As a meteorologist I’ve been fascinated by the French skydiver trying to jump from a balloon at 130,000 feet.  Flying thru the stratosphere at the speed of sound with nothing but a skimpy space suit is just crazy to me.  Michel Vournier dreams of breaking the freefall record were postponed again this week when his balloon flew off without him.  Regardless, the whole story got me wanting to jump.   So up I went with a plane full of other more experienced skydivers at Freefall Adventures in south Jersey.  Going “tandem” with a pro attached to me for safety, we jumped at 15,300 feet (solidly in the troposphere).  That’s about 600 mb of atmospheric pressure (surface is around 1000mb).  So the breathing isn’t easy and I got a little light headed and cold (temperature is less than 40 degrees at that height).  Doesn’t matter cause you’re not there for long, and once you jump the adrenaline erases any chill in the air.  A quick acceleration to a peak speed of 138 mph and you realize Newton was right about this whole gravity thing!  Wow what a ride!!!!  At that altitude the air is thin but oxygen isn’t required… no helmet or space suit either.  Tee shirt, jeans, and instructor Range Luda strapped to my back is all that was needed.  Freefalling for 70 seconds was incredible… spiritual in fact.  I’ve been on top of high mountains, but being that high with NOTHING beneath you is mind blowing.  The view, of course, is phenomenal.  All you hear and feel is the air rushing around you.  You want it to last forever but the ground approaches quickly.  At 5000 feet I pull the chute and Range guides us to a smooth landing.  It’s a rush to say the least.  Admittedly this was my second jump, but the butterflies were swirling just as much as during my first leap 6 years ago.  You say you like roller coasters, a nice view, and being buffeted by the wind?   Well jumping out of a perfectly good airplane may be just the thing for you… just don’t forget to pull the rip cord!!! 

Rob Marciano    CNN Meteorologist

What an amazing feeling… Phoenix is on Mars! I don’t want to jinx anything, of course, but I can’t help but marvel at how perfectly it has gone so far. The spacecraft navigation during the final hours was right down the pipe. Every single event in the whole intricate process of entry, descent and landing went perfectly. And those pictures!! This is an alien-looking view of Mars. We’ve grown so accustomed to what Mars looks like at the five landing sites we know: The two Viking sites, the Pathfinder sites, and the sites for Spirit and Opportunity. But this is completely different. Flat terrain all the way to the horizon, but with an intricate pattern of fractures that may have formed from the expansion and contraction of the ice that we all hope lies just below the surface.

There’s still a long way to go. That crucial robotic arm has to come out of its cradle and dig down into the soil. All of the scientific instruments have to go to work on the samples that the arm will deliver. This mission is going to be a nail-biter for weeks to come. But so far, Phoenix is a triumph. It’s a good day on Mars.

From Steve Squyres

Principal Investigator

Mars Exploration Rovers

Okay, I’m going to try and channel Jack Cafferty to ask this question:

We’re spending $420 million US tax dollars on the Phoenix Mars Lander mission. (and another $37 million or so from Canada).

Is it worth it?  Where does Mars and space exploration fit in on your priority list?

Is learning more about space a key to our future?

Or do you think we’re better off spending the money here?

Blog away, just be polite to each other.

Peter Dykstra   Executive Producer   CNN Science & Tech

Okay. I posted a couple of sentences here shortly after the U.S. put the polar bear on the threatened species list this afternoon, and producer Marsha Walton wrote a news story with the details. What followed was a flurry of reader responses: A mix of well-reasoned arguments, political diatribes both for and against, and a bear recipe or two.

Here are a few baseline observations to help guide further discussion, and (polite) argument:

Are Polar Bears Declining? The International Union for the Conservation of Nature put together the most recent authoritative survey of bear populations three years ago. They report that of nineteen separate sub-populations of polar bears residing off the coasts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway, and Russia, “five are declining, five are stable, two are increasing, and seven have insufficient data on which to base a decision.”

Are There More Polar Bears Than There Used to Be Thirty Years Ago? Almost certainly, yes. But this is at least in part due to reductions and restrictions in hunting. In this country, the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act outlawed the killing of polar bears in the early seventies, with some exceptions for traditional native hunters. Often-cited numbers that polar bears are five times more numerous than they were in the 60’s or 70’s are on thin ice, though: Old numbers estimating a population of only 5,000 bears back then were based in part on guesswork, and are not considered reliable by many bear scientists.

