Making waves

This is amazing stuff. Seems the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami  created quite the stir in the Atmosphere as well as the ocean and land. Somebody noticed that radiowaves being used for the GPS system satellites did some weird things over the site of the quake, watch the video for more. NASA has  a good article on Tsunami waves . 

Swanson Bay, the town that vanished

While reviewing a project I came across the story of Swanson bay, a ghost town on the west coast of British Columbia. In 1901 the BC government passed an Act that allowed companies a interest in the land if the set up a mill. The Canadian Pacific Sulphite Pulp Co. Ltd. took up the challenge in 1906 and 1909 began to produce lumber. The town was serviced by the CPR and Union Steamship vessels. By 1919 the town had a population of 500 people producing 100,000 board feet a day , sulphite pulp and shingles.

In 1923 an earthquake hit Japan, their biggest customer (history repeats itself!) Sometime after 1925 the mill was closed and the town began to lose it's population. Soon the only persons there was a watchman. At some point around the 40's the town was completely abandoned. this is not an uncommon story on the coast, many towns were completely dependent on one company and mill/mine, when it would shut down the town would die. the mortal remain of the town exists but shrouded in the dense bush. If you have taken a cruise ship up the inside passage than you have passed the bones of this ghost town.

I have gleamed this information and pictures from 2 websites, please visits them, for more of the story and some excellent pictures.
  

But for the grace of god go thee

We have been glued to the TV and Internet following the multiple crisis’s in Japan. I haven’t said much on the subject because it’s changing so rapidly. Currently they are saying that around 7,000 known dead and about 10,000 missing. Frankly I was expecting at least 50,000 dead. If the finally number is less than 20,000 then it says volumes about the Japanese building construction, seawalls and evacuation systems.
The whole thing is more real to us in North America than other disasters, as we see a culture much more similar to our own, unlike Haiti which most us could not wrap our heads around prior to their earthquake. We also had a personal connection as well, my niece was in Tokyo during the quake, but has just arrived back home. Now my sister can sleep better!
These people have suffered an 8.9-9.0 scale quake, hundreds of lesser quakes, 7 metre high Tsunami, volcano eruption and a ongoing nuclear crisis. Adding to the misery is snow hampering rescue efforts. In fact Japan moved 2.4m, is 13’ wider and parts dropped by 2’ in elevation. After shocks continue.
What is apparent is that fortitude of the Japanese character is showing through. No mass panics, little or no looting, organizing to help their neighbours. This is a silver lining in a very dark cloud. The recent stuff coming out on Japanese TV and Internet prior to all of this had to make you wonder if the culture was going off the deep end. Lesson learned, don’t judge a people by their entertainers and TV producers! Another interesting note, the city of Kandahar has given $50,000 dollars to the Japanese people, a small but important gesture from a people that owe much to the Japanese.
The nuclear crisis has shown the flaws of the current designs currently in widespread use. I am not a nuke expert but there are better designs out there. It is my understanding that one of the reactors effected was to be de-commissioned shortly and two others later this year. The timing could not be worse for the nuclear industry, many plants are coming up for replacement, and it will be a hard sell now to a public that is rightfully concerned. The bright side is that many lessons are being learned and if the industry can adapt them into newer designs that can operate without much input from humans and go into safe mode when things go wrong. The new designs will have to deal with the storage pond issue as well, which seems to be the main problem.
I fully expect a big push on Humanoid robots that can deal with nuclear accidents within the next decade. Currently our only choice is to rely on the bravery and self-sacrifice of the workers there. The people fighting the fires at the plants know they are shortening their lives and accepting much future pain and struggle. A grim determination sort of courage.

Living in Vancouver, we are all too aware that a major earthquake and Tsunami is part of our future. The geography is likely to preclude a 7m high wave, but a significant one could still hit Vancouver if say part of the seafloor on eastern Vancouver island sluffed down. To give you an idea what a 7m wave would do to Vancouver, I guesstimated the areas that would be covered by colouring blue over the land that would be engulfed.

before



After