Yr 12: Floods in Spain

What were the factors that led to the number of deaths in this flood? Watch the footage of Madrid.

Yr13: Longer term effects of earthquakes

Pakistan three years on

Yr13: New earthquake hits Scotland!

A massive earthquake hits Scotland. Read and assess the comment by Prakash at the bottom of the page.

Yr 13: More earthquakes

Compare and contrast this earthquake with the one that occurred last week

Yr 13: Two earthquakes hit Tibet

One earthquake and an aftershock, two related earthquakes on a joined fault or two unrelated earthquakes in the same place. How predictable are earthquakes? Click here

Y13 Earthquakes

Check out the recent earthquake action in Tibet



http://news.aol.co.uk/world-news/30-killed-in-tibet-earthquakes/article/20081006104351123848248

Yr12: Rivers

Flooding in LEDC tends to kill lots of people. In MEDC's the problem is usually economic as shown in this video

Yr13: Managing Cities

Dealing with rubbish and the issues caused.

Yr13: Minor volcanic features

Solfatara - note the yellow sulphur on the rocks surrounding it. The name solfatara is given to fumaroles that emit sulphurous gases.

Mud Volcano or mudpot form in high-temperature geothermal areas where water is in short supply. The little water that is available rises to the surface at a spot where the soil is rich in volcanic ash, clay and other fine particulates.




Fumarole is an opening in Earth's (or any other astronomical body's) crust, often in the neighborhood of volcanoes, which emits steam and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, hydrochloric acid, and hydrogen sulphide
Geyser is a hot spring characterized by intermittent discharge of water ejected turbulently and accomplished by a vapour phase. The name geyser comes from Geysir, the name of an erupting spring at Haukadalur, Iceland; that name, in turn, comes from the Icelandic verb gjósa, "to gush".

Yr12: Geography of health

This link highlights the issues associated with the risk of dying in child birth in different parts of the world. In Sierra Leone it is 1:8, in the USA it is 4800, in the UK the risk is 1:8200 and Sweden it is 1:17400. Why?

Yr12: Managing Floods

Sorry for the delay Ofsted stole all my time and a trojan rearranged all my Windows registry files so my PC ended up as a nice ornament.

Check out this site for information on how the UK manages floods.

Yr12: Bruce Parry

Bruce Parry is going from the source to the mouth of the Amazon. Catch him on BBC2 tonight, Iplayer and the BBC website. How does the river change from the start to finish. Can the river be described as a typical river? What features do you find in the upper and lower course?

General

The BBC have sponsored a container that will be shipped around the world carrying cargo to highlight global trade issues. Follow it at this link and see where it goes.

Yr 12: Indian flood

Which factors that affect the hydrograph can you identify in the Indian flood of 2008 Click to see some video on the topic.

Yr13: factors affecting the severity of a hazard

Is it sensible to locate all of these major buildings in an area known for its hurricanes. Could the damage a hazard does be reduced with better planning laws.

Yr13: Videos on Mt Merapi

Look here to find the BBC coveage of the last eruption.

Yr13: The human cost of an earthquake

Check here. There is more detail about the Chinese earthquake in the new Geography Magazine.

Yr12: More Floods

Keep watching the skies here

Yr 13: Case Study of a slide in Cairo

Types of mass movement are Slide, Rotational Slump, Fall and Flow. This is a case study of a slide in Cairo.

Yr12: UK floods continue.

See this link

Yr12: Rivers

Plenty of information about the current floods that are sweeping across the UK. Check out the following links then see if you can find your own.

BBC
Yahoo
ITV


If you are going to make notes identify

What factors caused the flood?
What damage was caused?

Yr12 and 13: Factors affetcting the severity of hazards

Check out this link about why hazards might be getting worse and causing more damage.

Its back

Geography blog is back from vacation experiencing the LA earthquake, energised, re-invigorated and ready to deliver knowledge. Topics under study in Yr 12 are Rivers and Population and in Yr13 Coasts and Geomorphological hazards.

The Geography blog has gone on holiday until September and the new school year

Y13 Urban Regeneration

Two interesting video clips about Glasgow and their towerblocks....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7429834.stm


and for a personal view

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7430306.stm

Why tectonic theory is important to know

Actress Sharon Stone has been dropped by cosmetics firm Christian Dior from its Chinese adverts following remarks she made about the recent earthquake. The firm's Chinese office also issued a statement attributed to Stone, in which she apologised for saying the disaster could have been the result of "karma".

Stone's theory on the cause of earthquakes

Actress Sharon Stone has sparked criticism in China after claiming the recent earthquake could have been the result of bad "karma". The US star, speaking at the Cannes Film Festival, linked the recent disaster to Beijing's policy on Tibet. She said: "I thought, 'Is that karma?' When you are not nice, bad things happen to you." But Stone added she "cried" after the Tibetan Foundation asked her to help quake victims. Stone, 50, said: "They wanted to go and be helpful, and that made me cry. I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else

"It was a big lesson to me that sometimes you have to learn to put your head down and be of service even to people who aren't nice to you." Stone made her comments last week in a brief interview with a Hong Kong film crew. "I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else," Stone said in footage widely available on the internet. "And then all this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and I thought, is that karma?" Ng See-Yuen, founder of the UME Cineplex chain and the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, called Stone's comments "inappropriate". According to a story in trade magazine Hollywood Reporter, he vowed not to show Stone's films in his theatres.

