Re: Weather!
Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2021 7:36 am
Here's today's view from my balcony. The snow is mostly gone, but one of the "pools" on the dead grass remains.
Ann
neufer wrote: ↑Wed Nov 18, 2020 9:13 pmhttps://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/stratosphere/polar/polar.shtml wrote:
<<Influenced by depleted ozone within the Ozone Hole, surface UV-B radiation amounts can reach levels found only in the tropics. This map shows the estimated daily dosage of erythemally weighted UV radiation. This estimate is based upon the first 24 1-hour NOAA/EPA UV Index forecasts. The UV Index forecast values are assumed constant over the hour of each of the 24 1-hour forecasts. The daily dosage is then the sum of all 24 1-hour forecasts. The UV Index forecast is quite accurate for the first 24 hours. The UV Index forecast takes under consideration the total column ozone amount, the sun-earth orientation, the surface elevation, the enhancement effects of snow and ice, aerosol scattering (using a seasonal global climatology), and cloud UV transmission.>>
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/antarctic-ozone-hole-one-of-the-largest-deepest-closes-74943 wrote:2020 Antarctic ozone hole — one of the largest, deepest — closes
By DTE Staff : Published: Thursday 07 January 2021
<<The Antarctic ozone hole — one of the deepest, largest gap in the ozone layer in the last 40 years — has closed,according to World Meteorological Organization (WMO) January 6, 2021. The annually occurring ozone hole over the Antarctic had rapidly grown from mid-August and peaked at around 24 million square kilometres — one of the largest so far — in early October 2020.
The expansion of the hole was driven by a strong, stable and cold polar vortex and very cold temperatures in the stratosphere. The same meteorological factors also contributed to the record 2020 Arctic ozone hole, which has also closed. A polar vortex is a wide expanse of swirling cold air, a low pressure area, in polar regions. During winters, the polar vortex at the North Pole expands, sending cold air southward.
An ozone hole is the thinning of the ozone layer boosted in size by colder temperatures. As the temperatures high up in the stratosphere starts to rise, ozone depletion slows, the polar vortex weakens and breaks down. By the end of December, ozone levels return to normal. This time around, however, the process took longer.
The formation of ozone hole in the Antarctic has been an annual occurrence and has been recorded for the last 40 years. Human-made chemicals migrate into the stratosphere and accumulate inside the polar vortex. It begins to shrink in size as warmer temperatures dominate. The 2020 Antarctic hole was unprecedented as the polar vortex kept the temperature of the ozone layer cold, preventing the mixing of ozone depleted air above Antarctica with ozone rich air from higher latitudes.>>
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/147913/tracing-changes-in-ozone-depleting-chemicals wrote:
Tracing Changes in Ozone-Depleting Chemicals
<<For more than 30 years, nations have been working to protect Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer by banning the new production and trade of ozone-depleting substances. Part of that effort has included tracking the atmospheric concentration of such chemicals.
In 2018, researchers noticed that after years of steady declines, the concentration of a particular ozone-depleter leveled off globally. With deeper investigation, they then uncovered a source of new emissions from eastern China. In research published in February 2021 in the journal Nature, scientists reported that the resurgence in emissions of trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11 or freon-11) from China and other unreported sources was short-lived and should not significantly delay the recovery of Earth’s ozone layer.
Stratospheric ozone is a natural sunscreen that helps shield us from harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays from the Sun. In the 1970 and 80s, scientists discovered that chemicals widely used in refrigerants and insulating foams were rising into the stratosphere. Those chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are broken down by UV light into forms that cause the destruction of ozone molecules. Stratospheric ozone concentrations fell globally, and the problem became most acute over the South Pole, where an “ozone hole” started forming annually. In 1987, an international treaty was enacted to prevent additional degradation: the Montreal Protocol banned CFCs, while creating protocols to track their emissions.
Even after production ceased, scientists still expected chemicals like CFC-11 to continue leaking from existing products for years, but at a gradually declining rate. The gases are monitored by groups like the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE), a network of monitoring stations funded by NASA and environmental agencies and headed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
In 2018, NOAA first reported that atmospheric CFC-11 had declined less than expected, hinting that something had changed. “The slow-down in the rate of decline indicated that somebody was emitting again, or in larger quantities than we were expecting, we just didn’t know where,” said Matt Rigby, a University of Bristol scientist and one of the lead authors of the new studies.
