Titan’s atmosphere even more Earth-like than previously thought

Saturn’s moon Titan
[image credit: NASA – Cassini]

Clues here in Earth-like atmospheric behaviours of planetary bodies, as reported by Saturn Daily. This despite the fact that Titan orbits Saturn rather than the Sun.

Scientists at UCL have observed how a widespread polar wind is driving gas from the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan. The team analysed data gathered over seven years by the international Cassini probe, and found that the interactions between Titan’s atmosphere, and the solar magnetic field and radiation, create a wind of hydrocarbons and nitriles being blown away from its polar regions into space. This is very similar to the wind observed coming from the Earth’s polar regions. [bold added]

The atmosphere, why the dispute over what causes what is?

A few days ago Hockey Schtick brought up Feynman deriving the basic atmospheric gas and temperature profile without mentioning radiation and showing that classical physics fails, quantum mechanics is required.

From Fenyman lectures VOL 1, Chapter 40, showing the contradiction between classic physics and reality, annotated by author. This is one and the same as the ultra-violet catastrophe matter, both needing a quantum physics jump.

Two explanations for one thing might be the food of cats or thought experiments but is not valid in the real world, one planet, although sometimes looking at the state of people I wonder.

Yeomenry ride into battle, stinging times

Seem to be some mention of this one on the Talkshop

Heh, Tim ‘Trougher’ Yeo seems to be backpedalling furiously. “Did I say Global Warming is nearly all human caused? What I meant, of course, is that it could mostly be ‘natural phases’”. H/T @Sourmanarti. From the Telegraph:
— https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/tim-yeo-about-turn-straight-face/

Bishop Hill writes

Break out the popcorn
— http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2015/7/29/break-out-the-popcorn.html

And links a juicy story about a luvvie, Tim Yeo
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/sunday-times-heading-seven-day-libel-trial-over-lobbying-sting-against-former-tory-mp

We can’t know whether the newspaper report was reasonably accurate but circumstantially plenty of people wondered about the walk that could be seen over many years.

Heathrow tail spin

Nothing like reality

Estimated mean July 2015 based on 1st through 2300 27th assume weather continues as-is, horrible, windy, damp, chilly

Normal from Norwegian weather service

Given the July 1st heat spike I wonder how the Met Office will spin things.

Summer weather to return as we head into weekend
28 07 2015

More summer-like weather will return to the UK with conditions and temperatures due to improve as we head into the weekend.

This will come as welcome news to many after a spell of disappointing weather over the past few days which has seen prolonged rainfall and some unseasonably strong winds.
— http://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2015/07/28/summer-weather-to-return-as-we-head-into-weekend/

Looks at calendar, Friday as we go into the weekend is 31st July.

Prince Charles extends climate doomsday deadline by 33 years

You have been warned!

We should be used to this kind of bilge by now, but the absurdity of it all never ceases to amaze.

Prince Charles is warning that there are only 35 years left to save the planet from climate disaster, which represents a 33-year extension of his previous deadline, reports the Washington Times.

In March 2009, the heir to the British throne predicted that the world had 100 months “before we risk catastrophic climate change,” as pointed out by Climate Depot’s Marc Morano.

Younger Dryas climate episode due to cosmic impact say researchers

Is this the last word on the mysterious Younger Dryas period? It’s an interesting, if not entirely new, hypothesis at least.

At the end of the Pleistocene period, approximately 12,800 years ago—give or take a few centuries—a cosmic impact triggered an abrupt cooling episode that earth scientists refer to as the Younger Dryas, reports Phys.org.

New research by UC Santa Barbara geologist James Kennett and an international group of investigators has narrowed the date to a 100-year range, sometime between 12,835 and 12,735 years ago. The team’s findings appear today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Why pendulums swing in harmony – new theory

Perfect harmony? [image credit: homedit]

From the believe-it-or-not file, Phys.org reports a possible solution to an old puzzle:

Almost 350 years ago, Dutch inventor and scientist Christiaan Huygens observed that two pendulum clocks hanging from a wall would synchronise their swing over time.

What causes the phenomenon has led to much scientific head-scratching over the centuries, but no consensus to date.

‘But now’ – as Tomorrow’s World presenters used to say…

Why Phi? – Moons of Pluto

See main post for details [image credit: Wikipedia / WolfmanSF]

In this extract from Wikipedia we’ve highlighted the relevant part in bold, so without more ado:

Resonances
Styx, Nix, and Hydra are in a 3-body orbital resonance with orbital periods in a ratio of 18:22:33. The ratios are exact when orbital precession is taken into account. This means that in a recurring cycle there are 11 orbits of Styx for every 9 of Nix and 6 of Hydra. Nix and Hydra are in a simple 2:3 resonance. The ratios of synodic periods are such that there are 5 Styx–Hydra conjunctions and 3 Nix–Hydra conjunctions for every 2 conjunctions of Styx and Nix.

The Manabe wrong turning, history

Tim writes, someone somewhere reminded me

An anon has reminded me of a critical paper published in the May 1967 issue Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

As such in the context of the mid 1960s with little knowledge or computing hardware there ought to be no problem. Unfortunately a number of critical fixed assumptions and of ideas in the paper were ignored for what they were and has formed the basis of the nonsense we have today. The continued correction which typifies science guessing seemed to cease.

Given the Talkshop has many new eyes and opinions since the last mention of this paper a look today is a good move, or at least I think so.

Extracted from paper, one of several choices.

Netherlands worst July storm in 100 years

Weather

Static image captured from EUMETNET some hours after the event.

Coastal gusts to 70 mph. Naturally public transport halts.

Since 1901, okay, seeing that the Dutch have weather data going back hundreds of years a bit remiss to record nothing about storms.

