Category: Geography

A while ago I read that earthquakes are more common in the Northern Hemisphere, and in winter due to the transfer of water from oceans to land in the form of snow. In the context of global warming I wonder if there will be any changes?

Will there be less snow with a warming climate, or a different pattern causing isostatic changes (I think this is the correct term). If there is less snow and thus less weight of snow/ice will there be fewer earthquakes? And in the long term will this mean larger stronger earthquakes as smaller readjustments are not made regularly?

It was also interesting reading that Doggerland was flooded due to tsunami caused by collapsing cliffs in Norway.

One month after start of lockdown. Figures coming down but look at Wales to see what happens when lockdown is relaxed!

	27.09	7.10	23.10	27.10	5.11	12.11	19.11	26.11	5.12
North Somerset	31	53	79	123	177	243	304	209	142
Cornwall	20	31	29	45	47	65	90	59	25
Bristol	46	143	228	328	350	428	480	325	168
Chelmsford	41	63	68	102	91	94	150	115	109
Exeter	283	341	175	154	128	146	168	132	102
Braintree	42	58	60	50	58	94	109	115	104
Plymouth	30	64	116	136	150	180	225	130	63
IoW	10	17	24	30	41	78	78	59	29
Liverpool	516	660	568	487	330	545	276	158	97
Manchester			458	483	466	415	372	250	175
Sunderland	274	281	297	314	309	379	412	286	161
Newcastle	445	456	298	294	284	376	449	320	156
Swansea					397	279	231	240	368
Cardiff					301	221	156	172	247
Glasgow					286	316	275	216	147
Aberdeen					41	36	58	61	61
Belfast					317	226	213	158	109
Newry					199	140	118	106	113

A map of the Milky Way has been produced by scientists at Cambridge using data from the ESA Gaia satellite over the last 7 years. It maps nearly 2 billion stars. Read article

Interesting times. Debenhams and Arcadia are the latest to go. So High Streets will be changing. Weston-super-Mare High Street has nothing to offer me, and parking is a nightmare, difficult and costly. And has nothing to offer – chain stores, phone shops, charity shops, betting shops, tattoo parlours, etc. Apart from Boots, Waterstones and Smith’s there are no shops worth a look.

My ideal High Street would have craft shops and individual outlets, some cafes with own baked produce. But being realistic – the town centre is, as the name says, the centre of the urban development. So it needs great communication networks. I personally think we will move from large buses to smaller people carriers powered by batteries (8-10 people), which are very frequent, or summoned on demand?

So let me think – getting to the town centre; I can park outside the city and get a quick regular service into it. Why should I go there? Hmmmmn. I have not been to a town centre this year so I am probably not the right person to ask. But I would go to Wells or Glastonbury type centre for bespoke presents. Maybe town centres need to be seen as centres for young people?

Article in Guardian today which looks at why Bristol is now 18th in list of English LA’s. And Bishopsworth with 1365/100000 is one of worst hit areas on England. No explanation found other than it was not hit badly first time round. Ominous for North Somerset too.

Along with many other developed countries the birth rate is falling. Italy’s population is at its lowest for 90 years. Villages are becoming deserted, especially those in hill top positions in remote parts of southern Italy. Test areas are already the poorest in Italy with few job prospects. They are also extremely vulnerable to Covid with many hospitals having been closed.

There are. some parallels with Cornwall where the number of intensive care beds very low. Cornwall is one of the poorest regions in pre-Brexit EU.