What is El Nio Taimasa? Strong El Nio events leading to lower local sea levels.

During very strong El Nio events, sea level drops abruptly in the tropical western Pacific and
tides remain below normal for up to a year in the South Pacific, especially around Samoa. The
Samoans call the wet stench of coral dieoffs arising from the low sea levels !taimasa!
"pronounced #$ai% ma%sa&'. Studying the climate effects of this particular variation of El Nio and
how it may change in the future is a team of scientists at the (nternational Pacific )esearch
*enter, +niversity of ,awai%i at -.noa and at the +niversity of New South /ales, 0ustralia.
Two El Nio Taimasa events have occurred in recent history1 2345647 and 2338634. El Nio
Taimasa differs from other strong El Nio events, such as those in 2349648 and 5::362:,
according to -atthew /idlans$y, postdoctoral fellow at the (nternational Pacific )esearch
*enter, who spearheaded the study.
!/e noticed from tide gauge measurements that toward the end of these very strong El Nio
events, when sea levels around ;uam <uic$ly returned to normal, that tide gauges near Samoa
actually continued to drop,! recalls /idlans$y.
During such strong El Nio, moreover, the summer rain band over Samoa, called the South
Pacific *onvergence =one, collapses toward the e<uator. These shifts in rainfall cause droughts
south of Samoa and sometimes trigger more tropical cyclones to the east near Tahiti.
+sing statistical procedures to tease apart the causes of the sealevel seesaw between the North
and South Pacific, the scientists found that it is associated with the well$nown southward shift
of wea$ trade winds during the termination of El Nio, which in turn is associated with the
development of the summer rain band.
>oo$ing into the future with the help of computer climate models, the scientists are now studying
how El Nio Taimasa will change with further warming of the planet. Their analyses show,
moreover, that sealevel drops could be predictable seasons ahead, which may help island
communities prepare for the ne?t El Nio Taimasa.
Source1 http166www.sciencedaily.com6
Rocks around the clock: Asteroids pound tin star
Scientists using *S()@%s Par$es telescope and another telescope in South 0frica have found
evidence that a tiny star called PS) A:874B:B5 is being pounded by asteroids large lumps of
roc$ from space.
!@ne of these roc$s seems to have had a mass of about a billion tonnes,! *S()@ astronomer and
member of the research team Dr )yan Shannon said.
PS) A:874B:B5 lies 78,::: lightyears from Earth in the constellation of Puppis.
The environment around this star is especially harsh, full of radiation and violent winds of
particles.
!(f a large roc$y obCect can form here, planets could form around any star. That%s e?citing,! Dr
Shannon said.
The star is a special one, a %pulsar% that emits a beam of radio waves.
0s the star spins, its radio beam flashes over Earth again and again with the regularity of a cloc$.
(n 5::4 Dr Shannon and a colleague predicted how an infalling asteroid would affect a pulsar. (t
would, they said, alter the slowing of the pulsar%s spin rate and the shape of the radio pulse that
we see on Earth.
!That is e?actly what we see in this case,! Dr Shannon said.
!/e thin$ the pulsar%s radio beam Daps the asteroid, vaporising it. Eut the vaporised particles are
electrically charged and they slightly alter the process that creates the pulsar%s beam.!
0steroids around a pulsar could be created by the e?ploding star that formed the pulsar itself, the
scientists say.
The material blasted out from the e?plosion could fall bac$ towards the forming pulsar, forming
a dis$ of debris.
0stronomers have found a dust dis$ around another pulsar called A:2B9F92.
!This sort of dust dis$ could provide the %seeds% that grow into larger asteroids,! said -r Paul
Eroo$, a PhD student cosupervised by the +niversity of @?ford and *S()@ who led the study
of PS) A:874B:B5.
(n 2335 two planetsiDed obCects were found around a pulsar called PS) 25G8F25. Eut these
were probably formed by a different mechanism, the astronomers say.
Source1 http166www.sciencedaily.com
Technology
New Type of Huel *ell Produces Electricity Directly from Eiomass
0 new solarinduced direct biomasstoelectricity hybrid fuel cell can operate on fuels as varied
as powdered wood. The fuel cell, shown on the right, relies on a polyo?ometalate "P@-' catalyst
"shown in the vials' which changes color as it reacts with light.
Scientists at Georgia Tech have developed a new type of low-temperature fuel cell that directly
converts biomass to electricity with assistance from a catalyst activated by solar or thermal
energy.
0lthough low temperature fuel cells powered by methanol or hydrogen have been well studied,
e?isting low temperature fuel cell technologies cannot directly use biomass as a fuel because of
the lac$ of an effective catalyst system for polymeric materials.
