News

NASA has long been a leader in understanding the science of space weather, including research into the potential for induced electrical currents to disrupt our power systems.

Last year, NASA scientists worked with scientists and engineers from research institutions and industry during a pair of intensive week-long workshops in order to assess the state of science surrounding this type of space weather. This summary was published Jan. 30, 2017, in the journal Space Weather.

Storms from the sun can affect our power grids, railway systems and underground pipelines through a phenomenon called geomagnetically induced currents, or GICs.

The sun regularly releases a constant stream of magnetic solar material called the solar wind, along with occasional huge clouds of solar material called coronal mass ejections. This material interacts with Earth’s magnetic field, causing temporary changes.

That temporary change to the magnetic field can create electric currents just under Earth’s surface. These are GICs.

Long, thin, metal structures near Earth’s surface – such as underground pipelines, railroads and power lines – can act as giant wires for these currents, causing electricity to flow long distances underground.

This electric current can cause problems for all three structures, and it’s especially difficult to manage in power systems, where controlling the amount of electric current is key for keeping the lights on.

Under extreme conditions, GICs can cause temporary blackouts, which means that studying space weather is a crucial component for emergency management.  

“We already had a pretty good grasp of the key moving pieces that can affect power systems,” said Antti Pulkkinen, a space weather researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “But this was the first we had solar experts, heliospheric scientists, magnetospheric physicists, power engineers and emergency management officials all in a room together.”

Though GICs can primarily cause problems for power systems, railroads and pipelines aren’t immune.

“Researchers have found a positive correlation between geomagnetic storms and mis-operation of railway signaling systems,” said Pulkkinen, who is also a member of the space weather research-focused Community Coordinated Modeling Center based at Goddard.

This is because railway signals, which typically control traffic at junctures between tracks or at intersections with roads, operate on an automated closed/open circuit system. If a train’s metal wheels are on the track near the signal, they close the electrical circuit, allowing electrical current to flow to the signal and turn it on.

“Geomagnetically induced currents could close that loop and make the system signal that there’s a train when there isn’t,” said Pulkkinen.

Similarly, current flowing in oil pipelines could create false alarms, prompting operators to inspect pipelines that aren’t damaged or malfunctioning.

In power systems, the GICs from a strong space weather event can cause something called voltage collapse. Voltage collapse is a temporary state in which the voltage of a segment of a power system goes to zero. Because voltage is required for current to flow, voltage collapse can cause blackouts in affected areas.

Though blackouts caused by voltage collapse can have huge effects on transportation, healthcare and commerce, GICs are unlikely to cause permanent damage to large sections of power systems.

“For permanent transformer damage to occur, there needs to be sustained levels of GICs going through the transformer,” said Pulkkinen. “We know that’s not how GICs work. GICs tend to be much more noisy and short-lived, so widespread physical damage of transformers is unlikely even during major storms.”

The scientists who worked on the survey, part of the NASA Living With a Star Institute, also created a list of the key unanswered questions in GIC science, mostly related to computer modeling and prediction.

The group members’ previous work on GIC science and preparedness has already been used to shape new standards for power companies to guard against blackouts.

In September 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, released new standards that require power companies to assess and prepare for potential GIC disruptions.

“We’re really proud that our team members made major contributions to the updated FERC standards,” said Pulkkinen. “It also shows that the U.S. is actively working to address GIC risk.”

UNFORGETTABLE (Rated R)

Take the “Un” out of the title of “Unforgettable” and what you have would be a fairly apt shorthand review of the suspense thriller hinging on the pathology of mental derangement engendered by familial discord.

In fact, the tagline for the movie, simply stated as “When Love Ends Madness Begins,” tells you mostly what is required to understand Katherine Heigl’s starring role of Tessa Connover, who is barely coping with the end of her marriage.

Before we get to the unraveling of Heigl’s character, the story opens with Rosario Dawson’s bloodied Julia Banks being questioned by the police about a man from her past having been murdered in a situation where it appears she’s the only suspect.

Flashback to six months earlier, a much happier Julia has just did farewell to her best friend Ali (Whitney Cummings) and her job in San Francisco and relocated to an idyllic suburban home in Southern California.

Her move has been prompted by an engagement to David Connover (Geoff Stults), the ex-husband of Tessa. Sharing the home with David and his young daughter Lily (Isabella Kai Rice), Julia is stepping into a new environment that is unfamiliar and somewhat challenging.

Julia is harboring a troubling secret of a past abusive relationship with an old boyfriend, one that left her so fearful that a soon-to-expire restraining order has caused much anxiety and expected fear.

