۱۳۹۰ شهریور ۹, چهارشنبه

شب در بخش شمال باختر قاره ی اروپا Northwestern Europe at Night


everal of the oldest cities of northwestern Europe are highlighted in this astronaut photograph from just after midnight (00:25 Greenwich Mean Time) on August 10, 2011. While the landscape is dotted with clusters of lights from individual urban areas, the metropolitan areas of London, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam stand out due to their large light “footprints.” The metropolitan area of Milan is also visible at image upper right. While each of these cities is, or has been, the capital of a kingdom, republic, or empire—Paris and London have been all three—Brussels is also the capital city of the European Union.
This photograph from the International Space Station (ISS) was taken with a short camera lens, providing the large field of view. To give a sense of scale, the centers of the London and Paris metropolitan areas are approximately 340 kilometers (210 miles) from each other. The image is also oblique—taken looking outwards at an angle from the ISS, which tends to foreshorten the image—making the distance between Paris and Milan (640 kilometers, or 400 miles) appear less than that of Paris to London.
In contrast to the land surface defined by the city lights, the English Channel presents a uniform dark appearance. Similarly, the Alps near Milan are also largely devoid of lights. While much of the atmosphere was clear at the time the image was taken, the lights of Brussels are dimmed by thin cloud cover.

۱۳۹۰ مرداد ۳۰, یکشنبه

کوهها و گسله ها در گسترش آرام ِ پشته های میان اقیانوسی Big Mountains and Faults at Slow-Spreading Mid-Ocean Ridges




“Mid-ocean ridges are the topographic manifestation of where the Earth’s tectonic plates separate and spread apart and new oceanic crust is created. The Mid-Cayman Rise is an example of one of these ridges and forms part of the boundary between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates.” Quoted from the Ocean Explorer website.

Profiles of Mt Dent on west of the Mid-Cayman Spreading Center (red) and Mt Everest (yellow) shown at the same scale. Mt Dent is clearly a big (undersea) mountain.


Profiles of Mt Dent on west of the Mid-Cayman Spreading Center (red) and Mt Everest (yellow) shown at the same scale. Mt Dent is clearly a big (undersea) mountain. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, MCR Expedition 2011.

3-D perspective bathymetric map looking northwest, showing Mount Dent emerging from the axial valley of the Mid-Cayman Spreading Center.  Image generated using GeoMapApp from the Ridge Multibeam Synthesis. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, MCR Expedition 2011.

The Kane oceanic core complex from 23oN on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This is one of the most spectacular core complexes we’ve discovered with the smooth detachment fault surface clearly visible. The cross section shows what the crust is likely made of: green represents mantle peridotite; blue represents frozen mantle melts forming gabbro intrusion and magenta represents the basalt lavas and sheeted dikes that normally overly the gabbros. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, MCR Expedition 2011.

. Mt Dent is clearly a big (undersea) mountain.

۱۳۹۰ مرداد ۲۲, شنبه

Cakaulevu Reef, Fiji


Surrounded by the warm waters of the South Pacific, the Fiji Islands are often cloaked in clouds when the Aqua orTerra satellites fly over. But July 21, 2011, offered up a perfectly cloud-free view. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Aqua shows Fiji’s second-largest island, Vanua Levu, and the Cakaulevu Reef that shelters the island’s northern shore.
Also called the Great Sea Reef, Cakaulevu shines turquoise through clear, shallow waters. It is the third longest continuous barrier reef in the world, behind the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Mesoamerica Reef off Central America. When combined with the nearby Pascoe Reef, Cakaulevu Reef is about 200 kilometers (120 miles) long. On its own, the Cakaulevu Reef covers 202,700 square kilometers (77,200 square miles).
The first systematic survey of the reef (in 2004) revealed a diverse marine population, including unique mangrove ecosystems and endemic fish. Twelve threatened species live within the reef: 10 fish species, the green turtle, and the spinner dolphin.
All of this marine life has traditionally supported the native population, and currently some 70,000 people depend on the reef. After seeing fish populations decline in recent decades, local leaders created a series of marine protected areas in 2005 where fishing is prohibited. Traditional customs used to manage the reef for hundreds of years permit leaders to set aside portions of the qoliqoli, or traditional fishing ground. Where the ban has been enforced, fish populations are rebounding and spilling over into areas where fishing is permitted.
From space, none of this bounty is visible. Instead, the beauty comes from the vivid shades of blue and green coral creates when viewed through water.
1.   References
2.   Environmental News Service. (2005, November 4). Fiji chiefs create marine sanctuaries on world’s third largest reef.Accessed August 12, 2011.
3.   Jupiter, S.D., Clarke, P., Prada, S.R., Egli, D.P., Tui, T., Caginitoba, A., and Qauqau, I. (2010). Non-compliance with management rules and its implications for traditional fisheries in Fiji. Wildlife Conservation Society, published on Reef Base. Accessed August 12, 2011.
4.   Schrope, M. (2010, June). Fiji where the chiefs rule the reefs. Sport Diver, 66-72, 88. Accessed August 12, 2011.
5.   World Wildlife Federation. (2005, October). Fiji’s Great Sea Reef. Accessed August 12, 2011.

