Article: Peak Oilers Shut Up Forever Please

"Peak oil" was a Malthusian fad, just like the Club of Rome predictions about the stuff we would run out of by 2000, and Paul Ehrlich's "Population Bomb." [Other failed projections.]

Some people just off on doom, especially doom due to their (or their parents') evil ways.

Princeton University geologist Ken Deffeyes predicted that global oil production would peak on Thanksgiving Day, 2005. In 2005, daily global oil production averaged 85 million barrels per day. Daily petroleum liquids production in July was 96 million barrels per day.

Linked article: OPEC just kicked oil into the $30s

Article: The timebomb under Yellowstone: Experts warn of 90,000 immediate deaths and a 'nuclear winter' across the US if supervolcano erupts

A nice long article with lots of graphics, bullet points, and information boxes.

Low chance of blowing any given year, but likely to happen sooner or later.

Global Warming Science Links - 8/4/15

Article: A (Not Quite) Complete List Of Things Supposedly Caused By Global Warming

"And all on 0.006 deg C per year!"

Article: EPA: We don't need to justify our regulations to avert warming .01 degrees

EPA head McCarthy refuses to release the science behind proposed new regulations.

"McCarthy stressed that the science is generated through the peer-reviewed process," which shows she has no idea how science operates.

Article: All This for .01 Degrees Celsius?

By Joe Bastardi, Penn State graduate in meteorology, and co-founder of Accu-Weather.

A reminder of three things that are true about the climate that conveniently gets forgotten.

Article: And Now, The Co-Founder of Greenpeace Explains Why Climate Change is a Sham`

Video clip of Patrick Moore.

Article: Two new studies show that global warming is not behind California drought

Summary of the two studies.

Additionally a quoted geologist, posits that the "blob" of warm water off of California's coast may be due to volcanic activity.

The blob also has all the characteristics of another less-known phenomena termed megaplumes: massive underwater vents that spew out vast amounts of heat, which in turn warm the waters above. According to geologist James Kamis, “An ongoing very large megaplume is responsible for generating a cell of unusually warm seawater that extends across a vast region of the Pacific Ocean, including much of North America’s west coast. This sub-sea volcanically induced giant warmed cell is acting to alter normal California climate patterns and inducing a long term draught.

Science Links: 8/1/2015

Article #1: How Far Can the Human Eye See a Candle Flame?

The brightest stars, such as Vega, have a [apparent] magnitude 0. At what distance would a candle flame be comparable to a star like Vega, they asked. 

Some straightforward nighttime experiments with a candle suggested that the distance was 338 meters. “To our eyes the candle flame and Vega appeared of comparable brightness,” they say.

This is apparent magnitude. So, at 338 meters (about 370 yards or 0.2 miles) Vegas and a candle would be equally bright.

They compared the magnitude of the dimmest stars we can see with how far away the candle had to be in order for it to have the same magnitude. That distance was about 1.6 miles

Article #2: Earth's 'magnetic personality' much older than previously thought

By measuring the magnetic field of magnetite from Australian zircons, researchers concluded that the magnetic field of earth was at least or 4.2 billion years old. Or it has existed for at least 80% of earth's history.

Article #3: California ‘rain debt’ equal to average full year of precipitation

California averages about 20 inches of rain a year, but the actual amount in any given year swings fairly wildly.

California regularly experiences drought years, but this is the third year running that there has been a rain debt and the total over the last 3 years equals 1 year.

California has had larger rain debt, for example, "a 27.5 inch deficit of rain and snow occurred in the state between 1986 and 1994."

That was less of a crisis than today because the population was smaller, less agriculture was irrigated, and less water was diverted for environmental purposes.

There is a good discussion of the mechanics of the flow of air which creates both drought and surplus conditions, along with a discussion of how El Nino plays into the atmospheric dynamics.

Science Links 7/25/2015

Article: Mystery beach blast in Rhode Island blamed on hydrogen gas

Abandoned and corroded copper cable releases hydrogen gas; catastrophically combines with oxygen creating a blast.

