NASA : Lights in the Darkness .- Luces en la oscuridad............

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/lights-in-the-darkness

Just hours after the winter solstice, a mass of energetic particles from the Sun smashed into the magnetic field around Earth. The strong solar wind stream stirred up a display of northern lights over northern Canada.

 

With the “day-night band” (DNB) of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this view of the aurora borealis on Dec. 22, 2016. The northern lights stretched across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories, areas that often fall under the auroral oval.

The DNB detects dim light signals such as auroras, airglow, gas flares, and reflected moonlight. In the case of the image above, the sensor detected the visible light emissions as energetic particles rained down from Earth’s magnetosphere and into the gases of the upper atmosphere.

The collision of solar particles and pressure into our planet’s magnetosphere accelerates particles trapped in the space around Earth (such as in the radiation belts). Those particles are sent crashing down into Earth’s upper atmosphere—at altitudes of 100 to 400 kilometers (60 to 250 miles)—where they excite oxygen and nitrogen molecules and release photons of light. The results are rays, sheets, and curtains of dancing light in the sky.

Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Defense.

Annotated image: NASA's Earth Observatory

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using VIIRS day-night band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership
Caption: Mike Carlowicz

Last Updated: Dec. 27, 2016

Editor: Sarah Loff

Tags:  Earth, Image of the Day, Suomi NPP (National Polar-orbiting Partnership),

NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
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NASA: Getting to Know the Getz Ice Shelf .- Conocer la plataforma de hielo de Getz

http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/getting-to-know-the-getz-ice-shelf

As scientists and crew with NASA’s Operation IceBridge mission prepared for a research flight on Nov. 5, 2016, the weather in Punta Arenas, Chile, was cold, wet, and windy. But when they reached their survey site in West Antarctica, skies were clear and winds were calm—a perfect day for scientists to collect data over the Getz Ice Shelf.

IceBridge, now in its eighth year, continues to build a record of how ice is responding to changes in the polar environment. The Getz Ice Shelf in West Antarctica is one area that scientists try to examine each year. “Getz is an ice shelf that has been experiencing some of the highest basal melt rates of the Antarctic ice shelves,” said Nathan Kurtz, IceBridge project scientist and a sea ice researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The image above shows a views of Getz as photographed on Nov. 5 from a NASA research airplane by Jeremy Harbeck, a sea ice scientist at NASA Goddard. The image shows ice in the process of calving from the front of the shelf, soon to become an iceberg. 

Kurtz notes that the team has flown over the Getz Ice Shelf many times before. Flight paths are often exact repeats of those flown in previous years, which helps scientists understand how the height of the ice surface changes over time. This year, new flights over Getz were added to the existing observations. Scientists mapped the bathymetry (shape and depth of the seafloor) below the ice shelf, and they mapped the ice surface and bedrock upstream of the grounding line.

The flight over Getz is just one of a number of key areas flown during the IceBridge campaign. Each flight plan is prioritized in order of importance: baseline (the highest priority), high, medium, and low. The flight on Nov. 5 over Getz, for example, was categorized as “high” priority. Since the start of 2016 science flights on Oct.14, the team has flown six out of eight baseline missions, eight out of 15 high priority lines, and one medium and low priority mission each. Research flights for the season continue through Nov. 18.

“We are in pretty good shape so far, having flown so many missions due to a combination of favorable weather, no major airplane issues, and all instruments operating well,” Kurtz said. “We’re about four weeks into the campaign, and it’s possible we could tie the record of most flights flown with Operation IceBridge if things continue to go well.”

Additional images and related reading: NASA's Earth Observatory

Image Credit: NASA/Jeremy Harbeck
Caption: Kathryn Hansen

Last Updated: Nov. 10, 2016

Editor: Sarah Loff

Tags:  Earth, Ice, IceBridge, Image of the Day,

NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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NASA : Hurricane Matthew Hits Haiti .- Huracán Mateo azota Haití

http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/hurricane-matthew-hits-haiti

On October 4, 2016,

Hurricane Matthew made landfall on southwestern Haiti as a category-4 storm—the strongest storm to hit the Caribbean nation in more than 50 years. Just hours after landfall, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this natural-color image. At the time, Matthew had top sustained winds of about 230 kilometers (145 miles) per hour.

 

Earlier on October 4, temperature data collected by MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite revealed that the cloud tops around Matthew were very cold (at least -57° Celsius, or -70° Fahrenheit). Cold cloud tops are known to produce heavy rainfall. The National Hurricane Center called for 380 to 500 millimeters (15 to 20 inches) of rain in Southern Haiti and in the southwestern Dominican Republic.

 

The interaction with land could weaken the storm somewhat, but wind patterns in the upper atmosphere and the warm water in the tropical Atlantic should help maintain Matthew’s hurricane strength for the rest of the week. The specific path of the storm as it approaches the United States is not yet certain. A direct impact on Florida or the Carolinas remains possible.

