Odor Across San Francisco

reply to post by trusername


Same Odor over St. Louis in January 2009

I found this interesting article regarding a similar odor over St. Louis in January of 2009.

On Monday I wrote about a strange stench hovering over St. Louis. The smell has been described as something akin to rotten food, body odor and/or feces. The source of the odor remains a mystery, though authorities say they've tested the air and determined it safe for breathing.

Does it smell anything like Gary Indiana?

Many of us have experienced similar odours over here in the UK - but we have assumed it to be the result of farmers spreading organic manure onto their fields.

I'm heading into the city tomorrow, I'll let you guys know if its still there.

It didn't reach berkeley. where I am, but if its coming from the pacific and not the bay, well, theres no surprise there.

Not too sure about sulphur being the culprit...i'd imagine, if it were, people would be saying it smells of rotten eggs, but they're not...they're saying it smells like strong manure or slurry from a farmyard.

Can't be methane, as it doesn't smell of anything. (Gas firms add a smell to the gas before it get's to your home)

Did some checking and found this from last year but not in the US, it's from the UK. The reports are almost identical.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Strange...can't see farmland spraying being responsible for this smell virtually everywhere in England...farmland manure and slurry spraying has been going on for well...forever, and people know the smell and know what causes it. But for it to be everywhere...

Originally posted by visible_villain

On the other hand, I recently heard of some planned Navy high powered sonar testing that was expected to kill upwards of 10.5 million whales, seals, and other such mammals

WTF?!?! What the Hell is wrong with some people??? I hope Mother Nature bites them in the arse soon (obviously without harming anyone else). They make me sick.

Fingers crossed its just a false alarm for you guys over the pond! We occasionally have a smell like that in my town but I think it's just the wind blowing in from the yeast factory we have!

Agricultural smell? Sounds like methane.

After several parents complained of a methanelike odor in the air while dropping their children off at school, officials at Van Gogh Street Elementary called the Air Quality Management District to seek an investigation.

According to according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3.
..... Click the link for more information. school Principal Donna Zero, the odor was noticeable from approximately 8 to 8:30 a.m. before dissipating. An LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) inspection team visited the school and confirmed that the odor was not coming from the campus.

www.thefreelibrary.com...'METHANE'+SMELL-a083501273

Since methane only smells because of manmade added chemicals, I would suggest the smell is coming from something like a large ship dumping raw sewage.

My guess would be weather modification though.

no ones seen any chemtrails in the area of htis smell or anything else lingering in the atmosphere?/noticed anything unusual?

Originally posted by mikerussellus
Here's a link about smells before earthquakes.

trilogynet.net...

or

Nancy Pelosi is back in town, maybe she's speaking with her mouth open again. . .

Yeah, silly Nancy Pelosi, using her mouth to speak?

What do you use? OH, I see.

Originally posted by mikerussellus
Here's a link about smells before earthquakes.

trilogynet.net...

or

Nancy Pelosi is back in town, maybe she's speaking with her mouth open again. . .

This could really be a warning, look what it says:

In Santa Rosa, according to Lawson and others (1908), a strong smell of sulphur had been noticed two days before the earthquake by one Charles Kobes.

Originally posted by spikey
Not too sure about sulphur being the culprit...i'd imagine, if it were, people would be saying it smells of rotten eggs, but they're not...they're saying it smells like strong manure or slurry from a farmyard.

Can't be methane, as it doesn't smell of anything. (Gas firms add a smell to the gas before it get's to your home)

Did some checking and found this from last year but not in the US, it's from the UK. The reports are almost identical.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Strange...can't see farmland spraying being responsible for this smell virtually everywhere in England...farmland manure and slurry spraying has been going on for well...forever, and people know the smell and know what causes it. But for it to be everywhere...

Following on from the reports of strong manure and sulphur smells in England...
It was discovered that large areas of Brittany (France) were being covered in a toxic algae, which gives off a poisonous and noxious gas, smelling of rotten eggs / sulphur.
News Item Toxic Algae

This, or a very similar algae problem, now seems to have spread into several areas in the south of England, including Cornwall.
Cornwall Toxic Algae

These are naturally occuring algaes, but the problem is suspected to be much worse, as the algaes are multiplying in areas where nitrogen levels are high, due to the use of certain agricultural fertilisers.
The nitrates are in effect "feeding" the Toxic Algae.

Could there be a bloom of Algae off the coast near San Francisco?

