Superstorm Sandy Shook the U.S., Literally

Jasmine Diaz                                                                                       June 6, 2013

Earth Science (C-Even)                                                                       Ms. Davies

Superstorm Sandy Shook the U.S., Literally

"Superstorm Sandy Shook the U.S., Literally." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 Apr. 2013. Web. 06 June 2013. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130418213919.htm>.

            Although Hurricane Sandy seemed like just another natural disaster, something about it was unlike many others. Sandy rattled many parts of New York City and Long Island, but it didn’t end there. At the University of Utah, researchers found that as the ocean waves hit each other and the shore, they also shook a large percentage of the United States. Keith Koper, director of the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, says he detected seismic waves, which were created by the oceans waves hitting both the East Coast and smashing into each other. Oner Sufri, a University of Utah geology and geophysics doctoral student and first author of the study with Koper, says they were able to track the hurricane by looking at the microseisms, which are relatively small seismic waves, which were generated by Sandy. Although there is no magnitude for microseisms, Koper predicts they range from about 2 to 3 on an earthquake magnitude scale. The microseisms generated by Sandy were detected by Earthscope. Earthscope is a National Science Foundation-funded array of about 500 portable seismometers, which have been recently moving east. The purpose of Earthscope is to use seismic waves from the earthquakes and other sources to make images of Earth's crust and upper mantle beneath North America. Earthscope picked up the seismic waves from the ocean waves collision, which led us to believe that Sandy shook the U.S. Seismologists can track Hurricane Sandy and other natural disasters because seismometers detect three components of motion, which include one vertical and two horizontal. Koper says, "If you have enough seismometers, you can get enough data to get arrows to point at the source." Basically Koper is saying that the seismologists didn't track Sandy in real time, but the seismographic data of the storm suggests it might be possible to help track storms in the future using their seismicity.

            I chose this article because it relates seismic waves and hurricanes, which we just, finished covering in class. Although, in class we only learned about how seismic waves relate to earthquakes. Meanwhile, this article relates them to hurricanes also. This is important to society because when people hear about seismic waves they automatically assume an earthquake, but in this sense, it was about a hurricane. This article taught me that seismic waves can be created by a range of causes, and that earthquakes are not the only things that generate seismic waves.

            This article was very fluent and easy to read, which made the article enjoyable. I also enjoyed how the article was put into three subtopics, because it made it easier to follow along. Lastly, I enjoyed how they gave a lot of information about seismic waves, seismograph, seismologists, and microseisms. Although the article was easy to read and informative, there were things that were choppy and unclear. To make it better, for example, they could’ve elaborated on what causes seismic waves, besides earthquakes. Also, I felt they could’ve explained Earthscope in an easier way, that wasn’t as choppy. Other than that, I felt the article was well written and understandable.

“NASA SEAC4RS Mission Targets How Pollution, Storms And Climate Mix.” NASA.gov. 6 June 2013.

Andrew Estes

June 6, 2013

Earth Science

Ms. Davies

“NASA SEAC⁴RS Mission Targets How Pollution, Storms And Climate Mix.” NASA.gov. 6 June 2013.

For all we know about air pollution, that we create, and that is currently destroying our ozone layer, we have never studied it in the atmosphere, where it is actually causing damage. This summer NASA will launch the DC-8 and ER-3, a flying laboratory that will study emissions, atmospheric composition, climate, and how emissions affect climate and atmospheric composition. NASA’s earth science division funds this study, and over 250 scientists will be working on this project. This air craft will probe the atmosphere when emissions rates are at their highest. Scientist are predicting that emission that reach the stratosphere have the ability to effect the entire earth’s weather patterns, and this new mission will help them understand how these things interact. This aircraft will paint detailed pictures of the Atmospheric processes. Along with the many environmental benefits that will come from this mission it is possible that scientists will also discover how to send data to satellites much faster.

         This article is important to us because the environment is something that supports our lives, and something that we must keep taking care of in order to keep living on earth. It is also important to give people hope that they may not have to give up the luxury’s such as gas powered car’s, because we may be able to fix global warming with enough scientific research. I believe that out of all the projects that are being funded by our government, these types of projects, about saving the environment and ultimately our own life’s are the most important.

