Friday, March 31, 2006
Planet Jupiter Images
These color maps of Jupiter were produced using images created by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its 2000 flyby - on the way to Saturn. They are the most detailed color maps of Jupiter ever produced. 
Image by NASA - Jupiter Northern Hemisphere
Image by NASA - Jupiter Southern Hemisphere (High Resolution)NASA's interpretation of these images... "The maps show a variety of cloud features, including parallel reddish-brown and white bands, the Great Red Spot, multi-lobed chaotic regions, white ovals and many small vortices. Many clouds appear in streaks and waves due to continual stretching and folding by Jupiter's winds and turbulence. The bluish-gray features along the north edge of the central bright band are equatorial "hot spots," meteorological systems such as the one entered by NASA's Galileo probe. Small bright spots within the orange band north of the equator are lightning-bearing thunderstorms. The polar regions shown here are less clearly visible because Cassini viewed them at an angle and through thicker atmospheric haze." Labels: Planets
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Total Solar Eclipse Image Animation
A total solar eclipse passed over northern Africa and the Mediterranean on Wednesday, March 29. The event is captured on the satellite image sequence shown below. In this solar eclipse sequence you can see a black area (shadow of the Moon) move from the bottom center of the image to the top right corner of the image. The dark black area, about 160 kilometers (100 miles across) is the region of "totality" where the moon is completely eclipsing the sun.) 
Image modified from a NASA animation.Labels: Astronomy-Planets
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Plate Tectonics Presentation at NSTA
Hobart King, publisher of Geology.com, will make a presentation titled: "Teaching Plate Tectonics With Easy-To-Draw Illustrations" at the National Science Teachers Association's 54th National Conference on Science Education in Anaheim, California. The presentation will be given on Friday, April 7th at 3:30 PM (please check the conference program for the room location). The presentation will demonstrate a draw-with-me approach for teaching about plate tectonics using illustrations that are easy to draw and which have been used successfully to teach students from third grade to graduate school. Teachers attending the presentation will receive a free guidebook which contains printed copies of the base illustrations that they will use at the session. The presentation guidebook containing his "starting point drawings" can be downloaded as a Microsoft Word document HERE. Animations of the primary drawings can also be seen. 
Image by Hobart King, Geology.comThe presentation will provide an overview of the plate tectonics theory and will assume no previous knowledge about the subject. Teachers who attend the presentation should leave with a better understanding of plate tectonics and return to their classroom with everything needed to teach a draw-with-me lesson. Labels: Plate-Tectonics, Teaching-Science
Monday, March 27, 2006
Mars: Channels, Craters and Dunes in MRO Images
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned its first test images of Mars clearly showing craters, channels, plains, dunes and many other features. These images were shot from over 1547 miles above the Martian surface and have a resolution of about eight meters per pixel - comparable to some of the best images previously collected. Future images will be collected from a lower altitude and have much better detail. 
Images by NASA - View top image at high resolution (3 MB)The top scene covers an area about 49.8 kilometers (30.9 miles) wide and 23.6 kilometers (11.7 miles) high from Mars' mid-latitude southern highlands. A very large, older crater can be seen in the central part of the image and smaller, much younger craters can be seen at many locations. Multiple channels can be seen to the west and south east of the large older crater. Smooth areas, covered with loose debris can be seen throughout the scene. In several areas this loose debris has been formed into dunes by the Martian winds. The channels suggest that water has played a role in shaping the Martian landscape. See more details at the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Website. Labels: Planets
Sunday, March 26, 2006
New Idaho and Montana Aerial Images
Dr. William Bowen has published two new atlases containing panoramic aerial images of Idaho and Montana. These publications, "Idaho Atlas of Panoramic Aerial Images" and "Western Montana Atlas of Panoramic Aerial Images" contain nearly 2000 new aerial images covering more than 150,000 square miles (388,500 square kilometers). Shown below is a reduced size aerial image of the Kootenai River Valley, Boundary County, Idaho from the Idaho Atlas. These images give the sense of an oblique view of the landscape. The image below is 550 pixels wide but the atlas images are over 1000 pixels wide giving much greater detail. 
