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Iceberg - Blog Posts
Photo courtesy of New York Times
Moving
“Isn’t it boring here, Noah?” Elijah complained.
“Patience Elijah. Soon enough, a huge wind is going to blow us away from here.” Noah reassured him for the umpteenth time with an exasperated sigh.
Both Elijah and Noah had been in Antarctica for many years, standing in the great vast of water, only moving a little by the winds that could have knocked any human down. Due to their great size, they haven’t been moving a lot recently. Elijah had been very impatient. He was just a bit smaller than Noah, he really wanted to explore the world.
But the winds weren’t cooperating.
“Seriously Elijah? It’s better here. We can survive here before those dreaded humans come and destroy us.” Peppy piped up indignantly. She was the smallest ice berg there was. She was always annoyed with Elijah, for all he kept talking about was to explore the world and complain how boring Antarctica was.
“I don’t think all humans are that bad! And I hate all the boring white here...” Elijah continued on and on and on. Peppy and Noah sighed in defeat.
One day, Elijah and Noah were just chatting about their day. It was one of those rare days where Elijah wasn’t complaining the ice off about how boring Antarctica was.
That was when the howling started.
It wasn’t audible at first, the wind wasn’t too strong, nor was the water current. But slowly, is started picking up faster and faster. It was like a blizzard, Noah and Elijah could barely see anything. Then they started moving little by little. They saw Peppy speeding past them, screaming as she went. Elijah and Noah started moving faster and faster. It was the biggest storm they ever had.
Then all light had disappeared.
“Elijah! Wake up! Look where we have arrived!” Elijah groaned and woke up to bright light and warmth. It was really unlike Antarctica. Elijah gasped upon finding out where they were.
They were floating in warmer waters next to colourful land! Well, not really colourful, but it wasn’t white! At last! Something other than blue and white! Elijah stared in awe. A red house stood further away, and another white house peeked from behind. What humans called ‘cars’ were standing around on the land. Human were looking at us and talking muffled words. “I think they’re talking about us!!” Elijah exclaimed excitedly. Noah didn’t say anything.
They floated in the warm waters, not moving. Soon, night came and all the human went home. Elijah and Noah stood floating in the waters all alone. “Hey Elijah, I think I’m starting to melt...” Elijah looked over in a panic just in time to see a small chunk of ice falling down from Noah. It dropped own and splashed loudly in the sea.
Both looked at each other in horror.
True ascended on an iceberg is being involved in all categories, disagreeing with the placement, and being able to come up with other categories that fit the topic (where does french revolution music and pre-1789/peasant revolt music used in a socialist context fit into this? Does history/political meme music focusing on socialism count?) Reblog with icebergs you've found that fit your special interests or post your own!
Our Planet: 8 Stunning Views of Earth from Space
Swirling clouds, deep blue oceans and textured land- and icescapes are among the many faces of our planet revealed in NASA’s new photo-essay book: Earth. This collection of 69 images captured by satellites tells a story of a 4.5-billion-year-old planet where there is always something new to see. Earth is a beautiful, awe-inspiring place, and it is the only world most of us will ever know. It is your planet. It is NASA’s mission. The book is available now in hardcover and ebook, and online with interactive features.
Here are eight of those breathtaking images for your viewing pleasure.
Channel Country, Australia
These wide floodplains in Queensland, Australia are unique on the planet. Scientists think they are caused by the extreme variation in water and sediment discharges from the rivers. In many years there is no rainfall at all, and the rivers are effectively non-existent. In years of modest rainfall, the main channels will carry some water, sometimes spilling over into narrow water holes known as billabongs.
Every few decades, the floodplain carries extremely high discharges of water. For instance, tropical storms to the north can lead to great water flows that inundate the entire width of the floodplain. On such occasions, the floodplain appears as series of brown and green water surfaces with only tree tops indicating the location of the islands. Such is the case in this image taken from the International Space Station in September 2016.
Grounded in the Caspian, Kazakhstan
A wide variety of ice forms in the Caspian Sea, which stretches from Kazakhstan to Iran. Just offshore, a well-developed expanse of consolidated ice appears bright white. Farther offshore, a gray-white field of chunky, hummocked ice has detached and is slowly drifting around a polynya, an area of open water surrounded by sea ice. That darker patch is actually growing young, thin ice and nilas, a term that designates sea ice crust up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) in thickness.
The close-up shows nilas and a white, diamond-shaped piece of ice. It might look like this chunk is on the move, cutting a path through thinner ice. But it’s more likely that the “diamond” was stuck to the sea bottom and the wind pushed ice around it.
