[Waspie_Dwarf]

Lake Poopó Water Levels

High-resolution images:
ISS012-E-6468 (300 kB JPEG)
ISS012-E-6469 (330 kB JPEG)
ISS012-E-20585 (270 kB JPEG)

Lake Poopó sits high in the Bolivian Andes, catching runoff from its larger neighbor to the north—Lake Titicaca (not shown)—by way of the Desaguadero River, which is the muddy area at the north end of the lake. Because Lake Poopó is very high in elevation (roughly 3,400 meters, or 11,000 feet above sea level), very shallow (generally less than 3 meters, or 9 feet), and the regional climate is very dry, small changes in precipitation in the surrounding basin have large impacts on the water levels and area of Lake Poopó. When the lake fills during wet periods, it drains from the south end into the Salar de Coipasa salt flat (not shown). Water levels in Lake Poopó are important because the lake is one of South America’s largest salt-water lakes, making it a prime stop for migratory birds, including flamingoes. The lake has been designated as a RAMSAR site.

These photographs were taken in November 2005 (whole lake) and March 2006 (detail) by the Expedition 12 crew of the International Space Station. In November, water levels had dropped, exposing large tracts of salt and mud flats. A wet and cool period between December 2005 and the end of February 2006 resulted in flooding of Poopó with muddy waters from the Desaguadero River. The area of the March 9 photograph is indicated on the November 3 mosaic by a white polygon. Comparison of the photographs shows the extent of flooding of the western salt flats—sufficient to create an ephemeral island. The ISS crew is tasked to track such changes, which are related to regional weather patterns. Lake Poopó’s sensitivity to precipitation in the high Andes (possibly reflecting larger climate cycles) provides an excellent visual indicator of weather and climate trends.

Astronaut photographs ISS012-E-6468, ISS012-E-6469 were acquired November 3, 2005, with a Kodak 760C digital camera using a 180 mm lens. Astronaut photographs ISS012-E-20585 and ISS012-E-20586 were acquired March 9, 2006, with a Kodak 760C digital camera using a 400 mm lens. All images are provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and the Image Science & Analysis Group, Johnson Space Center. The images in this article have been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.

Source: NASA - Earth Observatory - Image of the Day

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Tropical Cyclone Monica

Click here to view full image (3599 kb)

Tropical Cyclone Monica formed off the northeastern coast of Australia on April 17, 2006. This is the same general area where Cyclone Larry formed a month earlier. On April 19 and 20, Cyclone Monica crossed Cape York Peninsula with weaker winds than Larry, and its path in northern Queensland took it well away from most settled areas. However, Monica’s second act proved quite different. The cyclone gathered size and power in the Gulf of Carpentaria and rebuilt into a Category 5 storm. Monica grazed across the top of the Northern Territory, threatening communities throughout Arnhem Land, Kakadu, and the city of Darwin with heavy rains and very high winds. Many Australian news services were comparing Monica to 1974’s powerful Cyclone Tracy which flattened Darwin and was the most devastating storm to ever hit Australia.

This photo-like image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on April 24, 2006, at 2:00 p.m. local time (04:30 UTC). Cyclone Monica at this time was an impressively large and powerful storm. Sustained peak winds in the storm system were roughly 285 kilometers per hour (180 miles per hour) around the time the image was captured, and gusts reached as high as 350 km/hr (220 mph). These winds put Monica firmly in the rare and most powerful, Category 5, rating. The eye of the storm appears like a deep whirlpool hovering just off the Australian coastline.

Monica was predicted to come ashore again on the Coburg Peninsula and to strike Darwin on April 25. Ordinarily, Australians observe Anzac Day on April 25 (honoring Australians who served in the First World War), but throughout the Northern Territory, all services and events were cancelled.

The high-resolution image provided above is provided at the full MODIS spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions.

Links
Australian Bureau of Meteorology

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team Goddard Space Flight Center.

Source: NASA - Earth Observatory - Image of the Day

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Floods on the Danube River

Click here to view full image (3176 kb)

The Danube River spills over into farm fields in the northeastern corner of Serbia in this image, taken by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite on April 24, 2006. Though water levels on the Danube River in Eastern Europe had been expected to fall by this time, the river was still running high on April 24. Melting snow and spring rain have driven rivers across Central Europe over their banks, causing widespread flooding. High water levels on the Danube forced evacuations throughout Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria in late April 2006, according to news reports.

