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Aussie Data Centres Brace For Dust Storm Barrage
An anonymous reader writes "Data centers and telcos in the Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane have shut off external ventilation systems, restricted loading dock access and attended false alarms after a major dust storm choked the cities today. The storm is said to be the worst of its type ever recorded in Australia. Macquarie Telecom disengaged automatic deployment of fire-prevention gas from the fire alarm to prevent gas being released on a false alarm. Other major data center operators reported clogged air filters and heat exchangers and said they would be performing cleaning and maintenance operations this week."
crikey?
The dust may have settled yesterday, but I think cleaning bits of uluru out of the filters etc. in the data centres may keep the IT monkeys busy for the next week or so.
It's our turn with the dust up here in North Queensland. Mind you, it is not nearly as bad, merely masking out the mountains. Should get a spectacular sunset this afternoon.
Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
Kudzu? Hey, it worked eighty years ago. You've got at least fifty years before you have to worry about it choking out your native wildlife!
You could taste it by about 11am (still can). Water restrictions will be lifted for a few days to allow people to hose things down. Latest reports suggest there is a lesser dust storm due here by Saturday. Damn Kiwis are stealing our country by stealth!
You never catch me alive
Climate change is a farce. im a sydneysider, this is the worst duststorm we've had in 70 years, IE: 70 years ago, it was this bad. It's the first year of el nino, the ground is going to be dry, it happens. its also not the worst dustorm in the country, the 1984 one in melbourne was worse. the arctic icecap is melting too, curiously in line with the friggin range of underwater volcanoes spewing hot magma into the ocean.
That's certainly how it felt. I was up at the crack of dawn and what an eerie red dawn it was. Never seen anything like it. It was interesting that earlier in the morning near dawn it was easier to capture the dust as it was stronger where I was.
Mind you it's nice and Sunny in Sydney today, so as usual this story's a little late.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Potable water?
You got ANY idea what fish do in it?
You never catch me alive
This was posted on one of the Aussie mailing lists I'm a member of, absolutely sureal. Wish I could have seen it, bit of a drive from the West coast and I believe they were grounding planes at one point.
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of cats. MEOW!!
These worst-on-record, high-energy climatic phenomena -- hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, dust storms, etc. -- tell the real story of global warming. Burning fossil fuels emits energy into the atmosphere. Over a long period of time, that energy dissipates into the "cold" of outer space.
Over the past century, this injection of energy into the atmosphere was caused by the (very) roughly 1 billion Westerners. In the current century, there will be roughly 3 billion (including the Indians and the Chinese, who are buying cars left and right) apes who are injecting energy into the atmosphere.
Will the "cold" of outer space absorb enough surplus heat from the atmosphere at a sufficiently fast rate? Is anyone using a supercomputer to model this heat equation?
What sort of climatic catastrophy will occur when 3 billion apes -- with their automobiles, power plants, lawn mowers, etc. -- inject a daily, massive pulse of energy into the atmosphere?
Could not help thinking of this Tom Waits song on the drive home yesterday...
Well it's hotter 'n blazes and all the long faces
there'll be no oasis for a dry local grazier
there'll be no refreshment for a thirsty jackaroo
from Melbourne to Adelaide on the overlander
with newfangled buffet cars and faster locomotives
the train stopped in Serviceton less and less often
There's nothing sadder than a town with no cheer
VicRail decided the canteen was no longer necessary
there's no spirits, no bilgewater and 80 dry locals
and the high noon sun beats a hundred and four
there's a hummingbird trapped in a closed down shoe store
This tiny Victorian rhubarb
kept the watering hole open for sixty five years
now it's boilin' in a miserable March 21 st
wrapped the hills in a blanket of Patterson's curse
the train smokes down the xylophone
there'll be no stopping here
all ya can be is thirsty in a town with no cheer
no Bourbon, no Branchwater
though the townspeople here
fought the Vic Rail decree tooth and nail
now it's boilin' in a miserable March 21 st
wrapped the hills in a blanket of Patterson's curse
the train smokes down the xylophone
there'll be no stopping here
all ya can be is thirsty in a town with no cheer
You never catch me alive
You have to admit, the Melbourne one does look pretty cool!
Americans thinking they are in a position to laugh at another countries beer. Now I've seen everything!