UME has branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, China's biggest urban movie markets. Stone's comments also created a swell of anger on the internet, including at least one Chinese website devoted solely to disparaging her comments. The Beijing Times also reported that some major Beijing department stores had removed advertisements for cosmetic and couture giant Christian Dior, which feature Stone's image. The earthquake struck south-west China on 12 May, leaving 68,109 people dead, with another 19,851 still missing.

Yr13 Managing Resources

More evidence that Malthus was correct?

Yr13 Regeneration in Norwich

A new regeneration project on Duke Street opposite the St Andrews car park. Read about it here but sorry no pictures

Yr13 Managing Hazards

It is just 1 thing after another.

How many of the houses were already damaged and needed to be demolished?

New features are being formed.

Yr13 Managing Resources

Are we heading to a Malthusian future?

Read about spiralling food shortages.

Oli production

Yr12 Global Warming and Yr13 Managing Resources

MPs back personal carbon credits

The MPs admitted the public was likely to be opposed to the move The government should go ahead with a system of personal "carbon credits" to meet emissions targets, MPs have said. The Environmental Audit Committee said the scheme would be more effective than taxes for cutting carbon emissions. Under the scheme people would be given an annual carbon limit for fuel and energy use - which they could exceed by buying credits from those who use less. Environment minister Hilary Benn said there were practical drawbacks to the plan although it did have "potential". '

No barrier'

The committee's report criticised the government for shelving the proposal following a preliminary study. The MPs admitted members of the public were likely to be opposed to the move, but urged the government to be "courageous". Their report said: "Persuading the public depends on perceptions of the government's own commitment to reducing emissions, and of the priority given to climate change in its own decision making."

It added: "Further work is needed before personal carbon trading can be a viable policy option and this must be started urgently, and in earnest. "In the meantime there is no barrier to the government developing and deploying the policies that will not only prepare the ground for personal carbon trading, but will ensure its effectiveness and acceptance once implemented."

'Cash benefit'

Committee chairman Tim Yeo said it found that personal carbon trading had "real potential to engage the population in the fight against climate change and to achieve significant emissions reductions in a progressive way". He said "green" taxes, such as a petrol tax, cost poor people more because everyone - "billionaires and paupers" - paid the same amount. "Under the personal carbon trading, someone who perhaps doesn't have an enormous house or swimming pool, someone who doesn't take several holidays in the Caribbean every year, will actually get a cash benefit if they keep a low carbon footprint." He said it could be administered by the private sector, following the model of supermarket loyalty schemes in which a complex computer system is accessed by a "single plastic card".

Implementation costs

But Mr Benn said there were problems with the plan: "It's got potential but, in essence, it's ahead of its time, the cost of implementing it would be quite high, and there are a lot of practical problems to overcome." He emphasised that the report authors themselves had said a feasibility study was not justified at this stage. Mr Benn said that the report found the cost of introducing the scheme would be between £700 million and £2 billion, and would cost £1bn-£2bn a year to run. There would also be difficulties in deciding how to set the rations, taking into account a person's age, location and health. Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock said work on personal carbon trading had not been completely abandoned. "We have simply decided not to undertake further work paid for by the taxpayer when a number of other studies are under way," she said. Environmentalist George Monbiot applauded the scheme. "It's more progressive than taxation, it tends to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor; it's transparent; it's easy for everyone to understand, you all get the same carbon ration. "It also contains an inbuilt incentive for people to think about their energy use and to think about how they are going to stay within their carbon ration."

Yr13 Managing Cities

Look out for the UGI Briefing in the Geography Office on Rubbish. Well worth a read or you can buy a PDF version for 99p at http://www.global-issues.co.uk/

Bye

Bye Bye Yr 13.

Firstly the Geography blog will continue running until the exam.
Secondly if you wan to some and resolve any revision issues/ questions then drop in any time.

so its goodbye to

Emily, Oli, Nick, Jack, Paul, Giles, James, Mark A, Ewan, Matt C, Matt B, Mark T, James, Jonathan, Chris, Richard, Lee, Ben, Katarina, Jack, Alex and Emma

In the words of Douglas Adams " So long and thanks for all the fish"

Yr13: Managing Cities: LEDC Riots

More violence in S Africa

Yr13 Managing Cities. Making recycling sexy!!

Talking bin goes on trial in city

A talking bin which thanks people for using it to recycle aluminium cans is to be piloted in Norwich. The bin, which crushes cans before coming up with a recorded message such as "Yum, yum, feed me more", will be trialled for three months. Three bins will be placed in the city for the project, which is being filmed as part of a BBC Panorama programme looking at attitudes towards recycling. Money from the sale of the cans will go towards more trees for the city.

The bin is made Amberol based in Alfreton, Derbyshire. The firm has already manufactured a penguin-shaped bin for schools which thanks children for throwing away their rubbish. Tim Troman, from Amberol, said: "As a company we recognise that recycling is a very big issue, but something more needs to be done to encourage everyone to do it. "It has to be made fun - and that's why we set about producing the talking can-crushing bin. "The bins are easy to use. People put the unwanted can into a slot and pull the lever down, which crushes the can. "They can see the can drop into the bin and they receive a thank-you message."

