-
Nov10
Image Of The Day 10-11-2009
Filed under: Image Of The Day; Tagged as: arabian sea, emperor penguins, habitat requirements, katabatic winds, land imager, long shadows, marine food, mountainous terrain, northern foothills, offshore winds, open waters, penguin colonies, polynya, rock and snow, ross sea, sea ice, seaward, snow drifts, southern hemisphere, terra nova bayNo CommentsKatabatic Winds Rake Antarctica’s Terra Nova Bay
Just days away from the beginning of the Southern Hemisphere’s spring, Antarctica’s Inexpressible Island and the Northern Foothills Mountains were illuminated by a glimmer of sunlight from a low angle when the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this image on September 16, 2009. The seaward slopes of the mountains are gleaming white, and they cast long shadows inland over the Nansen Ice Sheet. Terra Nova Bay appears in shadow.
The scene provides at least two indications of the bay’s persistent and fierce katabatic winds—downslope winds that blow from the interior of the ice sheet toward the coast. One is the windswept ground in the mountainous terrain. In many places, there is a pattern of bare rock and snow drifts that suggests the winds have scoured snow from upwind (inland-facing) slopes and deposited it on the lee sides.
The second sign of the strong winds appears in the open waters of Terra Nova Bay. Parallel white streamers are composed of newly formed sea ice, probably frazil—crystals just millimeters wide—and congealed frazil, called “grease ice” because it resembles an oil slick on the water. The ice is continually pushed out to sea by the strong offshore winds, leaving a pocket of open water, a polynya.
The winds are responsible for making this location an ideal spot for Adélie penguins, which have a colony on Inexpressible Island and at other sites around Terra Nova Bay. Unlike Emperor penguins, which breed on sea ice, Adélie penguins nest on ice-free land, which must be accessible to them via open water and close to their marine food supply. The Adélie penguin’s habitat requirements are so specific that scientists have used fossils from ancient Adélie penguin colonies to re-create the climate and ice conditions in the Ross Sea stretching back 45,000 years.
Dust over the Arabian Sea
The shift from summer heat to winter’s chill in the mountains of southwest Asia leads to regular dust storms over the Arabian Sea. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this photo-like image on November 9, 2009. It is remarkably similar to images captured in late October and November in 2008, 2007, 2006, and previous years. In 2009, as in other years, distinct plumes of dust blow from the desert between the Makran Mountains and the Arabian Sea.
Wind and weather patterns in southwestern Pakistan and southeastern Iran are largely driven by the summer and winter monsoons. In the winter, the cloudless, dry air over southwest Asia cools. The cool, dense air sinks. Air over the Arabian Sea, meanwhile, is warm. The warm air rises, and the cool air from the continent rushes in to take its place. The movement of air from the land to the Arabian Sea creates strong winds that generate the dust storms seen every year.
Tags: arabian sea, emperor penguins, habitat requirements, katabatic winds, land imager, long shadows, marine food, mountainous terrain, northern foothills, offshore winds, open waters, penguin colonies, polynya, rock and snow, ross sea, sea ice, seaward, snow drifts, southern hemisphere, terra nova bay
Related posts:
Leave a Reply
Site Status
Freelance Jobs At Scriptlance
- Magento WebsiteI need a Magento Ecommerce Expert to develop my B2C website. I will provide a layered .psd to be used for the design. The site will consist of a basic store (homepage, dynamic category page, dynamic product page) The site will also include the following integrations: 1) Powerreviewsexpress.com for user reviews on product page 2) Google earth integration. I need to be able to add a .kmz file to each item in the back end. The .kmz needs to be displayed using the google earth plugin 3) custom…
- Clone Value-domain Tools Site Need a CMS website value- domain tools site. I need the design and features of www.sitelogr.com. (This script must be able to pull out different website data and post inside mysql database and on the site, this script should work amazingly fast and be completely bug-free. It must be easy to use some include function on any site and upload the script file to the server / install the db – and make the script show the scrapped/generated data.) SEO friendly links, AJAX, commented code/or docume…
- Wordpress MakoverI have an existing WP Template that needs to have some changes made. FAST. As in the next 1-2 days. I'm looking for someone who has 10-20 hours free this week. There will be ongoing work on this site. And I have other sites that need periodic maintenance. And I develop a new site every few months. If this goes well, I will have other work for you to do. Send me some examples of WP work you've done. I'd like to see that you know how to modify themes. Also looking for tips on plug-ins. …
- Clone Site And Applications We require a Complete Clone of www.studiom.com.au's site including the Envisage application. 1) I want a website with a strong CMS at the backend for us to upload text, images, videos on the site. There will also be a blog section in the front end. 2) We need an application like Envisage where a user visiting the site will be able to select the exterior, interior,kitchen etc of a house(Which we will supply for you to implement) and change its look by selecting and assigning material of th…
- Need 2000 Members 4 Social NetI just finished setting up a new social networking site and need vto jumpstart the site with at least 2000 – 3000 members – so this is for someone who is good at diverting traffic or who has a social site that he wants to move to a new platform… This is also geographical area specific
- JoomlaNeed to add some features inside phocadownload. Please do not bid if you do not have experience and ability to complete project fast and make a good work. Need this done in not more than a week since it is is not a lot of modification. Would love to have reliable and experienced person to work with since I have a lot more joomla projects that are coming. Project description: This component is phoca download that I like because it has play and preview features but I need following to be done. …
- Embed Email Subs. + Rss TickerA campaign to re-legalize hemp in one state needs to build an email list of supporters quickly. PART 1 We imagine an email subscription box with two links at the bottom, one says info and leads to the site, the other says embed and will open to display the code so supporters can post the subscription box on their site. The background of the email box would be a design that relates to the site and inspires action in supporters. Info collected will need to be name and email address. All data w…
- Swoopo.com Auctions CloneIm looking for a team to develop a swoopo.com auctions clone in functions with a new aspect and in spanish language (translations could be done by me) I dont think that i have to give more details , just visit the web to see the features.
- Tv On Pc SoftwareLooking to rebrand a TV on PC Software application. The app should be windows XP – windows 7 Compatible. I will also need monthly channel updates. If you have a Mac version I would also be interested. I am not looking to make something from scratch so please dont ask. If you have please open a PMB with more details. Sample of the App is a plus.
- Website Design WorkHello, I am looking for an experienced Web designer to build some simple website pages as a test with the intention to have him build sites on a fulltime basis. The designer should have excellent experience with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, CSS, & other web designing tools. Joomla experience would be an asset. I am only looking for experienced designers that can build html (with flash, etc.) professional sites in excellent time frames (1 day for 3 pages if i give you an exact example s…
Partner links
Breaking News
- Bizarre: DIG to probe the 'bee attack'It is bizarre. Uttar Pradesh DIG will probe the alleged ‘bee’ attack on chief minister Mayawati. Mayawati is crying foul over a bizarre incident of a swarm of Bees attacking her rally yesterday. The UP Government has launched a high level probe into how a swarm of honey bees descended in front of Mayawati’s podium.…
- 'Don't see India's restraint as weakness'Foreign secretary of India, Nirupama Rao, has talked tough on Pakistan in the United States, says India can hit back and that there could be no composite dialogue with the country. She said, “Aggressive pronouncements by persons identified by the world as terrorists continue to be made openly against India.”…
Our Friends
Twitter links powered by Tweet This v1.6.1, a WordPress plugin for Twitter.