Article: Exploring deep microbial life in coal-bearing sediment down to ~2.5 km below the ocean floor

Lignite coal bed, about 2 miles below the surface of the Pacific Ocean off of Japan. Buried for "tens of million of years." Still has an active bacterial ecosystem.

Article: New Horizons: Pluto may have 'nitrogen glaciers'

Scientists believe they see evidence of surface material having flowed around mountains and even ponding in craters. 

The activity is certainly recent, they say, and may even be current.

I love bizarre geology (or "plutology").

The other key detection was of hazes in the atmosphere. These are likely the consequence of high-up methane being broken apart and processed by sunlight into simple hydrocarbons like ethylene and acetylene, which then fall, cool and condense to form a mist of ice particles.

And bizzare meteorology.

Article: Abundance of certain elements in Earth dictate whether plate tectonics can happen

New hypothesis: Earth's core and mantle needed a specific amount of radioactive elements, especially uranium, to warm the earth to allow plate tectonics. Plate tectonics is necessary for life on earth as it apparently stops the sort of runaway greenhouse effect of Venus.

While the article does not mention it, this would also add to the reasons we do not see evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy.

If the ranges of abundance of these radioactive elements needed to produce plate tectonics are relatively narrow, then it pushes down the probability of life elsewhere.

Article: First Pluto data reveals lots of terrain that is “not easy to explain”

Tall mountains, vast plains, a young surface, and Charon, to boot.

Cool fact: it is going to take 6 months to download all of the data the probe captured during its flyby.

Science Links - 7/16/15

Article: Natural contaminants, arsenic and uranium, in one-fifth of California's groundwater

Natural contaminants are more prevalent than human-made contaminants in California groundwater used for public supply, is the conclusion of a decade-long study by U.S. Geological Survey scientists. The study evaluated the quality of nearly all of the groundwater used for public supply in California and is the most comprehensive assessment of groundwater in any state to date. Groundwater provides about one-third of California's drinking supply in a typical year, but more during drought conditions.

There is more uranium and arsenic in the water supplies than nitrates (from fertilizers) and various organics.

Article: Old astronomic riddle on the way to be solved: Absorption of starlight in space

The absorption is due to a complex carbon molecule nicknamed, "buckyballs."

Scientists were able to identify for the first time a molecule responsible for the absorption of starlight in space: the positively charged Buckminsterfullerene, or so-called football molecule.

Article: Climate Scientists’ Road to Hell

Amusing, but 3 years old.

Article: Better chocolate with microbes: Same yeast used in beer, wine and bread

Best flavor from the common bread yeast.

Did you know that chocolate is fermented? So is coffee.

Article: New Horizons: Images reveal ice mountains on Pluto

Ice mountains 10000 ft (slightly less than 2 miles) high.

And no impact craters which implies enough geologic activity to smooth out the surface.

Article: Earth's magnetic field could flip within a human lifetime

Summary: 

Earth's last magnetic reversal took place 786,000 years ago and happened very quickly, in less than 100 years -- roughly a human lifetime. The rapid flip, much faster than the thousands of years most geologists thought, comes as new measurements show the planet's magnetic field is weakening 10 times faster than normal and could drop to zero in a few thousand years.

Still, not in my lifetime. [Is that like "not in my backyard"?]

Though a magnetic reversal is a major planet-wide event driven by convection in Earth's iron core, there are no documented catastrophes associated with past reversals, despite much searching in the geologic and biologic record. Today, however, such a reversal could potentially wreak havoc with our electrical grid, generating currents that might take it down.

Article: The bend in the Appalachian mountain chain is finally explained

Summary:

The 1500 mile Appalachian mountain chain runs along a nearly straight line from Alabama to Newfoundland -- except for a curious bend in Pennsylvania and New York State. Researchers now know what caused that bend -- a dense, underground block of rigid, volcanic rock forced the chain to shift eastward as it was forming millions of years ago.

The article does not talk about the origin of the "dense, volcanic rock" that caused the bend.

The article does mention the possible application of the research to fracking or "hydrofracking" as they call it.