Sample image from the Idaho Atlas - used with permissionAccess to several of Dr. Bowen's image atlases can be obtained at the California State University, Northridge, Electronic Map Library. Labels: Satellite-Images
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Hayward Fault - Source of the Next Big Earthquake?
The Hayward Fault cuts through densely populated parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. Over 2,000,000 people live within shaking distance of the Hayward and a large earthquake there could be one of the most damaging and deadly earthquakes in the history of the United States. The Hayward Fault produced a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in 1868 and many geologists believe that it could well be the source of the next major U.S. earthquake. Tom Brocher, USGS seismologist says that the Hayward Fault is "locked and loaded and ready to fire at any time". 
Image produced using stills from www.llnl.govRead an interesting Associated Press article about the Hayward Fault. Labels: Earthquakes
Friday, March 24, 2006
Geothermal Energy Source for SDG&E
Geothermal energy production involves tapping the heat present in subsurface rock and soil units. It can be a simple as withdrawing warm ground water and using it as a source of heat or it can involve tapping hot subsurface waters to generate electricity. It is considered by many to be a "green" energy source that has minimal impact upon the natural environment. San Diego Gas and Electric has signed a contract to purchase geothermal source electricity from Esmeralda Truckhaven Geothermal, LLC. Under this contract ETG will provide 20 megawatts of geothermal source electricty, beginning in 2010 and continuing through 2025. The energy will be produced at ETG's Juan Bautista de Anza Geothermal Project, located in Imperial County, California. Read more about this Geothermal Source Energy Contract at primezone.com. Labels: Geothermal
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Looking Back in Time with the Spitzer Space Telescope
Astronomers Peter Eisenhardt and Mark Brodwin of NASA's Jet Propulstion Laboratory have discovered the farthest away object ever seen using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. They measured the color of distant galaxy clusters and used that information to estimate their distance from Earth. Galaxy clusters are the largest gravitationally bound structures in the universe. A typical cluster can contain thousands of galaxies and trillions of stars. Their methods detected a galaxy cluster that is over 9 billion light years from earth. This means that the light detected by the Spitzer telescope left that galaxy cluster over 9 billion years ago - about 4.5 billion years before the earth was formed! Looking into deep space with the Spitzer telescope is really looking back in time. 
Image by NASA/JPLIn the false-color composite image above the red dots are distant galaxies, the green blobs are Milky Way stars and the blue specks are faint galaxies at various distances along the line of sight. The cluster at 9.1 billion light-years away (lower right panel) is currently the most distant galaxy cluster ever detected. Read more about looking back in time at the Spitzer Space Telescope Website. Labels: Astronomy-Planets
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Fossil Ground Water Produced in Libya
They call it the "Great Man Made River Project" - a drilling and pipeline project to produce Libya's deep ground water and distribute it to many desert locations. So far they have spent $30 billion, mostly on 3000 miles (5000 km) of pipelines that distribute 6.5 million cubic meters of water per day. The goal is to provide a water supply for Libya's people and produce crops in areas where farming has been marginally possible or impossible before. One downfall is that this water is an unrenewable resource which will certainly be gone before Libya's climate becomes more humid. Read more about Libyan Ground Water at the BBC website. Labels: Ground-Water
Saturday, March 18, 2006
Stream Gage Monitoring vs Low Funding
The stream monitoring done by a USGS stream gage typically costs between $12,000 and $15,000 per year. USGS operates about seven thousand of these gages across the United States. That's a lot of money! Over 100 of these gages were closed during the past year because of low levels of funding and other gages are scheduled to close during 2006. USGS provides much of the funding for this gaging network. Other federal, state and local government agencies help support the costs of those gages which provide information critical to their projects. Companies and organizations also contribute towards the maintenance of specific gages. 
Gaging Station Image by USGS
Hydrograph by USGSInformation for many of these gages is published to the web and can be viewed at the USGS Stream Monitoring Website. This information is valuable for many flood control, water supply, wildlife management and recreational purposes. If you work for or are a member of an organization that values the gaging station data perhaps you can find a way to contributed towards its generation? See more information at the Geology.com pages for Hydrographs and Gaging Stations. Labels: Floods-Flooding
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Mount Vesuvius Eruption - Are We Due for Another?
