Page 12 - aruba-today-20201123

A12 SCIENCE
Monday 23 noveMber 2020
Bodies of man and his slave unearthed from ashes at Pompeii

ROME (AP) — Skeletal re- near the man's face, prob-
mains of what are believed ably remnants of a col-
to have been a rich man lapsed upper wall, the of-
and his male slave at- ficials said.
tempting to escape death Both skeletons were found
from the eruption of Mount in a side room along an un-
Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years derground corridor, or pas-
ago have been discovered sageway, known in ancient
in Pompeii, officials at the Roman times as a crypto-
archaeological park in Italy porticus, which led to to
said Saturday. the upper level of the villa.
Parts of the skulls and bones "The victims were probably
of the two men were found looking for shelter in the
during excavation of the cryptoporticus, in this un-
ruins from what was once derground space, where
an elegant villa with a pan- they thought they were
oramic view of the Mediter- better protected," said
ranean Sea on the outskirts Osanna.
of the ancient Roman city Instead, on the morning of
destroyed by the volcano Oct. 25, 79 A.D., a "blazing
eruption in 79 A.D. It's the cloud (of volcanic materi-
same area where a stable al) arrived in Pompeii and...
with the remains of three The casts of what are believed to have been a rich man and his male slave fleeing the volcanic killed anyone it encoun-
harnessed horses were ex- eruption of Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago, are seen in what was an elegant villa on the outskirts tered on its way," Osanna
of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii destroyed by the eruption in 79 A.D., where they were dis-
cavated in 2017. covered during recents excavations, Pompeii archaeological park officials said Saturday, Nov. said.
Pompeii officials said the 21, 2020. Based on the impression
men apparently escaped Associated Press of fabric folds left in the
the initial fall of ash from ash layer, it appeared the
Mount Vesuvius then suc- As has been done when and position of the victims That finding led archaeolo- younger man was wearing
cumbed to a powerful vol- other remains have been in the throes of death, but gists to hypothesize that he a short, pleated tunic, pos-
canic blast that took place discovered at the Pompeii makes the remains "seem was a young man who did sibly of wool. The older vic-
the next morning. The later site, archaeologists poured like statues," said Massimo manual labor, like that of a tim, in addition to wearing
blast "apparently invaded liquid chalk into the cavi- Osanna, an archaeologist slave. a tunic, appeared to have
the area from many points, ties, or void, left by the de- who is director general of The other man had a ro- had a mantle over his left
surrounding and burying caying bodies in the ash the archaeological park bust bone structure, es- shoulder.
the victims in ash," Pompeii and pumice that rained operated under the juris- pecially in his chest area, Mount Vesuvius remans an
officials said in a statement. down from the volcano diction of the Italian Cul- and died with his hands on active volcano. While ex-
The remains of the two near modern-day Naples ture Ministry. his chest and his legs bent cavations continue at the
victims, lying next to each and demolished the upper Judging by cranial bones and spread apart. He was site near Naples, tourists are
other on their backs, were levels of the villa. and teeth, one of the men estimated to have been currently barred from the
found in a layer of gray ash The technique, pioneered was young, likely aged 18 30- to 40-years-old, Pompeii archaeological park un-
at least 2 meters (6.5 feet) in the 1800s, gives the im- to 25, with a spinal column officials said. Fragments der national anti-COVID-19
deep, they said. age not only of the shape with compressed discs. of white paint were found measures.q

U.S.-European ocean monitoring satellite launches into orbit

decades-long measure- satellite's main instrument and the cool La Nina. ed accuracy.
ment of global sea surface is an extremely accurate The measurements are also "This is an extremely im-
heights was launched into radar altimeter that will important for understand- portant parameter for cli-
Earth orbit from California bounce energy off the sea ing overall sea level rise mate monitoring," Josef
on Saturday. surface as it sweeps over due to global warming that Aschbacher, the European
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Earth's oceans. An identi- scientists warn is a risk to the Space Agency's director of
carrying the satellite blast- cal twin, Sentinel-6B, will be world's coastlines and bil- Earth observation, told The
ed off from Vandenberg launched in 2025 to ensure lions of people. Associated Press this week.
Air Force Base at 9:17 a.m. continuity of the record. "Our Earth is a system of intri- "We know that sea level is
and arced southward over Space-based sea level cately connected dynam- rising," Aschbacher said.
the Pacific Ocean. The Fal- measurements have been ics between land, ocean, The big question is, by how
con's first stage flew back uninterrupted since the ice, atmosphere and also much, how quickly.
to the launch site and land- 1992 launch of the U.S.- of course our human com- Other instruments on board
ed for reuse. French satellite TOPEX- munities, and that system is will measure how radio sig-
The Sentinel-6 Michael Poseidon, which was fol- changing," Karen St. Ger- nals pass through the atmo-
In this Nov. 3, 2020 photo, pro- Freilich satellite was re- lowed by a series of satel- main, NASA's Earth Science sphere, providing data on
vide by the European Space leased from the second lites including the current Division director, said in a atmospheric temperature
Agency, the Sentinel-6 satel-
lite is placed inside the upper stage about an hour later. Jason-3. pre-launch briefing Friday. and humidity that can help
stage of a Falcon 9 rocket. It then deployed its solar Sea surface heights are "Because 70% of the Earth's improve global weather
Associated Press panels and made first con- affected by heating and surface is ocean, the forecasts.
tact with controllers. cooling of water, allowing oceans play an enormous Europe and the United
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE Named for a former NASA scientist to use the altim- role in how the whole sys- States are sharing the $1.1
BASE, Calif. (AP) — A official who had a key eter data to detect such tem changes," she said. billion (900 million euro)
U.S.-European satellite role in developing space- weather-influencing con- The new satellite is expect- cost of the mission, which
designed to extend a based oceanography, the ditions as the warm El Nino ed to have unprecedent- includes the twin satellite.q