Clipmarks | Siberia Clips

IS Russia a risk? I start to wonder!

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:24:45 GMT

Brown: Europe must reassess Russian risk

The Prime Minister's call came as Russia raised the stakes in its stand-off with the West over the Georgia crisis by moving to cement its recognition of the independence of the two breakaway regions involved.

Mr Brown insisted Russia had to adhere to international rules and withdraw its troops from Georgia if it wanted to remain involved with organisations such as the G8.

Russian forces invaded the former Soviet state in apparent response to Georgian attempts to reassert control over the two rebel regions, which align themselves with Moscow.

And he warned Moscow would not accept US domination of global affairs: "We can't accept the world order where all decisions are made by one nation, even by such serious and authoritative nation as the United States. Such a world would be unstable and prone to conflicts."

…But while West talks, action man Putin goes tiger hunting

The events unfolded when Mr Putin was visiting a tiger sanctuary in Siberia yesterday.

New clues on "The Great Dying"

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:55:48 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks:

The lessons of the Permian-Triassic massacre are "directly applicable to the present," said John Isbell, a geoscientist at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He said the world today is in danger of exceeding a CO2 "threshold" that could set off an environmental upheaval as great as the one 251 million years ago.

Clip Source: www.chron.com

An estimated 95 percent of all marine species and up to 85 percent of land creatures perished, according to Peter Ward, a paleobiologist at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Scientists call it "The Great Dying." Life took millions of years to recover.

Scientific sleuths, however, now think they're making progress toward pinning down what caused the extinction of most plants and animals on Earth some 251 million years ago.

The perpetrator wasn't an asteroid or comet, like the impact that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago and inspired movies such as Deep Impact and Armageddon.

Instead, it was a cascade of events that began with a monstrous outpouring of hot, reeking lava in Siberia. Repeated floods of lava released massive amounts of carbon dioxide, which produced a runaway greenhouse effect, oxygen-starved oceans and a poisoned atmosphere.

Tags: earth, mass extinction, carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases, atmosphere, geology, science

Russia's Bizarre & Horrifying Road Through Hell

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 05:18:38 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Yakutsk is the capital of the Yakutia Republic, part of the vast Russian region known as Siberia. The old joke is 'War is God's way of teaching us geography'. With that in mind, any kid who grew up playing the board game Risk remembers Yakutsk and neighboring Kamchatka as two territories with weird names located up at the top of Asia. As a kid, I had never heard of these places. Nor did it ever dawn on me people actually live there (if getting stuck in the mud is considered living... )

The road of mud isn't the only problem. It seems that people who live in Yakutsk were born to suffer. Yakutsk is considered the coldest city on earth, with January temperatures averaging -45 °F. The coldest temperatures ever recorded outside Antarctica occur in the basin of the Yana River just to the northeast. Yakutsk is the world's biggest city built on continuous permafrost. Most houses are built up on concrete piles to keep from sinking.

Clip Source: www.ssqq.com

The Russian Federal Highway runs from Moscow city to the Siberian city of Yakutsk. The last 600 miles is called the "Lena Highway". This bizarre road runs parallel to the Lena River on the final leg to Yakutsk.

As you can readily see for yourself, in the summertime, the Lena Highway turns to mud whenever it rains.

the Lena River
during the bitter Russian winter.
The Lena Highway is nearby

August 30, 2006. As you can see, this is a dirt road

others are not quite so lucky

Now let's see some truly horrifying pictures of a road ruined with mud

This area is surrounded by hills on both sides and there appears to be nowhere along the side of the road for the water to drain.

my guess is the summertime speed is 45 miles per week

Such a pretty girl and such a pretty car

no wonder so many Russian women are trying to get married in America

It could be days before they get out of this mess

Surely there is modern technology to fight this problem. This is ridiculous

Tags: russian federal highway, moscow city to yakutsk, "lena highway"

Top 10 endangered languages

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:08:26 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08
clipper's remarks: So much to learn...

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Peter K Austin's top 10 endangered languages

The linguistics professor and author shares a personal selection from the thousands of languages on the brink of disappearing

So how to choose a top 10 from more than 3,000 endangered languages?

take into account four factors: (1) geographical coverage

(2) scientific interest

3) cultural interest

(4) social impact

1. Jeru

Jeru (or Great Andamanese) is spoken by fewer than 20 people on the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean.

