Category Archives: Geography

Hawaii

Posted on March 3, 2013 by gymnosperm

By incredibly good luck I’ve been spending lots of time in Hawaii lately, on business no less. I stay in this unbelievable house.   One really gets the sense of being out in the middle of the ocean in Hawaii, … Continue reading →

Posted in Geography, Geoid, Geology, Gravity Anomalies, Oceanography, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

California Great Central Valley as a Cretaceous Sea of Cortez

Posted on February 18, 2013 by gymnosperm

I was travelling the world as I often do in Google Earth, pondering how strange it is that the Hawaiian Seamount chain created a gravity low its entire length, when I noticed this: Probably just because gravity lows are a nice deep … Continue reading →

Posted in Geography, Geology, Gravity Anomalies, Paleogeography, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Nano Carbon Cycle

Posted on February 13, 2013 by gymnosperm

We live in a world of wee beasties. Microbes here, microbes there, microbes in every breath we take, microbes on every bite we eat. They digest the food in our bellies, they create our food and drink. They make us … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon Cycle, Climate, Geography, Geology, Oceanography | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Reversals and the Carbon Dioxide Wind.

Posted on February 7, 2013 by gymnosperm

The most astonishing lesson in physics gained from floating rivers is the inclination of water to reverse direction and flow back into a “hole”. Even in the steepest rapid and in spite of its tremendous weight and momentum, when an … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Geography, Oceanography, River | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Structural Similarities Observed in ENSO Neutered Atmospheric Temperatures and Ocean Enthalpy

Posted on February 2, 2013 by gymnosperm

Signal lies in structure. Atmospheric temperature for the last decade and a half has made it abundantly clear that there is much more going on than the optical and radiative properties of carbon dioxide. The converse possibility that oceans, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate Change, Geography, Geology, Global Warming, Oceanography | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Loose Fire Hose and the Aborted Nino

Posted on January 26, 2013 by gymnosperm

The Antarctic vortex is a whirling dervish that extends from the stratosphere to the deep ocean. Inside the steep gradients that drive this circulation everything is reflected inward and contained. Outside the dervish everything that contacts it receives angular momentum. … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate Change, Geography, Oceanography | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Global Average Temperature and Whirled Peas

Posted on January 21, 2013 by gymnosperm

Can you visualize whirled peas? Yes, unfortunately. And what do whirled peas mean? Both the mean and the average and everything else.. Everything is nothing. So what if the diurnal temperature spread were the difference between a snowcone and a snowfree … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate Change, Geography, Global Warming | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Carbon and Freight Trains

Posted on January 13, 2013 by gymnosperm

Everyone seems to think that carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere and sort of sits there like some invisible smoke, trapping outgoing IR like our automobile windshields and heating us up. Carbon dioxide is more like a freight train. Humans … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Climate Change, Geography, Oceanography | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Ring Around Antarctica

Posted on January 8, 2013 by gymnosperm

There are lots of rings around Antarctica. Sailors know the circum-Antarctic winds as the fearsome fifties, the screaming sixties, etc. These winds are not impeded by any land and they drive the circum-Antarctic currents in the Southern Ocean. The surface currents … Continue reading →

Posted in Geography, Paleogeography, Plate Tectonics, True Polar Wander | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Seafloor Isochrons Place a Hard Limit on Crustal Disintegration from the Chicxulub Impact

Posted on January 6, 2013 by gymnosperm

I always thought the entire form of the Gulf of Mexico might be the crater from the Chicxulub impact reputed to have wasted the dinosaurs. My imagination runs with that name. So much to work with. Chicxyclub…well, Club Med impact … Continue reading →

Posted in Asteroid Impacts, Geography, Geology, Magnetic Reversals, Oceanography, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment