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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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 Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 9:56 am Post subject: More money wasted on space |
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More typical NASA extravagance as it spends billions to send probes up into space before all problems are solved on Earth. We can deal with hurricanes all by ourselves, thank you very much.
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NASA Eyes Current Sea Surface Temperatures For Hurricanes
Sea surface temperatures are one of the key ingredients for tropical cyclone formation and they were warming up in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and eastern Atlantic Ocean by the middle of August. As a result, they helped spawn Hurricane Dean in the central Atlantic, and Tropical Storm Erin in the Gulf of Mexico, both during the week of August 13.
By late June, sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico were all over 80 degrees Fahrenheit. That's one thing that hurricane forecasters watch for because sea surface temperatures of 80 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer are needed to power tropical depressions into tropical storms and grow them into hurricanes.
These areas or warm sea surface waters (80 degrees F or higher) are depicted in yellow, orange, and red. This data was taken by the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - EOS (AMSR-E) instrument aboard the Aqua satellite. This animation updates every 24 hours.
This animation shows the progression of warm waters slowly filling the Gulf of Mexico (shown in yellow, orange, and red). This natural annual warming contributes to the possible formation of hurricanes in the Gulf. Sea surface temperature data shown here ranges from January 1, 2007 to the present.
NASA's Bill Patzert, oceanographer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. said, "The many Atlantic and Gulf citizens still reeling from the shock of the 2004 and 2005 Atlantic hurricane seasons, received some good news the Atlantic sea surface temperatures that fuel hurricanes are somewhat cooler than the past few years. Based on this, some forecasters have reduced their forecasts. But the news is mixed."
When asked what factors forecasters are watching, Patzert said "The jet stream has remained stubbornly north, the possibility of a late-developing La Nina is lurking and Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean sea surface temperatures are ripe for late-season hurricane development."
While the experts debate, Gulf and Atlantic coast residents should definitely be prepared. A forecast for an above or below average hurricane season is just an academic exercise if a community is hit.
Hurricane season ends on November 30.
For continual updates on Sea Surface Temperatures, please visit: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003300/a003397/index.html |
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dogshed
Joined: 28 Apr 2006
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| Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 5:45 pm Post subject: |
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I disagree. Satellites that look at Earth help to solve the problems on Earth.
You might have a better argument with the back to the moon project. |
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OneWayTraffic
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm pretty sure you need a new sarcasm detector dogsled. |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, he definitely needs a new sarcasm detector.
Here's another interesting story (sarcasm is off now) where once again a new technology is first to be used in space, then will be put to daily use for the average person once the cost has gone down. Without space there would be no market for new technologies such as this:
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VANCOUVER � It looks like a simple sheet of black paper, but it could spell a revolution in battery technology � not to mention an end to the miserable Canadian ritual of plugging in the car on frigid winter nights.
Researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York have come up with a working prototype of a battery made out of cellulose, a coating of lithium and carbon tubes the size of a virus: a sheet of black paper that stores an electrical charge.
While it works on the same principle as any battery for sale in a corner store, the paper battery from Rensselaer is much different than a typical AA.
For starters, it can be as large as a newspaper page, or cut to the size of a postage stamp. It can be inserted under human skin, and be powered in part by body fluids.
Most important, the paper battery keeps functioning even at extreme temperatures, from -73 degrees to 148 degrees, meaning that it could be put to work in outer space.
Rensselaer professor Robert Linhardt says he foresees such paper batteries (which can also double as a car ignition and other kinds of supercapacitors) displacing the metal-and-acid versions in common use today, much as integrated microprocessor computer circuits have taken the place of bulky vacuum tubes.
�I think over time we'll replace what we're using as a battery,� he said.
However, for the moment, those ambitions are mostly hope. He and his fellow researchers have manufactured a postage-stamp-sized battery that can power a small fan or an LED device.
Dr. Linhardt says the device works, but cost will be the biggest barrier � which is why use in the extreme cold of outer space by customers with budgets running into the billions is the most promising takeoff point for the technology.
�If you need something to work in outer space, money is no object,� he said.
The paper battery also holds promise in medicine, where it could be implanted under a patient's skin and used to power medical devices such as pacemakers. And it can use electrolytes in bodily fluids such as sweat or blood to draw power. In a paper published yesterday, the Rensselaer team details its efforts, including the use of urine to power a test version in the lab.
Dr. Linhardt hopes that technological fine-tuning and the economies of mass manufacture can reduce the selling price to the point where the paper battery could be used to power hybrid cars and a wide range of other applications,
Other paper batteries are in development, including one in Korea and another in Finland. �We're just one player in a competitive field,� he said.
Despite its promise, the invention of Rensselaer's paper battery was pretty much an accident.
Some of Dr. Linhardt's students were working on cellulose sheets for medical use and were searching for ways to strengthen the somewhat fragile sheets.
They came upon the idea of using carbon nanotubes as reinforcement, serving much the same function as steel rods in concrete.
And then there was a eureka moment, when the team realized that the sheet of paper could be used as a battery.
It took 18 months to get a version working in the lab, but Dr. Linhardt said the paper battery has enormous potential, which could overshadow other high-profile innovations he has worked on in his three-decade career, including anti-clotting drugs. �This is potentially bigger.� |
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dirty_scraps83
Joined: 02 Jul 2007
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