The Agatelady: Adventures and Events: March 2013

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The Agatelady: Adventures and Events

This blog displays scenic photos taken from around Grand Marais, MI. Photos of rockhounding and 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 unique mineral art, books, and NEW Online rockhounding adventures please go to www.agatelady.com.

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Photos of Earth taken by Astronauts

I'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 the portal website http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/.

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2013 (185) September (8) August (20) July (15) June (23) May (25) April (23) 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

Cumulonimbus Cloud over Africa Perhaps the most impressive types of clouds are cumulonimbus. These dynamic clouds form when warm, moist, and unstable air vigorously rises in the atmosphere. If sufficient atmospheric moisture is present, water droplets condense as the air mass encounters cooler air at higher altitudes. As water in the rising air mass condenses and changes from a gas to a liquid state, it releases energy and further heats the surroundings, which further intensifies the convection process and causes the cloud to rise to an even higher altitude. An example of one of these vertical tower clouds is visible in the astronaut photograph included above. If enough moisture is present to condense and heat the cloud mass through several convective cycles, a tower can rise to altitudes of approximately six miles (10 km) at high latitudes and to 12 miles (20 km) in the tropics. The cloud formation process stops its upward convection when it encounters a region of the atmosphere known as the tropopausethe boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere. The tropopause is characterized by a strong temperature inversion. Beyond the tropopause, the air no longer gets colder as altitude increases. When the cloud formation reaches this atmospheric layer, the cloud tos flattens and spreads into an anvil shape, as illustrated by this astronaut photograph. The photo was taken from a side angle, rather than looking straight down towards the Earths surface. The image was taken over western Africa near the Senegal-Mali border. The image shows a fully formed anvil cloud with numerous smaller cumulonimbus towers rising near it. The high energy levels of these storm systems typically make them hazardous due to associated heavy precipitation, lightning, high wind speed,s and possible tornadoes.

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10/09/2013 9:59 AM