فسیلی که به نظریه ی" غول آسا "بودن پرندگا ن اهمیت می دهد New fossil lends weight to giant bird theories


New fossil lends weight to giant bird theories

Wed, Aug 10, 2011
A gigantic prehistoric bird which could have been as big as an ostrich has been identified from a single jawbone.
The new bird, estimated to have been between two and three metres tall, lived around 85 million years ago in Kazakhstan and lay unrecognised in a museum for years until being identified by palaeontologists. Named Samrukia nessovi, it represents one of the largest birds known from the Cretaceous period, a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
The fossil is only the second giant, land-living bird species to be discovered in Cretaceous-aged rocks and the first to be found in Asia. A previously recognised species, Gargantuavis philoinos, was named in 1998 from France but experts have argued over its identification. In a paper published today [10 August] in Biology Letters, scientists suggest that the new, Kazakh specimen confirms the presence of giant birds in the Cretaceous period.
Dr Darren Naish, from the University of Portsmouth, said that the creature provides significant new information on life in Cretaceous times.
He said: “Since the 1850s we’ve known that numerous bird species lived during the age of the dinosaurs (known as the Mesozoic Era), but virtually all were crow-sized or smaller. The ostrich-sized Gargantuavis from France is the one notable exception and now this new Mesozoic bird from Kazakhstan – known only from its toothless lower jaw – shows that gigantic birds also lived in Cretaceous Central Asia.
“We can now be really confident that Mesozoic terrestrial birds weren't all thrush-sized or crow-sized animals - giant size definitely evolved in these animals and giant forms were living in at least two distinct regions. This fits into a larger, emerging picture that Mesozoic birds were ecologically diverse, with lots of overlap between them and modern groups.
“The fragmentary nature of our Samrukia specimen will always mean that some people have doubts about it, but specialists who have seen the remains agree with our interpretation. The French Gargantuavis has already demonstrated the presence of giant Cretaceous birds and we argue that Samrukia adds a second example and increases the significance of Gargantuavis since it shows that it wasn't a one off.”
 The skull of the new bird would have been about 30 cm long and if flightless it could have stood 2-3 metres tall. If it flew, its wingspan is likely to have exceeded 4 metres. Dr Naish, an Honorary Research Associate in the University’s School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, said that there is as yet no way to tell if the bird was flightless like an ostrich or whether it took to the skies.
He said: “Unfortunately we have only the lower jaw, and this doesn’t provide key information on what the whole bird was like. We hope that new material will be unearthed to provide us with more information, such as understanding what role it was playing in Cretaceous ecosystems.
“We do know that the fossil came from a floodplain environment. This would have been a large flattish plain, criss-crossed by big, meandering rivers. Fossil wood shows that forests were present nearby and aquatic animals indicate the continual presence of lakes, pools or big rivers. Samrukia was conceivably in danger from tyrannosaurs, dromaeosaurs and other predatory dinosaurs that occurred in the same region but we can't say whether Samrukia itself was predatory, herbivorous or omnivorous as the lower jaws don't reveal any obvious specialisations for, say, dedicated plant-eating or feeding on aquatic prey.
“People tend to forget that birds co-existed with their dinosaurian relatives but it now seems that the Cretaceous was not a ‘dinosaurs-only theme park.' This find confirms that large birds were living alongside dinosaurs and may have been more widespread than previously thought.”
Dr Dave Martill from the University’s School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, said: "This significant discovery demonstrates how young scientists can make an impact on our knowledge and emphasises how much field work remains to be done and how many exciting discoveries are left to unearth."




