View allAll Photos Tagged stability
SOLOMON SEA (Aug. 4, 2021) An F-35B with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 121 attached to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 265 (Reinforced), 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), prepares for landing aboard the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6). The F-35B’s fifth generation strike fighter capabilities bring more lethality and flexibility to combatant commanders than any other aircraft platform. The 31st MEU is operating aboard ships of America Expeditionary Strike Group in the 7th fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. John Tetrault)
Testing stability and wing folding mechanism. Seems to work but the wings are sagging a bit. Don’t think I can fix that. And the final wings will be much heavier.
One solution for improving the stability of these 15-passenger vans: add a set of duals on the rear. Doesn't look great, but probably does the job.
M100. A Grand Design Spiral
The data in this image was collected during May and June 2013 as a collaboration by Terry Hancock of Michigan using a QHY9M monochrome CCD with the KAF8300 chip and Fred Herrmann of Alabama who used an SBIG STT-8300 monochrome CCD also with the KAF8300 chip. For this image we both used the Astro Tech 12" Ritchey-Chrétien astrograph at 2000mm and 2400mm
Total Integration time 6.5 hours.
Located within the constellation Coma Berenices at a distance of 55 million light-years away, M100 stands as a stunning example of a Grand Design Spiral galaxy. Grand Design Spiral galaxies typically have 2 prominent and well defined spiral arms which extend from the nucleus to the outer edge and also extend through many radians which demonstrates very long-term stability for hundreds of millions, if not billions of years.
The prominent spiral arms periodically flare up into active starburst activity that astronomers have attributed to density wave theory. The density waves travel throughout the galaxy at speeds that is different than that of the stars' motions and as a result, the matter becomes attracted to specific regions. Through this process, energy is transmitted to the matter in the galaxy and it results in a more organized structure. If you were to magically speed up the passage of time to 100 million years per normal second, you would see the spiral arms pulsate like a heartbeat, or even faster and you would perceive it ringing like a bell, which is essentially what it is doing, except on a cosmic time scale.
This periodicity in density fluctuations rapidly creates very massive stars with short lives that typically end violently. As a result, M100 experiences 5 to 6 supernovae every 100 years, contrasted to our own quiescent Milky Way's rate of just one every 500 years.
After a few years of stability, the Cardiff Bus fleet is now seeing a number of interesting changes, with the first batch out of a total of 36 electric Yutongs soon due as replacements for the remaining Transbus and Alexander Dennis Darts, and the remining Scania OmniCity artics.
The first sign of the fleet changes came earlier this year with the acquisition of a dozen Mercedes Citaros from Bus Vannin (numbered 141-52) to see off a number of the Darts and some of the 10 original shape Alexander Dennis Enviro300s. The withdrawal programme has been hastrened by the arrival of four Alexander Dennis E20D MMCs on hire from Mistral (numbered 271-4) and five Wright Solar-bodied Scania L94UBs and K230UBs (numbered 768-72) from Go South Coast's Swindon depot. A sxith Scania (773) has been acquired as a driver trainer.
After operating initially in all-over blue or in blue and green, the Scanias are in the process of receiving the company's new orange and red fleet livery. This November 2021 shot illustrates 770 as she enters Greyfriars Road in the City Centre, with the Big Wheel of the Winter Wonderland forming the backdrop.
PHILIPPINE SEA (June 26, 2021) An F-35B Lighting II fighter aircraft from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) lands on the flight deck of the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) during night flight operations. America, lead ship of the America Amphibious Ready Group, along with the 31st MEU, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Vincent E. Zline)
Dear Mr. Speaker!
Dear Mrs. Prime Minister!
Members of the Government!
Dear deputies of the Riigikogu!
The people of Estonia!
Thank you for the opportunity to address you today. In circumstances that take us all back to the darkest times of the 20th century.
For thirty years, the nations of Europe have enjoyed peace, freedom and shared opportunities for development.
Now, Russian revanchism has destroyed all the good that has worked for decades for peace in Europe, for the stability of life of European nations.
Only fragments of the global security architecture are left. The same ruins as from Ukrainian cities bombed by Russian missiles and aircraft.
All the international institutions that are supposed to support peace - the UN, the OSCE and others - are not able to stop Russia's aggression right now. Although this is what they were created for.
Regional alliances, and above all NATO, have faced a difficult reality when no one can be 100% sure whether they will really protect their members in the event of a large-scale Russian attack. The same as the attack on Ukraine.
Or in the event of an even worse attack - with the use of weapons of mass destruction. For the first time in many years, the threat of Russia's use of chemical or even nuclear weapons has to be taken seriously.
Russian state propagandists, clearly guided by the relevant "theme lists", openly discuss Russia's ability to seize all neighboring European countries. They talk about it not just for the sake of emotions, but systematically accustom the Russian audience to the fact that war against neighbors is supposed to be the norm.
Russia's attempt to seize all of Ukraine after 8 years of war in Donbas has brought back to European reality what your people had to go through.
Mass deportations, filtration camps, a consistent attempt to destroy all those who support the national idea. Today, more than 500,000 Ukrainians have been forcibly displaced. Just imagine how much it is!
This is as if the occupiers set, sorry for the example, the goal of deporting all people from Tallinn. The whole city - it was and now there is no one. A third of all your citizens.
Deported Ukrainians are deprived of documents. Their phones are being confiscated. They are trying to take these people to remote regions of the Russian Federation. Attempts to return to Ukraine are being hindered in every possible way. Children are separated from their parents and there are attempts of their illegal adoption in Russian families...
Tens of thousands of people have already been killed in Ukrainian cities affected by Russian strikes. The Russian army uses all kinds of artillery, all kinds of missiles and air bombs against residential areas and civilian infrastructure. In particular, phosphorus bombs and other munitions prohibited by international law.
This is an obvious terror against the civilian population. It is an attempt to break the morale of the people, to subdue Ukrainians for generations or simply to destroy them.
Why does the Russian leadership allow themselves all this? What ensures a sense of impunity for Moscow? I'm sure you know the answer to these questions. It is obvious.
On the one hand, Russia enjoys its privileges in international structures. In particular, the seat occupied by it as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to block any attempts to actually return peace to Europe or other regions where Russia wages a war. Exactly Russia.
On the other hand, the Russian leadership absolutely does not believe that Europe can bring Russia to justice.
Moscow simply does not believe that Europe can force Russia into peace. They expect a split among Europeans and that the priority of maintaining trade for Europeans will be higher than the priority of security or even the priority of survival of Russia's neighboring nations.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
The people of Estonia!
This is the time when we can either stop Russia or lose the whole of Eastern Europe for a very long time. Lose any hope for a safe and free life on the continent governed by universally recognized law not by force.
And I thank you for understanding that.
A crowded rally on February 26 with the participation of tens of thousands of Estonians in the heart of ancient Tallinn on Vabaduse Square in support of Ukraine and in support of freedom in Europe has already become a glorious page of our common history.
Estonia was one of the first to provide Ukraine with the necessary assistance, this is true, including defensive aid.
I am grateful to you for the sincere support of our migrants.
You have been and remain exemplary in your consideration of the issues of Russia's war against Ukraine and the relevant sanctions policy in European and other international structures.
I am grateful to you for abandoning Russian energy. The source of dollars and euros paid to Russia for oil and gas, which makes it self-confident and unwilling to seek equal relations with other nations.
But we all need to do much more to stop Europe's immersion in the evil that the continent saw in the 1940s! In the same occupation that your country, by the way, went through as well.
The black pages of history should not be repeated when deported Ukrainians and Estonians remained for many years in Siberia or the Russian Far East. There are already more than enough Ukrainian and Estonian graves - graves of those who died from communist deportations.
That is why I urge you at the level of the European Union to find such instruments of influence on Russia, such instruments of pressure that could stop deportations and return all deported people home.
The European Union has the power to ensure this. The European Union must use this power.
Until Russia returns forcibly deported Ukrainians, until it returns thousands of abducted children, it must not receive any money from European states or companies.
The European Union has no right to sponsor deportations. The European Union has no right to sponsor war.
The policy of sanctions against the Russian Federation needs to be taken even more seriously. Why are sanctions necessary? Because this is the only tool to force Russia into peace.
I urge you to defend the need for a complete blockade of Russian banks when approving a new, very important package of sanctions against the Russian Federation at the EU level. All banks, not just part of them. I urge you to finally add oil to the sanctions package. An embargo is needed at the level of the entire European Union!
I also invite your state and your specialists to join the work of the joint group set up to investigate the war crimes of the Russian army on the territory of independent Ukraine. Technical and expert support is indispensable now as the number of war crimes already reaches tens of thousands.
These are executions of civilians, torture, rape, blowing up hospitals, bombing maternity hospitals, burning food warehouses, artillery shelling of shelters in which children are hiding, and they knew about it - I emphasize that once again...
There is no crime that Russian soldiers have not committed in the 49 days of this invasion.
We will definitely investigate all these war crimes, identify all the culprits and find them. No matter how long it will take. But if we do it together with you, together with other European countries, we will be able to do it much faster.
Keep in mind that most of Stalin's torturers didn’t bear responsibility for everything they did. Therefore, it is especially important to bring to justice a new generation of Russian executioners.
And this must be done now - for what they have done in Ukraine. So that they do not have to be searched for war crimes against the Baltic nations, against Finland, Poland or any other country.
All those who have already gained freedom in the 20th century must preserve it in the 21st century.
Ukraine will always be grateful to Estonia for the principled support of our state in European integration. I am grateful to you for realizing that Ukraine's accession to the European Union is not just a question of economics or some abstract policy. It is a question of security and guarantees for the preservation of freedom and democracy in Central and Eastern Europe.
Ukraine must receive the status of a candidate for EU membership in the near future.
We must think about the post-war reconstruction of our country already now. When Russia loses, and this will inevitably happen, it will be necessary to prove to Russia and all other potential revanchists in the world that the war will not lead to the realization of their plans.
We are already cooperating with your country in the field of digitization, we are already demonstrating to other European countries the advantages of modern digital systems, including in public administration. After the war, it will become even more relevant, I'm sure.
For restoring the normal functioning of state institutions and local authorities. For the return of companies. For the cyber defense of Ukraine and the whole, I repeat - the whole of Europe.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
The people of Estonia!
The Presidents of the three Baltic states and the President of Poland will arrive in Kyiv in a few hours. I look forward to meeting them, to meeting your President, Mr. Alar Karis.
Such visits to the capital of our state are especially important now. They are important not only for us, not only as evidence of European support for our struggle for freedom.
But also as evidence that all European defenders of freedom will continue to be united. Without any political or economic "bows" to Russia.
Europeans must make every effort to restore international law immediately. To immediately force Russia to seek peace.
This task can only be done jointly by everyone in Europe. At the level of the whole European Union. Together with other members of our anti-war coalition.
If Europe wastes time, Russia will use it to expand the war zone to other countries. I believe that together we will never allow this.
Thank you, Estonia!
Glory to Ukraine!
Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times
La sabiduría y el conocimiento serán la estabilidad de vuestro tiempo.-
Isaias (Isaiah 33:6)
Hay varias traducciones y es muy difícil adaptarlas a nuestro lenguaje y a nuestro pensamiento actual.-
Escultura en piedra plena de simbologías.-
30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, U.S.A.
PHILIPPINE SEA (Oct. 3, 2022) Sailors tow a CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter, assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 262 (Reinforced), on the flight deck aboard amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli (LHA 7). Tripoli is operating in U.S. 7th Fleet to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and maintain stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christopher Sypert)
PHILIPPINE SEA (July 21, 2020) From left, HMAS Hobart (DDG 39), HMAS Arunta (FFH 151), HMAS Canberra (L02), HMAS Sirius (O 266), the Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54), JS Teruzuki (DD 116) and HMAS Stuart (FFH 153) steam in formation during a trilateral exercise. Trilateral exercises between the JMSDF, ADF and U.S. Navy support shared goals of peace and stability while enhancing regional security and the right of all nations to trade, communicate, and choose their destiny in a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Codie L. Soule)
your executive office is ready, mr. president.
good. I assume it befits a supreme leader such as myself, wielding absolute power over the populace.
we spared no expense, sir.
you know how particular I am about my surroundings. especially with my hair, and all.
the office will precisely announce your level of intelligence and emotional stability.
er, you trying to tell me something?
yes, sir. your huge TV is on its way.
tanning bed too?
of course.
perfect.
Valor is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul. ~Michel de Montaigne
As I remember my dad and those who have served our country this Veterans Day, I can't help but feel that for my dad, things have now come full circle.
I received and email this week and have been in contact with the United States Navy, as they have requested to use an image of mine - one that is posted here on Flickr- a "Sailors Christmas"- www.flickr.com/photos/karenhunnicutt/5289072208/ to use as the theme, including as the cover of their program, on their website and projected as the backdrop, for their annual United States Naval Band holiday concert held at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington DC!
Besides using my image and credit to me, they may include the story of my Dad, and that folks, makes this all worth it to me. Most of you know that my dad was orphaned during the depression and by the grace of God and a scheming aunt, who changed his birth certificate, he joined the Navy at 15. He spent the next 21 years serving aboard the USS Ranger and a sub chaser in the north Atlantic, he was in Japan and was a member of the forces that helped liberate Norway at the end of WWII. He served in Korea and retired in 1972. The Navy gave him a home, stability and opportunity and next to God and his family, there was nothing more that he loved. To know that my image will represent all of the good that my father instilled in me, is beyond comprehension and I am humbled and completely overwhelmed at this honor.
OKINAWA, Japan (Sept. 19, 2020) Landing Craft, Air Cushion 10, assigned to Naval Beach Unit 7, currently attached to the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42), conducts amphibious operations in waters off Blue Beach. Germantown, part of Expeditionary Strike Group Seven (ESG 7), along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona
Barcelona is a city in Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within city limits, its urban area extends to numerous neighbouring municipalities within the Province of Barcelona and is home to around 4.8 million people, making it the sixth most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Madrid, the Ruhr area and Milan. It is one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range, the tallest peak of which is 512 metres (1,680 feet) high.
Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, Barcelona continued to be an important city in the Crown of Aragon as an economic and administrative centre of this Crown and the capital of the Principality of Catalonia. Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination. Particularly renowned are the architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner, which have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean are located in Barcelona. The city is known for hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics as well as world-class conferences and expositions and also many international sport tournaments.
Barcelona is one of the world's leading tourist, economic, trade fair and cultural centres, and its influence in commerce, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. It is a major cultural and economic centre in southwestern Europe, 24th in the world (before Zürich, after Frankfurt) and a financial centre. In 2008 it was the fourth most economically powerful city by GDP in the European Union and 35th in the world with GDP amounting to €177 billion. In 2012 Barcelona had a GDP of $170 billion; and it was leading Spain in employment rate in that moment.
In 2009 the city was ranked Europe's third and one of the world's most successful as a city brand. In the same year the city was ranked Europe's fourth best city for business and fastest improving European city, with growth improved by 17% per year, and the city has been experiencing strong and renewed growth for the past three years. Since 2011 Barcelona has been a leading smart city in Europe. Barcelona is a transport hub, with the Port of Barcelona being one of Europe's principal seaports and busiest European passenger port, an international airport, Barcelona–El Prat Airport, which handles over 50 million passengers per year, an extensive motorway network, and a high-speed rail line with a link to France and the rest of Europe.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia
The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Spanish: Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia; "Expiatory Church of the Holy Family") is a large unfinished Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). Gaudí's work on the building is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a minor basilica.
In 1882, construction of Sagrada Família started under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. In 1883, when Villar resigned, Gaudí took over as chief architect, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and he is buried in the crypt. At the time of his death at age 73 in 1926, when he was run down by a tram, less than a quarter of the project was complete.
Relying solely on private donations, Sagrada Familia's construction progressed slowly and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War. In July 1936, revolutionaries set fire to the crypt and broke their way into the workshop, partially destroying Gaudí's original plans, drawings and plaster models, which led to 16 years work to piece together the fragments of the master model. Construction resumed to intermittent progress in the 1950s. Advancements in technologies such as computer aided design and computerised numerical control (CNC) have since enabled faster progress and construction past the midpoint in 2010. However, some of the project's greatest challenges remain, including the construction of ten more spires, each symbolising an important Biblical figure in the New Testament. It is anticipated that the building can be completed by 2026—the centenary of Gaudí's death.
The basilica has a long history of dividing the citizens of Barcelona: over the initial possibility it might compete with Barcelona's cathedral, over Gaudí's design itself, over the possibility that work after Gaudí's death disregarded his design, and the 2007 proposal to build a tunnel of Spain's high-speed rail link to France which could disturb its stability. Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said "it is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art", and Paul Goldberger describes it as "the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages".
I am SICK of using taps for everything. They're floppy and don't stay in place as well as I want and they barely have the tiniest of nubs for attaching to a travis brick when used as a critical structural joint like in the pelvis.
No- this injustice will not stand. Rise with me, friends, and embrace the hinge over the tap!
(Note: I have no actual experience with these 1x2 hinge bricks I'm using in the pelvis here. I'm trying to pursue structural stability; give me some feedback on whether this theoretical design would work IRL plz?)
I recognise some of those megalomaniacal male tendencies you are describing, and why wouldn’t I (DUH!)? I know that ‘lost boy’ behaviour. It’s even attractive until one reaches a certain age, then it slopes off through unfortunate, and heads downhill rather swiftly towards downright tragedy. Applying the brakes at that stage is no party, let me tell you. Sometimes I feel as if I had been worn down up to the knees, a would-be demi-legged, own-trumpet-blowing, Falstaff, (if only those Jesuits had gotten hold of me) but then this isn’t about me. All these men searching for mammies, what can I say other than sorry about my gender, and thank Yahweh that I am a cis-gender homo (can I call myself that anymore?).
I think you can tell that I have arrived at the point that I am at, now, not at all sure what I am, or am not, permitted to call myself. I fear that I, at last, know what and who I am, but I am not at all sure if being that is acceptable in an evolving world. Luckily, we will all be dead soon enough. Now that’s something to really look forward to for the terminally bewildered. I like the idea of ‘A Death’ as the inflection point of this ‘Comedy’ we are constructing. I have that funny death story to tell yet properly. That one where Jeffrey suddenly shot upright, screaming at his parents who were quibbling over what to watch on the TV. He screamed fiercely at them “I’m dying, I get to choose the video!”. It was gloriously well said. I do love the tyranny of the dying. I do love the abject tyranny of the victim (my specialty). Feck it, I will go the whole hog. I do love tyranny. I also love saying ‘Feck’, when everyone understands that you are insinuating another vowel in the place of that ‘e’. I love that feck is proper and Irish, a softening of that blow, like a dropped ‘h’, that sort of softening and lilting.
He chose 'Singing in the Rain' and collapsed back into bed raving madly about having to make three different types of pies to prepare for some party or other in his head.
I did my job. I pressed the button and released more morphine, through the catheter in his chest, awash in the 'poor meeees'.
mea culpa, mea culpa,mea máxima culpa.
Later, I made a drawing about his wonderful, life-affirming, self-assertion. I photographed myself beside it, the drawing that is, but discovered, whilst looking at it later, that I seemed to have disappeared.
I guess that's how things go. (Secretly, I love removing myself (with photoshop), but don't tell anyone).
John: A fine eulogy, full of life.
Ruin: I want to reply to this, a little later. I might even have to go into the third person, to get a little distance from the answer, and what it means. This will be an important part of 'the book'. I am putting this here as a sort of commitment.
Anyway, to start, another extended version of this 'story' begins under this photo (the title in parentheses below) below this. It starts with “I’m dying, I get to choose the video”, about halfway down. But I now want to write something a lot more personal, a lot more 'private' perhaps. So far I have been writing about what I call the 'Wild Geese', a recognised phenomenon in Irish history and culture. Now I want to talk about something a little more close to home, and that's the cuckoo gene. That born out of desperation taking up domicile in the 'nests' of other birds, that type of 'taking over'. I think of it slightly relative to that 'banquet idea' that excess, like a pheasant being stuffed with a quail, and the quail in turn being stuffed with a starling, or any smaller bird, that decadence. Anyway, I want to look at that goose initially stuffed with a cuckoo, that idea of the self as a desperate exploiter, but also looking at it as a survival strategy, a Darwinian ploy, even. I am still brewing it in my head, so it will stutter along.
‘On Universal Innocence and The Forgiveness of Freckles’.
But back to Geese and cuckoos.
‘The Rôti Sans Pareil Is 17 Birds Stuffed Inside Each Other and It Is Delicious’. So ran the headline.
"The recipe calls for a bustard stuffed with a turkey stuffed with a goose stuffed with a pheasant stuffed with a chicken stuffed with a duck stuffed with a guinea fowl stuffed with a teal stuffed with a woodcock stuffed with a partridge stuffed with a..."
There is a sort of madness there, manifesting, perhaps, one of the reasons we don't deserve to be here at all. Not that deserving has anything to do with it anyway.
Chickenman, Wild Geese, and now Cuckoo, this sounds like I am on a type of fowl trajectory. Here's to soaring, or swansonging, or attempting both, even!
John: The cuckoo was a popular metaphor in the 1950s, quite possibly in response to the aftermath of WWII and your revival gives it greater depth. One of the explorations of Bernard Malamud and Saul Bellow was the impossibly undermined reconstruction of male identity, no matter what roots they sought to revive. The cuckoo, with its echo of cuckold, the returners from war rewarded with the ghost of doubt of paternity, puts all into those same murky depths of identity which artists equally embrace or flee. As ancient mythology evidences, we have always had a need to understand and belong. Post-wars and natural disasters our need for the perceived solidity of information is greatly enhanced. Technically, having a family formed of my partner's and her ex's three daughters, I am a cuckoo.
Apart from the actual people (greatly rewarding) I have also wondered if I was defying my sense of unbelonging by consciously electing to be the cuckoo, which, unlike being an artist, is I believe a choice.
Ruin: Yes, that would be true, that returning soldier thing. I would guess it has always been the case, have soldiers not been returning since time immemorial? I didn't make the connection between cuckoo and cuckold, a 'duh!' moment for me. Of course, it is there. I particularly like the cuckold personage. If I was going by the evidence of Reddit, or wherever, cuckolding seems to be enjoying a huge revival in the fetish world currently. I would guess it was all part and parcel of dealing with the diminished, and further diminishing, male, that area of 'twixt and 'tween being generated by an excess of hormone disruptors now in the environment (in plastics and whatever). But I have a whole theory about that relative to the possibility of the human animal evolving from sexual reproduction to bifurcatory splitting, that laboratory-assisted dividing known as cloning, the copying of the self, whilst we are at that point of the Y chromosome being, apparently, at 3% of its former glory. Scientists tell us that it appears to be stable at 3%, but infinity is funny like that relative to stability.
The only place we would differ on here is that "unlike artist", which I am pretty sure we might partially agree on anyway. I don't see making art (or writing, even), any form of communication really, as a 'choice'. I see it both as an instinct and a compulsion, and for the most part a disruptive nuisance, an itch. I would have to fight very hard to resist it, that scratching called art making or communicating. I would have to go totally against my 'natural' self.
But this is something I will continue to work out until I no longer can, compulsively, this awful/wonderful itch. I like writing here, simply because it is immediate communication, and sometimes the feedback like yours is invaluable. There is this idea that writing needs to be done alone, like art, but I don't think that is necessarily 'true'. I think you have to work it out the best way you can, and there are no rules.
When I quote you, should I call you John Seven, or just John? I have been calling you John, but thought I should ask. As in "John: A fine eulogy, full of life." Would you prefer John Seven?
John: Well, I don't know what went wrong with my sentence construction there, as I intended to state that artist is not a choice (nor a guarantee of quality). Now amended. Regarding my name - John used to be the skinhead universal form of address, as in "Y'want bovver Jon?"
It was also, in the the year I was born, the Mohamed, It was also, in the year I was born, the Mohamed, Muhammad, Muhamad, or Mohammad of its day, the most common male name in the world. In its many forms - Ian, Iain, Ifan, Sean, Shaun, Shane, Jens, Jean, Joan, Johan and so on.
I am happy with whatever you choose.
Ruin: I guessed we were on the same page relative to art, or writing, this 'fever' to communicate is uncontrollable. It’s not a choice at all. But I feel the same about this cuckoo behaviour and this catfishing too. I see them both as survival manoeuvres, generated mostly out of desperation. Anyway, that's the point I will be starting from for this 'chapter'. I will be using the text generated here, and pulling it through the pronoun mangle, writing it in the third person, to get some distance, some overview.
Blimey, he realised, his behaviour had been stark raving cuckoo. He found it as difficult to think about as to write about this, but felt in the writing of it, that some liberation might be found there. The working out of it was going to have to be in the present, but there would be references and stories that harked back to his ‘Wild Goose’ history, his wandering, his running away. He knew too that he was going to have to stop playing with words, stop trying to entertain, this was not the way to go. By this he meant that “meself” as opposed to myself, that ‘cod Irish’, that “at all, at all”. That would naturally fall away anyway, as he moved away from childhood, as he learnt to speak, to communicate, even. His leaving Ireland was, in a way, his learning to talk. Before that period, he had been that oft-described stuttering, nervous entity, floundering between church-generated guilt and maintaining his secret—that abuse, that incest, that familial interference that could only serve to completely sunder him from family, and any semblance of security, of a feeling of belonging or of ever having been nurtured. It was nobody’s fault. Those who haven’t been nurtured have no idea how to nurture, and similarly those who have never been protected have no way of knowing how to proffer protection. Both his parents had, in their turn, been abandoned as children. It was all they knew. This was somehow part and parcel of the history of that emerald island, that history of hundreds of years of abuse. That this abuse caused Irish literature to blossom, in that foreign tongue, English, is one of those creative offshoots of abuse, one of those ‘miracles’, as his mother used to say, describing anything good or beneficial, a silver lining around those multi-generational deadening clouds.
He was angry, sad, and excited when he discovered that he had to leave to survive, that he had to give up everything and everyone he had ever known, and set out alone for that pagan land on the other side of the Irish Sea. Looking back, he liked that this cuckoo also described a sort of madness; other than the survival instinct it became somewhat renowned for, it also described that ‘stark raving’ idea, that there had always been this connection we humans make about this misunderstood creature, and its development of certain Darwinian characteristics generated by its struggle to survive.
Stealing somewhat from the title of the book by Mr Foster Wallace (of the multiple footnotes on footnotes), he suspected that he had come to that point where he might, at last, ‘Consider the Cuckoo’.
John: This riffing on a thought, expanding out to discover surprises and similarities is a thing of wonder.
Ruin: It's a bit strange to be working it out in 'real time' here. I am literally working it through in my head as I write it. It becomes a self-justification, of sorts, I guess. I will tie it in, somehow, to the main theme. I am coming out of that chapter which has to do with childhood, and heading towards London, via a year in Liverpool—that age-old Irish route—through Aristophanes' The Birds, from which the expression 'Cloud Cuckoo Land' comes, through Mr Darwin, on the way towards New York, and 'Rack and Ruin'.
But yes, he was heading for ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’, only inasmuch as it was to be totally unfamiliar; there was the madness there of difference, a way of thinking that was foreign to everything he knew. The old rules just didn’t apply, but there were also new rules to learn.
On Universal Order
Or blessed lack thereof.
Dear Rack,
I suspect we have both had our moments with each other, compassionate and understanding, and the opposite. I have never felt particularly worthy, but that’s a universal, some dreadful leftover from a hideously insecure childhood, neglectful parents, an absent alcoholic father and an abusive uncle—all that palaver, that stuff of amateur melodrama, probably endemic, commonplace even, on that little emerald jewel called ‘home’. The thing is, or the pedestrian tragedy is, that you don’t really realise what you are carrying with you when you set off into the world alone; when you put on your walking shoes, you have no idea what your coping mechanisms are, how skew-whiff they might be relative to a world out there, a place that has most likely generated another type of abuse, a foreign variant, one which you have no experience of at all. It’s not unlike our beloved Omicron, another spiked battering ram, something that you might survive or not.
Yes, it’s the same old same old, those ‘Wild Geese’ setting off, full of youthful energy and dreams of conquest, already weighed down by their own undoing. Compassion was easy for me when we met. You had, apparently, fallen at the first hurdle, or so it seemed. I was very wrong about that. Wrecked Rack was phoenix-like. I didn’t know that then, though that constant re-igniting can work a certain ruin on the old cadaver. I notice a chemical smell in my urine, and I was wondering if you do too. We are now part chemical; a bit like our beloved de Selby’s part bicycle, part human. We have been absorbing chemicals now for decades, and you even two decades more than I have. One cannot help but wonder how they have an effect on our very DNA, our day-to-day thoughts, our moods and our hopes, or despairs. But, butt, chicken butt, as I like to say, I have decided to make their influence positive. We are a hybrid, a new man and woman, a chemically enhanced super-breed of survivors.
How’s that for famous last words?
We are like no one else, though this is true of everyone. Now we have the added input of our screens, our hard-drives and external devices, all brain-enhancers and exploitable. These are our external memories, as that innate ability to remember slopes off, and it’s nothing less than a frigging ‘Universal Superhighway’. Nobody has had that before, though I would question as to whether this is a recurring phenomenon, forgotten but recurring, on an infinite, ever-expanding loop (call me loopy). Heloise and Abelard could have done with a bit of that, but they managed anyway, so how can we not rape and pillage the universe with this magnificent, unimaginable tool at our disposal? The only thing that holds us back is our massive insecurity, and our excuses. But the proffering of these to each other, the unashamed exposing of them, is the beginning of this Knausgaardian ‘struggle’, and we have been doing this for almost 30 years. We have the capacity to cross-germinate, to percolate Sontag’s ‘Camp’ through Knausgaard’s, and the other tyrant’s, ‘Kampf’—that tragedy and camp comedy combined. I would like a little more of that ‘fun’ back, the laughing at the absurdity of it all combined with the realisation of what we wrought, and how blindly reactive it was, and we were.
It would be wonderful to laugh, and scream, together again.
"But I wonder if you share my feeling that to write anything sufficiently accurate and engaging, and actually get it over all the hurdles of publication, and risk the ultimate disappointment of remaindering ... Oh, I could not do it now."
No, I have no intention of 'publishing', or even presenting what I am writing and thinking about, other than on Flickr. I find that I do things in 4-year tranches. The idea is just to sort out some of the mess I made, that cacophony of images I generated whilst trying to understand.
I am looking for where I didn't manage to communicate, although some of it ended up in museums (with appropriate puffing out of chest). A 4-year tranche is a challenge, a challenge because of age and the dragging of another 'fatal' disease along with one through a pandemic. Blissfully, science has intervened yet again, somewhat offering respite, temporarily, from the Horsemen. I got that second AstraZeneca yesterday, but am still jealous of those enjoying the intervention of the mRNA vaccines into the livestream of their DNA. If we are going to be so interfered with in that way, I want to be one of the first on that cutting edge of the glorious new Science religion (that I love)! I would have loved to have been the Musk of death, that space pioneer and not the smell. Although, one appears to have missed that boat, along with many others, for now. But there is an acute awareness of their fetlocks and broomsticks—of those aforementioned Horsemen, that is, and their Woo and Woe.
Publishers, Bookshops, Museums and Galleries are over. Didn't you get the memo?
At the same time, that remainder bin is essential. It is, more or less, where we all end up, the good and the bad, those who write with clarity and those who lick and salve their purple wounds in public.
You know that I love purple, in a hate purple sort of way. Don't start me on Orange.
"Green is the color of nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Dark green is also commonly associated with money. Green has great healing power. It is the most restful color for the human eye; it can improve vision. Green suggests stability and endurance. "
Think Green ...
Another fluid experiment joins long running research on foam stability on the International Space Station. The Foam-Coarsening experiment, developed by Airbus for ESA, is scheduled to be activated this month in the Fluid Science Laboratory in the European Columbus module.
The foams come in self-contained cells, imaged above, and hold liquids that will be shaken (not stirred) and analysed with laser optics and high-resolution cameras. Researchers are keen to observe how foams behave in microgravity.
On Earth, the mixture of gas and liquid that makes up a foam quickly starts to change. Gravity pulls the liquid between the bubbles downwards, and the small bubbles shrink while the larger ones tend to grow at the expense of others. Due to drainage, coarsening (or enlarging) and rupture of the bubbles, a foam starts to collapse back to a liquid state.
But in space foams are more stable because there is no drainage in weightlessness. This allows scientists to study the slower phenomena of a bubble becoming bigger and bursting, which on Earth are masked by the drainage that destabilises the foam.
ESA astronaut Frank De Winne performed the Foam-Stability experiment in 2009 by shaking liquid solutions and recording what happened next. The samples ranged from pure water to protein-based fluids, like the ones used for chocolate foams, and antifoaming agents.
After just ten seconds, the fluids stabilised more quickly and produced more foam than on Earth. Scientists discovered that it was possible to create super-stable foams in zero gravity.
Building on this extensive foam research, Foam-Coarsening will investigate foam behaviour at different liquid stages, particularly as it transitions from a solid- to liquid-like state.
The results from this research will not just apply to the foam in your morning cappuccino. Foams are used in a wide range of areas from food production to cleaning and sealing products, cosmetics and personal hygiene products, and even construction.
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir installed the experiment in the Fluid Science Laboratory on 6 March after removing the Multiscale boiling experiment known as Rubi.
Credits: Airbus–Arne Piontek
PHILIPPINE SEA (Aug. 12, 2020) An MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 25 delivers cargo to the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) during a replenishment at sea. America, flagship of the America Expeditionary Strike Group, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Matthew Cavenaile)
I want peace of mind, stability at work.
I'm a director of sales for a small marketing company.
I actually studied biology originally. Since I'm from here, tech marketing is the booming industry where there are a lot of jobs.
--
50/365
PREFACE
"SHADHINOTA is My Cause for the 40th Celebration of BANGLADESH Independence. The land, the mighty rivers and the natural beauty makes Bangladesh a land of unparalleled splendor and magnificence. Bangladesh was liberated after a prolonged war of Independence the declaration of which was given on 26th MARCH 1971. One of the worst genocides Genocide in history took place at the behest of an autocratic regime in the name of Political stability spearheaded by the then Pakistan President Yah ya Khan. After 9 months of Liberation water and the sacrifice of 3 million lives Victory came. In addition to the loss of lives countless others were rendered homeless, the infrastructure including roads and bridges and factories lay in ruins. The people of Bangladesh have shown time and again how resilient they are. After each and every disaster, natural or man-made the people have again stood up and started all over again from scratch.