Netherlands’ worst July storm kills one, causes transport chaos

One person was killed as the most severe July storm ever recorded in the Netherlands swept across the country on Saturday, delaying flights and disrupting road and rail traffic.

Dozens of flights were delayed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and authorities warned travellers not to take to the road as gale-force winds and rain lashed the country, prompting the meteorological service to issue a “Code Red” warning. [before or after?]

No trains were running at Amsterdam Central Station, and trams were halted across the city. Roads were blocked by fallen trees in many places around the low-lying country.
— http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/07/25/uk-dutch-storm-idUKKCN0PZ0K120150725

What The Solar Industry Forgot To Tell You!

.
.
It would be a joke if it wasn’t so expensive.

NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2015/jul/solar-independence-day.cfm

The solar industry has apparently been bragging about how much power it has been producing recently. Unfortunately, they seem to have forgotten to tell us the full story.

In overall terms, solar only generated 1.2% of UK’s electricity last year.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-section-5-energy-trends

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/energy-trends-section-6-renewables

But worse still, in Q1, when demand is at its highest, solar only provided 0.51%.

And if that was not bad enough, when solar power does ramp up on sunny days, it simply provides problems for the grid, as this presentation from the National Grid earlier in the year showed:

View original post 125 more words

Wind powered electric car?

Engage brain and funny bone.

Some time ago an anonymous, a newbie, asked a question in a physics discussion forum, fully admitting they didn’t know the answer. Went along the lines of wind turbines on a car ought to be able to fully power it from wind and would carry on for hundereds of miles.

Image credit given later.

To the forum’s great credit this question was treated sensibly, if obviously with tongue biting about laws of thermodynamics, perpetual motions machines, yada yada. Boats came up too, they use sails.

I recall the boat with an airscrew instead of sails, worked fine if not really practical for everyday use.

Quite naturally the next tack (sic) was, well it can’t sail into the wind. Of course it can. Right into the wind. Just a matter of forces and efficiencies.

This is all about losses, efficiency, getting the sums right.

Green Deal to be No Deal, says DECC

Green dud [credit: Green Deal guide]

The ill-fated scheme to lend money to UK homeowners for ‘green’ upgrades at interest rates higher than banks offer, has somehow not worked out, as the BBC reports:

The UK government has announced it is to cease funding for the Green Deal, spelling the end for its flagship energy household efficiency programme. The scheme offers cashbacks and incentives on such things as double-glazing, insulation and boilers.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change said it took the decision to protect taxpayers, citing low take-up and concerns about industry standards. Labour said ministers’ approach to energy efficiency had been a “failure”.

MPs warn over easing purdah rules for EU referendum

Level playing field needed
[image credit: Martin Rose/Getty Images]

Any chance of pre-vote fair play in the run-up to the UK’s referendum on EU membership? Not much it seems, unless the rules change.

Plans to loosen rules restricting Government activity in the run up to the EU referendum have been condemned by MPs, who warned that it would “cast a shadow of doubt” over the poll. [Guernsey Press reports]

An in/out vote on the UK’s membership of the EU has been promised by the end of 2017.

Small scale solar energy subsidies set to end

[image credit: BBC]

The UK government has finally realised that solar power is nearly useless in the winter. Everyone else has known this all along, but better late than never. The BBC reports:

Subsidies for many new solar farms are to end under plans being published by the government.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is consulting on plans that would see subsidies for some new solar farms close by 2016. The government says the move is necessary to protect consumers.

Public nuisance from wind farms (mandatory liability cover) Bill

Today in Parliament David Davis MP proposed a bill to force wind farm operators, to ensure that have sufficient capital to cover potential liabilities. Legislation aimed at stopping them claiming that they are broke and getting away with it.

Arctic ice ‘grew by a third’ in 2013, trend continued in 2014

Arctic ice melt [image credit: Jenny E. Ross]

A few Arctic sea ice myths get exploded in this BBC report:

The volume of Arctic sea ice increased by around a third after an unusually cool summer in 2013. Researchers say the growth continued in 2014 and more than compensated for losses recorded in the three previous years.

The scientists involved believe changes in summer temperatures have greater impacts on ice than thought. But they say 2013 was a one-off and that climate change will continue to shrink the ice in the decades ahead.

Talkshop comment: ‘they say’…based on what evidence?

Nigel Lawson’s three wishes

Nigel Lawson the former Chancellor has been interviewed with the broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 20th July 2015 at 21:30 BST

Interviewer was according to a web page someone named Peter Hennessy.

At the end Lawson gave three wishes (I’m going from memory)

1. Sort out the bankers, particularly the separation of merchant banking from high street banking
2. Repeal the Climate Change Act
3. Get out of the EU.

The broadcast might be available for some. Best I can do after 30 minutes of searching the BBC web site is a web page with a hash code so it might break http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b062jsmv

Energy rationing proposed again as a ‘route to low carbon society’

Ration book [image credit: canadianresource.ca]

An old political chestnut based on the screw-tightening – or ceiling-lowering – principle is trying to make a comeback, as Energy Daily reports:

To achieve public support for a transformation to a low carbon society, politicians would be advised to implement a quantity-based energy quota system, with a fixed and decreasing cap on total use, rather than relying on carbon pricing and taxation mechanisms, according to a new study.

London’s eco-buses running on diesel due to dud batteries

Not in Service

The so-called ‘Boris bus’ or London’s ‘new Routemaster’, hailed as a wonder of green technology, is turning out to be an embarrassment, reports BBC News:

I’m told that at the back of a bus depot, there is a large pile of power batteries that no longer work.

All have been removed from the new bus for London and are a crucial part of the hybrid system.

Drivers say that many buses across London are operating without them in place.