The Earth Story

Cairo and the Nile by night and day

4000 years have passed since the advent of the Pharaoh, but the River Nile still remains the pulse of Egyptian metropolitan activity. Both images, captured by astronauts from the International Space Station, show the intricacies and breadth of the Nile Delta, as well as the city of Cairo at the delta’s apex. During the day, the Nile Delta appears as a floodplain with prosperous vegetation, in stark contrast to the barren sands of the surrounding desert. At night, the urban network of Cairo shines like the brightest bulb in a chandelier — the metropolis is the largest city in the Middle East and constitutes one-fifth of Egypt’s population. Less luminous are the towns and villages along the Nile Valley and the Nile Delta, but the lights are still bright enough that you can trace the dark lines of the River Nile and the many branches of the Nile Delta that flow into the Mediterranean Sea.

-DC

Photo credits: https://archive.org/details/PIA02647 https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS025&roll=E&frame=9858

Noctilucent Cloud Season Begins for Northern Hemisphere Noctilucent clouds (NLC) are the highest cloud formations on our planet. In this photo from the International Space Station, they are the blue wispy layers seen at the top of the atmosphere. They mostly form at latitudes of 50° or higher, with the majority found in polar regions during the summer. We've previously covered them (http://on.fb.me/1HHqVDj, http://on.fb.me/1RG4UvU), but we may know a little more about them now thanks to NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission (http://on.fb.me/1FpEruW).

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Imagine if this was your view from work! That is the reality for the crew of the International Space Station. For me, this view is particularly stunning as it shows my home country of Ireland. Flying around 386 kilometres above the Atlantic, the expedition 30 crew captured this gorgeous shot of both Ireland and its lovely neighbours: Scotland, England and Wales (The UK), as well as a hint of mainland Europe. Just in case Western Europe at night wasn’t pretty enough for you, the northern lights can also be seen lingering in the top left of the shot coupled with a bright sunrise creeping over the horizon at top right. -Jean Image courtesy of NASA. PS: My view from work is a wall... :(

This captivating photo was taken by astronaut Barry Wilmore, commander of Expedition 42 to the International Space Station (ISS). Through a haze of cloud covering parts of Spain and Africa, we can see the lights of civilisation, smouldering, as if on fire. We love photos like this here at The Earth Story, as it puts our planet back into perspective. Earth, for the moment, is truly one of a kind and one thing that all of us have in common, is that we share it; our home. -Jean Image courtesy of Barry Wilmore.

Earth's Biggest Hole, Seen from Space

There is an oft-cited rumor that the Great Wall of China is the only manmade structure that can be seen from space. Although technically you can see this structure from extraterrestrial heights (albeit with great difficulty), there are actually a host of other manmade structures that are much more clearly visible—cities, large buildings, man-made islands, and mines, especially this mine—the Bingham Canyon Mine in Salt Lake City, UT.

This is largest open-pit mine in the world. What was once a foothill of the Oquirrh Mountains is now a hole 6.4 km (4 miles) across and so deep that two of the Sears Tower in Chicago could be stacked on top of each other and fit inside. Nearly half a million tons of material are removed from this mine daily and processed for copper as well as gold, silver, and molybdenum.

This mine, first opened in 1906, has produced more copper than any other mine to date. The mine’s copper-bearing rock, named the Bingham Stock, is quartz monzonite—an intrusive igneous rock that, despite its misleading name, is very similar to granite except it contains much less quartz and equal proportions of plagioclase and potassium feldspar. Quartz monzonite is often associated with porphyry ore deposits, which are the result of intruding magma bodies. Superheated water is expelled from crystallizing magma and travels through fractures or mixes with meteoric water. This water contains a high concentration of dissolved ore minerals, which then precipitate in the surrounding rock, often creating profitable mineral deposits like this one.

The Bingham Canyon Mine is both a stunning feat of human engineering as well as a sobering reminder of the cost of modernization and what we owe to the natural world around us.

-CM

Photo credit: NASA https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=ISS015&roll=E&frame=29867 For more information about this mine: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/8144/bingham-canyon-mine-utah For more information on how satellite images can be used for mining: https://www.micromine.com/satellite-imagery-in-mineral-exploration-part-1/

Something about the combination of Aurora and clouds over the Arctic makes this photo captured by Astronaut Terry Virts absolutely spectacular. -JBB Image credit: https://twitter.com/AstroTerry/status/541214477631250435/photo/1

On top of a roll cloud Roll Clouds are a rare and fascinating phenomenon. They form extremely long, cylindrical bands that run long distances in one direction. We’ve covered them before (see here: http://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js17XFkUp) and their formation isn’t totally understood but probably relates to small-scale convection and alternating layers of rising and sinking air. Astronaut Reid Wisemann caught this photo of what certainly appears to be a roll cloud viewed from the top, from his vantage point on the International Space Station, during a pass over Africa. Can’t tell for certain if it has the perfect shape and the wind patterns may be controlled in this area by a set of mountains, but it probably fits that description of small scale wind currents shaping a single long cloud path. -JBB Image credit: Reid Wiseman https://twitter.com/astro_reid/status/522095164748488704

Cloud shadows Supercell cumulonimbus clouds some ten km high are casting shadows hundreds of kilometres long as dawn or dusk illuminates the surface of our blue marble as seen from the best vantage point of all: the International Space Station. Loz Image credit: Reid Wiseman

On the 12th of June, 2009, Sarychev Peak on Matua Island in the Kuril chain erupted and was captured by the International Space Station as it flew overhead.. This awesome image reveals some cool details about the eruption. As you can clearly see, the volcanic plume extends high into the sky. If you look closer, you will note the atmospheric shockwave of the eruption; pushing the clouds back causing a ring shape to develop. Also visible is a smooth, fluffy white cloud on top of the rapidly rising ash column, likely the result of rapidly rising water vapour condensing on top of the plume.

-Jean Image courtesy of NASA’s Earth Observatory.

Sahara meets sea The coastline in this astronaut photo from the space station looks almost as though it was carved by human hands in its near perfect linear regularity, the sharp contrast strengthened by the hues of sand and ocean and the surreal looking clouds over the Atlantic. Some drying patches of rain are visible thanks to the salt that they have dissolved and are now re-precipitating. Loz Image credit: Steve Swanson

Glowing Astronaut Reid Wiseman took this gorgeous photo from the International Space Station as it was traveling over India. The faint hints of a sunrise are caught reflecting back to the camera in the distance. The light from the top layers illustrates the upper portion of the atmosphere and how tenuous it really is compared to the rock below. -JBB Image credit: https://twitter.com/astro_reid

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Just heading out for a walk... Captured on the 12th of December 2006, this image shows astronauts Robert L. Curbeam, Jr. (left) and Christer Fuglesang setting out on an extravehicular activity (EVA) whilst on board the ISS. Not a bad spot either. The beautiful backdrop of this image is of course our lovely home: Earth. More specifically, the landmasses seen here are the South Island (left) and North Island (right) of New Zealand. -Jean Image courtesy of NASA