The most famous eruption of Mount Vesuvius took place in 79 AD and destroyed the city of Pompeii. New geological and archaeological discoveries have shown that another major Vesuvius eruption occurred during the Bronze Age (about 4000 years ago) and was even more devastating. Research by Michael Sheridan (University at Buffalo), Giuseppe Mastrolorenzo and Lucia Pappalardo (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Volcanologia-Osservatorio Vesuviano), and Pierpaolo Petrone (Museo di Antropologia. Centro Musei delle Scienze Naturali) documents the impact of the eruption on people living in the area through trackways which include thousands of human and animal footprints, skeletons of people and livestock buried under a meter of pumice and other evidence. Their work shows that the eruption strongly affected the area of what is now metropolitan Naples - much farther away than previously realized - and makes a strong call for reevaluating volcanic risk in the area. Sheridan has studied the history of Vesuvius eruptions and a trend of eruptions at 2000 year intervals can be traced back over 20,000 years. So, the Bronze Age eruption was 4000 years ago, the Pompei eruption was 2000 years ago... are we due for another? Read more about the Bronze Age Mount Vesuvius Eruption at the University at Buffalo website. Labels: Volcanoes
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Pink Snow in Northern Russia - Yellow Snow in Sakhalin
Pink snow fell in Russia early this week. Local meteorology experts blame it on dust particles blown from the Mongolian desert. Yellow snow on the island of Sakhalin was blamed on industrial pollution. See photos of the Pink Snow and read more at MosNews.com. Labels: Meteorology
Monday, March 13, 2006
Shaded Relief Map of Mars
Google now has a shaded relief map of Mars that you can use explore the planet's surface. Tools allow you to zoom and pan, and pushpins are used to mark over 100 features. A person interested in geomorphology or planets could spend an awful lot of time exploring the mountains, plains, craters and canyons of Mars. 
screenshot of Google Mars websiteCheck out the Shaded Relief Map of Mars by Google. Labels: Astronomy-Planets
Sunday, March 12, 2006
West Virginia Coal Miner Shortage
There is a shortage of experienced coal miners in West Virginia and other states in the Appalachia region even though salaries are easily at $50,000+ per year. An estimated need for over 6,000 experienced miners is causing production shortfalls. The reasons for this shortfall go back to the 1980's when a slump in the demand for coal caused many layoffs. For years after it was easy for the mines to hire experienced workers - they simply hired back miners who were laid off in the 1980's. Now the average coal miner is over 45 years old and young miners who know the job are getting very hard to find. 
Miner testing for methane - MSHA.gov ImageRead more about the Coal Miner Shortage at the Chron.com website. Labels: Employment
Friday, March 10, 2006
Saturn's Moon May Have Water Geysers!
A big surprise has surfaced from the Cassini-Huygens Mission - the discovery of what is thought to be water on Saturn's moon Enceladus. "We realize that this is a radical conclusion -- that we may have evidence for liquid water within a body so small and so cold," said Dr. Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado. "However, if we are right, we have significantly broadened the diversity of solar system environments where we might possibly have conditions suitable for living organisms." The Cassini images below show what are thought to be icy jets and plumes of water ejected at high speed. NASA scientists believe that these jets might be erupting from near-surface reservoirs of liquid water - at temperatures above zero degrees Celsius. They have been compared to geysers similar to Old Faithful in Yellowstone. 
Image by NASARead more about water on Saturn's Moon Enceladus at the NASA website. Labels: Astronomy-Planets
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Geology of Saturn's Moons
Many new images of Saturn and its moons are being shared with the public at the Ciclops.org website. There is a lot of geology to be seen in these images with just a small sampling below. Hyperion has a spongy-looking surface that is thought to result from thermal erosion, a process through which dark materials accumulating on crater floors are warmed by sunlight and melt deeper into the surface. 