So do Polar Bears have a Rosy Future? The Bush Administration based its decision on science from the US Geological Survey and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The scientists, and the Bush Administration acknowledge a rapid loss of the bears’ sea ice habitat, and a strong likelihood that their situation will get worse. (The USGS link goes to a page of links to recent surveys of both polar bear populations and ice cover) Here’s the key phrase in the USGS research: “Projected changes in future sea ice conditions, if realized, will result in loss of approximately 2/3 of the world’s current polar bear population by the mid 21st Century. Because the observed trajectory of Arctic sea ice decline appears to be underestimated by currently available models, this assessment of future polar bear status may be conservative.”

What’s Happening with Arctic Sea Ice? The U.S. Government’s National Snow and Ice Data Center projects “lower than average ice cover” this summer for the Arctic, on the heels of last summer’s record-low ice coverage. Keep an eye on this link over the next few months to see how low the ice cover goes.

What’s the Difference between an “Endangered” species and a “Threatened” species? Interior Secretary Kempthorne, in listing the species as “Threatened, ” acknowledged that declining ice cover due to global warming could lead to a risk of extinction at some point in the future. An “Endangered” species is one that is determined to be in imminent danger.

Peter Dykstra Executive Producer CNN SciTech & Weather

Nature tends to run amok on us this time of year.   Up North, the sap runs.  Out on the West Coast, the gray whales are migrating.   Here in the South, we go out in the driveway and make snow angels in the pollen.  Somewhere, birds are doing a mating Lambada.  And just outside the window, the squirrels are merry.

But we also run amok on Nature.  Tuesday, for the 39th year in a row, we’ll celebrate Earth Day .

Forgive me  for being a bit jaded, but for the 39th year in a row, we’ll hear a litany of global threats, and a promising list of solutions that are Just Around the Corner.   How real is all of this?  I’m pretty well convinced of the problems, but are we conning ourselves on how easy the solutions are?

Or, put another way, are we making a little mistake here by marking our relationship with Nature by relegating it to a third-tier holiday?

No doubt, a lot has changed since the first Earth Day.  Solutions abound.   And no doubt, some of the problems have gotten worse.  Cars burn a lot cleaner than they did back in 1970, but Americans own more of them and drive a lot farther.   Rivers are cleaner, so is the air, and keystone species like the gray wolf, once almost gone, are doing so well that we’re developing an itch to kill them again.

But we’re losing habitat and open space.  We’re losing other species.  And global warming is the 800-pound gorilla in the atmosphere, threatening to change almost everything about the way we live, most it for the worse.

For at least the third time in my life, we’re seeing a steep rise in public and political awareness on the environment.  The first one inspired the first Earth Day, following a series of appalling environmental stories.  The worst of them was the epic tale of Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, so befouled by industrial waste that it caught fire and burned.

Fast-forward two decades to 1990.   Earth Day that year featured a mass rally on the Washington Mall emceed by Tom Cruise, and a star-studded special on ABC.  We’re talking two hours in Prime Time here, but alas, it wasn’t enough to Save the Earth.  Once again, the crescendo in public concern followed a wave of awful environmental stories:  The nuclear disaster at Chernobyl; medical waste and sewage washing up on New Jersey beaches; the first dire reports on global warming and the ozone hole; and the Exxon Valdez oil spill.  (Note that while global warming has gone from theory to the ugly brink of reality, each of these other problems have at least partly calmed down:  No more Chernobyl like disasters, cleaner beaches, no mega-star oil spills, and a slowly-resolving ozone crisis, thanks to international cooperation.)

But like the 1970 phenomenon, interest waned within a couple of years.

Global Warming is keying the latest resurgence in environmental consciousness.  The hopeful part of me says maybe it will stick this time.   The jaded part of me sees our unabated addiction to oil and coal, and the fact that China and India are poised to outdo this country in greenhouse emissions — with far fewer controls than the U.S. has.

 It remains to be seen if we’ll do any better this time around at maintaining a commitment.

Does Earth Day help?   Undoubtedly, it provides a focus where there otherwise might not be any.  But there’s also a kind of a seamy underbelly to Earth Day.  More specifically, I’ve recently received publicists’ pitches for carbon-neutral vodka and climate change chocolate.  They stood out amidst the deafening roar of other pitches for a green everything.  Some are sincere and legitimate.  Some are a cynical howl.  Bottom line:  I’d be a little skeptical when the same marketers who want us to consume the Jesus right out of Christmas (literally) have latched on to Earth Day as the latest, greatest hook to sell us stuff we surely don’t need.  Perhaps the best take on this is a piece in an unlikely place — the current issue of Advertising Age,

We can’t consume our way out of environmental problems.  And we can’t wish away environmental problems by anointing ourselves as “carbon neutral, ” either.  But enough grinching from me.    Happy Earth Day.   Cinco de Mayo’s only two weeks away, so maybe I’ll eat the worm this time.  And here’s a link to what’s happening to the agave plants that make our tequila…..