Link to Brisbane pics
You never catch me alive
There are some great pictures floating around, but this video shows what it looks like to come on the wall of dust...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If you know this is coming, get extra air filters, use the absolute kind (like 3M Filtrete), and be prepared to change them frequently. With absolute filters, the filters will gradually stop letting air through as they clog, so you must inspect them regularly or have clogged-filter sensors. The usual fibreglas filters don't even try to stop 100% of the particles above the filter's size limit, but they tend to still pass air even when clogged, so neglecting them doesn't stop airflow.
And use duct tape to fix any leaks around the filters.
Now that the US has been operating in the sandbox for years now, keeping gear going during sandstorms is well understood.
That might have been the 1982 or 83 storm. I could see it coming just like and tasted the dust on my tongue before the main part of the cloud got to us.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Maralinga dust :)
The joy from the 1956-63 nuke tests. The major tests where few, its all the burn tests and neutron initiators work that got really really dirty.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Yes but everyone knows Australia is in the future.
It's only just happening now for real.
Insanity: voting in the same two parties over and over again and expecting different results
Yep. Here's what it looked like yesterday:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/E_Aust_dust_storm_-_MODIS_Terra_1km_-_23_Sept_2009.jpg
The coast of Queensland is that as-yet-untouched bit up the top-right there. :-)
Usually when I see someone spouting off, there's at least some argument that can be rebutted, some point that can be countered, some claim that can be disproved or, at least, some myth that can be dispelled. I read this post, over and over, trying to find some way to respond in an intelligent manner, to try to get across a point about this subject that I feel so strongly about. However, try as I might, the only response I could come up with was this:
OMGWTFLOLHAHA.
I hate printers.
Yes but everyone knows Australia is in the future.
It's only just happening now for real.
Send me cash and I will give you tomorrows lottery numbers.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Ha! I wonder if this pushed up radiation counts over NSW? Even normal dust storms should be slightly radioactive, because the normal radioactive material in the ground.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Adelaide is semi arid. Always has, always will. Build desal and be done with it. (coming from someone who grew up in Adelaide for 26 years, then got the hell out before Adelaideism nearly robbed me of my ambition)
Just like, nobody cares about you, AC.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
So we should pump dust into the atmosphere over the west coast of .au and hope it nucleates precipitation before leaving the country?
http://michaelsmith.id.au
In Soviet Australia, outback visits you!
Where's the sandworms?
So that would roughly line up with the 1937-1947 drought, when the following happened:
I don't know about you, but that's not something I'd like to experience with the current population of Australia. If there's some part of cutting CO2 output that would help avoid such a situation, I'll gladly sign up for it.
Man who leaps off cliff jumps to conclusion.
So, climate change is a farce, just because you say so, despite the overwhelming evidence that it's happening? Congratulations, you just destroyed any credibility you might otherwise have.
... and then they built the supercollider.
Climate change a farce?
Give me a break. Of course climate change is happening. Look at California, Spain, Greece, and other places. They are turning into deserts. Year after year more fires, and more arid. It is changing the land at a local level. Other places like Canada are get more tornado's and they are getting more tail ends of hurricanes.
The question of whether or not it is man made in my opinion is quite irrelevant since we don't even have plan regardless of the cause. The big issue right now is how to deal with climate change? What are we doing to secure our water supplies? Or our essential resources...
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
"Climate change is a farce."
No, farcical is believing an obvious lie such as the claim that an active super volcano is melting either or both poles.
Also you haven't defined "worst dustorm"? - I would assume TFA is measuring the duststorm by the area it covered. In which case this one would be the "worst" of the two since it streached from South Australia to Queensland where as the 1984 one (that I experienced as it rolled over Bairnsdale) only covered Victoria and parts of NSW / S.Australia, at a rough guess that's about 1/4 of the area.
"It's the first year of el nino, the ground is going to be dry"
El Nino has not kicked in yet and it is NOT forecast to do so this year, this dust has accumulated under El Nina conditions. When ENSO does in fact flip to El Nino conditions the ground is going to get even dryer than it already is.
Did you (while reading up on non-existant volcanos), fail to notice that the majority of Aussies are living with strict water rationing laws? Are you unaware that practically all the state capitals in the country are frantically pouring billion$ into building some of the largest desal plants on the planet? Have you not noticed that most aussie grain harvests over the last 10yrs have seen a 50-60% drop in size when compared to pre 1990 averages? Is there not a giant scar on the Victorian bush from what was an upnprecedented firestorm (I say this having wittnessed first hand all three major fires in living memeory, 2009, 1984 & 1968(?) ). Are the hydro plants in Tassie not silent due to lack of water in their recently completed dams? Is Melbourne currently not at it's lowest winter water reserves on record?
