Following the murder of a diocesan priest, a Tanzanian bishop has called upon the government to take action against anti-Christian propaganda spread by Muslim fundamentalists.
?The ideology that is disseminated by a few Islamists in Zanzibar asserts that the Islamic majority must not tolerate any other religions,? said Bishop Augustine Shao of Zanzibar, the Tanzanian archipelago that is 99% Muslim and 1% Christian.?
?We have become a target for these fundamentalists,? he told Aid to the Church in Need. ?The government must guarantee the security of the people, and especially that of minorities. For too long it has remained silent and allowed propaganda and hatred to be spread against those of other religious persuasions.?
Bishop Shao also noted that ?a sheikh who had appealed for moderation was attacked with acid and is now in hospital.?
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Journalist Bob Woodward has uncovered scandals and shed a withering light on secretive policy decisions for decades, so when he expressed outrage about an emailed crossfire with a senior White House aide, Washington sat up and took notice.
But a closer examination of his dust-up with White House economic adviser Gene Sperling may undercut Woodward even as it sheds a light on hardball tactics used by President Barack Obama's team to try to rein in reporters.
A complaint by Woodward that the White House had basically threatened him by saying he would regret some of his reporting about a budget deal with congressional Republicans looked overplayed when a transcript of the email exchange came to light.
"I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim," Sperling wrote to Woodward, the Washington Post journalist whose reporting with Carl Bernstein during the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s helped contribute to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
The email chain, leaked to Politico, showed Sperling contesting Woodward's public accusation that Obama had gone back on a 2011 promise not to seek to raise taxes in a new deficit-reduction deal.
Sperling's tone was not aggressive.
"I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today," wrote Sperling, a bespectacled economic analyst who heads Obama's National Economic Council.
Neither Sperling nor Woodward responded to emailed requests for comment.
Far from a reputation for nastiness, the traditional complaint from journalists about Sperling is that he would give lengthy, boring briefings on the economy during former President Bill Clinton's administration.
"I think you cannot read those emails and come away with the impression that Gene was threatening anybody," said White House spokesman Jay Carney, himself a former White House correspondent for Time magazine.
"Look, I have enormous respect for the work that Bob Woodward is famous for," he added. "I think a lot of us probably got into the business in part because we read 'All the President's Men' or saw the movie or both. But you know, we had a factual disagreement that I think we stand by."
The author of a series of insider books featuring interviews with top Washington figures that provide blow-by-blow accounts of major political decisions, Woodward had already drawn the ire of the White House recently.
He wrote that a series of budget cuts likely to take effect on Friday - known as sequestration - was originally Obama's idea, a fact the White House at first disputed then finally acknowledged.
His battle with Sperling was emblematic of similar run-ins that many reporters have daily with a White House team that fiercely defends Obama and his policy positions.
National Journal reporter Ron Fournier, for example, wrote on Thursday that a White House official he would not name had become so abusive that he asked the official to stop emailing him.
Obama supporters were eager to try to undermine Woodward's hard-won reputation.
Former Obama White House adviser David Plouffe tweeted that Woodward was like retired baseball slugger Mike Schmidt facing live pitching again. Woodward is 69.
Sperling did not escape some ribbing either, with one wag creating a Twitter profile called @ToughGuyGene.
A Martian sunset, as seen by NASA's Spirit rover in 2005. (Image: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Texas A&M, Cornell, JPL, NASA)
There's a new comet in town, and it is making a beeline for Mars. If projections of its orbit are correct, the icy visitor will buzz the Red Planet in October 2014.
Dubbed C/2013 A1, the comet was discovered on 3 January by prolific comet hunter Robert McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. Colleagues at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona found images of the comet in their catalogue that date back to 8 December 2012, giving additional information about its movements.
These observations allowed astronomers to trace the comet's likely path around the sun. The calculated trajectory has C/2013 A1 crossing Mars' orbit on 19 October 2014, according to Australian blogger Ian Musgrave.
That doesn't necessarily mean a collision will occur. The best estimates right now have the comet passing a safe distance of 900,000 kilometres from the Martian surface. Asteroid 2012 DA14 got much closer to Earth last week, skimming by at a distance of 34,400 kilometres. But with so little data in hand, the calculations are not precise. It's possible the comet will miss Mars by as much as 36 million kilometres - or it could smack right into the planet. "An impact can't be ruled out at this stage," Musgrave wrote.
From Earth, we should be able to see the comet and Mars sitting side by side through small telescopes. And from Mars, the comet could be as spectacular as the expected "supercomet" ISON, which will come into view this year and could outshine the full moon.
Assuming the comet's orbit brings it close enough - but not too close - to Mars, the object should be visible either by rovers on the surface or the armada of Mars-orbiting satellites, which have a history of snapping spectacular shots of the Red Planet and its neighborhood.
A father wants an Illinois school district to rethink its dress code after his son was threatened with suspension if he did not remove his U.S. Marines T-shirt.
According to FoxNews.com, Daniel McIntyre, 44, said his 14-year-old son was told by his teacher Karen Deverell during reading class at Genoa-Kingston Middle School on Monday that his shirt violated the dress code because it shows two interlocking guns. He was then asked to wear the shirt inside out or face possible suspension.
?My son is very proud of the Marines and, in fact, of all the services,? McIntyre said. ?So he wears it with pride. There are two rifles crossed underneath the word ?Marines? on the shirt, but to me that should be overlooked. It?s more about the Marines instead of the rifles.?
McIntyre said his son had worn the shirt plenty of times to school. Deverell did not inform school officials of the incident, but when asked about school dress policy, Genoa-Kingston Superintendent Joe Burgess said the T-shirt was not a violation. He added that the school dress policy simply requires kids to dress in a ?neat, clean and well-fitting manner,? and avoid wearing gang symbols or clothing that promotes ?violent behavior.? The code does not specifically ban images of guns.
A statement obtained by FoxNews.com reads in part, ?The administration and school handbook agree that this shirt is not a violation of the dress code. We also take school safety very earnestly and it needs to be recognized that is a topic that we also take very seriously and support our students and staff in providing a safe environment to learn, teach and work in on a daily basis.?
Meanwhile, McIntyre is asking that the code be updated. ?This is not right. This policy that they have in place can obviously be loosely interpreted, so they need to change it.?
Middlesex Community College is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Middletown Press. Brad M. Horrigan. 04.23.07.
MIDDLETOWN >> An honors society celebrating excellence in mathematics in high school and two-year-college students has expanded to Middlesex Community College.
Mu Alpha Theta will welcome seven new members from the school, representing the first chapter at a two-year college in all of New England.
There are currently chapters at 18 high schools throughout Connecticut, as well as chapters at high schools and two-year colleges throughout the country. Mu Alpha Theta gives the $2,500 Kalin Award, named for a former society president, to outstanding students each year at its society?s national convention.
Students who are passionate about math now have an opportunity to join the new Middlesex Community College math honor society, according to a statement from the college.?
To be eligible for induction, students must have at least one mathematics course at or above the college levels in algebra or pre-calculus, as well as an overall GPA of 3.0.? High school students who are in Mu Alpha Theta can transfer their memberships to Middlesex Community College, the school said.
The addition of Mu Alpha Theta to Middlesex Community College coincides with the college moving towards a focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
?This new chapter of Mu Alpha Theta plays a key role in encouraging our students to tap their dormant skills in math by participating in profound math discussions and fun contests,? said Mary Rayappan, assistant professor of mathematics, who oversaw the process to bring Mu Alpha Theta to the college with the help of students from the Math Club. ?This will cultivate a sense of community bonding where students can come together to appreciate math. Students will also donate their time in the community through different outreach activities and several fun group events this semester.?
The Middlesex Community College Mu Alpha Theta members are Andrew Kenyon, Max MacNaught, Florian Orleanu, Luis Serazo, Ritu Mehra, Vincent Marotta and Liron Rogof. Students will be formally inducted into the honor society on Pi Day, which is celebrated on March 14 around the world.
Mu Alpha Theta has 93,300 student members in more than 1,950 schools. The organization is dedicated to inspiring a keen interest in mathematics, developing strong scholarship in the subject, and promoting the enjoyment of mathematics in high school and two-year-college students. For more information, visit www.mualphatheta.org.
Fan of channels such as CMT, VH1 Classic and Teen Nick? Cablevision is assuming that's a negatory. Today, the cable provider filed a federal antitrust suit against Viacom over the content distributor's programming bundling practices, which are alleged as anti-competitive. The lawsuit revolves around Viacom's insistence that ancillary networks be included in programming agreements in order to gain distribution rights to more popular networks such as Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central. While the complaint itself remains under seal, Cablevision is arguing abuse of power in the lawsuit, which if successful, could have rippling effects throughout the pay-TV industry.
Cablevision is seeking declaratory relief that would void the two companies' programming contract (inked just this past December), along with a permanent injunction against Viacom's practice and the ability to carry Viacom programming until a new contract can be negotiated. Meanwhile, Viacom has asserted that it'll vigorously defend the lawsuit, and maintains that its practice is "win-win and pro-consumer" in the sense that its niche networks are offered at discounts. It seems that we can look forward to both companies butting heads for a while to come.
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A state assemblyman from Brooklyn, N.Y., wore blackface paint and an Afro wig to a costume party over the weekend, and says he "can't imagine anyone getting offended." ?
The party was for the Jewish holiday Purim, a festive celebration often commemorated by dressing up. ?
According to?Politicker, Assemblyman Dov Hikind?hosted a Purim party at his home over the weekend. ?
A photo posted on Facebook by Hikind's 32-year-old son, Yoni Hikind, shows the lawmaker with a darkened face, wearing a black wig, sunglasses and what appears to be an orange jersey over a white t-shirt. The assemblyman's wife wore a devil costume.
The caption reads: "How cool are my folks... Lol"?
See the controversial photo at NBCNewYork.com
Dov Hikind told Politicker that he was "trying to emulate, you know, maybe some of these basketball players."
"Someone gave me a uniform, someone gave me the hair of the actual, you know, sort of a black basketball player,? Hikind said. ?It was just a lot of fun. Everybody just had a very, very good time and every year I do something else. ? The fun for me is when people come in and don?t recognize me.? ?
Hikind said he couldn't imagine the costume bothering anyone.
?Purim, you know, everything goes and it?s all done with respect. No one is laughing, no one is mocking. No one walked in today and said, ?Oh my God.? ? It?s all just in good fun with respect always, whatever anyone does it?s done with tremendous amounts of respect and with dignity, of course.?
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? With one massive wreck, the favorite was gone from the Daytona 500. So was the sentimental favorite.
An early crash in the Daytona 500 on Sunday knocked out several top contenders, including 2007 race winner Kevin Harvick and three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart, shaking up NASCAR's opener.
Winner of two races at Speedweeks, Harvick was sent to the garage.
So was Stewart. He must now wait another season to try for his first Daytona 500 win after he failed in his 15th try at winning "The Great American Race." In 17 seasons spanning NASCAR and IndyCar, Stewart has been able to cross most everything off his to-do list. Just not the Daytona 500.
"If I didn't tell you I was heartbroken and disappointed, I'd be lying to you," Stewart said.
While taking the checkered was out of the picture, Stewart ditched the safety goggles and grabbed some tools in the garage to repair his No. 14.
Stewart eventually returned to the track ? only 82 laps back. Safe to say, he was a bit of a long shot.
The nine-car wreck started when Kasey Kahne let off the gas to slow as they neared the first turn at Daytona International Speedway. Kyle Busch tried to do the same, but couldn't avoid contact.
Busch sent Kahne spinning across the track. Juan Pablo Montoya, 2010 race winner Jamie McMurray and defending series champion Brad Keselowski also were involved. So were Kurt Busch and Casey Mears.
"It's crazy. I can't believe it," Kahne said. "I mean, I wanted to race."
The accident came a day after a horrific wreck in a second-tier NASCAR series race hurled chunks of debris, including a heavy tire, into the stands and injured nearly 30 people.
It also ended Harvick's attempt to become the first in NASCAR history to win the exhibition Sprint Unlimited, a twin qualifying race and the Daytona 500 in the same Speedweeks.
"I don't know who was behind me, but it was just one of those deals," Harvick said.