Tsauchab River Bed, Namibia
The Tsauchab River is a famous landmark for the people of Namibia and tourists. Yet few people have ever seen the river flowing with water. In December 2009, an astronaut on the International Space Station caught this glimpse of the Tsauchab River bed jutting into the sea of red dunes. It ends in a series of light-colored, silty mud holes on the dry lake floor.
Like several other rivers around the Namib Desert, the Tsauchab brings sediment down from the hinterland toward the coastal lowland. This sediment is then blown from the river beds, and over tens of millions of years it has accumulated as the red dunes of the Namib Sand Sea.
Taranaki and Egmont, New Zealand
The circular pattern of New Zealand’s Egmont National Park stands out from space as a human fingerprint on the landscape. The park protects the forested and snow-capped slopes around Mount Taranaki (Mount Egmont to British settlers). It was established in 1900, when officials drew a radius of 10 kilometers around the volcanic peak. The colors differentiate the protected forest (dark green) from once-forested pasturelands (light- and brown-green).
Named by the native Maori people, Taranaki stands 2,518 meters (8,260 feet) tall, and it is one of the world’s most symmetric volcanoes. It first became active about 135,000 years ago. By dating lava flows, geologists have figured out that small eruptions occur roughly every 90 years and major eruptions every 500 years. Landsat 8 acquired this image of Taranaki and the park in July 2014.
Storms Stir Up Sediment in Bermuda
In October 2014, the eye of Hurricane Gonzalo passed right over Bermuda. In the process, the potent storm stirred up the sediments in the shallow bays and lagoons around the island, spreading a huge mass of sediment across the North Atlantic Ocean. This Landsat 8 image shows the area after Gonzalo passed through.
The suspended sediments were likely a combination of beach sand and carbonate sediments from around the shallows and reefs. Coral reefs can produce large amounts of calcium carbonate, which stays on the reef flats (where there are coralline algae that also produce carbonate) and builds up over time to form islands.
Framing an Iceberg in the South Atlantic Ocean
In June 2016, the Suomi NPP satellite captured this image of various cloud formations in the South Atlantic Ocean. Note how low stratus clouds framed a hole over iceberg A-56 as it drifted across the sea.
The exact reason for the hole in the clouds is somewhat of a mystery. It could have formed by chance, although imagery from the days before and after this date suggest something else was at work. It could be that the relatively unobstructed path of the clouds over the ocean surface was interrupted by thermal instability created by the iceberg. In other words, if an obstacle is big enough, it can divert the low-level atmospheric flow of air around it, a phenomenon often caused by islands.
Lofted Over Land in Madagascar
Along the muddy Mania River, midday clouds form over the forested land but not the water. In the tropical rainforests of Madagascar, there is ample moisture for cloud formation. Sunlight heats the land all day, warming that moist air and causing it to rise high into the atmosphere until it cools and condenses into water droplets. Clouds generally form where air is ascending (over land in this case), but not where it is descending (over the river). Landsat 8 acquired this image in January 2015.
A Lava Lamp Look at the Atlantic Ocean
Stretching from tropical Florida to the doorstep of Europe, the Gulf Stream carries a lot of heat, salt, and history. This river of water is an important part of the global ocean conveyor belt, moving water and heat from the Equator toward the far North Atlantic. It is one of the strongest currents on Earth and one of the most studied. Its discovery is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, though sailors likely knew about the current long before they had a name for it.
This image shows a small portion of the Gulf Stream off of South Carolina as it appeared in infrared data collected by the Landsat 8 satellite in April 2013. Colors represent the energy—heat—being emitted by the water, with cooler temperatures in purple and the warmest water being nearly white. Note how the Gulf Stream is not a uniform band but instead has finer streams and pockets of warmer and colder water.
These images are just a few from our new book called Earth. Explore the other 61 images here.
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Squaring Off with Icebergs with Operation IceBridge
From onboard a NASA research plane, Operation IceBridge is flying survey flights over Antarctica, studying how the frozen continent is changing. The average Antarctic flight is 11-12 hours long; with all that time in the air, the science team sees some striking and interesting views, including two rectangular-looking icebergs off Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf.
They're both tabular icebergs, which are relatively common in the Antarctic. They form by breaking off ice shelves -- when they are “fresh,” they have flat tops and angular lines and edges because they haven't been rounded or broken by wind and waves.
Operation IceBridge is one part of NASA's exploration of the cryosphere -- Earth's icy reaches. Follow along as we explore the frozen regions of our home planet.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.