The Power of Chaitén Volcano

*** Breaking News: May 19, 2008 Philippines Taal Volcano Could Erupt Anytime!

NASA Satellite Photos: The Power of Chaitén Volcano

Images taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

Related Links:

• Volcanoes, Santorini Eruption and Crops Failure in China
• Chaitén Volcano Still Active

• Parts of pyroplastic chamber fall around Chaitén volcano
• RESIDENTS IN CHILE VOLCANO ZONE WITHOUT DRINKING WATER
• CHILE VOLCANO ZONE MAY BE PERMANENTLY UNLIVABLE

• Volcano gets active, region is evacuated
• Thousands evacuated as Chile volcano spews ash
• Will one or both of New Zealand islands break up and sink in the south-western Pacific Ocean?

• Chile: Volcano activity prompts mass evacuation
• A Shrinking World: Salmon and livestock removed from Chaiten volcano range

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Ghost towns

Flooding in Yangon, Burma (Myanmar)

NASA Satellite Photos: Flooding in Yangon

• 

Related News:

YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military government is under pressure to allow a massive aid effort as relief workers struggled to help an estimated 2 million people left destitute by Cyclone Nargis.

Related Links:

• Over 320 tons of aid supplies transported to Myanmar cyclone-hit areas Xinhua
• Aid Trickling In to Myanmar NPR
• UN warns of ‘second wave of deaths’ as Myanmar braces for new cyclone LA Times

• Bleak Future Awaits the “Lucky” Survivors
• Update #3 – Nargis: Asia’s 2nd most devastating cyclone

• Tropical Cyclones
• Update #2- Myanmar cyclone death toll 22,500
  
• Update #1- Myanmar Cyclone Death Nearly 4,000
• Powerful tropical cyclone Nargis hits Myanmar

[May 15, 2008] Photo of the Day!

Phytoplankton Bloom in North Sea off Scotland

Photo by MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite

The northern and western highlands of Scotland were still winter-brown and even dusted with snow in places, but the waters of the North Sea were blooming with phytoplankton (tiny, plant-like organisms) on May 8, 2008, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the region and captured this image.

Phytoplankton are tiny organisms—many are just a single cell—that use chlorophyll and other pigments to capture light for photosynthesis. Because these pigments absorb sunlight, they change the color of the light reflected from the sea surface back to the satellite (shades of bright blue and green). Scientists have used observations of “ocean color” from satellites for more than 20 years to track worldwide patterns in phytoplankton blooms.

Phytoplankton are important to the Earth system for a host of reasons, including their status as the base of the ocean food web. In the North Sea, they are the base of the food web that supports Scotland’s commercial fisheries, including monkfish and herring. As photosynthesizers, they also play a crucial role in the carbon cycle, removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Some oceanographers are concerned that rising ocean temperatures will slow phytoplankton growth rates, harming marine ecosystems and causing carbon dioxide to accumulate more rapidly in the atmosphere.

NASA image by Norman Kuring, Ocean Color Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey (some editing by FEWW).

Ich bin eine Coal Girl!

How do you say you’re a “hypocrite” without calling yourself “hippo turd” in German?

Brazil biofuels must respect Amazon: Merkel

German coal-powered plants must respect Earth: The World

German Chancellor Merkel urged Brazil to adopt tougher environmental standards in biofuels production. [She added rich nations needed to pay up to help protect the rainforests’ biodiversity.]

“Biofuels are a way to replace traditional fossil fuels but only if they are produced sustainably,” Merkel said in Brasilia. [She could hardly hide her disgust at the fact that Germany couldn’t import “cheap” Brazilian ethanol anytime soon.]

Merkel and Sarkazy. Two turds of the EU powerhouse. (Credit: Gerald Herbert, AP) Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

“There are statistics that raise concerns about deforestation, the process of displacement between soybeans, beef and the rain forest,” Merkel said at a joint news conference with Brazilian President Lula.

Merkel with the other one turd of the EU powerhouse. (Credit: global-metropolis) Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Meanwhile Lula made his statement of the year saying that “Brazil was the most interested of all countries in protecting the Amazon but that the millions of people living there also had a right to prosperity.” (Source)

So, remember children, Lula style “prosperity” first, ecosystems second! Because if you are prosperous, you can tell mother Earth to go F*ck herself!

Previously …

Dr Hansen at Columbia University Earth Institute wrote to Dr Merkel (April 2008 ):

Dear Chancellor Merkel,

Your leadership is needed on a matter concerning coal-fired power plants in your country, a
matter with global ramifications, as I will clarify.

For the sake of identification, I am a United States citizen, director of the NASA Goddard
Institute for Space Studies and Adjunct Professor at the Columbia University Earth Institute. I
write, however, as a private citizen, a resident of Kintnersville, Pennsylvania, on behalf of the
planet and life on Earth, including all species.

I recognize that you strongly support policies aimed at reducing the danger of global warming.
Also Germany has been a leader in pressing for appropriate international actions.

Yet there are plans for construction of new coal-fired power plants in Germany. Consummation
of those plans would contribute to foreseeable adverse consequences of global warming.
Conversely, a choice not to build could be a tipping point that seeds a transition that is needed to
solve the global warming problem. […] (Source)