Major step in UK contribution to space mission to study solar wind

Space scientists from the University of Leicester have delivered a key component for a new mission to study the impact of the solar wind on Earth’s magnetic field.

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

 

IMAGE: (L-R) CHRIS BICKNELL, CHARLOTTE BOULDIN AND ANDY CHENEY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER COMPLETING FINAL WORK ON THE SXI STRUCTURAL AND THERMAL MODEL PRIOR TO DELIVERY TO AIRBUS, SPAIN. view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

Space scientists from the University of Leicester have delivered a key component for a new mission to study the impact of the solar wind on Earth’s magnetic field.

Engineers from the University’s Space Research Centre have completed the structural and thermal model for the UK’s latest X-ray telescope, the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI), destined for space aboard the SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) probe when it launches at the end of 2024.

The model, which has now been delivered to Airbus in Spain for integration and testing within the prototype satellite system, is not the so-called flight model – but will help engineers understand the extreme requirements for the final design.

Specialists will subject the prototype to the significant vibrations, shocks and G-forces experienced during launch of the spacecraft, as well as the extreme temperatures it must operate at in space below -150oC.

Dr Steven Sembay, Principal Investigator (PI) for the SXI instrument, based at the University of Leicester, said:

“The STM testing is always a slightly nervous time, especially when you see videos of how much the instrument is shaken during testing!

“It is the first time you go from conceptual design in computer models to a real object in metal. I shouldn’t have worried. It is a testament to the skill of our engineering and manufacturing team that what is a complex piece of kit works as predicted.”

The SXI consortium is led by the University of Leicester in collaboration with UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory (UCL MSSL), the Open University and European partners.

UCL MSSL is responsible for building the electronics that operate the SXI detectors and retrieve the signals that produce X-ray images of the space around the Earth.

The UK Space Agency has committed £10.5 million in funding for UK leadership roles on SMILE, including the SXI instrument. The compact X-ray telescope is the only European instrument planned for the mission.

SMILE is the first joint project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) from conceptual design to operations, and will study the continuous stream of charged particles emitted by our Sun.

Professor Graziella Branduardi-Raymont of UCL MSSL, European Co-Principal Investigator for the mission, said:

“One of the most interesting aspects of SMILE SXI is the fact that we are using technology so far applied for looking outwards to X-ray sources in the far Universe to study how our own Earth responds to the impact of the Sun’s activity.”

The highly variable stream of high energy particles, called the solar wind, impacts on the Earth’s magnetic field. At times of high intensity this stream can be a hazard to space-based instrumentation or even, in rare cases, ground-based electrical systems.

Fortunately, the Earth’s magnetic field provides protection, but this compresses and expands as it responds to variations in the highly dynamic solar wind.

CAPTION

SMILE's Soft X-ray Imager structural and thermal model arrives at Airbus, Spain.

CREDIT

Airbus

SXI will continuously monitor the position of the boundary between the region of space controlled by the Earth’s magnetic field and the solar wind. Its images will, in conjunction with the other instruments on SMILE, help scientists to refine models of how this Sun-Earth connection responds to the most infamous example of so-called ‘space weather’.

Dr Caroline Harper, Head of Space Science at the UK Space Agency, said:

“Space weather – such as the solar wind – has the potential to disrupt satellites we rely on every day for services such as global communications or managing power grids.

“This mission is a prime example of how, by working with our international partners, the UK is doing innovative science in space, while underpinning the broader economy by supporting the development of real-world applications, such as space weather modelling. It is fantastic to see the first full model of the SXI instrument being delivered and we look forward to the completion of the engineering model and eventually the flight instrument, over the next two years.”

SXI weighs around 36 kg and needed to be compact and relatively low mass to meet the mission level requirements of the spacecraft. To achieve this the telescope employs a very lightweight optical system to focus X-rays; a ‘lobster-eye’ lens which mimics the mechanism within the eye of a crustacean.