2. N|u (also called Khomani)

a Khoisan language spoken by fewer than 10 elderly people

in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa

3. Ainu

spoken by a small number of old people on the island of Hokkaido

4. Thao

central Taiwan is the home of the Thao language, now spoken by a handful of old people

5. Yuchi

spoken in Oklahoma, USA, by just five people all aged over 75

6. Oro Win

in western Rondonia State, Brazil

7. Kusunda

hunter-gatherers from western Nepal

8. Ter Sami

9. Guugu Yimidhirr

10. Ket

spoken along

eastern Siberia

Tags: languages, linguistics, tribes, extinct, geographical, scientific, cultural, social

7 Amazing Holes

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:27:39 GMT

clipped by: tanjazaric

Clip Source: deputy-dog.com

mirny diamond mine

siberia

largest open diamond mine in the world. at 525 metres deep with a top diameter of 1200 metres there’s even a no-fly zone above the hole due to a few helicopters being sucked in.

red arrow

huge truck

kimberley big hole - south africa

this 1097 metre deep mine yielded over 3 tonnes of diamonds before being closed in 1914.

earth removed by workers is estimated to total 22.5 million tonnes

glory hole - monticello dam

used when a dam is at full capacity and water needs to be drained from the resevoir

bingham canyon mine, utah

supposedly the largest man-made excavation on earth

the hole is 3/4 mile deep and 2.5 miles wide

great blue hole, belize

‘geographical phenomenon’ known as a blue hole

1/4 mile wide, the depth in the middle reaching 145 metres. obviously the hole is a huge hit with divers

diavik mine, canada

it even has its own airport

sinkhole, guatemala

when water (usually rainwater or sewage) is soaked up by the earth on a large scale, resulting in the ground collapsing

Tags: geography, earth, photography

Arctic ice refuses to melt as ordered

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:04:48 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: www.theregister.co.uk

Just a few weeks ago, predictions of Arctic ice collapse were buzzing all over the internet. Some scientists were predicting that the "North Pole may be ice-free for first time this summer". Others predicted that the entire "polar ice cap would disappear this summer".

The Arctic melt season is nearly done for this year. The sun is now very low above the horizon and will set for the winter at the North Pole in five weeks. And none of these dire predictions have come to pass. Yet there is, however, something odd going on with the ice data.

A comparison of these maps (derived from NSIDC data) below shows that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007. (2008 is a leap year, so the dates are offset by one.

ice has grown in nearly every direction since last summer - with a large increase in the area north of Siberia

Northwest Passage (west of Greenland) has seen a significant increase in ice

Leaky Lake

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 09:18:45 GMT

clipped by: kris_tea

Clip Source: en.rian.ru

Scientists find oil fissure in Lake Baikal's bedrock

NOVOSIBIRSK, August 7 (RIA Novosti) - Scientists have located a crack in the bedrock of Siberia's Lake Baikal from which crude oil seeps into the lake, and have discovered a range of organisms living in the oil, an expedition member said on Thursday.

Researchers, who are currently examining the processes through which microbes in the world's deepest lake digest petroleum that naturally enters the water, conducted deep water dives on Monday and Wednesday to locate the oil source.

Research into Baikal's oil may provide new insights into the origins of petroleum, he said.

Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage site, holds around 20% of the planet's freshwater.

Baikal is the world's oldest lake, with an age estimated at 25 million years.

research is not aimed at exploiting possible oil and gas reserves, but at protecting Baikal's unique ecosystem.

Tags: oil, russia, science, environment

Who owns the Artic oil?

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 14:49:10 GMT

clipped by: kris_tea

Clip Source: www.nationalpost.com

Canada to make groundbreaking Arctic claim

Randy Boswell, National Post Published: Wednesday, August 06, 2008

A year after Russian scientists planted their nation's flag on the North Pole seabed -- a controversial demonstration of their country's interest in securing control over a vast undersea mountain chain stretching across the Arctic Ocean from Siberia to Ellesmere Island and Greenland -- Canadian researchers have teamed with Danish scientists to offer proof that the Lomonosov Ridge is, in fact, a natural extension of the North American continent.

The completion of the study represents a key step in Canada's effort to eventually win rights over thousands of square kilometres of the polar seabed, a potential treasure trove of oil and gas being made more and more accessible as melting ice unlocks our High Arctic frontier.

Scientists find oil fissure in Lake Baikal's bedrock

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:12:56 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: en.rian.ru

Scientists have located a crack in the bedrock of Siberia's Lake Baikal from which crude oil seeps into the lake, and have discovered a range of organisms living in the oil

the source was found at a depth of around 850 meters (2,800 feet) to the south of Barguzin Bay

It turns out that a large number of organisms live in this oil.

Research into Baikal's oil may provide new insights into the origins of petroleum

Baikal is the world's oldest lake, with an age estimated at 25 million years

Scientists discover oil fissure in Lake Baikal

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:57:27 GMT

clipped by: tommy2balmy
clipper's remarks: Including organisms living in the oil.

Clip Source: en.rian.ru

Dr. Mikhail Grachyov, an expert on the molecular evolution of Baikal's animal and plant life, said the source was found at a depth of around 850 meters (2,800 feet) to the south of Barguzin Bay, and that samples of the oil had been taken.

