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28 October 2011
NPP Weather/Climate Satellite Rides A Delta Two Into Orbit!
NASA released this long exposure shot of the launch. The polar orbiting satellites go into orbit from Vandenberg AFB in California. Why is this such a big deal??
25 October 2011
Northern Lights Visible As Far South As Alabama Monday Night (Updated)
BREAKING NEWS! Saturday’s coronal mass ejection has sparked a moderate to strong geomagnetic storm and the aurora borealis is visible as far south as North Alabama tonight. Go outside and look for a red/greenish glow in the sky. The Kp index is at 7 and this indicates a major geomagnetic storm. Spaceweather.com has some pics already up on their site and more to come I suspect. The best view will …
8 October 2011
Choking Smog/Haze Over China
The image above from the NASA Aqua satellite shows the thick industrial smoke/haze over China on Oct. 7th. These images show better than any written book or public speech the necessity of dealing with how we make and use energy. It’s a problem that affects every living being on the planet and this image illustrates well that it’s reached a crisis level. Despite the slick-looking adverts you see daily on …
31 August 2011
Swamp Fire Chokes The Big Easy
The image above is from the NASA Terra satellite. Click it to see the higher resolution. The smoke is from a marsh fire near New Orleans and the state doesn’t have enough money to charter planes to drop water on it and the reason is explained by the graph below. Most of Louisiana has only received about 25% of normal rainfall, in the last 30 days. This is called …
1 August 2011
Weekend Digest- Tropical Trouble, Melting Ice and Mainstream Scientists Speak Out
This is the weekly digest of Earth science news that I said would be posted every Friday. OK, so it’s a bit late but it is still the weekend and what follows is a summary of interesting tidbits I’ve seen this week on other science blogs etc. We begin with the great 2011 drought/heat wave: Deep Fried Texans Austin, Texas is happy to wave so long to July. …
27 July 2011
Should TV Weathercasters Lie About Ozone??
Last year the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Comm. unanimously recommended the EPA set the level for safe ozone exposure at between 60-70 parts per billion. The current level set under the Bush administration is 75 parts per billion. When the ozone level is above this (for a specified period) the air pollution index goes above 100 and the air is considered unhealthy on the EPA Air Quality Index chart. You …
25 July 2011
Neil de Grasse Tyson- “How much would you pay for the Universe”
Famed astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson knows how to put things into perspective and is one of the world’s best champions of science. This video is a must watch. Hat tip to Steve Cowing at NASA Watch for this. (Note: I changed the name of this post- sorry for any confusion)
22 July 2011
Friday Science Digest
My daughter suggested I start doing a once a week digest of interesting science news/blog posts from the previous week. So welcome to the first edition! The Guardian has a great piece today about a study the BBC commissioned on its science coverage, and the results come as no surprise to the science community. That said, I still rate the Beeb as one of the more reliable sources of science …
8 July 2011
Symphony of Science- The Story of Us
On the day that the last space shuttle climbs through the Florida skies, this is an especially poignant video to post. I cannot help but wonder if historians 75 years from now will mark this day as the end of the American century. A century of innovation and exploration unmatched in history. Let’s hope not, but either way man will continue to explore the unknown, because we are the most …
23 May 2011
Different Volcano, Same Problem- Ash cloud delays flights in Europe.
The NASA Terra Satellite passed over Iceland and grabbed this shot today, ( in true colour) showing the ash cloud from an erupting Iceland volcano. Click the image for a much higher res. view. The UK Met Office has just released a new ash advisory, and airlines have canceled flights into Scotland for Tuesday. I’m headed to Manchester UK myself on Thursday, so I’ll be watching this closely. The latest …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.