EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


New York’s Helderberg Escarpment Waterfalls

February 22, 2022


TMc_EPOD.ThatcherWaterfallHelderbergB2021.C (003)

TMc_HelderbergRuizDiagramDrawing2021 (002)

Photographer: Thomas McGuire

Summary Author: Thomas McGuire

The Helderberg Escarpment of New York State is located where
sedimentary rock layers dip about 1° to the south, but the land surface
dips to the north. This has created a broad, shallow cuesta that
ends at a steep north-facing slope more than 200 meters (700 ft) high.
See diagram.

Small north-flowing streams fall off the Manlius-Coymans
Limestone edge of the Allegheny Plateau at John Boyd Thatcher
State Park, 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Albany, New York. Rock
formations are often named for the rock type (here, it’s
limestone), and the geographic location where the rock unit is
characteristically exposed. A walking path leads beneath both
waterfalls. In the winter, icicles formed from the spray of the
falls drape over the abrupt cliff. Photo taken on June 24, 2021.

Photo details: SONY DSC-HX80 camera; 4.1mm; f3.5; 1/320 second
exposure.
* Helderberg Escarpment Waterfalls, New York Coordinates:
42.578015, -74.001971

Related EPODs

New York’s Helderberg Escarpment Waterfalls Cava Asero Lava
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Geology Links

* Earthquakes
* Geologic Time
* Geomagnetism
* General Dictionary of Geology
* Mineral and Locality Database
* Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness
* This Dynamic Earth
* USGS
* MyShake - University of California, Berkeley
* USGS Ask a Geologist
* USGS/NPS Geologic Glossary
* USGS Volcano Hazards Program

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 11 weeks, 2 days, 20 hours, 43 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


The Plastic Littering Our Shores

April 22, 2022

Lavinia_EarthDay_Picture1

Lavinia_EarthDay_Picture2

Photographer: Geoff Dennis

Summary Authors: Geoff Dennis, Lavinia Gadsden; Jim Foster

The photo at top shows what I collected along shore here in East
Island, Rhode Island, on November 23, 2021. Sadly, I come across this
stuff all too often. Of course, it’s not just the beaches in Rhode
Island that are being contaminated by plastics, trash, flotsam and
other debris; it’s happening pretty much everywhere. The oceans can
deal with a lot but have found their match with plastic. It doesn’t
degrade on the scale of human lifetimes.

Included in my “catch” on November 23, are 27 mylar balloons. They
came in this summer, blew to higher ground on the island and laid in
wait until the vegetation died off, which revealed their hiding places.
In addition, I found 25 single use, plastic bottles that had come
ashore since September 6. The running tally on these two most numerous
items collected, which began in 2015, now stands at 489 bottles/cans
(99.9% plastic bottles) and 558 mylar balloons. Note that the four
lobster pots washed in on a nor’easter earlier in November.

Today marks the 52^nd Earth Day. Few would argue that our lives
would be better without plastic, but our ocean’s health, and indeed our
planet’s health, suffers as this plastic waste increasingly litters our
shores.

On occasion, my debris removal runs are happily interrupted by
unexpected sightings that take my breath away, such as the snowy
owl (bottom photo) -- one of three I spotted in a time span of an hour
or so. These sporadic wintertime visitors were part of an irruption
in the autumn of 2021.
* East Island, Rhode Island Coordinates: 41.5312, -71.2716

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Applied Sciences Links

* BBC: World Water Crisis
* Indoor Air Quality
* Mathematics in Nature
* A Mathematical Nature Walk
* NASA: Applied Earth Sciences
* Remote Sensing Tutorial

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 7 weeks, 4 days, 21 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Frost Crack in Linden Tree

September 22, 2022

Dale_H_linden_a

Photographer: Dale Hugo

Summary Author: Dale Hugo

This scar running about 10 ft (3 m) on our linden (or basswood)
tree out front is probably a frost crack. Cracks like this are
caused on extremely cold days, usually at night or early morning when
it is coldest, as sap under the bark expands enough to cause a rupture
or even an explosion, sounding like a gun shot. However, I don’t recall
hearing such a retort coming from our linden. But here in northeastern
Illinois, temperatures dropped to at least -25 F (-32C) the past
several winters. This tree has been in place since 1974, between the
sidewalk and the street.

Often such scars are attributed to lightning strikes. We had one
across the street on a giant cottonwood, but the effect was to kill 1/3
of the tree, leaving a scar that never will heal.

A frost wound is referred to by foresters and arborists as a frost
rib or frost ridge. The split heals and the health of the tree is
unaffected. Further evidence is that the scar doesn’t continue up the
trunk toward the top of the tree but is localized. This linden was in
full flower this past spring and the fragrance was wonderful.
Incidentally, the flowers of a linden can be collected to make a
fragrant tea.


Arlington Heights, Illinois Coordinates: 42.0884, -87.9806


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Melting Frost on a Windshield
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Cryosphere Links

* Guide to Frost
* What is the Cryosphere?
* Bentley Snow Crystals
* Glaciers of the World
* Ice, Snow, and Glaciers: The Water Cycle
* The National Snow and Ice Data Center Google Earth Images
* Snow and Ice Crystals

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 29 weeks, 3 days, 21 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Dust Devils on a Dry Lakebed

November 22, 2022


Dust-devils
Photographer: Dale Chadwick
Summary Author: Dale Chadwick
The photo above shows dust devils on a dry lakebed southwest of
Winnemucca, Nevada, as observed in the early afternoon of July 4, 2022.
I was about 2 to 3 miles (3-5 km) away from when I noticed dust and
sand swirling in the air. The largest of these devils appears to be
over 100 feet (30 m) high and perhaps 30 feet (9 m) in width. I was
surprised at how long they persisted -- visible for at least 10
minutes.

Dust devils occur when the surface becomes sufficiently heated to
form a weak updraft in the lower atmosphere, just above the ground.
Once formed, the little rotating column of air may twist
counterclockwise or clockwise and is typically barely strong enough to
lift grains of sand.

Photo details: Two views taken with a 300MM zoom lens.

Winnemucca, Nevada Coordinates:


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Atmospheric Effects Links

* Atmospheric Optics
* Optic Picture of Day: Gruppo Astrofili Galileo Galilei
* Color and Light in Nature
* The Colors of Twillight and Sunset
* Refraction Index
* Image Gallery: Atmospheric Effects
* What is a Rainbow?

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 38 weeks, 1 day, 21 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)

EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


Colorful Clouds Observed at Sunset

December 22, 2022


CloudColors

Photographer: Spyros Antonopoulos
Summary Author: Spyros Antonopoulos

The photo above showing colorful cloud colors at sunset was taken near
Chalkeia, Greece. Of course, the color of a cloud depends primarily
upon the color of the light it receives. When the Sun is low in the
sky, because the path the Sun's rays take across the sky is longer
than if they were coming from straight above (zenith), the shorter
wavelength colors (greens and blues) tend to be scattered from our
view. This leaves the red, yellow and orange colors to paint any clouds
lying in the track of the Sun's lingering rays. The closer the Sun is
to the horizon, the longer the path-length of its rays, and thus the
redder the color. Photo taken on July 10, 2022.

Chalkeia, Greece Coordinates: 38.431270, 21.684530

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Cloud Links

* Atmospheric Optics
* The Cloud Appreciation Society
* Cloud Atlas
* Color and Light in Nature

-
Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the Universities
Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 42 weeks, 3 days, 21 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)