Harvick stripped his firesuit down to his waist and rode off in a golf cart, a more solemn ride than his two trips to Victory Lane this week. Harvick had dominated in Speedweeks as the prelude to his final season driving a Richard Childress Chevrolet. He won last weekend's Sprint Unlimited and one of the Duel races, each time plopping his son Keelan into the cockpit for a quick rub of good luck.
This time, his battered No. 29 couldn't be saved. Crew members pounded away at sheet metal trying to salvage a return for Stewart.
The parade of wreckers entering the garage hauled the dented or totaled remains of some of the sport's heaviest hitters. Montoya is a former Indianapolis 500 winner. Busch won the 2004 Cup championship. None of them had a chance to pad his resume.
"You could see it coming. They were all checking up," Montoya said. "And I thought, 'Somebody isn't going to check up and screw up.' And, then, they did."
Stewart won the crash-marred Nationwide Series on Saturday for his 19th victory at Daytona in all other levels of NASCAR except for Cup. He has more wins at one of NASCAR's most famous tracks except for Dale Earnhardt (34). Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 in his 20th try.
Stewart will at least stretch it out to 16.
The race might not be a total loss for Stewart. His Stewart-Haas Racing team fields the car for pole winner Danica Patrick. Patrick became the first woman to lead a lap in the famed Daytona 500 on Sunday. She led two laps ? Nos. 90 and 91. On the starting grid, Stewart gave her a big hug and whispered into her ear before she slid into the cockpit.
Told the accident spoiled the start of his season, Stewart wasn't buying it.
"To hell with the season," he said. "I wanted to win the Daytona 500.
___
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Feb. 24, 2013 ? Identifying the mysterious mechanism underlying high-temperature superconductivity (HTS) remains one of the most important and tantalizing puzzles in physics. This remarkable phenomenon allows electric current to pass with perfect efficiency through materials chilled to subzero temperatures, and it may play an essential role in revolutionizing the entire electricity chain, from generation to transmission and grid-scale storage. Pinning down one of the possible explanations for HTS -- fleeting fluctuations called charge-density waves (CDWs) -- could help solve the mystery and pave the way for rapid technological advances.
Now, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have combined two state-of-the-art experimental techniques to study those electron waves with unprecedented precision in two-dimensional, custom-grown materials. The surprising results, published online February 24, 2013, in the journal Nature Materials, reveal that CDWs cannot be the root cause of the unparalleled power conveyance in HTS materials. In fact, CDW formation is an independent and likely competing instability.
"It has been difficult to determine whether or not dynamic or fluctuating CDWs even exist in HTS materials, much less identify their role," said Brookhaven Lab physicist and study coauthor Ivan Bozovic. "Do they compete with the HTS state, or are they perhaps the very essence of the phenomenon? That question has now been answered by targeted experimentation."
Custom-grown Superconductors
Electricity travels imperfectly through traditional metallic conductors, losing energy as heat due to a kind of atomic-scale friction. Impurities in these materials also cause electrons to scatter and stumble, but superconductors can overcome this hurdle -- assuming the synthesis process is precise.
For this experiment, Bozovic used a custom-built molecular beam epitaxy system at Brookhaven Lab to grow thin films of LaSrCuO, an HTS cuprate (copper-oxide) compound. The metallic cuprates, assembled one atomic layer at a time, are separated by insulating planes of lanthanum and strontium oxides, resulting in what's called a quasi-two-dimensional conductor. When cooled down to a low enough temperature -- less than 100 degrees Kelvin -- strange electron waves began to ripple through that 2D matrix. At even lower temperatures, these films became superconducting.
Electron Sea
"In quasi-two-dimensional metals, low temperatures frequently bring about interesting collective states called charge-density waves," Bozovic said. "They resemble waves rolling across the surface of a lake under a breeze, except that instead of water, here we actually have a sea of mobile electrons."
Once a CDW forms, the electron density loses uniformity as the ripples rise and fall. These waves can be described by familiar parameters: amplitude (height of the waves), wavelength (distance between waves), and phase (the wave's position on the material). Detecting CDWs typically requires high-intensity x-rays, such as those provided by synchrotron light sources like Brookhaven's NSLS and, soon, NSLS-II. And even then, the technique only works if the waves are essentially frozen upon formation. However, if CDWs actually fluctuate rapidly, they may escape detection by x-ray diffraction, which typically requires a long exposure time that blurs fast motion.
Measuring Rolling Waves
To catch CDWs in action, a research group at MIT led by physicist Nuh Gedik used an advanced ultrafast spectroscopy technique. Intense laser pulses called "pumps" cause excitations in the superconducting films, which are then probed by measuring the film reflectance with a second light pulse -- this is called a pump-probe process. The second pulse is delayed by precise time intervals, and the series of measurements allow the lifetime of the excitation to be determined.
In a more sophisticated variant of the technique, largely pioneered by Gedik, the standard single pump beam is replaced by two beams hitting the surface from different sides simultaneously. This generates a standing wave of controlled wavelength in the film, but it disappears rapidly as the electrons relax back into their original state.
This technique was applied to the atomically perfect LaSrCuO films synthesized at Brookhaven Lab. In films with a critical temperature of 26 degrees Kelvin (the threshold beyond which the superconductivity breaks down), the researchers discovered two new short-lived excitations -- both caused by fluctuating CDWs.
Gedik's technique even allowed the researchers to record the lifetime of CDW fluctuations -- just 2 picoseconds (a millionth of a millionth of a second) under the coldest conditions and becoming briefer as the temperatures rose. These waves then vanished entirely at about 100 Kelvin, actually surviving at much higher temperatures than superconductivity.
Ruling out a Suspect
The researchers then hunted for those same signatures in cuprate films with slightly different chemical compositions and a greater density of mobile electrons. The results were both unexpected and significant for the future of HTS research.
"Interestingly, the superconducting sample with the highest critical temperature, about 39 Kelvin, showed no CDW signatures at all," Gedik said.
The consistent emergence of CDWs would have bolstered the conjecture that they play an essential role in high-temperature superconductivity. Instead, the new technique's successful detection of such electron waves in one sample but not in another (with even higher critical temperature) indicates that another mechanism must be driving the emergence of HTS.