The University of Leicester’s Space Research Centre is a world leader in the development of X-ray instruments for space and SMILE’s SXI is the third instrument to use similar optics to be built at Leicester following the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS) instrument on ESA’s BepiColombo, which has recently successfully completed its first fly-by of destination planet Mercury, and the soon-to-be-launched MXT instrument on the French-Chinese SVOM mission.

CAPTION

SMILE's Soft X-ray Imager structural and thermal model arrives at Airbus, Spain.

CREDIT

Airbus

Black hole thermodynamics: a history from Penrose to Hawking

New research explores the historical context of Penrose’s theory of black hole energy extraction, and how it inspired collaborations across political boundaries: ultimately leading to Stephen Hawking’s celebrated theory of black hole radiation.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SPRINGER

In 1969, English physicist Roger Penrose discovered a property which would later allow for a long-awaited link between thermodynamics, and the far stranger mechanics of black holes. Through new analysis published in EPJ H, Carla Rodrigues Almeida, based at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, sheds new light on Penrose’s motivations and methods, and explores their historical influence on the groundbreaking discovery of Hawking radiation.

Prior to the 1950s, many physicists were reluctant to accept the idea that black holes are physical objects, consistent with the well-established laws of thermodynamics. This picture transformed entirely over the next two decades, and in 1969, Penrose showed for the first time how energy can be extracted from a rotating black hole. His theory hinged on a newly-conceived region named the ‘ergosphere.’

Although it lies just outside the boundary of a black hole, spacetime within the ergosphere rotates alongside the body, like the gas in a planet’s atmosphere. If a piece of matter enters the region, Penrose proposed that it may split into two parts: one of which can fall into the black hole; while the other can escape, carrying more energy than the original particle.

Over the next few years, Soviet physicist Yakov Zel’doivh explored Penrose’s discovery through the lens of quantum mechanics. Although his work was held back by political circumstances, Zel’doiv established friendly collaborations with Western physicists. Ultimately, the theories that emerged through these relationships led to Stephen Hawking’s discovery of novel quantum effects, which can cause black holes to radiate mass. Finally, the physics community was convinced that black holes can indeed obey the laws of thermodynamics.

In her study, Almeida investigates Penrose’s proposal within this historical context. By revisiting original papers, analysing technological details, and exploring relationships between Western and Soviet physicists, she aims to uncover the history they hide. The article moves through the chain of reasoning which led from Penrose’s proposal, to an analogy between thermodynamics and black hole physics; and ultimately, to the formulation of Hawking radiation.

 

Reference

References:  C R Almeida, The thermodynamics of black holes: from Penrose process to Hawking radiation. EPJ H 46, 20 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00022-9

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JOURNAL

The European Physical Journal H

DOI

10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00022-9 

ARTICLE TITLE

The thermodynamics of black holes: from Penrose process to Hawking radiation

Examining the accelerating universe

A new collection of papers focuses on the paradigm of the accelerating expansion of the Universe in turn unpacking some of cosmology’s most pressing questions.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

SPRING

A special edition of EPJST, edited by Balasubramanian Ananthanarayan, Centre for High Energy Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and Subhendra Mohanty, Department of Theoretical Physics, Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, brings together a collection of papers focusing improving our understanding of the accelerating expansion of the Universe and the nature of the dark energy that drives it.

“Despite all the advances in theory and observations in particle physics and cosmology we only understand about 5% of the Universe,” says Mohanty. “The remaining matter and energy of the Universe consist of dark matter, which accounts for the rotational speeds of galaxies and formation of cosmic structure, and dark energy which accelerates the expansion of the Universe.”

In addition to the lingering mysteries of the so-called ‘dark universe’ as theories have grown more robust and observations more precise, troubling disparities have presented themselves between our best descriptions of the Universe. For instance, the rate of acceleration delivered by astronomical observations and the standard model of cosmology is much smaller than the value presented by the standard model of particle physics. “If the discrepancy between different observations is not resolved even after more refined observations, then it will mean that the base model of Lambda CDM – the most favoured standard model of cosmology –  needs to be changed,” Mohanty explains. “It is possible that there are interactions between different sectors like dark matter and dark energy which we have not yet recognised.”