In the region shown here, a small village is nestled within a bend in the river. Streets, houses, and exposed earth form a tight grey grid within the village, interrupted by occasional red squares where plants are growing. The rest of the land in the scene is covered with long, rectangular agricultural fields. Bare fields, as yet unplanted, are grey, while those in which crops are growing are red. The river, blue, seeps over its banks and across the fields in the center of the image. Smudges of blue along the banks of the river in the village hint that flooding may be occurring here too, though the darker colors may also be shadows cast by the small clouds overhead. On April 23, Reuters reported that some 225,000 hectares of Serbia’s farm land, about 5 percent of the arable land in the country, had been flooded or threatened by floods.

Numerous images of floods in Central Europe can be found in the Earth Observatory’s Natural Hazards: Floods section.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.

Source: NASA - Earth Observatory - Image of the Day

[Waspie_Dwarf]

A Merger of Mighty Rivers

The Ohio River becomes a tributary of the Mississippi River directly south of Cairo, Illinois, a small city on the spit of land where the rivers converge (at center of this photograph). Brown, sediment-laden water flowing generally northeast to south from the Ohio River is distinct from the green and relatively sediment-poor water of the Mississippi River (flowing northwest to south). The color of the rivers in this image is reversed from the usual condition of a green Ohio and a brown Mississippi. This suggests that the very high rainfall in December 2005 over the Appalachians and the northeastern United States has led to greater-than-normal amounts of sediment in the rivers and streams of the Ohio River watershed. The distinct boundary between the two river’s waters indicates that little to no mixing occurs even 3-4 miles (5-6 kilometers) downstream.

Cairo became a prosperous port following the Civil War due to increased riverboat and railroad commerce. Small features visible in the image on the Ohio are river barges, which indicate the continued importance of Cairo as a transport hub. Flooding of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers presents a continual danger to the city; this danger is lessened by the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway that begins directly to the south of the river confluence. During major flood events, the floodway lessens flood stages upstream (such as at Cairo) and adjacent to the floodway. Part of the extensive levee system associated with flood control of the Mississippi River is visible in the image. Barlow Bottoms (image right), located in adjacent Kentucky, is a wetland bird-watching location that is replenished by periodic floods and releases of Ohio River water.

Image Credit: NASA

+ Full Resolution


Source: NASA - Multimedia - Image of the Day Gallery

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Earth from Space: East Mediterranean - Land of converging cultures

Click on the image for high resolution version

27 April 2006
The Eastern Mediterranean Sea area is highlighted in this Envisat image, featuring Turkey, Cyprus and Crete.

Formerly known as Anatolia, modern Turkey was founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal, who was later honoured with the title ‘Ataturk’ which means ‘Father of the Turks’. Turkey is a Eurasian country with the majority of its territory located in South-western Asia and a small portion located in the Balkan region of South-eastern Europe. Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul (visible at centre top of image) is the only city in the world that straddles two continents (Europe and Asia), making it a true meeting place of the East and the West.
Turkey has a rich history and diverse culture stemming from various elements of the Ottoman, European and Islamic traditions. Throughout history this region has given rise to many civilisations – such as the Hittites, Thracians, Hellenistics, Byzantines and Ottomans. And because of its strategic location, it has also been invaded by many civilisations, including the Mysians, Celts, Romans and Alexander the Great. It also provided the setting of the legendary Trojan War depicted in Homer’s Iliad.

Turkey’s location has also made it vulnerable to earthquakes with the 1 000-kilometre long North Anatolian fault located just 15 kilometres south of Istanbul. It is also located on the relatively small Anatolian plate, which is squeezed between three other major tectonic plates – the African and Arabian plates to the south, and the Eurasian plate to the north. The combination of these plate movements has been the source of eight earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater in the last century.

Within three months in 1999, two earthquakes struck Turkey leaving a path of destruction. The first on 17 August measured 7.4 on the Richter scale, while the second on 12 November measured 7.2. According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the two quakes left more than 18 000 people dead and over 300 000 homeless.

