Re: two-page synopsis of Message Received


"Zeborah" <zeborah@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1hakffm.pk7psi1c9pjv4N%zeborah@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Rich Weyand <weyand@xxxxxxx> wrote:

The system deflected the asteroid a bit before it broke it up, just
enough to
delay the impacts until the Pacific Ocean was centered on the leading
side of
the planet in its orbit. Given that the Earth actually hits the
asteroids,
and not the other way around, that puts almost all of the debris in the
Pacific. Lots of empty space.

Lots of tsunamis?

What would worry me about that would be the effect of the steam. I saw an
article a while back that ran some numbers on asteroid impacts, and
concluded that a big one coming down into water would be as destructive or
even more destructive than one hitting land, because of the triple effect of
the immediate steam generated (= increased cloud cover), the local rise in
ocean temperature killing off a big chunk of sea life (how big depending on
where it hit and how large the asteroid), and the long-term effect of even a
fraction-of-a-degree rise in overall ocean temperature given the other two
things. I wish I could remember where I saw it...

Patricia C. Wrede


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