My Effort here is to pay tribute to the valiant sons of the soil and the ‘die hard’ attitude of a people who can still smile in the face of adversity however great it may be. I plan to make a collage of images that represent the lives of the people of Bangladesh. I encourage you to upload a photo each day till I have a total of 40 images for the Cause SHADHINOTA in the group Frame BANGLADESH"
To be Continued till 26th March 2011
________End _______________
This Photo has taken from . Dhaka, Farmget from my house Roof Top.
© Please don't use this image without my permission.
All contents are copyrighted © 2011
Except where otherwise noted. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
As always, thank you for all of your feedback and compliments, it's very much appreciated.
# 01711844948.
______________________________________________________
Model: Nicco Palazzi
So I have been sitting on this photo for a while, and I don't know why because I am actually quite fond of it! Nicco is amazing to work with! I could probably write a novel here about how much I love him but I will simply introduce him as my best friend and new room mate! We shot this when he came home with me at the beginning of the summer. I hate how long I have been holding on to photos lately. I have been making art work, just not sharing anything! I couldn't ask for a more creative atmosphere for my summer. I have been working at a tailoring shop and spending a lot of time outdoors. I hope everyone else is having an fantastic summer too!
Just another from a finally successful chase on Pan Am east from Ayer a few weeks back.
I'd end my chase from Ayer here on a nice high note capturing an all blue scene that's long been on my list. Pan Am Railways train AYPO with 72 cars trailing a matched pair of C40-8s bound for Rigby Yard is rolling east ul Main 1 at Frost, CPF FR on Pan Am's Freight Main at MP 284.25 (measured from Mattawamkeag, Maine) and also MBTA MP 26.75 (measured from Boston North Station). Tied down on track 17 at left is a cut of cars from Boston with GP40-2LW MEC 518 (blt. Apr. 1976 as CN 9664) holding the air.
Dominating the background to the right of the train is The Ayer Mill Clock Tower the world’s largest mill clock. Its four big glass faces are only 6 inches smaller than Big Ben in London. It is the treasured icon and landmark of the community, a hard luck post industrial city that was once an industrial powerhouse trying to reclaim a bit of its past glory.
Lawrence was formed in 1843 from land purchased from Methuen and Andover by successful business men from Lowell to establish a new textile manufacturing industry on the banks of the Merrimack River. Periods of boom followed periods of financial difficulty for the huge mills that attracted immigrant workers from all over Europe. By the 1890’s a solution to stability appeared to be consolidation and in 1899 under the direction of Frederick Ayer, eight textile companies merged under a new trust: The American Woolen Company.
In 1906, president of the American Woolen Company, William Wood, Frederick Ayer’s son-in-law, completed construction of a huge new mill intended to produce all the yarn for the company and named it the Wood Worsted Mill. Just one wing of this new mill was half a mile long. The mill spun the fleece of 600,000 sheep in just five hours, but even with this capacity Wood soon realized that it could never produce all the yarn requirements of the company, so he began construction of the Ayer mill, named after his father-in-law, in 1909.
The Ayer Mill, built to spin and dye yarn, was opened on October 3, 1910. Its grand, illuminated clock tower immediately became the architectural focal point of the Merrimack Valley. Decades later the competition of synthetic materials, the migration of the mill companies to southern states, and the end of war-time demand for woolen blankets and clothing doomed northern mills, and The American Woolen Company closed in 1955. Without regular maintenance, the Ayer mill clock soon stopped working. As thousands of residents lost jobs the city fell into major decline and the grand old clock, its disrepair visible to all at 260 feet above street level, became a symbol of the Valley’s economic troubles.
After 36 years, the community rallied in 1991 to restore the clock. Over $1 million was raised and artisans were called in to bring it back to life. Clemente Abascal, a realtor and community activist working on the effort, saw the restoration as a harbinger of hope. “Once the economy starts turning around, the city of Lawrence will come back stronger than ever. That clock symbolizes people at work”, he said. The original bell that had called thousands of people to and from work throughout the city, had been lost for years and was replaced by a beautiful replica.
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Wednesday February 17, 2021
(See notes for details about function)
Throughout the ceasefire period of the war, Axis forces focused heavily on establishing submission and stability in captured territories. No one in the German leadership had any delusions as to if the war would continue or not. Knowing that resumption of conflict was inevitable, an aggressive campaign to assimilate occupied peoples and re-brand Axis image was launched.
From the first day, the various resistance networks proved a significant obstacle to this effort. Wherever the resistance lived, a stifling of old nationalism was impossible. Before long, the entire campaign was redirected from building Axis sympathy and loyalty, to counter terrorism and riot suppression.
As war tensions increased during the 70's, the urgency for the resistance to be suppressed increased as well. To this end, Walther manufactured a semi-automatic sniper rifle system to be issued to the police fighting resistance cells. The WA-1980 would prove to be a bit too late. Although it was incredibly effective and helped significantly reduce the number of resistance agents, the war broke back out shortly after.
In the uprisings across Europe during the Allied reconquest of Britain, many of these rifles were seized; some from the hands of killed officers, others from a Walther factory that a resistance cell successfully raided. These captured rifles, in the hands of resistance fighters, drove fear into the hearts of Axis officers. Successful assassinations dramatically increased, and police were forced to abandon their suppression campaign to focus on VIP security.
(Comments and notes welcome)
PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 19, 2022) Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 3rd Class Deandre Begaye, from Shiprock, N.M., operates an aircraft tow tractor on the flight deck aboard amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli (LHA 7). Tripoli is operating in U.S. 7th Fleet to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and maintain stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Peter Burghart)
...the Winds, intrinsic by its nature
to support the Wings of flying Birds
supplying density of ether to promote
stability of motion to reign afloat, above
green grass, & storming waters, above
skyscrapers shaking as mirage in dry
desert somewhere & beyond imagination
& common sense perceptible by our eyes,
& equal to verbal innuendo transparent in
realm of vanished steps in firmaments
& bluish Skies, compiling memories &
flying nouns, symbolic coloring of feathers,
even tails while skillful pirouettes attached
to lens & eyes in canvas-atmosphere supplied
by definition predisposed to freely glide
released from yoke of gravitation infesting
totally keyboard, by virtue of composing verse
by mind, old pen, used pencils, paper pile,
as paradigm to revive vain pulse & voice of
sentimental (better say - "emotional"!) libretto,
its proper sounds warmed by a-Capella's
resonance reminding passions of Choral,
sole unity of nouns, its bliss & charm defining
days before, existed but already gone,
by efforts-syllables of every single vowel
by running limping clocks, by holding
memories of individual & personal realm,
routine exchange between variety of Nature's
artifacts, intangible, but highly valued by its
importance:
the drops of Rain,
the trajectory denoting flying Birds,
anticipation to record hues-colors after
Rain, suspended Rainbow as cherished
print on Retina, neuronal marker of speech
aloud, & sonorous imprint from all
around & within semantically embedded
on behalf to stay alive, & to survive in wild
environment enhanced by modern grammar,
already predisposed to cacophony & grotesque of
screams, its echoes, repeating imminence of daily
masquerade & propaganda, its obvious B..l S..t
within its narrative, agenda, ritual
of tidal rise & slow Market-downs,
plus silent foliage at odd & even nights,
its naivete composing sole abstract
of urbanity's dependence co-exist in caves,
subways, in midst of traffic lights
without rage, et-cetera...
Since memory dictates summation, rigor
of stable nouns, verbs, adverbs,
conjunctions, archaic logic interjections
encapsulated in valid disarray of fluid
prepositions: grammatical "adrenaline"
to fix climatic pattern, inhibit Polar hail
& speed of fallen drops, & shape
of snow flakes, & timbre of thunder-bolts,
by changing Energy & Time & Space,
by utter fallacy of creeping argument.
Alas.
...the Wind, the Rain, the calming Snow, all
attributes reality from plane and horizontal
lines evoked Sunrise still running daily to
advent such subtle reign of memories:
Today. About Yesterday.
As Memory from blurring lens in size of print
residing in format of 35 em-em by fodius.
Or - canvas & pigments, or - metal.
Or, even silver prints.
In Black & White for academia tradition.
Dramatic a-Gestalt additional aspect to bust
imagination in cortical proximity within.
...but rushing back-&-forth
to mirrored bliss still shuffled feelings
of breeze touched skin,
& herbal scents of meadows in bloom
recorded by deepest I-ness and
visceral instinct existent, utter Ego before a
Times acclaimed distinction, & more prosaic
than inner Prose, reflecting epitomes
by speaking for subtlest embodiment
of flock of Birds, or any other pattern,
any objects, & forming artifacts,
or - sooner subjects of attraction
as bright as photophobia's accord
to torture eyes ajar,
to store imprint & focus on Retina,
transforming scant perception
of an illusion into precious gift:
Almighty's grant.
As memory. As facts.
As sole summation of perished vibes:
- the foggy lights in rainy night, Boulevard
de Clichy. Paris, 1982;
- the smell Espresso in Rodilla. 1996. Madrid;
- Roll-up-makhorka in Taiga, 1973. My Mother
smoked in labor camps. Since 1941. GULAG.
As memory. As fact...
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200823-N-IO312-1179 PHILIPPINE SEA (Aug. 23, 2020) Marines assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit conduct fast-rope sustainment training on the flight deck of the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6). America, flagship of the America Expeditionary Strike Group, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to maintain security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Matthew Cavenaile)
Playa de Aigüesblanques utilizando un filtro degradado de densidad neutra de 3 pasos
Beach Aigues Blanques using a gradient neutral density filter 3 steps
SOUTH CHINA SEA (Sept. 6, 2020) As seen from the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42), the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18) sails in the South China Sea during a visit, board, search and seizure exercise aboard Germantown. Germantown, part of the America Amphibious Ready Group assigned to Amphibious Squadron 11, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)
The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família Spanish: Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia; English: Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family) is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926). Gaudí's work on the building is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated and proclaimed it a minor basilica, as distinct from a cathedral, which must be the seat of a bishop.
In 1882 construction of Sagrada Família commenced under architect Francisco Paula de Villar until 1883, when Gaudí became involved when Francisco resigned as the head architect.Taking over the project, Gaudí transformed it with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.
Sagrada Familia's construction progressed slowly, as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death.
The basílica has a long history of dividing the citizens of Barcelona: over the initial possibility it might compete with Barcelona's cathedral, over Gaudí's design itself, over the possibility that work after Gaudí's death disregarded his design, and the 2007 proposal to build an underground tunnel of Spain's high-speed rail link to France which could disturb its stability. Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said, "It is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art" and Paul Goldberger describes it as, "The most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages." Wikipedia
Sunrise
Sonnenaufgang
Mono Lake (/ˈmoʊnoʊ/ MOH-noh) is a saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake which make its water alkaline.
The desert lake has an unusually productive ecosystem based on brine shrimp, which thrive in its waters, and provides critical habitat for two million annual migratory birds that feed on the shrimp and alkali flies (Ephydra hians). Historically, the native Kutzadika'a people ate the alkali flies' pupae, which live in the shallow waters around the edge of the lake. When the city of Los Angeles diverted water from the freshwater streams flowing into the lake, it lowered the lake level, which imperiled the migratory birds. The Mono Lake Committee formed in response and won a legal battle that forced Los Angeles to partially replenish the lake level.
Geology
Mono Lake occupies part of the Mono Basin, an endorheic basin that has no outlet to the ocean. Dissolved salts in the runoff thus remain in the lake and raise the water's pH levels and salt concentration. The tributaries of Mono Lake include Lee Vining Creek, Rush Creek and Mill Creek which flows through Lundy Canyon
The basin was formed by geological forces over the last five million years: basin and range crustal stretching and associated volcanism and faulting at the base of the Sierra Nevada. 45 Five million years ago, the Sierra Nevada was an eroded set of rolling hills and Mono Basin and Owens Valley did not yet exist.
From 4.5 to 2.6 million years ago, large volumes of basalt were extruded around what is now Cowtrack Mountain (east and south of Mono Basin); eventually covering 300 square miles (780 km2) and reaching a maximum thickness of 600 feet (180 m). 45 Later volcanism in the area occurred 3.8 million to 250,000 years ago. This activity was northwest of Mono Basin and included the formation of Aurora Crater, Beauty Peak, Cedar Hill (later an island in the highest stands of Mono Lake), and Mount Hicks.
Mono Lake is believed to have formed at least 760,000 years ago, dating back to the Long Valley eruption. Sediments located below the ash layer hint that Mono Lake could be a remnant of a larger and older lake that once covered a large part of Nevada and Utah, which would put it among the oldest lakes in North America. At its height during the most recent ice age, the lake would have been about 900 feet (270 m) deep. Prominent old shore lines, called strandlines by geologists, can be seen west of the Lake.
Currently, Mono Lake is in a geologically active area at the north end of the Mono–Inyo Craters volcanic chain and is close to Long Valley Caldera. Volcanic activity continues in the Mono Lake vicinity: the most recent eruption occurred 350 years ago, resulting in the formation of Paoha Island. Panum Crater (on the south shore of the lake) is an example of a combined rhyolite dome and cinder cone.
Tufa towers
Many columns of limestone rise above the surface of Mono Lake. These limestone towers consist primarily of calcium carbonate minerals such as calcite (CaCO3). This type of limestone rock is referred to as tufa, which is a term used for limestone that forms in low to moderate temperatures.
Tufa tower formation
Mono Lake is a highly alkaline lake, or soda lake. Alkalinity is a measure of how many bases are in a solution, and how well the solution can neutralize acids. Carbonate (CO32-) and bicarbonate (HCO3−) are both bases. Hence, Mono Lake has a very high content of dissolved inorganic carbon. Through supply of calcium ions (Ca2+), the water will precipitate carbonate-minerals such as calcite (CaCO3). Subsurface waters enter the bottom of Mono Lake through small springs. High concentrations of dissolved calcium ions in these subsurface waters cause huge amounts of calcite to precipitate around the spring orifices. The tufa originally formed at the bottom of the lake. It took many decades or even centuries to form the well-recognized tufa towers. When lake levels fell, the tufa towers came to rise above the water surface and stand as the majestic pillars seen today (see Lake Level History for more information).
Lake-level history
An important characteristic of Mono Lake is that it is a closed lake, meaning it has no outflow. Water can only escape the lake if it evaporates or is lost to groundwater. This may cause closed lakes to become very saline. The lake level of closed lakes will be strongly dependent on changes in climate. Hence, studying lake levels can reveal information about climate change in the past and present. Geochemists have observed that carbonates from closed lakes appear to have δ13C and δ18O (carbon and oxygen isotopes) with covariant trends. It has been proposed that this covariation occurs because of coupled evaporation and CO2 degassing. The lighter isotopes, 12C and 16O, will preferentially go to the gas phase with increased evaporation. As a result, δ13C and δ18O in the remaining lake both become increasingly heavy. Other factors such as biology, atmospheric properties, and freshwater compositions and flow may also influence δ13C and δ18O in lakes. These factors must be stable to achieve a covariant δ13C and δ18O trend. As such, correlations between δ18O and δ13C can be used to infer developments in the lake stability and hydrological characteristics through time. It is important to note that this correlation is not directly related to the lake level itself but rather the rate of change in lake level. Three different studies with three different methods provide different resolutions to understanding the lake level history of Mono Lake.
150-year record
The covariation between δ18O in lake water and lake level in Mono Lake have been recorded over a 150-year time interval in Mono Lake. The δ18O record was compared to historic lake levels recorded by the USGS. The lake level and δ18O record were observed to have a strong correlation with minor offsets. Changes in δ18O of lake water were inversely correlated with lake level. This revealed six stages in lake level in the past 150 years: high stands at 1845, 1880, and 1915 as well as low stands at 1860, 1900, and 1933. The δ18O record compared well to the recorded precipitation and streamflow of Nevada City in California. Decreases in δ18O correlated well with increases in precipitation as well as increases in streamflow and vice versa.
10,000-year record
A sediment core from Mono Lake reveals a 10,000 year record of carbonates (dated through ash beds). Here δ18O and δ13C did covary when observed through long time intervals of>5,000 years, whereas the correlation was not present during shorter time scales. It was found that the record revealed 5 periods of distinct lake conditions:
9.7 - 8.7 ka: Rising lake level. Decreasing δ18O and δ13C reflected an increased lake level. In fact, the lake level reached the Holocene High Stand. This high stand corresponded to a period of maximum effective moisture in the Great Basin.
8.7 - 6.5 ka: Dropping lake level. A sudden increase in δ18O and δ13C suggested that lake levels dropped. Following, weak correlation between δ18O and δ13C suggested that lake levels stabilized.
6.5 - 5.9 ka: Rising lake level. An increase in δ18O and δ13C correlated with a decrease in lake level. The lake level drop continued until the Holocene Low Stand at 5.9 ka, which corresponded to a period of minimum effective moisture in the Great Basin.
2 - 0.6 ka: Unconformity. The gap between 6 - 2 ka could be attributed to shallow lake conditions. In addition, sediment types observed in the core between 2 - 0.6 ka largely reflected shallow water conditions. During the Medieval Warm Period, which occurred from 0.9 - 0.7 ka, the lake level was around the same as today. In general, the period was dominated by a shallow, stable lake level with low covariance between δ18O and δ13C.
490 – 360 years ago: High, fluctuating lake levels. This period corresponded to the Little Ice Age. The isotopic record had very high annual resolution. The lake levels were generally high but fluctuated a little resulting in low correlation between δ18O and δ13C . At the end of this period, δ18O and δ13C evolved towards a trend of decreasing lake level.
Overall the lake levels of Mono Lake appeared to have corresponded to known climatic events such as periods of maximum or minimum effective moisture, the Medieval Warm Period, and the Little Ice Age.
