Update on July 23, 2024: This false-color image shows a plume—likely an orographic cloud—streaming from near the summit of Antarctica’s Mount Siple. Colors in this image represent brightness temperature, which is useful for distinguishing the relative warmth (orange and pink) or coolness (purple and blue) of various features. Congratulations to Ivan Kordač for being the first to correctly identify the the image’s polar location. Read more about the area in “Stately Mount Siple.”
Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The June 2024 puzzler is shown above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us where it is, what we are looking at, and why it is interesting.
How to answer. You can use a few words or several paragraphs. You might simply tell us the location, or you can dig deeper and offer details about what satellite and instrument produced the image, what spectral bands were used to create it, or what is compelling about some obscure feature. If you think something is interesting or noteworthy, tell us about it.
The prize. We cannot offer prize money or a trip on the International Space Station, but we can promise you credit and glory. Well, maybe just credit. Within a week after a puzzler image appears on this blog, we will post an annotated and captioned version as our Image of the Day. After we post the answer, we will acknowledge the first person to correctly identify the image at the bottom of this blog post. We also may recognize readers who offer the most interesting tidbits of information. Please include your preferred name or alias with your comment. If you work for or attend an institution that you would like to recognize, please mention that as well.
Recent winners. If you have won the puzzler in the past few months, or if you work in geospatial imaging, please hold your answer for at least a day to give less experienced readers a chance.
Releasing comments. Savvy readers have solved some puzzlers after a few minutes. To give more people a chance, we may wait 24 to 48 hours before posting comments. Good luck!
Oil well fires in Kuwait.
Is it the Neom linear city development in Saudi Arabia captured beneath a sandstorm running across the Arabian Peninsula?
Iceberg B34 in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica
Crack in Larsen C Ice Shelf
A black smoker along a mid ocean ridge divergent plate
NEOM Mega Project, Saudi Arabia. Amazing out of the world (can see from space) human intelligence marvel.
I might be wrong, but this looks like some dune with wind blowing sand over the top of the dunes.
If the upper side of the picture represents the north, according to the direction of the shadow and the grazing light, we can deduce that it is dawn.
The global purple color may indicate that a filter has been applied to the picture.
Am I right? 😀
Volcanic Ash wind across the Sahara.
I think that it is the picture of a swirl of clouds or the different water or air currents.
Vidím dlouhé stíny – snad na vrstevnaté řasnaté oblačnosti – nebo na větrem poháněných krystalcích sněhu – s horskými hřebeny nad ledovcovým příkrovem snad nad Arktidou, ale spíše uvažuji o Antarktidě – období uvedení mne napadá půlnoční slunce nad povrchem a nebo naopak rovnodennost… 🙂
google translator:
I see long shadows – perhaps on layered ciliated clouds – or on wind-driven snow crystals – with mountain ridges above the ice sheet perhaps over the Arctic, but I’m more thinking about Antarctica – the period of introduction strikes me as the midnight sun above the surface or, conversely, the equinox… :- )
Mid east oil fires.
that’s my guess. If I win, I simply want mainstream media to cover the GRACE or OMG missions every night for at least one week. No funny stuff, more instructions to come after I win.
🙂
ac
Mt. Erebus or another volcano on Antarctica erupting and covering the glaciers with ash.
The Ruidoso, NM “wildfire” has the identical footprint as the Lahaina, Maui, Paradise, CA, and many many many others across the globe. These are 100% manmade. And these ‘fires’ are ramping up folks…a fire coming to you soon. Be on the lookout for odd ‘beams’ of light just prior to any “wildfire”. FYI
It has a straight line so there is a crack,the blue is the sea,the water making an inroad into the snow,the lowers layer of stratosphere has weakened and the sunlight get through the cloud to reach the earth,in a heat dome,the area hit is 20%,so it can be greenland.
The porportion of the blue area to the length of the crack as appear on the surface indicate the temperature can reach 50c on the earth,the earth limb can let through the gaseous substance gathering up there from human generated activities,with no wall to divert the flow it can enter deep into the landmass and reach area beyond the boundary of the beach.
In a town there are low housing without stilt it can go below and crack bricks causing subsidence and earthquake in the south of america.
The line is quite long,analysis show it will stop when reaching its strength,deduce that to be be 1/4 as measured from the upper side of the picture.This can be antartica where in the snow bound area the water drive in and reflecting a bell shape curve above the line.
Alongside this,the south now has more ozone than the north of the globe which better reflect the sunlight,in the arctic the water is washing down around the north of alaska.
I know it is barren with no population and we now look at the antartica at much faster pace from 1975.
The assessment is there is a beach head ,this is where the ship can bring in supplies to reinforce the local administration,the bell shape structure may indicate that the diversion of the water can be reduced to an area at the lower half of the screen.
Tongan Volcano ash cloud
It look like a flight path over the north atlantic,in the north in the upper side of the picture there is a shape,in the central of the line,it has a bell shape and in the south,a profile of measured data.
I think David Drenth is correct about the color lenz but it is beautiful!
Seems like it picks up on detail what I think is a storm with funnel extending down; as if it is trying to form?
The upper right I would guess is “an eye” of the.storm?
I am guessing only a storm that is trying to grow larger and trying to funnel
🌪️giw
To me it appears to be a storm toward earth where the satellite is surrounded by a storm!
I assume the weather is icy and turbulent.
Could it be a weather satellite?
It appears to have a purple colored lens to highlight violent weather.
Thank you,
Glenda I Whittington
Volcanic eruption under the ice, maybe in Iceland or Greenland