Weatherology

Follow the wisdom of a river. With patience and persistence we will get there someday. #nature #wisdom #success #patience #persistent #life

28 million light-years or 164,601,510,000,000,000,000 miles, that’s the incredible distance away from Earth that an international?team of astronomers has discovered?an #exoplanet, or planet beyond our own solar system. If it’s confirmed, this would be, not only the farthest exoplanet ever discovered, but also the first one outside of our Milky Way #galaxy. Since the 1990s the number of exoplanets discovered by astronomers has been steadily increasing. Today the number stands at more than 4,000. However, all of these exoplanets, until now, have been within our own Milky Way, and the majority of them have been closer than 3,000 light years away. Normally, in order to detect an exoplanet, astronomers will look for a dip or dimming of the light levels from a distant star that tells them that a planet has crossed in front of the star blocking some of its light from reaching us. This technique is called the transit method. Instead of using visible light to detect the possible new exoplanet in the Whirlpool Galaxy, astronomers in this case have used x-rays. Observations taken from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have determined that the exoplanet in question is found in an x-ray binary star system. This means that the planet is orbiting not just one normal star, like the Sun, but two objects, a normal star and an object that emits x-rays, such as a neutron star or black hole. The astronomers observed that the possible exoplanet took three hours to transit, or cross in front of the source of x-rays in the binary system. Combined with other data, they have determined that the exoplanet is roughly the size of Saturn and orbits the black hole or neutron star at twice the distance that Saturn orbits the Sun.?Such an exoplanet would likely have had to endure a harsh environment, as the neutron star or black hole would have been formed after a supernova explosion. #astronomy

"Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." #nature #adventure #success #life

#Coral?reefs, even though they cover just one percent of the ocean floor, contain 25 percent of all?#marine?species. That's why coral reefs are sometimes called the “rainforests of the sea.” Runoff from coastal regions can have a significant, negative impact on the health of?#coralreefs. A?recent study, lead-authored by Dr. Andrés Suárez-Castro of the University of Queensland, points to?#reforestation?of terrestrial forests as one of the most important ways to help preserve the health of these marine “forests.” Runoff from land-based sources contains not only sediment, which can block important sunlight from reaching coral, but also chemicals such as nitrogen from fertilizers. Nitrogen acts to make corals more susceptible to disease as well as decreasing their resiliency to the warming ocean water. While human activity such as land clearing, deforestation, and agriculture can result in increased runoff and have negative impacts on coastal water quality and coral reef health, we also have the power to improve the runoff problem. One of the most effective ways to control runoff naturally is through reforestation. Trees act to provide more stability to the soil, thereby decreasing the risk of erosion, and they also trap sediment before it can run off into marine?#ecosystems. As an example, if an average of 1000 hectares (2471 acres) of coastal land was reforested near the major coral reefs of the world, the amount of sediment reaching reefs could be reduced by 8.5 percent over the 63,000 square kilometers (24,324 square mi) of coral reefs worldwide. Currently, the two countries with the most coastal runoff near coral reef zones are Indonesia and the Philippines, accounting for a full 52% of sediment runoff. Reforestation also has the added benefit of offsetting carbon dioxide emissions, helping to mitigate another chemical whose increase is having negative effects, not only on climate but also on coral reefs.?#ecology

In the silence of the heart, we hear the voice of our creator. #nature #mindfulness #success #peace #life

According to recent findings by an international team of #researchers, led by Dr. Margot Kuitems with the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, the precise date that the #Vikings had a settlement in #Newfoundland, Canada was 1021, nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus made his famous voyage to the Americas. That the Vikings discovered the Americas far before Columbus is not a new revelation. It was back in 1960 that the archaeological remains of a Norse settlement were uncovered at the L'Anse aux Meadows site on the northern tip of Newfoundland. The dating of the site at that time, though, was rather imprecise, estimated around the year 1000 AD. It took a relatively new dating technique to establish the more precise date of 1021 AD for the site. Examining pieces of wood that had been cut at the site by the Norse explorers, the researchers of this latest study were able to identify a telltale spike in the levels of carbon-14 in the tree rings corresponding to the year 993. During that year, there was a cosmic ray event, most likely caused by strong solar flare activity, in which increased amounts of radiation reached the surface of the Earth, all across the globe. This increased radiation shows up in the same tree ring year in samples taken all over the world, which can then be used as a precise date marker for subsequent events. Furthermore, the L'Anse aux Meadows site can be accurately attributed to the Vikings because the wood showed evidence of cutting with metal tools, which the already established indigenous population did not yet use, during that time period. It still is not known whether the date of 1021 was closer to the beginning or end of the occupation by the Norse at L'Anse aux Meadows. However, further testing of the wood should narrow the range of dates. This technique should also prove invaluable to other #archaeological endeavors by providing a much more precise dating result than was previously possible.

Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self. #nature #selfcare #happiness #solitude #life

Places like Florida, islands in the Caribbean, or even exotic locales in the Pacific Ocean are often the places that come to mind when thinking of locations that experience #tropical storms, #hurricanes, and typhoons. Surprisingly, areas bordering the Mediterranean Sea deal with strong, hurricane-like systems, as well. These systems, called “medicanes” (short for #Mediterranean hurricanes), in addition to producing extensive damage have unfortunately proved deadly over the past few decades. The strongest #medicane yet recorded struck the country of Greece back in September of 2020. Named Ianos, the storm was equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 98 mph and gusts to 120 mph. Initially forming over the Gulf of Sidra in the southern Mediterranean Sea on September 14, the storm intensified as it worked north-northwest skirting by the southern tip of Italy before turning more easterly, aiming at the west coast of Greece. Before making landfall, the storm exhibited an eye-like feature. After making landfall on September 18, the storm became nearly stationary as it gradually weakened, before finally working southeast. As Ianos stalled out over Greece, it dumped very heavy rainfall over terrain which is predominately mountainous. The highest recorded rainfall was an eye-opening 25.38 in (644.7 mm) in Kefalonia. The heavy rain and topography combined to produce dangerous flash #flooding, which unfortunately caused the majority of the storm's four fatalities. Damage estimates from the storm sit at €164 million ($100 million 2020 USD). While not as common as Atlantic or Pacific tropical #cyclones, most years in the past several decades have featured at least one of these hurricane-like disturbances, with some years even seeing more than one affect the Mediterranean. The trends in data are still inconclusive on whether these storms are becoming a?more frequent occurrence. However, as global ocean temperatures continue to rise, this is expected to only provide more ocean heat energy to fuel these medicanes.

Today is an opportunity for a fresh start free of mistakes and fear of regret. #nature #mentalhealth #success #goals #life

With peak fall colors starting to fade across much of the United States and colder air moving in, it's the time of year when some start to think about #snow; whether you’re excited or dreading the onset of winter. More than half of the country sees some amount of snow during the winter, on average. However, the amount of snow you see each year greatly depends on where you live. You might expect mountainous regions to see the highest totals, and you’d be right. Maybe less obvious though are the totals seen surrounding larger #lakes across the United States and at higher latitudes around the world. Lake-effect snowfall is a #wintertime phenomenon that has a significant impact on relatively small areas. What is lake-effect snow, why does it happen, and what affects its severity? Lake-effect snow occurs when cold air travels across warmer water, allowing for an unstable environment where air rises and creates a shallow, moist layer in the #atmosphere. The depth of the layer mainly depends on the distance that the air travels over the water and is the reason that this phenomenon is most common over larger lakes. Specifically, the southern and eastern shores of larger lakes are the regions that see the highest snow totals since colder air is typically located to the north and the storms that drive the winds across these lakes bring that air to the south and east. There are different types of lake-effect events, with the most impactful being what are known as shore-parallel bands. These bands travel across the longer part of the lake, allowing for maximum moisture transport into that shallow air layer. Shore-parallel bands can bring many feet of snow to a very narrow region and can extend for hundreds of miles inland, though they’re most commonly between 30 and 120 miles. Lake-effect snow totals are increased when the bands travel over higher terrain close to the lake shore, squeezing more of the moisture out of the air. One lake-effect event in 2014 brought 7 feet of snow to the city of Buffalo, New York over 2 days. While lake-effect snow occurs in a small area of the United States, it does bring the potential for major impacts to #communities. This includes the cities of Buffalo and Syracuse in New York, and Marquette, Michigan. Another, less obvious area that can see lake-effect is Salt Lake City and the nearby Wasatch mountains. Since these events can be so impactful, it's important to study how they may change as the climate changes. A study included in Earth’s Journal, titled “How Could Future Climate Conditions Reshape a Devastating Lake-Effect Snow Storm?“ sought to address this question. They found that a warmer climate supported an increase in precipitation, potentially worsening the impacts of lake-effect events and it is important to continue research to better prepare for the future.