The researcher points out that failure to resolve this disparity could also mean that the way we currently measure cosmological distance using the spectroscopic red-shift and the use of standard candles like Type-1a supernovae or Cepheid variables – stars whose luminosity varies periodically with time – needs to be revised.

Mohanty continues by explaining that there are two strands of research in this field, the first being the examination and interpretation of the observational data about what it tells us about the existence of dark energy. The second strand is the microscopic understanding of the nature of dark energy – a fluid that has negative pressure. This, as Mohanty points out, makes dark energy unlike any other particle or field observed so far.

“Unravelling the nature of dark energy by study of the accelerated Universe will unlock the deepest level of our understanding of the Universe,” Mohanty concludes. “The best way to proceed in the understanding of dark energy is to closely relate theory with observations which are now possible due to a plethora of new precision experiments in cosmology and particle physics.”

 

Reference

Ananthanarayan, B., Mohanty, S. The accelerating universe: evidence and theories. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 230, 2051–2053 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00259-x

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JOURNAL

The European Physical Journal Special Topics

DOI

10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00259-x 

ARTICLE TITLE

The accelerating universe: evidence and theories

Many new college students report pet separation anxiety

Peer-Reviewed Publication

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: WSU RESEARCHER ALEXA CARR WITH HER CAT MARLEY view more 

CREDIT: BOB HUBNER, WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

PULLMAN, Wash. – Pets are not the only ones who experience separation anxiety; their people do too.

Washington State University researchers surveyed a sample of new first-year college students leaving pets at home and found that 75% experienced some level of pet separation anxiety—with one in four reporting moderate to severe symptoms.

“Students who are struggling with missing their pets should know that they're not alone,” said Alexa Carr, the lead author of the study which is part of her WSU doctoral dissertation. “There’s nothing necessarily wrong with them if they are experiencing a lot of distress from leaving their pets. It can be an isolating experience to lose that coping resource.”

The students who had higher anxiety tended to be those who treated their pets more like people, identifying them as friends, sleeping in the same room and generally spending a lot of time with them. Interestingly, students who had dogs at home also tended to report more attachment to their pets—and more separation anxiety—than those with cats and other types of pets.

While there are many anecdotal accounts of students missing their pets, the study published in Anthrozoos, is the first known research investigating this kind of pet separation anxiety in humans.

Carr and co-author Patricia Pendry, a WSU associate professor of human development, surveyed a sample of about 150 incoming first-year students who had pets at home. The vast majority of respondents, 81%, were women—which is a limitation of the study but also consistent with trends in college enrollment. In 2020, 60% of enrolled college students were women, according to National Center for Education Statistics.

The researchers surveyed the group before they arrived on campus and after their first two weeks of the semester in fall 2019 before the pandemic forced many universities online. The students answered questions related to their mental health, attachment to their pets and feelings about leaving them behind.

Even after controlling for pre-existing mental health issues, the researchers found that pet-related separation anxiety was very strong in the group during the transition to college, especially among students who were closely attached to their pets.

The findings indicate this is an issue for many students and should be taken seriously by campus counselors, Carr said. It also has implications for pet visitation programs now popular at many U.S.  universities which bring animals to campus to help stressed students. A previous WSU study found that petting dogs or cats for just 10 minutes lowers levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

The authors said more research is needed to understand the implications of pet separation anxiety. For example, whether students’ symptoms are stable or become less severe over the course of the semester; or whether pet visitation programs might have some unintended effects, such as potentially exacerbating separation anxiety for students missing their specific pets back home.

The researchers also cautioned that this study should not be used as justification for students to bring their pets with them when they go to college, particularly if they would be their sole caregivers.

“It’s a big responsibility to take care of an animal, and would a student then able to balance their school responsibilities, social lives and jobs?” Carr said. “There are more things to take into consideration and explore before we could advocate for more pets on campus.”

