Typically, when I'm looking for some weather information on TV, I head to The Weather Channel. Last night was different though. I was doing some channel surfing and stumbled upon a neat program on The History Channel. The program was called "Little Ice Age: Big Chill". As a weather nut, I found it very interesting how the weather played such a significant role on the history of the world between 1300 and 1850. Here is the synopsis from The History Channel website:"Not so long ago, civilization learned that it was no match for just a few degrees drop in temperature. Scientists call it the Little Ice Age--but its impact was anything but small. From 1300 to 1850, a period of cataclysmic cold caused havoc. It froze Viking colonists in Greenland, accelerated the Black Death in Europe, decimated the Spanish Armada, and helped trigger the French Revolution. The Little Ice Age reshaped the world in ways that now seem the stuff of fantasy--New York Harbor froze and people walked from Manhattan to Staten Island, Eskimos sailed kayaks as far south as Scotland, and two feet of snow fell on New England in June and July during "the Year Without a Summer". Could another catastrophic cold snap strike in the 21st century? Leading climatologists offer the latest theories, and scholars and historians recreate the history that could be a glimpse of things to come. Face the cold, hard truth of the past--an era that may be a window to our future."
I searched for a long time to figure out when they were going to replay this program. The only information I could find was that it wasn't scheduled to re-air anytime over the next 2 weeks. Thank goodness for YouTube. On YouTube the 2 hour program is broken up into 11 parts. Here is the link. -ADAM
2 comments:
So, Eric. I passed this ? on to your higher ups and never got a response from you, so I'm still wondering. Does the color of the sky, when its blue have anything to do with the reflection from the ocean?
Jessica: That's a great question. The reason the sky is blue is because the light from the sun is scattered by the earth's atmosphere and we see the color blue. The sky's color changes to a reddish color at sunrise and sunset because the sun's rays travel through more of the earth's atmosphere.
The ocean doesn't cause the color of the sky to change. However, the seasons do. During the summertime, the atmosphere is thicker than the winter...and thus the sky has a lighter blue appearance. During the winter, the atmosphere is thinner so the sky's color appears a darker blue.
Great question! -ERIC
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