Global Warming in 14 seconds

Capturing global warming... in just 14 seconds

There are climate change deniers, you can’t deny that. They deny that global warming is actually a real thing or that human beings have anything to do with it. So how do you prove it to the deniers that it is real?

The Washington Post put together this 14-second video (above) that captures rising temperatures from the 1950s to present day.

All the data used is from NASA. 

Cool Geography-related Jobs!

Students always ask me - "But can I get a job with a degree in geography?"

Absolutely!

Thanks to my buddy Dan for this link to 'Real-world geography,' profiling people who use geo-literacy skills in their (very cool!) jobs.

For the link to this NG Education site, click on the image below.

The coronavirus in the Middle East: will Hajj pilgrims bring it home?

This is a repost of blog article by Jennifer Yang 07/19/2013. Fascinating as it makes the connection between international travel and the spread of infectious disease. Great examples of "medical" geography!

See original article: http://thestar.blogs.com/worlddaily/2013/07/the-coronavirus-in-the-middle-east-will-hajj-pilgrims-bring-it-home.html

The coronavirus in the Middle East: will Hajj pilgrims bring it home?

Source: Potential for the International Spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in Association with Mass Gatherings in Saudi Arabia/PLOS Currents Outbreaks

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization announced  that MERS -- the new coronavirus in the Middle East -- is noy yet considered a public health emergency. 

But emergency or not, the situation is a serious one. To date, MERS has infected 88 people and killed 45 people -- some of whom have brought the virus to Europe and Africa.

Thus far, all confirmed cases can be traced back to one of four Middle Eastern countries: Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. But the majority of cases have occurred in saudi Arabia -- the same country millions of pilgrims are now flocking to for Hajj and Umrah.

As Mecca enters its peak season for pilgrimages, there is a growing worry that visitors could get infected and scatter back to their home countries, bringing the virus with them.

But which countries are most at risk? This is the question a team of researchers -- led by Dr. Kamran Khan, a St. Michael's Hospital doctor and founder of BioDiaspora -- wanted to answer with their new study, published Wednesday in PLOS Currents Outbreaks.

The team used a web-based technology that analyzes global air traffic patterns to predict the spread of infectious diseases.

And their results are not exactly reassuring. According to a press release about the study, MERS "could spread faster and wider during two international mass gatherings involving millions of people in the next few months."

Analyzing 2012 data, the researchers found that 16.8 million travelers flew on commercial airlines out of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates between June (one month pre-Ramadan) and November (one month post-Hajj).

During SARS, which killed some 800 people worldwide, the majority of infected travelers turned up in high-income countries, including Canada. But with Hajj, there were 1.74 million pilgrims last year and an estimated 65.1 per cent flew home to low or low-middle income countries, according to the study.

Nearly one in four Hajj pilgrims flew to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Nepal -- countries that spend $59, $30, $56 and $33 US per capita on health care, respectively. For comparison's sake, Canada's health expenditures per capita is $5,630 US, or $5,837 CAD.

"Given that these countries have limited resources, they may have difficulty quickly identifying imported MERS cases, implementing rigorous infection control precautions and responding effectively to newly introduced cases," Khan said in the press release.

Khan and his team also found that eight countries supply the majority (51.6 per cent) of Mecca's pilgrims: India (16.3 per cent), Egypt (10.4), Pakistan (7.8), Britain (4.3), Kuwait (3.6), Bangladesh (3.1), Iran (3.1) and Bahrain (2.9). Twelve cities also received more than 350,000 commercial air travelers from the four Middle Eastern countries affected by MERS (Cairo, Kuwait City, London, Bahrain, Beirut, Mumbai, Dhaka, Karachi, Manila, Kozhikode (India), Istanbul and Jakarta).

In the press release, Khan and his team urge health care providers to learn from SARS; we should anticipate a wider MERS outbreak, they say, rather than react to one after it happens.

Sounds like good advice.

Spills at Alberta Oil Sands

Originally published in the Toronto Star: Friday July 19, 2013

‘Nobody understands’ spills at Alberta oil sands operation

Oil spills at an oil sands operation in Cold Lake, Alberta have been going on for weeks with no end in sight, according to a government scientist.

 

Photos provided by a government scientist show the site of an oil spill in Cold Lake, Alta. The company that runs the operation says it is effectively managing the cleanup.

