The World Biggest Rivers

Even wonder how big the world's river are? I think about it. Here is a graph that shows how big they are on each continent. How about the Amazon!

 

Kilauea - Episode 34

 

This volcano is amazing! Episode 34 began overnight. This is a sunrise shot taken at about 6:15 AM local Hawaiian time. You can view the live WebCam here.

Vulcan de Fuego Guatemala Eruption

Spectacular eruption sequence of Fuego in Guatemala. About halfway through the video is a large pulse!  Watch it here

Wanna Learn About Craters on the Moon?

Background illustration of the impact-cratered lunar surface produced by
the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio with data from the Lunar Orbiter
Laser Altimeter. Inset images of terrestrial analogue training sites, Meteor
Crater and Schooner explosion crater, are by the author and
Department of Energy, respectively.

My neighbor and colleague,, Dr. David Kring, has just published a training guide for future Artemis Program astronautsto on hoe to understand the formation and landforms of craters on the moon . You can see about obtaining a digital copy of the book here. I have read parts of it and it is so damn interesting!

A Grand Canyon Trail Guide Makes Good!

 

Louis Herron is a friend who recently was featured in an article about his AirBnB operation near Valle and his hiking guide company. Check it out here. You done good Louis!

The Border Wall - A Post Mortem

No matter your politics, this is senseless. It will not work for its intent. But it will work to preclude the free flow of wildlife. The New Yorker magazine has produced this 13 minute documentary with great aerial footage of our waste and folly. All to satisfy the ego of one ill man.

See it here.  

How Many Humans Have Ever Lived Through Time

 

It's a question I have thought of repeatedly - How many humans have ever lived? This graphic has some real interesting facts and figures on it.

1) How to define "human" - the authors used the figure of 190,000 years, the generally accepted age for Homo sapiens.

2) The human population will hit 8 billion in 2022.

3) This represents about 7% of all people who have ever lived.

4) Including those who are alive today, there have been about 117 billion of us in 190,000 years.

Giant Ichthyosaur Uncovered in England

Check out this giangantic fossil Ichthyosaur that was recently uncovered in England. I saw this in a NY Time article, which may be read here. (There may be a paywall if you are not a subscriber - sorry). The specimen comes from Jurassic-age rocks, about 180 million years old. It was only discovered as part of landscaping project at the Rutland Water Nature Preserve in the East Midlands. The lagoon had been partially drained when a naturalist saw vertebrae poking out of the lagoon mud. The fossil has now been excavated and the lagoon refilled. If you are able to access the NY Times article, there is a nice video of the specimen by drone, which gives a spectacular view of its immense size within the entire site.

An example of one species of Ichthyosaur recovered from Triassic rocks in Nevada.

The Earth Without Water

What would our planet look like without water? Well, there would be lots of abyssal plains with volcanic preaks rising above them. My colleague Dr. Jack Share forwarded this short 90 second video, that displays the ocean basins withour oceans. Watch it here. There is even a look at the ocean floor where the Titanic lies. Amazing! (Note that the elevations portrayed in this are exaggerated in the vertical).

Map Comparison of New York City From 1836 to Present

Visual Capitalist has shared this interactive map from Esri, that overlays an 1836 map of New York City with a satellite image from the present. Fascinating! Enjoy it here.

To learn more about Esri, see here. They do cools stuff with ARC-GIS

Crushed Basalt to Fight Climate Change

For decades, farmers have put crushed limestone on the soil to improve its quality. Now, crushed basalt is being used. Listen to the 3-minute NPR story here. 

Demolition of the Navajo Generating Stations Boilers

 

On March 3, the boilers of the old (now gone) Navajo Generating Station were demolished. It is an exciting this to watch. See it here.

An Air BNB Place Like No Other

Helen and I do not use Air BNB all that often. But we have had a few opportunities to do so (pre-pandemic). There was the one in Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii that we used for my sisters' wedding in 2017. It looked so wonderful online with a photo of a lotus flower placed on the header. 

