The Earth Story

Where’s the reindeer landing strip?

This image, taken by the Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 spacecraft, shows a couple small, unassuming towns along the southern coastline of Turkey. Demre, formerly known as Kale, has a population of about 25,000 and is something of a tourist destination due to its Mediterranean climate. However, today it is being featured for a different reason: this small community was the original home of Saint Nicholas. In the 3rd/4th century, this area was known as Myre; Demre today sits on the same site, where the Demre River meets the Mediterranean. Although it’s difficult to find exact details of the lives of people 1700 years ago, the man eventually known as Saint Nicholas served as the bishop in this community and developed a reputation for gift-giving.

The Catholic Church celebrated his reputation and sainthood with a feast in early December, along with churches and buildings in his name across Europe. The tales of his generosity evolved into traditions of gift-giving in parts of Europe, one eventually popularized in the United States under the name Santa Claus (aka Sint Klaes, aka Saint Nicholas).

-JBB

Image credit: NASA/USGS http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=82652

More on Saint Nicholas: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=371 http://www.biography.com/people/st-nicholas-204635 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131219-santa-claus-origin-history-christmas-facts-st-nicholas/

Tracking Santa with Radar and Satellites It’s become tradition for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to track Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. NORAD is a joint military organization of the United States and Canada responsible for things like air defense and tracking missiles, so how did they end up tracking Santa? In 1955, when NORAD was known as Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), a Colorado Springs newspaper mixed up the phone number in an advertisement. The ad was supposed to be a direct line for kids to call Santa; instead the children ended up calling Colonel Harry Shoup's secret phone line at CONAD. Colonel Shoup must have been very surprised to hear a little child’s voice on a phone line that was only supposed to be known to top-ranking military officials, but he took it in stride and didn’t want to disappoint the children, so he put a couple of airmen on the phone to pretend to be Santa. The airmen had a big glass board that they used to track airplanes, and as a joke, they drew Santa’s sleigh on it. When Colonel Shoup saw it, he took things one step further and called a local radio station to inform them CONAD was seeing an unidentified flying object, and it appears to be a sleigh. After that the radio station called him back every hour to track Santa’s progress, and a tradition was born. Now over 1,250 American and Canadian military personal volunteer their time on December 24 to take calls and answer emails from around the world as NORAD tracks Santa’s trip around the world. NORAD tracks Santa using every tool at their disposal. First, they use their radar system which uses radio waves to determine distance, direction, and speed of Santa’s sleigh. Next, they use satellites with infrared sensors that can see heat. NORAD claims the nose of Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer is especially easy to see in infrared. More recently, as part of moving Santa tracking to the web, NORAD says they also have Santacams that they use on Christmas Eve only so they can see him, and they even send jets to wave hello to him and take his picture. - RE Photo Credit: Still from NORAD’s “2014 Norad Tracks Santa Trailer” https://www.youtube.com/user/NORADTracksSanta Read More: http://www.norad.mil/ http://www.noradsanta.org/ http://www.npr.org/2014/12/19/371647099/norads-santa-tracker-began-with-a-typo-and-a-good-sport

Where’s the reindeer landing strip?

This image, taken by the Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 spacecraft, shows a couple small, unassuming towns along the southern coastline of Turkey. Demre, formerly known as Kale, has a population of about 25,000 and is something of a tourist destination due to its Mediterranean climate. However, today it is being featured for a different reason: this small community was the original home of Saint Nicholas.

In the 3rd/4th century, this area was known as Myre; Demre today sits on the same site, where the Demre River meets the Mediterranean. Although it’s difficult to find exact details of the lives of people 1700 years ago, the man eventually known as Saint Nicholas served as the bishop in this community and developed a reputation for gift-giving.

The Catholic Church celebrated his reputation and sainthood with a feast in early December, along with churches and buildings in his name across Europe. The tales of his generosity evolved into traditions of gift-giving in parts of Europe, one eventually popularized in the United States under the name Santa Claus (aka Sint Klaes, aka Saint Nicholas).