Yr13 Managing Cities

What are the benefits of this scheme aimed at cutting air pollution and making the city safer.


Step closer to city speed limit

Plans for a 20mph speed limit in parts of Norwich have moved a step closer. The Norwich Highways Agency Committee has voted to introduce a blanket 20mph speed limit across residential roads in the city. Council officers had recommended that the committee did not go ahead with the proposals because of the high cost of introducing traffic-calming measures. However, under the proposal agreed by the committee, the scheme will be mainly based around signage.

Managing resources

It is the Champions League final tonight and Manchester United are playing Chelsea in Moscow. Unlike a lot of European cities there is no history of short break weekends in Moscow as it takes over a month to get a visa. This means there are very few cheap hotels, no budget or charter airlines and little experience of a huge foreign influence. There are also few direct flights to help get the estimated 50,000 fans from England to Russia. They have been lots of weird and wonderful ways that people have had to take to make it. Flying Luton to Madrid, Madrid to Vienna and then Vienna to Moscow. Fly to Helsinki, ferry to Riga and then train to Moscow but my favourite was fly to Beijing and then train along the Trans-Siberian railway across the width of Russia. Where ever there is a major match the fans will get there.

What might the carbon footprint of this trip be?

Yr13 Coastal Management

Most of the coastal flood warning sirens in Norfolk are to be reinstated after being officially withdrawn. The Environment Agency said the 60-year-old sirens were obsolete and warnings could be better issued via telephone, text and its website but following a consultation, the Norfolk Fire and Community Protection Review Panel agreed to recommendations to scrap only 17 of the 57 sirens. The sirens due to be scrapped will be kept for spares to repair others

Yr13 Managing Cities. Waste collection

Naples has problems getting its rubbish collected. See what is going on here, here and here

Human Suffering: Why We Care (or Don't)

Why do we care about some disastes but not others?

News

Sorry - technical problems now sorted so back to the Wonderful World of Geography

China

News items to keep an eye on

China earthquake compare this earthquake to one of a similar size in the same place in the past in Tangshan in 1976
Aid from the UK
People still being rescued unlike flows where few airs spaces are left
3 days of mourning


To what extent do natural disaster as act as an agent of change? Earthquake has taken the heat off the Chinese government over Tibet
Influx of aid and ideas into Burma alongside their failure to meet people's needs may act as a catalyst for political change

South Africa

Immigration into South Africa from Zimbabwe has caused rioting in the townships. Are the problems in MEDC and LEDC's that different? Jobs, housing etc.

View it here. Some parts maybe disturbing.

Good luck in the exam tomorrow people.

Yr 13: Wheelie bin confusion

Blue bins cause problems

Yr13: More China

Building Standards


Dams about to burst


Government response

Yr13 Hazards: China update

Pandas Safe
Some buildings survived others did not showing that maybe building standards are variable or ignored.
Were local people trained to cope with the emergency?
Other responses
After shocks
All earthquakes in the last 7 days


10 largest earthquakes ever - check out Kamchatka 1952 - violent but no deaths

Plates

The Sichuan earthquake of May 12, 2008, occurred as the result of motion on a northeast striking reverse fault or thrust fault on the northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin. The earthquake's epicentre and focal-mechanism are consistent with it having occurred as the result of movement on the Longmenshan fault or a tectonically related fault. The earthquake reflects tectonic stresses resulting from the convergence of crustal material slowly moving from the high Tibetan Plateau, to the west, against strong crust underlying the Sichuan Basin and southeastern China. (from orogeny along the Himalayas)

On a continental scale, the seismicity of central and eastern Asia is a result of northward convergence of the India plate against the Eurasia plate with a velocity of about 50 mm/y. The convergence of the two plates is broadly accommodated by the uplift of the Asian highlands and by the motion of crustal material to the east away from the uplifted Tibetan Plateau.

The northwestern margin of the Sichuan Basin has previously experienced destructive earthquakes. The magnitude 7.5 earthquake of August 25, 1933, killed more than 9,300 people.

Yr13 Managing Cities: Peterborough

More waste is being recycled in a Cambridgeshire city than ever before.

Yr13 Hazards China Earthquake

Where?



How big?
7.8 on the Richter Scale - where would it be on the Mercalli Scale?

Number dead
5000 but bound to rise

Factors affecting death toll
Size of quake
Largest for 30 years
High number of building collapsed
Lots of people indoors
High population density
High population (87 million)
Buildings with lots of people collapsed (at least 5 schools)
Difficult terrain so rescuers struggle to get there
Lots of bridges collapsed

Reasons to be cheerful
Chinese army have a good history of delivering aid
Well organised rescue attempt
Little damage to the largest cities
Chinese Red Cross are well equipped and funded.
Good medical care available and on the scene swiftly
Unlikely to be any disease (dysentery/ cholera/ typhoid effects)

Pictures
Video (see triage in action)

Keep an eye on the news. Are there any after shocks?

Yr12 Rostow's Model

1 criticisms it that the model does not take into account countries that may become less developed such as Zimbabwe.

