March Puzzler
March 18th, 2013 by Adam Voiland
Each month, Earth Observatory offers up a puzzling satellite image here on Earth Matters. The tenth puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what part of the world we are looking at, when the image was acquired, and why the scene is interesting.
How to answer. Your answer can be a few words or several paragraphs. (Try to keep it shorter than 300 words). You might simply tell us what part of the world an image shows. Or you can dig deeper and explain what satellite and instrument produced the image, what spectral bands were used to create it, or what is compelling about some obscure speck in the far corner of an image. If you think something is interesting or noteworthy, tell us about it.
The prize. We can’t offer prize money for being the first to respond or for digging up the most interesting kernels of information. But, we can promise you credit and glory (well, maybe just credit). Roughly one week after a puzzler image appears on this blog, we will post an annotated and captioned version as our Image of the Day. In the credits, we’ll acknowledge the person who was first to correctly ID the image. We’ll also recognize people who offer the most interesting tidbits of information. Please include your preferred name or alias with your comment. If you work for an institution that you want us to recognize, please mention that as well.
Recent winners. If you’ve won the puzzler in the last few months, please sit on your hands for at least a few days to give others a chance to play.
Australia’s Angry Summer
March 6th, 2013 by Michon ScottAustralia is no stranger to fires, floods, drought, and heat. But a new report from the Australian Climate Commission not only points out that fire hazards and extreme weather events are worsening, it links them to a warming climate.
The report focuses on what it calls the “Angry Summer” of 2012/2013. The 90-day period included 123 broken records for maximum temperatures, heat waves, floods, and daily rainfall amounts. “The summer of 2012/2013 was Australia’s hottest summer since records began in 1910,” the report stated. The Angry Summer brought the highest area-averaged maximum temperature in Australia: 40.30°C (104.54°F). The summer also brought the longest stretch of high temperatures: for seven straight days (January 2–8), the average daily maximum temperature for the entire continent exceeded 39°C (102.2°F). This broke the previous record of four straight days above 39°C.
The report also made a starker point: “There have only been 21 days in 102 years where the average maximum temperature across Australia has exceeded 39°C; eight of these days happened this summer.”
High temperatures exacerbate fire danger, and the Australian summer of 2012/2013 brought major bushfires in New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania. Based on air temperature, humidity, drought, and wind speed, Australia’s forest fire danger index has historically used a scale from 1 to 100 to gauge the danger of bushfires. Starting in 2009, the index added a new fire danger rating above 100, termed “catastrophic,” reflecting a new fire-danger regime.
While some parts of Australia were on fire, other parts were under water. The Climate Commission discussed heavy rainfall, including torrential rains from cyclone Oswald that flooded parts of the Queensland coast in January 2013. The report stated that parts of the east coast broke rainfall records for the entire month in just the seven days of the storm. The report linked recent extreme rainfall events in eastern Australia to higher sea surface temperatures, which increase atmospheric water vapor and lead to greater precipitation.
From The Angry Summer, adapted from IPCC 2007.
The Climate Commission pointed out that Australia’s average temperature has increased by 0.9°C (1.6°F) since 1910, and went on to say that, while that temperature increase might seem small, “When the average temperature shifts, the temperatures at the hot and cold ends (tails) of the temperature range shift too. A small increase in the average temperature creates a much greater likelihood of very hot weather and a much lower likelihood of very cold weather.”
See the full report at http://climatecommission.gov.au/report/the-angry-summer/
Other Views of Storm Destruction on Cape Cod
February 26th, 2013 by Mike CarlowiczOur image of the day on February 26 provided a satellite view of how a nor’easter can stir up the New England coast and its waters. Here are a few other views from the storm they called Nemo…
A aerial photo from Kelsey-Kennard Airview shows the new breach in South Beach, just off the town of Chatham, Massachusetts.
WCVB television in Boston surveyed the destruction in the Cape Cod National Seashore. Click here to view.
Beach dunes, parking lots, boardwalks, stairways — along with waterfront homes — took a beating from the storm the media called “Nemo.” This YouTube video shows the wreckage at Coast Guard Beach, in Sandwich, and other points on Cape Cod, Massachusetts:
In Truro, the ocean breached the dunes and sent water into the Pamet River:
Meteor Fragments Blaze Over the Ural Mountains
February 15th, 2013 by Adam Voiland
An image from the SEVIRI instrument aboard the European Space Agency’s Meteosat-10 geostationary satellite. The vapor trail left by the meteor is visible in the center of the image. Credit: European Space Agency/EUMETSAT
Around 9:20 a.m. local time on February 15, 2013, a blazing mass of rock from space—a meteor—streaked across the sky over the Ural Mountains in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia. The burning mass produced a loud sonic boom and shock wave that blew out windows in multiple cities and towns. Russian media outlets are reporting hundreds of injuries, most minor, and damage to thousands of buildings.