خشم و سر گشتگی در کوه آتشفشان اتنا – ایتالیا – " سیسیل" Paroxysm at Mount Etna


Paroxysm 
1: a fit, attack, or sudden increase or recurrence of symptoms (as of a disease)
 
2: a sudden violent emotion or action
 
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Throughout 2011, activity at Sicily’s Mount Etna has been characterized by paroxysms: short, violent bursts of activity. Each event has included volcanic tremors, ash emissions, and lava flows centered around the New Southeast Crater, just below the summit.
On August 12, 2011, Etna had its tenth paroxysm of the year, captured in this natural-color satellite image. Etna spewed a thick white plume of gas and ash to the southeast, towards the nearby city of Catania. The ash cloud was produced by vigorous lava fountaining at the New Southeast Crater. The Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center estimated ash emissions reached an altitude of 14,000 feet (4,300 meters); 2,000 feet (600 meters) above the 10,925-foot (3,330-meter) summit. The image was captured at 11:40 a.m. local time by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite.
Boris Behncke, a volcanolgist from the Istituto Nazionale Di Geofisica E Vulcanologia in Catania, Sciliy, provides updates on Etna’s activity on his Twitter feed, @etnaboris.
1.   References
3.   Toulouse VAAC. (2011, August 12). Volcanic Ash Advisory. Accessed August 12, 2011.

۱۳۹۰ مرداد ۲۱, جمعه

مخزن آب " ایست من " در کبک – کانادا- Eastmain Reservoir, Quebec



On May 19, 2011, the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite observed a work in progress in northern Quebec, east of James Bay. The project—known as the Eastmain-1-A/Sarcelle/Rupert Project—is designed to increase hydroelectric power for the Canadian province.
The top image is a wide-area view of the hydroelectric project, and it shows the Eastmain Reservoir, which lies about 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Montreal. A layer of ice lingers on the reservoir's surface, with areas of open water appearing in darker shades of blue. Cracks on the ice span the reservoir, especially in the south.
The white outline in the top image shows the area covered in the lower, close-up view. This image provides a detailed look at some of the structures along this reservoir: the Eastmain-1 power house and the Eastmain-1-A power house, which is under construction.
Eastmain-1 has three water turbines that can collectively generate as much as 480 megawatt hours of electricity, according to the EM-1 Project plan. Meanwhile, HydroQuébec explains that Eastmain-1-A is intended to supplement its slightly older neighbor. When complete, Eastmain-1-A is expected to generate up to 768 megawatts.
The construction of the Eastmain-1-A power house is just one part of a much larger undertaking. Also included in the Eastmain-1-A/Sarcelle/Rupert Project is the partial diversion of the Rupert River, where Eastmain-1 and Eastmain-1-A are located; construction of a 150-megawatt powerhouse, Sarcelle, at the outlet of the Opinaca Reservoir; and the construction of a new drinking-water plant at Waskaganish.
HydroQuébec is responsible for Québec’s electricity transmission system, and distributes energy throughout Québec, and exports some energy to the United States. HydroQuébec undertook the Eastmain-1-A/Sarcelle/Rupert Project to harness and develop hydropower in the region. In 2006, a provincial review committee reported that the appearance and flow of the Rupert River would undeniably change as a result of the planned power structures. Nonetheless, the project was allowed to move forward.
1.   References
2.   EM-1 Project. (n.d.). Net GHG emissions at the Eastmain-1 reservoir. Accessed August 4, 2011.
3.   HydroQuébec. (2011). Project Description. Accessed August 4, 2011.
4.   Provincial Review Committee. (2006, October 31). Eastmain-1-A and Rupert Diversion hydropower project. (PDF file) Accessed August 4, 2011.

