Tornado radar dish used to measure snow?

University of Utah meteorologists are using radar dishes mounted on vehicles to measure snow and rainfall in depth. The study area is in the Wasatch mountains near Salt Lake City. The dish is an X-band polametric dish that measures wind speeds in excess of 300mph. The dish broadcasts waves both vertically and horizontally, which is more powerful than the national weather services dishes. The dish can measure the size of raindrops and snowflakes in great detail and collect data in hard to reach areas. So far the truck mounted radar has measured 10 different winter storms as of October. This would be a part of the developmental paradigm, and I am very excited to see the future of this technology.



Radar image of lake effect snow from The Great Salt Lake

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111110094846.htm

Ozone from cracks in earth could help forecast quakes

Scientists have been trying to figure out easier, more efficient methods to forecast earthquakes for over 50 years. They might have found a new tool for their arsenal. The natural gas, ozone, which is a byproduct of electrical discharges into the air. Normally, ozone is discharged from lightning, however, now new findings show that ozone can be released from rocks breaking under immense pressures. Scientists have been drilling into different types of rocks and have discovered that different types of rocks produce different amounts of ozone. They have realized that rocks that have been under pressure prior to an earthquake will build up ozone from the high amounts of stress being put on them. Bedrock such as granite, basalt, and rhyolite were tested and produced some of the highest amounts of ozone gas. This latest discovery has scientists very excited, if rocks along faults under pressure produce amounts of ozone that are detectable, there is a high chance of much more accurate earthquake forecasting/predictions.


http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2011/11/earthquake-cracks-road-flickr-martinluff.jpg

Article:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111117154635.htm

California Earthquake Hazard Map

This is a map I created on Adobe Illustrator showing Earthquakes over magnitude 5 vs. the population of California.

Copyright: Matt Drahnak November 19, 2011

Large winter storm slams America's largest state

The largest storm in forty years has hit the state of Alaska. Hurricane force winds of around 137 mph pummeled Alaska's western coast creating massive sea surges. With this storm came heavy snow and rain which affected the entire western portion of the state. Over 40 communities have reported large amounts of damage from this storm with winds, flooding and erosion being the culprits of the damage caused. Other communities that were hit hard by this storm included the northwest Alaska villages of Point Hope, built on a large gravel spit, and Kivalina which is affected by landslides due to its highly eroded topography. The amount of people impacted in these two towns is around 1500 people. The location of where these towns were built had a direct relationship to the amount of damage that was endured by these towns. The large storm surges and flooding have resulted in mass wastage events to occur washing away homes.



http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/11/10/alaska-storm-british-columbia.html?cmp=googleeditorspick

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9QU9ROO0.htm

Mudslide ravages Columbia

22 people are dead and 70 people are missing after heavy rain caused a landslide in the city of Manizales, Columbia. The landslide has destroyed at least 17 homes and is threatening to cause more evacuations on the region due to the persistent heavy rains. The La Nina season has been causing hundreds of thousands of evacuations in the country due to the persistent rains that have been pounding the region. Rescue workers with the Red Cross have begun searching for the missing people in the muddy debris. Since this region is high in coffee production, the high agriculture demand for the production of this high valued commodity has caused for there to be large areas of deforestation. These deforested areas are much more susceptible for mass movements (landslides to occur).


http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/05/8659135-mudslide-kills-four-and-leaves-28-missing-in-colombia

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15613951

New hyperspectral camera will be able to detect environmental hazards

 Tel Aviv University has just created a hyper spectral  camera that can analyse more than 300 times more information than the human brain. The human eye can only see the color spectrum whereas this camera can see thousands of colors which are invisible to humans eyes. The creators in Israel hope that this high resolution camera will provide real-time monitoring of forests (fires), urban areas (human health), agricultural lands (nitrogen runoff or erosion), and water bodies (oil spills). The camera has a very large view; it can see objects from up to 500 miles away which means that the device can be placed almost anywhere.

The creators in Israel hope that this camera will be able to detect pollution and other contaminates before they become hazardous to the environment. This story can be related to the Engineering paradigm because it clearly shows human beings creating technology to better understand our environmental impact on the planet and try to prevent future environmental catastrophes.


Article:  http://www.theengineer.co.uk/sectors/energy-and-environment/news/hyperspectral-camera-can-identify-environmental-hazards/1010789.article#ixzz1cf7TR9SB