         Overall I enjoyed reading this article. It helped me understand that how researching and studying something can open doors to many new things. I also liked the positive outlook of the article. The author focused on how we can begin to fix the problem rather than being a pessimist and only criticizing people for destroying our environment. Yet, I still wish that the article was more complex and that it was more descriptive on what atmospheric processes the scientists were looking for, and how they will study them.

Matt McCloskey

June 6, 2013

Earth Science C Even

Ms. Davies

McGrath, Matt. "Ancient Irish Texts Show Volcanic Link to Cold Weather." BBC News. BBC, 06 June 2013. Web. 06 June 2013. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22786179>.

In the dim light of the dark ages, the Irish literary tradition stands out as an important piece of information for scientists. Evidence from Irish annals, or ancient texts, written at the monastery at Clonmacnoise recorded evidence supporting that volcanic activity is linked to cold weather. Researchers have found 38 records regarding volcanoes, 37 of which were associated with cold weather. When volcanoes erupt, they produce sulphate aerosol particles which through the centuries have been deposited on and frozen in ice sheets, leaving an extremely accurate temporal record of the event. It is said that these particles reflect incoming sunlight and can cause temporary cooling of the Earth’s surface. Since a country like Ireland has a mild maritime climate, these colder events would have a significant impact. Dr. Francis Ludlow from Harvard University stated, “When the weather that is cold enough to all you to walk over a lake in Ireland, it is pretty unusual.” Researching entries from about 431 A.D. to 1649 A.D., scientists have observed over 40,000 Irish Annals. The scientists were able to indentify 48 volcanic eruptions in the time period and 38 of them were related to extreme weather events in the Irish texts. The cold weather patterns produced as a result of the volcanoes had serious impacts on Ireland. They brought very cold winters that were unbearable for domestic animals and even some humans. Also, there were records of severe crop failures during this cold period. In some cases, the Irish people were forced to slaughter beasts for food. Dr. Ludlow made another statement regarding the devastation of the volcanoes. He said, “And it is clear from the sources that they cause a lot of devastation among societies at the time- whether it was the mass mortality of domestic animals or humans, or indirectly by causing harvest failure.” One of the annals described how there was a very cold winter with heavy snowfall. It went on to say that there was a great loss of cows, sheep, and pigs in the same year.

This article is important to society because there are still active volcanoes today. Although the world is much more advanced and could survive through an unusually cold season if it came about, the situation presented in the article could still have significant impacts. For example, in a very hot area that has active volcanoes, it would be very hard for them to adapt to a cold climate if it changed. Also, if the area was undeveloped and the food supply was not very stable, it could result in crop failure and possibly poverty. On another note, this article is important because it is an important piece of history and shows how the past can help us learn about the world. It is very interesting to see that evidence dating that far back can be of importance to scientists. I also find volcanoes to be a very interesting topic.

This article was without a doubt very interesting. I would not say that it was poorly written but they definitely could have gone into more detail about the volcanoes and how it caused cold weather. For example, when it was talking about the particles and they reflected sunlight, it was a little bit vague as to how that resulted in cooling of the temperature. It provided some very credible statistics about the different entries, however, some statistics and more information about the impacts of the cold temperature on the region would have been nice. All in all, this article was very enjoyable to read and presented me with some new knowledge about volcanoes.

William Stoeffhaas

June 6, 2013

C-Even Ms. Davies

"Charge Your Mobile Phone With Formic Acid?" ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 May 2013. Web. 06 June 2013.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130527231802.htm

            The article “Charge Your Mobile Phone With Formic Acid?” is about alternative energies. It talks about how instead of charging your cellular phone with batteries you could use formic acid, or fuel cells. Fuel cells are essentially a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel, but hydrocarbons such as natural gas and alcohols like methanol are sometimes used. Fuel cells are different from batteries in that they require a constant source of fuel and oxygen/air to sustain the chemical reaction, they can however produce electricity continually for as long as these inputs are supplied. The idea of using fuel cells, in this article, was brought up by the research done by physicist Florian Nitze working at Umea University in Swede. One of the problems with fuel cells is that they take much longer to recharge and they hold the charge for a shorter amount of time.

            I chose this article because it is about alternative fuels, which is something that I find very interesting. I feel that with people need to really understand, that as fossil fuels are depleting, we need alternative fuels or sources of energy. As of now it is not only because of depleting fossil fuels but also because the environment and how we are harming it, and that leads to global warming. 

