From Michael Marten’s series, Sea Change, which explores rising sea levels from regular tides and also climate change. His statement:
‘Sea Change’ is a study of the tides round the coast of Britain. The views in each diptych are taken from identical positions at low tide and high tide, usually 6 or 18 hours apart.
I am interested in showing how landscape changes over time through natural processes and cycles. The camera that observes low and high tide side by side enables us to observe simultaneously two moments in time, two states of nature.
Recent landscape photography often focuses on human shaping (and reshaping) of the environment - urbanisation, globalisation, pollution. Even when critical and committed, this approach can emphasise, even glamorise, humankind’s power over nature. I’m interested in rediscovering nature’s own powers: the elemental forces and processes that underlie and shape the planet.
The tides are one of these great natural cycles. I hope these photographs will stimulate people’s awareness of natural change, of landscape as dynamic process rather than static image. Attending to earth’s rhythms can help us to reconnect with the fundamentals of our planet, which we ignore at our peril.
‘Sea Change’ also comments on climate change. The tide floods in and quickly recedes again, but rising sea levels will flood our shores and not recede for thousands or millions of years. Many of the views in these pictures may have disappeared in 100 years’ time.
— Michael Marten
Lens Culture
More doom reality:
Bottled Water Sales: The Shocking Reality
The Beverage Marketing Corporation, which tracks sales and consumption of beverages, is reporting that sales of bottled water grew nearly 7 percent between 2011 and 2012, with consumption reaching a staggering 30.8 gallons per person.
Despite having one of the best municipal tap water systems in the world, American consumers are flocking to commercial bottled water, which costs thousands of times more per gallon. Why? Four reasons:
- First, we have been bombarded with advertisements that claim that our tap water is unsafe, or that bottled water is safer, healthier, and more hip, often with celebrity endorsements. (Thanks a lot, Jennifer.)
- Second, public drinking water fountains have become increasingly hard to find. And the ones that exist are not being adequately maintained by our communities.
- Third, people are increasingly fearful of our tap water, hearing stories about contamination, new chemicals that our treatment systems aren’t designed to remove, or occasional failures of infrastructure that isn’t being adequately maintained or improved.
- Fourth, some people don’t like the taste of their tap water, or think they don’t.
Some people, including the bottled water industry, argue that drinking bottled water is better than drinking soft drinks. I agree. But that’s not what’s happening. The vast increase in bottled water sales have largely come at the expense of tap water, not soft drinks. And even if we pushed (as we should) to replace carbonated soft drinks with water, it should be tap water, not expensive bottled water.
This industry has very successfully turned a public resource into a private commodity.
Via Peter Gleick (a scientist whom I swear never sleeps)
jtotheizzoe:
Watch the slow creep of spring as it pushes the cold hand of winter back to the frigid north … only to succumb again next year, of course.
NASA’s MODIS imager senses Earth’s reflection of both visible and longer wavelength near-infrared light. Plants, full of chlorophyll, absorb most visible light (except for green, of course) and reflect near-infrared. By combining this with the reflection of snow, NASA can watch the yearly cycle of vegetation springing back and falling away.
I made a higher-res GIF here, and you can watch the full three-year animation here.
tinyclicks:
Lake Michigan Slush Action
Cold streak is about to snap. Winter, it is over…
usagov:
From NOAA Visualizations:
A drop in the jet stream sent temperatures across the United States plummeting over the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday weekend. The pronounced change in temperatures can be seen in this weather data from NOAA/NCEP’s Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis.
Areas colored blue are below freezing. The diurnal cycle of heating and cooling can be seen over time, but the pattern is clear: much of the U.S. is pretty cold.
Half-way through it gang! Hang in there. We still have power in Western Mass., though a few dozen coastal cities have lost power.
accuweather:
LATEST UPDATES:
5:46 p.m. EDT Monday:“Sandy is onshore. It looks like it hit right by the Sea Isle City and Avalon area,” AccuWeather meteorologist Henry Margusity said.
5:36 p.m. EDT Monday: 83 mph wind gust in Eatons Neck, N.Y.
5:31 p.m. EDT Monday: 74 mph wind gust at Ocean City, Md., reported by emergency management.
5:24 p.m. EDT Monday: 75 mph wind gust at Fire Island, N.Y. at 4:35pm
5:21 p.m. EDT Monday: Sandy brought a wind gust of 117 mph to Mount Washington, NH at 5pm ET.
5:07 p.m. EDT Monday: Huffington Post reports that nearly one million customers are without power.
5:03 p.m. EDT Monday: “Very intense eye wall has developed off of Wildwood, N.J.,” AccuWeather Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity said.
4:53 p.m. EDT Monday: A collection of snow photos associated with Sandy has been compiled.
4:37 p.m. EDT Monday: JFK airport had a peak wind gust to 66 mph.
4:10 p.m. EDT Monday: “The water level at the Atlantic City Steel Pier is now rising at a rate of more than 1.5 ft/hr,” tweeted AccuWeather Meteorologist Bill Deger (@muwxguy). Atlantic City Steel Pier Tide Info
More updates and resources
Latest satellite image: NOAA Storm Central
That blue band to the west is why this storm is so gnarly. The band is a combination of cold storms that will collide with a hot-weather Hurricane Sandy, thus the name “Frankenstorm.” Not to mention the very high-tides due to tomorrow’s full moon. These elements are why everyone is freaking out.
The band was a normal storm creeping across the U.S. from the Pacific Coast. But along the way it picked up a blast of wintery arctic air that swooped down from Canada. Sandy is pushing a lot of water towards the coastline, causing mega-damage to many properties. The tide is already high, making it worse.
Once it mashes into Hurricane Sandy over the coast, there will be mega-damage to many many properties. Frankenstorm indeed!
nevver:
Update, Sandy
How climate deniers (‘skeptics’ is a misnomer I believe) see climate change evidence vs. how realists see it. For an explanation of the escalator graph, visit Skeptical Science. Skeptical Science has a ton of Climate 101 articles. They’re easy to read, are well sourced, and written by authorities in the field.
Update: For the haters (“Ermgerd! That chart is only 40 years!”), a longer time scale is here. For the temperature gauge skeptics go here. CO2 skeptics go here (scroll to ‘It’s Not Us’). Global cooling folks, go here. And, if you don’t like that source, some alternative sources on the science: here, here, and also here.
Look, I understand the skepticism. But at this point, skeptics have an incredibly high-bar to reach in order to be right. Science is a process of proving itself wrong, so skepticism is science’s middle name! Thus, if you want to really kill climate science you’ll have to show that carbon atoms do not retain energy. That’s the key. All other arguments against climate science have no relevance until the carbon-doesn’t-retain-energy argument is shown to be true.
prostheticknowledge:
Applying Sunblock - Visible vs Ultraviolet Light
Seeing how the lotion has different visual properties in different light - via Life Pixel
Sunblock being applied to face in visible light & ultraviolet UV light. As you can see this sunblock absorbs UV light rays and therefore appears to be black in the UV only video. In visible light it looks like ordinary lotion.
You can see the video version at Life Pixel here (scroll down to video)
Neato.
wnyc:
futurepredictor:
America’s wind flow patterns mapped
Wind is an invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us—energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future.
Chicago: living up to its monicker. —A.P.
How cool is the USA Gov weather link I posted earlier? This cool.
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