essays & effluvia: June 2009

Recent scenes from the ISS

Earlier this week, NASA released an amazing photograph of an eruption of Sarychev Peak Volcano, taken by astronauts aboard the orbiting International Space Station (ISS). Seeing that great photo prompted me to dig into the archives and see what other imagery I could find from recent NASA archives. Collected here are a handful of photographs of Sarychev Peak Volcano, and more, taken by astronauts aboard the ISS over the past few months. (35 photos total)

High above Russia's Kuril Islands, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) look down on erupting Sarychev Peak Volcano (plume in center, left) on Matua Island and its brownish ash mixing with cloud cover downwind on June 12, 2009. Part of the ISS, a Soyuz module, is visible in the foreground. (NASA/JSC) [Google map]

2

A closer look at Sarychev Peak Volcano reveals more detail, the circular hole in the clouds around the island, the smooth condensation cloud wrapping much of the ash plume. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

3

Closer still to Sarychev Peak Volcano, pyroclastic flows can be seen tumbling down its slope (lighter clouds, bottom). Also visible is a closer view of the condensation cloud or "pileus", formed by the rapidly rising plume. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

4

A view looking straight down at the top of the eruption plume of Sarychev Peak Volcano on June 12, 2009. Local winds were very light that day, and the eruption plume's upward motion was hardly disturbed at all. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

5

One day after its eruption pictured above, ash from Russia's Sarychev Peak Volcano mixes and ripples out into the surrounding clouds. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

6

A view of the Pacific coast around Puerto Atico, Peru (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

7

Ahile above the Pacific Ocean on may 11, 2009, ISS astronauts shot this photo of a waning gibbous moon, slightly distorted, seen through the Earth's atmosphere. (NASA/JSC) #

8

A view of the Atlantic Ocean alongside Bahia Oso Marino and Punta Buque, Argentina. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

9

Lago Nansen, amongst the Andes Mountains in Argentina. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

10

The sun glints off Lake Poopó in Bolivia. Lake Poopó is a 1,000 sq km saline lake lying 3,686 meters above sea level. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

11

Smoke blows eastward from a mountain slope in Canada's Rocky Mountains near Banff and Canmore. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

12

Circular Contrails are visible, east of Lake Nipigon, Canada. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

13

Deep Convective Clouds, seen fromabove, over the Atlantic Ocean. (NASA/JSC) #

14

A few clouds in the sky above Arizona and its Barringer Impact Crater, at right. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

15

Washington State's Puget Sound, featuring Vashon Island, Seattle and Tacoma, viewed on May 29th, 2009. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

16

Evaporation ponds in Pampa Del Tamarugal, Chile. (NASA/JSC) #

17

Betsiboka River delta, near Majunga, Madagascar. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

18

Roads and circular fields in the desert in Egypt. (NASA/JSC) #

19

A ship plies the waves in the Bay of Biscay. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

20

A port near Bandar Abbas, Iran. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

21

Ice floes clumping in Russia's Sea of Okhotsk (NASA/JSC) #

22

The Seine River, near Rouen, France. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

23

The limb of the Earth, seen from the ISS when it was high above Arkansas on May 21,2009. (NASA/JSC) #

24

Tidal channels near Iran's Qeshm Island. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

25

Beaches and farrmland north of Douarnenez, France. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

26

Svyatoy Point in Russia's Lake Baikal. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

27

Charles De Gaulle Airport, in the suburbs of Paris, France. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

28

Part of the Amistad Reservoir on the Rio Grande in Texas. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

29

Ullung Island, off the coast of South Korea. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

30

A strange circular area of thinned ice in the southern end of Lake Baikal in southern Siberia. While the origin of the circles is still unknown, the peculiar pattern suggests convection (upwelling) in the lake's water column. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

31

The Chicago shorleine along Lake Michigan. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

32

Japan's Mount Fuji. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

33

Lava flows along Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano (356 km) (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

34

Ships enter part of the Suez Canal in Egypt. (NASA/JSC) # [Google map]

35

High above the Indian Ocean, astronauts captured these four images (animated here) of the Aurora Australis and surrounding airglow in the Earth's atmosphere

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from bigpicture's posterous

Posted at 10:56 AM | Permalink

WHO THINKS OF THESE THINGS?

I am sure I would be so distracted I would crash......

I love this one!!!!

What a great paint job!!

This is so amazingly clever. Makes me wanna be in advertising.

As for you....

*
*
*

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from bigpicture's posterous

Posted at 05:31 PM | Permalink

WHO THINKS OF THESE THINGS?

I am sure I would be so distracted I would crash......

I love this one!!!!

What a great paint job!!

This is so amazingly clever. Makes me wanna be in advertising.

As for you....

*
*
*

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from bigpicture's posterous

Posted at 05:26 PM | Permalink

A round watermelon can take up a lot of room in a refrigerator And the usually round fruit often sits awkwardly on refrigerator shelves.

Smart Japanese Farmers have forced their watermelons to grow into a square shape by inserting the melons into square, tempered glass cases while the fruit is still growing on the vine.

Posted via email from bigpicture's posterous

Posted at 04:32 PM | Permalink

A round watermelon can take up a lot of room in a refrigerator And the usually round fruit often sits awkwardly on refrigerator shelves.

Smart Japanese Farmers have forced their watermelons to grow into a square shape by inserting the melons into square, tempered glass cases while the fruit is still growing on the vine.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from bigpicture's posterous

Posted at 04:29 PM | Permalink

Steve Martin: My Attempt at Moonwalking

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2009/06/steve-martin-michael-jackson.html

Posted via email from bigpicture's posterous

Posted at 01:06 PM | Permalink

Welling@Weedon is a subscription only, investment paper that is very highly regarded

Here is my interview with them from this past week about the proposed Obama regulations