The Signs of Spring

Most people recognize spring by blooming flowers, singing birds, and even warmer nights, but what most people don't realize is that spring is aurora season. The weeks around the vernal equinox are prone to Northern Lights. As shown in the picture, auroras are green curtains of light dancing across the sky, and are caused by solar activity. Scientists still haven't figured out why one season has more auroras than another, because the sun doesn't know what season it is. In order to learn a little more about auroras, NASA has deployed five spacecrafts named THEMIS ("Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms"). Auroras may look like just pretty lights in the sky to average people like us, but they are so much more. Underlying each display is a potent geomagnetic storm with possible side-effects ranging from satellite malfunctions in orbit to power outages on Earth. In a society that relies heavily on space technology, understanding these storms is vital. In the article, "Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis are Best Observed in Spring" , by Tony Phillips, he explains what they have found so far. THEMIS has already observed a very fast moving storm, 60 seconds flat, and very, very high energy. NASA is using THEMIS to discover the storm power supply. "The satellite has detected magnetic "ropes" connecting Earth's upper atmosphere directly to the sun." "We believe that solar wind particles flow in along these ropes, providing energy for geomagnetic storms and auroras." This magnetic connection between the sun and the Earth are favored in springtime. "Around the time of the equinox, Earth's magnetic field is best oriented for connecting-up with the sun, opening the door for solar wind energy to flow in and spark Northern Lights." Autumn is aurora season also, it is just that the geomagnetic disturbances are almost twice as likely in the spring. THEMIS is on a two year mission, so we are very likely to see a lot of facts from THEMIS that explain the auroras.

The aurora borealis is a great tourist attraction for people in Alaska. Spring generates much needed tourist money. However, they may find that it could be dangerous since these storms have so much magnetic power, information that THEMIS is just gathering. I thought it would be cool to be able to see these storms in our area. We may find out in the next couple of years that it is better to be contained to the northern area. I imagine this would continue to please the merchants. It affects more than just the tourist area; including, NASA, scientist and engineers as well as their staff. These people work all over the country and that helps stimulate the economies of where they live because they are employed and put their money back into their communities. It takes a lot of people to build, maintain and gather information from THEMIS.

It will be an interesting discovery to follow over the next couple of years!

For more information on aurora borealis and this article check out http://geology.com/nasa/aurora-borealis.shtml.

Small Planet, Big Findings

On May 1st, 2009 the space probe, Messenger, flew by plant Mercury and captured some very interesting pictures. Sean Solomon writes in the article "Mercury Flyby Reveals Active Inner Planet" states: "One of the biggest surprises was how strongly the dynamics of the planet's magnetic field-solar wind interaction changed from what we saw during the first Mercury flyby in January 2008." "The discovery of a large and unusually well preserved impact basin shows concentrated volcanic and deformational activity." Messenger took more than 1200 pictures of the smallest planet, Mercury, and that is when the scientist noticed the 430-mile long surface crater named Rembrandt. It was thought to be more like the moon, but now is believed to be more like mars. Giant craters and evidence of volcanoes are among the findings. It is believed that it was formed around 3.9 billion years ago. It is unusual for it not to be covered by volcanic ash.

How does this impact our solar system and Earth? "Mercury is the closet of all planets to the Sun, and because of the high risk of its proximity - the sun's enormous gravitational pull and massively high levels of radiation- it is one of the most mysterious bodies in the solar system, even though it is relatively close to Earth." It is believed that the radiation is coming from the Sun. Could this destroy Mercury or could it effect the Sun? We need the Sun to help us on Earth for growth. It also effects our atmosphere, such as our ozone. Is Mercury interfering in the effect of the Sun on Earth, or is it helping block harmful radiation from reaching us? Hopefully the Messenger will be able to take images of other planets and determine the effects, whether good or bad, on Earth.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/05/01/mercury-messenger-02.html

What Information Can You Gather From A Bleeding Glacier?

In Antarctica, in the Dry Valleys, is a Glacier that is "Bleeding". In the article, "Glacier "Bleeds" Proof of Million-Year-Old Life-Forms", researchers are analyzing the falls to figure out why they are red. "Mikucki and colleagues captured and analyzed a bit of the extremely salty, iron-rich liquid—which seems to be concentrated seawater—fresh from Taylor Glacier. In the samples were tell-tale proteins apparently from microbes. " It is believed that these microbes were captured in the glacier long ago and have been stuck inside with no means of food or light. It is believed that these microbes eat the iron which is ground out of rocks by the moving glacier. The iron is what gives the falls their color. They also studied the sulfur that was found. It is believed that it is from the ocean approximately 700 million years ago.

This would be an amazing site to see! When you think of falls, you think of water falls, not ice running out of a glacier. The only time you can get into the Dry Valleys area is from October until March and that is only by helicopter. During those periods of time, this may really help the economy of the closest town and those businesses that give the tours. The restaurants and hotels would benefit from all the tourists staying and eating at their places. Another site showed that the town went from 250 people to 1100 people during this time. Also, the scientists discovery of what is in the falls could answer a lot of questions about the earth millions of years ago. The data can be compared with earth's current conditions to see how earth is changing. This could give us information about global warming and how fast or slow our earth is changing. Finding the microbes also tells us what existed way back then.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/090416-blood-falls.html

Inman, Mason. "Glacier "Bleeds" Proof of Million-Year-Old Life-Forms." National Geographic News April 16 2009 Web.19 Apr 2009. .

Devastating Tornados in Tennessee

To have such a severe storm move across the Midwest in April is unusual, but it has happened before. Tornadoes usually result from a very large thunderstorm. Cold air and warm air combine, and the cold air goes down as the warm air rises. This warm air eventually twists into a spiral, forming a funnel cloud.

In the article "Searchers look for more victims of Tenn. tornado" they believe 3 to 5 tornadoes touched down and the wind speed was around 136 mph! They experienced hail and heavy rains too. There was so much damage that most businesses were closed also. It is amazing, however unfortunate, that only 2 people were killed while 41 were injured. The line of storms moved across Georgia, where there was damage also, and continued across the east coast. The governor was surveying the storm damage as emergency crews continued to go house to house and building to building to check for injured people in the ruble.

We are fortunate that we don't get a lot of tornadoes in this area. This line of storms was fore casted to move over our area, however, the mountains helped to break up the storms before getting to Apex. It would be very scary to be in a tornado. It doesn't seem like you get much of a warning, if any at all. I prefer the hurricanes where we know it is coming for days and have lots of time to prepare or move to a better location. The town of Murfreesboro is not only trying to deal with the devastation, but they are trying to figure out how to rebuild.

When natural disasters strike, we always feel lucky that it didn't happen to us. However, every disaster not only effects the area in which it struck, but us as well. The town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee is losing approximately $2000.00 in sales tax every week that the businesses are not open, while they have to spend money on fire, emergency and police services. That is why most towns ask the government for disaster relief when something like this happens. The money that the government gives these towns to get back on their feet is from people like our families that pay taxes. Another way that it effects each of us is if these businesses make items that are shipped across the United States and are unable to manufacture their items, then the reduction in quantity may effect us in our consumption of that item. An example is if it effects farming communities it would effect the food that is available for us to purchase.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jW-BndswWuhgPAPXOK4Q6TCQsANQD97G89V00

Do You Doubt Mt. Redoubt?

In previous articles about Mt. Redoubt, the volcano in Alaska that is approximately 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, the scientists that were observing the volcano thought there was a 50/50 chance that an eruption would occur. They have been watching the activity for about a month. The last time it erupted was in 1989-1990. There was a steam plume on Sunday and the scientists did not believe that the ash came from magma. They did not consider it to be an eruption. However, in the article "Volcanic ash snarls air traffic in Alaska" the scientists say that eruptions started Sunday night around 10:30 p.m. and they lasted until Monday night at 7:40p.m, erupting 6 times. "Mt. Redoubt erupts, spewing ash up to 60,000 feet, canceling flights, stranding hikers and putting residents in the affected areas in a holding pattern." Many locals feel that the eruption was not as bad as they thought it would be. The most effect it had on the area was from the ash that fell and cancellation of flights.

