It's Dead, Jim
Posted on 12/20/2006 4:01:42 PM PST by Alouette
A cycling tour to sound the alarm about the deteriorating state of the Dead Sea is planned for next month, hoping to attract those concerned that the area is heading toward an ecological disaster.
Cyclists will have the opportunity to ride over 260 kilometers during the January 24-26 competition known as the Tour de Dead Sea.
According to the Megilot Council, which organized the event, both professionals and amateurs are invited to be a part of the event, which aims to sensitize the public to the drastic drying-out of the Dead Sea. The tour's route circles the sea and includes areas in Israel and Jordan.
The event is being sponsored by the regional councils of Megilot and Tamar, private companies such as Skoda Israel, El Dan, IDE, Prima Oasis, and the factories of the Dead Sea. It has also been financed by the Tourism Ministry, the Israeli Embassy, and Jordan, and supervised by the Israeli and Jordanian Cyclist Union. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Research Center of the Dead Sea and GreenPeace have all recommended it.
The organizers aim to have many participants coming from abroad. During the last tour, there were Americans, Britons, Canadians and Germans, in addition to the Israeli and Jordanian bikers. This year, among the 110 people who signed up by mid-December, 31 were residents of Australia, India, the US, Spain or Sweden.
Interviewed by The Jerusalem Post French edition regarding the reasons to organize such a tour, Uriel Aharonov of the Megilot Council said he wanted to alert the public about the dangerous state of the Dead Sea - its water level decreases by one meter each year. He added that the factories near the Dead Sea were not responsible for the damage.
According to Aharonov, two factors in the Dead Sea's increasing dryness are the fact that the volume of water coming naturally from Lake Kinneret has decreased by 95 percent and that since the 1994 peace treaty, Israel provides Jordan with water even when the sea's dryness should not allow it.
He adds that the uniquely salty sea is suffering an ecological, economic and tourist-related catastrophe, which affects both Israelis and Jordanians.
For example, deep holes are regularly discovered in the region, the product of sudden settlings in the plot due to the growing dryness. In the end of November, some new holes were found about 25 meters from the highway.
Aharonov does not hesitate to voice his fears that the Dead Sea may disappear forever.
"As in biblical times, we still rely on the rain falling from the sky," he says.
Even if pumping out the water of the Jordan River seems to be for him the most natural solution, research into new solutions goes on. Among other possible ones is a canal crossing the Dead Sea to the Red Sea.
Vice Premier Shimon Peres is one of the supporters of that solution, in which France wants to participate. For Aharonov, as for many specialists in the region, this solution, which he qualifies as "the worst," is going to ruin the local ecosystem.
The best solution, he says, is to mix the drinking water of the Jordan River, but not the salted water of the Red Sea, which would lead to an ecological disaster.
The main goal of the tour is not a political one. It is, rather, an alarm bell being rung for the national and international public in order to warn of the potential damage to the area.
"This international rally is the basis for future cooperation," hopes Aharonov. "Our goal is that it will contribute to the transformation of the region as a world heritage protected by UNESCO, which will allow it to develop economically and as a tourist site from both sidea of the Dead Sea."
The author of this article is the editor-in-chief of 'The Jerusalem Post' French edition.
Too late. It's dead.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
What is it with cycling events that are supposed to drive us to send money to some cause?
Make the case for the cause. I don't care where you pedal.