An example is a Zimbabwean football team trying to raise $50 000 to fly to North African for an African Champions League match. They made it but in the time it took to raise the cash the falling exchange rate mean the price kept going up. When they started to raise the money the cost was 300 billion Zimbabwe dollars and went they paid it the tickets cost 10 trillion Zimbabwe dollars.

Y12 Tornado hits US towns.

Check out the following link with video from the BBC.........

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7394402.stm

Yr13 Managing Cities

A case study of the a scheme the government implemented.

Evaluate its success



LDDC

About the LDDC

Search for Enterprise Zones for information on this page

How useful was the construction of Canary Wharf for local people?

What transport links were needed?
DLR
Underground
Airport
Boat
Green transport

Yr13: Air Pollution

The Problem?

Warm, sunny weather across much of the UK is set to lead to the first summer smog, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has warned. High ozone levels are forecast for England and Wales this weekend.

Who is affected?
Moderate levels of ozone have been recorded over the past few days for much of the UK. Ground-level ozone can affect some people's breathing. People with asthma are not necessarily more susceptible but if they are affected they can use their "reliever" inhaler, Defra said. The Environment Department is urging the public to take precautions, including avoiding exercise outdoors in the afternoon to reduce exposure to ozone.

The Solution?

Defra also said people should avoid making unnecessary short car journeys where possible, as the pollutants which cause ground-level ozone come from sources including petrol and other fuels.

The Cause?

Much of the UK is set to experience warm temperatures and sunny weather during the next few days, although there will be scattered, sharp showers in some places. The high levels of ozone - formed when sunlight interacts with nitrogen dioxide and other pollutants - are set to persist until at least Monday, when Northern Ireland could also be affected.

Yr12: Tropical Revolving Storms

Before and After the cyclone.

Pictures courtesy of the BBC

Yr12 Malaysia

Malaysia is a NIC

It tried to attract businesses to an area called Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone near the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

It has over 400 factories, companies mainly based outside of Malaysia.

It has a international airport to allow managers from head office to visit. Also customers may visit.

It has a major roadway called the Bayan Lepas Expressway

It is part of the MSC Malaysia (Multimedia Supercorridor Malaysia) a system of fibre optic cables to deliver high speed communication links.

It has a port to allow the movement of raw materials and finished products

It has training facilities to help educate the workers

It has a stable government

What role do TNC's/ globalisation play?

Yr12: Industrial Location

Cambridge Science Park is in a great location as you can see here

It has a wide range of different ht-tech industries as you can see here

It provides good facilities for its workers as you can see here

Stats about CSP can be found here



As you can see it has a good road network, lots of open spaces to expand, lots of green areas and a lake to make it a nice place to work and lots of car parking spaces for the workers.


A you can see modern units for the companies to use will also help attract new industries and businesses to Cambridge Science Park.

The questions they might ask include

For an area that you have studied, explain why a business would locate there or MEDC's may only be industrialising in a few areas. For one that you have studied explain why.

Some examples of questions where you can use CSP are located at these links.

Question 3b
Question 3b



'Photograph used by permission of Cambridge Science Park'.

Yr13 Hazards

Death tolls in eruptions can be higher in LEDC due to ignorance or superstition. Read more here

Yr13 Managing Cities: More congestion charges

London and Durham have congestion charges, Where else might get them.

Here, here and here

or maybe of people will vote for them they will.

They will help manage air pollution as well as congestion.

Yr12: Revolving Tropical Stoms

The death toll continues to rise. Inadequate hazard provention. Aid provided from MEDC. Read all about it here.

Yr12: Revolving Tropical Storms

More coverage of the cyclone. Note that in a LEDC' death counts tend to go up with time whereas in a MEDC they tend to go down through time.

Yr12: Revolving Tropical Storms

Cyclone hits Burma/Myanmar

Read the story here or here.

Forgotten how a hurricane works this click here

Year 13 Geography trip 02/05/08

On Friday 2nd May the Year 13 Geography students were treated to an inspiring trip around the Norfolk coast. After meeting at school the students were divided into two groups, one of which went with Mr Taylor, who drove the minibus with speed and surprisingly skill; and the other with Mr Georgiou, who was clearly dressed to impress.
First stop was Blakeney, were the breathtaking spit really summed up the reason why most students had wanted to study Geography A-level. ‘Nature at its most breathtaking’, one keen student enthused.
Buoyed by the sight of Blakeney spit, we Geographers set out to Salthouse, where Mr Taylor regaled students with stories of his youth. Some students were also shocked at the revelation that the artificially maintained dune at Salthouse was composed of pebbles AND cobbles. Who’d of thunk it? Such a discovery lingered in the minds of the students until we reached our next destination.
The trip to Overstrand allowed the students to gaze with wonder at the various sea defences that have been constructed on the beach. It was widely appreciated that were it not for these defences, Overstrand may not be in its current state. Such a loss would be a disaster not only for the inhabitants of Overstrand, but for Geographers worldwide.
The highlight of the trip for many was the lunchtime visit to a Fish and Chip shop. Waiting to be served provided an ideal platform for banter between the students after the physical and mental exertions of Overstrand. Happisburgh and Sea Palling provided a poignant aspect to the trip as the students mourned the possible passing of these two great seaside towns to the sea, as proposed by Government recently. ‘A travesty of epic proportions unmatched by anything in the modern day era of seaside town development’ is what one unamused student remarked whilst surveying the unrelenting might of the waves upon the beach of Happisburgh.
On the return trip to school, there was time for the students to mull over what they had witnessed during the day. The confined nature of the minibus allowed a forum of opinion to develop. ‘It allows one to fully understand how our planet is fundamentally changing’ one student commented on coastal processes. ‘Whilst it is exciting for use to try and reduce these changes, the thought that nature may be simply to powerful for us to stop is terrifying’ a fellow student mused.
After arriving back, Mr Georgiou delivered a typically charismatic debriefing which tied up the day perfectly.
A hearty congratulation to the Geography department for setting up such a trip. Hip hip hooray!