I can't imagine having ash all over everything! I know what it is like to be outside with a fire and have the smoke and ash coming at you and getting into your eyes and nose. And that is in very small quantities! This must be much worse. My mom told me that she was in school in Cincinnati, Ohio when Mt. St. Helens in Washington erupted and they got ash all the way in Ohio. She said that it covered everything and was a mess. It took a hard rain to wash most of it away. I would imagine that it would effect all of us and our breathing. What kind of impact does it have on animals, plants and our atmosphere? If it is not good for us to breath, it can't be good for the animals either. If the ash is carried to an area where crops are grown, it could impact the production of these crops, thus hurting the economy in that area. If the crops are normally tranported to us, it would impact the quantities and varities that we receive thus impacting the cost to us. The article said that some hikers were impacted during the eruption. That would mean that there is a tourist industry around the volcano. I would think that it would affect the tourist industry due to the fact that people can't be climbing the volcano during an eruption.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-alaska-volcano24-2009mar24,0,5657933.story

Are We Alone?

On Friday night, March 6th, NASA sent a plant hunting telescope named Kepler into space. In the article "Telescope blasts into space to find other Earths" by Marcia Dunn, she states "It's the first mission capable of answering the age-old question: Are other worlds like ours out there?" Kepler was sent out to a faraway Milky Way galaxy to track down other earths. The project could take 3 1/2 years and cost around $600 million dollars. It is a very exciting time for NASA to have a successful launch after a satellite failed and crashed in the Antarctic. While scientists know that other "planets" exist, they are mostly gassy planets. Kepler will be looking for "rocky" planets, more like our earth. While it is a very strong rocket, it will not be looking for people on these planets, that will be another mission. It was a very successful launch, only time will tell if it will be a successful mission.

Could there be another "Earth"? Would the plant have the same make up as our earth, with a core and a mantle? The planet would have to have liquid water on the surface to be habitable, and that is what NASA will be looking for. It is exciting because "if we don't find any, it really means Earth is very rare, we might be the only extant life and, in fact, that will be the end of 'Star Trek.'" It would be fun to be a part of the team that gets to scientifically research the earth, water and air samples from these planets. If there are other "earths" and they are in better condition than ours, we could learn better ways to save our planet. We could possibly stop global warming and find other ways to create energy.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090307/ap_on_sc/planet_hunter

Sinkhole Holds 12,000-Year-Old Clues to Early Americans

What Was Little Salt Spring Years Ago?

A Miami professor, John Gifford, has recently been studying Little Salt Spring in Florida. During early prehistoric times the sinkhole was an oasis in the peninsula that attracted hunters. The entire site covers approximately 111 acres in southern Sarasota County, Fla. The spring itself is about 240 feet in diameter. It all started in 1977 when divers took remains of an extinct tortoise and a sharpen stake to archaeologist. The archaeologists say the stake may have been used by a hunter to kill the animal 12,000 years ago. Again in 1986, Gifford found a skull from an acient burial. Archaeologist say that the spring is filled with a unique anoxic water that preserves many organic materials. Since then, nothing much has been done with the spring until this past July. In July, other archaeologist found another tortoise and remains of a giant sloth. Gifford believes these findings may indicate that Little Salt Spring was an ancient butcher shop before the land was covered by the ocean. Gifford, archaeologists, and drivers will keep looking for other signs and remains in the spring in hope to find clues about Early Americans. If these early dates are confirmed by the labs, it would make Little Salt Spring one of the oldest confirmed pre-Clovis sites in the Americas.” The picture to the left is a sign located near the spring. The sign explains that there are remains of an Indian village dating from 4800 to 3200 BC. For more on these interesting discoveries check out: http://mafweb.rsmas.miami.edu/lss/index.html or http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090218-florida-early-americans-missions.html.

If the archaeologists keep searching in Little Salt Spring, the community around it will gain money because they will have the archaeologists working, living and buying supplies in the area. Sarasota, Florida will also receive more tourists, therefore a better economy because people will travel to Florida to see the ancient remains and take tours of Little Salt Spring. As the archaelogists continue to discover artifacts, they will be able to more closely date the actual timeframe of the community. From this they may be able to determine how we will be effected in the future by the movement of the ocean and land, i.e. Florida's land erosion. We may be able to determine ways of preventing or slowing the Florida land erosion. Also, the movement of the people long ago may be able to be traced, or did they stay in one place their entire life? It is amazing that the archaeologists were able to find artifacts that were so well preserved. As they continue to study the artifacts they may find answers as to how to preserve human remains better or how to improve our lives. We already know that there are products with sea salt for humans to use on their skin. Could this lead to more intense research into sea salt and the effects it has on aging? Could I end up using products that evolved from this discovery?