[Shale Gas Test Drilling Triggered Earth Tremors In Lancashire?]

Given that none of these tremors recorded more than 2 on the richter scale it is pushing the realms of alarmism to suggest these were earthquakes. What may or may not have been attributable to this action would have felt much like a lorry driving past your house at the most. I would suggest that the shifting of small faults due to fracking is not capapable of producing the levels of energy generated by tectonic forces, which is almost certainly the cause of the northern Italy earthquakes.

Good one Baylor, I meant to make that point as well. Northern Italy, in fact most of Italy, is tectonically very active, the stresses built up by these forces will far out weigh the forces induced by fracking. However, some caution does need to be exerted as there is the potential for injection of water to release those forces if not done carefully. Some research was done in the states on this a number of years ago following earthquakes generated as a result of water injecting by the US Army, it was unintentional and I can't remember why they were doing it, possibly some form of aquifer storage/artificial recharge scheme perhaps. It did give people the idea that it could be used to 'lubricate' fault lines allowing lots of smaller earthquakes to release the pressure on faults like the San Andreas with the result that the massive earthquakes would be less likely. Nice idea in theory but hasn't been taken any further forward as far as I am aware, probably due to the fact that no body wants to be responsible for levelling large chunks of LA and San Francisco if they get it wrong!

M

[Shale Gas Test Drilling Triggered Earth Tremors In Lancashire?]

'Earth tremors aren't the only risks associated with fracking - it's also been linked to air and water pollution and produces gas that causes climate change,' Friends of the Earth executive director Andy Atkins said. 'There should be a full scientific assessment of all the impacts of fracking, a short consultation on one of the problems is completely inadequate. 'We should be developing the huge potential of clean British energy from the sun, wind and waves, not more dirty and dangerous fossil fuels.'

This seems rather out of touch considering the small contributions these sources could provide

(and the fuss about any new installations using them)

The real alternative to exploring the enhanced extraction rates possible with fracking is importing gas from Russia or burning more coal.

I wonder which they would prefer.

Quite right 4WD, this process is no more risky in terms of generating earth quakes than deep geothermal heat recovery, deep mining or oil extraction. There may be pollution potential but that is up to the Environment Agency to ensure their sites are up to scratch and the pollution prevention procedures are appropriate and adhered to.

The alternative is not sun, wind or wave it is as you state imported gas or coal. I would have thought FoE would be better suggesting a more emphatic drive on energy efficieny and energy saving, that makes more enviornmental sense to me.

M

[Winter 2012 / 2013 Part 2]

One thing I have noticed with the CFS, is that it's been consistently showing a Northerly incursion mid way through November, with the -8 to -12 uppers coming down the spine of the country and then consistently it's been showing a quite rapid warm up as we head into December.

the CFS normally sways wildly from one extreme to another when looking so far ahead and I'm quite amazed by it's consistency over the past week.

Needless to say it's trivial at best to be looking at things this far out, especially when you consider that this Sunday's outcome still hasn't been completely nailed on and it's less than 24 hours away !!

At the risk of inflaming things, but isn't that exactly what the models were showing all the way through Nov and Dec 2010? Short term severe cold breaking down from the west, but the reality was that the breakdwon kept getting pushed back and back in the models and in reality (obviously).

Very much looking forward to the start thread re-opening in Oct.

M

[Winter 2012 / 2013 Part 2]

I think we can all take it as read that trying to predict a season ahead is immensely complicated, be that for winter or any other season.

If that were not the case then the main centres, US, UK and ECMWF would already be predicting with reasonable accuracy and they obviously are unable to do that.

It is hugely complicated as the model thread and Atlantic storm threads are showing when predicting just 48 hours ahead has the models in something of a spin. Quite why, as I've commented in threads this morning, weather systems running in from the south give models so much difficulty is hard to understand but it does.

Why on earth is it likely to be any less compicated to trying to predict the overall weather pattern 2-3 months in advance?

.

Not a meteorological modeller myself but I do model groundwater frequently and it is very interesting what the models can and cannot handle easily. it must be highly senstive to some parameter(s) that are present/interact differently coming from the south as opposed to SW or W. Perhaps the way in which the models are configured doesn't have the continental effects from Europe quite right, would love to understand the models more.