Yr 13 Managing Cities

What effect will the election of Boris Johnson have on helping to managing London's problems?

Buses
Congestion Charge
Transport
Green Spaces
Recycling
Housing

Yr12: De and re -industriailsation

Llanwern in South Wales

Yr12: Industrial Change

How have the government tried to reduce the power of the supermarkets?

Yr13: Coastal Management

What would the long term effect of this scheme be on the rest of the coast

Yr13 Hazards: Long and short term problems caused by earthquakes

Can you think of any others

Yr12 Deindustrialisation

See images and clips on the closing of the steel works at this link.

Yr13 Managing Cities: Renewal of Magdalen Strret

Links to documents about renewing the Magdalen Street and St Augustine area of Norwich

Council Plans

What happened in the 1960's

HERS funding (Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme)

Related news stories

Area action plan

Unreported World

Keep an eye on Unreported World on Channel 4 on Friday night (7.35). There have been programmes on climate change and flooding in Bangladesh and how the price of gold in the rainforest is affecting the people who live there. Next week is on rubbish collection in Egypt. Clickhere for more details or watch below

Egypt Part 1



Egypt Part 2




Egypt Part 3



Bangladesh Part 1



Bangladesh Part 2



Bangladesh Part 3

Yr12: Would building a new runway benefit the Stansted area?

Check out this link and this one.

What is your opinion on what should be built?

Yr13: How segregated communities can cause problems

The report into the Oldham riots

Yr12 Migration

Should any low skilled immigrants be let into the country

Yr13 Hazards

A high tech way to try and predict when earthquakes will happem. Is this the future.

Year 12: Migration

Miss Holmes Year 12 Geography class.

Click on the link and watch this clip on why a Polish man (Adam) migrated to the UK. Most of you missed a personal view in this section of your project so add some of these ideas after listening to him. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfz7EeykRLQ

Yr12: Rainforest destruction protests

How 50 people dressed as orang utans plan to make a difference.

Yr13: Hazards don't kill people, governments do

Read this comparison of MEDC and LEDC responses

Yr12 Climatic Hazards or Yr 13 Managing Cities

Hurricane Katrina and the how they are trying to look after the population

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7349848.stm

Yr12 and 13: Climate Change

WASHINGTON - Planet Earth continues to run a fever. Last month was the warmest March on record over land surfaces of the world and the second warmest overall worldwide. For the United States, however, it was just an average March, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday.

NOAA's National Climatic Data Center said high temperatures over much of Asia pulled the worldwide land temperature up to an average of 40.8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.9 degrees Celsius), 3.2 degrees (1.8 C) warmer than the average in the 20th century. While Asia had its greatest January snow cover this year, warm March readings caused a rapid melt and March snow cover on the continent was a record low. Global ocean temperatures were the 13th warmest on record, with a weakening of the La Nina conditions that cool the tropical Pacific Ocean. Overall land and sea surface temperatures for the world were second highest in 129 years of record keeping, trailing only 2002, the agency said. Warming conditions in recent decades have continued to raise concern about global climate change, which many weather and climate experts believe is related to gases released into the atmosphere by industrial and transportation processes

Yr13 Hazards: Why MEDC's have a lower death toll

Trained volunteer emergency workers from Elk Grove, Galt and Sacramento are scheduled to leave Saturday for an earthquake response drill in Clovis. The Community Emergency Response Team members are from the Cosumnes, Sacramento Metropolitan and Sacramento fire departments. The CERT program provides basic training in disaster survival and rescue skills so adult volunteers can provide vital services during a disaster.

The team members are scheduled to leave from the Cosumnes' fire training facility in Elk Grove Saturday. The Clovis CERT team, which is new, had asked Sacramento-area teams to help conduct training classes during the the weekend drill. Sacramento-area team members are scheduled to return to Elk Grove Sunday.

Yr13 Managing Cities: London Low Emission Zone

For details on charging people to drive into London view the video clips below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_7290000/newsid_7293000?redirect=7293083.stm&news=1&bbwm=1&nbwm=1&nbram=1&bbram=1

< http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/player/nol/newsid_7170000/newsid_7171900?redirect=7171917.stm&news=1&nbram=1&bbwm=1&nbwm=1&bbram=1 >

Can you evaluate its success?

Yr 12 and Yr13 Norwich next the Sea?

Sea levels could rise by up to one-and-a-half metres by the end of this century, according to a new scientific analysis.

This is substantially more than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast in last year's landmark assessment of climate science.