"Results like this bring us closer to understanding the mystery of HTS, considered by many to be one of the greatest problems in physics today," Bozovic said. "The source of this extraordinary phenomenon is slowly but surely running out of places to hide."
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Name a sport and you could likely try it during the Western Fair District?s Sport and Recreation Show.
Making the show as interactive as possible was one of the goals organizers set this year ? an effort to get folks moving and improve health by showing people all their options for fun.
?That?s what we wanted people to do: Go in there and have fun,? show manager Rob Lumsden said Sunday.
That meant rolling out turf for impromptu field drills. Squaring off space for local volleyball players to showoff their bumps, sets and digs. Setting aside stage time for mixed martial arts, wrestling and fencing.
?Recreation is such a broad term,? Lumsden said. ?It really is a different thing for everyone, and we wanted to showcase that.?
Mixing sports with experts on everything from nutrition to back pain gives the show a holistic approach to health.
It?s a message that?s not lost on participants. Jennifer Jaquith, who?s with the Nor?West Optimist Soccer Club, considers the opportunity to encourage physical activity one of the event?s biggest benefits.
?For us, this is like community outreach,? Jaquith said. ?It certainly promotes that mentality of ?Let?s be active, let?s stay active for life.??
The soccer club kept little feet busy throughout the weekend, rolling soccer balls onto a makeshift field and letting kids make the most of it.
Joining forces
The Sport and Recreation Show marked its second year Saturday and Sunday at the Western Fair District?s Agriplex. It also marks the second time organizers have melded the London Golf Show and Sale, an event older than the rec show, into the mix.
Organizers did not have total attendance figures on Sunday, but said the combo approach is working well, and is expected to continue in coming years.
Feb. 22, 2013 ? A protein known for turning on genes to help cells survive low-oxygen conditions also slows down the copying of new DNA strands, thus shutting down the growth of new cells, Johns Hopkins researchers report. Their discovery has wide-ranging implications, they say, given the importance of this copying -- known as DNA replication -- and new cell growth to many of the body's functions and in such diseases as cancer.
"We've long known that this protein, HIF-1?, can switch hundreds of genes on or off in response to low oxygen conditions," says Gregg Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., a molecular biologist who led the research team and has long studied the role of low-oxygen conditions in cancer, lung disease and heart disorders. "We've now learned that HIF-1? is even more versatile than we thought, as it can work directly to stop new cells from forming." A report on the discovery appears in the Feb. 12 issue of Science Signaling.
With his team, Semenza, who is the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine's Institute for Cell Engineering and Institute for Genomic Medicine, discovered HIF-1? in the 1990s and has studied it ever since, pinpointing a multitude of genes in different types of cells that have their activity ramped up or down by the activated protein. These changes in so-called "gene expression" help cells survive when oxygen-rich blood flow to an area slows or stops temporarily; they also allow tumors to build new blood vessels to feed themselves.
To learn how HIF-1?'s own activity is controlled, the team looked for proteins from human cells that would attach to HIF-1?. They found two, MCM3 and MCM7, that limited HIF-1?'s activity, and were also part of the DNA replication machinery. Those results were reported in 2011.
In the new research, Semenza and his colleagues further probed HIF-1?'s relationship to DNA replication by comparing cells in low-oxygen conditions to cells kept under normal conditions. They measured the amount of DNA replication complexes in the cells, as well as how active the complexes were. The cells kept in low-oxygen conditions, which had stopped dividing, had just as much of the DNA replication machinery as the normal dividing cells, the researchers found; the difference was that the machinery wasn't working. It turned out that in the nondividing cells, HIF-1? was binding to a protein that loads the DNA replication complex onto DNA strands, and preventing the complex from being activated.
"Our experiments answered the long-standing question of how, exactly, cells stop dividing in response to low oxygen," says Maimon Hubbi, Ph.D., a member of Semenza's team who is now working toward an M.D. degree. "It also shows us that the relationship between HIF-1? and the DNA replication complex is reciprocal -- that is, each can shut the other down."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medicine, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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Journal Reference:
M. E. Hubbi, Kshitiz, D. M. Gilkes, S. Rey, C. C. Wong, W. Luo, D.-H. Kim, C. V. Dang, A. Levchenko, G. L. Semenza. A Nontranscriptional Role for HIF-1? as a Direct Inhibitor of DNA Replication. Science Signaling, 2013; 6 (262): ra10 DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.2003417
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
England's Ian Poulter reacts after sinking a putt on the third green in the quarterfinal round of play against Steve Stricker at the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Marana, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
England's Ian Poulter reacts after sinking a putt on the third green in the quarterfinal round of play against Steve Stricker at the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Marana, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Steve Stricker hits out of a bunker on the second hole in the quarterfinal round of play against Ian Poulter during the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Marana, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell tees off the fourth hole during the quarterfinal match against Jason Day at the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Marana, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Steve Stricker hits a shot off the second fairway in the quarterfinal round of play during the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Marana, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts, left, places his ball on the fourth green as Matt Kuchar lines up his putt during a third round match at the Match Play Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Marana, Ariz. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
MARANA, Ariz. (AP) ? Before the first shot of the Match Play Championship, and before the first snowfall, Hunter Mahan was asked for three players with the best reputation in match play.
Ian Poulter was on his list.
Now he gets to find out for himself.
Poulter again proved to be one tough customer Saturday when he beat Steve Stricker with one big putt after another, advancing to the semifinals and improving his record in match play around the world to 19-3-2 over the last four years.
Next up is Mahan, who is leaving his own mark at Dove Mountain. Mahan outlasted U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson in 18 holes, leaving him two wins away from joining Tiger Woods as the only repeat winners of this World Golf Championship. Not only has Mahan won every match he has played ? 11 in a row ? over the last two years, he now has gone 151 consecutive holes at the Match Play Championship without trailing.
Poulter is aiming for his second Match Play win in the last four years.
"I have so much respect for the guy and how he plays," Mahan said. "There's not one part of his game that really shines. He has a great short game and he's a great putter, but to me, his determination and his will is his greatest strength. He's never going to think he's out of a hole."
Not to be outdone, Matt Kuchar reached the semifinals for the second time in three years with steady play, rarely taking himself out of position. That proved way too much for Robert Garrigus, who was 4 down through 10 holes and didn't make it beyond the 16th green.
