Monday, December 22

Three Gorges Dam tested as water rises

BEIJING (Reuters) - Rising water levels in China's giant Three Gorges Dam have triggered dozens of landslides in recent months, damaging houses, land and infrastructure worth millions of dollars, state media said on Thursday.

In July, China finished evacuating residents from the last town to be submerged by the massive 660-km (400-mile) long reservoir on the Yangtze River, ending an exodus of some 1.4 million people that began four years ago.

The 2,309-meter-long dam, the world's largest, aims to tame the river and provide cheap, clean energy for the country's rapid development.

But critics say rising water levels in the reservoir are eroding already fragile slopes and triggering landslides which could worsen as levels reach their maximum height next year.

The reservoir's administration began withholding water outflows in September to push the reservoir's water level up to 175 meters.

But since then, the rising water level had "further induced geological harm including landslides and collapsing of the reservoirs' banks," the Xinhua news agency quoted Chongqing government spokesman Wen Tianping as saying.

"(These) have caused damage or created a latent threat to ... infrastructure, land and housing in dam areas above the evacuation line," Wen said.

Monday, December 15

Discovery Of Warm Plasma Cloak Surrounding Earth, New Region Of Magnetosphere

ScienceDaily (Dec. 14, 2008) — A detailed analysis of the measurements of five different satellites has revealed the existence of the warm plasma cloak, a new region of the magnetosphere, which is the invisible shield of magnetic fields and electrically charged particles that surround and protect Earth from the onslaught of the solar wind.

"Although it is invisible, the magnetosphere has an impact on our everyday lives," Chappell said. "For example, solar storms agitate the magnetosphere in ways that can induce power surges in the electrical grid that trigger black outs, interfere with radio transmissions and mess up GPS signals. Charged particles in the magnetosphere can also damage the electronics in satellites and affect the temperature and motion of the upper atmosphere."

Testing The Water GOM