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Exploiting Tomorrow's Solar Eclipse To Help Understand Sea Levels
mdsolar writes "Tomorrow at dawn on the U.S. East Coast, a partial solar eclipse will rise. Solar eclipses have many uses. They can confirm the Theory of Relativity, allow study of the solar corona, and this week, help prepare for global warming induced sea level rise. The tides induced in the oceans when the Sun and Moon are aligned are particularly high (and low) and give a foretaste of the effects of sea level rise in the coming decades. Maryland's Department of Natural Resources is asking for photos of these King Tides to help with preparation for the effect of sea level rise. Way to get out front, Maryland."
To "get in front of a problem" is slang, meaning to take steps to mitigate a predicted problem before it happens.
I've only heard it in use recently, so it's probably a recent addition. It's the "ounce of prevention" that is worth the "pound of cure".
(With gratitude to all the UK people who take the time to explain British slang. :-)
I'm going to use it to convince a primitive culture that my God has eaten the sun and that if they don't worship him and agree to build a pyramid, that they will never see their precious sun again! Muahahahahahahah! I figure I can get that all wrapped up by the time it pops back out again.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Math is nice, let you build models, make predictions and so on, but it could describe anything possible or impossible in any potential universe, To be sure that it fits in our universe, you must contrast it with reality. Einstein's theory was a bunch of complex equations, but was matching those equations predictions with reality that gave them validity.
In this particular case, observing it could tell that our guesses had some ground, or that were more or less severe of what is really happening, because maybe some factors we aren't measuring or aren't fully understood yet.
Mathematical models is like software, in that in theory they work great, but in practice the fail many times, in many unexpected ways. Also, complex models require real data to calibrate. ie there tend to be many parameters that we need results to find their specific values.
I read TFA and all I got was this lousy cookie
We really need to get to the root of how antropogenic climate change is causing solar eclipses. If this keeps happening eventually the moon will come between the Earth and the sun permanently, leading to an eternal night cursed with ever increasing temperatures. Crops will simultaneously wilt and catch fire. With the right global publicity board report we should be able to get a bunch of powerless scientists to achieve a high degree of consensus about the subject, and then do nothing.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Dang, where are you at? NoScript only passed partially in front of the logo in my area. You're really lucky to see the full eclipse!
This is cute, but the difference in tidal forces between an eclipse and any other full moon is not very much-- the moon and sun are still pretty closely lined up. If it's within a few months of an eclipse, the difference is trivial. Or, for that matter, a lunar eclipse would also be as good.
Next month's full moon will have (very slightly) higher tides-- the Earth is a month closer to perihelion.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
Oh don't think of it as man induce global warming, so much as, ever changing real estate values in the evolution of a planet.
I confess, It's my fault. In order to bring surf tourism to Kansas, I've calculated the precise amount of beans fed to cattle to produce the correct results.
Call me a nut, but I farm beans and raise cattle and manufacture my "special feed" sold at cost around the state. It is a Holy thing to bring the masses to the rental property.I cite the "Surfi-ism" lectures by St. Lex of the Luthoran Church. " Upon this rock, I build my church", the rock of course, being Kryptonite.
Stay tuned for more puzzling evidence.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
The sun and/or moon in their various cycles can effect the tides on Earth, but they have no effect on changes in the climate?
I'm going to use it to convince a primitive culture that my God has eaten the sun
So just like AGW, only convincing people to give you money directly to save them from the doom you insist is real, instead of proxying funds through the government first.
It's always good to cut out the middle man.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Nothing like using an unusually high tide to scare people about global warming, even though ocean levels are now predicted to rise something like 4" over 100 years (NOT four feet as the government website sadly parrots) ... the variance of a good spring tide can be more than that.
It's just really sad to see people conned in the name of science.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Talking of math and science in general, this idea isn't related to either. What the hell are pictures and videos of a single king tide going to tell us about about anything EXCEPT the level of that single king tide. There simply isn't enough data to show anything. No real measurements, no real data.
sudo mount --milk --sugar
It will tell us how the incoming water distributes as it comes in. There are some non-intuitive ways that the flow of incoming water reacts to obstacles and other features of the land (such as low points) as a result of fluid dynamics. While our understanding of fluid dynamics can explain what happens, the complexity of the interactions with a rising tide make it impractical to fully catalog those effects in advance. The data that can be gleaned from these pictures will be useful for dealing with storm surge issues as well.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
There is no evidence that the rate of sea level rise is increasing
No evidence except for the measurements and data. Here's a graph from NOAA.
Sea level rose rapidly 10,000 years ago at the end of the last glacial period. They have been fairly stable for the last 8000 years until levels began to climb again in the 20th century.
Records and research show that sea level has been steadily rising at a rate of 1 to 2.5 millimeters (0.04 to 0.1 inches) per year since 1900.
Since 1992, new methods of satellite altimetry indicate a rate of rise of 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) per year. - See http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/sealevel.html