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JOURNAL

Anthrozoös

DOI

10.1080/08927936.2021.1963545 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Understanding Links Between College Students’ Childhood Pet Ownership, Attachment, and Separation Anxiety During the Transition to College

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Sep-2021

UK Stimulus designed to help restaurant workers led to more COVID cases

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS USA

A new paper in The Economic Journal indicates that a large-scale government subsidy aimed at encouraging people to eat out in restaurants in the wake of the first 2020 COVID-19 wave in the United Kingdom accelerated a second COVID19 wave.

The COVID19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus hurt economies around the world. The hospitality sector was particularly vulnerable due to forced decline in tourism and leisure activities. This rippled across economies, as hospitality workers then reduce their spending and have trouble meeting basic expenses. Some governments have used fiscal policy to help the hospitality sector by stimulating demand. This paper explored to what extent an intervention in the United Kingdom, the Eat-Out-To-Help-Out scheme – had the inadvertent effect of promoting COVID19 infections.

The scheme was designed to encourage demand for hospitality and restaurant businesses. It directly subsidized the cost of meals and non-alcoholic drinks by up to 50% across participating restaurants across the UK for meals served on all Mondays to Wednesdays from August 3 to August 31, 2020. The discount was capped at a maximum of GBP 10 per person but there was no limit on how often people could benefit. Aggregate data suggest that the government subsidized 160 million meals were subsidized, costing the taxpayer £849 million. Restaurant visits increased drastically on Monday to Wednesday, which usually see less traffic. Official government statistics released at the end of January 202 suggest that at least 59,981 businesses have registered for the scheme.

Researchers here found that the program did have a notable temporary impact on restaurant visits when comparing year-on-year changes from the booking service OpenTable. During days that the scheme was available, restaurant visits increased between 10-200%. Yet, the data also suggests that the scheme may have shifted restaurant visits from the weekend to weekdays on which the discount was available and that the increased number of restaurant visits was temporary.

Areas with higher participation in the Eat-Out-To-Help-Out scheme saw both a notable increase in new COVID19 infection clusters within a week of the scheme starting, and a deceleration in infections within two weeks of the program ending. Areas that had notable rainfall during the prime lunch and dinner hours on days the scheme was active, making customers less likely to visit restaurants and take advantage of the subsidized meals, had a lower infection rate.

The empirical estimates suggest that the subsidized restaurant meal scheme may be responsible for around 11% of all new detected COVID19 clusters emerging during August and into early September in the United Kingdom.

The paper, “Subsidising the spread of COVID-19: Evidence from the UK’s Eat-Out-to-Help-Out” Scheme,” is be available (at midnight on October 26th) at: https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/ej/ueab074.

Direct correspondence to: 
Thiemo Fetzer
Department of Economics 
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL UNITED KINGDOM
thiemo.fetzer@gmail.com

To request a copy of the study, please contact:
Daniel Luzer 
daniel.luzer@oup.com

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JOURNAL

The Economic Journal

DOI

10.1093/ej/ueab074 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Subsidising the spread of COVID-19: Evidence from the UK’s Eat-Out-to-Help-Out” Scheme

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Oct-2021

COI STATEMENT

N/A

Managing water resources in a low-to-no-snow future

With mountain snowpacks shrinking in the western US, new Berkeley Lab study analyzes when a low-to-no-snow future might arrive and implications for water management

Peer-Reviewed Publication

DOE/LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY

 

VIDEO: A NEW BERKELEY LAB ANALYSIS FINDS THAT IF GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS CONTINUE ALONG THE HIGH-EMISSIONS SCENARIO, LOW-TO-NO-SNOW WINTERS WILL BECOME A REGULAR OCCURRENCE IN THE WESTERN U.S. IN 35 TO 60 YEARS. view more 

CREDIT: JENNY NUSS/BERKELEY LAB

Mountain snowpacks around the world are on the decline, and if the planet continues to warm, climate models forecast that snowpacks could shrink dramatically and possibly even disappear altogether on certain mountains, including in the western United States, at some point in the next century. A new study led by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) analyzes the likely timing of a low-to-no-snow future, what it will mean for water management, and opportunities for investments now that could stave off catastrophic consequences.

