jueves, 31 de mayo de 2012

NASA: The Anatomy of a Thunderstorm

The Anatomy of a Thunderstorm
acquired May 19, 2012 download large image (995 KB, JPEG, 2592x1936)
The Anatomy of a Thunderstorm
acquired May 19, 2012 download large image (490 KB, JPEG, 1199x1419)
Researchers on NASA’s DC-8, a flying laboratory, have launched a six-week hunt for thunderstorms. They’re part of a team of 100 researchers from 29 organizations participating in Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3), a field campaign based in Kansas sending aircraft to Alabama, Colorado, and Oklahoma to sample how storms affect the chemistry of the upper troposphere.
The preferred target: large multicell and supercell storms with powerful updrafts capable of lofting volatile pollutants and moisture-rich air nearly 12,000 meters (40,000 feet) up in the atmosphere, a height that pollutants wouldn’t reach without a boost from a storm. They are particularly interested in understanding how certain pollutants react with nitrogen oxides produced by lightning to generate ozone, a greenhouse gas that has a strong impact on the climate at this altitude.
Four days into the campaign, the researchers found just the sort of storm they were looking for developing southwest of Cheyenne over central Oklahoma. According to a summary of the flight posted on the campaign's website, the storm cell formed rapidly around 5:00 p.m., and by 5:45 p.m. the DC-8 and the National Center for Atmospheric Research and National Science Foundation’s Gulfstream-V had reached the storm's southern edge and started taking samples.
The image above, a photograph taken by DC3 Principal Investigator Chris Cantrell as the Gulfstream-V was approaching from the south, shows the structure of the storm cloud. Vigorous convection has created a strong updraft near the center of the storm where warm, moist air rises quickly upward, sometimes at speeds up to 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour).
The flat bank of cirrus clouds spreading outward and forming the cloud’s anvil mark the edge of the tropopause. The tropopause is the boundary between the lowest layer of the atmosphere where most weather occurs and air often flows vertically (the troposphere) and a higher layer where air flow is mainly horizontal (the stratosphere).
The tropopause behaves like a wall, deflecting the updraft's rising air and causing it to spread outward in a way that molds the upper part of clouds into the distinctive anvil shape. However, convection sometimes pushes moisture past the top of the cloud and into the tropopause, creating bubbling protrusions called overshooting tops. These protrusions are usually short lived and wispy, but they tend to persist longer above severe storms like this one.
While the DC-8 was at a low altitude measuring air flowing into the storm, the Gulfstream-V measured the outflow near the top of the storm. The plane made two passes directly though the anvil and one above it. The instruments on the Gulfstream-V detected elevated levels of carbon monoxide and methane near the top of the storm, suggesting the updraft had lofted pollutants from the surface high into the atmosphere. Instruments on the DC-8, meanwhile, detected high levels of aerosols entering the storm, possibly smoke that had wafted to the area from fires in Mexico.
As the aircraft were sampling the storm, satellites were observing the broader scene from above. An imager on the geostationary GOES-East satellite captured the lower image at 7:15 p.m. on May 19, 2012. It shows the storm front stretching across Oklahoma and into Kansas. The dark specks that give texture to the front are overshooting tops. The approximate location of the aircraft when it observed the storm is marked with a circle.
Photograph courtesy of the DC3 team. NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon using data provided by the GOES team. Caption by Adam Voiland.
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Poesia: Konstantinos Kavafis - Poemas Canonicos (1895-1915) Part 2 – Idus de Marzo - Que el Dios Abandonaba a Antonio - Links








IDUS DE MARZO

Las grandezas teme, oh alma.
Y si vencer tus ambiciones
no puedes, con cautela y reservas
síguelas. Y cuanto más adelante vayas,
sé más observador, más cuidadoso.

Y cuando a tu apogeo llegues, César ya;
cuando tomes figura de hombre famoso,
entonces cuida especialmente al salir a la calle,
dominador insigne de séquito acompañado,
si acierta a acercarse, desde la multitud
algún Artemidoro, que lleva una carta,
y dice apresurado "Lee esto inmediatamente,
son cosas importantes que te interesan",
no dejes de detenerte; no dejes de postergar
cualquier conversación o tarea; no dejes de apartar
a las variadas personas que te saludan y se prosternan ante ti
(las puedes ver más tarde); que espere incluso
el Senado mismo, y conoce al instante
los graves escritos de Artemidoro.




QUE EL DIOS ABANDONABA A ANTONIO


Cuando de repente, a medianoche, se escuche
pasar una comparsa invisible
con músicas maravillosas, con vocerío -
tu suerte que ya declina, tus obras
que fracasaron, los planes de tu vida
que resultaron todos ilusiones, no llores inútilmente.
Como preparado desde tiempo atrás, como valiente,
di adiós a Alejandría que se aleja.
Sobre todo no te engañes, no digas que fue un
sueño, que se engañó tu oído:
no aceptes tales vanas esperanzas.
Como preparado desde tiempo atrás, como valiente,
como te corresponde a ti que de tal ciudad fuiste digno,
acércate resueltamente a la ventana,
y escucha con emoción, mas no
con los ruegos y lamentos de los cobardes,
como último placer los sones,
los maravillosos instrumentos del cortejo misterioso,
y dile adiós, a la Alejandría que pierdes.





Ricardo M Marcenaro - Facebook

Operative blogs of The Solitary Dog:

solitary dog sculptor:
http://byricardomarcenaro.blogspot.com

Solitary Dog Sculptor I:
http://byricardomarcenaroi.blogspot.com

Para:
comunicarse conmigo,
enviar materiales para publicar,
propuestas:
marcenaroescultor@gmail.com

For:
contact me,
submit materials for publication,
proposals:
marcenaroescultor@gmail.com

Diario La Nación
Argentina
Cuenta Comentarista en el Foro:
Capiscum

My blogs are an open house to all cultures, religions and countries. Be a follower if you like it, with this action you are building a new culture of tolerance, open mind and heart for peace, love and human respect.

Thanks :)

Mis blogs son una casa abierta a todas las culturas, religiones y países. Se un seguidor si quieres, con esta acción usted está construyendo una nueva cultura de la tolerancia, la mente y el corazón abiertos para la paz, el amor y el respeto humano.

Gracias :)