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Meteorology - Blog Posts
Sean bienvenidos japonistasarqueologicos a una nueva entrega del país del sol naciente en la que os explicaré que es el tsuyu, una vez dicho esto pónganse cómodos que empezamos. - ¿Qué es el tsuyu? ¿En qué consiste? El tsuyu, en hiragana つゆ y en kanji corresponde a 梅雨. Esto corresponde a los meses de verano en Japón: Mayo a julio seguramente todos habréis visto la película de Tenki no ko, del director Makoto shinkai, en el que se puede apreciar muy bien este fenómeno por poner un ejemplo. En estos dos meses caen grandes trombas de agua a raudales que para algunos le resultará placentero y otros una tortura¿Qué es para vosotros?, ¿os gustan los periodos de lluvia? - Espero que os haya gustado y nos vemos en próximas publicaciones que pasen una linda semana. - 日本の考古学者諸君、ようこそ、日出ずる国の新連載へ。ツユとは何かを説明しよう。 - ツユとは何か？つゆとは、ひらがなでは「つゆ」、漢字では「梅雨」にあたる。皆さんは新海誠監督の映画『天 気の子』をご覧になったことがあるだろう。この2ヶ月間、滔々と降り注ぐ大雨は、ある人にとっては喜びであり、ある人にとっては拷問である。 あなたは雨の時期が好きですか？ - それでは、また次の記事でお会いしましょう。 - Welcome, Japanese archaeologists, to a new installment of the land of the rising sun in which I will explain to you what the tsuyu is, having said that, make yourselves comfortable and let's get started. - What is tsuyu and what does it consist of? Tsuyu, in hiragana つゆ and in kanji it would correspond to 梅雨. This corresponds to the summer months in Japan: May to July, you have probably all seen the film Tenki no ko, by director Makoto Shinkai, in which this phenomenon can be seen very well, to give an example. In these two months, huge downpours of water fall in torrents, which for some people will be a pleasure and for others a torture. What is it like for you, do you like periods of rain? - I hope you liked it and see you in the next posts have a nice week.
Ways NASA Studies the Ocean
We live on a water planet. The ocean covers a huge part of the Earth's surface – earning it the name Blue Marble.
The ocean is one of Earth’s largest ecosystems and helps moderate Earth’s climate. NASA scientists spend a lot of time studying the ocean and how it is changing as Earth’s climate changes.
In the last few years, NASA has launched an array of missions dedicated to studying this precious part of our planet, with more to come. For World Oceans Month, which starts in June, here are new ways NASA studies the ocean.
1. Seeing the colors of the ocean 🎨
A new NASA mission called PACE will see Earth’s oceans in more color than ever before. The color of the ocean is determined by the interaction of sunlight with substances or particles present in seawater.
Scheduled to launch in 2024, PACE will help scientists assess ocean health by measuring the distribution of phytoplankton, tiny plants and algae that sustain the marine food web. PACE will also continue measuring key atmospheric variables associated with air quality and Earth's climate.
2. Surveying surface water around the globe 💧
The SWOT satellite, launched in late 2022, is studying Earth’s freshwater – from oceans and coasts to rivers, lakes and more – to create the first global survey of Earth’s surface water.
SWOT is able to measure the elevation of water, observing how major bodies of water are changing and detecting ocean features. The data SWOT collects will help scientists assess water resources, track regional sea level changes, monitor changing coastlines, and observe small ocean currents and eddies.
3. Setting sail to understand interactions between the ocean and atmosphere 🚢
With research aircraft, a research ship, and autonomous ocean instruments like gliders, NASA’s S-MODE mission is setting sail to study Earth’s oceans up close. Their goal? To understand ocean whirlpools, eddies and currents.
These swirling ocean features drive the give-and-take of nutrients and energy between the ocean and atmosphere and, ultimately, help shape Earth’s climate.
4. Building ocean satellites the size of a shoebox 📦
NASA’s HawkEye instrument collects ocean color data and captures gorgeous images of Earth from its orbit just over 355 miles (575 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. It’s also aboard a tiny satellite measuring just 10cm x 10 cm x 30 cm – about the size of a shoebox!
5. Designing new missions to study Earth’s oceans! 🌊
NASA is currently designing a new space-based instrument called GLIMR that will help scientists observe and monitor oceans throughout the Gulf of Mexico, the southeastern U.S. coastline and the Amazon River plume that stretches to the Atlantic Ocean. GLIMR will also provide important information about oil spills, harmful algae blooms, water quality and more to local agencies.
6. Taking the ocean to new heights ⬆️
The U.S.-European Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite is helping researchers measure the height of the ocean - a key component in understanding how Earth’s climate is changing.
This mission, which launched in 2020, has a serious job to do. It’s not only helping meteorologists improve their weather forecasts, but it’s helping researchers understand how climate change is changing Earth’s coastlines in real time.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!
If you're feeling anxious or depressed about the climate and want to do something to help right now, from your bed, for free...
Start helping with citizen science projects
What's a citizen science project? Basically, it's crowdsourced science. In this case, crowdsourced climate science, that you can help with!
You don't need qualifications or any training besides the slideshow at the start of a project. There are a lot of things that humans can do way better than machines can, even with only minimal training, that are vital to science - especially digitizing records and building searchable databases
Like labeling trees in aerial photos so that scientists have better datasets to use for restoration.
Or counting cells in fossilized plants to track the impacts of climate change.
Or digitizing old atmospheric data to help scientists track the warming effects of El Niño.
Or counting penguins to help scientists better protect them.
Those are all on one of the most prominent citizen science platforms, called Zooniverse, but there are a ton of others, too.
Oh, and btw, you don't have to worry about messing up, because several people see each image. Studies show that if you pool the opinions of however many regular people (different by field), it matches the accuracy rate of a trained scientist in the field.
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I spent a lot of time doing this when I was really badly injured and housebound, and it was so good for me to be able to HELP and DO SOMETHING, even when I was in too much pain to leave my bed. So if you are chronically ill/disabled/for whatever reason can't participate or volunteer for things in person, I highly highly recommend.
Next time you wish you could do something - anything - to help
Remember that actually, you can. And help with some science.
Ever wondered how hurricanes form?
Here it comes...but where??? Lol. #hurricane #hurricaneirma #trackingthestorm #whereisitgoing #conspiracytheory #meteorology #itsonlyguessing
We’re back in 2019 with an episode that would have been more appropriate to release during hurricane season: a discussion of the Coriolis force! This force was observed centuries ago but takes its name from the scientist who first considered it in terms of theory and physics. It has an impact on a vast range of natural phenomena, from weather patterns to ocean waves to the flights of flies and moths.
Below the cut are the glossary, transcript, a timeline of the people I mention, sources, and music credits. Send me any topic suggestions via Tumblr message (you don’t need an account to do this, just submit as anonymous). You can also tweet at me on Twitter at @HDandtheVoid, or you can ask me to my face if you know me in real life. Subscribe on iTunes to get the new episodes of my so-far-monthly-updated podcast, and please please please rate and review it. Go ahead and tell friends if you think they’d like to hear it, too!
(My thoughts on the next episode are Stephen Hawking, Hedy Lamarr, or famous comets. The next episode will go up in late February.)
Glossary
Coriolis force - a force in a rotating system that acts perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation. On Earth, this tends to deflect moving objects to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
Ekman transport - the net motion of fluid that results from the balance between Coriolis and turbulent drag forces.
Eötvös effect - the change in perceived gravitational force that results from eastbound or westbound movement on Earth’s surface.
Kelvin waves - an ocean wave that is trapped at the Earth’s equator and along vertical boundaries like coastlines. They move towards the equator when they have a western boundary; towards the poles when they have an eastern boundary; and make a whirlpool when they have a closed boundary, moving counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
Lagrange points - five points where three bodies can orbit each other, yet stay in the same position relative to each other in a stable configuration. L1-L3 are in line with each other, while L4 and L5 are at the points of equilateral triangles in the configuration.
prograde - when a planet spins from east to west.
Rossby number - used to determine the relative importance of the centrifugal and Coriolis forces in maps of weather patterns. A small Rossby number indicates that a weather system is strongly affected by Coriolis forces, while a large Rossby number signifies that a system is affected by inertial and centrifugal forces.
Transcript
Timeline
Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian (1598-1671)
Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian (1618-63)
Joseph-Louis Lagrange, French (1736-1813)
Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis, French (1792-1843)
Sir William Thompson, AKA Lord Kelvin, Scots-Irish (1824-1907)
Baron Loránd Eötvös de Vásárosnamény, Hungarian (1848-1919)
Ottokar Tumlirz, Austrian (1856-1928)
Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian (1861-1930)
Vagn Walfrid Ekman, Swedish (1874-1954)
Carl-Gustaf Arvid Rossby, Swedish-born American (1898-1957)
Sources
Coriolis Effect via the University of Oregon
Coriolis Force via Wikipedia
Coriolis effect, two centuries before Coriolis via Physics Today (Aug 2011)
Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis via Wikipedia
Coriolis effect via National Geographic
Hurricane, cyclone, typhoon, tornado – what’s the difference? via African Reporter (Sep 2017)
Wang, B. Kelvin Waves. University of Hawaii: Honolulu, 2002.
Ocean in Motion: Ekman Transport Background via NASA
Ekman transport via Wikipedia
What is a Geodesist? via Environmental Science
“The Second Coming” by W. B. Yeats via Poetry Foundation
Intro Music: ‘Better Times Will Come’ by No Luck Club off their album Prosperity
Filler Music: ‘Ambergris’ by Tipper off their EP Fathoms
Outro Music: ‘Fields of Russia’ by Mutefish off their album On Draught
Stay safe, you guys
Live wind map of hurricane Matthew – expected to make landfall in FL late tomorrow