 

By: Emma Pullman Martin Lukacs Special to the Star, Published on Fri Jul 19 2013

 

Oil spills at a major oil sands operation in Alberta have been ongoing for at least six weeks and have cast doubts on the safety of underground extraction methods, according to documents obtained by the Star and a government scientist who has been on site.

 

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. has been unable to stop an underground oil blowout that has killed numerous animals, and contaminated a lake, forest, and muskeg at its operations in Cold Lake, Alta.

The documents indicate that, since cleanup started in May, some 26,000 barrels of bitumen mixed with surface water have been removed, including more than 4,500 barrels of bitumen.

The scientist said Canadian Natural Resources is not disclosing the scope of spills in four separate sites, which have been off bounds to media and the public because the operations are on the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range, where there is active weapons testing by the Canadian military.

The company says it is effectively managing and cleaning up the spills.

“The areas have been secured and the emulsion is being managed with clean up, recovery and reclamation activities well underway. The presence of emulsion on the surface does not pose a health or human safety risk. The sites are located in a remote area which has restricted access to the public. The emulsion is being effectively cleaned up with manageable environmental impact,” the company said in a statement.

The documents and photos show dozens of animals, including beavers and loons, have died, and that 30,600 kg of oily vegetation has been cleared from the latest of the four spill zones.

The company’s operations use an “in situ” or underground extraction technology called “cyclic steam stimulation,” which involves injecting thousands of gallons of superhot, high-pressure steam into deep underground reservoirs. This heats and liquefies the hard bitumen and creates cracks through which the bitumen flows and is then pumped to the surface.

The scientist, who asked not to be named for fear of losing their job, said the operation was in chaos.

“Everybody (at the company and in government) is freaking out about this,” said the scientist. “We don’t understand what happened. Nobody really understands how to stop it from leaking, or if they do they haven’t put the measures into place.”

In response to emailed questions from the Star, Canadian Natural Resources said it was co-operating with the regulator.

“We are investigating the likely cause of the occurrence, which we believe to be mechanical,” the company said.

“Canadian Natural has existing groundwater monitoring in place and we are undertaking aquatic and sediment sampling to monitor and mitigate any potential impacts. As part of our wildlife mitigation program, wildlife deterrents have been deployed in the area to protect wildlife.

“We are saddened that unfortunately some animal fatalities occurred between the time of the incident and the deployment of our animal deterrent systems. All of the fatalities have been reported to the Alberta Energy Regulator.”

The company added that it has “taken appropriate steps to ensure no additional impact to wildlife or the environment and that the incident site is reclaimed.”

Canadian Natural Resources did not respond to the charge that they aren’t disclosing the scope of the spills.

Oil companies have said in situ methods are more environmentally friendly than the open-pit mining often associated with the Alberta oil sands, but in situ is more carbon and water-intensive.

“In the course of injecting steam they’ve created fractures from the reservoir to the surface that they didn’t expect,” said the scientist, who is speaking out over concern that neither the company nor Alberta’s regulatory bodies would properly address the situation.

On Thursday, the Alberta Energy Regulator confirmed there were four spills in the last few months, and ordered Canadian Natural Resources to restrict its steam injections and enhance monitoring at the operations in Cold Lake.

Regulator official Bob Curran said the latest spill is spread across 40 hectares.

Canadian Natural Resources disputed that figure Friday. “We have the mapped area impacted to be significantly less than 40 hectares with the area being reduced daily through effective cleanup efforts,” the company said.

Critics say such spills raise questions about the safety and viability of in situ extraction, which by 2020 is expected to account for as much as 40 per cent of Canada’s oil sands production, because many of Alberta’s deposits cannot be mined.

“This is a new kind of oil spill and there is no ‘off button,’ ” said Keith Stewart, an energy analyst with Greenpeace who teaches a course on energy policy and environment at the University of Toronto. “You can’t cap it like a conventional oil well or turn off a valve on a pipeline."

You are pressurizing the oil bed so hard that it’s no wonder that it blows out. This means that the oil will continue to leak until the well is no longer pressurized,” which means the bitumen could be seeping from the ground for months.

The company said the process is sound and has a good track record over 30 years in Alberta. It said that nevertheless it is reviewing its wellbores “to enhance wellbore integrity and modify steaming strategies to prevent the remote possibility of these events in the future.”

The Cold Lake operations are on the traditional territory of the Beaver Lake Cree First Nation, which is pursuing a constitutional challenge that argues the cumulative impacts of oil sands industrial development are infringing their treaty rights to hunt, fish and trap.

The First Nation says community members are buried alongside the lake that has been affected by the spills, and that they have been unable to access the site.