Sea level rise of this magnitude would have major impacts on low-lying countries such as Bangladesh.

The findings were presented at a major science conference in Vienna.

The research group is not the first to suggest that the IPCC's forecast of an average rise in global sea levels of 28-43cm by 2100 is too conservative.

The IPCC was unable to include the contribution from "accelerated" melting of polar ice sheets as water temperatures warm because the processes involved were not yet understood.

Melt water

The new analysis comes from a UK/Finnish team which has built a computer model linking temperatures to sea levels for the last two millenia

"For the past 2,000 years, the [global average] sea level was very stable, it only varied by about 20cm," said Svetlana Jevrejeva from the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory (POL), near Liverpool, UK.

"But by the end of the century, we predict it will rise by between 0.8m and 1.5m.

"The rapid rise in the coming years is associated with the rapid melting of ice sheets."

The model, she told reporters here at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) annual meeting, is able to mimic accurately sea levels reliably observed by tide gauges over the last 300 years.

There is little concrete evidence on sea levels for the thousands of years before that, explained POL's Simon Holgate, who was not involved in the new study.

"There is some limited archaeological evidence [based on] the sill heights of fish enclosures that the Romans used, that's probably the strongest evidence that there hasn't been any significant change in sea level over the last 2,000 years."

Against that, he said, the currently observed rise of about three mm per year is significant, and many scientists working in the field expect to see an acceleration.

Last year, German researcher Stefan Rahmstorf used different methodology but reached a similar conclusion to Dr Jevrejeva's group, projecting a sea level rise of between 0.5m and 1.4m by 2100.

Space-eye view

The latest satellite data indicates that the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets are losing mass, though the much bigger East Antarctic sheet may be gaining mass.

A full melting of Greenland and West Antarctica would raise sea levels by many metres; but the process, if it happened, would take centuries.

"We know what's happening today from satellite data, but trying to predict what that means in the future is very difficult science," noted Steve Nerem from the University of Colorado, whose own research concerns global sea levels.

"There's a lot of evidence out there that we're going to see at least a metre of sea level rise by 2100," he said.

"We're seeing big changes in Greenland, we're seeing big changes in West Antarctica, so we're expecting this to show up in the sea level data as an increase in the rate we've been observing."

However, a rise of even a metre could have major implications for low-lying countries - especially, noted Dr Holgate, those whose economies are not geared up to build sophisticated sea defence systems.

"Eighty to 90% of Bangladesh is within a metre or so of sea level," he said, "so if you live in the Ganges delta you're in a lot of trouble; and that's an awful lot of people."

Yr12 Rainforests - using technology to help fight illegal logging

Amazon tribe turns to cyberspace for survival

Chief Almir Surui from the Surui-Paiter indigenous people of Brazil, attends the launch of the new Google Earth Outreach programme in London. You may know it as Google, but in bamboo-and-thatch roundhouses deep in the Amazon rainforest the iconic brand goes by another name. The Surui people, one of the most remote on Earth, call it ragogmakan - messenger - and they're banking on the search engine to save them and their ancestral lands from extinction.

The tribe - whose first contact with the modern world was less than 40 years ago - is replacing its bows and arrows with hi-tech gadgets in its battle for survival. They have begun using satnav on their traditional trails through the trees. And Google Earth has agreed to provide high-resolution satellite images of their forest home. The initiative is the brainchild of their chief, Almir Narayamoga Surui, who is leading their struggle against illegal loggers besieging their territory, an isolated 242,811ha green oasis in Rondonia, in the wild Brazilian west.

Last year the 34-year-old Almir visited Google near San Francisco to ask it to help monitor the loggers' incursions. He said he also hoped to be able to use the internet firm to "alert the world". He added: "We call Google ragogmakan because we hope it will help us get our message out."

For countless centuries the nomadic people - who call themselves Paiter, meaning simply "we ourselves" - lived far from the outside world, until the official "first contact" with Brazilian authorities on September 7, 1969, national Independence Day "The date that Brazil became independent was the day our independence ended," Almir says. "Our people were very, very scared when they first saw white men." A warrior people (Surui, the name bestowed on them by outsiders, means enemy), they decided to fight. "We thought we could beat them with bows and arrows," says Almir. "But it didn't work."

The Surui were reduced from 5000 to just 250 people by massacres and diseases such as chicken pox, measles, tuberculosis and flu, to which they had no immunity. They got medical help, but lost half their land, and only got the remainder protected after a prominent Surui drew an arrow on a leading Brazilian senator in his office and demanded official demarcation. The land is still under constant attack. Almir says that 300 sawmills, employing 4000 people, surround it and other Indian reserves in the area. Eleven chiefs have been killed trying to protect their land, and he himself has a 170,000 reais ($127,000) price on his head. And Almir envisages the Surui with solar-powered laptops using Google to download information and to tell the world how their forest is much more valuable if left standing.

Yr 13 Mass Movement: How important is the role of water in different types of mass movement?

