Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Canada's Wind Farms

Putting Wind Farms in the Great Lakes is very controversial. If Canada installs them, the shoreline homes would have the property values changed. Also, the turbines would be on the migratory pathway for birds around the area. On the other hand, the wind turbines would help Canada in their new law about "going green", which could also help close the coal mines in under five years. I believe Canada should proceed with this. The beauty of the lake does not concern me. I don't believe that the wind turbines shouldn't be put up just because it would disturb the view of the sunset. It would help Canada to become more "green" and I believe that going green is more important than the property value of shoreline houses. If I opposed this idea, I could write a detailed, opinionated article, and publish it in the Grosse Pointe North High School Newspaper, and increase people's awareness of the matter.
http://www.freep.com/article/20100226/NEWS06/2260374/1322/Storm-brews-over-Ontario-winds
March 2009 Detroit Free Press Tina Lam

The Ring of Fire

On this map, the volcanoes both have convergent and divergent boundaries. The volcanoes can be ocean-ocean convergent, and divergent boundaries. They can also have continent-continent convergent and divergent boundaries. Volcanoes cannot have ocean-continent divergent boundries though. Volcanoes can only be created on ocean-continent convergent boundaries.

http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/evolving_earth/evolving_earth.html
University of Michigan
http://map.ngdc.noaa.gov/website/seg/hazards/viewer.htm
NOAA Satellite and Information Service

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Plate Tectonics

The breakup of Pangea was 225 million years ago. The continental breakup that almost happened in Michigan occurred 1.1 billion years ago. The kind of rock that now fills the Keweenawan Rift is basalt. During the Early Carboniferous period, 356 million years ago, Michigan was on the Equator. The Mediterranean Mountains will be north of Africa in the Future World. In 250 million years, North America will be joined with South America and Africa.

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072402466/student_view0/chapter19/animations_and_movies.html
2003 Physical Geography
http://www.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/rift_zone.html
Mid-Continental Rift Zone
http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm
Paleomap Project, Christopher R. Scotese 2002

Monday, February 8, 2010

Earthquakes

Today, Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010, there were so far 8 earthquakes. In the United States, the latest earthquake was on February 1st in Baja, California. According to past earthquakes in the United States, they occur mostly in the state of California. In South America, earthquakes usually occur on the western coast. As you travel from East to West across South America, the earthquakes become deeper.

http://www.iris.edu/seismon/
http://www.iris.washington.edu/servlet/eventserver/map.do
2009 IRIS - Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology.
Sponsered by the National Science Foundation

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Severe Weather


I find tornados very interesting. There was once a tornado on June 8th, 1953, in Flint, Michigan. This tornado was called the Beecher tornado. There were 115 deaths, and 844 serious injuries. The tornado that was one half mile destroyed 300 homes, and a high school. It is the 9th most deadly tornado in United States history!
Grace Tucker, Flint Public Library
10-8-09

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Cloud Blog

Mammatus clouds are clouds that carry air filled with ice crystals and rain to the top of the cloud. The cloud then spreads horizontally. The air filled with precipitation is heavier than the surrounding air, so the cloud sinks. Another type of cloud is a Lenticular cloud. Lenticular clouds are clouds that form right angles at high altitudes. When moist air collects around places with high altitude, the side with less wind creates waves of air, making the cloud. Roll clouds form when a downdraft rushes cold air, lifting warm air at a high velocity. Another type of cloud is a Noctilucent cloud. Noctilucent clouds form from water vapor and dust. They form mainly from the contents given off during volcanic activity.
My favorite type of cloud would be the Roll clouds. I think they are quite simple to understand.







Harald Edens

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Snow Blog

Thundersnow is a thunderstorm that storms snow instead of rain. This happens because the Earth's troposphere has dryer, colder air. The dry air forms a storm, but the cold air freezes the rain into snow. Rime is frozen fog, forming ice on an object. This happens when fog freezes onto the side of an object that is hit by wind. Firn is snow that lasts throughout the summer season. When it snows, the snow gets compacted and air leaves. This compacts snow so greatly that it forms a block of ice. Watermelon snow is snow that has a red or pink color. This happens because snow has a pigment in it called carotenoid pigment. This pigment dies the algae in snow to protect it from U.V. radiation and the cold.