Monthly Archives: February 2019

Climate change is reshaping how heat moves around the globe

Another great Phys.org article about a recent study on how climate change is affecting the movement of heat around the globe.

Climate change is reshaping how heat moves around the globe

Study: Climate change reshaping how heat moves around globe
January 28, 2019 by Misti Crane, The Ohio State University

The Earth’s atmosphere and oceans play important roles in moving heat from one part of the world to another, and new research is illuminating how those patterns are changing in the face of climate change.

“The greenhouse effect and carbon dioxide aren’t the only issues to consider as the planet grows warmer—they are just one part of the equation. The way that the atmosphere and oceans move heat around is changing, too, and this could have significant effects on temperatures around the world,” said Zhengyu Liu, co-lead author of the study and professor of climate dynamics in the Department of Geography at The Ohio State University.

Liu and Chengfei He, a graduate student in Ohio State’s atmospheric science program, analyzed model simulations to illustrate how heat is expected to be transferred by the oceans and atmosphere in the near future. The researchers compared the models with historical temperature data from the oceans themselves to paint a clearer picture of how climate change is shifting and will continue to shift these patterns in this century. Their study appears online today (Jan. 28, 2019) in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Without heat transfer, the world’s hottest spots would be sizzling and the coolest spots would be even more frigid. Conditions in both hot and cold climates are affected by the movement of heat from the equator toward the poles in the atmosphere and oceans, He said.

As scientists look for a better understanding of all the factors contributing to climate change—and for ways to ameliorate the problem—these heat-transfer patterns are important to watch, He said.

This is the first study to examine current changes in heat transfer and to conclude that warming temperatures are driving increased heat transfer in the atmosphere, which is compensated by a reduced heat transfer in the ocean. Additionally, the researchers concluded that the excess oceanic heat is trapped in the Southern Ocean around the Antarctic.

“The ocean stores a lot of heat and in the last 50 years that has increased. And we can correlate that directly with increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by human activity,” Liu said. “Most studies like this have looked at future changes, hundreds of years from now. We examined the near-term differences of a warming climate.”

For now, that heat is not re-entering the atmosphere, but at some point it may. If that were to happen, changes in heat transfer could contribute to significant shifts in normal temperatures worldwide, he said.

“For instance, if we didn’t have heat transfer, Ohio would be 20 or 30 degrees colder than we are right now,” Liu said. “Therefore, it is important to predict how the heat transfer will be changed in the future.””

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Space technology predicts droughts

From Phys.org comes an exciting article about drought prediction – something that could help us in South Africa!

Space technology predicts droughts

“Space technology predicts droughts several months in advance
January 28, 2019, Australian National University

Scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) have used new space technology to predict droughts and increased bushfire risk up to five months in advance.

ANU researcher Siyuan Tian said the team knew they needed to move into space to get closer to understanding the complex nature of drought.

They used data from multiple satellites to measure water below the Earth’s surface with unprecedented precision, and were able to relate this to drought impacts on the vegetation several months later.

“The way these satellites measure the presence of water on Earth is mind boggling,” said Ms Tian from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences.

“We’ve been able to use them to detect variations in water availability that affect the growth and condition of grazing land, dryland crops and forests, and that can lead to increased fire risk and farming problems several months down the track.”

Co-researcher Professor Albert van Dijk said combining these data with a computer model simulating the water cycle and plant growth enabled the team to build a detailed picture of the water’s distribution below the surface and likely impacts on the vegetation months later.

“We have always looked up at the sky to predict droughts—but not with too much success,” said Professor van Dijk from the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society.

“This new approach—by looking down from space and underground—opens up possibilities to prepare for drought with greater certainty. It will increase the amount of time available to manage the dire impacts of drought, such as bushfires and livestock losses.”

The drought forecasts will be combined with the latest satellite maps of vegetation flammability from the Australian Flammability Monitoring System at ANU to predict how the risk of uncontrollable bushfires will change over the coming months.