Please also explain to us (without invoking invisable volcanos) why an entire forrest of 600yo river red gums has not survived this particular drought, when according to you conditions have been much worse at various times in the last century or so.
Like some of the other replies, I really have no explaination for why people post bullshit like the steaming pile in your post, is it attempted gallows humor? Are you paid?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
I've seen a few of them, that one look like the early 80's in Melbourne, this one covered a much wider area, and yes they do look awesome until they roll over your house but not as menacing as the 15km high smoke plume on black saturday.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Mod this man informative!
How do you shoot down a simple argument of logic?
It's been this bad 70 years ago.
70 years ago we didn't pollute ANYWHERE as much as we do today.
If our polluting nature is supposed to be the cause for climate change, which would then lead to, say, DUSTSTORMS, how come the same thing happened when we had barely begun the polluting?
Climate change is real. It happened since the beginning of this dirtball. The question is, how much of what we see today is natural and how much is man-made. Considering that they also found that CO2 rises came after our atmosphere warming up and not before, I'd like for you to give me a few examples of shut down points in favour of us not having much to do with the situation.
It's easy to say "Everyone KNOWS that your arguments won't hold up". But have the common decency to prove it instead of making blanket statements about our intelligence.
I am fucking fed up with this behaviour. Time and again, people had to lower their eyes in shame after they had made fun of others for their outrageously unpopular statements and then being proven wrong after all. How can any sane and halfway intelligent being continue doing that when none of us have any kind of insight into the bigger picture? Have you ever checked which scientists have proclaimed human induced climate change? Have you checked their work? Have you checked their numbers? Their conclusions? Have you checked whether their institutes are low on cash and just freaking needed the publicity?
Same goes for any opponents of human induced climate change, by the way. Same rules for all of us. The difference between you and me is that I don't call you stupid just because you have a different opinion than I have. All I call you is frickin' rude.
70 years ago the Rabbit plague was in full swing (until the Myxoma Virus was introduced in 1950's). Rabbits combined with overgrazing it amplified El Ninyos drying effect on Australia (Learning from history: land and pasture degradation episodes in Australiaâ(TM)s rangelands).
Today due to climate changes effects on the ocean currents, El Ninyo could quite possibly become permanent rather than a periodic event - which if happens, will freeze eastern Australia in a permanent drought conditions (and South America in permanent flooding conditions). A bit of drought in half of Australia and a few major floods in South America would be the very least of the worlds worries though... climate change screwing up the ocean current system is implicated in the Anoxic event which eventually led to the death of 90% of life on earth
>Climate change is a farce. im a sydneysider, this is the worst duststorm we've had in 70 years
No worries mate, the planet will be just fine. Nothing we can do to the planet short of complete nuclear Armageddon that Mother earth can't recover from in a few million years. Its not the planet we have to worry about... its our survival on it as a destructive, greedy, self serving species - and that's just a random sampling of our "elected" leaders
70 years ago we didn't pollute ANYWHERE as much as we do today
(citation needed)
(I'm not saying it isn't true, but in the west at least it seems we have been trying to cut down on our emissions, and I don't have any data comparing emissions from power plants, factories, cars, shuttle launches etc etc over the last century).
In the 1940s, air pollution received greater attention in the United States when smog was noticed in Los Angeles. Visibility was only three blocks and people suffered from smarting eyes, respiratory discomfort, nausea, and vomiting. California passed the first state air pollution law in 1947, and the first National Air Pollution Symposium in the United States was held in 1949. Initially, municipal governments were responsible for the passage and enforcement of such legislation.
(from http://www.epa.gov/apti/course422/apc1.html ).
Might also want to look into the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s (see here for pretty pictures).
which is totally what she said
...in this thread who understands that this is not a product of global warming but that global warming does exist?
Sheeesh.
Living in California, I'd have to say that the "more fires" thing isn't JUST climate change; it's also a result of overgrowth. Fires burn out the vegetated areas, and they regrow. Every year it doesn't, the danger grows higher (I was temporarily displaced by this one actually). The San Joaquin valley, though...that's probably turning into a desert, and probably for the same reason as the dust bowl.
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
sh1t happens, get used to it.
Then again, rampant immigration that uses MORE WATER isnt helping too is it, right, is it !!!!