Bill Cooke, the head of the Meteoroid Environments Office at Marshall Flight Center, said that the object, which likely came from the asteroid belt, had a diameter of about 15 meters (50 feet) and weighed about 7,000 metric tons. When it encountered the top of Earth’s atmosphere, it was moving 18 kilometers (11 miles) per second and left a vapor trail that was approximately 480 kilometers (300 miles) long. It lasted in the atmosphere for over 30 seconds before breaking up 25 kilometers (15 miles) above the surface, producing a violent explosion that released about 300 kilotons of energy. Most of the fragments burned up as they passed through the atmosphere, but some meteorites did reach the surface. One reportedly left an impact crater that was 6 meters (20 feet) in diameter.
The SEVIRI instrument on the European Space Agency’s Meteosat-10 geostationary weather satellite captured a view (top of this page) of the vapor trail. Dramatic videos and photos of the incident have also popped up on the internet.
The incident was not related to 2012 DA14, a 45 meter (150 foot) diameter asteroid that was expected to make its closest approach to Earth—17,200 miles (27,000 kilometers)—at 2:25 p.m. EST on Feb 15, 2013. The trajectory of the Russian meteor was significantly different than the trajectory of the asteroid 2012 DA14.
If you would like to learn more about 2012 DA14, tune into NASA Television starting at 2 p.m. EST. For general background about near-Earth objects, see these FAQ’s from NASA’s Near Earth Object Program.
For more information:
Live Updates from RT
Moscow Times
NASA Press Release
NASA Press Conference
RIA Novosit
Russia Beyond the Headlines
Slate: Bad Astronomer
USGS
More images from the New England Storm
February 12th, 2013 by Mike CarlowiczIn digging for news on the nor’easter that whacked New England (and my house in southeastern Massachusetts), I happened upon several compelling images.
Marshall Shepherd, current president of the American Meteorological Society and director of the atmospheric science program at the University of Georgia, tweeted out this annotated version of a Terra MODIS satellite image of the storm aftermath:
It seems that the monumental snowfall highlighted some land features of New England, including its longest river, one of the largest manmade reservoirs in the United States (Quabbin), and the scar of a vicious tornado.
EarthSky published a map of snowfall totals compiled by the National Weather Service Hydrometeorological Prediction Center. About 35 to 40 million Americans live within that snowy bullseye.
Finally, our colleague Jeff Schmaltz on the LANCE/MODIS Rapid Response team noticed that while the skies cleared over New England and the Canadian Maritimes on February 10, cloud streets lined up offshore.
Cloud streets form when cold air moves over warmer waters, while a warmer air layer (or temperature inversion) rests over the top of both. Read more here from my fellow Earth Observatory writer Adam Voiland.
By the way, I am not buying into this idea of naming winter storms. I certainly won’t let it spoil my fondness for Nemo, both the movie and book characters. How do you feel about this idea of naming winter storms?
February Puzzler
February 12th, 2013 by Mike Carlowicz
Each month, Earth Observatory offers up a puzzling satellite image here on Earth Matters. The ninth puzzler is above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us what part of the world we’re looking at, when the image was acquired, and why the scene is interesting.
How to answer. Your answer can be a few words or several paragraphs. (Try to keep it shorter than 300 words). You might simply tell us what part of the world an image shows. Or you can dig deeper and explain what satellite and instrument produced the image, what spectral bands were used to create it, or what is compelling about some obscure speck in the far corner of an image. If you think something is interesting or noteworthy, tell us about it.
The prize. We can’t offer prize money for being the first to respond or for digging up the most interesting kernels of information. But, we can promise you credit and glory (well, maybe just credit). Roughly one week after a puzzler image appears on this blog, we will post an annotated and captioned version as our Image of the Day. In the credits, we’ll acknowledge the person who was first to correctly ID the image. We’ll also recognize people who offer the most interesting tidbits of information. Please include your preferred name or alias with your comment. If you work for an institution that you want us to recognize, please mention that as well.
Recent winners. If you’ve won the puzzler in the last few months, please sit on your hands for at least a few days to give others a chance to play.
You can read more about the origins of the satellite puzzler here. Good luck!
Keeping an Eye on the Fire at Siding Spring Observatory
February 7th, 2013 by Adam VoilandMany wildfires burn unnoticed in remote forests and grasslands, far from major population centers. Satellites detect the majority of them, but in many cases, images of the fire from the ground are scarce.
