Perths Weather; and Depleted Uranium
La Nina and El Nino events are not actually related to Perth.
To be more specific (or should I say, 'Pa-cific'), they're associated with the cooling or heating of the Pacific ocean surface temperature, where the result is an increase or decrease in the convection cell driving localised rainfall. The differential temperatures strongly affects the location and amount of rainfall (amongst other things) found at the increasing gradient of the cell.
The Bureau of Meteorology has a nice picture describing the phenomenon,
The dominant weather pattern affecting Perth's climate is the 'West Trough', and to a lesser extent, the 'Indian Ocean Dipole'. In fact, there are a vast number of weather patterns which all affect Perth, to some extent.
Links:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/about/?bookmark=introduction
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/about/?bookmark=westtrough
https://thewest.com.au/news/weather/why-perth-should-blame-the-north-for-stealing-summer-ng-b88380147z
And, for something completely different - have you ever heard the term "depleted uranium" being used in conjunction with munitions (i.e. 0.50 cal DU) or armour?
Some notable examples are the GAU-8 rounds used in the A-10 II Thunderbolt, the gun on the AH-1 Cobra gunships, and several anti-armour rounds (e.g. Challenger 120 mm sabot rounds and CIWS M61 galting 20 mm discarding plastic sabot rounds).
It is the byproduct of enriched Uranium (19.1 g/cm3), and is substantially more dense than Lead (11.3 g/cm3) making it ideal for use in ballistics and ballistics protection.
Generally speaking, a higher-density munition carries applies more force to the impact site, increasing the penetration depth (a concept approximated by Newton, apparently).
The equation for an idealised impactor on an idealised target material (i.e. no frills, compound densities, or reactive surfaces) is in the picture below - it's pretty easy to see where relative density comes into play.
There are concerns about the radioactivity of the depleted uranium used - the International Court of Justice has doesn't cover DU as a source of poisonous weapon, as nuclear weapons primary use is not to poison or asphyxiate, however the use of nuclear material has been generally frowned-upon by the majority of the United Nations, although it's still a very grey area.
The second link is a very good reference, for further reading.
Link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/du.htm
To be more specific (or should I say, 'Pa-cific'), they're associated with the cooling or heating of the Pacific ocean surface temperature, where the result is an increase or decrease in the convection cell driving localised rainfall. The differential temperatures strongly affects the location and amount of rainfall (amongst other things) found at the increasing gradient of the cell.
The Bureau of Meteorology has a nice picture describing the phenomenon,
The dominant weather pattern affecting Perth's climate is the 'West Trough', and to a lesser extent, the 'Indian Ocean Dipole'. In fact, there are a vast number of weather patterns which all affect Perth, to some extent.
The recent weather is highly erratic, breaking the record for coolest January, and 6th wettest on record.
A combination of tropical lows, and a shift in the sub-tropical ridge are generally believed to be responsible, and it's entirely possible this might become a regular occurrence.
Links:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/about/?bookmark=introduction
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/about/?bookmark=westtrough
https://thewest.com.au/news/weather/why-perth-should-blame-the-north-for-stealing-summer-ng-b88380147z
And, for something completely different - have you ever heard the term "depleted uranium" being used in conjunction with munitions (i.e. 0.50 cal DU) or armour?
Some notable examples are the GAU-8 rounds used in the A-10 II Thunderbolt, the gun on the AH-1 Cobra gunships, and several anti-armour rounds (e.g. Challenger 120 mm sabot rounds and CIWS M61 galting 20 mm discarding plastic sabot rounds).
It is the byproduct of enriched Uranium (19.1 g/cm3), and is substantially more dense than Lead (11.3 g/cm3) making it ideal for use in ballistics and ballistics protection.
Generally speaking, a higher-density munition carries applies more force to the impact site, increasing the penetration depth (a concept approximated by Newton, apparently).
The equation for an idealised impactor on an idealised target material (i.e. no frills, compound densities, or reactive surfaces) is in the picture below - it's pretty easy to see where relative density comes into play.
Depleted Uranium is a particularly good penetrator, as it is self-sharpening (so won't mushroom on impact), but can also - on hard-impact -create a spontaneously igniting cloud of particles and fragments.
The second link is a very good reference, for further reading.
Link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/du.htm
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