Homes teeter on seaside land slip

One family has been told to move out of their home by insurers Thousands of tonnes of earth have slipped away in front of homes on the Yorkshire coast leaving properties precariously balanced on a cliff edge. Gardens and patios at Knipe Point are now in a heap 100ft (30.4m) below the homes on National Trust land at Cayton Bay, between Scarborough and Filey. Insurers have told one family to move out, while other locals wait for news. A trust spokesman said the slip had been caused by water and it was impossible to predict the next one.
Michael Turner of the Residents' Association said there was growing concern in the area. "People are very worried because at the moment they don't know what's going to happen, whether there will be any more slippage. "One family has been told to move out by their insurance company. "We're just waiting for the results of investigations into what caused the land slip, but at the moment we're in limbo."

National Trust property manager Bob Dicker said: "We know that this land is slipping, we know it's very active at the present time, but to put a scale on it at this stage would be unwise. We don't have enough information. "What we're finding out, in some respects it's very obvious, we're finding out it is a land slip and we should be very careful to remember that - it isn't coastal erosion. "The land slip itself is caused by water for the most part, there may be other causative agents, but mainly water. "
Mr Dicker said engineers were trying to find the source of the water that caused the slip. "What we don't know is where is the water coming from and what sources there are in the immediate area. " He said the land slippage had been happening in "fits and starts" and there had been quite a bit of activity for the last two or three months. "Prior to that it had been very stable, if I can use that word, for quite some time. "But it would be very foolish of me or anybody else to predict at the present time just what will happen either today or in ten years time. "We do hope to have more information fairly soon."

Yr 12 and 13: A Level revision podcasts or geogpods

Try these podcasts for easy to listen to casestudies

1. http://www.stmschool.org.uk/geogpod.html- GCSE level but still very useful

2. http://cgz.e2bn.net/e2bn/leas/c99/schools/cgz/accounts/staff/rchambers/GeoBytes/GCSE%20Revision/Podcasts/Coasts%20Podcast/Podcast_GCSE_revision_hmp.html

Mainly physical geography

there are plenty more on the web - google A Level Geography podcast and see what comes up!!

WHY NOT DO YOUR OWN!!!????

Yr13 Hazards: How predictable are earthquakes?

California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037, scientists said Monday in the first statewide temblor forecast. New calculations reveal there is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds of such an event are higher in Southern California than Northern California, 97 percent versus 93 percent. "It basically guarantees it's going to happen," said Ned Field, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena and lead author of the report. The 1994 Northridge earthquake under Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley was magnitude 6.7. It killed 72 people, injured more than 9,000 and caused $25 billion in damage in the metropolitan area. The damage created by an earthquake depends greatly on where it hits. A 7.1 quake — much stronger than Northridge — hit the Mojave Desert in 1999 but caused only a few injuries and no deaths. California is one of the world's most seismically active regions. More than 300 faults crisscross the state, which sits atop two of Earth's major tectonic plates, the Pacific and North American plates. About 10,000 quakes each year rattle Southern California alone, although most of them are too small to be felt.

The analysis is the first comprehensive effort by the USGS, Southern California Earthquake Center and California Geological Survey to calculate earthquake probabilities for the entire state using newly available data. Previous quake probabilities focused on specific regions and used various methodologies that made it difficult to compare. For example, a 2003 report found the San Francisco Bay Area faced a 62 percent chance of being struck by a magnitude 6.7 quake by 2032. The new study increased the likelihood slightly to 63 percent by 2037. For the Los Angeles Basin, the probability is higher at 67 percent. There is no past comparison for the Los Angeles area.

Scientists still cannot predict exactly where in the state such a quake will occur or when. But they say the analysis should be a wake-up call for residents to prepare for a natural disaster in earthquake country. Knowing the likelihood of a strong earthquake is the first step in allowing scientists to draw up hazard maps that show the potential severity of ground shaking in an area. The information can also help with updating building codes and emergency plans and setting earthquake insurance rates. "A big earthquake can happen tomorrow or it can happen 10 years from now," said Tom Jordan, director of the earthquake center, which is headquartered at the University of Southern California.

Researchers also calculated the statewide probabilities for larger temblors over the same time period. Among their findings: There is a 94 percent chance of a magnitude 7 shock or larger; a 46 percent chance of a magnitude 7.5 and a 4.5 percent chance of a magnitude 8. The odds are higher that a magnitude 7.5 quake will hit Southern California than Northern California — 37 percent versus 15 percent. Of all the faults in the state, the southern San Andreas, which runs from Parkfield in central California southeast to the Salton Sea, appears most primed to break, scientists found. There is a 59 percent chance in the next three decades that a Northridge-size quake will occur on the fault compared to 21 percent for the northern section. The northern San Andreas produced the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but the southernmost segment has not popped in more than three centuries. Scientists are also concerned about the Hayward and San Jacinto faults, which have a 31 percent chance of producing a Northridge-size temblor in the next 30 years. The Hayward fault runs through densely populated cities in the San Francisco Bay Area. The San Jacinto fault bisects the fast-growing city of San Bernardino east of Los Angeles.

Yr13 - reducing river pollution

A new skimming device on a boat has helped make the river so clean seahorses have been breeding in it! Watch here

Yr13 Earthquakes: Update from Balakot

Pakistan earthquake 2005. Video update at this limk

http://www.tv3.co.nz/Home/News/Display/tabid/209/articleID/52352/Default.aspx?src

Yr12 Climatic Hazards: Are Tropical Revolving storms linked to climate change?