The property was advertised along the lines of "Asian couple sharing their abode in paradise....we take our shoes off when entering and ask guests to do the same..." Visions of a cute couple sitting by the TV with the smell of ginger floated through my head. And then we got there, made the phone call, and the guy said "Meet me outside the convenience store on the corner." Huh? 

Turns out his hi-rise building did not allow short term rentals so he had to do this on the sly. He said, "When you go in and out of the building don't talk to the security guard, just walk in like you know what you're doing." Then we went up 22 floors into the rental and saw that it was nothing more than what four college kids would live in. Hollow core doors, locks on each bedroom (yes, it was more than one unit), window blinds all cock-eyed with broken or missing slats, a shared bathroom. Ha! The vision and the reality were polar opposites.

Then there was the "closet" I rented in Manhattan for a wedding I officiated at. Rentals are expensive in Manhattan so I decided to go cheap for three nights. Found a place for $65 a night. It literally was wide enough for one twin bed and room to exit the bed before going out the door. It would have been small serving as a walk-in closet. No windows of course. This one was with the "owner" as the other occupant but he was there only for a moment and perhaps checking in on his other "properties."

My point is, Air BNB can be all over the map with respect to what you get. So when a friend shared this rental with me close to Flagstaff, I thought I have to blog about this!

This looks like a truly unique opportunity to experience a different culture out in an expansive landscape. You can view the rental on Air BNB here. Know that I am not connected in any way to the proprietor or owner of the property. I was merely forwarded this link by a friend and as I have been in many hogans on the Navajo Nation, I know this to be an authentic reproduction of one. I have no knowledge of how the actual experience may go with this particular property. But it does look interesting. 

I think the price could be lower but heck with all of those winter refugees from Colorado headed our way this spring and wealthy Californians visiting the Grand Canyon, this would make a prefect surprise for that perfect spouse. Perfect meaning amenable to surprises not always 5-Star.

I might just check it out myself one day soon! This is the real deal and it looks like it is located well outside of the Cameron metropolitan area. "Please, due to the on-going pandemic, no large parties or gatherings on the grounds, although we have room for millions." 

Animation of the Motion of Earth's Continents Through One Billion Years

Two screen captures from the animation at 499 Ma and 993 Ma

The New York Times has published an article that highlights the work of geologists relating to plate motions since the breakup of the Rodinian Supercontinent. You can access the article and the fantastic animation here. Also, for the geology geek, here is a link (seemingly without a paywall) to a scientific paper by many of the same authors for plate motions in the Phanerozoic, or last 542 million years.

Learn About Lithium from Roseanne Chambers

 I follow the blog of Dr. Roseanne Chambers, a specialist in the geology of the Andes Mountain in South America. Yesterday, she blogged about the metal lithium, often found in the deposits of playa lakes. Have a look at her posting and learn a bit about lithium. You can read it here.

New Finds at Pompeii

Excavations at Pompeii near Mt, Vesuvius have revealed the discovery of two corpses that were buried in the pyroclastic flow in AD 79.  The incredible discovery can be read here.

A One Year View of Global CO2 Circulation

This is a pretty cool video rom NASA. It is a three minute video. It looks as if the air circulation is driven by the oceans, which in turn are deflected and arranged around the edges of landmasses. The year modeled is 2006 and the day on the screen capture above is February 24. Watch the video here.

The Piper Demands Payment

It's coming! The Southwest drought that began in 1999 has caused reservoir levels in the Southwest to plummet. Climate change is the cause most likely.

Read the report here. 

Watch a Video of the Edenville Dam (Michigan) Fail

Someone was standing on the abutment of the Edenville Dam when it gave way! You can see the footage here in this one minute video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=63&v=Hc3u_CHVHJ8&feature=emb_logo.

A Landslide in Columbia - In a Landfill!

Landslides are so interesting! I subscribe to the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Landslide Blog and get a report every morning detailing some kind of landslide around the world. This morning, there is news of landslide in Bogota, Columbia in a landfill. See here.

If you would like to subscribe to the AGU's Landslide Blog, see the link here.