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Friday, April 2, 2021

La Nina - Spanish for "little girl," La Niña is the name given to the large-scale cooling of sea surface temperatures across the central and equatorial Pacific Ocean. It is one part of the larger and naturally occurring ocean-atmosphere phenomenon known as the El Niño/Southern Oscillation or ENSO (pronounced "en-so") cycle. La Niña conditions recur every 3 to 7 years and typically last from 9 to 12 months up to 2 years. One of the strongest La Niña episodes on record was that of 1988-1989 when ocean temperatures fell as much as 7 F below normal. The last La Niña episode occurred during late 2016, and some evidence of La Niña was seen in January of 2018. A La Niña event is the opposite of an El Niño event. Waters in the equatorial regions of the Pacific Ocean are unseasonably cool. The cooler waters affect the atmosphere above the ocean, causing significant changes in climate, though usually not as significant as the changes that occur during an El Niño. In fact, the positive effects on the fishing industry make La Niña less of a news item than an El Niño event. Both La Niña and El Niño events tend to develop during the Northern Hemisphere spring (March to June), peak during late fall and winter (November to February), then weaken the following spring into summer (March to June). El Niño (meaning "the Christ child") earned its name because of its usual appearance around Christmas time.

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Monday, March 29, 2021

FLYING THROUGH CLOUDS - Why Are They So Dangerous? - Weather conditions are a huge factor in aviation safety, and learning about cloud formations and their potential dangers when flying is a vital part of pilot training in New Zealand. Sometimes flying through clouds is just like driving through fog – you really can’t see much but nothing bad happens – but sometimes they can represent extreme danger for pilots, planes and passengers. Across the history of aircraft flight around the world planes have been damaged and even broken up when encountering severe thunderstorm clouds in-flight. Some clouds such as the cumulonimbus are definitely a direct danger to aircraft; some clouds simply indicate a potential problem and others have no effect at all. During flight and in pre-flight planning it is the pilot’s job to assess and evaluate weather conditions as to whether they are a threat to the aircraft or not. In order to accurately assess threat levels as a pilot it is important to know the different types of clouds and how they affect weather and flight conditions. Clouds are made up of tiny water droplets formed by rising water vapour as it cools. These tiny water droplets form clusters in which the air swirls about unpredictably due to the denser internal conditions compared to the surrounding external air. As a result complex updrafts and downdrafts are created. These cloud-borne updrafts and downdrafts result in rapid and unpredictable changes to the lift force on the wings of an aircraft.

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Thursday, March 25, 2021

ALKALINE WATER PROS AND CONS - Alkaline drinking water has been one of the rising trends in health and fitness in recent years. Supporters state that regularly drinking water with higher pH levels can help cure numerous ailments. They have lauded the drink as a potential cure-all for issues ranging from poor hydration and bone loss to cancer and diabetes. As a result, many have jumped on the trend, resulting in a boom in alkaline water products hitting the market. Before you decide for yourself, it’s worth your time to learn more. We’ve compiled a summary of the research surrounding the water and listed alkaline drinking water’s pros and cons. Alkaline is another word for basic, which in chemistry refers to a substance’s pH level. The pH level measures how acidic or basic something is on a scale of 0 to 14, with lower numbers being more acidic and higher numbers being more basic or alkaline. Most drinking water has a pH of 7, which is considered neutral on the pH scale. Alkaline water is more basic, typically ranging from 8 to 10 on the pH scale. Wine and beer are somewhat acidic with an average pH of 4.0, while many household cleaners are typically more alkaline with a pH of 13 or more. This water also contains particles of alkaline minerals that further increase the pH. It also possesses negative oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) — water’s ability to act as a pro-oxidant or antioxidant. Negative ORP makes a substance more antioxidizing.

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