USGS Healy blog and gps coordinates
http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/cgchealy/aws16/USGS Healy webcam
http://icefloe.net/Aloftcon_Photos/index.php?album=2016Crystal Serenity
http://www.crystalcruises.com/cruises/cruise-guidebook/our-ships/crystal-serenity/live-viewsNavy's Arctic HYCOM arctic model website
https://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/hycomARC/arctic.htmlPiomas arctic sea ice volume spiral
http://haveland.com/share/arctic-death-spiral.pngActive tropical cyclones and hurricanes
https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/NOAA's National ice data center
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/ims/index.htmlChartic sea ice extent graph
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/charctic-interactive-sea-ice-graph/Geostationary satellite weather images (loops)
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/geo/index.php?satellite=west&channel=ir4&coverage=nh&file=jpg&imgoranim=8&anim_method=flashAlaska climate research center (fairbanks data)
http://akclimate.org/Climate/fairbankscurrent solar insolation map
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunearth.htmlGrace gravimetric mass analysis
http://geoid.colorado.edu/grace/dataportal.htmlDanish met arctic temp
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.phpArctic mean sea level pressure charts
http://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/models/?model=ecmwf®ion=nhem&pkg=z500_mslp&runtime=2016082500&fh=0&xpos=0&ypos=155Wikipedia Psychrometrics 101
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PsychrometricsArctic circle sea ice & snow cover
https://ads.nipr.ac.jp/vishop/#/monitorSolar penetration vs sea depth
http://oceansjsu.com/105d/exped_briny/13.htmlNoaa's list of the area/volume of the worlds oceans
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/etopo1_ocean_volumes.htmlAn Introduction to Humidity and the Physics of Water Vapor
http://www.azosensors.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=488Water vapor vs humidity pdf
http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/1520-0450(1972)011%3C1322:OTCOTT%3E2.0.CO%3B2VIDEOS:
Exponents and human understanding
Atmospheric circulation
Water temperature experiment
Environmental science -004
Example of how fast wind moves
Thermal expansion including water.
Timelapse of water phase change
To explain the difficulty that scientists face in their task to teach and affect political mood towards climate change I wrote four short stories. I am a story teller, not a scientist.
You get what you ask for.
A prankster was enjoying his last day working at the bakery where he made cakes for birthday parties and other events. Knowing it was his last day he decided to trick customers who ordered their cakes over the phone to cause his boss, whom he did not respect, the most problems.
A woman called and told him she needed a chocolate birthday cake to feed 20 children. He asked what kind of chocolate cake she would like and she said “Just any delicious chocolate cake will do, Thanks. He proceeded to write down the order for 1 delicious chocolate cupcake. Delirious with excitement over how a woman would feed 20 hungry children with 1 cupcake he committed to the prank the rest of the day.
The next caller wanted the same thing. A cake made of chocolate to feed the children. “What shape and diameter would you like this chocolate cake to be sir”, The prankster asked. “I would like a round cake a foot in diameter. “Right away sir” The prankster said as he wrote down on the order form ‘1 chocolate pancake 1 foot in diameter.” He giggled to himself contemplating the faces of the children as they opened the cake box to reveal a flat chocolate pancake.
The third caller wanted an order for a wedding cake. “I would like a white cake with vanilla frosting that is a foot in diameter and three layers of cake tall.” Thinking quickly to try and come up with a new prank the young trickster asked “How would you like that cake baked maam.” ‘oh I don’t know, I trust you so you decide the right level of baking required.” An evil grin formed on his face as he imagined the bride cutting the cake in her wedding dress to watch the undercooked batter seep and spill out of the cake like a popped water balloon.” He wrote on his pad “1 white ice cream cake with vanilla frosting, no refrigeration needed.”
The next caller wanted a cake for an office birthday party celebration. “I need two cakes, each 1 foot in diameter and two layers of cake tall. I would like one with chocolate and one with white cake.” Continuing his rouse he asked “Would you like us to add special ingredients to add special flavors to the cakes?” “Sure that sounds fun.” With his wicked grin he wrote down 1 chocolate cake with extra carrot flavoring added. 1 white cake triple the salt and cut the sugar by half”
Satisfied that he had ruined the day for so many people he hung up his apron and walked out o the bakery for the last time. (topic: Understanding Measurements and physics)
Water and steam
I went over to my friend’s house to help her cook an Italian dinner. A pot was on the stove filled with water. My friend doesn’t have much experience cooking and I noticed that she was doing something wrong. She had the heating element all the way up to its highest setting. When asked, she explained to me that she was in a hurry and wanted to get the water extremely hot so the spaghetti would cook fast. I took a thermometer out of her utensil drawer and submerged the sensor into the water and it read 85 Celsius. I covered the pot with a lid and waited a while for the water to boil. I informed my friend that it was time to lower the temperature of the heating element to medium and add the pasta. With a hurt look she stopped me from touching the stove and said “Don’t turn it down! It will take too long if you do!” I took the lid off and returned the thermometers sensor into the water. It read 100 Celsius. I told her that the water will not get any hotter and that keeping the element on high will just waste energy. Clearly upset, she demanded I step back and let her cook “her way”. I patiently waited for two minutes while the water and pasta boiled faster and faster with steam billowing out of the pot. I carefully replaced the sensor and it remained at 100 Celsius. After seeing for herself that the water temperature clearly hadn’t gone up she let me turn the heat down on the stove and the water settled to a simmer. Confused she asked “Why doesn’t it get hotter than that?”
My friend is not interested in physics or chemistry. She is great at many things and is sweet, smart, caring, and energetic. I didn’t want to talk down to her or make her think that she wasn’t special to me. I thought about my answer carefully and said “It’s like an airplane taking off at the airport. You put energy into the plane and it moves. The pilot lets the plane go fast and then it has enough energy to take off. There is a special energy and at that level the pilot knows he can fly. The water starts to move faster and faster too. That’s what we measure with a thermometer. How fast the water is moving. At 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit the water will change into vapor and fly away. It needs the heat to fly and when the vapor leaves the water it takes the heat with it. The water can never get hotter than 100 Celsius, you will only make more and more of the water boil away faster and faster.
She understood what I was saying but I wanted her to believe it completely. I told her to lick the back of her hand and blow on it. Her face lit up. She could feel the moisture evaporating away cooling her hand. Excited with the idea of teaching anybody anything, I took it a step further. “Want to see a magic trick?!” She nodded. I dipped a paper cup into the boiling water in the pot on the stove and scooped up about a cup of hot water. I took my butane lighter out of my pocket, lit the flame, and put the flame directly under the paper cup with the hot water in it. I held the flame there as the bottom of the cup began to blacken with the soot of carbon. “When is the paper going to burn away?!” she asked. “As long as there is water in the cup the paper won’t burn. It just transfers the heat to the water like the pot does on the stove. The water wants the energy more than the paper does. Paper needs the temperature to be much higher than 100 Celsius to burn, but the water keeps stealing the heat and boiling away cooling the water and the cup. As long as there is water in the cup it will not burn. (topic: Conduction of water & heat capacity)
Ice and water
I was hiking with my daughter one winter when she was still a little girl. I remember walking by the frozen pond near our house that had those huge carp you often see at a golf course water hazard. The ice had frozen so thick that you could stand on the pond itself without falling through. My daughter screeched with excitement when she noticed that the fish were swimming underneath her feet. What followed was a game so many children play with their parents. The “why” game. Dad, why are there fish in the pond? Because we put the fish in the pond to eat the bugs. Why are the fish not dead from not having air? Because fish breath water and not air like you and me. Why don’t the fish get cold and die though? Because the water isn’t frozen down there where they are swimming. But why? Because ice floats. But why does ice float? Because it’s less dense than water. But why? Because it turns into crystals and those crystals push each other apart to make it lighter. Is the fish going to die when the whole lake freezes? The lake won’t freeze completely. But why? Because the ice protects the water from the cold air above the pond. But why? Because Ice and snow are good insulators. What’s an insulator? Your jacket is an insulator. So the fishies are warm? Yup, the fish are warm down in the water and the ice is up top keeping them safe from the cold cold air. Ok, good! She triumphantly proclaimed being a lover of little creatures. (topic: density/buoyancy of ice)
The ice princess verses the Dragon King.
The ice princess was a beautiful ruler over her kingdom and was also magical. She made sure that every winter her kingdom had plenty of lakes to skate on and snowballs to throw. In the summer when the days got too hot for her people she would bring up a cool breeze to keep her people happy and even make ice for snow cones to eat. She loved her kingdom and her people.
The ice princess was not the only person that had magical powers. On an island with a volcano far away lived an old sorcerer who was evil and controlled fire. He called himself the Dragon king, since he had no friends to call him anything else. He was jealous of the ice princess and how she had so many friends. He decided to burn her kingdom and scare her friends away.
One summer day he flew over to the ice princess’s kingdom and made the water beneath him boil and left an ash cloud behind him as he flew. Upon seeing such a scary sight the people started to run away, but the ice princess knew the Dragon kings power and she knew her magic was much stronger. Stay my people and you will be safe, she proclaimed. The dragon king landed and with a screaming yell produced a flame that belched and billowed towards the princess. She calmly lifted her hand and the water from the shore came flowing around her and froze solid. The dragon king threw flame after flame at the ice princess but it had no effect on her shield of ice. The Dragon King became enraged when he noticed that he could not easily melt the ice and he roared and raged with fury as he let out flames that scorched the rocks and burned the air.
The ice princess was a loving princess to her people but she would not suffer such an enemy parading in her kingdom. With a flick of her wrist and a twirl she turned the air cold and the water started to freeze around her and the Dragon king. As if the air itself was his enemy his flames started growing weaker and frost started to form on his clothes. The ice princess stepped out of her shield and walked calmly towards the Dragon King. Surprised, he summoned up one final gasp to try and burn her. With a smooth swish of her hands she brought water up to form around the dragon king, imprisoning him in a tomb of ice. He tried to exhale a belch of fire but it did nothing more than burn his own clothes as it bounced off the cage of ice. The ice princess made the cage lift off the ground and slide into the water as she cast the Dragon King back into the sea. Do not return Dragon King she yelled. I am so much more powerful than you! It would take an army of 80 fire breathers to even match my strength. You do not challenge my power and you never will. Ice doesn’t melt easily! (Topic: Enthalpy of fusion “ice is 79.72”)
