Earth’s Fiercest Winds

The most powerful winds on Earth were caught in action on Sept. 16, 2009. That’s when the sun peaked over the horizon and lit up this Antarctic scene of atmospheric ferocity. Here are some pretty neat details from NASA’s Earth Observatory:

“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.”

Image credit: NASA

A Stormy Sky Over Brazil

On Oct. 6, 2009 the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 20 crew looked toward the Earth’s limb (the hazy blue line on the horizon) and snapped this impressive photograph of stormy weather over Brazil. A huge amount of detail has been captured by the station’s Nikon D2Xs digital camera as a part of the ongoing ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment.

Cumulonimbus clouds in various stages of development can be seen in the unstable air of the tropics, causing thunderstorms. Ring-like patterns in the large-scale structure of the stormy cloud cover is evident, possibly generated by the storm activity. The snaking 2,100 mile (3,380 km) long Rio Madeira (Madeira River) in the Amazon Basin can also be seen, glinting in reflected sunlight.

Image credit: NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.

Earth’s Fiercest Winds

The most powerful winds on Earth were caught in action on Sept. 16, 2009. That’s when the sun peaked over the horizon and lit up this Antarctic scene of atmospheric ferocity. Here are some pretty neat details from NASA’s Earth Observatory:

“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.”

Image credit: NASA

A Stormy Sky Over Brazil

On Oct. 6, 2009 the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 20 crew looked toward the Earth’s limb (the hazy blue line on the horizon) and snapped this impressive photograph of stormy weather over Brazil. A huge amount of detail has been captured by the station’s Nikon D2Xs digital camera as a part of the ongoing ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment.

Cumulonimbus clouds in various stages of development can be seen in the unstable air of the tropics, causing thunderstorms. Ring-like patterns in the large-scale structure of the stormy cloud cover is evident, possibly generated by the storm activity. The snaking 2,100 mile (3,380 km) long Rio Madeira (Madeira River) in the Amazon Basin can also be seen, glinting in reflected sunlight.

Image credit: NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.

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Tags: amazon basin, crew earth observations, earth image, earth observatory, image credit, international space station, iss crew, katabatic winds, madeira river, nasa jsc, nikon d2xs, offshore winds, rio madeira, snow drifts, space station iss, storm activity, stormy sky, stormy weather, terra nova bay, unstable air

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