“It’s unbelievable that the federal government has dismantled oversights so that in situ tar sands operations like this one on our traditional territory don’t have to pass through any kind of environmental assessment anymore,” said Crystal Lameman from Beaver Lake.

The (Rapidly) Rising Cost of Natural Disasters

The Stampede Grounds in Calgary during the recent floods in Alberta (Credit: globalnews.ca)

A total of 460 natural hazards ripped through the world in the first half of 2013, slightly above the average for the past 10 years, according to a report by Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurer.

Read the article by Raveena Aulakh, the Toronto Star's environment reporter at:

The (Rapidly) Rising Cost of Natural Disasters


Also, check out the map by Munich RE at:

MAP: Natural Catastrophes January - June 2013

Toronto Floods and "Lost" Rivers

The extensive flooding that took place in Toronto this week is linked to extensive development that has re-routed and buried numerous small streams that used to drain the area. When heavy rainfall overwhelms the ability of storm drains to handle the volume, excess water tries to follow some of the lost channels

Photo Credit: BlogTO.com - Tom Ryaboi

Photo: The Don Valley Parkway in Toronto Monday night, as seen from the Dundas Street bridge (Credit: Toronto Star)

The Toronto Star has published a great article on Toronto's "lost rivers":
Lost Rivers Reappear When Nature Takes Charge

The article references a great little site called Lost River Walks. Of particular interest is the map that shows the location of most of the streams that once flowed beneath central Toronto. The map on the website is linked so you can click on particular streams to get more detailed information.

(Map Reference: http://www.lostrivers.ca/centralkey.htm)

On the 150th Anniversary of Gettysburg - Civil War Animated Maps

150 years ago the Conferderate and Union armies fought the Battle of Gettysburg. Often described as the turning point in the American Civil War, the battle not only saw the largest number of casualties of the entire war, the defeat of Lee's army effectively ended the invasion of the north.

Check out these fantastic animated maps of the major battles of the American Civil War from the Civil war Trust.


Battle of Gettysburg Animated Map

Battle of Antietam

Battle of Bull Run

Fort Sumter

Battle of Fredericksburg

Battle of Shiloh

Battle of Vicksburg

It was of course at on the site of the battle, some four and a half months later, that President Lincoln delivered one of the best known speeches in American history - the Gettysburg Address - at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetary:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Scars on the Earth

From: http://www.theworldgeography.com/2013/06/earth-scars.html

Our planet is covered in pockmarks so deep that they can be seen from space. Some were caused by asteroid strikes, but most are the result of human intervention. Here are some of the most incredible examples of the scarred Earth.

1. Mir Mine, Russia

Mir Mine also called Mirny Mine is a former open pit diamond mine, now inactive, located in Mirny, Eastern Siberia, Russia. The mine is 525 meters (1,722 ft) deep (4th in the world) and has a diameter of 1,200 m (3,900 ft), and is the second largest excavated hole in the world, after Bingham Canyon Mine.

The airspace above the mine is closed for helicopters because of incidents in which they were sucked in by the downward air flow.

The Mir mine was the first and the largest diamond mine in the Soviet Union. Its surface operation lasted 44 years, finally closing in June 2001. After the collapse of the USSR, in the 1990s, the mine was operated by the Sakha diamond company, which reported annual profits in excess of $600 million from diamond sales.
2. Gosses Bluff Crater, Australia

Gosses Bluff (Gosse's Bluff) is thought to be the eroded remnant of an impact crater. It is located in the southern Northern Territory, near the centre of Australia, about 175 km (109 mi) west of Alice Springs and about 212 km (132 mi) to the northeast of Uluru (Ayers Rock). It was named by Ernest Giles in 1872 after Australian explorer William Gosse's brother Henry, who was a member of William's expedition.

The original crater rim has been estimated at about 22 km (14 mi) in diameter, but this has been eroded away. The 5 km (3.1 mi) diameter, 180 m (590 ft) high crater-like feature, now exposed, is interpreted as the eroded relic of the crater's central uplift.

The impact origin of this topographic feature was first proposed in the 1960s, the strongest evidence coming from the abundance of shatter cones. In the past the crater has been the target of petroleum exploration, and two abandoned exploration wells lie near its centre.

3. Diavik Diamond Mine, Canada

The Diavik Diamond Mine is a diamond mine in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, about 300 kilometres (190 mi) north of Yellowknife. It has become an important part of the regional economy, employing 700, grossing C$100 million in sales, and producing approximately 7.5 million carats (1,500 kg (3,300 lb)) of diamonds annually.

