and
possibly the 1994 magnitude 8.3 Hokkaido earthquake, but TEC enhancements
were not seen before smaller earthquakes.
Although previous studies have shown that earthquakes could trigger atmospheric
waves that travel upward and disturb the ionosphere, it is unclear how an
ionospheric disturbance could occur before an earthquake begins. In addition, the
ionosphere is highly variable, and solar storms can trigger large TEC changes, so
nonearthquake causes of any TEC enhancement need to be ruled out. The
researcher states that, unlike previously suggested earthquake precursors, the TEC
enhancement before the Tohoku quake had obvious spatial and temporal
correlation between the quake and precursor signal as well as clear magnitude
dependence. Further research is needed to verify that TEC enhancements can
indeed be a precursor to large earthquakes.
Source:
Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1029/2011GL047908, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GL047908
Title:
Ionospheric electron enhancement preceding the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake
Authors:
Kosuke Heki: Department of Natural History Sciences, Hokkaido University,
Sapporo, Japan.
4. Peatland images show change due to global warming
As global average temperatures rise, vast tracks of peatland currently encased in
permafrost will be affected. As the ground thaws, peatlands will evolve in either of
two directions. Along one path, land that was previously propped up by supportive
permafrost subsides, forming a shallow basin that fills with water-a thermokarst
lake. In the new lake, peat undergoes anaerobic bacterial decay, releasing methane
to the environment. Alternatively, permafrost thawing can result in lake drainage.
In the drained lake beds, fen vegetation and mosses can grow, drawing down
atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The prevalence of these two processes, and
their relationship with changing temperatures, remains an important question in
understanding the consequences of permafrost thaw on the global carbon cycle.
Using high-resolution satellite imagery and aerial photography stretching back to
the 1950s, Sannel and Kuhry track the transformation of three permafrost
peatlands: a Canadian and a Russian site with relatively cold ground temperatures,
and a Swedish peatland with permafrost temperatures close to 0 degrees Celsius
(32 degrees Fahrenheit). The authors find that as winter precipitation, average
atmospheric temperatures, and average ground temperatures increased throughout
the study period, the Canadian and Russian peatlands saw small changes in lake
extent. However, the Swedish site had 7.6 percent of its lake area overgrown by
vegetation per decade, along with the formation of some small new lakes. The
authors suggest that there is a threshold air temperature, between -5 degrees
Celsius and -3 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit and 26.7 degrees
Fahrenheit), above which temperature and precipitation changes begin to
significantly affect peatlands.
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, doi:10.1029/2010JG001635,
2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010JG001635
Title:
Warming-induced destabilization of peat plateau/thermokarst lake complexes
Authors:
A. B. K. Sannel and P. Kuhry: Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary
Geology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
5. Shells of microorganisms record seasonal temperature changes
When microorganisms in the ocean known as planktonic foraminifera form their
shells, the magnesium to calcium (Mg/Ca) ratios in those shells are sensitive to
water temperature. This has enabled paleoceanographers to use Mg/Ca ratios
measured from multiple fossil foraminifera shells in sediments as a proxy for
average water temperatures in the past.
Now Haarmann et al. show that some foraminifera Mg/Ca ratios can even be used
to determine seasonal variations in temperature. The researchers suggest that
because planktonic foraminifera calcify over a period of a few weeks to months,
the Mg/Ca ratios in single specimens could capture seasonal temperature
variations. They tested this in samples of three different foraminifera species
collected off the coast of northwestern Africa, where there is strong seasonal sea
surface temperature variability. The researchers find that one of the three species
shows strong variations in Mg/Ca that tracked seasonal temperature changes and
thus could potentially be used to reconstruct seasonality in the near and distant
past.
Title:
Mg/Ca ratios of single planktonic foraminifer shells and the potential to
reconstruct the thermal seasonality of the water column
Authors:
Tim Haarmann: MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Bremen,
Germany;
Ed C. Hathorne: IFM-GEOMAR, Leibniz Institute for Marine Sciences, University
of Kiel, Kiel, Germany;
Mahyar Mohtadi: MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Bremen,
Germany;
Jeroen Groeneveld: MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences,
Bremen, Germany, and Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany;
Martin Klling: Department of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Bremen,
Germany;
Torsten Bickert: MARUM-Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, Bremen,
Germany.
6. Using an artificial brain to interpret Adriatic surface currents
The Adriatic Sea is largely cut off from global-scale ocean circulation patterns - it
lies between the Italian peninsula and the northwestern Balkan nations, and is
separated from the Mediterranean Sea by the Strait of Otranto. As a whole, the
Adriatic has a permanent counterclockwise circulation, but in the shallow northern
reaches, surface currents vary dramatically over short spans of time, with
potentially dangerous consequences for maritime activity. To understand the
primary drivers of the fluctuating surface currents, Mihanovic et al. perform self-
organizing map (SOM) analysis-an emergent computational technique in
oceanographic research-on data provided by three high-frequency radar stations
operating in the region.
As a neural network technique, SOM analysis uses complex mathematical
algorithms to train computers to pull patterns from jumbles of data, reducing
complex multidimensional observations into simple visual maps. The approach is
meant to emulate the learning abilities of biological brains. The researchers' SOM
analysis reveals 12 patterns that explain the majority of northern Adriatic surface
currents. By comparing SOM analyses run using radar data against those
performed using the radar data along with surface wind data derived from a high-
resolution operational model, the researchers deduce that surface currents in the
northern Adriatic are controlled largely by surface winds. They find that three of
the 12 patterns are linked to regularly recurring, dry, northeasterly winds (bora),
and three are tied to moist southeasterly winds (sirocco) that are equally prevalent
in the region. The remaining six surface current patterns are associated with calm
conditions or with what remains of the basin-wide thermohaline circulation's
influence. The number of patterns associated with each force indicates its relative
importance in driving surface currents. The researchers suggest that their SOM
analysis-derived patterns potentially could be used within operational
oceanography systems to provide real-time estimates and forecasts of surface
currents for the northern Adriatic.
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, doi:10.1029/2011JC007104, 2011
http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011JC007104
Title:
Surface current patterns in the northern Adriatic extracted from high-frequency
radar data using self-organizing map analysis
Authors:
Hrvoje Mihanovic: Hydrographic Institute of the Republic of Croatia, Split,
Croatia;
Simone Cosoli and Miroslav Gacic: Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di
Geofisica Sperimentale, Sgonico, Italy;
Ivica Vilibic, Damir Ivankovic and Vlado Dadic; Institute of Oceanography and
Fisheries, Split, Croatia.
###
Contact:
Kate Ramsayer
Phone (direct): 202-777-7524
Phone (toll free in North America): 800-966-2481 x524
Email: kramsayer@agu.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Online Marketing For Online Business 
Posting Permissions
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u_bPv5z4A517wYXHRrHzdRYBOQg2hmSKJlo7xMUWodnZZRlGUDmJMqLNrSRy7c2y5XM2p8R2MgKCsc2XwTnqA-burx1u8EDNPm4eBymcg=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 30-Sep-2011
Share ]