Interesting Earth News

Posted on July 5, 2007 - Filed Under Environmentalism, News

Hi Oz, Two bits of news I stumbled on about our planet today! The first is about the size of our earth. Well it seems Geodesists from the University of Bonn have remeasured the size of the Earth and have determined that our planet is millimeters smaller than up to now assumed. Even though that might be only slightly off the mark, they say that the results of their findings are important.

"A combination of GPS and satellite laser measurements will enable the availability of the coordinates from almost 400 points on the surface of the Earth with unparalleled exactness.“ The results are the basis for a new coordinate system for the planet. With this system it would be possible, for example, to determine the track of so-called Altimeter-Satellites within a few millimeters precision. Altimeter-Satellites measure their altitude over the Earth’s surface and can, for example, register a rise in sea level. Deviations from the flight path, however, falsify the result. If the satellite flies higher than expected, the distance to the surface of the Earth differentiates from what is recorded—the sea level appears lower than it really is."

The next bit of news about about an erupting volcano. Klyuchevskoy, a stratovolcano located in the north central region of the Kamchatka Peninsula, is blasting ash up to 32,000 feet in the air, and has diverted air traffic headed toward the Far East. This is the largest eruption to occur in the North Pacific in a decade. These explosions created a 1,360-mile-long band of ash, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Aleutian Islands, clogging well-used air routes with volcanic ash that prove deadly for aircraft.

Well, just those two items today. You know I love this kind of stuff. 🙂 Boz

Comments