Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
eternal husband/father/grandfather/sailor/scientist/walker (inc. among communities that for millennia have lived in the most dynamic and remote parts of our planet and some places beyond).
https://msandifo.github.io/
Geology
34%
Environmental science
28%
Time to stop the free kicks.
used to pump their fields/ desalinate the waters etc, contributed further to reseting electricity prices across the NEM. In combination, the rise in gas prices and the tightening of electricity supply increased electricity costs by around $14 billion pa across the NEM (all before Hazelwood closed).
Why should we absolve SANTOS for their poor performance in their coal seam gas fields - "privatise the profits, socialise the costs" no longer. Not only did their shortfalls contribute to massive local rises in domestic gas prices, but the boost in electricity demand (~10% in QLD) ...
by the way - extraordinary overnight wind* resources in that country (@ 2x daytime production with night-time capacity factors well in excess of 60%**)
* low level nocturnal jets
** amazingly complimentary with daytime solar
* low level nocturnal jets
** amazingly complimentary with daytime solar
the clue is the diameter of the 'big circle'. @ ~120 kms it is at the flexural wavelength of the lithosphere, but how you create this bemused me for many years until I talked with a Spanish colleague who showed me simulations of drainage of large shallow megaiakes ...
Brief summary
*nb. Lake Capricornia better reserved for the lake that formed in the gulf during LGM times- so this one needs a new name :)
*nb. Lake Capricornia better reserved for the lake that formed in the gulf during LGM times- so this one needs a new name :)
needs a different name* - but the existence and destruction of the lake explains the most enigmatic features of the Lake Eyre Basin rivers including the semi-circular pattern of the upper reaches of the Diamantina.
wonderful geomorphology with an amazing story involving Australia's largest palaeolake, probably around 43 million years ago - lake Capricornia (should have written it up years ago, but haven't, not yet anyway).
Former Santos boss blames everyone else
Via The Australian comes former Santos chief executive John Ellice-Flint: “Australia’s east coast gas supply dilemma can be viewed as the total failure of users — utilities and manufacturers — to cont...
www.macrobusiness.com.au
2017 reflections from John Ellice-Flint (former SANTOS CEO, and leading proponent of Australian CSG development in the "noughties") on the impending disaster (paywalled on the Australian, so macrobusiness summary here) www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/03/form...
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Nov 8
Small world - such fond memories birdwatching with Chris and Anita in what now seems so many lifetimes ago
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 24
hmmm - should read "wind farm distance from coastline."
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 24
to simplify - it says "go inland, go north for best returns on wind farm investment."
all about inland nocturnal wind intensification associated with the development of heat toughs (aka drylines).
No reason to suspect we have anywhere near the best sites to pick up low level nocturnal jets!
all about inland nocturnal wind intensification associated with the development of heat toughs (aka drylines).
No reason to suspect we have anywhere near the best sites to pick up low level nocturnal jets!
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 24
One of the most intriguing diagrams I have produced in a while ... at least for NEM/RE aficionados.
N* (y-axis) is ratio of midnight ± 3 hours to midday ±3 hours generation for QLD, NSW and VIC wind farms over the 12 months to end June 2025.
x-axis is wind farm dance from coastline.
N* (y-axis) is ratio of midnight ± 3 hours to midday ±3 hours generation for QLD, NSW and VIC wind farms over the 12 months to end June 2025.
x-axis is wind farm dance from coastline.
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 22
Late Holocene uplift of Rhodes, Greece: evidence for a large tsunamigenic earthquake and the implications for the tectonics of the eastern Hellenic Trench System
Abstract. Several large earthquakes in the Hellenic subduction zone have been documented in historical records from around the eastern Mediterranean, but t
doi.org
as documented - Howell, Jackson, England, Higham, Synolakis, Late Holocene uplift of Rhodes, Greece: evidence for a large tsunamigenic earthquake and the implications for the tectonics of the eastern Hellenic Trench System, GJI, 203, Issue 1, 2015, 459–474, doi.org/10.1093/gji/...
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 22
so would appear Rhodos is tilting north down, south up - which is not at all surprising given it sits above the eastern end of the Aegean slab. (Nice earthquake record on the south coast)
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 22
which contrasts inland wind which has a prominent nocturnal peak*, and therefore will suffer less economic curtailment (but currently lacks transmission ...) *best exemplified by QLD but is true also of inland NSW and VIC
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 22
partly because southern coast wind production shows little diurnal variability ...
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 22
presumably - also reflecting the increases in economic curtailment of wind, which is an emerging issue especially for southern coast wind farms ...
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 17
cf. north coast Rhodos, where solution notches are at, and below, sea level- eg. Kopria Beach
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 17
Elevated Solution notches - Lindos (south coast of Rhodos)
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 17
The Accursed Mountains (Peaks of the Balkans Trail) - Valbonё – Çerem, Albania, (photo taken on side track to Vusanje, Montenegro)
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 17
Laugevegur trail - Markarfljótsgljúfur Canyon at Emstrur
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 17
Laugavegur Trail - view over Lake Álftavatn (on trail section from Hrafntinnusker to Álftavatn)
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jul 17
VIC1 spot and prices and demand, by hour of day (y-axis) and day of year (x-axis), for 12 months to end June '25.
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· May 5
The amazing Channel country rivers in flood (courtesy Copernicus browser Sentinel-2).
Mike Sandiford
@msandifo.bsky.social
· Jan 30
whereas the former is dominated by southern ocean storms, the latter is dominated by low level nocturnal jets associated with the development of the northern Australian dryline.