            Over all I though that the article was pretty good, and very interesting. The only points that I would make would be that the language of the article was a bit sophisticated, so for the average reader they might want to explain more on the details.  

Iron in Egyptian Relics Came from Space

Michael Natsch 6/6/13

Earth Science Core: C-Even

Mrs. Davies 

Marchant, Jo, and Nature Magazine. "Iron in Egyptian Relics Came from Space." Scientific American 29 May 2013: n. pag. Scientific American Online. Web. 6 June 2013. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=iron-egyptian-relics-came-from-space>.

The article titled “Iron in Egyptian Relics Came from Space” talks about how a research team proved that iron in ancient Egyptian artifacts had celestial origins. It was strange to find these small beads made of iron, because in the period of time that they were dated to (about 5,000 years ago) iron smelting had not yet been developed in the region. There were nine of these bead-like objects found in a cemetery in 1911 about 70 miles south of Cairo Egypt and they are dated to about 3,300 B.C. which makes them the oldest known Egyptian artifacts that are made of iron. After being discovered, a study was conducted in 1928 which found that the iron in the beads had a high nickel content (which is common in iron meteorites). This discovery led to the suggestion that the iron originated from meteorites, but scholars in the 1980s argued that this high-nickel iron could have been due to accidental smelting, and also, more recent analysis’ were conducted and found that the surface of the beads had a low nickel content. Even with evidence against celestial origins building up, a meteorite scientist in the UK, Diane Johnson, and her colleagues, “used scanning electron microscopy and computed tomography to analyze one of the beads.” Although they were not able to cut the artifact open (because it is an artifact and is irreplaceable), they found areas on the surface of the artifact that had weathered away with time, which provided Johnson with small windows to peer inside the artifact to get a look at the better preserved metal on the inside of the bead. This new research showed that the nickel content of the inner iron was very high (up to 30%), indicating that the iron really did come from a meteorite. Also, the research team observed that the iron had a unique crystalline structure which was only found in iron meteorites that cooled inside their parent asteroids as the Solar System was formed. This confirmed the evidence that the iron originated from the stars. Before iron smelting was developed in the area (around the 6th century B.C.) there have not been many iron artifacts found and the only ones were in tombs of high-status Egyptians, such as the pharaoh Tutankhamen. Based on these finds, it is believed that these meteorites played a major role in the religious system of the time. The meteorites were believed to guarantee its owners’ priority in passage into the afterlife, which is why many high-class Egyptians were buried with them. Also Campbell Price, a curator of Egypt based at the Manchester Museum, points out that nothing can be known for sure about the Egyptian religion before the availability of written word. But, he says that later in time, it was believed that the Egyptian gods had bones made of iron (believed by ancient Egyptians). It is probably that this belief originated from the meteorites falling from the sky, which the Egyptians might have thought to be the bones of their gods falling to earth.

I found this article very interesting, primarily because it relates Earth Science with History. It is not often that these two can be paired together, but this article and the discovery of how meteorites affected Egyptian culture does. The article is important, because it fills a mystery that existed in history which was: where did these metal objects come from, if iron smelting had not been discovered in this region? With the use of modern technology and scientific minds, we are able to understand the origins of these mysteries and solve them. Usually, we use Earth Science to explain how the world was physically in the past, but this article is just one example showing how our surroundings in the world affect the development of our culture. 

Overall, the article was easy to understand and the topic was enjoyable to learn about. The article addresses the fact that much of what the scientists are saying about the religion of ancient Egypt is only based on speculation, which is one of the articles strong points. Also, the author includes and explains the reasoning behind both sides of the argument of where the metal came from (one side saying it was from meteorites and the other saying it was from early, accidental smelting). I think that this is another strong point of the article, because talking about opposing viewpoints to a topic is essential in creating an unbiased article. Even with all of these strengths to the article, there was still room for improvement. One thing that the article lacked was a description of what the beads looked like. There was a picture and a very short description, but it would have been better if the article had gone into more detail about how the metal was manipulated to suit the needs of the bead. The authors could also have explained why the nickel content on the outside of the artifact went down overtime and also why some parts of the artifact weathered away with time. With these questions being answered, the article would have been more thorough and more informative. Apart from these few improvements that could be made, it was very interesting to learn about the relationship between meteorites and ancient Egyptian society from a scientific point of view.