“This is very much like detective work,” said Qing Liang, a co-author of the study and an atmospheric chemist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We figured out there was a problem, then we tracked down the problem regionally, and it seems that the actions taken in China, and perhaps elsewhere, have resulted in a big drop in the unexpected emissions.”>>
Wow my water lines froze one time in the 1970's! this was on the addition we built on the house when we needed an extra bedroom! We didn't put a basement under the addition! It's just a crawl space! Borrows heat from the rest of basement through the opening where the basement window was! they built screened vent windows with aluminum covers! One winter the wind blew open the cover; and froze my pipes! I put spray foam to keep the cover closed! As cold as it gets here; I still worry about the pipes freezing! I cracked open the faucets while thawing out the pipes; spending time in the crawlspace!
Of course, Texas couldn't borrow, because their power grid is independent from the rest of the country's.orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:03 pm Some states didn't produce enough electricity to get through the power crunch; so they borrowed from states that had more! That was alright; but I not sure the rolling blackouts were necessary! We were down for about an hour! :ohno:
I am outraged by the fact that the power plants were built without considering possible weather difficulties. And it is even more incomprehensible why now, with such climate changes, no action is being taken to improve the power plants.Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:10 pmOf course, Texas couldn't borrow, because their power grid is independent from the rest of the country's.orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:03 pm Some states didn't produce enough electricity to get through the power crunch; so they borrowed from states that had more! That was alright; but I not sure the rolling blackouts were necessary! We were down for about an hour!![]()
When a system can't provide enough power, some kind of blackouts are necessary. It's obviously better if they are controlled ones. But, as always, the exact choices with respect to who keeps power and who loses it can be good or bad. And sometimes that's only apparent in retrospect.
Climate change is putting our energy infrastructure at risk. That is apparent in California and in Texas. We'd better get to work making the system more robust (which we certainly have the ability to do), or events like these are going to become routine rather than rare.
KayBur wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:00 amI am outraged by the fact that the power plants were built without considering possible weather difficulties. And it is even more incomprehensible why now, with such climate changes, no action is being taken to improve the power plants.Chris Peterson wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:10 pmOf course, Texas couldn't borrow, because their power grid is independent from the rest of the country's.orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sun Feb 21, 2021 4:03 pm Some states didn't produce enough electricity to get through the power crunch; so they borrowed from states that had more! That was alright; but I not sure the rolling blackouts were necessary! We were down for about an hour!![]()
When a system can't provide enough power, some kind of blackouts are necessary. It's obviously better if they are controlled ones. But, as always, the exact choices with respect to who keeps power and who loses it can be good or bad. And sometimes that's only apparent in retrospect.
Climate change is putting our energy infrastructure at risk. That is apparent in California and in Texas. We'd better get to work making the system more robust (which we certainly have the ability to do), or events like these are going to become routine rather than rare.
orin stepanek wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:18 pm
Well they are installing wind mills and Solar Panels; but not happening fast enough! Has to be more push to geter done!
bystander wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:25 pmorin stepanek wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:18 pm
Well they are installing wind mills and Solar Panels; but not happening fast enough! Has to be more push to geter done!
Of course it doesn't help that at least some of the wind turbines froze.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16 ... es-frozen/
And why did they freeze? Because Texas ignored the climate change models that quite accurately predict a growing number of ice storms at their latitude. Wind turbines that are designed to operate under those conditions do quite well, clear up into the Arctic.bystander wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:25 pmorin stepanek wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:18 pm
Well they are installing wind mills and Solar Panels; but not happening fast enough! Has to be more push to geter done!
Of course it doesn't help that at least some of the wind turbines froze.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16 ... es-frozen/
orin stepanek wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:36 pmbystander wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:25 pmOf course it doesn't help that at least some of the wind turbines froze.orin stepanek wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:18 pm
Well they are installing wind mills and Solar Panels; but not happening fast enough! Has to be more push to geter done!
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16 ... es-frozen/![]()
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Need to have a little fire
under them!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine#Maintenance wrote:<<Wind turbines need regular maintenance to stay reliable and available. In the best case turbines are available to generate energy 98% of the time. Ice accretion on turbine blades has also been found to greatly reduce the efficiency of wind turbines, which is a common challenge in cold climates where in-cloud icing and freezing rain events occur. De-icing is mainly performed by internal heating, or in some cases by helicopter spraying clean warm water on the blades.Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Wind turbines produce electricity at between two and six cents per kilowatt hour, which is one of the lowest-priced renewable energy sources. As technology needed for wind turbines continued to improve, the prices decreased as well. In addition, there is currently no competitive market for wind energy, because wind is a freely available natural resource, most of which is untapped. The main cost of small wind turbines is the purchase and installation process, which averages between $48,000 and $65,000 per installation. The energy harvested from the turbine will offset the installation cost, as well as provide virtually free energy for years.
