[cdn-nucl-l] New Pictures from Space

["Adam McLean" <adam.mclean@utoronto.ca>]

Posted on the Nasa Earth Observatory web page this week - a couple stunning
new pictures from space.

Adam

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Haze Shrouds the United Kingdom  Click here to view full image (2076 kb)  
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=14784

Dust from North Africa mingled with other aerosols in the skies over the
United Kingdom (left of center) and Ireland (farther west) on April 18,
2003. In this scene, the dust is more prominent to the north over the
Atlantic, where it can be seen as a tan swirl west of Norway. West of
Ireland, the haze is grayer, and is more likely pollution. In the United
Kingdom, a few bright plumes of white could be associated with fires.

This true-color image was acquired by the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view
Sensor (SeaWiFS) on April 18, 2003. SeaWiFS captured a series of images of
the dust, starting on April 16.

Image courtesy the SeaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and
ORBIMAGE 

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NASA Satellites Measure Earth’s Metabolism  Click here to view full image
(1040 kb)  
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=14787

In honor of the Earth Day celebration, NASA scientists unveiled the first
consistent and continuous global measurements of Earth’s “metabolism.” Data
from the Terra and Aqua satellites are helping scientists frequently update
maps of the rate at which plant life on Earth is absorbing carbon out of the
atmosphere.

Combining space-based measurements of a range of plant properties collected
by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) with a suite of
other satellite and surface-based measurements, NASA scientists produce
composite maps of our world’s “net primary production” every 8 days. This
new measurement is called net production because it indicates how much
carbon dioxide is taken in by vegetation during photosynthesis minus how
much is given off during respiration. Scientists expect this global measure
of the biological productivity of plants to yield new insights into how the
Earth’s carbon cycle works, a critical step toward solving the climate
change puzzle.

The rate of carbon fixation through photosynthesis is a basic property of
life on planet Earth. It is the basis for capturing and storing the energy
that fuels our world’s living systems and forms the foundation of the food
webs. The oxygen we breathe is a byproduct of this photosynthesis. According
to its creators, these new net primary productivity maps provide a
fascinating new insight into the intimate connection between the living
world and the physical world.

These false-color maps represent the Earth’s carbon “metabolism”—the rate at
which plants absorbed carbon out of the atmosphere during the years 2001 and
2002. Each map shows the global, annual average of the net productivity of
vegetation on land and in the ocean. The yellow and red areas show the
highest rates, ranging from 2 to 3 kilograms of carbon taken in per square
kilometer per year. The green areas are intermediate rates, while blue and
purple shades show progressively lower productivity. In any given year,
tropical rainforests are generally the most productive places on Earth.
Still, the ongoing productivity near the sea’s surface, over such a
widespread area of the globe, makes the ocean roughly as productive as the
land.

For more information and images, read: NASA Satellite Measures Earth’s
Carbon Metabolism

Image by Reto Stöckli, based on data provided by the MODIS Science Team