On April 26, 1989 the Hoppers of Xenia, Ohio lost their home to a tornado for the second time in fifteen years, and Arctic sea ice extent was about the same as it is now.
“For the second time in 15 years, Ernie and Phyllis Hopper must rebuild their tornado-ravaged home. But the Hoppers are thankful just the same.
The Hoppers lost one home on April 3, 1974, when a massive tornado leveled their south Xenia neighborhood. It was one of the biggest and fiercest tornadoes on record.”
On Easter Saturday, inexplicably, traffic suddenly tripled, and kept growing day after day. Each time we did updates and tweaks to the settings the site was overwhelmed by even more traffic. So all kinds of error messages appeared as the server responses were exhausted. There were cascading failures for days as different parts of the system tried to recover. Despite the calm period now, the ferocious activity still hasn’t slowed down. Yesterday traffic was running at five times normal.
Given that the attack started just two weeks before the Australian election, and during the long Easter holiday weekend, it appeared timed to strike when tech help would be away, and thus cause the longest outages and largest disruption.
Strangely (despite our election), most of the new traffic was coming from overseas, especially from the USA and Singapore. Many requests were for the same two old posts from 2020 and 2010, seemingly randomly picked, showing this was not an organic thing at all.
In the end, this attack was both clumsy and sophisticated at the same time. Whoever was doing this has control of 50,000 bots in China, the USA, Brazil and Europe and the ability to access hundreds of thousands of IPs each week. Yet they didn’t even bother to request different random pages or recent pages, which might have made this look like an AI training bot or new traffic. It’s like they wanted us to know they were targeting the site. It was hostile. I will be notifing the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC).
One particular Chinese server stood out for being a source of trouble, and after those requests were blocked, traffic from Singapore declined sharply. (Sincere apologies to any freedom loving Chinese readers affected by this.). Obviously we don’t know the true original source, it may be the CCP, but there are other candidates who might want us to think it was China while they cover their own tracks.
The site web guru (the excellent Eric) has made many changes. The bigger servers will cost more, and there’s much more we need to do. I can’t really spell out the details for obvious reasons. But will report in a few weeks on progress.
Never surrender
Please, if you can, hit the tip jar, buy me a coffee, a steak, a month on the server ($200) and money to pay software updates. Australians may prefer to use direct deposit (details below) where you can also set up a monthly donation which helps me plan ahead. Thanks for your contribution, no matter how big or small. I know times are tough for some people.
Due to ridiculous legal froufrou, we can’t use the word “donate” so in Paypal people need to “buy me” a number of “units of emergency chocolate” — (1 unit equals $1) so write a number of dollars into the Quantity Field! (Apologies it’s not more user friendly. Lucky my readers are smart. 🙂 ). This works in AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP, NZD or USD.
OR send help directly via National Australia Bank for UnQwerty Pty Ltd BSB: 086420 Account number: 563148308 or via International transfer or even via snail-mail.
Thanks to the patient readers who have put up so many disruptions to the site in the last week. And thanks to those who have already donated!
52.79469 -2.66467 Met Office CIMO Assessed Class 2 Installed 1/1/1944 (but not in above location)
The Stevenson screen is the white box in the enclosure to the right of the helicopter. I feel it is essential to view the short Youtube clip from which the above screen capture was taken before reading my review of this site. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrrFF6QIGiY
If you have now viewed the youtube clip above I doubt there is really any need for me to continue, however, for ongoing clarity I will detail why this site is completely worthless for climate reporting. It is worth noting that Shawbury ranks as one of the Met Office’s most important sites as explained in my review of Eskadalemuir –
“The observatory is also part of the Global Climate Observing System(GCOS); one of only 8 observing stations in the UK incorporated into this important climate monitoring network (Stornoway, Aldergrove, Waddington, Rothamsted, Camborne, Lerwick, Eskdalemuir and Shawbury are all classed as GCOS surface network stations).”
In the map below the Red kite marks the modern current operational site and the distance (725 metres /2,370 feet) from its original, and completely climatologically different, location up to 1992.