Controlling and rigid, Tessa is almost immediately resentful of Julia’s facile charm and effortless beauty. It doesn’t help matters that Tessa is going to snap when she sees that David is truly in love with Julia, who is also gradually winning over her daughter.

Not long after Tessa and Julia first meet does it take anyone to realize one of them is going to come unhinged, and the dark period that continues to cloud Julia’s striving for the dream romance is not going to be a red herring.

How long will it take for someone to go over the edge? You can see the telltale signs everywhere, from the furtive glance to a snide remark and to finally the type of physical violence that is the culmination of craziness slowly oozing out of Tessa’s pores.

The rising tension between two women at odds over the love and admiration of one man is a certain recipe for a suspenseful thriller. The problem comes with laugh-induced moments that should have been somber and troubling.

“Unforgettable” not only fails to be memorable but its treatment of suspense is so formulaic as to be rendered suitable mainly for late night viewing on a cable channel.

‘Genius’ on National Geographic Channel

The National Geographic Channel has put so much faith in its scripted limited series “Genius” that the program has been renewed for a second season even before the first episode has aired.

Based on Walter Isaacson’s book “Einstein: His Life and Universe,” the ambitious program of “Genius” is to tell the entire story of the tumultuous private life of Albert Einstein, the great mind who personified the word “genius.”

Produced by Academy Award winners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, “Genius,” judging by the first episode, explores the private of the revolutionary thinker in a non-lineal fashion, jumping back and forth through periods of time to illustrate his rise to fame as a theoretical physicist.

Everyone knows about the “theory of relativity,” but few know this German-born intellectual endured a difficult relationship with his father and the struggle of being a Jew living in his homeland during the rise of Hitler.

For all his brilliance, Einstein (portrayed by Geoffrey Rush as an adult) had troubled relations with women and his own children, to say nothing of how his rebellious nature caused him problems with teachers and scientific colleagues.

“Genius” begins with a young Einstein (Johnny Flynn) in conflict with his father as he drops out of school in Germany in order to further his studies in Switzerland, where he ultimately breaks the heart of his first love, Marie (Shannon Tarbet).

At the university in Zurich, he pursues the mysterious and elusive fellow physics student Mileva Maric (Samantha Colley), who would eventually become his first wife. Their first volatile encounters hardly seemed conducive to romance.

“Genius” requires the viewer to pay attention to the timelines, as the story jumps back and forth from Munich and Italy in 1894 and 1895, respectively, to Berlin in the Thirties and Forties, when the Brownshirts terrorized the public.

The first episode jumps right to this pre-World War II era when Einstein is now married to his second wife Elsa (Emily Watson), who happened to be his first cousin and endured his infidelities.

Exposing the great man for his flaws and sexual peccadilloes, “Genius” is also generous to demonstrate that his mind operated superior to his colleagues and adversaries.

“Genius” has a lot of ground to cover, including the years spent in the United States teaching at Princeton. This series should exceed at commanding attention of anyone fascinated by this complicated intellectual.
  
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – The Jackson Demonstration State Forest Advisory Group meeting will be held on Friday, May 12.

Anyone wishing to participate will meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Fort Bragg Library, located at 499 East Laurel St. in Fort Bragg.

Following a short meeting in the library there will be a field tour on the forest. Be prepared for weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Attendees are responsible for their own transportation, lunch and water.

This meeting is open to the public and public attendance is encouraged.

The meeting agenda is posted on at http://calfire.ca.gov/resource_mgt/resource_mgt_stateforests_jackson.php .

If anyone has any questions regarding the meeting or about Jackson Demonstration State Forest in general, please call 707-964-5674.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Friends of the Lake County Library invite the public to attend the group’s first 2017 book sale.

The sale will be held on Saturday, May 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Lakeport Library.

Members of the group will be allowed entry at 9:30 a.m. and will also be entitled to a free book.

The library is located at 1425 N. High St. in Lakeport.

Please call the library at 707-263-8817 for more information.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – It’s hard to believe that the pretty little wood ducks (Aix sponsa) were brought to the brink of extinction in the late 1800s.

Deforestation, wetland loss and hunting of the birds for meat production were the main culprits, but like the egrets of the same time, wood duck feathers were also prized for ladies’ hats.

Conservation efforts including the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1918) preserved the species. Even though they are still hunted (with a limited take of two birds in California) their numbers are currently on rise thanks to continued protection and the establishment of human-made nesting boxes.

