Sand Dunes on Saturn’s Moon Titan
January 25, 2012 | Geology.com
Sand dunes are a dominant surface feature on Saturn’s moon Titan. They cover about 13% of the moon’s surface – an area about the same size as the United States. Instead of quartz sand the sand is a solid hydrocarbon! |
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What Causes the Dust Storms in Arizona?
October 12, 2011 | USGS
“USGS and partner science show that there are many causes of dust storms. Two contributing factors are low vegetation cover and disturbance to soil surfaces.” Quoted from the USGS science feature. |
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ALMA: The Billion Dollar Telescope
October 4, 2011 | The Guardian
The Guardian website has a short video about the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimetre/Sub-millimetre Array) radio telescope being built high on a plateau in Chile’s Atacama Desert. |
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Continuing Eruption at Nabro Volcano, Eritrea
September 30, 2011 | NASA Earth Observatory
Nabro Volcano, located in Eritrea near the Danakil Depression continues to show signs of eruption. It is located in a remote, sparsely populated area where satellite monitoring is the only reliable method of monitoring. Image below acquired on June 29, 2011.
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Mapping Fresh Water Below Kuwait’s Desert
September 15, 2011 | NASA
“A NASA-led team has used radar sounding technology developed to explore the subsurface of Mars to create high-resolution maps of freshwater aquifers buried deep beneath an Earth desert, in the first use of airborne sounding radar for aquifer mapping.” Quoted from the NASA press release. |
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Potash Ponds in the Taklimakan Desert, China
June 21, 2011 | NASA Earth Observatory
The discovery of potash at Lop Nur [in the Taklimakan Desert of China] turned the area into a large-scale mining operation. [...] The rectangular shapes in this image show the bright colors characteristic of solar evaporation ponds. Around the evaporation ponds are the earth tones typical of sandy desert. |
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Heavy Rain on the Namib Desert
May 13, 2011 | NASA Earth Observatory
“In early May 2011, more rain fell in one day in the Namib Desert than typically falls in an entire year. The map below depicts rainfall for Namibia and South Africa on May 5, 2011.” Quote from Earth Observatory. Visit their site to see a spectacular ground image of this rainstorm advancing across the desert.
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Harvesting Fog in the Namib Desert
April 25, 2011 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A type of beetle in the Namib Desert survives by harvesting tiny amounts of water from fog. Now an engineer at MIT works on a method to harvest fog on a much larger scale to serve the water needs of native people – who otherwise must carry water every day over great distances. |
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The Lost Army of Cambyses
February 4, 2011 | Discovery.com
After 2500 years, archaeologists believe that they have discovered the remains of Cambyses’ army that was lost in the Sahara Desert during a terrible sandstorm. |
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