M

[Winter 2012 / 2013]

What is interesting and different to last year but similar to Autumn 2010 is that there are signs, they may not verify but last year we had no signs, then from the end of October we had a very cold stratosphere. Obviously we won't know for a few weeks yet how the startospheric conditions will affect the early winter but the fact that there are so many factors allowing this sort of discussion has be encouraging for the moment. The other factor is that my landrover is currently off the road thus almost guaranteeing bad weather.

M

[Winter 2012 / 2013]

Snowking,not to be pedantic,but i don't think audi ever made a RWD model.

The thing about driving in snow is get a pair of snow tyres on your driven wheels,ideally all 4.

Unless the depth of snow makes your car bottom out,you will never get stuck,no matter what you are driving,Unless it's black or sheet ice.

What's the usual cars you see spinning their wheels and going sideways,it's bmw's and mercs because they have tarmac tyres with no grip in the snow.

Trust me,anyone who is nervous about getting stuck in snow,buy some snow/winter tyres and put them on before the first snow.

The big problem is that traction control on modern cars is too good/efficient, particularly the German ones, friend of mine has an E Class Merc and it wouldn't get off his drive when there was half an inch of snow. They don't allow any slippage before kicking in. the new Jags are better at it as they use a derivative of the landrover traction control which is designed to work in slippery conditions and allows partial loss of traction, the new jags allow the car to slide around abit to keep momentum for getting going in the snow. Incidentally this is also how modern freight locomtoves work, they have a sort of traction control which allows some slippage as the maximum tractive effort is acheived just as the wheels start to slip on the rails.

However, as I cannot afford a new Jag I will be using my ancient landrover and mark 2 jag, both of which are lots of fun in the snow. the answer for everyone else is to buy a Jag or switch off the traction control completely as mentioned in earlier posts. however, we seem to have drifted off topic somewhat.

I do hope we get a snowy winter after last years disappointment but I have to keep reminding myself that it is very early in the season still. Having said that there do seem to be a lot of encouraging signs, very much looking forward to the SSW thread renewing in a couple of weeks. I would be astonished if those Metociel charts verify and would worry that it is very early in the season if they did verify - peaking too soon?

M

[Where Are All The Wasps]

Could well be Rybris, it is utterly irrational, although snow raven is quite right that they are vicious bugg*ers.

[Where Are All The Wasps]

I can confirm that they are all in my garden terrorising the kids. Already dispensed with one nest in the bird box and still they keep coming from somewhere!

I do find it interesting how one small insect can cause such abject fear in humans, I too go into near blind panic when a wasp comes within stinging range, no idea why just can't help it.

M

[In The News]

I had the same problem with an article from 1950 in an American journal. There fee for the article was actually quite small but if I wanted to use it the fee was $200 per page!!. Although in practice nobody is going to sue you over it.

Your suggestions regarding universty libraries is certainly one route, and there are some on here with access, but I must admit I've found the British Library much easier. Assuming the service is still available as I haven't used it for a couple of years. You have to have the exact ref. as obviously they aren't going to do a search for you.

That's an outrageous fee, I really can't see how anyone can justify that sort of thing. It is counter productive as well as it surely stiffles research, yes I know the Unis have access but what is wrong with people outside of research establishments wanting to do their own research or just reading out of interest? Do you know what the School of Mines library like now they've moved to Falmouth, it wasn't bad when I was at CSM in Pool but geared towards mining and geology as you'd expect, now they've branched out into renewables and more environment type work their library may be less specific, and bigger on new premises.

M

[In The News]

Thanks WS.

Yes, I've found the abstract but it doesn't give enough info to be useful; like you, I object to the ridiculous cost they charge and the conditions they attach to the copy you've paid for. I understand the need to protect people's work but when it's 22 years old, it just seems like they're making money just because they can.

I quite agree its not good, I don't see how it is protecting the work in any way either its already published and would have to be referenced in any future publications if quoted or used in any way. It might be worth getting in touch with Bristol Uni or Exeter as they may have those journals in their library for reference. Whilst I was a post grad at UEA most of the journals including Environmental Geochemistry were on the shelves and archived versions could be retrieved easily so Bristol may have a similar set up. Depending on what it is you are trying to find out the Environment Agency or even the planning auithority may be useful as well. Many of the planning applications I get involved with for work now require some form of contamination assessment, sometimes intrusive ground investigations and chemical testing, these should be public register information and retreivable from the regulators, unfortunately I can't help directly as none of my projects have been in N Somerset.

M