 Peter Dykstra   Executive Producer    CNN Science & Tech

…. or at least the other side of our world.   

 I just got back from a week in Beijing, as part of a program for American journalists to share their experience with our Chinese colleagues on reporting on science and the environment.  I’d never been to China, nor to anywhere else in Asia, so every part of this was a new experience. 

Looking across Tienanmen Square toward Chairman Mao’s tomb on what I thought was a smoggy day. My hosts said the day was “not too bad.”

China’s capital city, lately swelling to a population of nearly 20 million, is basking in the glow of an economic boom — all while sweating in anticipation of its turn in the world’s spotlight this August during the Summer Olympic Games.    After a few days to hit the obligatory tourist sites, and shake off the inevitable jet lag, we got down to business.

The journalists were from several divisions of CCTV, China’s massive, state-run national broadcaster.  We met documentary producers, staffers from CCTV’s English-language network, and from “Greenspace,” China’s nightly, prime-time environmental news show.    Five nights a week in prime time?  A potential audience bigger than the population of the United States?   Sounds pretty good — in fact, it sounds like a much better deal than a Science and Environment Guy can get here in the West.  The message has come down from on high:  Green is the new Black in Red China.

Of course, it’s not that simple:  The “on high” is the Central Government, and the Central Government doesn’t let you say Bad Things about the Central Government on the Central Government’s TV Networks.  When I showed a portion of our recent “Broken Government” special on US failures in environmental protection, I was politely told that it would be naive to think that kind of thing could fly in China.  In fairness, some of the questions we received sounded a little naive from a Western perspective.  (My favorite:  “We know China has the world’s world pollution problems, but what advice can you give us to turn this into a positive news story?”).

Simple answer:  Clean it up.   Except that there’s no such thing as a simple answer.  China has at least 20% of the world’s population, but only 7% of its fresh water.  Much of that is too polluted for human use.  Much of the rest is drainage from the snowpack and glaciers of the Himalayas — now in drastic decline due to global warming.

 China’s running out of water.   And land.  And acceptable air.  And it’s rapidly caught up to the US in greenhouse gas emissions, with the prospect of huge increases as its economy continues to grow.  Importing the rest of the world’s waste is a growing revenue stream for China, even while the actual streams often run in pastel colors from factory and mine runoff.

Is there any good news here?  Maybe.   China’s time of reckoning with a growing environmental crisis is nicely timed for its coming-out party at the Olympics in August.  But will the spirit of the “Green Olympics” survive after the torch goes out?  Stay tuned.

– Peter Dykstra, Executive Producer, CNN Science and Technology

Scientists grabbed headlines last fall when they announced that arctic sea ice cover plummeted to all-time record summertime lows in 2007 - raising the scary spectre that global warming may be pushing some frozen parts of our planet beyond the ability to bounce back.

Source: Getty Images

Now new satellite data from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder indicate the ice cover has returned to pre-2007 levels over the winter, which was colder than in recent years. Even so, the overall trend is negative. The current sea ice extent is still below the long-term average by about 250,000 square miles, an area almost the size of the state of Texas. And since 1996 it has been decreasing at a rate of 10.7% per decade.

Prospects for the future are also grave. That’s because the ratio of older, thicker “perennial” ice that never melts to younger, thinner “seasonal” ice that melts and refreezes every year is shifting dramatically. Back in 1985, more than half of all arctic sea ice was of the hardy perennial type — 4 to 6 feet thick. Today, the extent of perennial ice has dropped precipitously — nearly 70% of all sea ice is seasonal.

How much of the sea ice will melt this summer? Scientists say it is hard to tell, because what happens any given year is highly dependent on specific weather events. But the clear overall trend is toward reduced extent of increasingly thinner ice.

–Kate Tobin, Senior Producer, CNN Science & Technology

I am a weather producer here at CNN and today has been one wild ride!  My day started about 12 hours ago when friends of mine called me to see what was going on in Atlanta.  They were at the SEC Men’s Championship Basketball tournament in the Georgia Dome when they heard loud noises from outside and saw the precariously-hanging scoreboard and scaffolds swaying from the ceiling.  I had no idea there was anything going on and laughed at them a little, knowing my roommate there was terrified of thunderstorms.  To my amazement, there was indeed a tornado warning for the metro Atlanta area at around 9:40PM Friday night.  I gave them my synopsis of what they could expect, and so began my Saturday. 

As I tuned in to coverage of the storm, I was amazed to see anchor Don Lemon standing in the middle of DOWNTOWN Atlanta with debris scattered about.  Shards of glass, pieces of signs and rooftops, and tree branches littered the streets surrounding the CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park.  Windows had been blown out all over the city, including the Omni Hotel and various other high rises, and the whole thing seemed like a dream.  Thousands of visitors, in town for a number of events taking place this weekend, were forced out of their hotel rooms and into the lobbies and streets, attempting to make sense of what had just happened and trying to decide where they were going to spend the long night.  Flooding was reported at the Georgia World Congress Center — an immense convention hall across the street from CNN  Inside the CNN Center as a piece of the rooftop had been ripped away, allowing rainfall to spill into the atrium.  This really was like a movie…

After only about 1 hour of sleep, I awoke to continued coverage of the “possible” tornado and eventually made my way towards Atlanta from my home in Athens, GA.  When I came close enough to see the skyline, it looked the same as it always did…serene and beautiful.  However, as I arrived in the downtown area, my mouth dropped when I saw the extent of the damage.  I was shocked to see trash, glass, and twisted metal everywhere.  As I walked through the roadblocks on Centennial Olympic Park, I took pictures on my cell phone and was careful to not walk underneath anything that might fall at the lightest gust of wind.  The scene inside the CNN Center was shocking as well, with water still being mopped from the floors of the atrium

This was the first time I had ever seen an area affected by a tornado, nevertheless within a major metropolitan area.  The weather is still wreaking havoc across northern Alabama and Georgia, with another line that affected the metro Atlanta area later in the morning, and more severe weather is expected again later in the afternoon.  The damage that the Newsroom received has caused many to move to CNN International as the THIRD line of storms pass through the city.  The biggest threat for the downtown areas is the glass and other debris being turned into projectiles as the wind picks them up and hurls them into the air.  Well, I suppose I need to go now….we’re being rushed to CNN International until the storm passes.  But have no fear…. Chad Myers–the Mayor–is here!

Sarah Dillingham, CNN Weather Producer

  Yikes.  Talk about a role reversal.  Often, we scramble to get out in the field to report on severe weather — at some risk and hardship.  (Full disclosure:  I’m the Management Guy who usually stays behind and approves the travel expense reports.)

 Friday night, the severe weather made a house call at CNN.  The storm, pegged by the National Weather Service as an EF-2 tornado,  descended upon downtown Atlanta, putting a scare into attendees at two major sporting events and a major exposition.  At least twenty homes were destroyed near downtown.  And the evening staff in the CNN Newsroom and CNN.com had an interesting time, to say the least.

CNN anchors and reporters who were nearby went into the drill:   Report for work when there’s news.  Don Lemon reported from the debris-strewn street outside the CNN Center, near Centennial Olympic Park.  Rob Marciano manned the Weather Center — about twenty feet away from where a newly-minted hole in the roof had drenched desks and computers.  Veronica de la Cruz checked on casualties at Atlanta’s largest downtown hospital.   And, with a touch of supreme irony, Cal Perry, fresh from his Day Job as CNN’s Baghdad Bureau Chief, reported on destroyed homes and buildings on the streets of Atlanta.

As they sort through the damage, several things mark this as an extraordinary storm.  Maybe not a huge one, but:

An EF-2 tornado, reportedly on the ground for up to six miles, tore through a central city.  It passed over two arenas with a combined 30 to 40 thousand people inside, then over office buildings, restaurants, hotels, and neighborhoods.   No one died.

Despite a few nervous moments as college basketball fans watched tons of catwalks, cables, and a massive scoreboard sway back and forth, the teflon-covered fabric roof of the Georgia Dome held.  A tip of the hat to some unnamed engineers and architects is in order.

It’s the first time ever that Mother Nature has gone Downtown in Atlanta.  One of the most badly damaged places is the ill-starred Fulton Cotton Mill Lofts.  The unoccupied top floors collapsed in part of the Lofts, about a mile east of downtown.  The historic buildings were also the site of a spectacular 1999 fire and a dramatic helicopter rescue.

 Peter Dykstra  Executive Producer, Science-Tech & Weather

Today’s the day for the Enceladus flyby - see “The most exciting place in the solar system!” post below.

Source: NASA/JPL/Space Science Inst.

If this has piqued your interest, here a a couple of resources you might want to check out…

The folks at the Jet Propulsion Lab have set up a blog, with members of the Cassini science team posting periodic updates. This would be a good place to check in from time to time for the latest news and the best images. Raw images are also available.

Also, JPL is making available a web tool called CASSIE, which stands for “Cassini at Saturn Interactive Explorer.” It’s a plug-in to your web browser that you have to download. It’s pretty cool…among other things, you can ride-along with Cassini as it weaves through Saturn’s moons.

–Kate Tobin, Senior Producer, CNN Science & Technology