Amazon vs. Nile

For now, Amazon leading by a source tributary.

Quick excerpt:
Geographers long agreed that, while the Amazon might be the world’s largest river by volume, the longest was likely the Nile. In 2007, however, the BBC reported that a team of Brazilian researchers challenged that long-held belief. After an expedition to Peru to locate the Amazon’s precise source, the team described a different starting point. The team claimed that the river originated not in northern Peru, where it had been thought to begin, but in southern Peru, somewhere on snowcapped Mount Mismi (or Nevado Mismi). The team narrowed down the starting point to one of two places, but concluded that either one would nudge the Amazon’s length past that of the Nile.

Full story:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17693

Nature's Blue & Grey

Interesting contract between the "blue" glacier and the Grey Lake.

Brief excerpt: The Southern Patagonian Ice field of Chile and Argentina hosts several spectacular glaciers—including Grey Glacier located in the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. This glacier, which in 1996 had a measured total area of 270 square kilometers and a length of 28 kilometers (104 square miles in area, 17 miles long), begins in the Patagonian Andes Mountains to the west and terminates in three distinct lobes into Grey Lake (upper image). The upper image is a photograph taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, and it captures a striking blue coloration of the glacier. The coloring is due to the ice’s absorption of red wavelengths of light and scattering of blue wavelengths of light as it is transmitted through the ice.


Full story:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17685

Den Helder, Mud flats and tullips

I knew an archer named Den Helder, without the mud flats and tulips.
Nice image.
Enjoy.

Quick excerpt: The city and harbor of Den Helder in the northern Netherlands has been the home port of the Dutch Royal Navy for over 175 years. The location provides access to the North Sea, which has made it an important commercial and strategic port. Bright red agricultural fields to the south of Den Helder indicate another noteworthy aspect of the region—commercial farming of tulips and hyacinth. This astronaut photograph is an oblique view (an angled, not a “straight down”view) of the Den Helder region taken from the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS was located to the southeast, near Dülmen, Germany, when the image was acquired, about 225 kilometers (140 miles) away in terms of ground distance

Full story:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17665

How to Dissect a Hurricane

This image outlay and explanation is phenomenal.

3-dimensional perspective on the storm conditional that harvest a hurricane event.


A Brief excerpt:
June 1 marks the beginning of hurricane season. Every year, meteorologists strive to predict hurricane behavior to reduce risk to lives and property while also minimizing the costs associated with storm preparations and evacuations. Perfect predictions of hurricane behavior are still a thing of the future, but NASA scientists are combining observations from field campaigns and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite with supercomputing modeling power to shed light on the internal workings of hurricanes and how the eye of the storm itself feeds towering thunderstorm clouds known as hot towers, which cause storms to intensify.

Full story at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17662

Re-freezing in Antarctica

Fascinating concept of glocal warming - the refreezing of the polar caps and a new type of winter season.


A brief excerpt:

In contrast to the Antarctic Peninsula, where evidence of climate warming has been evident in rising temperatures, retreating glaciers, and collapsing ice shelves, the interior of Antarctica has generally appeared to be staying well below freezing. In May 2007, however, a team of researches from NASA and the University of Colorado found evidence of warming and melting as much as 900 kilometers (500 miles) inland. Just 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the South Pole, and more than 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) above sea level, portions of Antarctica’s interior experienced temperatures above freezing for about a week in January 2005.

Full article at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17661

Why I Want Hurricane Shutters

Another image from NASA's Earth Observatory Project:
This nicely highlights a potential collision of fire and water; a sub-tropical strom hitting fires from the Florida drought. Unfortunately, it missed.

The full description can be read at:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17640

Aral Sea Recovery

Another image from NASA's Earth Observatory Project.

What I like about this is a postivie plug for the World Bank's environmental lending projects.

From http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17634

"... The North Aral Sea owes its rebirth to the Kok-Aral Dam, an $85.8 million project bolstered by a loan from the World Bank. The dam separates the North Aral Sea from its saltier and more polluted southern half. In early 2006, the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan announced that the Aral Sea had shown dramatic recovery in just months, rather than the five to ten years originally predicted...."

Map of Online Communities

Map on Online Communities from www.XKCD.com - buy this poster here: http://xkcd.com/c256.html

Intriguing fantasy geography of online communtities.

Subglacial Lakes

Check this image and description out.

From NASA's Earth Observatory:
"To the untrained eye, Antarctica may look like a giant piece of solid ice that rarely changes, but scientists studying the continent have long known better. The icy surface is dynamic, with glaciers and “streams” of ice flowing toward the ocean. Underneath the ice, the picture is equally complex. Thick masses of ice may appear to rest on solid land, but they actually float on water, with scattered islands bumping into their underbellies. Well inland from these ice shelves, the terrain includes mountain ranges and watery basins buried in ice....."

Full story at:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17626

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