Because earthquakes can suddenly render current maps out-of-date, Earth Observation satellite images are useful for providing updated views of how the landscape has been affected as well as creating reference cartography for emergency operations. In addition, before and after satellite images of the area enable authoritative damage assessment as a basis for planning remedial action.

The island of Cyprus (seen at bottom right) is a former British colony that became independent in 1960. It is the legendary birthplace of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. According to Hesiod’s Theogony, Aphrodite emerged fully grown from the froth of the sea.

Crete (the elongated island seen at the bottom left of the image) is the largest of the Greek islands spanning some 260 kilometres from west to east and 60 kilometres at its widest point. Crete was home to one of the first civilisations in Europe, the Minoans.

This image was acquired on 21 July 2004 by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) working in Full Resolution mode.

Source: ESA - Observing the Earth - Image of the Week

[Zeeshan - (Twisted!)]

Bravo.........Outstanding Pictures......!!!!!!

Hats Off Waspie_Drawf

Keep up the Good Work!!!

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Ekuma River and Etosha Pan, Namibia

High-resolution images:
March 2, 2006 (320 kB JPEG)
June 24, 2005 (380 kB JPEG)

Etosha Pan in northern Namibia is a large, dry lakebed in the Kalahari Desert. The 120-kilometer-long (75-mile-long) lake and its surroundings are protected as one of Namibia’s largest wildlife parks. Herds of elephants occupy the dense mopane woodland on the south side of the lake. Mopane trees are common throughout south-central Africa, and host the mopane worm, which is the larval form of the Mopane Emperor Moth and an important source of protein for rural communities. About 16,000 years ago, when ice sheets were melting across Northern Hemisphere land masses, a wet climate phase in southern Africa filled Etosha Lake. Today, Etosha Pan is seldom seen with even a thin sheet of water covering the salt pan.

Two images taken about nine months apart document an unusually wet summer in southern Africa. The upper view (March 2006) shows the point where the Ekuma River flows into the salt lake; the lower regional image (June 2005) shows the same inlet—but dry—on the north shore of Etosha Pan. The Ekuma River is almost never seen with water, but in early 2006, rainfall twice the average amount in the river’s catchment generated flow. Greens and browns show vegetation and algae growing in different depths of water where the river enters the dry lake (upper image, center). Typically, little river water or sediment reaches the dry lake because water seeps into the riverbed along its 250-kilometer (55-mile) course, reducing discharge along the way. In this image, there was enough surface flow to reach the Etosha Pan, but too little water reached the mouth of the river to flow beyond the inlet bay. The unusual levels of precipitation also filled several small, usually dry lakes to the north (upper image, right).

Astronaut photograph ISS012-E-23057 was acquired March 2, 2006, with a Kodak 760C digital camera using a 180 mm lens. The regional oblique view, ISS011-E-9504, was taken June 24, 2005, also with the Kodak 760C and a 180 mm lens. Both images are provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and the Image Science & Analysis Group, Johnson Space Center. The images in this article have been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.

Source: NASA - Earth Observatory - Image of the Day

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Floods in Myanmar (Burma)

Large Images:
April 30, 2006 (1.80 MB)
April 23, 2006 (1.72 MB)

With winds near 210 kilometers per hour (130 miles per hour), powerful Cyclone Mala swept ashore over Myanmar (Burma) late on April 28, 2006. The storm inundated the Southeast Asian country with heavy rain and left widespread flooding in its wake. The wetlands surrounding the mouths of the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River were still dark blue and black with water when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the top image on the afternoon of April 30.

Just a week earlier (lower image), the region had been dry, with water confined to the channels cut by the river as it drains into the Andaman Sea. The land is tan with patches of green where plants are growing. Light clouds, blue and white in the false-color images, drift over the region. On April 30, the wetlands brimmed with water brought by the storm. Offshore, the ocean is milky blue and green where sediment carried by draining flood water has washed into the sea. Additional flooding can be seen farther north along the Ayeyarwady in the large image. According to the Myanmar state media, one person died and 21 others were injured in the storm.

The large images provided above have a resolution of 250 meters per pixel, MODIS’ maximum resolution. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides daily images of Myanmar in several resolutions.


NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC.

Source: NASA - Earth Observatory - Image of the Day

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Fires along the Border of Mongolia and Russia

Click here to view full image (1333 kb)

Large fires were burning at the border of Russia and Mongolia on May 1, 2006, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the region. The actively burning portions of the fires are outlined in red, and plumes of thick, brownish-gray smoke blow southeast. Dark, almost charcoal-colored burn scars are spread across the landscape. At upper left, snow still covers mountain peaks despite the arrival of spring more than a month before.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC.

Source: NASA - Earth Observatory - Image of the Day

[Waspie_Dwarf]

International Space Station Imagery


Click image for high resolution version

ISS013-E-08139 (19 April 2006) --- A setting sun and the thin blue airglow line at Earth’s horizon was captured in this image photographed by an Expedition 13 crewmember from a window on the International Space Station.

Source: NASA - Human Space Flight Gallery

This post has been edited by Waspie_Dwarf: 19 May 2006 - 03:01 AM

[Lottie]

Words are useless for such an amazingly beautiful image. Just wow!

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Mount Merapi, Indonesia

Click here to view full image (3199 kb)

Frequent earthquakes and plumes of sulfur-laden gas indicated that Mt. Merapi was gearing up for an eruption in late April 2006. The volcano is one of Indonesia’s most active and dangerous volcanoes. The slopes of the volcano are densely populated, with four districts clustered on its flanks. As many as 80,000 people may be displaced if the volcano erupts, depending on which way the lava flows down the summit, reported the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Thousands of people who live near the volcano had been evacuated by April 27, and more were preparing to leave as the volcano continued to rumble. An eruption in 1994 claimed at least 66 lives, and a 1930 eruption killed 1,370.

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of the volcano on April 26, 2006. A light plume of steam rises from Merapi’s summit, which is surrounded by dried rivers of black lava and debris from previous eruptions. Vegetated land farther down the slopes of the volcano is red in the false-color image. The light grey squares around the outer edge of the image are sections of cleared land, possibly populated regions.

Among the most serious dangers an erupting Merapi poses to the surrounding population are its characteristic pyroclastic flows and lahars. Avalanches of hot ash, gas, and rock sweep down the mountain at speeds of 100 kilometers per hour or more in a pyroclastic flow, accompanied or followed by volcanic mudflows, lahars. Pyroclastic flows and lahars have been responsible for much of the damage caused by the volcano during its long eruptive history.

Further Reading:

Relief Web

Smithosonian’s Global Volcanism Program

USGS Volcano Hazards Program

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.

Source: NASA - Earth Observatory - Image of the Day

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Earth from Space: Separation by sea

Click on the image for high resolution version

5 May 2006
The Malaysian Peninsula, the southern extremity of the Asian continent, is shown in this Envisat image.

Malaysia is comprised of West Malaysia (the Malaysian Peninsula), formerly known as Malaya, and East Malaysia, which are separated some 600 kilometres apart by the South China Sea.
The peninsula lies between the Andaman Sea of the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca on the west and the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea on the east. It is bordered on the north by Thailand and on the south by Singapore (separated by the Johore Strait).

Malaysia was established in 1963 as a federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak. In 1965, Singapore withdrew from the federation to become a separate nation. Since 1966, the 11 states of former Malaya have been known as West Malaysia, and Sabah and Sarawak, both located on the island of Borneo, have been known as East Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur is the capital.

Most of Malaysia is covered by forests, ranging from lowland hardwood forests, heath forests and mountain forest. Around 2 500 species of trees are found in the forests, which provide many types of wood, including ebony, sandalwood and teak. The number of flowering plants and ferns found in the forests are estimated to be around 8 500. Although rubber trees – introduced by Brasil – are not endemic to Malaysia, it is the world’s largest rubber producer.

Around 450 species of birds are native to Malaysia and many migrating species winter there. Among the most famous are the hornbills, native to Sarawak. Other bird species include egrets, herons, kingfishers, kites, mynahs and pheasants.

The Orang-utan, one of the world's most endangered animals, is also unique to this part of the world. Found only in Sumatra and Borneo, the Orang-utan is the only great ape living naturally outside Africa. Malaysians call the ape ‘Orang Hutan’ which in English translates to ‘People of the Forest’. Their survival is constantly threatened by forest fires, felling of trees, poaching and illegal hunting.

