Google Earth Engine

Have you tried Google Earth Engine? It shows Landsat annual timelapse images between 1984 and 2012. The following are available:-

Tetrapod World

Some of you may be interested in this blog - Tetrapod World. It's about a research project into early evolution and diversification.

Official opening of Box Rock Circus with Iain Stewart

Many thanks to all of you who came and to those who couldn't come but have supported the project.

Iain was brilliant, willing to chat to everyone and enthuse about the Rock Circus.
Lots more photos can be seen on the website - Photo Gallery link

Another ash cloud threat?

Two Icelandic volcanoes are primed to erupt, volcanologists have warned, as the race to protect flights from a looming ash cloud crisis begins.
After the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull threw world air travel into turmoil tests have begun on infra-red camera technology which will allow pilots to steer around clouds and volcanic debris. A tonne of ash from the Icelandic volcano has been flown to Luton airport in preparation for airborne tests of the imaging system as it was warned that two further volcanos could erupt at any time.
When Eyjafjallajökull blew in 2010 it grounded aircraft for six days, left ten million stranded, cause 100,000 flights to be cancelled, and cost the industry £2.2billion. Flights were also disrupted when a second volcano erupted in 2011. Iceland, Europe's youngest country, sits  on top of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (plate boundary between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates) and has 22 active volcanoes. According to experts, two of these volcanoes are currently primed to erupt.
Katla - which lies beneath a glacier like Eyjafjallajökull - is experiencing seismic activity and is bulging up at the surface while Hekla has grown to the height it was when it last erupted in 2000. They could erupt with a mere few hours warning and it is believed they could create plumes 18 miles high and impact on European airspace for several days if the eruption coincides with north-westerly winds.
The new technology should allow the aircraft to detect silica, the main component of the ash, using infra-red sensors, from 30km - therefore giving the pilot time to change course. The August experiment has been timed to coincide with the alignment of the Seviri and Calypso satellites, which may be able to confirm the accuracy of the technology.

Volcanic activity - Alaska / Australia

 A remote Alaskan volcano rumbled to life last Saturday with three explosions; it started emitting a continuous plume of ash, steam and gas in an area important to air traffic. The low-level explosions at Cleveland Volcano, which lies below a major air-traffic route between North America and Asia, were not severe enough to cause a significant threat to planes. But the incident did prompt federal aviation authorities to divert some traffic north of the volcano as a precaution.

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Australia's only active volcano is rumbling fiercely, with new NASA photos revealing its lava lake has overflowed its crater. The volcano in question, Big Ben, is located on Mawson Peak in the remote southern reaches of the Indian Ocean on Heard Island, an Australian territory. People only bother to visit Heard and its neighbour McDonald Island every couple of years, because there's little there but chilly wastelands and the territory is a nature reserve people are not allowed to visit without a permit. Even fisherfolk chasing the apparently tasty patagonian toothfish, aka Chilean Sea Bass, don't often bother landing. No permanent human presence exists on the islands, beyond an automated weather station.
NASA keeps an eye on the islands, though, because of the volcano on Heard Island's Big Ben. Last October an eruption seemed imminent. NASA has now released the image above showing that the volcano's caldera appears to have filled with so much lava that some has since cascaded down Mawson Peak's flanks.

Massive Cliff Fall near Durdle Door

 A section of the South West Coast Path in Dorset has been destroyed by a massive landslip.
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25th May - Tribute to Ron Pickford

Ron Pickford (1920-2010) rescued the BRLSI’s museum collections from terrible neglect in the 1960s and ensured its proper curation and conservation through until 1985, when he retired.
In the 20th anniversary year of the BRLSI’s re-launch we will be erecting a memorial to Ron, in grateful recognition of his work.
On the 25th May 2013, you are cordially invited to join us at a tribute to Ron’s invaluable place in BRLSI’s history.
We will be gathering at BRLSI from 18:00 for brief addresses and the unveiling of a memorial from 18:30.
R.S.V.P. to Matt Williams
Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
16-18 Queen Square, Bath, BA1 2HN
01225 312 084