Their review paper, “A low-to-no-snow future and its impacts on water resources in the western United States,” published in the journal Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, analyzes previous climate projections and finds that if greenhouse gas emissions continue along the high-emissions scenario, low-to-no-snow winters will become a regular occurrence in the western U.S. in 35 to 60 years. Further, the study re-evaluates longstanding assumptions in water management in the U.S. and stresses that scientists and water managers need to work together more closely to develop and implement climate adaptation strategies.

The Sierra Nevada, Rockies, Cascades, and other mountain ranges provide a tremendous service by capturing, storing, and releasing water for downstream use. Historically, snowmelt timing provides a critical delay in the delivery of water supply during the spring and into the summer, when precipitation is low and when water demands are at their highest due to agriculture. The factors causing shrinking snowpacks are predominantly tied to temperature increases and shifting precipitation characteristics. Warmer temperatures also imply that storms will produce more rainfall and less snowfall, limiting the amount of seasonal snowpack that can build through the winter.

The research, co-led by authors Erica Siirila-Woodburn and Alan Rhoades of Berkeley Lab’s Earth & Environmental Sciences Area, starts with a literature review which distills several hundred scientific studies on snow loss; of those, they identify and analyze 18 studies that had quantitative snowpack projections for the western U.S.

When will the low-to-no-snow future arrive?                                          

“A recent study highlighted that there has been a 21% decline in the April 1 snowpack water storage in the western U.S. since the 1950s – that’s equivalent to Lake Mead’s storage capacity. In our review, we found that around mid-century we should expect a comparable decline in snowpack,” said Rhoades. “By the end of the century, the decline could reach more than 50%, but with a larger range of uncertainty.”

Many water managers use the somewhat arbitrary date of April 1 to make snowpack observations and planning decisions. Over the last several decades, there have been decreases in peak snowpack volume as well as earlier occurrences of the timing of peak snowpack, with the peak occurring approximately 8 days earlier in the year for every 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming.

Many regions have already experienced winters with very little snow in recent years, such as the Sierras in 2015 when the April 1 snowpack level was 5% of normal, which the authors call an “extreme” event. The paper defines two other types of low-to-no-snow conditions – “episodic low-to-no snow,” or when more than half of a mountain basin experiences low-to-no snow for five consecutive years, and “persistent low-to-no snow,” in which this happens for 10 consecutive years. “Low snow” is defined as when the snowpack (or more precisely, the snow water equivalent, a measure of how much water will be released when the snowpack melts) is in the 30th percentile or lower of the historical peak.

Using these definitions, California could experience episodic low-to-no snow as early as the late 2040s and persistent low-to-no snow in the 2060s according to one high-resolution climate projection. For other parts of the western U.S. persistent low-to-no snow emerges in the 2070s. The authors caution the need for more analyses with a broader set of climate projections to enhance confidence in the timeline for emergence of low-to-no-snow conditions.

The authors describe the climate projections in their study, writing: “Through the middle and end of the 21st century, an increasing fraction of the western U.S. is impacted by snow water equivalent deficits relative to the historical period. In particular, only 8 to 14% of years are classified as low-to-no snow over 1950-2000, compared to 78 to 94% over 2050-2099. In all regions, an abrupt transition occurs in the mid-to-late 21st century.”

Impacts on water resources

The impacts of a low-to-no-snow future extend beyond just decreased streamflow, although that is certainly a significant consequence. In the Sierra Nevada, for example, the amount of water in the snowpack on a typical April 1 is nearly double the surface reservoir storage in California.

“A low-to-no-snow future has massive implications for where and when water is stored in the western U.S.,” said Siirila-Woodburn. “In addition to the direct impacts on recreation and the like, there are a lot of secondary effects on natural and managed systems, from a hydrologic perspective. So that's anything ranging from increased wildfire occurrence to changes in groundwater and surface water patterns and changes in vegetation type and density.”

With less snow and more rain, groundwater levels in mountainous systems may be impacted because snowmelt more effectively infiltrates into the subsurface than rainfall does. Further, less snow at lower elevations will decrease the overall surface area of snowpack stored in the mountains, potentially resulting in less available snowmelt that infiltrates into the ground.

Now for the good news …

The authors’ aim in doing this study was to spur thinking now about adaptation strategies. “We want society to be proactive about these changes in snowpack rather than reactive,” said Rhoades. “Our hope in presenting the literature synthesis of low-to-no snow is so that we can understand the problem in a ‘one-stop shop’ way. Additionally, we highlighted some novel climate adaptation strategies that are coming about through nontraditional academic and water agency partnerships, which will be key parts of a portfolio of adaptation approaches needed to overcome snow loss in a warmer world.”

One such partnership is a Department of Energy-supported project called HyperFACETS, which involves 11 research institutions, including Berkeley Lab, working with water utility managers in California, Colorado, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

The paper also discusses potential adaptation strategies, such as a technique known as managed aquifer recharge, in which excess surface water is stored underground as groundwater for later use. Another relatively new technique, forecast-informed reservoir operations, in which weather and hydrological forecasts are used to inform decisions about retaining or releasing water from reservoirs, was recently shown to increase water storage at Lake Mendocino in California by 33%.

These and other techniques show promise for increasing water supply, but the authors also recommend more cross-collaboration, both among scientists and within society as a whole, to expand the portfolio of climate adaptation strategies.

“We are advocating for the idea of engagement with best scientific practices and more collaboration or partnership between researchers and stakeholders. For example, city managers are concerned with flood control; farmers are concerned with water storage; everyone has their own objectives. Even within science, the disciplines are typically siloed,” said Siirila-Woodburn. “If everyone were working together to manage water rather than working independently for their own purpose, there would be more water to go around.”

# # #

Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest scientific challenges are best addressed by teams, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and its scientists have been recognized with 14 Nobel Prizes. Today, Berkeley Lab researchers develop sustainable energy and environmental solutions, create useful new materials, advance the frontiers of computing, and probe the mysteries of life, matter, and the universe. Scientists from around the world rely on the Lab’s facilities for their own discovery science. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory, managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.

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JOURNAL

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment

DOI

10.1038/s43017-021-00219-y 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

A low-to-no-snow future and its impacts on water resources in the western United States

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Oct-2021

Publication of 500-year-old manuscript exposes medieval beliefs and religious cults

The metre-long prayer roll reveals Christian devotion prior to Henry VIII’s break with Rome and the Protestant reformation, a new study states

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TAYLOR & FRANCIS GROUP

 

IMAGE: THE BROMHOLM PRAYER ROLL, INK, SILVER AND GOLD ON PARCHMENT, 1370X130MM view more 

CREDIT: CREDIT GAIL TURNER / JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

A rare English illuminated medieval prayer roll, believed to be among only a few dozen still in existence worldwide, has been analysed in a new study to expose Catholic beliefs in England before the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

Now in private hands and previously unknown to experts, this metre-long roll provides fresh insights into Christian pilgrimage, and the cult of the Cross before Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries.

Examination of the ancient roll’s illustrations and text, including religious verse in Latin and English, are published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the British Archaeological Association.

“In particular,” art historian, and study author, Gail Turner states, “the study demonstrates Christian devotion in medieval England.

“It gives insight into the devotional rituals connected to a large crucifix (‘Rood’) at Bromholm Priory, in Norfolk, and uncovers a direct link between this 16th century artefact and a famous religious relic once associated among Christians with miracles.”

The ‘Rood of Bromholm’, as it is known to historians, supposedly contained a fragment of the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. The relic transformed the Priory into a popular pilgrimage site mentioned by Geoffrey Chaucer and in The Vision of Piers Plowman.

Images of the Rood in black, with gold outlines, feature several times in the Bromholm roll, and there is one direct reference to ‘the crosse of bromholme’.

Turner’s analysis suggests a prosperous pilgrim was possibly the owner of the Bromholm prayer roll – made from two pieces of vellum stitched together, and bought by a private collector in the 1970s.

“The roll reflects a time when the laity (non-clergy) had a real belief in both visible and invisible enemies,” says Turner, who has worked at Tate Britain, the Arts Council, and as a consultant for Christie’s and at the Courtauld.