The area was surveyed in 1992 and construction began in 2001, with production commencing in January 2003. It is connected by an ice road and Diavik Airport with a 5,235 ft (1,596 m) gravel runway regularly accommodating Boeing 737 jet aircraft.

The mine is owned by a joint venture between the Harry Winston Diamond Corporation and Diavik Diamond Mines Inc., a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group. The lifespan of the mine is expected to be 16 to 22 years. It is about 220 km (140 mi) south of the Arctic Circle.

4. Meteor Crater, USA

 

 

 

Meteor Crater is a meteorite impact crater approximately 43 miles (69 km) east of Flagstaff, near Winslow in the northern Arizona desert of the United States. Because the United States Board on Geographic Names commonly recognizes names of natural features derived from the nearest post office, the feature acquired the name of "Meteor Crater" from the nearby post office named Meteor.

It is about 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in diameter, some 170 m deep (570 ft), and is surrounded by a rim that rises 45 m (148 ft) above the surrounding plains. The center of the crater is filled with 210–240 m (690-790 ft) of rubble lying above crater bedrock. One of the interesting features of the crater is its squared-off outline, believed to be caused by pre-existing regional jointing (cracks) in the strata at the impact site.

The crater is privately owned by the Barringer family through their Barringer Crater Company,  which proclaims it to be "best preserved meteorite crater on Earth.

5. Kimberley Big Hole, South Africa

Kimberley (city) is the home of De Beers Consolidated Diamond Mines, some of the world's richest diamond mines, and it is still considered to be the capital of the world's diamond industry. As the centre for the diamond fever of the late 19th century, its foundations began to be dug in 1871 when a diamond was found on a small hill called Colesberg Koppie.

Digging began and only a few months later more than 30 000 men were frantically excavating for diamonds in an area covering 300m (980ft) by 200m (660ft).

They made short work of the hill and soon plunged down into the earth to a depth of 1100 metres (3,600ft) to create what came to be known simply as the ‘Big Hole'.

 

 

 

28 million tons of dirt was removed, yielding 14.5 million carats of diamonds and resulting in the creation of the largest man made hole in the world. It was here that the famous Star of Africa was found, a magnificent 83.5 carat diamond.

6. Pingualuit Crater, Canada

The Pingualuit Crater (Inuktitut: "where the land rises") is located in the Ungava Peninsula of Quebec, Canada. It is 3.44 km (2.14 mi) in diameter. The crater is exposed to the surface, rising 160 m (520 ft) above the surrounding tundra and is 400 m (1,300 ft) deep.

A 267 m (876 ft) deep Pingualuk Lake fills the depression, and is one of the deepest lakes in North America. The lake also holds some of the purest fresh water in the world. The lake has no inlets or apparent outlets, so the water accumulates solely from rain and snow and is only lost through evaporation. In terms of transparency, it is one of most transparent lakes in the world, with Secchi disk visible more than 35 m (115 ft) deep.

7. Tswaing Crater, South Africa

Tswaing is an impact crater in South Africa. This astrobleme is 1.13 km (0.7mi) in diameter and 100 m (330 ft) deep. The impactor is believed to have been a chondrite or stony meteorite some 30 to 50 m (100-165 ft) in diameter that was vaporized during the impact event.

The name Tswaing means Place of Salt in Tswana and the crater was also formerly known in English: as Pretoria Saltpan crater and in Afrikaans: as Soutpankrater. Water in the crater comes from surface springs, ground water and rain water and is rich in dissolved carbonates and sodium chlorides.

Tswana and Sotho people harvested the salt by filtering and decoction between 1200 and 1800. Between 1912 and 1956 brine was pumped from the floor of the crater by the company SA Alkali Ltd. in order to extract soda and salt. Tswaing is currently on the tentative list for consideration as a World Heritage Site.

8. Wolfe Creek Crater, Australia

Wolfe Creek Crater is a well-preserved meteorite impact crater (astrobleme) in Western Australia. It is accessed via the Tanami Road 150 km (93 mi) south of the town of Halls Creek. The crater is central to the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater National Park.

The crater averages about 875 metres (2.870 ft) in diameter, 60 metres (197 ft) from rim to present crater floor and it is estimated that the meteorite that formed it had a mass of about 50,000 tonnes. Small numbers of iron meteorites have been found in the vicinity of the crater, as well as larger so-called 'shale-balls', rounded objects made of iron oxide, some weighing as much as 250 kg (550 pounds).