Hurricanes are unlikely to become more frequent as the world warms, according to a new analysis by a scientists who until now had supported a link between global warming and tropical cyclone activity. But they may still become more intense.

"The hurricane expert, Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, unveiled a novel technique for predicting future hurricane activity this week," "The new work suggests that, even in a dramatically warming world, hurricane frequency and intensity may not substantially rise during the next two centuries."
2007 saw fewer hurricanes than expected, though there were several rapidly-intensifying cyclones in the Atlantic basin. The early prediction for 2008 is for an above-average year filled with frequent storms and several intense hurricanes.

The art of hurricane prediction, even just a few weeks ahead of a season, is young. Scientists readily acknowledge that the list of unknown influences on hurricane activity is likely to be long.

"Scientists wrangling with the hurricane-global warming question have faced two primary difficulties. The first is that the hurricane record before 1970 is not entirely reliable, making it nearly impossible to assess with precision whether hurricane activity has increased during the last century. The second problem comes through the use of computer models to predict hurricane activity. Most climate models, which simulate global atmospheric conditions for centuries to come, cannot detect individual tropical systems."

Yr12 Water on the land: Should we let North Norfolk Flood????

Check out these for information and make your own mind up

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/3710082.stm

http://new.edp24.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&itemid=NOED28%20Mar%202008%2008:37:53:153&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=search

Yr12 Industrial Change: Gran gets own back

If you are being taken for a ride by Tesco then get your own back. See how at this link

Yr13 Hazards: New China network can report earthquakes within 10 minutes

China's earthquake monitoring department managed to detect and report an earthquake within 10 minutes with a new digital network, the China Earthquake Administration (CEA) announced on Friday. The network, under construction since June 2004, passed an examination by a 19-member expert panel here on Friday. Until now, it's taken 30 minutes to report an earthquake, said Chen Xinlian, the CEA's chief engineer for the new network.

The new network can detect a quake as small as 2.5 on the Richter scale, compared with 4.5 now, he said. In six areas of China that have volcanic activity, it can detect an earthquake of just 1.0 on the Richter scale, he added. As part of the 2.28 billion yuan (US$ 330 million) project, China built state-of-the-art detecting stations in all 31 provincial divisions in the mainland and linked them by computer. "The new milestone network will take China's earthquake monitoring capacity to a new stage," said Chen Jianmin, the CEA director.

According to an earlier CEA report, China has about 1,200 earthquake monitoring stations and 25 provincial divisions have set up emergency teams for earthquake rescue and relief. China, sitting between the Indian Ocean and Pacific plates, is one of the areas with the most tectonic activity in the world.

Yr13 Managing Cities Should you pay more for your parking if you have a bigger car?

On 8th May 2008 new parking permit prices come into force in Norwich. You will now have to pay according to the size of your car to park in certain residential streets (see attached website - go to information leaflet)

http://www.norwich.gov.uk/webapps/atoz/service_page.asp?id=1648

Is this 'fair' Are families with kids (who need a larger car) being punished? or should we all drive.....


Norwich is the first in the UK to do this, it is being watched with interest by other councils.......

Yr12 Industrial Change

Should Tesco be allowed to build on Unthank Road? Click the link to watch the video.

Yr13 Hazards: Monserrat

Monserrat is a British overseas territory in the Lesser Antilles in the Carribbean. You can click on the map to zoom in or out.


View Larger Map

The Soufriere (Sulphur) Hills volcano erupted in 1995 and has been erupting to a lesser extent ever since. This was the first eruption since the 17th Century. The capital city of Plymouth was covered in pyroclastic flow and lahars. The capital was exacuated and the tourist industry destroyed. There were riots as local people felt that not enough was being done by the British governement to help. Currently there is a large exclusion area of much of the island to protect people from the continuing eruption. The lava is an andestic with the volcano being located on a destructive plate boundary. The silica from the subducted plate makes the lava viscous, trapping gas and allowed pressure to buid before the eruption. Thus you get powerful but infrequent eruptions.

Recently Mrs Swain returned from a holiday with these photos.

Yr13 Hazards Doctor Who

Doctor Who on Saturday is based in Pompeii during the eruption. Tune in and play "Spot the Inaccuracy". Mr M

Yr13 Managing Cities: How effective is the London Congestion Charge?

This was on the BBC website today. Mr M

Congestion charge hike 'will increase CO2'

Researchers say people will drive further to avoid paying the fee. The planned emissions-linked congestion charge will result in an increase in carbon dioxide (CO2), a study shows. King's College experts predicted a rise in CO2 levels in outer London would outweigh the benefits of CO2 saved by the £25-a-day fee in inner London. Researchers said this would be largely caused by people driving further to avoid the congestion charging zone. London mayor, Ken Livingstone, plans to raise the daily charge from £8 to £25 from 27 October. Under the plans the cars emitting the highest amounts of CO2 will have to pay a £25 congestion charge whereas cars with the lowest emissions will get a 100% discount.
It showed that by 2012 the increase in CO2 in outer London would be almost 184,000 tonnes, with just 2,200 tonnes saved in central London, giving an overall increase of 182,000 tonnes. The report concluded that because of the new charge, drivers were likely to increase their mileage outside of, and around, the zone and thus increase their emissions.