"It turns out that a large number of organisms live in this oil. This will require a huge amount of study," he told RIA Novosti.

Research into Baikal's oil may provide new insights into the origins of petroleum, he said.

Baikal,

holds around 20% of the planet's freshwater.

Tags: russia, lake baikal, oil

Ancient moss, insects found in Antarctica

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:47:51 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

(AP) -- Mosses once grew and insects crawled in what are now barren valleys in Antarctica, according to scientists who have recovered remains of life from that frozen continent. Fourteen million years ago the now lifeless valleys were tundra, similar to parts of Alaska, Canada and Siberia - cold but able to support life, researchers report.

"The really cool thing is that all the details are still there," even though the plant has been dead for 14 million years. "These are actually the plant tissues themselves."

Further study uncovered remains of tiny crustaceans known as ostracodes, small midges and beetles, and pollen from southern beech trees and pink plants.

Tags: antarctica, life, plants, insects

Total Solar Eclise Observed From Western Siberia

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:03:07 GMT

clipped by: Charolastra

Clip Source: www.hemmy.net

Images from the total solar eclipse of August 1st 2008 observed from Siberia. The sun was completed obscured for a few minutes and the solar eclipse was experienced in Canada, Greenland, central Russia, eastern Kazakhstan, western Mongolia and China. The next total solar eclipse only occurs in several years where the next one will be observed in Northern America in 2017, in Europe - in 2026 and in Russia in 2030.

Tags: sun, solar eclipse, siberia, russia

Stalin's lost Railway???

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:32:21 GMT

clipped by: jacquesduyver
clipper's remarks: When you live in Africa it dosn't look lost, it looks normal somehow, with this difference that in Africa they still try to use it...and sometimes actually do....!

Clip Source: englishrussia.com

We’ve had recently an abandoned railway in Abkhazia, abandoned as a result of USSR collapse when new “independent” republics couldn’t maintain the complicated and high-cost USSR legacy objects. But this one was abandoned long before the USSR collapse, it was doomed to be abandoned from the beginning. It was built by a personal Stalin’s order in the middle of nowhere - deep inside Northern Siberia between Salekhard city and Igarka town. It was not connected with any other Russian Federal Railway System and the purpose of it still is not very clear, so as a senseless toy it way abandoned pretty soon and now rusts accessible only with a helicopter.

Incredible Pictures & video of Today’s Solar Eclipse

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:13:37 GMT

clipped by: einbar
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

World looks up for total eclipse
01 Aug 08 | Science/Nature

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A total eclipse of the Sun has passed over Canada, Russia and China, casting dramatic shadows and allowing a glimpse of the Sun's rarely-seen corona.

The eclipse arced over the surface of the Earth as the Moon passed directly between planet and its star.

Beginning in Canada, the eclipse passed through Greenland to Russia and China.

View of the eclipse from China

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

World looks up for total eclipse
01 Aug 08 | Science/Nature

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Tourists and amateur and professional astronomers flocked to towns in the best viewing locations along the path of totality.

In Novosibirsk, Siberia's cultural and scientific capital, more than 5,000 foreign tourists were expected to show up in the city.

China experienced the eclipse just a week before the opening ceremony of Beijing's Olympic Games.

Eclipse-Watchers Worldwide Gear Up For Friday's Event

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:19:25 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: Before there was a scientific explanation for eclipses, myth and mystery was pervasive. Many cultures thought a demon or dragon was devouring the sun.

In ancient China, "any unusual phenomenon involving celestial bodies was noted for potential omens, either good or bad, that might befall the current Emperor," according to Sten Odenwald of the department of physics at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

The ancient Chinese banged pots and drums to shoo the frightful sun-eating character away.

In India, people would immerse themselves in water to help the sun fight the dragon.

Even nowadays many myths persist. In Egypt, as one example, children are often kept indoors with windows covered or shades drawn during an eclipse.

Risk of eye injury

Eclipses can indeed be dangerous

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

A total eclipse of the sun Friday should fascinate millions of lucky skywatchers in Greenland, Siberia, Mongolia and China.

If the weather cooperates, people along a narrow path who venture out and look up will see stars during the day as the sun is gradually devoured and ultimately blotted out by the moon.

Unlike ancient times, when eclipses were viewed as bad omens in many cultures, fewer people should be expecting doom this time around.

Billions of people along the path, including most of Europe and Asia, have a chance to see an interesting but much less foreboding partial eclipse.

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

Astonishing NASA images show sun gradually devoured, ultimately blotted out by the moon as total eclipse fascinates millions of lucky skywatchers in China.
• Total Solar Eclipse From China: WATCH LIVE

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

Solar eclipses occur when the moon moves in front of the sun. This can happen only at the time of a new moon, when the moon is between Earth and the sun.

Tags: solar eclipse, august 1st, europe, asia, greenland, siberia, mongolia, china, nasa images