Annotated image and references: NASA's Earth Observatory

NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using MODIS data from the Land Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE)
Caption: Kathryn Hansen

Last Updated: Oct. 5, 2016

Editor: Sarah Loff

Tags:  Earth, Hurricanes, Image of the Day, Terra Satellite,

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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NASA : Great Exuma Island, Bahamas .- Isla de Gran Exuma, de Las Bahamas

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., Un astronauta a bordo de la Estación Espacial Internacional tomó esta fotografía de los pequeños cayos de la isla en las Bahamas y los canales de marea prominentes de corte entre ellos. Para los astronautas, este es uno de los puntos más reconocibles del planeta.
La cadena de cayos - estiramiento 14.24 kilómetros (8.9 millas) en esta imagen - se extiende al oeste de Great Exuma Island (a las afueras de la imagen a la derecha). Exuma es conocido por ser alejado de las islas más grandes de las Bahamas, y es rica en cayos de propiedad privada y con la historia de pirata real (incluyendo el Capitán Kidd).

More information.....

http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/great-exuma-island-Bahamas

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this photograph of small island cays in the Bahamas and the prominent tidal channels cutting between them. For astronauts, this is one of the most recognizable points on the planet.

The string of cays — stretching 14.24 kilometers (8.9 miles) in this image — extends west from Great Exuma Island (just outside the image to the right). Exuma is known for being remote from the bigger islands of The Bahamas, and it is rich with privately owned cays and with real pirate history (including Captain Kidd).

Small tidal changes on the banks cause great quantities of water to flow daily through the narrow channels between the cays, first in one direction and then the other. The darker blue sections are the deepest parts of the channels, where the water flow has cut through the rock ridge that makes the line of cays. The surrounding water is shallow (less than 25 meters, or 80 feet) and appears light blue.

Thanks to the astronaut’s steady hands in controlling a long lens in weightlessness, this photograph is detailed enough to show a single aircraft and its twin condensation trails.

Astronaut photograph ISS044-E-18893 was acquired on July 19, 2015, with a Nikon D4 digital camera using an 1150 millimeter lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 44 crew. The image has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed.

More: NASA's Earth Observatory

Image Credit: NASA
Caption: M. Justin Wilkinson, Texas State University, Jacobs Contract at NASA-JSC

Last Updated: Sept. 21, 2015

Editor: Sarah Loff

Tags:  Earth, Expedition 44, Image of the Day,

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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NASA : NASA's Earth Observatory .- Brillantes Nubes de Noche

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., la Agencia Espacial NASA, nos hace llegar una hermosa fotografía  de unas brillantes nubes de la noche  en la atmósfera.

NASA, nos dice: "En el final de la primavera y el verano, nubes inusuales forman en la alta  atmósfera por encima de las regiones polares del mundo. Como la atmósfera inferior se calienta, la atmósfera superior se enfría y cristales de hielo se forman en el polvo de meteoritos y otras partículas  en el cielo alto. El resultado es noctilucentes o nubes ", que brilla de noche" (CEN) wisps azules electricos que crecen en el borde del espacio...."

More Infomation....
http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/night-shining-clouds

In the late spring and summer, unusual clouds form high in the atmosphere above the polar regions of the world. As the lower atmosphere warms, the upper atmosphere gets coooler, and ice crystals form on meteor dust and other particles high in the sky. The result is noctilucent or “night-shining” clouds (NLCs)—electric blue wisps that grow on the edge of space.

NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft observed noctilucent clouds on June 10, 2015. This image is a composite of several satellite passes over the Arctic, and the clouds appear in various shades of light blue to white, depending on the density of the ice particles. The instrument measures albedo—how much light is reflected back to space by the high-altitude clouds.

Noctilucent clouds were first described in the mid-19th century after the eruption of the Krakatau volcano. Volcanic ash spread through the atmosphere, making for vivid sunsets around the world and provoking the first known observations of NLCs. At first people thought they were a side-effect of the volcano, but long after Krakatau’s ash settled, the wispy, glowing clouds remained.

In the past decade, AIM has been observing and measuring these seasonal, high-altitude cloud formations. Researchers have found that they are appearing earlier and stretching to lower latitudes with greater frequency. There is some evidence that this is a result of increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Though they were not thick enough to appear in AIM imagery, some noctilucent clouds were visible to ground-based observers in the continental United States on June 9 and 10.

More: NASA's Earth Observatory

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory map by Joshua Stevens, using Polar Mesospheric Cloud data from the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Caption: Mike Carlowicz

Last Updated: July 5, 2015

Editor: Sarah Loff

Tags:  AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere), Air, Ice, Image of the Day

 NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

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