Jump to content

World War II bombs 'felt in space'


Flashermac
 Share

Recommended Posts

The bombs used by Allied forces during World War II were so large, they weakened the Earth's upper atmosphere.

The air raids turned towns to rubble and ash, but now new research shows shockwaves could be felt up to 1,000 km above the UK.

Chris Scott, from the University of Reading said: "I was absolutely astonished [when I found out].

"Each raid released the energy of at least 300 lightning strikes."

It's now hoped the research will give us a better understanding of how natural forces such as lightning, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can affect Earth's upper atmosphere.

Researchers studied daily records kept at the Radio Research Centre in Slough, UK.

They looked at how the concentration of electrons changed in the upper atmosphere around the time of 152 Allied air raids in Europe - including raids on Berlin and those in support of the Normandy landings.

The data showed the concentration of electrons fell significantly when a bomb was detonated, which in turn heated the upper atmosphere.

This caused a small but significant depletion in the ionosphere above Slough, even though the bombs were deployed hundreds of miles away.

But Chris Scott admits "these were very temporary effects which heated the atmosphere very slightly."

"The effects on the ionosphere would only have lasted until the heat dissipated."

Why do we need to know about the ionosphere?

It is a layer of the Earth's atmosphere which can affect radio communications, GPS systems, radio telescopes and even some understanding of weather systems.

Chris Scott said: "This [research] is really important if we're going to understand the ionosphere as a whole.

"We know the ionosphere is controlled by solar activity but it varies much more than can currently be explained."

The results are published in the European Geosciences Union journal, Annales Geophysicae.

 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45655149

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In this vein, I just watched a docco on Krakatoa. There's a lot more to that story, than whats in the potted version. Like the "daughter of Krakatoa" that's been forming about 100 metres to the left of where Krakatoa was, is now about the same size as Krakatoa was when she blew.

And that the reason Krakatoa blew and just didn't more or less continually erupt, like other volcanoes, is that the unique structure of the earth's crust below Krakatoa, causes a boiler-like build up that eventually, explodes, big time.

They reckon that earth cooled 2C for over 10 year 'cause of that event.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

William Shirer described how furious Hitler was when Britain and France declared war on him for attacking Poland. He kept screaming at Ribbentrop, "YOU TOLD ME THIS WOULDN'T HAPPEN! YOU TOLD ME THIS WOULDN'T HAPPEN!" Having been allowed to militarise the Rhineland, annex Austria, and annex the "Sudetenland" (which had been forced to become part of Czechoslovakia after WWI against the inhabitants wishes),  Hitler was convinced that he could get away with almost anything. He wasn't ready for a major war in 1939 and didn't expect it would happen. If he had, he would have waited for years before even considering such an attack.

Also, Goering practically begged Hitler not to attack Russia, realising it would be a total disaster. But Hitler refused to listen to anyone.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amazing how he thought he could take on the combined military forces of the UK the US and the Soviets , and win.The Russian campaign proved his downfall ,of course, with 3/4 of the Wermacht engaged on the eastern front.Prior to the invasion he remarked " You only have to kick in the door ,and the whole rotten edifice will come tumbling down " …. how wrong he was.

Later on in the war,he was being given a cocktail of different drugs by his personal doctor which probably had a significant impact on his decision making.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 9/28/2018 at 7:36 AM, Coss said:

In this vein, I just watched a docco on Krakatoa. There's a lot more to that story, than whats in the potted version. Like the "daughter of Krakatoa" that's been forming about 100 metres to the left of where Krakatoa was, is now about the same size as Krakatoa was when she blew.

And that the reason Krakatoa blew and just didn't more or less continually erupt, like other volcanoes, is that the unique structure of the earth's crust below Krakatoa, causes a boiler-like build up that eventually, explodes, big time.

They reckon that earth cooled 2C for over 10 year 'cause of that event.

Krakatau, the daughter of Krakatoa has erupted.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12181691

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And some interesting information.  http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/asean/2018/12/27/satellite-images-show-collapse-of-indonesian-island-volcano/

 

AP18361085862319.jpg

This combination of synthetic aperture radar images taken by JAXA’s ALOS-2 satellite and analyzed by Geospatial Information Authority of Japan shows Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano, center in images, before and after the Dec. 22, 2018, eruption. Image: Associated Press

My observation: it's worth noting that the lower of the other land masses, in the images (not the central Anak Krakatau) is the remnants of the original Krakatoa.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...