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Using a long tether to deflect threatening asteroids
An asteroid-tether-ballast system could effectively alter the motion of an asteroid to ensure it missed hitting Earth; the tether, though, is on the long side: between 1,000 kilometers to 100,000 kilometers
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An HSNW conversation with Harold Wolpert, CEO of Avalias
Avalias’s solutions allow an organization to approximate the experience of a disaster, and to help the personnel charged with defense and mitigation to perfect and rehearse their responses to disaster; Harold Wolpert, CEO of Avalias: “Our technology is taken for granted. That’s because it can be”
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Study: Catastrophic rise in sea levels "distinct possibility" this century
New study — based on fluctuations in sea levels the last time Earth was between ice ages, as it is now — shows that oceans rose some three meters in only decades due to collapsing ice sheets
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Earthquakes cannot be predicted with accuracy, say seismologists
Monday’s earthquake in Italy, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 200 people, was made more poignant by claims of an Italian researcher that said he had predicted the quake and warned the authorities — which ignored the warning; scientists say this claim is unfounded, as earthquakes cannot be predicted with accuracy
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Post-Ike ideas for defending Galveston include extending sea wall
Texas A&M oceanographer proposes extending Galveston’s seawall to the island’s West End, building a similar structure along Bolivar Peninsula, and constructing massive Dutch-like floodgates at the entry to Galveston Bay; oceanographer says his proposed wall and gate system could repel most surges
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Mathematicians provide new insight into tsunamis
The number and height of the tsunami waves hitting the shoreline depends critically on the shape of the initial surface wave in deep water; from this it is possible to work out whether a “trough” or a “peak” is the leading wave
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New ideas for deflecting Earth-threatening asteroids
As scientists use better equipment to make more accurate observations of space, they find more Earth-threatening objects loitering in Near Earth Orbit; a debate is growing as to the best method to deal with this threat
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New Madrid fault system may be shutting down
Researchers find that the New Madrid fault system, which includes parts of Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Kentucky, is shutting down; major earthquake in the region may be avoided
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New York City is especially vulnerable to rise in sea level
Although low-lying Florida and Western Europe are often considered the most vulnerable to sea level changes, the northeast U.S. coast is particularly vulnerable because the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is susceptible to global warming
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Beads behavior may help in avalanche prediction
Scientists blame the seeming impossibility of predicting the next big avalanche or earthquake on the inherent unpredictability of complex systems; a unique experiment, however, suggests that this idea may be wrong
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More than 100 levees in 16 states are in an "unacceptable" state of disrepair
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gives “unacceptable” maintenance ratings to 114 levees in 16 states; these levees are in such a bad shape, that it can be “reasonably foreseen” that they will not perform properly in a major flood; 30 of the levees are in Arkansas
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NASA study predicted outbreak of deadly virus
Predictive tool is a blend of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration measurements of sea surface temperatures, precipitation, and vegetation cover to predict when and where an outbreak would occur
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New asteroid threatens Earth
An asteroid named 1999 RQ36 and with a diameter of 560 meters, was discovered a decade ago but was not deemed worrisome since it had no chance of hitting Earth in the next 100 years; new calculations show a 1 in 1,400 chance that it will strike Earth between 2169 and 2199; trouble is, the window of opportunity to deflect it comes much sooner
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Ocean water rising unevenly; Washington, D.C. may be submerged
Rather than spreading out evenly across all the oceans, water from melted Antarctic ice sheets will gather around North America and the Indian Ocean;this is bad news for the U.S. East Coast, which could bear the brunt of one of these oceanic bulges
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Items in FEMA food kits may contain salmonella-tainted peanut butter
Food kits FEMA distributed to thousands of storm evacuees in Kentucky may contain peanut butter contaminated with salmonella
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The long view
Huge Areas May Face Possibly Fatal Heat Waves if Warming Continues
A new assessment warns that if Earth’s average temperature reaches 2 degrees C over the preindustrial average, widespread areas may become too hot during extreme heat events for many people to survive without artificial cooling.
Trump’s Cuts to Federal Wildfire Crews Could Have “Scary” Consequences
President Donald Trump’s moves to slash the federal workforce have gutted the ranks of wildland firefighters and support personnel, fire professionals warn, leaving communities to face deadly consequences when big blazes arrive this summer. States, tribes and fire chiefs are preparing for a fire season with minimal federal support.