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Environmental News

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by tochatihu, Oct 22, 2015.

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  1. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    #101 tochatihu, Feb 8, 2017
  2. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    #102 tochatihu, Feb 9, 2017
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  3. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    #103 tochatihu, Feb 15, 2017
  4. wxman

    wxman Active Member

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    This was a topic of interest to me as a NWS met. Did quite a bit of work with USDA Forest Service mets to determine how mixing heights varied in complex terrain.
     
    #104 wxman, Feb 15, 2017
  5. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    For me as well! I was at Oak Ridge when Baldocchi et al. were doing initial instrumentation and analysis for eddy covariance.

    Now it comes as a 'kit' including software from Campbell Scientific or others. But problems in complex terrain and with uneven canopies have not all been solved.

    Eddy covariance wiki page is nicely done, but it is hard to avoid funny-looking math, So public at large is unlikely to share our enthusiasm :)

    Eddy covariance - Wikipedia
     
    #105 tochatihu, Feb 15, 2017
  6. wxman

    wxman Active Member

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    Yeah, I really haven't kept up with the research since retiring in 2012.

    Last I knew was that it didn't appear mixing heights followed the terrain very well. This was an issue for smoke dispersion in prescribed burns.

    Interesting that you worked in Oak Ridge. ORR is in NWS Morristown's CWA.
     
    #106 wxman, Feb 15, 2017
  7. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    #107 tochatihu, Feb 15, 2017
  8. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Such a shield and optical window, or camera aperture, doesn't exist for neutrinos.
     
    #108 fuzzy1, Feb 19, 2017
  9. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    I wasn't thinking image as much as direction and intensity. Seeing the 'bright light' source. But it may be redundancy to the the path of failed robots.

    Bob Wilson
     
    #109 bwilson4web, Feb 19, 2017
  10. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    I would clarify that the Arecibo Observatory is used not so much to find or identify NEOs, but rather to use its radar to more precisely refine the orbits of hazardous objects identified by other programs. For which projects are actually finding these objects, see here:
    Search Program
    NEO Discovery Statistics (bottom half of page, Near-Earth Asteroid Discoveries by Survey)

    Arecibo has a limited view of the sky, so cannot ping all suspects. While quite valuable -- the other optical systems measure only x and y coordinates, radar adds a z component -- I don't know that it is essential for this purpose.

    China is in the process of commissioning an even larger natural-bowl radio telescope, named FAST. But it appears to lack the radar transmitter that is so useful at Arecibo:
    Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope - Wikipedia
     
    #110 fuzzy1, Feb 19, 2017
  11. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    I hope this holds up. It takes one potential doomsday scenario off our plate.
     
    #111 fuzzy1, Feb 19, 2017
  12. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    FAST@110. No transmitter, correct. This is said to be disqualifying for 'planetary defense', but with accurate timing information from Arecibo, FAST could 'hear' echo and do the math.

    Such offline post processing will be used to image Milky Way central black hole in xray.
     
    #112 tochatihu, Feb 19, 2017
  13. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    haven't noticed any sinkholes lately.
     
    #113 bisco, Feb 19, 2017
  14. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    With FAST being at nearly opposite longitude from Arecibo, the echos of nearby targets will return and vanish long before the receiver swings into view. Perhaps Australia could step up and use one of its steerable dish transmitters to illuminate targets for FAST? The latitude-longitude difference isn't nice (60 & 40 degrees, respectively, from Canberra DSN), so the transmitter must be aimed low to the horizon, but it should work.

    Of course, keeping Arecibo open would be far cheaper than building anything new. But it would also be nice to have some Southern Hemisphere facilities to view targets beyond the rather narrow horizons of Arecibo and FAST.
     
    #114 fuzzy1, Feb 19, 2017
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2017
    tochatihu likes this.
  15. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Ugeta like for pointing out longitude issue.

    If ever travel to Puerto Rico, plead for Arecibo 'backroom tour' where the large capacitors are. Power for outgoing radar. Wowee.
     
    #115 tochatihu, Feb 19, 2017
  16. Andyprius1

    Andyprius1 Senior Member

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    That's because they are hiding right under you. Watch Out!
     
    #116 Andyprius1, Feb 19, 2017
  17. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    arghhh!:eek:
     
    #117 bisco, Feb 19, 2017
  18. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    #118 tochatihu, Feb 25, 2017
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  19. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    #119 tochatihu, Mar 8, 2017
  20. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    #120 tochatihu, Mar 8, 2017
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