Spread of Smoke Across Canada..[ 1414 ]

Carbon Monoxide Levels Trace Spread of Smoke Across Canada

Posted July 9, 2010

  acquired June 23 - 28, 2010

download Google Earth file (2 MB, KMZ) acquired June 23 - 28, 2010

Fires in the Northwest Territories filled Canadian skies with smoke in late June 2010. This map shows concentrations of carbon monoxide—one component of smoke—from June 23–28 across Canada and the northern United States. Places where concentrations of carbon monoxide were highest are red. Places where no measurements were made (usually due to clouds) are gray.
Fire activity was concentrated west of Hudson Bay, and smoke wafted southeast toward the Great Lakes. Additional pockets of high carbon monoxide concentrations southeast of Hudson Bay may have been transported to the area from the Northwest Territories, but they may also be from local fires.
Smoke from fires can contribute to poor air quality far from the fire itself. It can mingle with urban pollution and boost air quality to unhealthy levels in cities. Carbon monoxide is a good tracer for moving smoke plumes, even across large distances.
Satellite observations, such as these data from Canada’s Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) sensor on NASA’s Terra satellite, can be fused with ground observations of pollution in models to figure out how forest fire smoke may affect air quality at places downwind of fires.

More images of this event in Natural Hazards

NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Toronto MOPITT Teams. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.

Instrument: 

Terra - MOPITT

"We intended to kill our parents,"..[ 1413 ]

Schoolgirls arrested for setting home on fire in attempt to kill parents

The home where the fire broke by Helicopter

TAKARAZUKA, Hyogo -(Mainichi Japan) July 9, 2010-

Police are poised to arrest a 15-year-old girl and a 14-year-old classmate who have admitted having set fire to the girl's home here, saying they intended to kill their parents, law enforcers said.

The fire started in the predawn hours of July 9 and razed over one-third of the 80-square meter structure. At about 2:50 a.m. a local resident made an emergency call reporting a man in the burning home calling for help.

Three people on the second floor of the home -- a 39-year-old Brazilian man, his 31-year-old wife and their 9-year-old daughter -- suffered burns over their entire bodies. They were taken to hospital in serious condition.

Police investigators quoted the couple's 15-year-old daughter, a third-year junior high school student, and the daughter's 14-year-old friend, as saying that they started the fire after agreeing to set each other's homes ablaze.

"We intended to kill our parents," police quoted one of the girls as saying.

The two girls face arrest for attempted murder and arson of an inhabited structure.

Police said that after setting fire to the home, they went to the classmate's home and were spreading a flammable liquid about when the classmate's mother noticed them and alerted police.

Investigators said the 15-year-old girl was born in Brazil and arrived in Japan with her mother when she was young. She was reportedly not fluent in Japanese, and sometimes skipped classes. She had reportedly told others she was unhappy about her parents.

Click here for the original Japanese story

Gunman blasted himself in the head ..[ 1412 ]

Gunman kills himself in stand-off

the London Evening Standard ,10.07.10

Crazed gunman Raoul Moat has made a dramatic last stand by killing himself at the end of a week-long manhunt.

The 37-year-old blasted himself in the head after being surrounded by armed police following a tense six-hour stand-off sparked when he was spotted on the riverbank in Rothbury, Northumbria.

Police escort an ambulance carrying Raoul Moat to hospital, where he is thought to have been pronounced dead on arrival

An eyewitness told the Press Association the tense siege came to a climax when police surrounded the former nightclub doorman and jumped on him.

A single gunshot was heard before the stricken fugitive, who has evaded a frantic hunt for a week, was taken by ambulance to Newcastle General Hospital.

On arrival he was seen being taken from the ambulance on a stretcher with a blanket covering his head. It is believed he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The drama began at around 7.20pm on Friday when police responded to reports Moat was on the riverside. 

Officers warned people to stay indoors for their own safety as they surrounded the fugitive who witnesses said was lying on the ground with a sawn-off shotgun pointed at his head.

As the siege wore on Moat apparently relaxed and allowed police to bring him food and water.

But at about 1.15am on Saturday morning, with heavy rain lashing down, officers apparently attempted to wrestle Moat to the ground. The 17-stone steroid addict shot himself.

The father of three went on the run a week ago after blasting his ex-girlfriend and killing her new lover. Karate instructor Chris Brown, 29, was gunned down in the Scafell area of Birtley, Gateshead. 

The fatal shooting, in which 22-year-old Miss Stobbart received critical injuries, sparked a manhunt as Moat declared "war" on police.

Pc David Rathband, 42, was shot early on Sunday in an "unprovoked attack" while sitting in a patrol car in East Denton, Newcastle.

Now Pilot, no... geisha anymore ..[ 1411 ]

First female flight captain in Japan to take to skies on July 12

Ari Fuji first female pilot

 

(Mainichi Japan) 

Osaka Prefecture. July 9

The first female flight captain in a major airline group in the nation, Ari Fuji, has passed the national captain's examination and will fly with JAL Express, a subsidiary of Japan Airlines.

At a ceremony to receive her appointment in JAL Express's Osaka officse, the 42-yer-old Fuji said, "On the path to become a captain, there were countless times when I felt like giving up, but if you keep going and don't give up, it can be done. Now, with everyone's support, I'd like to pursue a career of safe flights." Her first flight as a captain will be from Osaka International Airport to Sendai on July 12.

There are around 4,000 JAL flight captains, but until now all have been male. For Fuji's maiden flight as a captain, a female first officer is also planned.

"There are only 10 female pilots in the JAL Group. I want to make this a place where women can work comfortably," said Fuji.

Click here for the original Japanese story

NASA, Image of the Day,July 9th,..[ 1410 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Standing on the Chukchi Sea

Scientists on the sea ice in the Chukchi Sea off the north coast of Alaska disperse equipment on July 4, 2010, as they prepare to collect data on and below the ice. 

 

The research is part of NASA's ICESCAPE mission aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy to sample the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the ocean and sea ice. 

 

Impacts of Climate change on the Eco-Systems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment (ICESCAPE) is a multi-year NASA shipborne project. 

 

The bulk of the research will take place in the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea’s in the summer of 2010 and fall of 2011. 

 

Image Credit: NASA/Kathryn Hansen

Παρασκευή, 9 Ιούλιος 2010 7:00:00 πμ