-JBB

Image credit: NASA/USGS http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=82652

More on Saint Nicholas: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=371 http://www.biography.com/people/st-nicholas-204635 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131219-santa-claus-origin-history-christmas-facts-st-nicholas/

Tracking Santa with Radar and Satellites

It’s become tradition for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to track Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. NORAD is a joint military organization of the United States and Canada responsible for things like air defense and tracking missiles, so how did they end up tracking Santa?

In 1955, when NORAD was known as Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD), a Colorado Springs newspaper mixed up the phone number in an advertisement. The ad was supposed to be a direct line for kids to call Santa; instead the children ended up calling Colonel Harry Shoup's secret phone line at CONAD. Colonel Shoup must have been very surprised to hear a little child’s voice on a phone line that was only supposed to be known to top-ranking military officials, but he took it in stride and didn’t want to disappoint the children, so he put a couple of airmen on the phone to pretend to be Santa. The airmen had a big glass board that they used to track airplanes, and as a joke, they drew Santa’s sleigh on it. When Colonel Shoup saw it, he took things one step further and called a local radio station to inform them CONAD was seeing an unidentified flying object, and it appears to be a sleigh. After that the radio station called him back every hour to track Santa’s progress, and a tradition was born. Now over 1,250 American and Canadian military personal volunteer their time on December 24 to take calls and answer emails from around the world as NORAD tracks Santa’s trip around the world.

NORAD tracks Santa using every tool at their disposal. First, they use their radar system which uses radio waves to determine distance, direction, and speed of Santa’s sleigh. Next, they use satellites with infrared sensors that can see heat. NORAD claims the nose of Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer is especially easy to see in infrared. More recently, as part of moving Santa tracking to the web, NORAD says they also have Santacams that they use on Christmas Eve only so they can see him, and they even send jets to wave hello to him and take his picture.

Photo Credit: Still from NORAD’s “2014 Norad Tracks Santa Trailer” https://www.youtube.com/user/NORADTracksSanta

Read More: http://www.norad.mil/ http://www.noradsanta.org/ http://www.npr.org/2014/12/19/371647099/norads-santa-tracker-began-with-a-typo-and-a-good-sport

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Well, this wasn’t particularly normal.

A Christmas card from one of the scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (via: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archive/2005/05_12_22.html)

Where’s the reindeer landing strip?

This image, taken by the Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 spacecraft, shows a couple small, unassuming towns along the southern coastline of Turkey. Demre, formerly known as Kale, has a population of about 25,000 and is something of a tourist destination due to its Mediterranean climate. However, today it is being featured for a different reason: this small community was the original home of Saint Nicholas.

In the 3rd/4th century, this area was known as Myre; Demre today sits on the same site, where the Demre River meets the Mediterranean. Although it’s difficult to find exact details of the lives of people 1700 years ago, the man eventually known as Saint Nicholas served as the bishop in this community and developed a reputation for gift-giving.

The Catholic Church celebrated his reputation and sainthood with a feast in early December, along with churches and buildings in his name across Europe. The tales of his generosity evolved into traditions of gift-giving in parts of Europe, one eventually popularized in the United States under the name Santa Claus (aka Sint Klaes, aka Saint Nicholas).

-JBB

Image credit: NASA/USGS http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=82652

More on Saint Nicholas: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=371 http://www.biography.com/people/st-nicholas-204635 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131219-santa-claus-origin-history-christmas-facts-st-nicholas/

What are Reindeer Really Doing for Christmas?

Santa may be surprised to learn that reindeer, also called caribou, don’t like deep snow. In winter they mostly eat lichens, and deep snow makes it hard to find lichens (although one presumes Santa makes sure his reindeer have plenty to eat).

When the snow starts to fall each winter, migrating caribou (some do not migrate) head south, with some herds traveling thousands of kilometers to their winter feeding grounds. The footpads of caribou will actually tighten, making the rim of their hooves more prominent, for better traction on snow and ice. The herd will stay in the winter feeding grounds until it is time for spring migration.

Photo Credit: Peupleloup https://www.flickr.com/photos/peupleloup/3192026602

Read More: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/caribou/ http://www.fws.gov/refuge/arctic/carcon.html

There is, right now, a tornado warning in Santa Claus, Indiana. I just thought that worth sharing.