Wind turbines provide a clean energy source, use little water, emitting no greenhouse gases and no waste products. Over 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide per year can be eliminated by using a one-megawatt turbine instead of one megawatt of energy from a fossil fuel.
Environmental impact of wind power includes effect on wildlife, but can be mitigated if proper monitoring and mitigation strategies are implemented. Thousands of birds, including rare species, have been killed by the blades of wind turbines, though wind turbines contribute relatively insignificantly to anthropogenic avian mortality. Wind farms and nuclear power stations are responsible for between 0.3 and 0.4 bird deaths per gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity while fossil fueled power stations are responsible for about 5.2 fatalities per GWh. In 2009, for every bird killed by a wind turbine in the US, nearly 500,000 were killed by cats and another 500,000 by buildings. In comparison, conventional coal fired generators contribute significantly more to bird mortality, by incineration when caught in updrafts of smoke stacks and by poisoning with emissions byproducts (including particulates and heavy metals downwind of flue gases). Further, marine life is affected by water intakes of steam turbine cooling towers (heat exchangers) for nuclear and fossil fuel generators, by coal dust deposits in marine ecosystems (e.g. damaging Australia's Great Barrier Reef) and by water acidification from combustion monoxides.>>
Thanks Art! that was very interesting! They are very efficient indeed!neufer wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:59 pmorin stepanek wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:36 pmbystander wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:25 pm Of course it doesn't help that at least some of the wind turbines froze.
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16 ... es-frozen/![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
Need to have a little fire
under them!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine#Maintenance wrote:<<Wind turbines need regular maintenance to stay reliable and available. In the best case turbines are available to generate energy 98% of the time. Ice accretion on turbine blades has also been found to greatly reduce the efficiency of wind turbines, which is a common challenge in cold climates where in-cloud icing and freezing rain events occur. De-icing is mainly performed by internal heating, or in some cases by helicopter spraying clean warm water on the blades.Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Wind turbines produce electricity at between two and six cents per kilowatt hour, which is one of the lowest-priced renewable energy sources. As technology needed for wind turbines continued to improve, the prices decreased as well. In addition, there is currently no competitive market for wind energy, because wind is a freely available natural resource, most of which is untapped. The main cost of small wind turbines is the purchase and installation process, which averages between $48,000 and $65,000 per installation. The energy harvested from the turbine will offset the installation cost, as well as provide virtually free energy for years.
Wind turbines provide a clean energy source, use little water, emitting no greenhouse gases and no waste products. Over 1,500 tons of carbon dioxide per year can be eliminated by using a one-megawatt turbine instead of one megawatt of energy from a fossil fuel.
Environmental impact of wind power includes effect on wildlife, but can be mitigated if proper monitoring and mitigation strategies are implemented. Thousands of birds, including rare species, have been killed by the blades of wind turbines, though wind turbines contribute relatively insignificantly to anthropogenic avian mortality. Wind farms and nuclear power stations are responsible for between 0.3 and 0.4 bird deaths per gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity while fossil fueled power stations are responsible for about 5.2 fatalities per GWh. In 2009, for every bird killed by a wind turbine in the US, nearly 500,000 were killed by cats and another 500,000 by buildings. In comparison, conventional coal fired generators contribute significantly more to bird mortality, by incineration when caught in updrafts of smoke stacks and by poisoning with emissions byproducts (including particulates and heavy metals downwind of flue gases). Further, marine life is affected by water intakes of steam turbine cooling towers (heat exchangers) for nuclear and fossil fuel generators, by coal dust deposits in marine ecosystems (e.g. damaging Australia's Great Barrier Reef) and by water acidification from combustion monoxides.>>
Happy solstice, Orin! Even though its grey, overcast, chilly and drizzly here in Malmö!
Oops! Did you all catch my error? Solstice er Eqinox!
What's three months among friends?orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sat Mar 20, 2021 10:12 pmOops! Did you all catch my error? Solstice er Eqinox! :oops:orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sat Mar 20, 2021 12:47 pm Ahh! Spring, happy solstice everyone! :D download.jpg