۱۳۹۰ مرداد ۲۰, پنجشنبه

آتش سوزی در توده ی زنده ی " زیست توده" ، جنوب قاره ی آفریقا Biomass Burning, Southern Africa





A smoke pall dominates this view of tropical southern Africa, one of the most fire-prone regions of the world. Numerous fires give rise to regional smoke palls every dry season. Fires are both natural (started by lightning) and set by local people to clear woodlands for agricultural fields.
This oblique, northwest-looking view from July 2011, at the end of the dry season, shows the extent of the smoke on the African plateau—from central Zimbabwe (image lower left) to northern Malawi more than 1,000 kilometers away (image top right), and in the wide coastal plains of the lower Zambezi River valley of Mozambique (image lower right). Here smoke can be seen blowing inland, channeled up the Zambezi River valley and contributing to the pall on the plateau. The light gray smoke plumes contrast with higher altitude, brighter patchy cloud cover at image lower right.
The smoke palls obscure the details on the land surface so that Lake Malawi, one of Africa’s Great Lakes, is barely visible. The same goes for Lake Cahora Bassa, Africa’s fourth largest reservoir, in the Zambezi valley. The sun’s reflection off the surface of Lake Kariba makes it prominent in the view at image left. Kariba is 220 kilometers long and is the world’s largest artificial reservoir by volume. The steep, shadowed, mid-afternoon faces of the Inyanga Mountains on the Mozambique-Zimbabwe border protrude above the smoke layer at image lower left. Solar panels extending from Russian spacecraft docked at the International Space Station are visible at image left.
Astronaut photograph ISS028-E-18675 was acquired on July 23, 2011, with a Nikon D3S digital camera using a 28 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 28 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab 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. Caption by M. Justin Wilkinson, Jacobs/ESCG at NASA-JSC.
Instrument: 
ISS - Dig

تابستان و زمستان در حوضه ی آبخیز " تاریم " - گرمترین و خشک ترین کویر چین - Winter and Summer in the Tarim Basin



In westernmost China lies the Tarim Basin, home to the Taklimakan Desert—the biggest, hottest, driest desert in China. Sand dunes cover about 85 percent of the Taklimakan, often feeding massive dust storms. Isolated from the Asian monsoon and from Arctic storms, the central basin receives less than 10 millimeters (0.4 inches) of precipitation per year. In such a parched environment, plants are rare, and yet they exist. In the summertime, they appear to thrive.
Runoff from the Tien Shan mountains and the Kunlun Shan mountains feed rivers, which in turn support vegetation. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured these images of the Tarim Basin on January 26, 2011 (top), and August 6, 2011 (bottom).
In the January image, snow blankets the mountain peaks north and south of the Tarim Basin, and the basin itself appears in shades of brown. In the August image, snow has receded from many mountains, while the snow melt has provided life-sustaining moisture to vegetation around the margin of the basin.
Fed by runoff from the Kunlun Shan, the Hotan River (also Khotan River) flows northward—but only for part of the year. The river valley appears dry in January, but in August, it is lined with vegetation.
Along the basin’s northern margin, the Hotan joins the Tarim River, which links multiple areas of green in the August image. The Tarim River supplies water to an area roughly 300 miles (500 kilometers) long. Deciduous forests, filled with poplar trees, flourish nearby in the summer. The forests not only green up the edges of the Tarim Basin, they also stabilize the sandy soil and moderate the arid climate. As human settlement in the region has increased, however, some of this forest has been cleared to make way for irrigated crops.
1.   References
2.   Encyclopedia Britannica. (2011). Hotan River. Accessed August 9, 2011.
3.   Geomorphology from Space. (2009, September 9). The Southwest Taklimakan Desert. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Accessed August 9, 2011.
4.   Wild World Ecoregion Profile. (2001). Tarim Basin deciduous forests and steppe. World Wildlife Fund. National Geographic. Accessed August 9, 2011.
5.   World Wildlife Fund, McGinley, M. (2007). Taklimakan Desert. Encyclopedia of Earth. Accessed August 9, 2011
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