CAPTION

The first illumination of the roll

CREDIT

Gail Turner / Journal of the British Archaeological Association

“For their owners, prayer rolls…were prized as very personal inspirations to prayer, although during the Reformation and after they were commonly undervalued and dismissed.

“The survival of such a magnificent roll for over 500 years is therefore remarkable.”

Attaching animal skin pieces end to end in a continuous strip to make a ‘roll’ was once the standard method of presenting text. Few medieval prayer rolls survive today because they lacked covers yet were made to be handled. This one is 13cm wide, by a metre long.

Worshippers regularly touched or kissed images of Jesus on the cross in an attempt, says Turner, ”to experience Christ’s Passion more directly and powerfully”. Indeed, the historian reveals abrasion marks are visible on the Bromholm roll where the owner has engaged in such a ‘devotional act identified in other similar rolls’.

Turner has been able to estimate the document’s age through a reference in the roll to ‘John of Chalcedon’ or John Underwood, the penultimate prior of Bromholm. A passionate supporter of the Roman Catholic church, Underwood became auxiliary bishop of Norfolk in 1505 then lost his position in 1535 so it’s likely the roll was made between these dates.

Further connections between the roll, the Rood and Underwood can be made through the imagery of the five wounds Christ received during his crucifixion, according to the study.

Symbols representing the five wounds are depicted on Underwood’s tomb in Norwich, despite not being commonly found in Norfolk’s churches. In addition, the five wounds were focal to Bromholm Priory’s key devotional feasts – the Passion and the Exaltation of the Cross – when pilgrims came to venerate the Rood.

The original owner of the roll is likely to have been a ‘devout worshipper’ familiar with Bromholm’s feasts, says Turner. A patron of the priory, a member of the local Paston family, or a friend of John Underwood’s are among her suggestions.

Today, the priory stands in ruins in a field near the village of Bacton. As to the Rood of Bromholm’s fate, the study suggests it was taken to London. This is according to a letter written in 1537 to Thomas Cromwell by Sir Richard Southwell, a courtier from Norfolk.

After that, the trail appears to go cold, according to Turner, who adds it is ‘presumed to have been destroyed in London with many other relics, although its fate remains uncertain’.

CAPTION

A cross, the second illumination on the script

CREDIT

Gail Turner / Journal of the British Archaeological Association

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JOURNAL

Journal of the British Archaeological Association

DOI

10.1080/00681288.2021.1964799 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Content analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

An Early 16th-Century Prayer Roll and the Holy Rood of Bromholm

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

26-Oct-2021

CAPTION

Three nails, the fourth illumination

CREDIT

Gail Turner / Journal of the British Archaeological Association

New nuclear reactors can help France become carbon neutral by 2050 -RTE


RTE (Electricity Transport Network) technician works on a live 

250 000 high voltage power line in Grande-Synthe

Mon, October 25, 2021

PARIS (Reuters) -French grid operator RTE said next generation nuclear reactors offer an affordable path to shifting the country's energy mix away from fossil fuels and make the aim of carbon neutrality by 2050 achievable.

"Building new nuclear reactors is economically viable, especially as it makes it possible to maintain a fleet of around 40 gigawatts (GW) in 2050," said the RTE in a report that examined the different pathways to meet the expected rise in electricity demand.

Industry and government sources say the report is expected to help inform President Emmanuel Macron's decision to go ahead with plans to build new nuclear plants.


Le Figaro reported last week that Macron wants to announce the construction of six new EPR nuclear reactors by the end of the year.

Achieving future carbon neutral goals without nuclear reactors would require a scale up of renewables faster than the most dynamic electric mixes in Europe, RTE said.

France and several other European countries have pushed to label nuclear energy as green investments in the European Union's upcoming sustainable finance rules.

The carbon neutral goals will be "impossible" without a significant development of renewable energy, RTE said.

Other supply options include the development of further interconnectors between countries, expanding hydraulic storage, and installing batteries to store renewable power.

New thermal power plants that utilise carbon-free gases, such as "green hydrogen" which is produced through the use of renewable energy, can also be used in order to meet rising consumption forecasts, the operator said.

