Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: climatology – Page 63

BABCOCK RANCH, Fla. — Like many others in Southwest Florida, Mark Wilkerson seemingly gambled his life by choosing to shelter at home rather than evacuate when Hurricane Ian crashed ashore last week as a Category 4 storm.

But it wasn’t just luck that saved Wilkerson and his wife, Rhonda, or prevented damage to their well-appointed one-story house. You might say that it was all by design.

…and yes it’s 30 miles inland, as that’s part of the design, with many more innovations.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Southwest Florida still don’t have electricity or water. But Babcock Ranch, north of Fort Myers, was designed and built to withstand the most powerful storms.

Continue reading “One Florida community built to weather hurricanes endured Ian with barely a scratch” | >

What we know about Venus so far has been gathered from several past probes.

With a slightly smaller diameter than Earth, Venus orbits closer to the Sun. This means that any water on the surface would have evaporated shortly after its formation, starting its greenhouse effect. Early and sustained volcanic eruptions created lava plains and increased the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — starting the runaway greenhouse effect, which increased the temperature from just a little higher than Earth’s to its current high value of 475°C.

While Venus’s year is shorter than ours (225 days), its rotation is very slow (243 days) and “retrograde” — the other way round to Earth. The slow rotation is related to a lack of magnetic field, resulting in a continuing loss of atmosphere. Venus’ atmosphere “super-rotates” faster than the planet itself. Images from many missions show V-shaped patterns of clouds composed of sulphuric acid droplets.

Despite the harsh conditions, some scientists have speculated that Venus’ clouds might, at some altitudes, harbor habitable conditions. Recent measurements showing phosphine — a potential sign of life as it is continuously produced by microbes on Earth — in Venus’ clouds have been strongly debated. We need more measurements and exploration to work out where it comes from.

Continue reading “The clouds of Venus may be habitable — a crewed flyby could confirm the theory” | >

The new system uses molten salts instead of traditional fuel rods.

The world is rethinking nuclear power plants in the face of climate change. Your average plant produces 8,000 times more power than fossil fuels and is environmentally friendly. There’s one massive caveat, though, in the form of nuclear disasters, such as the 1986 Chernobyl incident and the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Now, professor Matthew Memmott and colleagues from Bingham Young University (BYU) announced that they designed a new molten salt micro-reactor system that allows for safer nuclear energy production. As per a press release, it may also solve a number of other key issues related to nuclear energy production.

Photo by brooklyn jarvis kelson/byu photo.

Continue reading “Engineers created a safe micro-nuclear reactor that fits in the back of a truck” | >

Scientists are ringing alarm bells about a significant new threat to U.S. water quality: as winters warm due to climate change, they are unleashing large amounts of nutrient pollution into lakes, rivers, and streams.

The first-of-its-kind national study finds that previously frozen nutrient pollution—unlocked by rising and rainfall—is putting at risk in 40% of the contiguous U.S., including over 40 states.

Nutrient runoff into rivers and lakes—from phosphorus and nitrogen in fertilizers, manure, , and more—has affected quality for decades. However, most research on nutrient runoff in snowy climates has focused on the growing season. Historically, and a continuous snowpack froze nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous in place until the watershed thawed in the spring, when plants could help absorb excess nutrients.

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New underwater camera could help scientists explore unknown regions of the ocean, track pollution, or monitor the effects of climate change.

More than 95 percent of Earth’s oceans have never been observed, according to estimates by scientists, which means we have seen less of our planet’s ocean than we have the far side of the moon or the surface of Mars.

Mars is the second smallest planet in our solar system and the fourth planet from the sun. It is a dusty, cold, desert world with a very thin atmosphere. Iron oxide is prevalent in Mars’ surface resulting in its reddish color and its nickname “The Red Planet.” Mars’ name comes from the Roman god of war.

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Known for its electric vehicles, Tesla Inc TSLA also has a solar power division. Customers who bought solar roofs in Florida might be thanking the company after the lingering damage of Hurricane Ian.

What Happened: Hurricane Ian hit landfall in Florida and has caused severe damage to the region. Benzinga previously reported the impact could be $258 billion in replacement costs in one region and another $149 billion in the area of Tampa Bay.

The impact could be hundreds of millions of dollars for insurance companies as well.

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The streets in this meticulously planned neighborhood were designed to flood so houses don’t. Native landscaping along roads helps control storm water. Power and internet lines are buried to avoid wind damage. This is all in addition to being built to Florida’s robust building codes.

Some residents, like Grande, installed more solar panels on their roofs and added battery systems as an extra layer of protection from power outages. Many drive electric vehicles, taking full advantage of solar energy in the Sunshine State.

Climate resiliency was built into the fabric of the town with stronger storms in mind.

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