For further clarification below are close up images of, firstly, the current site located just 60 metres from the nearest helicopter landing pad.
Below is the original site in a more logical location for aviation purposes being near to the threshold of the runway at 52.80185 -2.66686.
The headline youtube clip includes several glimpses of the Screen with helicopters variously taking off, hovering over and landing in very close proximity. The heat haze from the engine exhausts and powerful down-draughts from the rotors are clearly visible. Nothing in the clip is unusual or out of the ordinary for Shawbury which is the RAF’s principle helicopter training centre – there are over 50 helicopter landing pads on the main apron alone. Fixed wing aircraft also operate from this site.
“The Station
RAF Shawbury provides world-class training to around 900 personnel a year, from the UK Armed Forces and international partners.
No.1 Flying Training School trains helicopter aircrew for the Armed Forces. The Central Flying School (Helicopter) delivers Qualified Helicopter Instructors.”
Quite how the Met Office considers this an acceptable site bewilders me. The completely unnatural events around the site do not resolve down to tape measurements from nearby buildings or hard standing. The site is simply unacceptable but this never seems to deter the Met Office who not only use it as one of only 8 stations reporting to the WMO of GCOS sites but also declare it a “Historic Station.”
Clicking on the “view data” link is interesting in that despite showing an “Opened” date of 1946, the supplied temperature data only actually runs from 1957. This seems odd given the Met Office clearly has continuous data from 1946 available.
Perhaps this manuscript that reveals different site coordinates may have caused them a problem. As the “Historic Station” page states – “No allowances have been made for small site changes and developments in instrumentation. ” Thus the almost half mile relocation from the end of one runway to alongside the parking apron is a “small site change”? Difficult to accept – given the noted difference 58 metres can be proved to demonstrate even on an inactive airfield. The parking apron and regular site activity from the relatively recent move no doubt supply the required climate average uplifts.
In summary, Shawbury is not an acceptable site for even basic use and the Met Office must know that. This is another “Flagship” site that demonstrates the poor standards and total lack of adequate supervision that the Met office is being allowed to operate to.
In the field of environmental remediation, a recent development has garnered attention: the reported reduction of radiation levels in the Chernobyl exclusion zone by nearly half, attributed to a new technology developed by the Swiss company Exlterra. Their Nucleus Separation Passive System (NSPS) is claimed to have achieved a 46% decrease in airborne radiation and a 37% reduction in soil radioactivity within a one-hectare test area over a 12-month period .
The NSPS operates through a network of approximately 5,000 polyethylene tubes installed underground at varying depths. These tubes are designed to harness natural forces, such as gravity, to accelerate the decay of radioactive particles without the use of chemicals or soil excavation .
According to Exlterra, the technology utilizes high-velocity particles, known as positrons, to target and break down radioactive isotopes like cesium-137, strontium-90, and americium-241. This process is conducted beneath the soil surface, purportedly without releasing additional radioactivity into the environment .
The Ukrainian State Specialized Enterprise Ecocentre (SSE Ecocentre), responsible for radiation monitoring in the exclusion zone, has collaborated with Exlterra on this project. Sergiy Kireiev, General Director of SSE Ecocentre, remarked on the significance of the results, stating,
“These results are remarkable. It is the first time in 35 years that such technology has succeeded in reducing the level of radioactivity in the soil and air so significantly” .
Exlterra projects that the test site could reach natural background radiation levels within five years, a substantial reduction from the estimated 24,000 years required for natural decay without intervention .
While these findings are promising, it’s important to approach them with cautious optimism. The technology’s efficacy has been demonstrated on a limited scale, and further research and studies are necessary to validate these results and assess the feasibility of scaling up the approach for broader application.
In summary, Exlterra’s NSPS presents an innovative approach to addressing radioactive contamination, with initial results indicating significant reductions in radiation levels within the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Continued investigation and validation will determine the potential of this technology to contribute meaningfully to environmental remediation efforts.
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