35,000-year record
Lake levels of Mono Lake during the Pleistocene have also been reconstructed using stratigraphic inspection of paleoshorelines, radio carbon dating, and δ18O records from sediments. These analyses helped reconstruct lake levels of the past 35,000 years.
36 - 35 ka: Rising lake level. Decreasing δ18O revealed that lake level began to rise at about this time from a lake level altitude of 2015 m.
35 - 21 ka: High stable lake level. Little fluctuation in δ18O suggested a stable lake level. This stable lake level corresponded to two beds of silt that would have been deposited in a deep lake.
20 - 15 ka: Dropping lake level. There was a sudden fall in lake level at the beginning of this period. Sand delta terraces from this time period indicated a lake-surface altitude of 2035 m. Recorded δ18O increased over this time period, reflecting falling lake level.
5 - 13 ka: Rising lake level. During this period, Mono Lake rose to its highest lake-surface altitude of 2155 m. This corresponded to a decrease in δ18O.
13+ ka: Dropping lake level. Following peak lake level, the lake level decreased to 1965 m at ~ 10 ka as evidenced by an increase in δ18O and paleoshorelines.
This lake-level record has been correlated with significant climatic events including polar jet stream movement, Heinrich, and Dansgaard-Oeschger events.
Ecology
Aquatic life
The hypersalinity and high alkalinity (pH=10 or equivalent to 4 milligrams of NaOH per liter of water) of the lake means that no fish are native to the lake. An attempt by the California Department of Fish and Game to stock the lake failed.
The whole food chain of the lake is based on the high population of single-celled planktonic algae present in the photic zone of the lake. These algae reproduce rapidly during winter and early spring after winter runoff brings nutrients to the surface layer of water. By March the lake is "as green as pea soup" with photosynthesizing algae.
The lake is famous for the Mono Lake brine shrimp, Artemia monica, a tiny species of brine shrimp, no bigger than a thumbnail, that are endemic to the lake. During the warmer summer months, an estimated 4–6 trillion brine shrimp inhabit the lake. Brine shrimp have no food value for humans, but are a staple for birds of the region. The brine shrimp feed on microscopic algae.
Alkali flies, Ephydra hians live along the shores of the lake and walk underwater, encased in small air bubbles for grazing and to lay eggs. These flies are an important source of food for migratory and nesting birds.
8 Nematode species were found living in the littoral sediment:
Auanema spec., which is outstanding for its extreme arsenic resistance (survives concentrations 500 times higher than humans), having 3 sexes, and being viviparous.
Pellioditis spec.
Mononchoides americanus
Diplogaster rivalis
species of the family Mermithidae
Prismatolaimus dolichurus
2 species of the order Monhysteridae
Birds
Mono Lake is a vital resting and eating stop for migratory shorebirds and has been recognized as a site of international importance by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. Nearly 2,000,000 waterbirds, including 35 species of shorebirds, use Mono Lake to rest and eat for at least part of the year. Some shorebirds that depend on the resources of Mono Lake include American avocets, killdeer and sandpipers. Over 1.5 million eared grebes and phalaropes use Mono Lake during their long migrations.
Late every summer tens of thousands of Wilson's phalaropes and red-necked phalaropes arrive from their nesting grounds, and feed until they continue their migration to South America or the tropical oceans respectively.
In addition to migratory birds, a few species spend several months to nest at Mono Lake. Mono Lake has the second largest nesting population of California gulls, Larus californicus, second only to the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Since abandoning the landbridged Negit Island in the late 1970s, California gulls have moved to some nearby islets and have established new, if less protected, nesting sites. Cornell University and Point Blue Conservation Science have continued the study of nesting populations on Mono Lake that was begun 35 years ago. Snowy plovers also arrive at Mono Lake each spring to nest along the remote eastern shores.
History
Native Americans
The indigenous people of Mono Lake are from a band of the Northern Paiute, called the Kutzadika'a. They speak the Northern Paiute language. The Kutzadika'a traditionally forage alkali fly pupae, called kutsavi in their language. Mono Lake was also referred to as Teniega Bah. The origin of the name "Kutzadika'a" is uncertain but could be a Yokut Native American term for "fly eater".
The term "Mono" is derived from "Monachi", a Yokut term for the tribes that live on both the east and west side of the Sierra Nevada.
During early contact, the first known Mono Lake Paiute chief was Captain John. He was also referred to by the Paiute names of Shibana or Poko Tucket. Captain John was the son of a Northern Paiute named 'older Captain John.'
The Mono tribe has two bands: Eastern and Western. The Eastern Mono joined the Western Mono bands' villages annually at Hetch Hetchy Valley, Yosemite Valley, and along the Merced River to gather acorns, different plant species, and to trade. The Western Mono traditionally lived in the south-central Sierra Nevada foothills, including Historical Yosemite Valley.
Present day Mono Reservations are currently located in Big Pine, Bishop, and several in Madera County and Fresno County, California.
Conservation efforts
The city of Los Angeles diverted water from the Owens River into the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913. In 1941, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power extended the Los Angeles Aqueduct system farther northward into the Mono Basin with the completion of the Mono Craters Tunnel between the Grant Lake Reservoir on Rush Creek and the Upper Owens River. So much water was diverted that evaporation soon exceeded inflow and the surface level of Mono Lake fell rapidly. By 1982 the lake was reduced to 37,688 acres (15,252 ha), 69 percent of its 1941 surface area. By 1990, the lake had dropped 45 vertical feet and had lost half its volume relative to the 1941 pre-diversion water level. As a result, alkaline sands and formerly submerged tufa towers became exposed, the water salinity doubled, and Negit Island became a peninsula, exposing the nests of California gulls to predators (such as coyotes), and forcing the gull colony to abandon this site.
In 1974 ecologist David Gaines and his student David Winkler studied the Mono Lake ecosystem and became instrumental in alerting the public of the effects of the lower water level with Winkler's 1976 ecological inventory of the Mono Basin. The National Science Foundation funded the first comprehensive ecological study of Mono Lake, conducted by Gaines and undergraduate students. In June 1977, the Davis Institute of Ecology of the University of California published a report, "An Ecological Study of Mono Lake, California," which alerted California to the ecological dangers posed by the redirection of water away from the lake for municipal uses.
Gaines formed the Mono Lake Committee in 1978. He and Sally Judy, a UC Davis student, led the committee and pursued an informational tour of California. They joined with the Audubon Society to fight a now famous court battle, the National Audubon Society v. Superior Court, to protect Mono Lake through state public trust laws. While these efforts have resulted in positive change, the surface level is still below historical levels, and exposed shorelines are a source of significant alkaline dust during periods of high winds.
Owens Lake, the once-navigable terminus of the Owens River which had sustained a healthy ecosystem, is now a dry lake bed during dry years due to water diversion beginning in the 1920s. Mono Lake was spared this fate when the California State Water Resources Control Board (after over a decade of litigation) issued an order (SWRCB Decision 1631) to protect Mono Lake and its tributary streams on September 28, 1994. SWRCB Board Vice-chair Marc Del Piero was the sole Hearing Officer (see D-1631). Since that time, the lake level has steadily risen. In 1941 the surface level was at 6,417 feet (1,956 m) above sea level. As of October 2013, Mono Lake was at 6,380.6 feet (1,945 m) above sea level. The lake level of 6,392 feet (1,948 m) above sea level is the goal, a goal made more difficult during years of drought in the American West.
In popular culture
Artwork
In 1968, the artist Robert Smithson made Mono Lake Non-Site (Cinders near Black Point) using pumice collected while visiting Mono on July 27, 1968, with his wife Nancy Holt and Michael Heizer (both prominent visual artists). In 2004, Nancy Holt made a short film entitled Mono Lake using Super 8 footage and photographs of this trip. An audio recording by Smithson and Heizer, two songs by Waylon Jennings, and Michel Legrand's Le Jeu, the main theme of Jacques Demy's film Bay of Angels (1963), were used for the soundtrack.
The Diver, a photo taken by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis for Pink Floyd's album Wish You Were Here (1975), features what appears to be a man diving into a lake, creating no ripples. The photo was taken at Mono Lake, and the tufa towers are a prominent part of the landscape. The effect was actually created when the diver performed a handstand underwater until the ripples dissipated.
In print
Mark Twain's Roughing It, published in 1872, provides an informative early description of Mono Lake in its natural condition in the 1860s. Twain found the lake to be a "lifeless, treeless, hideous desert... the loneliest place on earth."
In film
A scene featuring a volcano in the film Fair Wind to Java (1953) was shot at Mono Lake.
Most of the movie, High Plains Drifter (1973), by Clint Eastwood, was shot on the southern shores of Mono Lake in the 1970s. An entire town was built here for the movie. It was Clint Eastwood's first movie to direct and star in.
In music
The music video for glam metal band Cinderella's 1988 power ballad Don't Know What You Got ('Till It's Gone) was filmed by the lake.
(Wikipedia)
Der Mono Lake ist ein Natronsee; er ist also sowohl besonders alkalisch als auch besonders salzhaltig. Er liegt in Mono County im zentral-östlichen Teil von Kalifornien, in einem abflusslosen Becken am Westrand des Großen Beckens unter der Ostflanke der Sierra Nevada. Wegen der harschen Umweltbedingungen müssen Tiere und Pflanzen sowohl an den hohen pH-Wert angepasst sein als auch den Salzgehalt ertragen können. Daher hat sich ein Ökosystem aus sehr wenigen angepassten Arten bei sehr hoher Individuenzahl entwickelt, das für einige Vogelarten von besonderer Bedeutung ist.
Aus dem Einzugsgebiet des Sees wird seit 1941 Trinkwasser in eine über 520 km lange Wasserleitung abgeführt, die die Stadt Los Angeles versorgt. Dadurch sank der Wasserspiegel des Sees kontinuierlich ab, der Salzgehalt stieg, Teile des Seebetts trockneten aus. Für die Zuflüsse und den See ergaben sich schwerwiegende ökologische Folgen. Zugleich wurden im See und am Ufer zahlreiche unter Wasser entstandene Kalktuff-Gebilde in bizarren Formen sichtbar, was zur Bekanntheit des Sees beitrug. Naturschützer thematisierten ab Anfang der 1980er Jahre die Absenkung des Wasserspiegels. Nach Gerichtsbeschlüssen über eine Begrenzung der Ableitung steigt er seit Mitte der 1990er Jahre langsam wieder an.
Geographie
Das Mono-Becken liegt am Westrand der Basin-and-Range-Region, die durch eine Krustendehnung entstand. Dabei wurden überwiegend parallele Horst-und-Graben-Strukturen gebildet oder einzelne Becken wie am Mono Lake. Die Basin and Range-Region setzt sich im Norden, Osten und Süden des Sees in Kalifornien und Nevada fort. Im Südosten liegen die White Mountains, im Westen steigt die steile Flanke der Sierra Nevada auf. Das Einzugsgebiet des Mono Lake mit rund 2020 km² erstreckt sich in der Höhe vom Hauptkamm der Sierra mit Mount Lyell (3994 m) und Mount Dana (3978 m) bis hinunter zum Wasserspiegel von derzeit 1945 m über dem Meer (Stand 2017). Benachbarte Einzugsgebiete sind im Norden der Walker River, im Süden das Owens Valley mit der Long Valley Caldera als oberem Talschluss und im Westen jenseits des Sierra-Hauptkamms und des Tioga Passes der Yosemite-Nationalpark mit dem Merced River und dem Tuolumne River. Im Südwesten entspringt der San Joaquin River. Das Becken reicht 500 bis 1350 m unter das heutige Bodenniveau, es ist mit Sedimenten verfüllt, die von Gletschern, Oberflächengewässern und Vulkanen abgelagert wurden.
Das Becken entstand vor rund drei Millionen Jahren, der See gehört mit einem Alter von mindestens 760.000 Jahren zu den ältesten Seen Nordamerikas. Am Ende der letzten Eiszeit (in Nordamerika als Wisconsin glaciation bezeichnet) füllte sich das Mono-Becken vollständig mit Schmelzwasser und lief nach Osten in die benachbarten Becken über. Der dadurch entstandene, als Lake Russell bezeichnete prähistorische See hatte vor etwa 12.500 Jahren eine Fläche von knapp 900 km² und eine Tiefe von rund 100 m. Die damalige Uferlinie kann an den Hängen im Westen aus ihrer Terrassenstruktur abgelesen werden. Nach dem Ende der Eiszeit schmolzen die den See speisenden Gletscher ab; infolge des damit einhergehenden Klimawandels ließen auch die Niederschläge stark nach. Vor rund 9000 Jahren schließlich hatte der See etwa die heutige Ausdehnung, mit der er heute als Mono Lake bezeichnet wird.
Das heutige Erscheinungsbild des Mono Lake ist stark von historischem Vulkanismus geprägt. Die Mono-Inyo Craters südlich des Sees sind rhyolithische Lavadome und mit einem Alter von 2000 bis 600 Jahren die jüngste Hügelkette Nordamerikas. Der Panum-Krater, der nördlichste des Kraterfelds, ist mit rund 650 Jahren der jüngste und liegt nur etwas mehr als einen Kilometer südlich des Sees. Die dunkle Negit-Insel im Norden des Sees ist vulkanischen Ursprungs und knapp 2000 Jahre alt. Die größere, zentrale Pahoa-Insel ist die jüngste Auswirkung des Vulkanismus in der Region. Selbst nicht aus vulkanischem Material, wurde sie durch darunter aufsteigendes Magma angehoben und durchbrach vor rund 250 Jahren die Wasseroberfläche. Black Point am Nordwestufer ist der Überrest eines basaltischen Schlackenkegelvulkans, der vor etwa 13.300 Jahren unter Wasser ausbrach.
Da das Becken östlich der Sierra Nevada liegt, befindet es sich in ihrem Regenschatten. Während die östlichen Hochlagen des Gebirges Niederschläge von 1300 mm/a erhalten, herrscht an den Hängen und im Hügelland ein semiarides, am See selbst ein arides Klima mit 140 mm/a am Nordostufer. Der Zulauf zum See stammt von winterlichem Schneefall auf die höheren Lagen der Sierra, der nach der Schneeschmelze über den Lee Vining Creek und den Rush Creek zum See abläuft; beide Bäche werden vom Los Angeles Aqueduct angezapft. Kleinere Zuflüsse sind der Mill Creek und der Wilson Creek im Nordwesten. Weitere Zuflüsse im Süden und Norden führen nur zeitweise Wasser und spielen für den Wasserstand des Sees keine Rolle. Rush Creek und Mill Creek werden zur Gewinnung von Wasserkraft aufgestaut.
Mit seiner langen geologischen Existenz einhergehend ließen Klima und Niederschlag den Wasserspiegel des Sees immer wieder stark schwanken, in den letzten 3800 Jahren variierte der Wasserpegel um mindestens 40 m. Der höchste Wasserstand von 1980 m über dem Meer wurde mittels Radiokohlenstoffmethode auf vor rund 3800 Jahren datiert, der niedrigste feststellbare Pegel lag vor rund 1800 Jahren bei 1940 m. Beim Beginn der historischen Aufzeichnungen 1857 lag er bei 1949 m. Danach folgte ein Anstieg auf den Höchststand in der durch direkte Messungen belegten Zeit bei 1959 m im Jahr 1919 und ein langsamer Rückgang auf 1956 m beim Beginn der Ausleitung 1941. Im Ergebnis stand der Wasserspiegel in den letzten 2000 Jahren überwiegend unterhalb der vor der Ausleitung vorgefundenen Werte, so dass die Planungen für Wasserversorgung und -nutzung berücksichtigen müssen, dass ihre Modelle auf einer Phase mit überdurchschnittlichem Niederschlag beruhen und sie mit größerer Trockenheit rechnen sollten als bisher angenommen.
Da der Mono Lake keinen natürlichen Abfluss hat, verliert er nur durch Verdunstung an Wasser. Dadurch sammeln sich alle im zufließenden Wasser gelösten Mineralien im See an. In der Folge stieg der Salzgehalt, und das Seewasser wurde zunehmend alkalisch. Der See enthält ungefähr 258 Millionen Tonnen an im Wasser gelösten Salzen. Der Salzgehalt variiert entsprechend dem schwankenden Wasservolumen. Vor 1941 betrug er 50 Gramm pro Liter (die Ozeane der Welt haben einen durchschnittlichen Wert von 31,5 Gramm pro Liter). Als der See 1982 auf seinen niedrigsten Pegel sank, hatte der Salzgehalt sich auf 99 Gramm pro Liter verdoppelt. 2002 waren es 78 Gramm Salz pro Liter. Es wird erwartet, dass sich mit steigendem Wasserstand der Salzgehalt langfristig auf einem durchschnittlichen Niveau von 69 Gramm Salz pro Liter stabilisieren wird. Der See ist durch die Vielzahl an gelösten Carbonaten mit einem pH-Wert von 9,8 stark alkalisch. Höhere Salzkonzentrationen kommen in anderen Seen in den Vereinigten Staaten und anderen Teilen der Erde vor, aber kein anderer See der Erde weist eine vergleichbare Kombination aus Salinität und Alkalinität auf.
Auch andere Stoffe konzentrierten sich im See – die hohen Werte von ≈130 Mikromol Schwefel pro Liter Seewasser, 35 Mikromol Bor und insbesondere der hohe Gehalt von rund 200 bis im Einzelfall 300 Mikromol an Arsen pro Liter stellen einen weiteren Umweltfaktor des Sees dar, den nur wenige angepasste Organismen ertragen.