Edit to include further links:
More Toxic Algae Reports

More

More

[edit on 22-8-2009 by Gordi The Drummer]

Originally posted by gatorboi117
Yes, there seems to be many warning signs given off by nature before an earthquake, I'd keep an eye on this one.
Basically, make sure there are no heavy objects abocve where you are, and be ready to dash for a doorway or a sturdy desk.
I'll be keeping you all in my prayers!

I've read that going to a doorway is not suggested anymore. The best place is outside.

Originally posted by mikerussellus
Here's a link about smells before earthquakes.

trilogynet.net...

or

Nancy Pelosi is back in town, maybe she's speaking with her mouth open again. . .

Or Rush Limbaugh..............

The problem is San Francisco is built upon Sedimentary land that causes liquidfidation whenever a large Earthquake occurs, so wether your outside or inside a building your at great risk wherever you are.
The best bet would be to temporarily move to the hills above the city until the seismologists can assertain how much ground movement/displacement is occuring and where the stress points are.
The only problem still these days is that Earthquake forecasting is impossible, they can give a rough gide as to where a quake might strike but not when or its exact magnitude. Only say it might be in the region within so many years of a mag (whatever they predict.)

It sure feels like earthquake weather here on the central cost of California. Warm sunny days a little humid, and then chilly overcast, foggy nights.

How dare you trash "supreme leader" Pelosi! Maybe we'll get luck and she'll be standing on the fault line when the sh#! pops off...

Originally posted by heyo

Originally posted by mikerussellus
Here's a link about smells before earthquakes.

trilogynet.net...

or

Nancy Pelosi is back in town, maybe she's speaking with her mouth open again. . .

...didn't see that coming...

just an fyi, another safe place is in the basement, in between load bearing posts if you can see them. Interior doors don't have headers in them anymore so if anything they're less structurally sound just sayin' cause when i was a kid they'd say that but now it don't make sense.

if you can get in between one of those posts and your foundation even better.

reply to post by trusername


wow. Im just wondering, any huge steel works in the area? I know your post says the smells coming from the ocean. Anyway, i mention the steel works because where i live ( South Wales, UK ) When i sometimes travel up the M4 motorway, it passes Port Talbot Steel works and theres often a foul smell coming from that area, that stinks of eggs. Sometimes even my ears 'pop' when i go past it.
Also, just another theory thats been mentiond, maybe there was a methane deposite below the sea? And gas has escaped.... ?

Originally posted by Esrom Escutcheon Esquire
reply to post by trusername

 

wow. Im just wondering, any huge steel works in the area? I know your post says the smells coming from the ocean. Anyway, i mention the steel works because where i live ( South Wales, UK ) When i sometimes travel up the M4 motorway, it passes Port Talbot Steel works and theres often a foul smell coming from that area, that stinks of eggs. Sometimes even my ears 'pop' when i go past it.
Also, just another theory thats been mentiond, maybe there was a methane deposite below the sea? And gas has escaped.... ?

Methane is odourless:
"Methane is the major component of natural gas, about 87% by volume. At room temperature and standard pressure, methane is a colorless, odorless gas; the smell characteristic of natural gas as used in homes is an artificial safety measure caused by the addition of an odorant, often methanethiol or ethanethiol. " Quote from Wiki.

My best guess is a build up of toxic algae, as mentioned in an earlier post.
G

[edit on 22-8-2009 by Gordi The Drummer]

reply to post by Gordi The Drummer


yeah. There are a few posibilitys.. Maybe some near by E.T'S have dumped some rubbish? Also, i wonder if theres any Oil rigs near by in the ocean..? Guess i could do a quick search...
Just done a Wiki search, typed in sulpher dioxide, and the first part that came up sounded good. Something to do with warm weather and a rich supply of carbon in the water / rocks below...

[edit on 22/8/09 by Esrom Escutcheon Esquire]

It seems this is the likely cause. Good find! Growing up in LA, I can attest that refineries definitely output some nasty, acrid odors.

Originally posted by RoofMonkey
Bingo....

HOUSTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Wholesale gasoline spiked 9 cents in the San Francisco Bay market Friday on news of a hydrocracking unit malfunction at Chevron Corp's (CVX.N) 245,271-barrel-per-day (bpd) Bay-area refinery in Richmond, California, said trade sources.

Chevron reported flaring early on Friday morning at the Richmond refinery due to an equipment failure in a notice filed with California pollution regulators.(Reporting by Erwin Seba)

Article

"Flaring" is when they burn off the excess gas.

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 22/8/2009 by kosmicjack]