Kuchar will play Jason Day of Australia, who won a tight match against Graeme McDowell in 18 holes.
The biggest stars in golf might be long gone. In their place are two guys who might be the best in match play over the last few years.
"I know it's not the top four in the world, probably what everyone was hoping for," Mahan said. "But there's been a lot of great golf played, a lot of great shot, a lot of great putts. There's a lot of great players."
Along with a perfect singles record in the Ryder Cup, Poulter has won the WGC version of the Match Play Championship and the World Match Play Championship in Spain in 2011. He wasn't aware of his sterling record since 2010, nor did he sound terribly surprised.
"I'm pretty proud of it," he said. "Does it surprise me? I love match play."
That much is becoming abundantly clear. After he pulled away from Tim Clark of South Africa in the third round Saturday morning, he faced his toughest challenge yet in Stricker, who started his 46th birthday celebration by making eight birdies in a brilliantly played match against Scott Piercy in the third round.
Stricker holed a 30-foot putt on the final hole for the win, and then ran into someone who putted even better.
The match effectively turned on the third hole. After they traded birdies, Stricker stuffed his tee shot into 6 feet, while Poulter pulled his shot some 40 feet away above the ridge. Poulter wound up making the putt, and all Stricker could do was laugh. He missed his short birdie, and the momentum shifted for good.
Describing the big moment, it wasn't clear if Poulter was talking about his putt or driving through a roundabout in England.
"It was 40 feet, left-to-right, right-to-left, right-to-left again, hopefully slowing down on the ridge, taking a left-hand turn, down the slope and then chucking a little left to right at the end to drop it," Poulter said. "It was really nice."
Stricker didn't win another hole until he was 3 down at the turn, and while he made birdie on the 10th to pick up a little momentum, he gave it right back with a tee shot into the desert on the par-5 11th, leading to a bogey. Poulter won the next with a 20-foot birdie putt, and from there it was a matter of time.
Even the final hole showed Poulter's putting prowess.
Poulter was 3 up with three holes remaining when he missed the green to the right. Stricker came up short and chipped to about 3 feet. As Poulter was studying his chip, a fan near Poulter said, "Pick it up," and Stricker did just that.
"I think it was close enough, anyway, but for a split second, it was a little off-putting," Poulter said. "And I guess I had to hole a 12-footer to finish the match."
That he did, and now plays the defending champion.
Mahan hasn't lost any match around the world since Martin Kaymer beat him in the third round at Dove Mountain in 2011. He exacted a small piece of revenge by beating Kaymer in the third round. Mahan had to play only 43 holes to reach the quarterfinals.
But his match against Simpson was tough from the start, and it was the first time Mahan played the 18th hole in competition since his opening match a year ago.
Neither player led by more than one hole, and Mahan took the lead for good on the par-3 16th when Simpson missed a 10-foot par putt. Mahan had to make a 7-foot par putt on the 16th for his par and the lead, and the finished with pars.
Day fell two holes behind immediately against McDowell, and the turning point might have been the seventh. McDowell had a tough chip behind the green that he moved only a few inches and wound up making bogey. Day holed a 6-footer for par to square the match, and it was a see-saw match the rest of the way.
In the gallery with McDowell was Shane Lowry, the No. 64 seed to eliminated Rory McIlroy in the opening round. McDowell made three birdies in a five-hole stretch at the turn to build a comfortable lead and went on to win, 3 and 2.
His putter let him down against Day, however. He missed a 10-foot par putt on the 17th that gave Day the lead, and then missed a 15-foot putt from just off the green that would have extended the match.
Day became the first Australian to reach the semifinals since Geoff Ogilvy won in 2009, and it took a lot to get there. He beat the Masters champion (Bubba Watson) and a former U.S. Open champion (McDowell) on the same day.
"It's like playing on Sunday every day here," Day said.
He faces Kuchar, who lost to the eventual champion each of the last two years. Garrigus had said earlier in the week that he looked at his bracket and figured didn't see anyone he couldn't beat. He must have overlooked Kuchar, who birdied the ninth for a 3-up lead and never let Garrigus get close.
Poulter at No. 11 is the highest seed remaining. The other seeds are No. 21 (Kuchar), No. 23 (Mahan) and No. 41 (Day).
Given the nature of 18 holes of match play, and the fine line of talent in golf at the highest level, the seeds don't mean much in this tournament. Poulter and Mahan have shown that to be the case.
Making the tax code less complicated and more efficient may not achieve the rate-cutting, base-broadening reform many want, Gleckman writes,?but it can have important consequences for real people.
By Howard Gleckman,?Guest blogger / February 21, 2013
IRS employees exit the US Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. Congress can get a lot done on the tax code without getting into theological battles over whether we are taxed too much or not enough, Gleckman writes.
Ann Hermes/The Christian Science Monitor/File
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As regular readers of?Tax Vox?know, I don?t believe there is?much chance?President Obama and Congress will agree on individual broad-based tax reform in 2013. Without a deal?on how much this new tax system should raise, talking about a?big rewrite?is futile. However, Obama and Congress still have an opportunity to do something very useful: Clean up the law so it is simpler and smarter.
Skip to next paragraph Howard Gleckman
Howard Gleckman is a resident fellow at The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, the author of Caring for Our Parents, and former senior correspondent in the Washington bureau of Business Week. (http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org)
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
Making the code less complicated and more efficient may not achieve the?rate-cutting, base-broadening reform many want. And it surely is not the cosmic shift to a consumption tax favored by others. But it can have important consequences for real people.
Until now, Democrats and Republicans have been like a couple that has been living in the same house since 1986. For decades, they?ve been having the same argument: She wants to put on a big addition. He wants to move. While they?ve bickered, the house has deteriorated.
But they have an alternative: Call a cease fire and upgrade what they have: Put in energy-efficient appliances, update that pink-tiled bathroom, and give the place a fresh paintjob. Neither spouse may be??fully satisfied, but they?ve made the house a lot more pleasant to live in.
People across the Midwest are digging out from the snow after a big storm passed through, resulting in difficult commutes and school closures. NBC's John Yang reports.
By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News
Parts of New England were expected to be hit by heavy snowfalls that could down tree limbs and cause power outages late Saturday into Sunday, forecasters warned.
The National Weather Service??issued a winter storm watch?at about 10 p.m. ET Friday for southern New Hampshire, northern Rhode Island, and much of central, northern and eastern Massachusetts, including Boston.
It said the area could be hit by up to 8 inches of snow, which some parts potentially getting nearly 10 inches.
Connecticut was also expected to get snow with rain further south.
Read more from weather.com
?Snow will overspread the region tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon. The heaviest snow will occur tomorrow night into Sunday morning, when 1 to 2 inch per hour snowfall rates will be possible,? the NWS said.
?The biggest concern is that this will be a heavy wet snow. This will bring the potential for downed tree limbs and scattered power outages. Untreated roads are also expected to become snow covered and slippery,? the weather service said.
Temperatures were expected to be in the lower 30s with winds of 5-10 mph.
?Anyone traveling in the next 24 to 36 hours should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to modify travel plans should winter weather develop,? the NWS notice added.
NBC.Connecticut.com meteorologist Bob Maxon said the state would also see snow and rain from a weekend storm. He expected up to 4 inches of snow or more in the Litchfield Hills and northeast Connecticut.
Weather.com reported that it expected that an areas from New York City to Philadelphia would ?primarily? see rain.
Record snowfall in Wichita, Kansas, creates havoc at the airport where crews had to dig out a plane stuck on the tarmac. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
It said it expected 2 to 5 inches of snow in Boston, adding ?the amount of rain versus snow that falls will dictate whether snowfall amounts are on the higher or lower end of this range.?
The storm on Friday hit parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
In Minnesota alone, the State Patrol said there were 124 crashes during the morning commute, killing one driver and injuring 23, NBC affiliate KARE in Minneapolis reported.
Meanwhile, a storm in the Pacific Northwest was expected to bring strong winds through Saturday and dump 2 to 3 feet of snow on the Cascade Mountains through Monday, the NWS said.
Much of the Midwest is covered in a blanket of white as a massive winter storm has covered parts of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas with over a foot of snow. NBC's John Yang reports.
?Considerable blowing and drifting snow and an increased avalanche risk are expected in the high terrain for portions of the region,? it said.
The NWS issued?winter storm warnings?for parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah.
"Period of heavy snowfall" were also expected Saturday in parts of Hawaii, according to another winter storm warning notice. Up to 12 inches were possible at high altitudes in an area including Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, with temperatures in the mid-20s to mid-30s.
A Japanese government-backed researcher said Friday no health effects from radiation released by the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant have been seen in people living nearby.
The pronouncement by Kazuo Sakai of Japan's National Institute of Radiological Sciences is the latest by authorities seeking to quell fears over the long-term effects of the disaster.
But it was dismissed by campaign group Greenpeace who said the government should not seek to play down health worries.
"Since the accident in Fukushima, no health effects from radiation have been observed, although we have heard reports some people fell ill due to stress from living as evacuees and due to worries and fears about radiation," Sakai said.
"We know from epidemiological surveys among atomic-bomb victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that if exposure to radiation surpasses 100 millisieverts, the risk of cancer will gradually rise.
"To put it the other way round, we can't say risk of cancer will rise if you are exposed to radiation lower than 100 millisieverts," he said, adding that most people measured had radiation exposure of 20 millisieverts or less.
Sakai said radiation is not at "the level we have to worry about its health effect," for people in Fukushima, taking into account exposure from the atmosphere and ingestion from food.
His comments came as the Fukushima prefectural government panel said this week three people who were 18 or younger when the nuclear crisis erupted in March 2011 have been diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
Radioactive iodine released in nuclear accidents tends to accumulate in thyroid glands, particularly in young people. In the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, a noticeable increase in thyroid cancer cases was detected among children in the affected area.
Referring to the thyroid cancers reported in Fukushima, Sakai said "there is no clear link between the cancers and exposure to radiation, as empirical knowledge says it takes several years before thyroid cancer is detected after exposure to radiation."
"It is important, however, to monitor these cases," he added, noting that comparison with the pre-accident situation and other regions was necessary.
Kazue Suzuki, nuclear campaigner at Greenpeace, who is not a scientist, said Japan should not try to play down the potential dangers.
"Japan should pour more energy into prevention of diseases including thyroid cancer than talking down the risk of low-level radiation."
"Even if there is no comparative epidemiological data, the government should err on the side of caution and carry out more frequent health checks among residents not only in Fukushima but in other prefectures," she said.
A massive undersea earthquake in March 2011 sent a huge tsunami crashing into Japan's northeast, crushing whole communities and sending nuclear reactors on the coast into meltdown.
Around 19,000 people were killed by the natural disaster, but no one is officially recorded as having died as a direct result of the radiation that spewed from the crippled units in the following months.
21 February 2013Last updated at 02:53 ETBy David ShukmanScience editor, BBC News
David Shukman joins researchers examining the sea bed
British scientists exploring the ocean floor in the Caribbean have discovered an "astounding" set of hydrothermal vents, the deepest anywhere in the world.
Deploying a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) in the Cayman Trough, a giant underwater canyon, they stumbled across a previously-unknown site nearly 5000m below the surface.
Video pictures relayed live back to the research ship mounting the operation show spindly chimneys up to 10m high and belching out dark water - "a stunning sight", according to one scientist.
In the immense pressure of the sea three miles down, the ROV, known as ISIS, was gently steered around the vents, taking pictures and gathering samples.
One of the people "piloting" the ROV said seabed smokestacks remind him of "the industrial Midlands".
Hydrothermal vents are among the strangest features of the deep ocean and their existence was not known until the 1970s. Since then they have been discovered at about 200 sites around the world including the Southern Ocean and the Atlantic.
But it was only three years ago that vents were first detected in the Cayman Trough, a deep trench formed by the boundary between two tectonic plates. One set of vents, known as Beebe, was established as the deepest on record - until the discovery last night of another slightly deeper set nearby, at 4,968m. or about three miles.
The water being blasted from the newly-found vents was measured at 401C, making this set among the hottest on the planet.
The expedition, funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, is being run from a British research ship, the James Cook, named after the 18th century explorer who blazed a trail of discovery around the Pacific.
Now the ship bearing his name is using the latest technology to open up and understand an underwater world of eerie landscapes and unusual life forms.
A live stream of video is relayed back to a control room on board - where a cheer went up when the ROV's lights and high definition cameras picked out the new vents amid total darkness.
The team had been looking for a set first identified a year ago but their search took them unexpectedly into an entirely new field.
The tallest of vents reaches about 10m.
The chief scientist, Dr Jon Copley of the National Oceanography Centre, said the discovery of "astounding mineral spires" was a "complete surprise".
"We initially thought it was a site we'd been to before but it looked so different we thought it had changed. But eventually we realised it looked different because it was different," Dr Copley told BBC News.
"The beauty of working in the deep oceans is that you're always stumbling over things that are completely new.
"It's teaching us how little we know and for a few minutes it's not about the science, it's about the wonder of the planet, something that's been hidden for so long."
The ROV remained on station for nearly 24 hours - a typical length for a dive - before being returned to the James Cook bearing samples of water and wildlife.
For the biologists on board, the vents act as a highly unusual habitat with a massive contrast between the water from the vents measuring just over 400C, compared to the surrounding sea temperature of around 4C.
The narrow interface between the two extremes of water - sometimes as narrow as a few centimetres - provides a unique environment for an array of creatures.
Ghostly-white shrimp - clustered on the rocks in teeming crowds - appear to have lost the ability to see because their eyes are fused together.
Verity Nye is one of the researchers studying the blind shrimp, brought up in the ROV's containers, filled at the seabed.
"We don't think they have functioning eyes but they have a really unusual organ on their backs which is like a warning system for them to tell them when they're getting too hot so they don't get too close to the hot water from the vents.
"But we really don't know how life operates down there so we're still trying to understand it."
According to Dr Copley, the expedition has already yielded finds that are likely, after lab analysis back home, to prove to be new species including a white anemone and starfish.
Further dives are scheduled in the coming days, with Japanese and American researchers planning investigations here later in the year.
The scientists on the James Cook hope the research will eventually answer two key questions: why and how life evolved in such a seemingly hostile environment.
Solar energy to get boost from cutting-edge forecastsPublic release date: 21-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Hosansky hosansky@ucar.edu 303-497-8611 National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
BOULDERApplying its atmospheric expertise to solar energy, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is spearheading a three-year, nationwide project to create unprecedented, 36-hour forecasts of incoming energy from the Sun for solar energy power plants.
The research team is designing a prototype system to forecast sunlight and resulting power every 15 minutes over specific solar facilities, thereby enabling utilities to continuously anticipate the amount of available solar energy. The work, funded primarily with a $4.1 million U.S. Department of Energy grant, will draw on cutting-edge research techniques at leading government labs and universities across the country, in partnership with utilities, other energy companies, and commercial forecast providers.
Much of the focus will be on generating detailed predictions of clouds and atmospheric particles that can reduce incoming energy from the Sun.
"It's critical for utility managers to know how much sunlight will be reaching solar energy plants in order to have confidence that they can supply sufficient power when their customers need it," says Sue Ellen Haupt, director of NCAR's Weather Systems and Assessment Program and the lead researcher on the solar energy project. "These detailed cloud and irradiance forecasts are a vital step in using more energy from the Sun."
The project takes aim at one of the greatest challenges in meteorology: accurately predicting cloud cover over specific areas. In addition to helping utilities tap solar energy more effectively, detailed cloud predictions can also improve the accuracy of shorter-term weather forecasts.
The project expands NCAR's focus on renewable energy. NCAR designed a highly detailed wind energy forecasting system with Xcel Energy that saved Xcel ratepayers an estimated $6 million in a single year. The center is also creating advanced prediction capabilities to enable wind farm developers to anticipate wind energy potential anywhere in the world.
"Improving forecasts for renewable energy from the Sun produces a major return on investment for society," says Thomas Bogdan, president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which manages NCAR on behalf of the National Science Foundation. "By helping utilities produce energy more efficiently from the Sun, we can make this market more cost competitive."
Clouded forecasts
More than half of all states in the U.S. have mandated that utilities increase their use of renewable energy as a way to reduce dependence on fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, which affect air quality and release greenhouse gases associated with climate change. But the shift to energy sources such as solar or wind means relying on resources that are difficult to predict.
Because large amounts of electricity cannot be stored in a cost-effective manner, power generated by a solar panel or any other source must be promptly consumed. If an electric utility powers down a coal- or natural gas-fired facility in anticipation of solar energy, those plants may not be able to power up fast enough if clouds roll in. The only option in such a scenario is to buy energy on the spot market, which can be very costly.
Conversely, if more sunshine reaches a solar farm than expected, the extra energy can go to waste.
But predicting clouds, which form out of microscopic droplets of water or ice, is also notoriously difficult. Clouds are affected by a myriad of factors, including winds, humidity, sunlight, surface heat, and tiny airborne particles, as well as chemicals and gases in the atmosphere.
Solar energy output is affected not just by when and where clouds form, but also by the types of clouds present. The thickness and elevation of clouds have greatly differing effects on the amount of sunlight reaching the ground. Wispy cirrus clouds several miles above the surface, for example, block far less sunlight than thick, low-lying stratus clouds.
To design a system that can generate such detailed forecasts, NCAR and its partners will marshal an array of observing instruments, including lidars (which use laser-based technology to take measurements in the atmosphere); specialized computer models; and mathematical and artificial intelligence techniques. Central to the effort will be three total sky imagers in each of several locations, which will observe the entire sky, triangulate the height and depth of clouds, and trace their paths across the sky.
The team will test these advanced capabilities during different seasons in several geographically diverse U.S. locations: the Northeast, Florida, Colorado/New Mexico, and California. The goal is to ensure that the system works year round in different types of weather patterns.
Not just for solar energy
Once the system is tested, the techniques will be widely disseminated for use by the energy industry and meteorologists.
"This will raise the bar for providing timely forecasts for solar power, " Haupt says. "It also represents a great opportunity for providing far more detail about clouds in the everyday weather forecasts that we all rely on."
One application for such detailed forecasts could be short-term predictions of pavement temperatures. Such information would be useful to airport managers, road crews, and professional race car drivers.
"Pavement temperatures make quite a bit of difference in how tires grip the surface," says Sheldon Drobot, deputy director of NCAR's Weather Systems and Assessment Program. "This has substantial safety implications."
NCAR is launching the solar project with numerous partners in the public and private sectors. These include:
Government labs: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory and other NOAA facilities;
Universities: The Pennsylvania State University, Colorado State University, University of Hawaii, and University of Washington;
Utilities: Long Island Power and Light, New York Power Authority, Public Service Company of Colorado, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), Southern California Edison, and the Hawaiian Electric Company;
Independent system operators: New York ISO, Xcel Energy, SMUD, California ISO, and Hawaiian Electric; and
Commercial forecast providers: Schneider Electric, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Global Weather Corporation, and MDA Information Systems.
Computing time will be provided by the New York State Department of Economic Development's Division of Science, Technology and Innovation on an IBM Blue Gene computer at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
###
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
On the Web:
For news releases, images, and more
www.ucar.edu/atmosnews
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Solar energy to get boost from cutting-edge forecastsPublic release date: 21-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Hosansky hosansky@ucar.edu 303-497-8611 National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
BOULDERApplying its atmospheric expertise to solar energy, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is spearheading a three-year, nationwide project to create unprecedented, 36-hour forecasts of incoming energy from the Sun for solar energy power plants.
The research team is designing a prototype system to forecast sunlight and resulting power every 15 minutes over specific solar facilities, thereby enabling utilities to continuously anticipate the amount of available solar energy. The work, funded primarily with a $4.1 million U.S. Department of Energy grant, will draw on cutting-edge research techniques at leading government labs and universities across the country, in partnership with utilities, other energy companies, and commercial forecast providers.
Much of the focus will be on generating detailed predictions of clouds and atmospheric particles that can reduce incoming energy from the Sun.
"It's critical for utility managers to know how much sunlight will be reaching solar energy plants in order to have confidence that they can supply sufficient power when their customers need it," says Sue Ellen Haupt, director of NCAR's Weather Systems and Assessment Program and the lead researcher on the solar energy project. "These detailed cloud and irradiance forecasts are a vital step in using more energy from the Sun."
The project takes aim at one of the greatest challenges in meteorology: accurately predicting cloud cover over specific areas. In addition to helping utilities tap solar energy more effectively, detailed cloud predictions can also improve the accuracy of shorter-term weather forecasts.
The project expands NCAR's focus on renewable energy. NCAR designed a highly detailed wind energy forecasting system with Xcel Energy that saved Xcel ratepayers an estimated $6 million in a single year. The center is also creating advanced prediction capabilities to enable wind farm developers to anticipate wind energy potential anywhere in the world.
"Improving forecasts for renewable energy from the Sun produces a major return on investment for society," says Thomas Bogdan, president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, which manages NCAR on behalf of the National Science Foundation. "By helping utilities produce energy more efficiently from the Sun, we can make this market more cost competitive."
Clouded forecasts
More than half of all states in the U.S. have mandated that utilities increase their use of renewable energy as a way to reduce dependence on fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, which affect air quality and release greenhouse gases associated with climate change. But the shift to energy sources such as solar or wind means relying on resources that are difficult to predict.
Because large amounts of electricity cannot be stored in a cost-effective manner, power generated by a solar panel or any other source must be promptly consumed. If an electric utility powers down a coal- or natural gas-fired facility in anticipation of solar energy, those plants may not be able to power up fast enough if clouds roll in. The only option in such a scenario is to buy energy on the spot market, which can be very costly.
Conversely, if more sunshine reaches a solar farm than expected, the extra energy can go to waste.
But predicting clouds, which form out of microscopic droplets of water or ice, is also notoriously difficult. Clouds are affected by a myriad of factors, including winds, humidity, sunlight, surface heat, and tiny airborne particles, as well as chemicals and gases in the atmosphere.
Solar energy output is affected not just by when and where clouds form, but also by the types of clouds present. The thickness and elevation of clouds have greatly differing effects on the amount of sunlight reaching the ground. Wispy cirrus clouds several miles above the surface, for example, block far less sunlight than thick, low-lying stratus clouds.
To design a system that can generate such detailed forecasts, NCAR and its partners will marshal an array of observing instruments, including lidars (which use laser-based technology to take measurements in the atmosphere); specialized computer models; and mathematical and artificial intelligence techniques. Central to the effort will be three total sky imagers in each of several locations, which will observe the entire sky, triangulate the height and depth of clouds, and trace their paths across the sky.
The team will test these advanced capabilities during different seasons in several geographically diverse U.S. locations: the Northeast, Florida, Colorado/New Mexico, and California. The goal is to ensure that the system works year round in different types of weather patterns.
Not just for solar energy
Once the system is tested, the techniques will be widely disseminated for use by the energy industry and meteorologists.
"This will raise the bar for providing timely forecasts for solar power, " Haupt says. "It also represents a great opportunity for providing far more detail about clouds in the everyday weather forecasts that we all rely on."
One application for such detailed forecasts could be short-term predictions of pavement temperatures. Such information would be useful to airport managers, road crews, and professional race car drivers.
"Pavement temperatures make quite a bit of difference in how tires grip the surface," says Sheldon Drobot, deputy director of NCAR's Weather Systems and Assessment Program. "This has substantial safety implications."
NCAR is launching the solar project with numerous partners in the public and private sectors. These include:
Government labs: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Research Laboratory and other NOAA facilities;
Universities: The Pennsylvania State University, Colorado State University, University of Hawaii, and University of Washington;
Utilities: Long Island Power and Light, New York Power Authority, Public Service Company of Colorado, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), Southern California Edison, and the Hawaiian Electric Company;
Independent system operators: New York ISO, Xcel Energy, SMUD, California ISO, and Hawaiian Electric; and
Commercial forecast providers: Schneider Electric, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Global Weather Corporation, and MDA Information Systems.
Computing time will be provided by the New York State Department of Economic Development's Division of Science, Technology and Innovation on an IBM Blue Gene computer at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
###
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
On the Web:
For news releases, images, and more
www.ucar.edu/atmosnews
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 21-Feb-2013
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