The team used the GRACE Follow-On satellites, which were developed by American, German and Australian scientists. ANU Professor Daniel Shaddock led the Australian team.

Dr. Paul Tregoning from the ANU Research School of Earth Sciences said the GRACE space gravity mission provided a measurement of changes in total water storage anywhere on Earth for the first time.

“Combined with measurements of surface water and top soil moisture from other satellites, this provides the ability to know how much water is available at different depths below the soil,” he said.

“What is innovative and exciting about our work is that we have been able to quantify the available water more accurately than ever before. This leads to more accurate forecasts of vegetation state, as much as five months in advance.””

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Dust Monitoring Equipment – providing equipment, services and training in dust fallout management to the mining industry.

Preventing Repeated Accidents at Mines

Miningsafety.com posted this interesting article regarding preventing repeat accidents at our mines – take a read:

Preventing Repeated Accidents at Mines

“How do we prevent repeat accidents at our mines?

Mining companies spend millions on safety equipment and safety training. Despite all the training some accidents are unavoidable. It is however the occurrence of repeat accidents that remains a nightmare to safety and health officials. We would like to share a few ideas and suggestions on how to prevent repeat accidents.

Suggestions to prevent repeat accidents.

  •  Make safety a top priority. Talk about safety, conduct safety audits, and encourage suggestions from employees for improving safety.
  • Set a goal to eliminate repeat accidents. Make sure all of your employees—not just those involved in an accident—understand the causes of prior accidents and the steps they need to take to avoid a repeat.
  • Train as if their lives depended on it—because they do! Your employees’ safety on the job depends on their skills, knowledge, awareness, and judgment. Training strengthens and develops all these safety essentials.
  • Reinforce safe behavior. Get out there among your employees every day and praise those who are working safely. Talk to those who are taking risks and redirect them into following safe procedures. Consider retraining those whose performance indicates a lack of requisite safety skills or knowledge.
  • Don’t use discipline without also offering help. You may need to resort to discipline when coaching and counseling fail to correct unsafe behavior. But don’t discipline without also providing support and feedback about safe performance.
  • Emphasize hazard detection and reporting. Just because something was OK yesterday doesn’t mean it hasn’t become a hazard today. Keep alert and make sure your employees keep their eyes open, too.
  • Investigate every incident. Whether it was a near miss or an accident that caused injuries and damage, investigate until you find the cause and correct it.

Safety attitude is the key to a safe workplace. But it doesn’t happen overnight.

The message needs to be repeatedly reinforced preferably in a variety of ways and formats:

  • Supervisors needs to be visible and talk to employees
  • Take action on close calls
  • Follow procedures
  • Adhere and obey Legislation

[Content kindly provided my Moolmans Mining]”

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Dust Monitoring Equipment – providing equipment, services and training in dust fallout management to the mining industry.

Mining in South Africa

Mining has played a huge part in the growth and development of South Africa – take a look at what The Minerals Council has to say about it – click the link to read more about the different mining sectors – Gold, Coal, Platinum and Diamonds.

Mining in South Africa

MINING IN SA
Economic activity in modern-day South Africa has been centred on mining activities, their ancillary services and supplies. The country’s stock exchange in Johannesburg was established in 1887, a decade after the first diamonds were discovered on the banks of the Orange River, and almost simultaneously with the gold rush on the world-famous Witwatersrand.

In many ways, South Africa’s political, social and economic landscape has been dominated by mining, given that, for so many years, the sector has been the mainstay of the South African economy. Although gold, diamonds, platinum and coal are the most well-known among the minerals and metals mined, South Africa also hosts chrome, vanadium, titanium and a number of other lesser minerals.

KEY MINING FACTS:
*In 2017 the mining sector contributed R312 billion to the South African gross domestic product (GDP)
*A total of 464,667 people were employed in the mining sector in 2017
*Each person employed in the mining sector has up to nine indirect dependants
*The mining sector has, for many years, attracted valuable foreign direct investment to South Africa”