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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
NORTH COAST, Calif. – A fire that began burning Monday afternoon in a rugged part of Mendocino County had burned a few hundred acres and several structures by nightfall, and sent large amounts of smoke into Lake County’s air basin.
The Flynn Fire began burning along Flynn Creek Road in Comptche at approximately 2:13 p.m. Monday, according to an evening report from Cal Fire.
The fire was at 200 acres and 5 percent containment Monday night, Cal Fire said.
Cal Fire said the blaze had destroyed five structures and was threatening 70 more, but no evacuations had taken place.
The Flynn Fire is burning to the east into commercial timber property, with Cal Fire reporting that the fire’s behavior is moderate to extreme with long range spotting.
By Monday night 33 fire engines, 14 fire crews, five bulldozers, six airtankers, two helicopters and 444 firefighting personnel had been assigned to the incident, according to Cal Fire.
Late Monday afternoon a significant amount of smoke was making its way into Lake County, with Lakeport Fire Chief Ken Wells attributing it to the Flynn Fire.
At one point Lakeport Fire personnel were dispatched to a smoke check in the area of Crystal Lake Way, with firefighters concluding that the Flynn Fire was the source.
Cal Fire said the incident also was having a significant smoke impact on the Ukiah Valley area.
In addition to Cal Fire, cooperating agencies included the fire departments of Comptche, Anderson Valley, Mendocino and Albion, Mendocino County Sheriff”s Office and California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, with Ukiah Ambulance on standby.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – A fire damaged a Kelseyville home late Monday afternoon.
The fire was first reported at about 3 p.m. at 9335 Chippewa Trail.
Kelseyville Fire Capt. Dave Carter said Kelseyville Fire, Lakeport Fire and Cal Fire all responded to the incident.
Within minutes of firefighters’ arrival the fire was contained to the living room and its contents, although there was smoke and heat damage throughout the single-story structure, Carter said.
Radio reports indicated the incident command at the fire was terminated just after 4:30 p.m., however Carter said firefighters remained at the scene just before 5 p.m.
He estimated total damage to the structure amounted to $50,000.
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- Written by: Dr. Tony Phillips
In space, they say, no one can hear you scream.
Nobody ever said anything about singing, though. A NASA spacecraft has just beamed back a beautiful song sung by our own planet.
“It’s called chorus,” explained Craig Kletzing of the University of Iowa. “This is one of the clearest examples we’ve ever heard.”
Chorus is an electromagnetic phenomenon caused by plasma waves in Earth’s radiation belts. For years, ham radio operators on Earth have been listening to them from afar.
Now, NASA’s twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes are traveling through the region of space where chorus actually comes from – and the recordings are out of this world.
“This is what the radiation belts would sound like to a human being if we had radio antennas for ears,” said Kletzing, whose team at the University of Iowa built the “EMFISIS” (Electric and Magnetic Field Instrument Suite and Integrated Science) receiver used to pick up the signals.
He’s careful to point out that these are not acoustic waves of the kind that travel through the air of our planet.
Chorus is made of radio waves that oscillate at acoustic frequencies, between 0 and 10 kHz. The magnetic search coil antennas of the Radiation Belt Storm Probes are designed to detect these kinds of waves.
“Chorus emissions are front and center for the Storm Probe mission,” said Kletzing. “They are thought to be one of the most important waves for energizing the electrons that make up the outer radiation belt.”
In particular, chorus might be responsible for so-called “killer electrons,” high-energy particles that can endanger both satellites and astronauts.
Many electrons in the radiation belts are harmless, with too little energy to do damage to human or electronic systems. But, sometimes, these electrons can catch a chorus wave, like a surfer riding a wave on Earth, and gain enough energy to become dangerous – or so researchers think.
The Radiation Belt Storm Probes are on a mission to find out for sure.
“The production of killer electrons is a matter of much debate, and chorus waves are only one possibility,” noted the Storm Probes’ mission scientist Dave Sibeck.
Launched in August 2012, the two probes are orbiting inside the radiation belts, sampling electromagnetic fields, counting the number of energetic particles, and listening to plasma waves of many frequencies.
“We hope to gather enough data to solve the mystery once and for all,” said Sibeck.
At the moment, the spacecraft are still undergoing their 60-day checkout phase before the main mission begins. So far, things are checking out very well.
“One of things we noticed right away is how clear the chorus sounds in the recording,” said Kletzing. “That’s because our data is sampled at 16 bits, the same as a CD, which has not been done before in the radiation belts. This makes the data very high quality and shows that our instrument is very, very healthy.”
Eventually, Kletzing hopes to release unprecedented stereo recordings of Earth’s chorus.
“We have two spacecraft with two receivers,” he said, “so a stereo recording is possible.”
Such a recording would not only sound wonderful, but also have real scientific value. “One of the things we don’t know is how broad the region is over which chorus occurs. The widely-separated ‘stereo capability’ of the Storm Probes will give us the ability to figure this out,” he explained.
With a two-year mission planned for the Storm Probes, the chorus is just getting started.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
NICE, Calif. – A small wildland fire was reported early Monday morning on a ridge above Robinson Rancheria.
The small fire, which was estimated to be between a quarter acre and a half acre, was first reported shortly after 2:30 a.m.
Northshore Fire, Cal Fire and Lake County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene, according to radio reports.
Firefighters were reported to have had a “wet line” around the fire shortly after 3 a.m., with two engines reported to be handling the incident.