Oct 3, 2017 05:01 AM
Will Climate Change Make Rockslides Worse?
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...ea/541659/
EXCERPT: [...] Rockfalls are par for the course at Yosemite, where the National Park Service estimates 80 events happen every year. But despite their frequency, there is a possibility that warming temperatures and an unstable climate could cause even more rockfalls at Yosemite and worldwide.
Rockslides happen in rock with existing weaknesses, like large cracks, after they become unstable as a result of a trigger. Roy Sidle, a professor of geography at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said in an email that those triggers fall into four major categories: “freeze-thaw action, wetting and drying, temperature changes, and (of course) human disturbances (even rock climbing).”
Putnam said that, until recently, most geologists thought freeze-thaw cycles, also called frost wedging, caused the majority of rockfalls. The idea was that water seeped into cracks during winter rainstorms, then expanded when it froze—the same process that forms potholes. Then, in 2016, Yosemite’s park geologist published a paper in Nature Geoscience that found most rockslides in Yosemite happen on hot, sunny days, not in freezing temperatures....
MORE: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...ea/541659/
Calls for 'shield' to protect Earth from solar storms
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...torms.html
EXCERPT: Solar storms often come and go unbeknownst to most people – at most, we hear of minor radio blackouts or satellite disruptions, and of course, the breathtaking auroras.
But, scientists have warned that extreme space weather events could one day cause far more harm, with potential to wipe out the electrical grid and cause global technological damage.
To prevent such a catastrophe, scientists have proposed a plan to build a massive ‘magnetic deflector’ that would sit like a shield between Earth and the sun, diverting the harmful emissions away from our planet.
Scientists have warned that extreme space weather events could one day cause far more harm, with potential to wipe out the electrical grid and cause global technological damage. A solar flare in 2014 is pictured...
MORE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...torms.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...ea/541659/
EXCERPT: [...] Rockfalls are par for the course at Yosemite, where the National Park Service estimates 80 events happen every year. But despite their frequency, there is a possibility that warming temperatures and an unstable climate could cause even more rockfalls at Yosemite and worldwide.
Rockslides happen in rock with existing weaknesses, like large cracks, after they become unstable as a result of a trigger. Roy Sidle, a professor of geography at the University of the Sunshine Coast, said in an email that those triggers fall into four major categories: “freeze-thaw action, wetting and drying, temperature changes, and (of course) human disturbances (even rock climbing).”
Putnam said that, until recently, most geologists thought freeze-thaw cycles, also called frost wedging, caused the majority of rockfalls. The idea was that water seeped into cracks during winter rainstorms, then expanded when it froze—the same process that forms potholes. Then, in 2016, Yosemite’s park geologist published a paper in Nature Geoscience that found most rockslides in Yosemite happen on hot, sunny days, not in freezing temperatures....
MORE: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...ea/541659/
Calls for 'shield' to protect Earth from solar storms
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...torms.html
EXCERPT: Solar storms often come and go unbeknownst to most people – at most, we hear of minor radio blackouts or satellite disruptions, and of course, the breathtaking auroras.
But, scientists have warned that extreme space weather events could one day cause far more harm, with potential to wipe out the electrical grid and cause global technological damage.
To prevent such a catastrophe, scientists have proposed a plan to build a massive ‘magnetic deflector’ that would sit like a shield between Earth and the sun, diverting the harmful emissions away from our planet.
Scientists have warned that extreme space weather events could one day cause far more harm, with potential to wipe out the electrical grid and cause global technological damage. A solar flare in 2014 is pictured...
MORE: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...torms.html