Image by NASA (more detailed image)Rhea is heavily cratered, has faults in many orientations and shows evidence of volcanism. 
Image by NASA (more detailed image)Dione is also heavily cratered. JPL scientists speculate that the whispy appearance is caused by material of high albedo that is thin enough to allow surface features to be unobscured. This material might have been ejected from fractures in Dione's surface and fell back to the surface as snow or ash. 
Image by NASALearn more about the moons of Saturn at Ciclops.org and Planetary Photojournal. Labels: Astronomy-Planets
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Spiral Galaxy Photo
The image below is a tiny view of the most detailed image of a spiral galaxy that has been assembled to date. It is a mosaic created by NASA / STScI using 51 individual exposures from the Hubble Space Telescope plus elements from ground-based photos. Shown in the image is M101, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, which is located in the Ursa Major constellation. It is 25 million light years from earth. It is a giant spiral disk of stars, dust and gas and is 170,000 light years across - nearly twice the diameter of the Milky Way Galaxy. 
Image by NASA / STScI (more detailed image)Read more about the Spiral Galaxy Image at HubbleSite.org. Labels: Astronomy-Planets
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Pesticides in Streams and Groundwater
About one billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the United States to control weeds, insects and other pests. This use has its benefits but it also raises some concerns about adverse effects on the environment - especially water quality. The National Water Quality Assessment provides the most comprehensive national-scale analysis to date of pesticide occurrence and concentrations in streams and ground water. The report concludes that pesticides are typically present throughout the year in most streams in urban and agricultural areas of the nation, but are less common in ground water. The report also concludes that pesticides are seldom at concentrations likely to affect humans. However in many streams, particularly those draining urban and agricultural areas, pesticides were found at concentrations that may affect aquatic life or fish-eating wildlife. 
Image by USGSDownload the Pesticides Report at the USGS website. Labels: Ground-Water
Monday, March 06, 2006
Possible Meteor Impact Crater Discovered
Researchers from Boston University have discovered the remnants of the largest crater of the Great Sahara of North Africa which may have been formed by a meteorite impact tens of millions of years ago. Dr. Farouk El-Baz discovered the 31 km diameter crater while studying satellite images of the Western Desert of Egypt with his colleague, Dr. Eman Ghoneim, at BU's Center for Remote Sensing. The crater was named Kebira, meaning "large" in Arabic. 
Image Courtesy of Boston University Center for Remote SensingRead more about the discovery at the Boston University Website. Explore the impact structure yourself using Google Maps. View dozens of impact structures with Geology.com's interactive impact map. Labels: Meteor-Meteorite
Sunday, March 05, 2006
New Red Spot on Jupiter
NASA reports a new red spot on Jupiter. The new red spot, named "Oval BA," but most refer to it as "Red Jr." is about 1/2 the size of the famous "Great Red Spot". The large red spot and this new one are thought to be caused by long-term storm systems and the Great Red Spot is the largest known storm in the solar system. Oval BA was first noticed in 2000 when three small storms, which were white in color, collided and merged. The combined spot was initially white then brown and a few weeks ago turned red. Read more about Jupiter's New Red Spot at the NASA website. Labels: Astronomy-Planets
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Uplift at Yellowstone Caldera
USGS has been monitoring surface elevations and ground deformation over Yellowstone Caldera using satellite technologies. Between 1997 and 2003 approximately 12 cm (5 inches) of uplift was detected. 
Image of ground deformation was created with satellite data by USGS
Graph of N-S, E-W and Vertical deformation by USGS
3D image of Yellowstone Caldera by USGSRead more about Yellowstone Caldera. Labels: Volcanoes
Friday, March 03, 2006
Antarctic Drilling
A feature article at the Geotimes website gives details on several Antarctic drilling projects. These have been done in part to understand the climate history of the Antarctic region. This drilling has focused on recovering ice cores, sea-floor sediments and shallow geologic materials. The hope is to collect evidence of past climate history and use that informatoin to understand future climate change. Read more about Antarctic Drilling at the Geotimes website. Labels: Arctic-Antarctic
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