At only about three-quarters of the size of a common mallard, the male wood ducks are distinctly patterned with an iridescent green head (decorated with white lines and curves), a glossy chestnut colored chest and buff sides.

Although the females’ coloring isn’t as striking, they still cut a lovely gray-brown figure with their speckled breasts, and their white rimmed eyes with yellow eyeliner.

Besides their coloring, what makes these ducks unique is that they have no close ancestral relatives other than the brightly colored Mandarin ducks. 

Unlike most other ducks, too, wood ducks have some special adaptations that make them able to climb, perch, nest and freely fly around trees.

Their somewhat stocky body and short broad wings make them very maneuverable in flight, and their feet are equipped with claws that allow the ducks to climb trees and perch on branches.

Even the newly hatched ducklings have use for their claws. When they are just one day old, they leap from the nest onto the ground (which may be up to 50 feet below), using their claws and tail to brace themselves just before the jump.

Unless they land on something especially hard, the long fall doesn’t injure the ducklings. Their tiny bodies are so light that they literally just bounce when they hit ground.

Wood ducks prefer to nest in tree cavities but since they are unable to excavate cavities on their own and have to rely on natural openings in trees, they have also adapted well to using nest boxes. (Northern Flicker nesting cavities are sometimes used, but that is something of a rarity.)

Usually, the nest which is lined with feathers and little else is between 10 and 50 feet off the ground somewhere near a water source, like a lake, wetlands area or even an urban pond.

Females may lay eggs in several different nests before they pick one to brood in, so it’s not unusual for there to be a broad mix of eggs in each nest.

Some nests, called “dump nests,” don’t live up to the females’ instinctive standards and the eggs in them never get incubated at all.

Normally, the females will lay between six and fifteen eggs. But in areas where the nests are close together and the females are all laying in one another’s nests around the same time, there can be up to 30 or 40 eggs in one nest.

Although such broods can be large, most of the ducklings don’t make it to maturity. Their tiny “snack” size make them easy prey to a wide variety of predators including other birds, snakes, and predatory fish like Northern Pike.

About 80 percent of a wood duck’s diet is made up of the seeds of aquatic plants, but the ducks will supplement that diet with insects, snails, berries, acorns and other plant matter like water primrose, duckweed and smartweed.

Ducklings eat the same diet as their parents, and although their mom may stay with them for about six weeks after they hatch to protect them and help them find things to eat, she will generally leave the ducklings to their own devices by the time they fledge.

If you would like to try your hand at building a wood duck box keep in mind that the kind of habitat available around the box is as important as the construction of the box itself.

The ducks need foraging sources and access to water. Building nest boxes, though, allows you to help preserve the species and affords you some insights into their unique behavior.

Mary K. Hanson is a Certified California Naturalist, author and nature photographer. She will be co-teaching a naturalist course for the public through Tuleyome in early 2018. Tuleyome is a501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation organization based in Woodland, CA. For more information visit www.tuleyome.org .

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Truby E. Silva, resident of Lakeport and longtime resident of Rodeo, Calif., died peacefully in her home on Saturday, April 15, 2017, with her family at her side.

She is survived by her loving husband of 58 years, Anthony Silva, and four children and their spouses, Steven and Vickie Silva of Vallejo, Nancy and Vince Butler of Fairfield, Kenny and Kim Silva of Lakeport and Stacey and Henry Dedrick of Fairfield.

Truby was grandmother to eight and great-grandmother of three, aunt to many nieces and nephews and godmother to several.

She was born in Tormey, Calif., on July 17, 1938, she and her twin, Ruby, the youngest of nine children. She attended John Swett High School in Crockett, Calif., where she met her husband Tony.  They were married in 1959 and made their home in Rodeo for many years.

She worked at Higgins Shoes in Vallejo and at Vallejo City Floral before she and Tony retired to Lakeport.

She had a giant spirit for giving that led her to be a volunteer throughout her entire life, from supporting both her local church and school in Rodeo for many years and continuing that work in Lakeport as a member of the Lakeport Sutter Hospital’s Auxiliary and The Belles of St. Mary’s.

Truby enjoyed helping others in any capacity. Her love and commitment to family and friends cannot be measured.

She enjoyed camping, sports, organizing events, and cooking, volunteering, crafts for every season. She enjoyed traveling with friends and family throughout her life. Her greatest joys were always by bringing happiness to others.

Services are being held at St. Mary Immaculate Catholic Church, 801 N. Main St. in Lakeport at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 6.

A reception will immediately follow the service.