Die charakteristischen Kalktuff-Gebilde an den Seeufern entstehen unter Wasser, die heute sichtbaren wurden erst durch die Absenkung des Wasserspiegels freigelegt. Im See treten Quellen aus, die Wasser mit gelöstem Calciumcarbonat aus den umliegenden Bergen transportieren. Durch die unterschiedlichen Säurewerte von Quellwasser und See kommt es zur Ausfällung der Carbonate als Kalktuff. Eine Besonderheit des Mono Lake ist der Sand-Tuff. Quellen mit hoher Schüttung an sandigen Uferabschnitten können Süßwasser, Sand und das Salzwasser des Sees so verwirbeln, dass Tuffausfällungen in dünnen Schichten im Sand auftreten. Wird der Sand später durch die Strömung ausgewaschen, bleiben kleine, filigrane Gebilde aus Tuff erhalten, die in einigen Fällen trocken fallen und so der schnellen Zerstörung durch die Strömung entgehen.
Ein weiteres Mineral am Mono Lake ist Hazenit. Das biogene Phosphat wird in Algen des Sees gebildet, die an den Kalktuff-Säulen wachsen. Es wurde 2007 erstmals beschrieben und bisher an keinem anderen Ort gefunden.
Ökologie
Die hohe Salinität des Mono Lake in Verbindung mit der Alkalität eines pH-Wertes von knapp 10 schränkt das Ökosystem im und am See stark ein. Im See können nur Arten leben, deren Stoffwechsel in besonderem Maße an den osmotischen Druck und dem daraus folgenden geringen Gehalt an freiem Wasser im Organismus angepasst ist.
Der See unterteilt sich in zwei wesentliche Lebensräume:
In den tiefen Wasserbereichen ist Phytoplankton die Grundlage der Nahrungskette. Von diesen ernähren sich Krebstiere, vorwiegend die im Mono Lake endemische Art Artemia monica und in geringerem Maße Artemia salina, Kleinkrebse mit einer Größe von wenigen Millimetern bis unter einem Zentimeter. Im offenen Wasser gibt es kein Zooplankton von nennenswerter Verbreitung, der Seegrund ist in den tiefen Wasserbereichen völlig frei von tierischem Leben. Diese Krebstiere sind die Nahrungsgrundlage für den Schwarzhalstaucher und die Kaliforniermöwe.
In den Uferzonen ist die Salzfliegenart Ephydra hians maßgeblich. Auch sie ernährt sich von Phytoplankton. Anders als im Tiefwasser kommen in den Uferbereichen allerdings auch einige weitere Insektenarten vor, so zwei Bremsen der Gattung Chrysops sowie eine Stechfliegenart aus der Gnitzen-Gattung Culicoides und weitere Arten mit wesentlich geringerem Anteil. Die Insekten und ihre Larven bilden die Nahrungsgrundlage für Limikolen, die Vögel der Uferzonen. Darunter ist besonders der Wilson-Wassertreter zu nennen.
Weil im Mono Lake keine Fische leben können, ist die Nahrungskette vom Phytoplankton als Primärproduzenten über Zooplankton und Insekten als Primärkonsumenten zu den Vögeln als Endkonsumenten sehr kurz. Dafür kommen die Arten in großer Individuenzahl vor. Die höchste gemessene Dichte an Artemia-Krebsen im Mono Lake betrug 31.000 Tiere/m², der Wert schwankt zeitlich und räumlich stark. Die Salzfliegen und ihre Puppen bilden im Sommer Teppiche und Matten im Uferbereich. Die Matten aus Salzfliegen-Puppen halten sich unter Wasser vorwiegend im östlichen Teil des Seeufers auf, wobei sie an Tuff-Türmen ein ideales Substrat vorfinden. Die erwachsenen Tiere leben vorwiegend auf den Uferebenen und bilden dort dichte Bestände, die dunklen Wolken gleichen.
Auch einige Arten der Endkonsumenten kommen in sehr hoher Dichte vor, so dass der Mono Lake eine besondere Bedeutung für ihre Populationen hat. Schwarzhalstaucher nutzen den See als Rastplatz auf dem Vogelzug, wobei sie sich Nahrungsreserven anfressen und die Zeit zur Mauser nutzen. Spitzenzahlen von 600.000 bis 900.000 Exemplaren wurden beobachtet. Nachdem die Gesamtpopulation der Schwarzhalstaucher in Nordamerika auf etwa 2,5 Millionen geschätzt wird, ist der Mono Lake für mindestens ein Viertel bis zu etwa einem Drittel aller Individuen von großer Bedeutung. Die Artemia-Krebse und die Larven der Salzfliegen machen rund 95 % ihrer Nahrungsaufnahme während des Aufenthaltes am See aus.
Wilson-Wassertreter sind in besonderem Maße auf Rastplätze mit guter Nahrungsversorgung angewiesen, weil sie von Nordamerika auf dem Vogelzug einen Non-Stop-Flug in die Winterquartiere Südamerikas antreten.[23] Mono Lake ist der mit großem Abstand wichtigste Sammel- und Rastplatz für diese Art im westlichen Nordamerika mit rund 100.000 bis 125.000 Tieren pro Jahr, von denen etwa 70.000 als Spitzenbestand gleichzeitig anwesend sind. Auch sie nutzen den Aufenthalt am See zur Mauser. Das eng verwandte Odinshühnchen wird mit über 50.000 Individuen im Jahr am Mono Lake beschrieben, dies stellt aber einen wesentlich geringeren Anteil der nordamerikanischen Gesamtpopulation dar, weshalb diese Art weniger auf den See angewiesen ist. Für eine weitere Wassertreterart, das Thorshühnchen, ist der See nicht von Bedeutung.
Die Kaliforniermöwe ist die dritte Vogelart, für die der Mono Lake eine wesentliche Funktion von kontinentaler Bedeutung hat. Sie brütet mit rund 50.000 Exemplaren auf den Inseln des Sees. Bei einer Weltpopulation von 220.000 Tieren ist der Mono Lake für den Bestand der Art wichtig. Sie litt in besonderem Maße unter der Absenkung des Wasserspiegels zu den Zeiten des Tiefstandes Anfang und erneut Ende der 1980er Jahre. Damals fiel ein Teil des nördlichen Sees trocken und die Negit-Insel wurde zur Halbinsel. Über die Landbrücke konnten Kojoten die Brutgebiete erreichen und verhinderten in den betroffenen Jahren jeden Bruterfolg auf dieser Insel.
Für den Seeregenpfeifer ist der See ebenfalls von besonderer Bedeutung, obwohl er sich nur teilweise von den Larven der Salzfliegen ernährt und seine Nahrung überwiegend in der Vegetation der Uferebene sucht. Da er seine gut getarnten Nester nur auf weitgehend vegetationsfreiem Gelände anlegt, nutzt er besonders die trocken gefallenen Teile des ehemaligen Seebodens. Er profitierte daher von der Absenkung des Wasserspiegels. Die Art steht unter Artenschutz des Bundes nach dem Endangered Species Act, auf den Uferebenen des Mono Lake brüten rund 10 % des kalifornischen Bestands.[26] Weitere Limikolen, die das Nahrungsangebot des Mono Lake in besonderem Maße nutzen, sind Amerikanische Säbelschnäbler und der Keilschwanz-Regenpfeifer. Der See hat für diese Arten aber keine herausragende Bedeutung.
Die Uferbereiche sowie die Berg- und Hügelhänge im Mono-Becken reichen vom Hochgebirge über diverse Wald- und Buschökosysteme, Beifuß-Steppe und Grasland unterschiedlicher Dichte bis zu den weitgehend vegetationsfreien Salzböden des trockengefallenen Seebetts. Von besonderer Bedeutung ist nur die Salzvegetation. Auch sie ist wegen der hohen Anforderungen des Lebensraums arm an verschiedenen Arten und besteht insbesondere aus dem Kreuzblütler Cleomella parviflora, der Radmelde Bassia hyssopifolia, der Salzschwade Puccinellia airoides, dem Süßgras Distichlis spicata und mehreren Arten aus der Gattung der Simsen. Als die ersten Weißen das Gebiet erreichten, lebten in den Gewässern des Mono-Beckens keine Fische. Es wird angenommen, dass sie durch die erst relativ kurz zuvor stattgefundenen vulkanischen Aktivitäten ausgestorben waren, da verhältnismäßig junge, fossile Fische im Gebiet nachgewiesen wurden. Während im See selbst keine Fische leben können, wurden in den Zuflüssen zur Förderung des Angelsports zehn Fischarten eingesetzt, darunter fünf Forellen-Arten. Über 290 Vogelarten wurden im Mono-Gebiet nachgewiesen.[29] Säugetiere kommen mit über 70 Arten im Einzugsgebiet des Sees vor, Arten von besonderer Bedeutung aber nur in den höheren Lagen des Gebirges, so dass der Mono Lake selbst für Säugetiere keine besondere Rolle spielt.
Die besonderen Umweltbedingungen am Mono Lake werden intensiv erforscht. Das bislang größte Projekt war von 2000 bis 2006 das Mono Lake Microbial Observatory der University of Georgia. Auch die NASA forscht für ihr Astrobiology laboratory am See, um herauszufinden, wie Lebensformen sich an extreme Bedingungen anpassen. Ende 2010 gab ein NASA-Team bekannt, dass aus Sedimenten des Sees ein Bakterienstamm mit der Bezeichnung GFAJ-1 isoliert wurde, der Arsenat an Stelle von Phosphat in die DNA einbauen können soll. Dies würde das bisherige Verständnis der biochemischen Möglichkeiten für Lebewesen erweitern. Die Veröffentlichung wurde stark kritisiert, eine Überprüfung 2012 ergab, dass Arsen keinen Anteil an den Erbinformationen des Bakterienstammes hat und die ursprüngliche These damit zurückgewiesen werden muss.
Im Sediment des Uferbereichs wurden Fadenwurm-Arten entdeckt, die in besonderer Weise an die Umweltbedingungen angepasst sind. Insbesondere fällt Auanema spec. auf, die extrem arsenresistent ist und 500-fach so hohe Konzentrationen wie Menschen überlebt. Es gibt neben zwittrigen und männlichen auch weibliche Tiere. Außerdem legt diese Art keine Eier, sondern ist lebendgebärend.
Geschichte der Landnutzung
Die ursprünglichen Bewohner des Mono-Lake-Gebiets gehörten zu den Paiute-Indianern. Der regionale Stamm nannte sich selbst Kutzadika’a, was von dem Wort für die Salzfliegen in ihrer uto-aztekischen Sprache abgeleitet zu sein scheint. Sie sammelten die Fliegenlarven, trockneten sie und nutzten sie als proteinreiches Nahrungsmittel. Ihre Nachbarn, die Yokut, nannten sie Monachi, was wohl von den ersten Weißen zu Mono verkürzt wurde. Die Bedeutung des Wortes gilt als verloren.[36] Die westlichen Mono lebten das ganze Jahr in den Tälern der Westflanke der Sierra Nevada, insbesondere im Yosemite- und im Hetch-Hetchy-Tal. Die östlichen Mono verbrachten den größten Teil des Jahres östlich der Berge rund um den Mono Lake und zogen nur im Herbst über den Kamm, um Eicheln und andere Baumfrüchte als Wintervorrat zu sammeln.
Als 1852 eine Abteilung der US Army unter Lieutenant Tredwell Moore Miwok-Indianer von Westen über den Kamm der Sierra verfolgte, betraten erstmals Weiße das Mono-Gebiet. Kurz darauf erkundeten Prospektoren die Vorkommen von Rohstoffen auf der Ostseite der Sierra Nevada. Als einer der ersten Prospektoren kam Leroy Vining in das Gebiet, er fand keine lukrativen Bodenschätze und wandte sich der Forstwirtschaft zu. Die Zuflüsse des Mono Lake wurden zum Zentrum einer bescheidenen Weidewirtschaft mit Rindern und Schafen, mit der vor allem die Bergleute versorgt wurden, die zunächst nach Gold, später nach anderen Metallen gruben. Die heutige Geisterstadt Bodie im nördlichen Nachbartal des Sees war die größte Bergbaustadt der Region. Außerdem wurden die Bergwälder forstwirtschaftlich genutzt. Die Mono Mill wurde als größtes Sägewerk der Region 1881 gegründet und bestand bis 1917. Die Versorgung von Bodie mit Holz war der Hauptgrund für die Errichtung der Bodie Railway 1881, die vom Mono Lake über das Sägewerk zur Goldgräbersiedlung fuhr und ebenfalls 1917 eingestellt wurde.
Mark Twain hielt sich 1861 und 62 in der Region auf und schrieb in Roughing It (dt.: Durch Dick und Dünn) fasziniert über die „Millionen an Enten und Möwen“. Im Auftrag der Bauleitung für die Eisenbahn zog 1881 der Geologe Israel Russell in die Region und blieb hier mehrere Jahre. Er erforschte die Geologie des Gebietes – sein Buch Quaternary History of Mono Valley, California (1884) gilt bis heute als Referenz. 1886 kam John Muir vom Yosemite-Tal über einen Indianerpfad an den See. Er schrieb in seinem Tagebuch (erst 1911 als My First Summer in the Sierra veröffentlicht) ausführlich über das Zusammenwirken von Gletschern und Vulkanismus, die die Landschaft des Beckens prägen. Der See selbst spielte bei ihm keine große Rolle.
Die Anwohner entwickelten früh bescheidene Anfänge von Tourismus. In den 1920er Jahren wurden Badeeinrichtungen an den Stränden des Sees eröffnet, das Wasser hatte etwa den eineinhalbfachen Salzgehalt eines Ozeans, und vor der Wasserableitung gab es am Nordufer ausgedehnte Sandstrände. Ab 1928 und bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg fanden jährlich Strandfeste mit Motorbootrennen und Schönheitswettbewerben in Badekostümen statt.[40] In den 1960er Jahren, bei bereits stark sinkendem Wasserspiegel, stand am nordwestlichen Ufer eine Marina, von der aus Bootsfahrten und Wasserskifahren angeboten wurden. Doch schon vor Ende des Jahrzehnts musste der Betrieb eingestellt werden, weil das Wasser vom Bootshaus nicht mehr erreichbar war und weite Uferbereiche sich in Schlammzonen verwandelten.
Heute liegt die kleine, nach dem Pionier Leroy Vining benannte Siedlung Lee Vining am westlichen Ufer des Sees, an den Hängen der Sierra die etwas größere Ortschaft June Lake. Noch immer findet ein bescheidener Abbau von Bimsstein an den Mono-Kratern statt. Ansonsten lebt die Region vom Tourismus. Im Sommer ist sie attraktiv für Wanderer und Angler und der See ist ein bedeutender Stopp für Touristen, die über den Tioga Pass in den Yosemite-Nationalpark fahren oder von dort kommen. Im Winter zieht das Skigebiet June Lake Ski Area am Oberlauf des Rush Creek die meisten Besucher an.
Wasserableitung
Die in den Wüsten Südkaliforniens liegende Siedlung Los Angeles hätte nicht zur Groß- und Millionenstadt anwachsen können, wenn sie sich nicht zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts dauerhafte Trinkwasserquellen erschlossen hätte. William Mulholland plante als Leiter des Los Angeles Department of Water and Power die Niederschläge auf der Ostflanke der Sierra Nevada zu nutzen. 1913 wurde der erste Los Angeles Aqueduct eröffnet, der vom Owens River im südlich an das Mono-Becken anschließenden Owens Valley Wasser ableitete. Von 1934 bis 1940 verlängerte Los Angeles das Aquäduktsystem bis in das Mono-Becken und zapfte ab 1941 Oberflächenwasser ab. Dazu wurde der Lee Vining Creek durch eine Pipeline an den Hängen der Sierra mit dem Grant Lake Reservoir am aufgestauten Rush Creek verbunden und ein Tunnel mit einer Druckröhre nach Südosten unter den Mono-Kratern in die Long Valley Caldera gebohrt. Dort wird das Wasser zunächst in einem Wasserkraftwerk zur Energiegewinnung genutzt; es fließt anschließend im Bett des Owens River nach Süden, bis es zwischen Big Pine und Lone Pine in den Aquädukt ausgeleitet wird.[43] Die Erlaubnis sah vor, dass Los Angeles aus dem Mono-Becken und dem Owens Valley bis zu 200 Kubikfuß pro Sekunde (≈5,66 m³/s) ableiten darf, ohne Restwassermengen festzulegen, die in den Bächen verbleiben und dem See zufließen müssen.[44] 1970 wurde die Kapazität der Leitung erweitert, als der zweite Los Angeles Aqueduct im Owens Valley eröffnet wurde, erst jetzt konnte Los Angeles die genehmigten Wassermengen tatsächlich ableiten und nutzen.
Folgen für die Ökosysteme
Schon bald überstieg die natürliche Verdunstung den reduzierten Wasserzufluss in den Mono Lake, so dass der Pegel des Sees dramatisch sank. 1941, vor der Ableitung der Zuflüsse, lag der Wasserspiegel des Sees auf 1956 m über dem Meer. Der niedrigste Wert wurde 1982 mit 1933 m über dem Meer erreicht. Die Bachläufe zum See fielen weitgehend trocken oder führten nur noch in der nassen Jahreszeit Wasser. Süßwassersümpfe auf dem Westufer, in denen bis 1940 zehntausende Entenvögel lebten, trockneten aus. Die Enten verschwanden aus dem Mono Basin. Am Ufer fiel Seeboden trocken, der mit alkalischem Sand bedeckt war. Einmal getrocknet, wurde dieser bei Stürmen aufgewirbelt und erzeugte ätzende Sandstürme, die die Grenzwerte für Partikel in der Luft weit überschritten und gesundheitsgefährdend waren. Andererseits wurden die meisten der heute sichtbaren bizarren Kalktufftürme trockengelegt und zugänglich, was wiederum erheblich zum Bekanntheitsgrad des Sees beigetragen hat.
