Global Carbon Snapshot: Sinks and Sources
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008NASA created this map from a satellite image of the world's primary carbon sinks and emissions sources in 2003. High concentrations are shown in red and lower concentrations are shown in blue.
Cape Farewell: The Windiest Winds in the World
Monday, September 8th, 2008Cape Farewell, Greenland: The Windiest Place in the World Greenland is the world’s largest island, with an area of over 2 million square kilometers; however, much of the island is covered by an ice cap that can reach thicknesses of 3 kilometers. This photograph (taken by NASA) illustrates the southernmost tip ...
Where Indoor Smoke Kills People?
Monday, August 25th, 2008The smoke created by burning wood or similar forms of biomass contains tiny particles that penetrate many of the most sensitive regions of a person's lungs. Long term exposure to those particles can cause acute lower respiratory disease, pulmonary disease, cancers and other illnesses. These dangerous air-borne particles are frequently ...
A Year in the Life of Earth’s Solar-Energy Resources
Friday, August 8th, 2008Global and Seasonal Surface Albedos from NASA The albedo is loosely defined as the amount of sunlight or solar energy that bounces off the Earth back into space. Bright surfaces have albedo near unity, and dark surfaces have albedo near zero. The DHR refers to the amount of spectral radiation reflected ...
The World’s Sunniest Places
Friday, August 8th, 2008Global Average Brightness Temperature for April 2003 The map featured above shows the average temperatures during the month of April in 2003 as indicated by the color spectrum below the map. Similar to a photograph of the planet taken with the camera shutter held open for a month, stationary features ...
Northwest Passage Reopens in Arctic Ocean
Thursday, August 7th, 2008Arctic Ocean's Ice Levels in August 2008 In the summer of 2007, as Arctic sea ice reached a record low, the Northwest Passage opened between Baffin Bay and McClure Strait, which is sufficiently large to allow large-scale shipping vessels to pass through. The ice is well above the lows reached last ...
Next-Generation Digital Cameras
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008The array of pixels is visible through the magnified image created by the lens. Credit: Beckman Institute, University of Illinois Engineers have developed the first digital camera that uses a flexible-mesh sensor with wire-connected pixels. The mesh is made from many of the same materials as a standard digital-camera sensor, but can ...
