Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Contemplating Water

Water never leaves the earth, it is just redistributed.


(Space travel is a miniscule exception)

Water comes from space and may be constantly replenished as quickly as it is diffused into space. (This link is only for those interested in a strange space mystery that has never been completely solved and is a very long read.)
http://smallcomets.physics.uiowa.edu/blackspot.html

PondsForFun - I read the article but it looks like there is a daunting amount of additional reading in the PDF files. For now, I am going to stand my original statement and revel in my suspected ignorance! :rolleyes:

Ponds:

I read the abstract, then the entire paper, then some of the responses and finally the review from '93. Wow...

That was written by U of Iowa researchers and it was all taking place starting in the fall of 1982...my freshman year there.

I repeat...WOW...to think there was more happening there than drinking, womanizing, etc. And I even had a couple of intro engineering classes in good old Van Allen Hall, and even met the old guy it was named after.

PS...James Van Allen just died a few weeks ago (8/10) at the age of 91. Found the Van Allen radiation belts around the earth, and worked directly with Werner Von Braun to develop the first US satellite, Explorer 1.

Matt- Glad you enjoyed that link. I read that 4 years ago and have found no answer to what the spots are. I love science mysteries. I have been on the WWW since 1995 and have several dozen similar links to physics mysteries.

Dwight- Onward through the fog!

Well, all I can say is, thanks for the mystery. I must say, though, that I've seen this theory discussed on PBS (and heard it on NPR, as well) and never heard the story of the controversy behind it. And now, as Paul Harvey would say, I've heard the rest of the story...

Here's a good post from member #3.

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=002424;p=1#000000

Does anyone care to give the 'nickle' version or synopsis of the Water from Space gig?

In the early 80's, researchers @ U of I were taking UV photos of the earth's aurora (northern and southern lights) from a satellite.

The photos showed "holes" scattered over each and every one that at first were thought to be artifacts from data transmission or something. Closer study over a few years' time proved the holes were actually physically present...they were "things" not errors or artifacts. They were determined to be clouds of some form of gas, and chromatography showed they were actually clouds of water vapor...1600 kilometers (1000 miles) above earth's surface...30 miles or more in diameter. Way above any clouds...

The theory was that comets (small ones, say 100 feet in diameter) were bombarding the earth...at the rate of 10 million times per year (this number comes from seeing many, many holes every time, and this only on one side of the earth).

They're not very dense (very fine snow-like powder with a dirty surface) and vaporize high above earth, but the vapor forms these clouds that form "holes" because they absorb UV light. The water eventually make their way into the atmosphere.

At this rate, the water added to earth would approximately equal the amount of water currently here, in just 5 million years. This explains where our oceans may have originally come from, but it really set the astrophysics world on it's ear. Peeved some scientists, and the original researchers didn't publish until about 4 years after the data was gathered. He was warned not to do it, as it might ruin his career. Most scientists immediately rejected the theory, but it's more commonly believed as true, today.

Matt,

Could it be that the Tanguska event was an extra dense cloud of water? That could explain all the destruction but absence of a crater.

I suppose even a cloud, big enough moving at hyper velocity, could be destructive.

Dunno...they did, however explain why we really never notice these things. When the water vaporizes, it has the same mass, but it's spread widely. Due to friction from the surrounding atmosphere, any movement from this cloud would be dissipated by something like 10 miles altitude (higher than commercial airliners).

Spose if it was REALLY big, though...

The Tanguska event may have been mirror matter. (This is another weird link from my collection.)

http://www.ph.unimelb.edu.au/~foot/

My son has a theory on why we don't have the rain we used to, its all the bottled water in the store houses. Since the water is in bottles it cant return to be recycled.


Any comments?

Would be interesting to have a study funded to prove/disprove this theory.

Chris

new_water_ways - Get out your government grant applications, this may be a real opportunity! I think a no less worthy theory than the 10 million small comets hippopotamus or is that hypothesis.

Don't think I haven't thought about it... I mean if they can do a study on how cow farts effect the ozone then ...why not.

I believe all the lost water is in people. We continue to overpopulate and become bigger and fatter. This trend will continue until we experience a man kill (caused by depleted oxygen and excessive waste) Then the balance will be restored...water will return to our ponds, fish will be happy. That cycle will continue for millions of years until a few crawl out, get arms & feet, and get hooked on fishing

LMAO

I've seen big city air a couple of times when it's secchi depth couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 feet.

I offer my sincere apologies for my tardy response and for resurrecting a nearly dead thread (would that be a DT?)

I had a wireless network project to do last week in a place where water and forests merge into a nearly perfect place. I brought my boat and gear along (just in case) :p I would have a chance to do a bit of fishing.

http://www.bremerpond.com/BassDock.jpg

I still say that water never leaves the earth; it is just redistributed, as I continue moving onward through the fog......