How much more toilet flushing, daily showering people DO WE NEED.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
sydney is in australia mate.
look it up
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Well lets look at reality now shall we? See in the last 150 years we've had amazing improvements in the ability to see and record weather events. Now, where I'm from Ontario, even in the last 10 years if a tornado happened in the middle of nowhere Northern Ontario and no one was around to hear it, it didn't happen. These days it's hit or miss. In the southern half, meaning south of Ottawa, we get anywhere between 20-45 a year. Which is pretty average and has been average.
Nowe to continue on, if you don't let nature do it's thing out west. Like in California, BC and so forth and burn out the dead brush then you start getting these amazing wildfires which will do the job for you because there is so much dry tinder. See wild fires are a part of the ecosystem. Plants and animials there have developed around it. See how some of the pines even require fire to crack open their cones. Now, Spain and Greece. They've been pretty good at failing to maintain low-level growth, and killing off large trees. See where I'm going with this? And in places like the Sahara where they're now planting seed grasses and small trees. They're taking off. Desertfication is receeding.
Om, nomnomnom...
As I said in another post land abuse is the root cause, AGW is the straw that broke the sheeps back. Massive cotton farms and over allocation of irrigation rights have absolutely nothing to do with immigration.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Dust storms caused by draught, draught caused by the overusing the rivers and lakes for crop irrigation and drinking water. The next (world?) war will be for water. Get your super-soakers ready.
signature is pants
(people (who speak in brackets (must like that weird language (which i think is called))))
lisp.
signature is pants
Test to see if one is worthy to survive the Human Culling:
:(
Take a large quantity of the very dangerous liquid, DHMO. Have a Liquid DHMO - (80%) Nitrogen Gas boundary in a chamber. The person taking the test must pass through the DHMO-Nitrogen boundary and travel between the two safe zones. If any (non major) body part makes contact with, or passes through the boundary layor then it is likely to require amputation. Breathing near the boundary layor is likely to kill. Breathing in the DHMO liquid is likely to kill.
Shit. I posted to much crap to make this modded funny
signature is pants
"Did you know that the Mitchell has flooded three times in the last decade?"
Yes, that's why the valley is chock full of highly productive market gardens not to mention the vast coastal lake system that would putrify without it's inflows as has already happened to the lakes in S Autralia. As for your other links please don't conflate ludites, animal rights actisits and environmentalists as one group marching in lockstep for obviously flawed crusades.
This particular "greenie" agrees with the grandfather of all greenies (James Lovelock) and thinks nukes are PART of the solution but I don't think we need to use it ourselves, I think we should be selling our yellowcake to nations that don't have such an embarrasing wealth of renewables as we do. I also support controlled culls and don't have a problem feeding roo, emu, camel, buffallo, etc, to my dog.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Being a devil's advocate to a devil's advocate is a nasty job, you have to contradict yourself all the time just to prove your point.
Seriously though, I do agree not everyone makes informed statements and just blast their opinions, however I have read scientific journals on both sides that do put up a great argument for both sides...hence why so many people are just on the fence about this one.
I hope that all this hoopla is propaganda, and that climate change is natural and nothing man made, however I would still like to know if it keeps getting worse, what sort of system do we have to alert us when ...the next storm hits, or the next volcano or the next....cause if it keeps getting bigger and bigger in damages or size of disaster, we need to prepare for certain level where the next earthquake might knock off California off the face of the map...! If that happens , pretty much 80% of Hollywood is gone, say good buy to Jack Bauer!
If our polluting nature is supposed to be the cause for climate change, which would then lead to, say, DUSTSTORMS, how come the same thing happened when we had barely begun the polluting?
If our polluting nature is supposed to be the cause for climate change, which would then lead to, say, RAINSTORMS, how come the same thing happened when we had barely begun the polluting?
Because duststorms and rainstorms are a natural phenomenon. They've pretty much always happened. It's the pattern and causes of these phenomenon which are studied by climate science.
... and then they built the supercollider.
Haven't actually tried it (but sounds like I'd enjoy it).
which is totally what she said
You are surprised that things which happen all the time don't make headlines; while something unprecedented made huge headlines? Really?
My post was in response to a comment about general climate change, not just Australia. I'm pretty sure that by "we", the GGP meant "humanity".
I've probably known Sydney was in Australia since I was about 7 years old.
which is totally what she said
American beer is akin to sex in a boat -- fucking close to water.
