Clipmarks | Modis Clips

Phytoplankton Bloom in the Barents Sea

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:16:14 GMT

clipped by: valann 47

Phytoplankton Bloom in the Barents Sea

The waters of the Barents Sea off the northeast coast of Norway (bottom left) were bright with a bloom of phytoplankton on August 12, 2008, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite passed overhead and captured this photo-like image. Phytoplankton are tiny plant-like organisms that are the foundation of the ocean food web. Like plants, they contain chlorophyll and other pigments that they use to harvest sunlight for photosynthesis. In northern waters, these organisms are starved for sunlight much of the year, but during the summer months, they explode in colorful blooms such as this one.

Tags: plankton, barents sea, norway

Earth From Space: A Blooming North Sea

Sun, 25 May 2008 09:45:21 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: MERIS acquired this image on 7 May 2008, working in Full Resolution mode to provide a spatial resolution of 300 m.

Globally, phytoplankton are a major influence on the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, and hence need to be modelled into calculations of future climate change. Just like land-based plants, they accumulate carbon dioxide during photosynthesis and store it in their tissues, making them potentially important carbon sinks.

To support ocean carbon cycle research, ESA's GlobColour project has merged 55 terabytes of data from three state-of-the-art instruments aboard different satellites, including MERIS, MODIS aboard NASA's Aqua and SeaWiFS aboard GeoEye's Orbview-2, to produce a 10-year dataset of global ocean colour stretching from 1997 to 2007.

The ocean colour datasets are freely available to the public via the GlobColour website.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Earth from Space: A blooming North Sea This Envisat image captures the green swirls of a phytoplankton bloom in the North Sea off the coast of eastern Scotland. The chlorophyll phytoplankton collectively contain colour the ocean's waters, which provides a means of detecting these tiny organisms from space with dedicated ocean colour sensors, like Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument. MERIS acquired this image on 7 May 2008, working in Full Resolution mode to provide a spatial resolution of 300 m.
ESA

Phytoplankton, microscopic marine plants that drift near the surface of the sea, are by far the most abundant type of life found in the ocean.

The chlorophyll they collectively contain colour the ocean's waters, which provides a means of detecting these tiny organisms from space with dedicated ocean colour sensors, like Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument.

Tags: envisat, meris, color sensors, state-of-the art, satellites

Ireland

Sat, 24 May 2008 15:48:40 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: www.redorbit.com

May 14, 2008 was a clear day over Ireland, and the MODIS on the Terra satellite captured this image as it passed overhead on that day. The black line shows the bordered between Northern Ireland and Ireland. Parts of the island of Great Britain, including Scotland (north) and Wales (south) are visible east of Ireland. Dublin, Ireland's capital, is is small gray patch on the east coast - it is easy to pick out, as it is just north of a patch of white clouds.

In the water of the Irish Sea (which separates Ireland from Great Britain in the east) are swirls of blue-green phytoplankton. Phytoplankton in the Atlantic Ocean, west of Ireland, create a line that runs north-south and parallel to Ireland. The colors in the water range from light green to nearly black. Phytoplankton are tiny marine organisms that, much like their land-based plant relatives, use sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into food.

Tags: places, ireland

Transhumanism vs. Trans-Systemism

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:04:31 GMT

clipped by: Silkweaver
clipper's remarks: What exactly is this “human” that we are supposed to extrapolate into the future? Is it an individual animal? A member of a species? A self-aware “software” that resides in the fore brain of an advanced mammal? Several combined pieces of software? Software combined with external knowledge and information? Does it depend on nature? Can it be distinguished form the system in which it resides? Can it exist without the broader system?

********

Perhaps the most critical challenge of transhumanist philosophy is exactly this: To offer a vision of the future human, the human of beyond. Transhumanism will not grow into a mature philosophy without defining and describing the possible favorable directions of human evolution, both as individuals and as a specie.

Clip Source: memebox.com

Fueled by accelerating change, transhumanism (H+), the belief that humans can and should consciously evolve past our current limitations, is on the rise. It’s a safe bet that over the coming years this budding philosophy, or memeplex, will make its way into the minds of millions of humans, maybe more. However it lines up with reality, transhumanism will exert a big impact on our future (barring a near-term cataclysmic event, of course).