Reindeer

As Christmas approaches, I’m reminded of the days when my sons were small and we (rightly or wrongly) encouraged their belief in that “jolly old elf” and flying reindeer. The requisite cookies and milk were left out, along with carrots and celery sticks for the reindeer (as I recall, somebody else consumed the cookies and I got stuck with the vegetation…). When little boys needed to go to bed so that Christmas magic could occur, the sound of sleigh bells could be heard outside the house, causing them to dive under the covers and squeeze their eyes tightly shut.

Although reindeer did not become associated with the holiday of Christmas until 1822, when mentioned in Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, “An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas,” Rangifer tarandus have definite connections to snow and ice. Found in the biome known as the taiga (the Russian word for snow), reindeer have been a central part of the cultures of nomadic herders in parts of Scandinavia and Mongolia for thousands of years, where the animals were depended upon for meat, milk, and transportation. In many places, these cultures are disappearing as younger generations move away from traditional roles and lands.

Born in early spring, when much of the taiga is still covered in snow, reindeer calves are protected from the extreme temperature changes at birth (as much as a 50-60°C drop in temperature) by large deposits of brown fat. Unique to mammals, brown fat is an adaptation for generating heat. Filled with mitochondria, the energy-producing organelles of the cell, the brown fat contains a network of capillaries that carry the generated heat throughout the body. Mostly active over the first month of life, the brown fat gradually changes and becomes more like white fat.

Well-adapted for living in arctic climates, reindeer also possess a smaller surface area-to-body-mass ratio to reduce heat loss, as well as a winter coat made up of thick, hollow guard hairs over a woolen-like underfur. Because of these and other adaptations, these cousins of the caribou are able to tolerate temperatures below -30°C (-22°F).

Reindeer are cousins to the caribou found in other artic areas, such as Alaska, both being subspecies of Rangifer tarandus. Both are also migratory ungulates (hooved mammals), although reindeer tend to be more confined to specific home ranges than are caribou. Reindeer also tend to be stockier than caribou, with a flatter face and shorter legs. Both males and females of the species grow antlers (a trait not found in any other species of deer), which appear while they are still calves. Bulls and non-gestating females will typically drop their antlers in the winter, but pregnant females retain theirs until spring. This adaptation allows her to protect her food sources (mainly reindeer moss, a form of lichen) throughout the winter and thus ensuring sufficient nutrition for the developing fetus. She will drop her antlers within days of giving birth. CW

Image

http://bit.ly/1OBbn7I

Sources

http://reindeer.salrm.uaf.edu/about_reindeer/

http://www.reindeerherding.org/herders/sami-norway/

http://bit.ly/1QPwK9M

http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/caribou_reindeer.html

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga.htm

http://www.uaf.edu/files/snre/MP_04_07.pdf

http://reindeer.ws/info.htm

A Christmas card from one of the scientists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (via: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archive/2005/05_12_22.html)

Where’s the reindeer landing strip? This image, taken by the Operational Land Imager on the Landsat 8 spacecraft, shows a couple small, unassuming towns along the southern coastline of Turkey. Demre, formerly known as Kale, has a population of about 25,000 and is something of a tourist destination due to its Mediterranean climate. However, today it is being featured for a different reason: this small community was the original home of Saint Nicholas. In the 3rd/4th century, this area was known as Myre; Demre today sits on the same site, where the Demre River meets the Mediterranean. Although it’s difficult to find exact details of the lives of people 1700 years ago, the man eventually known as Saint Nicholas served as the bishop in this community and developed a reputation for gift-giving.  The Catholic Church celebrated his reputation and sainthood with a feast in early December, along with churches and buildings in his name across Europe. The tales of his generosity evolved into traditions of gift-giving in parts of Europe, one eventually popularized in the United States under the name Santa Claus (aka Sint Klaes, aka Saint Nicholas). -JBB Image credit: NASA/USGS http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=82652 More on Saint Nicholas: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=371 http://www.biography.com/people/st-nicholas-204635 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131219-santa-claus-origin-history-christmas-facts-st-nicholas/