If you can read this, it means that I bothered to log in.
Southern California, Spain and Greece have always had a tendency to be arid. It's one of the reasons why California and Spain in particular have such great wine country. They're certainly not turning into deserts. The reason why people are noticing it more is because more people are living out there. More people are putting more strain on local resources and there are more people around to notice conditions. When fires happen, for example, people notice because it's their property being destroyed and certainly they increase the chance of starting these fires. I always found it a bit ridiculous that people who've decided to live in the deserts of Southern California are now basically complaining to the rest of the country about how hot and dry it is.
On your second point, what tail ends of hurricanes hitting Canada are you talking about? The only thing I was able to find in reference to that on Google was some Canadian environmental group back in 1999 making a claim that more hurricanes MAY hit Canada. From what I've seen so far that hasn't turned out to be true. About the only part of Canada they could hit is Newfoundland and Nova Scotia and in that case they'd likely be making landfall in the American northeast and we haven't had a real hurricane up here in about 20 years. So I fail to see the threat.
People are always making these threats which are supposedly just around the corner. Then years go by and nothing predicted comes true. But then we get a weather event, the sort of which was observed maybe 100 years ago, and people freak out claiming it's evidence of global warming. Oh wait, the term is now an all-encompassing climate change like somehow the climate was static for the past 4 billion years. I suppose if you believe in the 6000-year-old Earth you might also believe that climate shouldn't be changing.
if you have probs with the veho link then use this google video link that will play the full 54 mins here
I won't comment on "Spain, Greece, and other places", but much of California IS a desert, and always has been.
LA, San Diego, most of southern California can exist as they do because humans diverted virtually the entire Colorado river and the entire snowmelt in the southern Rockies to making it the environment you consider "normal".
Fact is, the real California climate is semi-arid at best until you get up toward the Bay area.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
So he'll be receiving my money yesterday?
Well where are my lottery numbers? I am going to used to have been sending you my cash already!
While it would be inconvenient, until you have years of endless dust storms the size of states that reach nearly from coast to coast, don't act like it was the end of the world.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
/.'ers you disappoint me.
The really funny thing is Aussie beer is quite decent IMO.
There was a convention of brewers held at the Revolting Restaurant at the top of the Wrest Point hotel. Naturally at such a corporate piss-up, there was a bit of posturing going on. The head of Heineken ordered a Heineken, the CEO of Carlsberg ordered an Elephant, the head of Fosters grimaced and ordered a Fosters Lager, the chief of Budweiser ordered a can of their sex in a canoe, the guy from Brew 102 hid behind a cardboard cutout of himself holding a black and white can, and so on down the line it went -- each exec wanted to be seen standing behind their product.
This went on down the line until it reached the CEO of Cascade, who ordered a Coke. Everybody turned to look at him.
"Nah, mate, if none of you are having a real beer then I won't either."
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
I think if you investigate it you will find that annual volcanic emissions of CO2 are less than 5% of human emissions from burning fossil fuel.
I'm just basing this on random knowledge I have picked up. Never actually seen real lisp code (except maybe wikipedia example lulz).
signature is pants
i think if you add up all the natural emissions of green house gases then nature kicks human ass at it
Yes, the yearly carbon cycle releases a huge amount of CO2 then reabsorbs it. If humans weren't emitting excess CO2 the level of it in the atmosphere would go up and down 5-10 ppm in a yearly cycle but would remain around the same base yearly average. The increase in CO2 (and decrease in O2) in the atmosphere corresponds well with the amount of fossil fuels burned and deforestation that takes place.
did you even watch the veho linky?
I've seen it before. Showing people saying stupid stuff does nothing to discredit the science. They aren't scientists. Bjorn Lomborg and Ross Gelbspan is not a climate scientists either. You get no argument from me that plenty of people are over the top on their beliefs but I think Penn & Teller cherry picked their cuts too (of course nearly everyone does that to some extent). Nothing in the video disproves the science of climate change.
As evidence to the contrary, the NOAA is predicting that the El Niño effect most likely WILL kick in during Northern Hemisphere winter 09-10.
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
Yeah, but who belives models! /jk
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
The "real climate" of the Bay Area latitudes is semi-arid once you get away from the coast and over a range of hills or two. It's what they call a "Mediterranean climate" -- cool rainy winters, arid hot summers, rain on the windward side of the mountains only.
---dragoness