http://www.gsanctuary.com/3craters.html
The recent passage of the large comet Hale-Bopp indicates that it was also here about 4000 years ago (2000 B.C.). The comet's orbit is unusual in that it is perpendicular to the plane of the earth (ecliptic) and crosses the path of both Jupiter and the earth. If the timing of its orbit (2000 B.C.) caused it to pass very close to Jupiter, followed 15 months later by a close earth passage, then fragments torn from this comet by Jupiter could have impacted the earth. Further, if the timing of the earth's rotation placed Israel as a target for these fragments, then this would explain the origin of the Three Craters in Israel. These 2000 B.C. fragment impacts are coincidental with the Biblical Sodom / Gomorrah catastrophe, (dated 2066 B.C.). This scenario might also account for a sudden evaporation of water from the lower Dead Sea region. A calculated one billion tons of fragments from Hale-Bopp, (impacting at 110,000 miles per hour), has the potential for vaporizing about 120 cubic miles of water, reducing the remaining water to a brine solution. The calculated impact energy is equivalent to about 30 times all the nuclear bombs in the world, (an assumed 10,000 megatons for all bombs). At the same time, the impacts may have caused a large landfill area between the Dead Sea and Elat, closing off the Red Sea from the Dead Sea. TOP OF PAGE THREE CRATER SIZES The map [F1] shows the location and size of the Three Craters in Israel. The dimensions (miles) for the Little, Big, and Great Crater are respectively, 3.1 x 5.6, 4.3 x 10.6, and 6.2 x 27.9. A possible fourth impact on the lower Dead Sea has dimensions of about 11.2 x 24.8 miles. It may be noted that the apparent direction of impact is southeast. This SE direction is implied for the following reasons: 1) Little Crater rim rupture is SE. 2) Brown fragments in all three craters are generally closer to SE walls. 3) Huge patches of brown fragments located SE in Jordan. 4) Landfill in Arava is SE of the Great Crater. 5) Wabar Craters in Saudi Arabia are 1,100 miles SE of the Three Craters. The elliptical elongation of the craters would suggest either a NE or SW impact direction. However, Sandia's 3D super-computer comet impact simulation [R8] indicates that a comet would be deformed upon entering the earth's atmosphere, even at Sandia's simulated entry speed of 134,000 miles per hour. This might explain how NE oriented elliptical craters could be formed by a SE impact. The present level of the Dead Sea is 1300 feet below normal sea level, Image [E], [R14]. Prior to the impact, the Dead Sea may have been connected to the Red Sea, with a normal salt content of about 3.5 per cent. As was noted in the Summary, the comet fragment impacts have the potential to vaporize about 120 cubic miles of water. This might explain how the water level of the Dead Sea was quickly reduced to 1300 feet below sea level. Salt raining down would increase the salt concentration of the remaining water to a brine solution (about 20 per cent salt) as it is today. Landfill from the Great Crater might have shut off the Red Sea from the Dead Sea. It is interesting to note that the southern part of the Dead Sea is about 16 feet deep, while the northern part reaches a depth of 1000 to 1200 feet. This suggests that some comet fragments also impacted the lower end of the Dead Sea. TOP OF PAGE COMET HALE-BOPP The recent passage of the comet Hale-Bopp is shown at the bottom of figure [F2]. The comet crossed the path of Jupiter in February 1996, before Jupiter reached this crossing point seven months later. Then the comet crossed close to the earth's path about 14 months later (May 1997). But the earth had already gone by this crossing point about four months earlier. For its next future passage, the comet had passed close enough to Jupiter for its orbital period to be changed from about 4000 years to 2300 years [R6]. As was noted in the Summary, the plane of the comet's orbit is perpendicular to the earth's orbital plane (ecliptic). If Hale Bopp's coming was delayed just seven months, then it would have been on a near collision course with Jupiter in October 1996. Also, if the delay was eight months, then it would have crossed near the earth in January 1998. The past orbit for Hale-Bopp (about 4000 years ago) cannot be calculated precisely enough to ascertain how close it passed to Jupiter and the earth. However, the past orbit, upper plot [F2], was calculated [R13] assuming a very close passage to both Jupiter (0.01 AU) and the earth (0.1 AU), as was described in the Summary. For this calculation, the time between the Jupiter and earth crossings was 15 months, as compared to 14 months for the recent passage. Note: one AU = 93 million miles. Jupiter's orbital period is 11.863 years. If Jupiter had completed exactly 343 orbits prior to the near collision date of October 1996, then this past crossing would be 4069 years ago, October 2073 B.C. (11.863 x 343). This period (4069 years) is close to Yeoman's period (4200 years) [R6]. Similarly, the near earth crossing would be 4069 years earlier than January 1998; that is, January 2071 B.C. [F2]. As was noted in the Summary, Hale Bopp's 2071 B.C. earth passage is close (within five years) to the time of the Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah catastrophe dated 2066 B.C. [R12]. A negative time increment was used for this simulation [R13] to back the comet away from the earth (January 2071 B.C.), past Jupiter (October 2073 B.C.), and then out of the solar system. The simulation suggests that the past-past orbit had a very eccentric orbit with a period of only 265 years. When the comet passed Jupiter (October 2073 B.C.) its orbit was deflected upward, coming down near the earth 15 months later, with the comet's period changed from 265 years to about 4000 years. A calculated billion tons of fragments are assumed to have been torn from Hale-Bopp with its close Jupiter passage, going on to strike Israel, as was noted in the Summary. According to Weaver [R10] Hale-Bopp's nucleus is about 20 miles in diameter. Even if the comet's nucleus has a mean specific density of only 0.05 (one twentieth of the density of water), its mass would be about one trillion tons. Losing one billion tons of fragments on its close passage to Jupiter would reduce its overall mass just one tenth of one per cent.
That's right. It is economic, and in particular to save the tourism industry.
That's a nice story, it may even be true. It sounds like a few milligrams of fact mixed in with 100 billion tons of surmise.
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