
Tianjin Explosion Seen by Himawari and Other Weather Satellites - betolink
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/archives/19209
======
serve_yay
The videos people took of the explosions are really remarkable. Sorta-cool at
first, then scary.
[http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0e5_1439474009](http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=0e5_1439474009)

~~~
th0br0
this synced-up version is impressive as well. unfortunately, it seems to be
confirmed that the upper right video was a live stream and the streamer did
not survive the blast :(

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v5RQ2cDfiU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v5RQ2cDfiU)

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robszumski
This is where I see Periscope going. Imagine a web app with that type of view
for a breaking news event. An algorithm picks the best or most diverse streams
and shows them synced side by side.

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jostmey
The estimates being thrown around is that the larger explosion was equivalent
to 21 tons of TNT. Does that seem low to anyone?

~~~
trhway
The explosion seems to be in the air so seismic shock - basis for 21 tons TNT
- is lower than would be oversize. I think - based on the blast wave in the
video at 7 seconds sound travel distance - it is several hundred tons TNT,
200-500.

~~~
toufka
Yep - it was many hundreds of tons. Based on comparing with other records, I'd
wager both explosions together likely approached a kiloton of TNT. One of the
larger (possibly?) non-military explosions ever.

Compared with this video for 100 tons of TNT [1], the explosion in Tianjin was
a few times larger. And there were two explosions, with the second being
significantly larger.

Also, compare with other explosions on this list [2]. The AZF explosion [3]
was listed at 20-40 tons of TNT. The Tianjin explosion was far larger. ~20
tons of TNT worth of energy was converted into a seismic wave - the rest (the
majority) of the energy was dispersed above ground.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgLzgdbfeJE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgLzgdbfeJE)

[2] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_artificial_non-
nuclear...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_artificial_non-
nuclear_explosions)

[3]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_jodgDNG0o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_jodgDNG0o)

~~~
r721
It also should be noted that "21 tons" is an estimate by China Earthquake
Networks Centre [1], so it can be deliberately understated.

[1] [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/12/china-
explosion...](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/12/china-explosion-
earthquake-recording-instruments-beijing)

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jonbaer
Is there any information on what caused it yet?

~~~
bradyd
It appears that it was a chemical storage warehouse, which contained calcium
carbide (among other hazardous chemicals). A fire broke out in the warehouse
and firefighters were fighting the fire with water. When calcium carbide
reacts with water it produces acetylene gas, which is highly explosive.

[http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/14/china-experts-focus-on-
chemic...](http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/14/china-experts-focus-on-chemicals-in-
tianjin-explosion.html)

~~~
jandrese
Wow, what a title: "Lei Jinde, the deputy propaganda department head of
China's fire department"

I hope that's a translation error. Fire Fighters are the last people who
should need a propaganda department.

~~~
prewett
Nope. Go to a large Chinese police/tax building and you'll see a sign for the
"Propaganda Department". Part of me respects them for being honest about it.

I think probably my (engineers in general?) distaste for "marketing" and
"public relations" and "spin" is the propaganda (telling you what we want you
to think) component that is often there. It sounds nicer if you say PR, and in
the US we tend not to be quite so blatantly at odds with the facts, but PR and
marketing are often trying to accomplish the same thing. At least the Chinese
are honest about what they are doing.

~~~
hebdo
It is so easy to forget how did the term Public Relations come into wide use.

 _> Due to negative implications surrounding the word propaganda because of
its use by the Germans in World War I, he promoted the term "Public
Relations"._

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays#Life_and_influe...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays#Life_and_influences)

For more I recommend the BBC documentary "The Century of the Self".

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ttflee
video footage after explosion:

[http://us.sinaimg.cn/001ZEXa6jx06UCsnbb15050401049TNs0k03.mp...](http://us.sinaimg.cn/001ZEXa6jx06UCsnbb15050401049TNs0k03.mp4?KID=unistore)

~~~
nosuchthing
Some footage taken the next morning on a freeway near ground zero:

BBC analysis:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcONSn5kc2s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcONSn5kc2s)

view from freeway:
[https://youtube.com/watch?v=z1LIQ5XgvOw](https://youtube.com/watch?v=z1LIQ5XgvOw)

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Osmium
Any news on long-term health risks from chemical exposure/half-
lives/concentrations/wind direction etc? Last I heard the wind was blowing
sea-wards after the blast, but there are a lot of people in Tianjin (and
Beijing?) that could be effected if chemical contaminants stick around...

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johnohara
It was originally reported as between 2.2 and 2.4 Richter. By The Guardian.
Should have showed up on the USGS real-time earthquake map. But didn't.

Searched 7 days, all magnitudes, still nothing.

~~~
Thrymr
The USGS cutoff outside the US is ~magnitude 4.5.

[http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/doc_whicheqs.php](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/doc_whicheqs.php)

~~~
johnohara
Thanks for the link. Did not know this about the map.

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monochromatic
I continue to be shocked that these explosions didn't kill thousands of
people.

~~~
InclinedPlane
They occurred at night in an industrial area surrounded by warehouses and
container storage lots, so there wouldn't have been many people around. A high
percentage of the deaths are unfortunately from fire fighters who showed up to
fight a fire that got out of control and led to these explosions.

Here's a map shot of roughly where the explosions occurred:

[https://goo.gl/maps/NLgmJ](https://goo.gl/maps/NLgmJ)

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mc808
What is that other dot that shows up in the sea to the east/southeast?

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seanalltogether
Sometimes it feels like big events happen that lots of people here want to
talk about, but need to find some kind of technology or "hacker" article to
submit as a center for discussion. It's a bit weird and it feels like there
should be some exceptions to the rules to allow these kind of events to be
discussed as they are happening.

~~~
metasean
Highlighting mine...

    
    
       Hacker News Guidelines
    
       What to Submit
    
       On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That 
       includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a 
       sentence, the answer might be: ***anything that gratifies one's 
       intellectual curiosity***.
    
       Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless 
       they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of 
       pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. ***If they'd cover it 
       on TV news, it's probably off-topic.***
    

It's a fine line, but I think it's a good line. For example, the _news_ aspect
isn't really appropriate for Hacker News, but the cause may be (in this case,
it sounds like the chemistry is very much of intellectual interest [1]), as
may be methods for identifying, recording, and sharing aspects of the
explosion (e.g. "quantum dot spectrometers" [2], the OP, and the "synced-up
version" of recordings[3]).

All links point to other parts of this discussion:

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10062226](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10062226)

[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10062399](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10062399)

[3]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10062300](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10062300)

Edited in attempt to improve readability.