1974 kartierte David Gaines, damals Doktorand der University of California, Davis, am See. Er verfasste einen Text über die Krise des bedrohten Ökosystems. 1976 war er an einer studentischen Forschungsgruppe an der Stanford University beteiligt, die die erste umfassende Studie des Mono-Lake-Ökosystems verfasste. Gaines gründete 1978 das Mono Lake Committee als Organisation innerhalb der Audubon Society und spielte eine ausschlaggebende Rolle in der Kampagne, die kalifornische Öffentlichkeit und Politiker über die Wirkungen des gesunkenen Pegels zu informieren. Zudem reichte die Naturschutzorganisation zusammen mit Fischereiverbänden und weiteren Interessengruppen Klagen gegen die Genehmigungen zur Wasserausleitung ein.
Als durch den sinkenden Wasserspiegel die Negit-Insel zur Halbinsel wurde, so dass Kojoten die Nester der Kaliforniermöwen plündern konnten, experimentierte der Forest Service mit Sprengungen, um einen Wassergraben zu erhalten. Nach dem niedrigsten Wasserstand von 1982 ließen überdurchschnittliche Regenfälle den See bis 1986 wieder etwas wachsen. Anschließend setzte eine mehrjährige Trockenheit ein. Als die Negit-Insel im Norden des Sees 1989 erneut zur Halbinsel wurde, bauten Naturschützer Elektrozäune, um die Brutplätze zu schützen. Zudem verstärkten sie Lobbykampagnen, mit denen Politiker des Staates Kalifornien, der Bundesebene und im Laufe der Zeit auch zunehmend Vertreter der Stadt Los Angeles für den Schutz des Mono Lake gewonnen wurden.
Kampf vor Politik und Gerichten
Demgegenüber standen die Interessen der Stadt Los Angeles. Sie nutzt einerseits das Trinkwasser von der Ostflanke der Sierra Nevada direkt, andererseits erzeugt es auf dem Weg und im Aquädukt Energie aus Wasserkraft, die ebenfalls Los Angeles zur Verfügung steht. Das Department of Water and Power stellte sich auf den Standpunkt, dass ihre Genehmigungen zur Wassernutzung unanfechtbar seien und ging zunächst auch auf großzügige Angebote kalifornischer Politiker zur Gewinnung von Wasser aus anderen Gebieten oder zur Nutzung von Einsparpotentialen nicht ein. Als die Prozesse ergaben, dass die Ausleitungsgenehmigungen erfolgreich angefochten werden konnten und die öffentliche Meinung sich stark für den Schutz des Mono-Gebiets einsetzte, änderte sich die Position des Departments langsam. Ab Ende der 1980er Jahre und verstärkt in den ersten Jahren nach 1990 wirkte die Stadtverwaltung an Projekten mit, durch die Kläranlagen in ganz Südkalifornien ausgebaut wurden. Geklärtes Wasser konnte so für Zwecke eingesetzt werden, die bisher Trinkwasser erforderten, welches dadurch für höherwertige Nutzungen frei wurde. Effektivere Bewässerungsmethoden in der Landwirtschaft sparten erhebliche Wassermengen ein, die den Siedlungsgebieten zur Verfügung gestellt werden konnten. Durch Kampagnen für Wassereinsparung, die gezielt auf den Schutz von Naturräumen wie dem Mono Lake und der Santa Monica Bay abstellten, wurde der Wasserverbrauch von Haushalten in Los Angeles im selben Zeitraum dauerhaft um über 15 % gesenkt.
Die Wasserableitung wirkte sich nicht nur am Mono Lake aus. Der aus dem Owens River gespeiste, rund 190 km südlich des Mono Lake gelegene Owens Lake, in dem früher ein ähnliches Ökosystem existierte, trocknete vollständig aus. Der Mono Lake entkam dem Schicksal des Owens Lake, weil 1983 eine Klage des Mono Lake Committee und verbündeter Organisationen vor dem Supreme Court of California ergab, dass die Wasserkontrollbehörde die öffentlichen Belange bei der Abwägung über die Wasserableitung nicht ausreichend beachtet hatte. Ein untergeordnetes Gericht bestimmte daraufhin einen vorläufigen Mindestpegel von 1944 m über dem Meer und schränkte die Ableitung ein, bis dieser erreicht wäre. Der Kongress der Vereinigten Staaten gab 1984 eine Studie in Auftrag, die den Mono Lake und das Becken auf Auswirkungen verschiedener Wasserstände untersuchen sollte. Eine dafür eingesetzte Arbeitsgruppe des National Research Council legte 1987 die umfassende Studie zur Ökologie des Gebietes und den Folgen der Wasserpegelabsenkung vor. Weitere Studien wurden vom Bundesstaat Kalifornien und der Fachbehörde für Wassernutzung in Auftrag gegeben.
Anordnung von Schutzmaßnahmen
Aufgrund der Studie von 1987, weiterer Studien sowie einer Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfung und nach einer Reihe langwieriger Prozesse erließ die kalifornische Behörde für Wasserressourcen California State Water Resources Control Board im September 1994 eine Entscheidung zum Schutz des Mono Lake und seiner Zuflüsse, durch die die Wasserableitung begrenzt wurde. Die Behörde legte für Rush Creek und Lee Vining Creek, die Zuflüsse des Sees, Restwassermengen fest, die unterhalb der Wehre zur Wasserableitung ein Ökosystem mit stabilem Fischbestand ermöglichen. Dabei sollen langfristig wieder Teile der für Entenvögel wichtigen Süßwassersumpfzonen entstehen. Für den Mono Lake selbst gab sie einen Wasserstand von 1948 Metern als Ziel vor. Der Wert wurde ermittelt, indem die in den Studien ermittelten Einflüsse verschiedener Wasserstände auf die einzelnen Ökofaktoren und die in besonderem Maße auf den See angewiesenen Arten abgewogen wurden.
Seitdem ist der Pegel langsam gestiegen; die Negit Insel ist wieder vor Landraubtieren sicher. Vom 1994 als Ziel definierten Pegelstand von 1948 Metern war der Wasserstand Ende 2017 noch rund drei Höhenmeter entfernt. Ursprünglich war vorgesehen, dass die Behörde für Wasserressourcen nach 20 Jahren, also im September 2014, prüft, ob das Ziel erreicht wurde und gegebenenfalls weitere Beschränkungen bei der Wasserableitung anordnet. Dazu kam es nicht, weil im August 2013 eine Vereinbarung zwischen den ursprünglichen Klägern, der Stadt Los Angeles und der kalifornischen Naturschutzbehörden geschlossen wurde. Sie sieht vor, dass die Stadtverwaltung auf eigene Kosten den Stausee Grant Lake im Einzugsgebiet des Mono Lake so umbauen muss, dass damit ein natürlicher Wasserabfluss in den Rush Creek simuliert werden kann. Dadurch werden die Ökosysteme des Bachlaufs und der Mündung in den Mono Lake renaturiert. Im Gegenzug erhält die Stadt Los Angeles das Recht, einmalig zusätzliche Wassermengen abzuleiten. Die Datenerhebung am See und in seinem Einzugsgebiet geht weiter, die kalifornische Wasserbehörde wird bis 2020 die Einhaltung überprüfen und gegebenenfalls weitere Maßnahmen anordnen.
Weitere Folgen
Als durch die Einschränkung der Wasserableitung erstmals Ende 1994 große Mengen Süßwasser dem See zuflossen, in dem eine hohe Salzkonzentration herrschte, legte sich das leichte Süßwasser über das schwere Salzwasser. Daher fanden 1995 die ansonsten durch jahreszeitliche Temperaturschwankungen im Frühjahr und Herbst ausgelösten, vollständigen Wasserzirkulationen im See nicht statt. Dieser Zustand wird meromiktisch genannt und hat Folgen für die Verteilung von Sauerstoff und Nährstoffen, insbesondere Stickstoff im See. Ohne Durchmischung von Oberflächen- mit Tiefenwasser gelangt kein Sauerstoff in die Tiefe, andererseits werden Nährstoffe, die in Form von Stoffwechselprodukten oder toten Lebewesen absinken, nicht mehr in die biologisch aktiveren Schichten nahe der Oberfläche transportiert.
Eine meromiktische Periode war schon während der Ausleitung zwischen 1982/83 und Ende 1988 durch besonders hohe Niederschläge aufgetreten, für die Jahre 1938 und 1969 besteht wegen bekannt hoher Niederschläge der Verdacht, dass eine meromiktische Phase vorlag, die aber wegen der damals geringeren Salinität jeweils nur ein Jahr dauern konnte. Der Beginn der meromiktischen Phase 1995 infolge der Renaturierung löste wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen aus. Aufgrund der damaligen Modelle wurde angenommen, dass diese Phase 44 bis 63 Jahre dauern und erhebliche negative Auswirkungen auf das Ökosystem des Sees haben würde. Daher schlug eine vom Los Angeles Department of Water and Power finanzierte Arbeitsgruppe vor, die volle Wasserableitung wieder aufzunehmen, um die Schichtung auf diese Weise aufzubrechen.
Tatsächlich folgte die längste bekannte meromiktische Periode des Mono Lake, jedoch war die Dauer erheblich geringer als vorhergesagt. Ende 2003 erfolgte eine vollständige Durchmischung und die Wiederaufnahme des Nährstofftransports zwischen den Wasserschichten. Eine weitere, kurze Phase dauerte von 2005/2006 bis 2007. In allen Fällen zeigten sich keine dauerhaften Folgen. Die Population der Salzkrebse ging während der meromiktischen Zustände zurück, worunter auch der Bruterfolg der Kaliforniermöwe litt, jedoch nicht in schwerwiegendem Ausmaß.
Außer der Beschränkung der Wasserableitung werden die Bachbetten der Zuflüsse auch direkt renaturiert. Am Mill Creek fand in den Jahren 2012 und 2013 ein Umbau des Wasserlaufs unterhalb des Kraftwerks statt, damit auch hier die rechtlich zugesicherte Wassermenge tatsächlich in den Bach abfließen kann.
Schutzgebiete am See
Seit 1982 ist der Teil des ehemaligen Seebetts, der seit dem Beginn der Wasserausleitung im Jahr 1941 trocken gefallen ist, unter dem Namen Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve als Schutzgebiet des Staates Kalifornien ausgewiesen. Aufgrund der Haushaltsnotlage des Staates Kalifornien war 2012 die Schließung der State Reserve geplant. Nur weil die Bodie Foundation, eine gemeinnützige Organisation, einige Verwaltungsfunktionen übernahm, bleibt das Schutzgebiet weiterhin zugänglich. Das Umfeld des Sees ist mit Ausnahme des Siedlungsbereichs von Lee Vining nahezu vollständig im Besitz der Bundesregierung und untersteht großteils dem Inyo National Forest innerhalb des United States Forest Service. Seit 1984 sind der Talgrund, die unteren Hänge und große Teile des Mono-Kraterfelds als Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area ausgewiesen. Diese Form eines Schutzgebietes unter der Verwaltung des Forest Service ist einmalig. Bei Lee Vining informiert ein kleines Besucherzentrum in den Sommermonaten über die Problematik der Wasserableitung und die ökologische Bedeutung des Sees.
In den Hochlagen der Sierra Nevada liegen auf der Ostflanke und damit zumindest teilweise innerhalb des Mono Lake Basin zwei Wilderness Areas, die strengste Klasse von Naturschutzgebieten in den USA. Die Ansel Adams Wilderness und die Hoover Wilderness wurden 1964 eingerichtet, haben zusammen 1440 km² und stehen unter der Verwaltung des US Forest Service. Östlich des Sees wurde 2009 im Hügelland mit der Granite Mountain Wilderness eine weitere Wilderness Area eingerichtet. Sie hat 139 km² und wird durch das Bureau of Land Management verwaltet.
20 Kilometer nördlich des Mono Lake liegt der Bodie State Historic Park, der über eine Schotterstraße zu erreichen ist. Der State Park dient der Erhaltung der alten Goldgräberstadt Bodie, einer der besterhaltenen Geisterstädte der USA.
Mono Lake in den Medien
Clint Eastwood ließ für den Film Ein Fremder ohne Namen (1973) ein Dorf am südlichen Seeufer errichten. International bekannt wurde die bizarre Landschaft des Sees ab 1975, als ein Foto von Storm Thorgerson das Innencover und eine beiliegende Postkarte des Pink-Floyd-Albums Wish You Were Here zierte. Es zeigt den Mono Lake mit Tufftürmen und einen scheinbar ohne Spritzer ins Wasser eintauchenden Schwimmer. Es entstand im flachen Wasser, der Schwimmer war in Yoga geübt und konnte unter Wasser einen Handstand halten, bis die Wellen ausgelaufen waren. 1979 stellten Naturschützer eine Ausstellung von Fotos des Sees zusammen und erkannten, dass seit 1868 nahezu alle prominenten Landschaftsfotografen Amerikas den See und seine Tuff-Gebilde fotografiert hatten. Die Ausstellung zeigte unter anderem Werke von Ansel Adams, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, Philip Hyde und Brett Weston und reiste durch den Westen der Vereinigten Staaten. Sie ist heute im Besucherzentrum von Lee Vining zu sehen. Seitdem erschien eine Vielzahl an Bildbänden und Fotokalender, die den See und seine ungewöhnlichen Landschaften darstellen.
(Wikipedia)
The work exudes an abstract and dynamic artistic atmosphere.
Composed primarily of black and white lines and irregular shapes, it creates a strong contrast and visual tension. The lines flow with a sense of fluidity, like ripples or clouds. A dark, circular hole in the center serves as a focal point, breaking the overall flow and adding a sense of stability.
The work leans towards Abstract Expressionism, conveying emotions or concepts rather than specific objects through the use of line, light, shadow, and form. The black and white treatment further enhances this sense of abstraction, drawing the viewer's attention to the form and atmosphere itself.
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作品呈現出一種抽象且富有動感的藝術氛圍。
作品主要由黑白線條和不規則的形狀構成，營造出強烈的對比和視覺張力。 畫面中的線條流動感十足，如同水波或雲霧般變幻莫測，中心點深色圓孔則成為視覺焦點，打破了整體的流動性，增添了一絲穩定感。
作品風格偏向於抽象表現主義，透過對線條、光影和形狀的運用，傳達出某種情緒或概念，而非具體的物象。 黑白處理進一步強化了這種抽象感，使觀者更專注於形式和氛圍本身。
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EAST CHINA SEA (Aug. 4, 2020) Boatswain’s Mate Seaman Valentina Imokhai, from New York, operates the ship’s helm during a full power engine run aboard the amphibious dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD 42). Germantown, part of America Expeditionary Strike Group, is operating in the 7th Fleet area of operations to enhance interoperability with allies and partners, and serves as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Taylor DiMartino)
PHILIPPINE SEA (Sept. 25, 2020) The forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) transits the Philippine Sea. America, flagship of Expeditionary Strike Group Seven, along with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to enhance interoperability with allies and partners and serve as a ready response force to defend peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Matthew Cavenaile)
The sculpture is called the Churning of the Milk Ocean or the Scene of the Churning of the Milk Ocean. It is believed to be the place that holds the nectar of immortality, thus it portrays immortality and stability. Likewise Suvarnabhumi Airport represents the golden land/resources/prosperity/stability and eternality.
The sculpture has the statue of four-hand Narayana (Vishnu) placed on top of the Mount Madura. 9 gods are on one side and 9 demons on the opposite are pulling the king of Nagas from both sides. The turtle (Koorm Avatar) is the tortoise-incarnation of Vishnu which is the third incarnation form out of the ten forms according to the Scene of the Churning of the Milk Ocean. Koorm Avatar uses the shell to be a pivot for the churning stick. BKK airport Bangkok Thailand
EAST CHINA SEA (July 31, 2020) The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67) conducts a replenishment-at-sea with the dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3). Shiloh is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Isaac Maxwell)
Deutschland / Nordrhein-Westfalen - Kraftwerk Neurath
Neurath Power Station is a lignite-fired power station at Neurath in Grevenbroich, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located to the south of Grevenbroich, and it borders the municipalities of Rommerskirchen and Bedburg. The power station consists of seven units and it is owned by RWE. It was named as the second biggest single polluter for carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union in 2019 by the EU's Transport and Environment Group.
Description
The Neurath Power Station serves mainly as a base load power station. It consists of seven units (3 x 300 MW, 2 x 600 MW, and 2 x 1,100 MW nominally). Five older units were built between 1972 and 1976, and have a gross generation capacity of 2,200 MW. On 15 August 2012 two new 1,100 MW lignite-fired units – F and G, also known as BoA 2 and 3 – were added. BoA stands for Braunkohlekraftwerk mit optimierter Anlagentechnik (Lignite power station with optimized systems technology). The new units have an efficiency of 43% and the capability to adjust quickly to changes in energy demand. Both of the new units are 170 m (558 ft) tall which makes them amongst the tallest industrial buildings in the world, possibly second only to the powerblock at the Niederaussem Power Station. Its engineering was carried out by Alstom, which was also the supplier of the steam turbines. The consortium that supplied steam generators was led by Babcock-Hitachi Europe GmbH. GEA Group built the cooling towers. Construction costs were €2.6 billion.
The lignite is delivered by rail from open pits in Rhenish lignite district, in particular from the Garzweiler and Hambach mines.
In the 1980s, a complete flue gas cleaning facility was installed for all blocks. The exhaust gases are derived since then over the cooling towers. The facility also has two bypass flue gas stacks from which one belongs to units A, B and C and the other to the units D and E. The first one is 194 metres (636 ft), the latter 196 metres (643 ft) high. They allow operating the facility in case of defunct flue gas cleaning facility, however, as this rarely occurs, such chimneys do not exist at most other power stations.
Criticism
The new power station is criticized in the climate change discussion by environmental associations and physical custodians, because electricity generation from lignite as fuel, in spite of advanced technology, is considerably less efficient than other generation sources and makes the plant the second biggest source of carbon dioxide among plants in EU. The facility, with a planned lifespan of 40 years, is seen as inconsistent with Germany's and Europe's plans to counter climate warming, particularly after COP21.
It is criticized furthermore that the investment efficiency is not maximized by additional measures like using of waste heat. One of the suggested projects is the establishment of a wide greenhouse park to use the attacking rejected heat and to create other jobs. However, the area planned for it was planned for industries with large electricity demand.
Accidents
In the evening of 25 October 2007, a major accident occurred on the construction site. A section of the scaffolding broke off, and buried several workers. Three construction workers were killed by the remains of the scaffold. Six others, who were seriously injured, were taken to surrounding hospitals.
Nearly 300 application forces from fire brigade, police, ambulances and technical charitable organization were used for the rescue operation. In December 2008, the initiated preliminary proceedings were put because of careless homicide by the public prosecutor's office of Mönchengladbach. According to certificate the knot connections of the scaffold were laid out too weakly. Because there has been no knowledge about them, in this size for the first time to used components and their stability problems, the accident has not foreseen for the experts, according to the public prosecutor's office. Rather interpretation and construction have occurred under the rules of the technology.
On 13 January 2008, a further deadly accident occurred in which an employee of a steel construction company was killed. After the above-mentioned accident in October 2007 and another accident in September 2007, this became the third deadly incident on the construction site.
(Wikipedia)
Das Kraftwerk Neurath liegt im Süden von Grevenbroich und grenzt an das Gebiet der Gemeinde Rommerskirchen und der Stadt Bedburg an. Der Betreiber ist RWE in Grevenbroich-Neurath (Rhein-Kreis Neuss). Es ist, gemessen an der installierten elektrischen Bruttoleistung von 4.400 Megawatt, das größte Kraftwerk in Deutschland und das zweitgrößte Braunkohlekraftwerk Europas nach dem Kraftwerk Bełchatów in Polen.
Das Kraftwerk dient der Erzeugung von Grundlaststrom und besitzt eine elektrische Nettoleistung von über 4.211 Megawatt. Die Kohle wird über Gleisanschluss an die Nord-Süd-Bahn aus den Tagebauen des Rheinischen Braunkohlereviers, insbesondere dem Tagebau Garzweiler bezogen. Mit einem CO2-Ausstoß von 32,1 Mio. Tonnen verursachte das Kraftwerk im Jahr 2015 die zweithöchsten Treibhausgasemissionen aller europäischen Kraftwerke.
Die Gleisanlage der Nord-Süd-Bahn, die zur Versorgung des Kraftwerks Neurath genutzt wird, wurde im Juni 2019 für mehr als 40 Stunden von Aktivisten blockiert, um auf den großen CO2-Ausstoß des Kraftwerks aufmerksam zu machen.
Kraftwerksblöcke
Das Kraftwerk besteht aus sieben Blöcken (3 × 300 MW, 2 × 600 MW und 2 × 1100 MW nominal), die zwischen 1972 und 1976 sowie 2012 errichtet wurden, und besitzt eine Bruttoleistung von ca. 4400 MW.
Blöcke A bis E
In den 1980er-Jahren wurde für die Blöcke A bis E eine Rauchgasreinigungsanlage nachgerüstet. Die Abgase werden seitdem über die Kühltürme abgeleitet.
Die Anlage verfügt auch über zwei sogenannte Bypasskamine, von denen einer den Blöcken A–C und der andere den Blöcken D bis E zugeordnet ist. Ersterer ist 194 Meter[8], letzterer 196 Meter[9] hoch. Die Bypasskamine ermöglichen den Betrieb der Anlage im Fall einer defekten Rauchgasreinigungsanlage, was aber selten vorkommt und weshalb die meisten Kraftwerke auf Bypasskamine verzichten (Quelle: Pressestelle RWE).
Alle Blöcke speisen in das Übertragungsnetz des Netzbetreibers Amprion ein: Der Block A ist über die Umspannanlage Osterath auf der 220-kV-Ebene, die Blöcke B bis D über die Schaltanlage Opladen auf der 380-kV-Ebene und der Block E über die Schaltanlage Rommerskirchen, ebenfalls auf der 380-kV-Ebene, an das Höchstspannungsnetz angeschlossen.
Block C soll nach einer Vereinbarung zwischen dem Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie und den Braunkohlekraftwerksbetreibern RWE, Vattenfall und Mibrag am 1. Oktober 2019 in die Reserve überführt und vier Jahre später endgültig stillgelegt werden.
Die Blöcke A bis E sollen in den Jahren 2021 bis 2022 vom Netz genommen werden.
Blöcke F und G („BoA 2 und 3“)
Geschichte
Im September 2005 beschloss RWE, am Kraftwerk zwei neue Blöcke (F und G) vom Typ „Braunkohlekraftwerk mit optimierter Anlagentechnik (BoA)“ zu bauen. Als Weiterentwicklung des BoA-Blockes im Kraftwerk Niederaußem (BoA 1) tragen die neuen Blöcke auch die Bezeichnung „BoA 2 und 3“. Im Januar 2006 begannen die Bauarbeiten. Die BoA-Blöcke sollen bei einem Wirkungsgrad von 43 Prozent eine Leistung von je 1100 MW haben. RWE gab 2008 an, der Bau, bei dem es sich um eine der größten Baustellen Europas handele, umfasse eine Investitionssumme von 2,2 Milliarden Euro. Im Dezember 2011 räumte RWE ein, dass das Projekt mit 2,6 Mrd. Euro „deutlich teurer“ geworden sei. Die Kesselhäuser von BoA 2 und BoA 3 sind mit einer Höhe von 173 Metern die höchsten Kesselhäuser der Welt. Die Kühltürme sind 172 Meter hoch.
Die ursprünglich geplante Inbetriebnahme Ende 2009 verzögerte sich wegen des unten genannten Unfalls, bei dem ein erheblicher Teil des Neubaus zerstört wurde. Am 29. November 2011 erreichten erstmals beide Blöcke gemeinsam Volllast und produzierten während der Inbetriebsetzungsphase bis dahin mehr als 1,5 Milliarden Kilowattstunden Strom. Beide Blöcke befanden sich seit Mai bzw. Oktober 2011 im Testbetrieb, die endgültige Inbetriebnahme mit der Meldung der Blöcke an die Strombörse EEX erfolgte am 8. Juli 2012 (Block G) bzw. am 3. August (Block F). Seither speisen beide Blöcke ebenfalls in das Übertragungsnetz von Amprion in die 380-kV-Ebene ein und sind über die Schaltanlage Rommerskirchen angeschlossen.
Am 15. August 2012 erfolgte dann die offizielle Feier zur Inbetriebnahme der neuen Blöcke in Anwesenheit von Nordrhein-Westfalens Ministerpräsidentin Hannelore Kraft, Bundesumweltminister Peter Altmaier und weiteren Gästen. Fälschlich wurde es in mehreren Medien als weltgrößtes Braunkohlekraftwerk bezeichnet, tatsächlich ist es (hinter dem Kraftwerk Bełchatów, Polen) nur das zweitgrößte in Europa. Richtig ist jedoch, dass die beiden neuen BoA-Blöcke F und G mit jeweils 1.100 MW brutto die zu diesem Zeitpunkt leistungsstärksten Braunkohlekraftwerksblöcke der Welt waren. Die Baukosten wurden mit 2,6 Milliarden Euro angegeben.
RWE nahm Ende 2011 und im Frühjahr 2012 sechs der zwölf alten 150-MW-Blöcke im Kraftwerk Frimmersdorf vom Netz.
Probleme
Am 30. August 2012 fielen am frühen Nachmittag binnen sieben Minuten beide BoA-Blöcke aufgrund eines Fehlers im Leitsystem aus, weshalb eine Leistung von ca. 2.100 MW ersetzt werden musste. Dabei kam es zu Frequenzschwankungen im Stromnetz; durch Einsatz von Regelenergie wurde ein Stromausfall verhindert. Laut Amprion ist das europäische Stromnetz in der Lage, einen unvorhergesehenen Ausfall von bis zu 3.000 MW an Kraftwerksleistung zu tolerieren; daher sei keine kritische Situation entstanden. In den frühen Morgenstunden des Folgetags wurden die beiden Blöcke wieder hochgefahren.
Unfall
Am Abend des 25. Oktober 2007 kam es auf dem Baustellengelände zu einem schweren Unfall. Eine über 100 Tonnen schwere Seitenwandbandage, ein Teilstück des Großgerüstes, riss ab und begrub mehrere Monteure unter sich. Drei Bauarbeiter konnten nur noch tot aus den Trümmern des Baugerüsts geborgen werden, sechs weitere wurden zum Teil schwer verletzt in umliegende Krankenhäuser eingeliefert. Fast 300 Einsatzkräfte von Feuerwehr, Polizei, Sanitätsorganisationen und Technischem Hilfswerk waren im Einsatz. Im Dezember 2008 wurde das eingeleitete Ermittlungsverfahren wegen fahrlässiger Tötung von der Staatsanwaltschaft Mönchengladbach eingestellt. Laut Gutachten waren die Knotenverbindungen der Bandagenunterkonstruktion zu schwach ausgelegt. Da es keinerlei Kenntnisse über die – in dieser Größe erstmals eingesetzten – Bauteile und deren Stabilitätsprobleme gegeben habe, sei der Unfall für die Fachleute nicht vorhersehbar gewesen, so die Staatsanwaltschaft. Vielmehr seien Auslegung und Konstruktion nach den Regeln der Technik erfolgt.
Emissionsgrenzwerte
Im Genehmigungsbescheid vom 20. Juni 2005 legte die Bezirksregierung Düsseldorf Emissionsgrenzwerte für die neuen Blöcke F und G fest, die zur Antragszeit für Schwefeldioxid, Kohlenmonoxid und Quecksilber unterhalb der geltenden Mindestanforderungen der 13. BImSchV lagen. Obwohl der Tages-Emissionsgrenzwert mit 0,0135 mg/m3N für die neuen Blöcke vergleichsweise niedrig festgesetzt wurde (die Mindestvorgabe der 13. BImSchV sieht 0,03 mg/m3N vor), erfordert dieser Grenzwert noch keine spezielle Quecksilberminderungstechnik. Dies zeigt sich daran, dass die Quecksilberemissionen nach Inbetriebnahme der neuen Blöcke 2012 auf mehr als das Doppelte angestiegen sind[31] (zum Vergleich: in den USA gelten für Braunkohlekraftwerke in Abhängigkeit ihres Wirkungsgrades Grenzwerte von 0,005 bis 0,0054 mg/m3N).
Schadstoffe mit Grenzwerten im Tagesmittel werden durch kontinuierlich arbeitende Messgeräte überwacht, die übrigen Werte durch Einzelmessungen. Zum Vergleich mit den Grenzwerten der neuen Blöcke sind die zur Antragszeit gültigen Grenzwerte der 13. BImSchV (2004) aufgeführt sowie die Grenzwerte der aktuellen 13. BImSchV (2013) und die im Normalbetrieb mit besten verfügbaren Techniken erreichbaren Emissionswerte, wie sie im Merkblatt der Europäischen Kommission für entsprechend große Neuanlagen mit Braunkohle-Staubfeuerung auf der Basis der Datensammlung in den Jahren 2001–2002 festgelegt wurden.
Eine neue Datensammlung zu aktualisierten besten verfügbaren Techniken (BVT) organisiert die Europäische Kommission seit Oktober 2011 und veröffentlicht voraussichtlich im Jahr 2014 neue BVT-Schlussfolgerungen für Großfeuerungsanlagen. Die darin für bestehende Anlagen festgelegten, mit BVT erreichbaren Emissionswerte müssen gemäß der europaweit geltenden Industrieemissionsrichtlinie spätestens vier Jahre nach der Veröffentlichung der BVT-Schlussfolgerungen im Kraftwerk Neurath eingehalten werden.
Emissionen von Schadstoffen und Treibhausgasen
Kraftwerkskritiker bemängeln am Kraftwerk Neurath die hohen Emissionen an Stickstoffoxiden, Schwefeloxiden, Quecksilber und Feinstaub, an dem Krebs erzeugende Substanzen (Blei, Cadmium, Nickel, PAK, Dioxine und Furane) anhaften können. Eine von Greenpeace bei der Universität Stuttgart in Auftrag gegebene Studie kam 2013 zu dem Ergebnis, dass die vom Kohlekraftwerk Neurath (vor Inbetriebnahme der Blöcke F und G) ausgestoßenen Feinstäube und die aus Schwefeldioxid-, Stickoxid- und NMVOC-Emissionen gebildeten sekundären Feinstäube statistisch zu 1.712 verlorenen Lebensjahren führen.[38] Das Kraftwerk rangierte (Stand März 2013) auf der Liste der „gesundheitsschädlichsten Kohlekraftwerke Deutschlands“ auf Platz 7.
Alle Kohlekraftwerke stehen mit Verweis auf die globale Erwärmung in der Kritik bei Umweltverbänden und Naturschützern. Die Stromerzeugung aus Braunkohle gehört trotz optimierter Anlagentechnik (BoA) weiterhin zu den Technologien, die pro erzeugter Kilowattstunde Strom das meiste CO2 emittieren. Der Verbrauch an Braunkohle pro BoA-Block beträgt 820 Tonnen pro Stunde, zusammen also 1640 Tonnen.
Der Wirkungsgrad liegt zwar bei ca. 43 % – Weltrekord für Braunkohleverstromung – womit die beiden Neubaublöcke laut RWE gegenüber alten Kraftwerken auf Braunkohlebasis etwa 1/4 weniger CO2 emittieren, 2016 wurden aber ca. 31 Mio. Tonnen CO2 emittiert. Pro Kilowattstunde Strom werden ca. 950 g Kohlendioxid emittiert – fast doppelt so viel wie beim durchschnittlichen deutschen Strommix (494 g CO2/kWh).[40] Zum Vergleich: Moderne Gas-und-Dampf-Kombikraftwerke wie der 2011 in Betrieb genommene Block 4 des Kraftwerkes Irsching emittieren bei einem Wirkungsgrad von 60,4 % etwas über 330 g CO2 pro kWh.
Auf der im Jahr 2007 vom WWF herausgegebenen Liste der 30 klimaschädlichsten Kraftwerke in der EU rangierte das Kraftwerk Neurath im Jahr 2006 auf Rang 7 in Europa und auf Rang 5 in Deutschland (1150 g CO2 pro Kilowattstunde), nach den Kraftwerken Niederaußem, Jänschwalde, Frimmersdorf und Weisweiler.
Es wurde kritisiert, dass der Anlagenwirkungsgrad nicht durch zusätzliche Maßnahmen wie Kraft-Wärme-Kopplung maximiert wird. Einen Teil der anfallenden Abwärme nutzt seit Sommer 2011 ein Gewächshauspark. Auf 11 Hektar werden z. B. Tomaten angebaut.
Die Europäische Umweltagentur hat die jährlichen Kosten der Umwelt- und Gesundheitsschäden der 28.000 größten Industrieanlagen in der Europa anhand der im PRTR gemeldeten Emissionsdaten mit den wissenschaftlichen Methoden der Europäischen Kommission abgeschätzt. Danach verursacht das Kraftwerk Neurath die achthöchsten Schadenskosten aller europäischen Industrieanlagen.
(Wikipedia)
SEXT IS ASSOCIATED with the stillness and peace of noon, but it also evokes crisis and danger. Crisis is always a purification if we understand it correctly. The very word “crisis” comes from a root that means sifting out. Crisis is a separation, a sifting out of that which is viable and can go on from that which is dead and has to be left behind.
-Music of Silence: A Sacred Journey Through the Hours of the Day
Brother David Steindl-Rast, Sharon Lebell, and Kathleen Norris
“A nuclear-propelled spacecraft, shown being assembled in an orbit around the earth, prepares for take-off to Mars. An orbital assembly team is depicted swinging a second stage assembly into position, using space tugs. This second stage will brake the craft into its orbit around Mars. A cluster of four cylinders (upper right), will house the astronauts during the long Martian voyage. At right angles to the astronauts’ quarters are temporary living quarters of the assembly team, which will spend nearly four months in earth orbit assembling the spacecraft for the Mars mission. This “typical” Mars mission was conceived by scientists at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation’s Astronuclear Laboratory and was described by Dr. William M. Jacobi of Westinghouse, at the American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics meeting. Heart of the system is a nuclear reactor (housed in the engine at lower left) which Westinghouse is developing in connection with the Rover Program, the nation’s effort to develop nuclear rocket propulsion systems for advanced space missions. The reactor will be incorporated into the NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application) engine under development by Aerojet-General Corporation for the AEC-NASA Space Nuclear Propulsion Office, based on a concept originated by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.”