 

 

 

It was brought to the attention of science after being spotted during an aerial survey in 1947, investigated on the ground two months later, and reported in publication in 1949. The European name for the crater comes from a nearby creek, which was in turn named after Robert Wolfe (early reports misspell the name as Wolf Creek), a prospector and storekeeper during the gold rush that established the town of Halls Creek.
9. Grasberg Mine, Indonesia

The Grasberg Mine is the largest gold mine and the third largest copper mine in the world. It is located in the province of Papua in Indonesia near Puncak Jaya, the highest mountain in Papua, and it has 19,500 employees.

It is majority owned through a subsidiary by Freeport-McMoRan, own 90.64% of PT Freeport Indonesia, the principal operating subsidiary in Indonesia, including 9.36% owned through its wholly owned subsidiary, PT Indocopper Investama.

The Government of Indonesia owns the remaining 9.36% of PT Freeport Indonesia. FCX operates under an agreement with the Government of Indonesia, which allows Freeport to conduct exploration, mining and production activities in a 24,700-acre area (Block A). It also conducts exploration activities in an approximate 500,000-acre area (Block B). The 2006 production was 610,800 tonnes of copper; 58,474,392 grams of gold; and 174,458,971 grams of silver.
10. Ekati Diamond Mine, Canada

The Ekati Diamond Mine ("Ekati") is Canada's first surface and underground diamond mine. It is located 310 km (190 mi) north-east of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and about 200 km (120 mi) south of the Arctic circle, near Lac de Gras.

Ekati is a joint venture between Dominion Diamond Corporation (80%), and the two geologists who discovered kimberlite pipes north of Lac de Gras, Chuck Fipke and Stewart Blusson each holding a 10% stake in the mine.

Between 1998 and 2009, the mine has produced 40 million carats (8,000 kg or 17,637 lb) of diamonds out of six open pits. As the high grade ore close to surface was depleted, development was completed to access the ore utilizing underground methods.

11. Bingham Canyon Mine, USA

The Bingham Canyon Mine, also known as the Kennecott Copper Mine, is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, in the Oquirrh Mountains. The mine is owned by Rio Tinto Group, an international mining and exploration company headquartered in the United Kingdom.

The copper operations at Bingham Canyon Mine are managed through Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation which operates the mine, a concentrator plant, a smelter, and a refinery. The mine has been in production since 1906, and has resulted in the creation of a pit over 0.6 miles (0.97 km) deep, 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, and covering 1,900 acres (770 ha). It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1966 under the name Bingham Canyon Open Pit Copper Mine.

At 9:30 pm on April 10, 2013, a landslide occurred at the mine. Mining operations were shut down the previous day in anticipation of the slide. The massive slide is expected to cut production of mined copper by 113 kt

12. Super Pit, Australia

The Fimiston Open Pit, colloquially known as the Super Pit, is Australia's largest open cut gold mine. The Super Pit is located off the Goldfields Highway on the south-east edge of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

The pit is oblong in shape and is approximately 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) long, 1.5 kilometres (0.9 mi) wide and 570 metres (1870 ft) deep. At these dimensions, it is large enough to be seen from space.

The Super Pit is owned by Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines Pty Ltd, a company owned 50/50 by Barrick Gold Corporation and Newmont Mining Corporation. The mine produces 850,000 ounces (28 tonnes) per year of gold, and employs around 550 employees directly on site.

 

Happy Canada Day!

Stompin' Tom's Musical Map of Canada

The late Stompin' Tom Connors, the fiercely proud and extremely prolific Canadian music icon, wrote and performed songs that celebrate our country from coast to coast. Though they didn't all become chart-toppers, his patriotic tunes are familiar to Canadians of all ages - who isn't able to sing along to The Hockey Song, for instance?

Delivered in his distinctive country-folk twang, Stompin' Tom's music embraces regional customs and communities, delves into historical events and cherishes the flavour of all corners of Canada.

"I don't know why I seem to be the only one, or almost the only one, writing about this country," he said in 2008. "This country is the most underwritten country in the world as far as songs are concerned. We starve. The people in this country are starving for songs about their homeland."

With this map, originally posted shortly after Stompin' Tom's death in March, CBC News dips into some of the Canadian locales Connors toasted in his music. Access the map of Canada on the CBC website using the link below, then select the red marker and click on the picture to launch the music videos for each location.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/stompin-tom/