RTE said the current energy crisis shows Europe's dependence on hydro-carbons, such as gas and coal, has an economic cost and that low-carbon production in the country is an issue of energy independence.

France's nuclear safety watchdog ASN in February cleared more than half of the nuclear fleet to operate for a decade longer than originally planned after maintenance work, as 32-900 megawatt reactors are coming to the end of their lifespan.

France currently has about 62.4 GW of nuclear generation capacity provided by 57 reactors, RTE data showed.

(Reporting by Forrest Crellin and Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Mike Harrison)

Duke Energy CEO: Net-zero emissions can’t be achieved without nuclear power

Akiko Fujita

·Anchor/Reporter

Mon, October 25, 2021

As one of the country’s largest energy holding companies, Duke Energy (DUK) is on a mission to slash 2005-level carbon dioxide emissions in half by 2030 on its path to decarbonize its power supply by 2050.

The timeline requires a heavy reliance on nuclear power, according to CEO Lynn Good.

Nuclear energy already accounts for nearly 40% of electricity generated by the North Carolina-based utility company, and Good said the company sees no way to reach net-zero emissions without the power source weighing heavily in its energy mix.

“A little bit over 80% of the carbon-free generation and energy that we produce comes from nuclear,” said Good, in an interview at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit: The Path Forward. “I want to keep that nuclear fleet operating as long as I possibly can because I don't have an alternative of a carbon-free resource that runs 95% of the time, which is what nuclear represents today.”

The U.S. already generates more nuclear power than any other country, with 94 reactors supplying electricity roughly 20% of the overall grid. But the number of reactors have remained largely stagnant, in part because of concerns about safety and cost overruns. Just one new nuclear plant has come online in the U.S., in the last 25 years.

Steam rises from the cooling towers of the coal-fired power plant at Duke Energy's Crystal River Energy Complex in Crystal River, Florida, U.S., March 26, 2021. Picture taken March 26, 2021. REUTERS/Dane Rhys

With 11 nuclear units across six sites in the Carolinas, Duke Energy oversees the largest fleet of nuclear plants in the country. While the reactors make up just 17% of the utility firm’s overall capacity, they generate well over a third of its electricity.

Good said nuclear power acts as a reliable hedge against the price and supply volatility of natural gas, seen as a “bridge fuel” because it emits nearly half the carbon emissions of coal. Soaring global demand for the commodity has led to a more than 20-fold increase in price, from the pandemic lows last summer, according to EIA data.

Duke is actively involved in conversations to develop small modular reactors or SMRs, a new generation of reactors that require a smaller footprint and can be scaled up at a faster and cheaper cost, by mass producing components in factories.

“We are committed to safe operation, of course. It's always job number one. And we're committed to extending the licenses of these plants,” Good said. “And then we are working actively in an advisory capacity and lending our operating expertise to the development of small modular technologies and advanced technologies that may create the opportunity to introduce more nuclear [power] in the 2030s and 2040s.”

A view of Duke Energy's Marshall Power Plant in Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, U.S. November 29, 2018. Picture taken November 29, 2018. To match Special Report USA-COAL/POLLUTION. REUTERS/Chris Keane

Expanding the generation of nuclear power is largely expected to supplant coal’s decreasing footprint. Electricity generated by coal-powered plants accounts for roughly a quarter of Duke’s energy mix, but the firm has already shuttered 54 units and plans to close "many more" over the next decade, in its push to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

Renewable energy is expected to become the utility company’s largest generation source by 2050, Good said solar, wind and hydro don’t have the efficiency and reliability nuclear has, just yet.

“As we model the future, we're modeling an hour-by-hour dispatch of our system, we're monitoring a range of prices on new technologies, we’re modeling how much electrification occurs, and therefore how much additional requirements for electricity there will be,” Good said. “That combination [from renewable energy] we see as being 40, maybe 50%, of what we operate. And then we would supplement the rest of that with other technologies, some of which I don't even know what they are today, because we're waiting for those developments to occur.”

Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita