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Blog Archive 2013 (185)

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March (27)

Photos of Earth taken

by Astronauts

Fractal Geometry -- a

Follow Up

New Picture of the

Universe

Agate Detail

School Forest

Snowshow

Saturn and More

Escanaba Show

Escanaba Art Show this

Weekend

Blizzard

Blizzard Snowshoe

Eban Ice Caves -- Post 2

Eban Ice Caves -- Post 1

Winter Scenes

All About Otters

School Forest Snowshoe

-- Post 2

SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 2013

Photos of Earth taken by AstronautsI've included a few of the photos of earth taken by astronauts in the past-- but it has been a while. So for today's posting I took a look at theportal website http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/.

Cumulonimbus Cloud over Africa Perhaps the most impressivetypes of clouds are cumulonimbus. These dynamic clouds form when

warm, moist, and unstable air vigorously rises in the atmosphere. Ifsufficient atmospheric moisture is present, water droplets condense asthe air mass encounters cooler air at higher altitudes.

As water in the rising air mass condenses and changes from a gas to aliquid state, it releases energy and further heats the surroundings,

which further intensifies the convection process and causes the cloud torise to an even higher altitude. An example of one of these verticaltower clouds is visible in the astronaut photograph included above. Ifenough moisture is present to condense and heat the cloud massthrough several convective cycles, a tower can rise to altitudes ofapproximately six miles (10 km) at high latitudes and to 12 miles (20km) in the tropics. The cloud formation process stops its upwardconvection when it encounters a region of the atmosphere known as thetropopausethe boundary between the troposphere and thestratosphere.

The tropopause is characterized by a strong temperature inversion.Beyond the tropopause, the air no longer gets colder as altitudeincreases. When the cloud formation reaches this atmospheric layer,the cloud tos flattens and spreads into an anvil shape, as illustrated bythis astronaut photograph. The photo was taken from a side angle,

rather than looking straight down towards the Earths surface. Theimage was taken over western Africa near the Senegal-Mali border. Theimage shows a fully formed anvil cloud with numerous smallercumulonimbus towers rising near it. The high energy levels of thesestorm systems typically make them hazardous due to associated heavyprecipitation, lightning, high wind speed,s and possible tornadoes.

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The Agatelady: Adventures and EventsThis blog displays scenic photos taken from around Grand Marais, MI. Photos of rockhoundingand nature adventures are also posted. Information is included about the Gumee Agate and History

Museum and other scientific subjects. For more information about the museum and our uniquemineral art, books, and NEW Online rockhounding adventures please go to www.agatelady.com.

Agatelady: Adventures and Events: March 2013 http://agatelady.blogspot.com.au/2013_03_01_archive.html

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