On the afternoon of Sept. 1, 2016, Tropical Storm Hermine strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane as it approached the coast of Florida. Hermine began life as Tropical Depression Nine, originating off the coast of Cuba on Aug. 28. After heading northwest into the Gulf of Mexico, it took a right turn toward Florida and on Wednesday, Aug. 31, was upgraded to a tropical storm before strengthening to a hurricane a day later. Winds are currently sustained near 75 miles (121 kilometers) per hour, and the storm is expected to make landfall tonight or early tomorrow. Florida Governor Rick Scott has declared a state of emergency in 51 counties, while Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has done the same for 56 counties in his state. Localized flooding is already occurring in some areas of Florida, which has not had a direct landfall by a hurricane in 11 years. After moving across Florida and Georgia, the storm is currently forecast to continue northward along the coast of the Eastern seaboard. On Sept. 1, at 12:30 p.m. EDT, the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft passed over the area. This natural-color image from MISR's vertical-pointing camera shows the large, loosely organized hurricane. At the time, the center of the storm was located about 200 miles (325 kilometers) to the west of Sarasota on the Florida coast. The image is 235 miles (378 kilometers) in width. Also included is a 3D stereo anaglyph, made by combining data from MISR's vertical-pointing and 46-degree forward-pointing camera. The image has been rotated so that north is to the left in order to enable stereo viewing. With the aid of red-blue glasses (with the red lens over the left eye), it is possible to observe the storm in three dimensions. Note the towering central thunderstorms around the eye in comparison to the low clouds visible within it. These data were acquired during Terra orbit 88865.
Blue Origin spills more beans about New Glenn heavy booster
Download Zip: https://miimms.com/2vK8DQ
Project MIDAS, a United Kingdom-based group that studies the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica, reported Aug. 18, 2016, that a large crack in the Larsen C shelf has grown by another 13 miles (22 kilometers) in the past six months. The crack is now more than 80 miles (130 kilometers) long. Larsen C is the fourth largest ice shelf in Antarctica, with an area of about 19,300 square miles (50,000 square kilometers), greater than the size of Maryland. Computer modeling by Project MIDAS predicts that the crack will continue to grow and eventually cause between nine and twelve percent of the ice shelf to collapse, resulting in the loss of 2,300 square miles (6,000 square kilometers) of ice -- more than the area of Delaware. This follows the collapse of the Larsen B shelf in 2002 and the Larsen A shelf in 1995, which removed about 1,255 square miles (3,250 square kilometers) and 580 square miles (1,500 square kilometers) of ice, respectively. The Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite flew over Larsen C on Aug. 22, 2016. The MISR instrument views Earth with nine cameras pointed at different angles, which provides information about the texture of the surface. On the left is a natural-color image of the shelf from MISR's vertical-viewing camera. Antarctica is slowly emerging from its polar night, and the low light gives the scene a bluish tint. The Larsen C shelf is on the left, while thinner sea ice is present on the right. A variety of cracks are visible in the Larsen C shelf, all appearing roughly the same. The image is about 130 by 135 miles (210 by 220 kilometers) in size. On the right is a composite image made by combining data from MISR's 46-degree backward-pointing camera (plotted as blue), the vertical-pointing camera (plotted as green), and the 46-degree forward-pointing camera (plotted as red). This has the effect of highlighting surface roughness; smooth surfaces appear as blue-purple, while rough surfaces appear as
[figure removed for brevity, see original site] This scene from the dust covered plains of eastern Arabia Terra portrays a range of geological time. Three craters at the center of the image capture some of this range. Two have the classic bowl-shape of small, relatively recent craters while the one just to the north has seen much more history. Its rim has been scoured away by erosion and its floor has been filled in by material likely of a sedimentary nature. The channels that wind through the scene may be the oldest features present while the relatively dark streaks scattered about could have been produced in the past few years or even months as winds remove a layer of dust to reveal darker material below.Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time.NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
On Aug. 16, 2016, at around 10:30 a.m., a brush fire ignited in the Cajon Pass east of Los Angeles, just to the west of Interstate 15. Within a matter of hours, extreme temperatures, high winds and low humidity allowed the fire to spread rapidly, burning through brush left tinder-dry by years of drought. Firefighters quickly responded, ordering the evacuation of about 83,000 people in and around the Cajon Pass, Wrightwood, Lytle Creek, Oak Hills and surrounding areas. An as-yet uncounted number of homes and structures have burned, and Interstate 15 remains closed to downed power lines and barrier damage. By Aug. 17, the fire had expanded to more than 30,000 acres and remains zero percent contained as some 1,300 firefighters continue to battle to save homes and evacuate residents. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite passed over the region on Aug. 17 around 11:50 a.m. PDT and captured this natural-color image from MISR's 70-degree forward-viewing camera, which covers an areas about 257 miles (414 kilometers) wide. The oblique view angle makes the smoke more apparent than it would be in a more conventional vertical view. The Los Angeles metropolitan area is the large gray area on the coast in the center of the image. Three plumes from the Blue Cut Fire are clearly visible in the mountains to the north. This oblique view also shows an enormous cloud of smoke spreading northeastward over a significant portion of eastern California and Nevada. This smoke probably originated from the fire as it consumed almost 20,000 acres on the evening of the 16th and traveled north overnight. Also visible from this oblique view is considerable haziness filling California's Central Valley, to the northwest of the Blue Cut Fire. This haziness is most likely due to smoke from several other fires burning in California, including the Soberanes Fire near Monterey, the Clayton Fire that has destroyed 175 structures north of San Francisco
2ff7e9595c
Comments