Malaysia is also home to rhinoceroses, elephants, bears, crocodiles, leopards, monkeys and panthers. Seven turtle species have been recognised living in the world's oceans. Out of these species, four nest on Malaysian shores – the olive-ridley turtle, the hawksbill turtle, the green turtle and the leatherback turtle – and are all currently listed as endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

A system of National Parks has been established to help preserve the country's flora and fauna. Sarawak’s Gunung Mulu National Park, the largest national park covering 52 865 hectares of primary rainforest, and Sabah’s Kinabalu Park have been deemed World Heritage sites by the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). A labyrinth of caves, including the limestone cave with the largest chamber in the world, lies beneath the Gunung Mulu National Park.

This image was acquired on 23 February 2005 by Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) working in Full Resolution mode to provide a spatial resolution of 300 metres.

Source: ESA - Observing the Earth - Image of the Week

[Waspie_Dwarf]

North Cascades National Park

Click here to view full image (4528 kb)

More than any other park in the contiguous United States, North Cascades National Park is dominated by glaciers. Over 300 glaciers, about one-third of the glaciers in the Lower 48 states, are in the 204,278 hectares enclosed within the park boundaries. The glaciers are most evident at the height of summer, when the annual snowfall has melted and only the semi-permanent glaciers remain. This Landsat image was taken at just such a time, on August 11, 2001, when the valleys were a verdant summer green and the glacier-capped peaks of the Cascades remained white. Everything in the image, from the steep-sloped mountains to the intricate network of streams running out of the mountains, says that the landscape was engineered by ice.

Throughout the image, U-shaped valleys separate the peaks. Such valleys tend to be wide, with a flat valley floor surrounded by steep mountains. Wider valleys are carved by larger glaciers. River-cut valleys, by contrast, tend to have a “V” shape. Rivers and streams draining meltwater from the glaciers now wind through the U-shaped valleys. One of the larger of these is filled with Ross Lake, top center. The lake was created when Ross Dam was built across the Skagit River in the area shown just above the center of the image.

Elsewhere, the very shape of the mountains points to glacial action. Narrow, blade-like ridges, aretes, are bright jagged lines surrounded by shadowed steep slopes. These form when glaciers carve two U-shaped valleys on either side of the ridge. The round, amphitheater shape of some of the ridges occurs when a glacier grinds out a hollow or bowl (a cirque) on the face of the ridge.

Because glaciers are among the most valuable resources in the park and are sensitive to climate change, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has been monitoring the glaciers since 1993. The scientists use a variety of methods, including stakes that monitor snow accumulation, radar to measure the thickness of the glaciers, and photos that show the boundaries of the glaciers, to determine if the glaciers are growing or shrinking over time. In general, the glaciers have been shrinking, particularly those on the eastern slopes of the mountains.


Further Reading:

North Cascades from the National Park Service

Glacier Monitoring Program from the North Cascades National Park Service Complex

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the University of Maryland’s Global Land Cover Facility.

Source: NASA - Earth Observatory - Image of the Day

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Marcial Fire, New Mexico

Click here to view full image (597 kb)

Just to the south of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge along the Rio Grande in southwestern New Mexico, a large fire was billowing out a thick plume of smoke when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead on May 4, 2006. The actively burning area that MODIS detected is outlined in red. According to a local news report, the fire is burning in salt cedar along the banks of the river, and fire fighters were conducting “burn out” operations (carefully burning vegetation in the fire’s path to starve it of fuel) to prevent the spread of the fire northward into the refuge.

Salt cedar, also known as tamarisk, is the common name for several species of non-native, small trees or shrubs that have invaded river and streambank ecosystems in many places in the United States. Nowhere is their impact more severe than in the Southwest, where their persistent ability to survive drought, flood, and fire allows them to rapidly colonize riparian (river- and stream-bank) habitat and prevent native plants from germinating. The loss of native plants has a cascading effect on the rest of the ecosystem. Salt cedar was introduced to the United States from Asia as an ornamental plant in the early 1800s, and its spread has radically transformed riparian ecosystems throughout the Southwest

Further Reading

NASA Joins the National Invasive Species Council

Information on salt cedar from the USDA National Agricultural Library

Impact of salt cedar at White Sands National Monument from the National Park Service

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC.

NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center.

Source: NASA - Earth Observatory - Image of the Day