Bushfire sparks nuclear radiation fears over weapons lab. A wildfire burning near the desert birthplace of the atomic bomb advanced on the Los Alamos laboratory and thousands of outdoor drums of plutonium-contaminated waste today as authorities stepped up efforts to protect the site and monitor the air for radiation. The wildfire continues to march through the mountains surrounding the northern New Mexico community.
The Las Conchas fire has charred more than 60,000 acres since starting in the Jemez Mountains on Sunday afternoon. The fire has forced evacuations as well as the closure of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Lab personnel are monitoring the air for radionuclides and particulate matter. The lab also has monitors that can be used to check for possible radiation contamination from the fire. The New Mexico Environment Department is monitoring the air for radioactive particles and tritium using low-volume air pumps. The state is also working with the Environmental Protection Agency and the lab to get additional ground-based monitors and an airborne monitor.
Chinese Proverb
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.4 SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.0 VALPARAISO, CHILE
5.6 OFFSHORE O'HIGGINS, CHILE
Yesterday -
6/28/11 -
5.3 KEPULAUAN SANGIHE, INDONESIA
5.0 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.4 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.1 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.3 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.9 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.1 FIJI REGION
6/27/11 -
5.0 NEAR N COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA
5.8 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.2 BALLENY ISLANDS REGION
5.5 BALLENY ISLANDS REGION
5.6 SAVU SEA
5.4 SOUTH OF KERMADEC ISLANDS
5.0 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.5 TONGA
TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical storms.
Bay of Campeche System has 90% Chance of Becoming Cyclone - The system has a 90 percent chance of growing into a tropical cyclone within the next 48 hours, with heavy rain and wind for parts of eastern Mexico. “It is going to stay south and affect Mexico."
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
U.S. - More flooding woes along the Missouri, Souris rivers. Missouri River floodwaters lapped at a nuclear power plant north of Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday and have cracked more defenses downstream after weeks of sustained pressure on levees running hundreds of miles. And in Minot, North Dakota's fourth largest city, the roughly 12,000 displaced residents watched Souris River flooding slowly recede and began to look toward recovery.
Up and down the Missouri River from North Dakota to Missouri, residents on Tuesday said they were just plain tired -- tired of sandbags, tired of water, tired of worrying. Several inches of rain over the weekend caused storm sewer backups in Omaha and across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Some businesses and residents were forced out on the east side of Omaha temporarily. Federal officials said Tuesday they were adding blankets to bolster 2.1 miles of levee in Council Bluffs where they had found seepage or sand boils on a dozen sections.
At the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Station north of Omaha, which has been shut since April for maintenance, officials expect to replace by the end of next week an inflatable barrier that deflated on Sunday sending a rush of water toward the plant. The breach temporarily interrupted some electrical power but emergency generators restored power later that day and there was no threat to sensitive facilities. Although the plant is surrounded by water, its flood defenses have nearly eight feet of space from current river levels, officials have said.
RECORD WATER RELEASES to relieve pressure on six reservoirs from Montana through South Dakota have strained flood defenses and the Missouri River continued to breach levees along the northern Missouri and Kansas border. About 300 or 400 people have been forced from homes in Winthrop, Missouri, and in nearby Lewis and Clark Village since Monday afternoon because of a 150-foot wide levee breach, said Bill Brinton, Buchanan County emergency management director. Water was nearly as high as the eaves Tuesday on some year-around and vacation homes at Sugar Lake due to the breach. High water closed the Amelia Earhart Bridge over the Missouri River connecting Missouri to Atchison, Kansas.
In Minot residents were meeting with federal officials and preparing to survey the damage to some 4,100 structures after the Souris River TOPPED A 130-YEAR -OLD RECORD BY NEARLY FOUR FEET. Only about 375 properties in flooded Minot neighborhoods were covered by flood insurance. It may be weeks before some of the most heavily inundated areas can be surveyed fully. The Souris River had receded on Tuesday by just over a foot from its weekend crest in Minot. It is forecast to stay above the 1881 record at Minot through the Fourth of July.
SPACE WEATHER -
SPACE JUNK NARROWLY MISSES SPACE STATION: On June 28th, an unidentified piece of space junk came within ~250 meters of the ISS, forcing the crew to take shelter in a pair of docked Russian Soyuz spacecraft. They emerged about a half hour later after the object passed harmlessly by. This is the second time since March 2009 that the crew has had to take such precautions; it could happen even more frequently in future as the population of orbital debris continues to grow.
A newfound comet discovered by astronomers using a telescope in Hawaii will swing through the inner solar system in 2013, with some astronomers and skywatchers hoping for a cosmic spectacle when it arrives.
The comet is C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), an object named after the asteroid-hunting Pan-STARRS 1 telescope that detected the icy wanderer during the overnight hours of June 5 and 6. Since the comet's discovery, hopes have risen that this "dirty snowball" presently heading sunward from the depths of the solar system could evolve into a memorable sight. Indeed, some forecasters have already suggested that comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) COULD BECOME THE CELESTIAL SIGHT OF THE DECADE. But right now, it's just too soon to know if that's the case.
When it was discovered in the constellation Libra, comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) was a 19th-magnitude object — so faint that only telescopes with sensitive electronic detectors could pick it up — some 759 million miles (1.2 billion kilometers) from the sun. The comet's closest approach to the sun will occur on April 17, 2013. At that time, the distance between comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) and the sun will have shrunk to 33.8 million miles (54.3 million km). Such an enormous change in solar distance would cause a typical comet to increase its intrinsic luminosity by about 14 magnitudes. Put another way, it could become about 300,000 times brighter. Furthermore, the comet's distance from Earth, which was 666 million miles (1.1 billion km) at its discovery, will shrink to 118 million miles (190 million km) at perihelion, meaning it could appear an additional four magnitudes brighter.
A spectacular PANSTARRS show is no guarantee.. At the moment, astronomers are not exactly sure about the details of PANSTARRS' orbit. That's because it is so far out in space and moving very slowly. So far, all of the orbital data for PANSTARRS point to it being a "new" comet, moving in a parabolic orbit. In other words, it may never have passed near the sun before. That's bad news, because we believe that such comets might be covered with very volatile materials such as frozen nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. These ices vaporize far from the sun, giving a distant comet a short-lived surge in brightness that can raise very unrealistic expectations. If, on the other hand, PANSTARRS is making a return loop around the sun, its highly volatile materials have already been shed, and what we’ll see in the months to come is the true underlying level of its activity.
If, for the moment, we take the latest computed orbit for PANSTARRS at face value, then don't expect to see the comet until after it rounds the sun. Prior to that, the comet will be too far south to be visible for most places north of the equator. Finally, during the first week of May 2013, the comet should begin to become evident around the break of dawn, rising low above the northeast horizon. Unfortunately, by then it will likely have faded considerably — just a dim naked-eye object that is better seen through binoculars. And if the comet develops any kind of tail at all, it will likely appear greatly foreshortened since it will be pointing almost directly away from the earth. With the passage of time, along with patience, we’ll eventually get a better handle as to how the comet will truly perform.
HEALTH THREATS -
Sprout seeds suspected in French E coli cluster.
Sprouts eyed in US Salmonella outbreak.