However, when attempting to simulate the future, particularly a hyper-fast Kurzweilian future or Ted Modis’ moderately slower future , I’ve found that I cannot embrace a wholly transhumanist-compatible view of the years to come because transhumanism, unsurprisingly, fails to provide an adequate definition of the term “human”. (cont.)

Tags: transhumanism, transhumanist philosophy

Mississippi River Delta

Sat, 10 May 2008 14:18:51 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: www.redorbit.com

The Mississippi River Delta

A relatively clear day over Louisiana shows this view of the Mississippi River Delta on May 4, 2008. This image was captured by the MODIS on the Terra satellite. The Mississippi River runs along the Louisiana/Mississippi border, which is why the border looks so squiggly. (The border is in black.) Also visible crossing Louisiana diagonally is the Red River.

The Mississippi River carries 500 million tons of sediment into the Gulf of Mexico each year. The brown sediment from the river, mixing with the blue waters of the Gulf is very visible in this image. Also visible off the Gulf is Lake Pontchartrain - which is nearly round in shape and near the Mississippi border. New Orleans (in gray pixels) sits just south of it.

Tags: places, mississippi river delta, modis

Myanmar’s Delta: Water World

Thu, 08 May 2008 01:17:59 GMT

clipped by: BobbyDelray
clipper's remarks: On April 15, rivers and lakes are sharply defined against a backdrop of vegetation and fallow agricultural land…. The wetlands near the shore are a deep blue green. Cyclone Nargis came ashore across the mouths of the Irrawaddy and followed the coastline northeast. The entire coastal plain is flooded in the May 5 image.

Clip Source: dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com

The team managing the data flowing from instruments on NASA’s Terra satellite has posted a pair of images of the Irrawaddy River delta in Myanmar before and after Cyclone Nargis struck, showing vividly the amount of land that was submerged. Our package of cyclone coverage is being updated continually by Seth Mydans, Tom Fuller, and contributors from South Asia. These images provide the view from on high.

Images of the Irrawaddy River delta before and after the cyclone. (Credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team)

Tags: myanmar, delta, flood

The Cape of Good Hope

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:38:41 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: www.redorbit.com

Cape of Good Hope

One of the most famous regions in southern Africa, The Cape of Good Hope hooks out into the southern Atlantic Ocean in this true-color Aqua MODIS image from December 9, 2004. Cape Town occupies the northern end of the hook on Table Bay; in the higher resolutions of this image, it is visible as a spidery grey spot on the land. Founded in 1652, Cape Town is one of the oldest settlements in what is now the Republic of South Africa.

Tags: the cape of good hope, places

Exposing Greenland - Snowmelt pic

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:01:13 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator

Clip Source: www.redorbit.com

Melting Snow on Greenland

As this season’s white winter snow melts, the darker bare ice of Greenland’s permanent ice cap is being exposed. The contrast between the white snow and the gray-blue ice makes it possible to track melting snow on the ice sheet in satellite imagery, such as this image, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on June 22, 2004. In similar images taken in mid-June of 2001, 2002, and 2003, more and more ice was exposed in each successive year. This year seems to have broken the trend. Though more of the gray ice is exposed this year than in 2002, the melt is far less significant than last year’s melt. There is evidence in this image that snow is melting along the southwest coast of Greenland, south of Qeqertarsuaq Island. In addition to the exposed ice sheet, bright blue pools of liquid water puddle near the snowline on the glacier.

Tags: greenland, snowmelt, land visible, warming

Vog from Kilauea

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:32:31 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: www.spaceref.com

In late March 2008, Kilauea Volcano on HawaiiтАЩs big island released a plume of ash and/or steam.

the eruption created an area of vog, or volcanic smog, extending westward over the Pacific Ocean. The MODIS on the Terra satellite captured this image of the volcanic emissions on March 24, 2008. Although clouds cover much of the islandтАЩs surface, the vog is clearly visible as a plume of dingy gray haze west of the volcano. Vog forms when volcanic pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, mix with oxygen and water in the presence of sunlight. Kilauea has proven to be HawaiiтАЩs most active volcano during recorded history. It is a shield volcano, meaning is low, broad profile resembles an ancient warrior shield. A series of Kilauean lava flows beginning in 1983 covered more than 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of the island and destroyed nearly 200 homes.

Tags: volcanoes

southwest region of the United States

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:26:00 GMT

clipped by: skwirlinator
clipper's remarks: This image was captured by the MODIS on the Aqua satellite on February 26, 2008. It shows part of the southwest region of the United States, including New Mexico (far right), Arizona (middle), Nevada (left top), California (left), and Mexico (bottom).

Clip Source: www.redorbit.com

Tags: places, usa, picture

NASA World Wind

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 09:16:33 GMT

clipped by: swarapamulang

Clip Source: www.snapfiles.com

NASA World Wind

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World Wind is an open source project, that lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth. It uses Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, as well as several data sources that provide historical and information on storms, fires, floods and other major events, as well as important landmarks with links to additional information on the web. World Wind also includes a full copy of the Blue Marble, a true-color image of the entire Earth as seen on NASA's Earth Observatory. Other data sources include Land Sat 7, SRTM, NASA SVS, MODIS, GLOBE as well as country and US state borders and city names. NASA World Wind also provides imagery of the moon. Even though the program appears similar to Google Earth, it covers a much wider range of data sources, however it is not nearly as user-friendly and requires an in-depth look at the documentation.

Nasa image of the Day....Northwestern australia

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 04:17:17 GMT

clipped by: humanclone

Clip Source: nachofoto.com

this image of part of northwestern Australia was captured by the MODIS on the Terra satellite on June 6, 2007. Green and blue phytoplankton blooms are visible all along the coastline. Phytoplankton are tiny marine organisms that, much like their land-based plant relatives, use sunlight to convert water and carbon dioxide into food.

Australia NASA

Tags: nasa image of the day....northwestern australia

Dust Plume off Mauritania

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 04:20:34 GMT

clipped by: fisaxij

Clip Source: earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Natural Hazards >> Dust & Smoke >> Dust Plume off Mauritania

A thick plume of dust blew off the coast of Mauritania in western Africa on October 2, 2007. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite observed the dust plume as it headed toward the southwest over the Atlantic Ocean.

In this image, the dust varies in color from nearly white to medium tan. The dust plume is easier to see over the dark background of the ocean, but the plume stretches across the land surface to the east, as well. The dust plume’s structure is clearest along the coastline, where relatively clear air pockets separate distinct puffs of dust. West of that, individual pillows of dust push together to form a more homogeneous plume. Near its southwest tip, the plume takes on yet another shape, with stripes of pale dust fanning out toward the northwest. Occasional tiny white clouds dot the sky overhead, but skies are otherwise clear.

Tags: photo ecology

2 Cyclones in tandem near Iceland & Scotland

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:16:52 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: what is seen from there is .. different, from what is seen from here ..

Clip Source: earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Extratropical Cyclones near Iceland

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A cyclone is a low-pressure area of winds that spiral inwards. Although tropical storms most often come to mind, these spiraling storms can also form at mid- and high latitudes. Two such cyclones formed in tandem in November 2006. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard NASA’s Terra satellite took this picture on November 20. This image shows the cyclones south of Iceland. Scotland appears in the lower right. The larger and perhaps stronger cyclone appears in the east, close to Scotland.

Tags: earth observatory, scotland, iceland, syclones

Most detailed images of earth yet

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 02:58:12 GMT

clipped by: ladalooop88845
clipper's remarks: these are amazing

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

These spectacular images are the most detailed true colour pictures of the Earth that we have ever seen.

The clear images, released by NASA, were pieced together from observations taken from a satellite of the land surface, oceans, sea ice and clouds.

Using a collection of these satellite-based observations, NASA scientists have stitched together months of observations of the earth's surface and combined them to create a colourful mosaic of our living planet.

The result from using these collection of images is a complete and detailed glimpse of every square kilometre of Earth.

Most of the information contained in these image came from a single remote-sensing device known as Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS.

Tags: earth, nasa, space, satellite