Additionally. It’s very long but incredibly informative, enlightening & pertinent, with LOTS of content I wasn’t aware of. Not to mention, who knows how long it’ll continue to be available online:
“Before his death, renowned science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) confidently declared the space age had not yet begun, and would only commence when reliable nuclear-powered space vehicles become available to drastically reduce the cost of moving humans and heavy payloads from the surface of the earth to the farthest reaches of the solar system. It is a little appreciated fact that Pittsburgh’s Westinghouse Electric Company played a central role in bringing that vision much closer to reality through its participation in the Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Applications (NERVA) program between 1959 and 1973. With recently renewed interest in the human exploration of Mars and destinations in the outer solar system, attention is once again focusing on the remarkable accomplishments that Westinghouse made in the development of the largely untapped potential of the nuclear thermal rocket.
As early as 1949, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, conducted research to develop a solid core nuclear thermal rocket engine to power intercontinental ballistic missiles. The idea of a nuclear-powered rocket had already captured the imagination of many serious science fiction writers, evidenced by Robert A. Heinlein’s 1948 novel Space Cadet that featured a sleek nuclear-powered rocket ship that inspired the 1950 CBS television series Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, starring Frankie Thomas (1921–2006). With encouragement from science advisor Willy Ley, in 1951 Joseph Lawrence Greene, writing under the pseudonym Carey Rockwell at the publishing house of Grosset and Dunlap, launched Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, a juvenile novel series that fired the imagination of an entire generation of America’s youth with images of a streamlined manned single-stage-to-deep space atomic-powered rocket called the Polaris.
Similar to the nuclear rocket engine eventually developed under the NERVA program, the Polaris employed turbo-pumps to supply propellant to a uranium-fueled reactor core. Virtually all of the single-stage rockets of the golden age of science fiction were described at the time as using some form of atomic energy for propulsion. In a classic example of scientific theory inspiring art and, in turn, inspiring practical engineering concepts, by 1957 Los Alamos Laboratory had acquired a test facility at Jackass Flats, Nevada, to test the first KIWI series of nuclear rocket engines as part of Project Rover. Because these were ground tests rather than actual flight tests, the early engines were named after the flightless Kiwi bird endemic to New Zealand. The trials were conducted with the engines mounted upside down on their test stands with the rocket plume firing upward into the atmosphere.
In 1959, the Westinghouse Electric Company of Pittsburgh and its Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in nearby West Mifflin, also in Allegheny County, were busy building nuclear reactors for the U.S. Navy and had also designed the nation’s first commercial nuclear power plant at Shippingport, Beaver County, that went online in December 1957. In anticipation of landing more lucrative government contracts, John Wistar Simpson, Frank Cotter, and Sidney Krasik convinced Westinghouse CEO Mark W. Cresap Jr. in 1959 to approve the creation of the Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory (WANL) to investigate the feasibility of building nuclear rocket engines.
Authorized in May 1959, WANL officially became a Westinghouse division on July 26, 1959, and consisted of just six employees with Simpson at the helm. Krasik, a Cornell University physicist, served as technical director and Cotter worked as Simpson’s executive assistant and marketing director. Born in 1914, Simpson graduated from the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, joined Westinghouse in 1937, and earned an MS from the University of Pittsburgh in 1941. Working in the switchgear division of Westinghouse’s East Pittsburgh plant, Simpson helped develop electric switchboards that could survive the extreme impacts experienced by naval vessels under bombardment in the Pacific Theater during World War II. In 1946, he took a leave of absence from Westinghouse to work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to familiarize himself with atomic power. Upon his return three years later, he became an assistant manager in the engineering department of Westinghouse’s Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. He subsequently managed the construction of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in 1954 and the following year was promoted to general manager of the Bettis Laboratory. He was elected a Westinghouse vice president in 1958. By 1959 Simpson and his team had become enthusiastic about taking on the new challenge of building nuclear-powered rockets to explore the solar system.
WANL was first headquartered in a shopping mall in the Pittsburgh suburb of Whitehall. By 1960 its staff and the leaders of Aerojet General had pooled resources to compete for the lucrative NERVA program contract from NASA’s Space Nuclear Propulsion Office (SNPO). Aerojet and Westinghouse won the contract to develop six nuclear reactors, twenty-eight rocket engines, and six Rocket In Flight Test (RIFT) flights the following year. With a substantial contract in hand, WANL increased its staff to 150 and relocated to the former site of the Old Overholt Distillery. By 1963, Westinghouse and its collaborators employed eleven hundred individuals on the project, based near the small town of Large, thirteen miles south of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County. Large was named for a former distillery founded during the early nineteenth century by Joseph Large. Together, Aerojet and Westinghouse developed the NRX-A series of rocket test engines based on an 1120 megawatt Westinghouse reactor. Assembled at Large, the reactors were loaded on rail cars for delivery to the nuclear test facility at Jackass Flats for field testing.
The initial objective of the NERVA program was to build a rocket engine that could deliver at least eight hundred seconds of specific impulse, fifty-five thousand pounds of thrust, at least ten minutes of continuous operation at full thrust, and the ability to start-up on its own with no external energy source. Seventy pounds per second of liquid hydrogen pumped from the propellant tank into the reactor nozzle would provide regenerative cooling for the rocket nozzle. The cylindrical graphite core of the nuclear reactor was surrounded by twelve beryllium plates mounted on control drums to reflect neutrons. The drums, also containing boral plates on opposite sides to absorb neutrons, were rotated to control the chain reaction in the core. The core consisted of clusters of hexagonal graphite fuel elements, the majority of which consisted of six fueled element sectors and one unfueled sector. The fuel, pyrographite-coated beads of uranium dicarbide, was coated with niobium carbide to prevent corrosion caused by exposure to hydrogen passing through the core. Each fuel rod cluster was supported by an Inconel tie rod that passed through the empty center section of each fuel rod cluster, and a lateral support and seal was used to prevent any of the hydrogen from bypassing the reactor core. Inconel is a high-temperature alloy, one version of which was being used at the time as the skin on the famous X-15 rocket plane.
The solid core nuclear thermal rocket used highly enriched uranium embedded in a graphite matrix. As the highly fissionable uranium 235 atoms absorb a neutron they split to form lighter elements, more neutrons, and a large amount of thermal energy. The nuclear rocket uses the thermal energy generated by a nuclear chain reaction to heat hydrogen, forced through narrow channels in the reactor core. The hydrogen propellant is delivered under pressure to the reactor core using turbo-pumps. The nuclear chain reaction in the reactor core causes the hydrogen to become superheated and expelled through the rocket nozzle at extremely high velocity as an explosively expanding reaction mass resulting in a high specific impulse of 825 seconds. In a chemical rocket, where a fuel (such as liquid hydrogen) and an oxidizer (such as liquid oxygen) are brought together and burned in a combustion chamber, the maximum specific impulse achievable is only about 450 seconds. Specific impulse is a measure of efficiency of a rocket and is defined by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s rocket equation as the pounds of thrust produced for the pounds of fuel consumed per second and is expressed in seconds.
With a high specific impulse, the ability to conduct multiple shutdowns and restarts, and a highly favorable energy to weight ratio, the nuclear rocket was the kind of vehicle that the early rocket pioneers Robert Goddard, Herman Oberth, Wernher von Braun, and Tsiolkovsky had long envisioned. As early as 1903, Tsiolkovsky, a Russian mathematics teacher, had hoped that it might be possible to somehow extract atomic energy from radium in order to power a rocket, but it was not until 1938 that Otto Hahn in Germany first succeeded in causing uranium to fission. Hahn’s former colleague Lise Meitner, living in exile in Sweden, realized the significance of what he had done—and the door to the atomic age flung open!
The power density of traditional chemical rockets is puny compared to the extraordinarily high power density of a nuclear rocket engine. Chemical rockets consist of numerous throwaway stages and require an enormous volume of their mass devoted to carrying both a propellant and an oxidizer. A nuclear rocket can be built as a single-stage vehicle, and requires no oxidizer because it heats a propellant that serves as the reaction mass, and is also able to undergo numerous shutdowns and restarts, making lengthy missions to the ends of the solar system both possible and economical. While the inefficiencies inherent in chemical rockets result in nominal costs of $3,500 to $5,000 per pound to deliver payload to low earth orbit, the more favorable propellant to payload mass ratio of the nuclear rocket promises costs in the range of just $350 to $500 per pound.
After radiation safety concerns were raised by SNPO at NASA over launching nuclear-powered rockets directly from the earth’s surface, von Braun at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, developed a proposal to boost a nuclear-propelled second-stage NERVA rocket to the edge of space using his Saturn V first-stage before firing the nuclear rocket engine after it was well above the densest part of the atmosphere. There is some debate as to whether this precaution is necessary for a well-designed nuclear rocket, but the prevailing cautiousness regarding anything nuclear renders it unlikely that direct ascent from the earth’s surface will be found acceptable anytime soon. The early NERVA rocket engine tests were, in fact, open atmospheric tests.
Westinghouse Astrofuel’s fabrication plant at Cheswick, Allegheny County, supplied nuclear fuel for the NERVA project. Fuel element corrosion was tested by heating the fuel elements by their own resistance, first at the Large site, and later at a new facility at Waltz Mill, Westmoreland County. In order to ensure fuel corrosion resistance and the stability of dimensional tolerances to several thousandths of an inch, the materials in the core elements were extruded into a bar possessing a hexagonal cross section having nineteen longitudinal holes. The extrusion was then polymerized, baked at a low temperature, and graphitized at a higher temperature of about 2200 degrees Centigrade. The resulting unfinished fuel element was subjected to a high-temperature chemical vapor process to coat the surfaces of the longitudinal channels with a gas mixture of niobium pentachloride, hydrogen, and methane. This mixture reacted with the graphite to form a niobium carbide coating intended to prevent corrosion of the core when it was exposed to the hydrogen propellant. The great challenge was to achieve a good match between the thermal expansion coefficients of the graphite and the niobium carbide to prevent cracking.
On September 24, 1964, the NRX-A2 established proof of concept by providing six minutes of power. By April 23, 1965, Aerojet and Westinghouse tested the NRX-A3 nuclear rocket engine at full power for sixteen minutes and demonstrated a three-minute restart. Pulse cooling was also introduced at this time in which bursts of LH₂ were used to cool the reactor core. This was followed by a test of the NRX/Engine System Test (EST) engine equipped with Aerojet’s new nozzle and turbo-pump mounted next to the engine in place of the earlier Rocketdyne pump that had been housed separately behind a concrete wall. This permitted full operational testing of all of the equipment in a high radiation environment typical of an actual spaceflight. In 1966, Aerojet and Westinghouse commenced an additional series of tests to demonstrate ten startups on the NRX-A4/EST and full power operation of the NRX-A5 engine for two periods totaling thirty minutes of operation. On December 13, 1967, the NRX-A6 reached sixty minutes of operation at full power. According to data compiled by Aerojet and Westinghouse, on June 11, 1969, the XE engine was started twenty times for a total of three hours and forty-eight minutes, eleven of which were at full power. By 1970, the proposed NERVA I concept vehicle that evolved out of this work was projected to be capable of delivering 1500 MW of power and 75,000 pounds of thrust. It also had a projected lifetime runtime of ten hours and could be started and stopped 60 times while delivering 825 seconds of specific impulse for each hour of continuous operation. Especially encouraging was the fact that it was projected to have a total weight of less than fifteen thousand pounds.
Capable of starting up on its own in space and reaching full power in less than one minute, the design operating temperature of the reactor was 2071 degrees Centigrade and its reliability was projected to be at least 0.997. The .003 projected failure rate covered all forms of operational deficiencies, not just a catastrophe such as a crash or explosion. In one test conducted at Jackass Flats on January 12, 1965, a KIWI-TNT nuclear rocket engine reactor was intentionally exploded to more accurately assess the consequences and cleanup implications of a truly catastrophic launch pad accident. Off-site radiation from the test was judged to be statistically insignificant, adding just 15 percent to an individual’s average annual exposure at a distance of 15 miles from ground zero, and technicians were able to thoroughly clean up the site at ground zero within a matter of weeks.
Aerojet and Westinghouse prepared to begin construction of five reactors and five NERVA I rocket test engines for actual flight testing from the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island in Florida beginning in 1973, the year the federal government terminated the NERVA program. Total government expenditure by that time on the combined Rover/ NERVA program from 1955 to 1973 had reached more than $1.45 billion (equivalent to roughly $4.5 billion today). As a result of the cancellation of this program, a NASA plan to use a NERVA-type vehicle to place humans on Mars by 1981 was quietly shelved.
Based on the rapid improvements made to the design of the NRX engines in little more than a dozen years, it has been argued that with subsequent improvements in materials science, coupled with a better understanding of physics, the solid core nuclear thermal rocket would have been improved to the point where it could have delivered at least 1000 seconds of specific impulse, 3000 MW of power, and been capable of perhaps 180 recycles. Such a rocket would have been capable of continuously cycling back and forth to Mars about fifteen times with each transit taking as little as 45 to 180 days depending upon the transfer orbit configuration chosen, instead of the six to nine months required for a chemical powered rocket to make the same trip. The faster transit would actually lower astronauts’ exposure to radiation from cosmic rays, the van Allen radiation belts, and solar flares; it would also make it possible to launch heavier vehicles with larger crews and better shielding against cosmic radiation.
After the NERVA program ended, the Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory in Pittsburgh continued to work on several other projects, including the development of a nuclear-powered artificial heart. Amidst a changing political climate concerned with finding “green” energy sources, the laboratory became the Westinghouse Advanced Energy Systems Division (AESD) in 1976. Engineers at AESD experimented with a heliostat and worked on the Solar Total Energy Project in Shenandoah, Georgia, that used five acres of solar collectors to power a knitting factory. AESD also worked on a prototype for a magnetohydrodynamic system which reuses exhaust gases to increase the electrical output of a coal-powered plant by 30 percent. Following Westinghouse’s shuttering of AESD, several former employees formed Pittsburgh Materials Technology Inc. in 1993 at the former Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory. Pittsburgh Materials Technology specializes in producing high temperature specialty metal alloys for government and industrial customers.
During the 1970s, Westinghouse Electric Corporation sold its home appliance division and oil refineries, and in 1988 closed its East Pittsburgh manufacturing plant. In 1995, the company purchased CBS and the following year acquired Infinity Broadcasting. Renaming itself CBS Corporation in 1997, it sold off the nuclear energy business to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. which, in turn, sold it to Toshiba in 2006. Under the wing of Toshiba, the nuclear energy business continues to operate under the name Westinghouse Electric Company and, because of rapid expansion in overseas demand for nuclear power plants, moved its corporate headquarters in 2009 to a new larger campus in Cranberry Township, Butler County.
In 1963, when Cresap died, Simpson was responsible for eighteen major Westinghouse divisions. Six years later he became president of Westinghouse Power Systems. He earned the Westinghouse Order of Merit and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1966. In 1971, he won the prestigious Edison Medal. A member of the board of governors of the National Electric Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and chairman of NEMA’s Power Equipment Division, he was also a fellow of the American Nuclear Society where he served on the board of directors, on the executive committee, and as chairman of the finance committee. In 1995, the American Nuclear Society published his book Nuclear Power from Underseas to Outer Space, in which he recounted his experiences at Westinghouse. The book includes a detailed description of the company’s astronuclear program. Simpson died at the age of ninety-two on January 4, 2007, at Hilton Head, South Carolina.
The Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory was a product of an era of bold optimism in the promise of science and technology to solve problems and to bring to fruition a vision long shared by rocket pioneers Sergei Korolev, Stanislaw Ulam, Freeman Dyson, Tsiolkovsky, Goddard, Oberth, von Braun, and many others to eventually spread mankind across the vast solar system. Much of the science fiction of the era, such as the Tom Corbett television and juvenile novel series, was grounded in hard science as it was understood at the time. Overtaken by the social and political upheavals that accompanied the growing disillusionment with the Vietnam War and social dissension at home, the NERVA program nonetheless achieved remarkable successes that were ultimately cut short by shifting political events and a narrowing of national horizons. Despite a long hiatus, those successes are now inspiring a new generation of aerospace engineers to once again think boldly and embrace the difficult challenges articulated by President John F. Kennedy, a strong early supporter of the NERVA Program, at Rice University, Houston, Texas, in 1962: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
The collaboration of Westinghouse Electric and Aerojet General in tackling the difficult work of developing a viable solid core nuclear thermal rocket engine is a down payment on the eventual human exploration and settlement of the solar system. The full utilization of such nuclear technology will make possible the fulfillment of the dream first enunciated by Tsiolkovsky who more than a century ago proclaimed, “The earth is the cradle of mankind, but a man cannot live in the cradle forever.” Nurtured by the dreamers in the cradle of western Pennsylvania’s Three Rivers Valley for a brief but shining period of fourteen years, the dream of one day boldly setting off into the new frontier moved a little closer to reality.”
At:
paheritage.wpengine.com/article/aiming-stars-forgotten-le...
Credit: “PENNSYLVANIA HERITAGE” website
Although no signature is visible, to me, there’s a Ludwik Źiemba influence visible, although not as exquisitely detailed or precise. Maybe by one of his protégés? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