The most amazing things of our times are coming from scientific advances. Electronics (including miniaturization and microchips), miraculous medical improvements, and pure scientific discovery.
Over in the video box that we keep on our sidebar, I’ve posted a report/interview from the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) about a recent experiment after they spent 25 years searching for an underwater volcano that was erupting or getting ready to. They found one last year in the south Pacific between Samoa and Fiji and in May of this year they sent a robot submarine (called “Jason”) equipped with a video camera down to the 4,000-ft. deep ocean floor in May to hopefully record an eruption. They couldn’t have worked it any better.
Within an hour and a half, they started getting results and the volcano started doing its thing. The mission’s chief scientist, Joseph Resing, who is a chemical oceanographer at the University of Washington, told reporters, “When we got there, we put the sub down, and within in an hour and a half we found an eruption there in its full glory. We haven’t seen this before. And now for the very first time, we see molten lava flowing on the sea floor.” He said they had found a type of lava never before seen erupting from an active volcano.
NOAA / NSF
The video shows bright, red flaming lava blowing up into the ocean nearly a mile deep, and then immediately cooling and shattering into chunks falling through the water. Simply amazing. That gray smoke-like stuff is sulphur. Since the water pressure at that depth suppresses the violence of the volcano’s explosions, they were able to get the underwater robot within feet of the active eruption.
You can read more about it and view a couple of really spectacular videos on the NOAA’s website HERE.
Here’s a sample from their videos:
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If any of you were planning on visiting the Pageant of Peace in D. C. tomorrow, be ready to change your plans. There is a winter storm advisory for Washington all day Saturday with 100% chance of snow and temps. below freezing all day. The National Park Service always closes the park on days like that. First of all, nobody can perform on the outdoor, open stage in that kind of weather, and nobody shows up to watch anyway.
But we’ll be ready for the storm here with plenty of coffee, so let’s get the equipment checked out. See you back in the day room in a little while.
Also on FireGeezer…
- Better Not Rely on GPS For a Little While – August 6, 2011
- Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow… – February 3, 2011
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