Not so for an Australian bushfire in January 2013 that passed through the campus of Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales. The world-class astronomy facility houses numerous powerful telescopes. They’re designed to peer out into space, but webcams on a few of the telescopes captured remarkable images of smoke billowing and flames blazing. See, for instance, the all-sky view from the MOPRA SkyCam shown above.
Other webcams around the observatory were also capturing images as the fire raged nearby. The video below, a time lapse of webcams compiled by Las Cumbres Observatory Education Director Edward Gomez, offers a remarkable perspective on the blaze. For more, on-the-ground coverage of the fire, see the Astropixie blog.
Earth Indicator: 130 Micrograms of Particulate Pollution per Cubic Meter in Salt Lake City
January 29th, 2013 by Adam Voiland
Levels of particulate pollution rose above 130 micrograms per cubic meter in Salt Lake City on January 23, 2013. That’s three times the federal clean-air limit, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Or, as the Associated Press put it, roughly equivalent to Los Angeles air on a bad day.
“The Salt Lake Valley has some of the worst wintertime pollution episodes in the West due to the combination of its increasing population and urbanization, as well as its geometry, with the valley sandwiched between mountain ranges to the west and east,” University of Utah atmospheric scientist John Horel explained in a recent story published by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
Normally temperatures decline with altitude, but meteorological conditions across the Great Basin set up a situation in which the opposite occurred for a prolonged period. For much of January, temperatures increased with altitude, creating what’s known as a temperature inversion. During the peak of the inversion, temperatures were -15.5ºC (4.1ºF) at the surface and 7.6ºC (45.7ºF) at 2,130 meters (6,988 feet), University of Utah meteorologist Jim Steenburgh reported on his blog.
The result? The layer of warm air on top functioned like a lid, trapping pollutants in the valleys and preventing winds from dispersing the haze. The photograph above, taken by Roland Li on January 19, shows the sharp boundary an inversion can create.
Air quality problems caused by temperature inversions are not unique to Salt Lake City. Cities in California (including Bakersfield, Fresno, Hanford, Los Angeles, Modesto) and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have some of the most severe short-term particle pollution problems in the nation, according to a list published by the American Lung Association.
Such events are a reminder that the United States is not immune from dangerous spikes in particulate pollution, though particulate levels don’t get as high as they do in some other parts of the world. (See this map of fine particulates for a global perspective.) Eastern China, for example, recently suffered through an extreme pollution event that was far more potent than the Salt Lake City event.
More:
Utah Department of Environmental Quality: About Inversions
Salt Lake City Office of the National Weather Service: What Are Weather Inversions?
Jeff Masters: Dangerous Air Pollution Episode in Utah
The Sun and the Television
January 28th, 2013 by Mike CarlowiczToday we have a re-post from one of our colleagues on the sunny side of NASA. Karen C. Fox is a writer for NASA’s Heliophysics division.
A new kind of television recently made headlines at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show: Ultra High Definition TV. With four times as many pixels as a current high definition (HD) TV, viewers reported being impressed with how crisp and vibrant the pictures appear.
This comes as no surprise to scientists who study the Sun using NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Its Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) together capture an image every second that is twice as large as what the ultra high-def screens can display. Such detailed pictures show features on the Sun that are as small as 200 miles across, helping researchers observe what causes giant eruptions known as coronal mass ejections (CME), which can travel toward Earth and interfere with our satellites.
One concern about the new TVs is that there’s not yet enough content to make use of the opulent amount of pixels. SDO can help with that. As of December 2012, the solar observatory had captured 100 million images, which — if watched at a standard video rate of 30 frames per second — would mean a viewer could watch eight hours of Sun movies a day for almost four months.
For HD imagery from NASA’s SDO mission, visit: www.nasa.gov/sdo
January Puzzler Answer: Royal Gardens subdivision
January 25th, 2013 by Adam VoilandWe thought the January puzzler would be tough, but it sure didn’t take Ron Schott long to solve it. We posted the puzzler at 12:56 a.m. Eastern (U.S.) time on January 21; a mere hour-and-thirty-four minutes later Ron posted the correct answer: the Royal Gardens subdivision in Hawaii. (Jeesh, Ron, don’t you sleep?) Ron is a professor of geology at Bakersfield College and a veteran of Where on Google Earth (WOGE), so we’re not particularly surprised he was so quick. WOGE even has a rule named after him. The “Schott Rule” states that you have to wait an hour for each win you have before posting. For now, we’re going to go with something slightly simpler for the puzzler: if you’ve won in the past, please wait a day before answering.
You can read more about what the puzzler image showed in Saturday’s Image of the Day. Plus, special for the blog, see the video above of Jack Thompson evacuating Royal Gardens just prior to lava flowing over his property.
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