Now, researchers at the ;eorgia (nstitute of Technology have developed a new type of low
temperature fuel cell that directly converts biomass to electricity with assistance from a catalyst
activated by solar or thermal energy. The hybrid fuel cell can use a wide variety of biomass
sources, including starch, cellulose, lignin I and even switchgrass, powdered wood, algae and
waste from poultry processing.
The device could be used in smallscale units to provide electricity for developing nations, as
well as for larger facilities to provide power where significant <uantities of biomass are
available.
J/e have developed a new method that can handle the biomass at room temperature, and the
type of biomass that can be used is not restricted I the process can handle nearly any type of
biomass,K said Lulin Deng, a professor in ;eorgia TechMs School of *hemical and Eiomolecular
Engineering and the (nstitute of Paper Science and Technology "(PST'. JThis is a very generic
approach to utiliDing many $inds of biomass and organic waste to produce electrical power
without the need for purification of the starting materials.K
The new solarinduced direct biomasstoelectricity hybrid fuel cell was described Hebruary 8,
5:2B, in the Cournal Nature *ommunications.
This schematic illustration shows the wor$ing principle of the solarinduced direct biomassto
electricity hybrid fuel cell. "*ourtesy of Lulin Deng'
The challenge for biomass fuel cells is that the carboncarbon bonds of the biomass I a natural
polymer I cannot be easily bro$en down by conventional catalysts, including e?pensive precious
metals, Deng noted. To overcome that challenge, scientists have developed microbial fuel cells in
which microbes or enDymes brea$ down the biomass. Eut that process has many drawbac$s1
power output from such cells is limited, microbes or enDymes can only selectively brea$ down
certain types of biomass, and the microbial system can be deactivated by many factors.
Deng and his research team got around those challenges by altering the chemistry to allow an
outside energy source to activate the fuel cellMs o?idationreduction reaction.
(n the new system, the biomass is ground up and mi?ed with a polyo?ometalate "P@-' catalyst
in solution and then e?posed to light from the sun I or heat. 0 photochemical and
thermochemical catalyst, P@- functions as both an o?idation agent and a charge carrier. P@-
o?idiDes the biomass under photo or thermal irradiation, and delivers the charges from the
biomass to the fuel cellMs anode. The electrons are then transported to the cathode, where they are
finally o?idiDed by o?ygen through an e?ternal circuit to produce electricity.
J(f you mi? the biomass and catalyst at room temperature, they will not react,K said Deng. JEut
when you e?pose them to light or heat, the reaction begins. The P@- introduces an intermediate
step because biomass cannot be directly accessed by o?ygen.K
The system provides maCor advantages, including combining the photochemical and solar
thermal biomass degradation in a single chemical process, leading to high solar conversion and
effective biomass degradation. (t also does not use e?pensive noble metals as anode catalysts
because the fuel o?idation reactions are catalyDed by the P@- in solution. Hinally, because the
P@- is chemically stable, the hybrid fuel cell can use unpurified polymeric biomass without
concern for poisoning noble metal anodes.
The system can use soluble biomass, or organic materials suspended in a li<uid. (n e?periments,
the fuel cell operated for as long as 5: hours, indicating that the P@- catalyst can be reused
without further treatment.
(n their paper, the researchers reported a ma?imum power density of :.85 milliwatts per s<uare
centimeter, which is nearly 2:: times higher than cellulosebased microbial fuel cells, and near
that of the best microbial fuel cells. Deng believes the output can be increased five to ten times
when the process is optimiDed.
J( believe this type of fuel cell could have an energy output similar to that of methanol fuel cells
in the future,K he said. JTo optimiDe the system, we need to have a better understanding of the
chemical processes involved and how to improve them.K
The researchers also need to compare operation of the system with solar energy and other forms
of input energy, such as waste heat from other processes. Eeyond the ability to directly use
biomass as a fuel, the new cell also offers advantages in sustainability I and potentially lower
cost compared to other fuel cell types.
J/e can use sustainable materials without any chemical pollution,K Deng said. JSolar energy and
biomass are two important sustainable energy sources available to the world today. @ur system
would use them together to produce electricity while reducing dependence on fossil fuels.K
(n addition to Deng, the research team included /ei >iu, /ei -u, -engCie >iu, Niaodan =hang
and ,ongli *ai, all from the School of *hemical and Eiomolecular Engineering or the (nstitute
of Paper Science and Technology at ;eorgia Tech.
!u"lication1 /ei >iu, et al., JSolarinduced direct biomasstoelectricity hybrid fuel cell using
polyo?ometalates as photocatalyst and charge carrier,K Nature *ommunications G, 0rticle
number1 75:4O doi12:.2:746ncommsB5:4
Source1 Aohn Toon, ;eorgia (nstitute of Technology
(mages1 Aohn ToonO Lulin Deng
Source1 http166scitechdaily.com6newtypefuelcellproduceselectricitydirectlybiomass6
Trivia
Eoomerang Nebula is the coldest $nown place in the universe.