The Day The Sky Fell
December 27th 2008 09:57
Image credit :carlcan
Many remember the story of Chicken Little who believes the sky is falling.
There are many versions of the story, but the basic premise is that a chicken eats lunch one afternoon, and believes the sky is falling down because an acorn falls on the chicken’s head. This time the sky did fall. This account happened on Mt Everest in 1996.
An analysis of weather patterns in May 1996 suggests the mountaineers died when the stratosphere sank suddenly to the level of the summit, nearly 9,000 meters (29,000ft) above sea level. Normally the peak sits just below the atmospheric layer. But on May 10 1996, there were two fast-flowing air streams, called jet streaks, moving over the mountain. The freak weather caused pressure and oxygen levels to plunge within the "death zone" the area above 8,000 meters where oxygen is extremely thin. When the climbers undertook the peak conditions seemed perfect 24 hours later, eight of them were dead.
A Canadian scientist has put forward a theory of how it came about. Dr Kent Moore believes the climbers died when the sky literally "fell in" on them, depriving them of oxygen.
The theory is that they came in contact with the stratosphere's boundary descending onto the summit as if the sky had fallen in. The ensuing thunderstorm caused oxygen levels to drop even further, leaving the climbers just 20 per cent to breathe making every movement extremely difficult.
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Comment by Linh
Celluloid Fun
I like how the researchers used the Chicken Little story as a basis for their findings.
I guess there's some truth to children's stories.
By the way, did you know this post has appeared three times on Orble?
This happened to me with my most recent post, so I just deleted one and kept the other.
It's very strange.
Cheers!
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
I though I would add the chicken little commet.
Yes Orble was a bit slow tonight and took ages to update thats why the double up occured.
Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth