Traces of the world’s first known disabled, elderly human have been found in Spain.The individual is thought to have been a male who received support from his group and lived 500,000 years ago.This discovery suggests that our ancient human relatives were capable of compassion and social bonding.
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Every year around late autumn, the Santa Ana Winds in Southern California and Baja California begin to dominate the news of the western states. This is because they often bring warm, dry weather to the region which causes regional wildfires to grow faster than normal. During periods when the Santa Ana Winds blow, Southern California also experiences its hottest weather of the year.
The Santa Ana Winds are very dry offshore winds (winds moving east to west) that move into Southern California and Baja California in late fall but can last from October until March after a build-up of air pressure in the Mojave Desert and the Great Basin.
Formation of the Santa Ana Winds
Wind is defined as the movement of air across the Earth’s surface caused by differences in air pressure between two places. In the case of the Santa Ana Winds, air pressure builds up in the colder temperatures at high elevations between the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains in Utah, Nevada and Arizona. Then, when upper level winds form, the high altitude air mass pours out of the Great Basin (due to gravity) and toward Southern California (diagram).
As the air mass moves toward the Southern California coast, it becomes heated and loses its moisture. This is not because it passes through desert landscapes. however, instead the Santa Ana Winds are warmed and dried due to adiabatic heating that occurs as it descends from high elevations. During adiabatic heating, the mass of air descends in the atmosphere where it meets increasing atmospheric pressure. This compresses the air mass and increases its temperature. In addition, as the air heats and descends, its relative humidity is decreased, thus making it very dry (about 10% RH) by the time it reaches Southern California.
Although the Santa Ana Winds can occur at any time of the year, they usually form in autumn because the surface air in the higher elevations of the Great Basin and Mojave Desert begins to cool from their summer highs. This causes the change in air pressure needed to develop the drainage wind which forms as the Santa Ana Winds.
Impact of the Santa Ana Winds
When the Santa Ana Winds blow, they can often cause Southern California to become extremely warm. They can also cause more dust and particulate matter to be in the air (image). More importantly however, the Santa Ana Winds are responsible for feeding wildfires that commonly start in Southern California’s chaparral.
The chaparral landscape which dominates most of the undeveloped areas of Southern California is very dry and flammable. The combination of the warm, dry Santa Ana winds, along with the already fire-prone landscape often causes very large, intense wildfires to burn thousands of acres of land. For example, in October 2003, 721,791 acres (2,921 sq km) of land burned and was fueled by the Santa Ana Winds. In addition, in October 2007, 426,000 acres (1,720 sq km) burned. Fires such as these are common in the region and they are very often pushed along by the Santa Ana Winds.
Santa Ana Fog
In addition to the Santa Ana Winds, Southern California also experiences Santa Ana Fog. This occurs after or at the end of a Santa Ana Wind event. This fog forms as a result fast cooling of the air once the warm, dry Santa Ana winds cease. When this happens, a cool, moist marine layer forms and moves over the Southern California coastal areas. As the marine layer becomes moister, Santa Ana Fog forms.
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Wikipedia
The Pacific Ring of Fire is an area where large numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean. In a 25,000 mile horseshoe shape, it is associated with a nearly continuous series of oceanic trenches, volcanic arcs, and volcanic belts and/or plate movements. The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 75% of the world’s active and dormant volcanoes. Oxford University scientists have potentially discovered the explanation for why the world’s explosive volcanoes are confined to bands only a few tens of miles wide. Most of the molten rock that comes out of these volcanoes is rich in water, but the Oxford team has shown that the volcanoes are aligned above narrow regions in the mantle where water-free melting can take place
About 90% of the world’s earthquakes and 80% of the world’s largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. The next most seismic region (5—6% of earthquakes and 17% of the world’s largest earthquakes) is the Alpide belt, which extends from Java to Sumatra through the Himalayas, the Mediterranean, and out into the Atlantic. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is the third most prominent earthquake belt.
The Ring of Fire is a direct result of plate tectonics and the movement and collisions of crustal plates. The eastern section of the ring is the result of the Nazca Plate and the Cocos Plate being subducted beneath the westward moving South American Plate. The Cocos Plate is being subducted beneath the Caribbean Plate, in Central America. A portion of the Pacific Plate along with the small Juan de Fuca Plate are being subducted beneath the North American Plate. Along the northern portion the northwestward moving Pacific plate is being subducted beneath the Aleutian Islands arc. Further west the Pacific plate is being subducted along the Kamchatka Peninsula arcs on south past Japan. The southern portion is more complex with a number of smaller tectonic plates in collision with the Pacific plate from the Mariana Islands, the Philippines, Bougainville, Tonga, and New Zealand. Indonesia lies between the Ring of Fire along the northeastern islands adjacent to and including New Guinea and the Alpide belt along the south and west from Sumatra, Java, Bali, Flores, and Timor.
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A team of physicists claims their calculations show how the universe will end.They say there is a 50-50 chance of the universe ending in the next 3.7 billion years.A new study suggests the universe and everything in it could end within the Earth’s lifespan — less than 3.7 billion years from now — and we won’t know it when it happens.
The universe began in a Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago and has been expanding at an ever accelerating rate ever since.According to standard cosmology models the most likely outcome for the universe is that it will expand forever.But a team of physicists led by Raphael Bousso from the University of California, Berkeley, claim their calculations show the universe will end.
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