Mi(ni)Geo

Fig. 2.5 in Polar Research Board. Future Science Opportunities in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. NAP (2011): Cartoon of Southern Ocean circulation and glaciological processes occurring on the coast of Antarctica.

Perpetual Ocean (by djxatlanta)

Ocean surface currents around the world during the period from June 2005 through Decmeber 2007. This visualization was produced using NASA/JPL’s computational model called Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean, Phase II or ECCO2. ECCO2 is high resolution model of the global ocean and sea-ice. ECCO2 attempts to model the oceans and sea ice to increasingly accurate resolutions that begin to resolve ocean eddies and other narrow-current systems which transport heat and carbon in the oceans.The ECCO2 model simulates ocean flows at all depths, but only surface flows are used in this visualization. The dark patterns under the ocean represent the undersea bathymetry. Topographic land exaggeration is 20x and bathymetric exaggeration is 40x. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

3D animation - Mediterranean isolation and desiccation during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (by daniggcc)

Geography of the Gibraltar Arc during the early stages of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (the period of restricted connection between the Mediterranean and the Altlantic). The interpretation by Garcia-Castellanos & Villaseñor (2011, Nature) proposes that, at a depth of about 100 km, a piece of dense lithosphere detached from Iberia and sunk in the Earth’s mantle. As a result, southern Iberia uplifted and the seaways that connected both seas emerged, This uplift had to compete with the erosion produced by the inflow of Atlantic water into the Med, allowing a long-lived inflow that explains the enormous amount of salt precipitated in the bottom of the Mediterranean. The lack of oceanic water supply and the arid climate of the Mediterranean sea both lead to a drawdown of its level. This video visualizes the interpretation of a research published in Nature in Dec. 2011, but not all of its contents is part yet of a consensus among specialists. More outreach info in this blog post.

Russia’s northernmost territory, Franz Josef Land, is an archipelago of 191 islands in the northeastern Barents Sea. On August 17, 2011, clear skies allowed the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite this unobstructed view. Clouds fringe this natural-color scene, like curtains held back from a window. Around the islands, sea ice forms serpentine shapes of light gray and dull white. The glaciers that cap many of the islands are bright white. In ice-free areas, land cover is pale brown, typical of tundra. (via NASA Earth Observatory)

Earth from Space: Summer in bloom (by europeanspaceagency)

The phytoplankton bloom pictured in this Envisat image stretches across the Barents Sea off the coast of mainland Europe’s most northern point, Cape Nordkinn. Although most types of phytoplankton are individually microscopic, the chlorophyll they use for photosynthesis collectively tints the colour of the surrounding ocean waters. This allows for these tiny organisms to be detected from space with dedicated ‘ocean colour’ sensors, such as Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, which acquired this image on 17 August 2011. Credit: ESA.

Yes, that bloom really is that color…

fuckyeahvolcanoes:

Hawaii. Cortnea Kale.

Earth from Space: Volcanic land (by europeanspaceagency)

This Envisat image shows the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, in Russia’s far east between the Pacific Ocean and Sea of Okhotsk. The central element shows an isolated volcanic group that includes the highest active volcano in Eurasia: Klyuchevskaya Sopka. This image is a compilation of three passes by Envisat’s radar on 1 June, 6 July and 10 August 2010. Each is assigned a colour (red, green and blue) and combined to produce this representation. New colours reveal changes in the surface between Envisat’s passes. Credit: ESA.

Draining the Oceans (by mprivoro)

Three fifths of the Earth’s surface is under the ocean, and the ocean floor is as rich in detail as the land surface with which we are familiar. This animation simulates a drop in sea level that gradually reveals this detail. As the sea level drops, the continental shelves appear immediately. They are mostly visible by a depth of 140 meters, except for the Arctic and Antarctic regions, where the shelves are deeper. The mid-ocean ridges start to appear at a depth of 2000 to 3000 meters. By 6000 meters, most of the ocean is drained except for the deep ocean trenches, the deepest of which is the Marianas Trench at a depth of 10,911 meters.

neiture:

Fried Feet | image by Miles Morgan

(via ecocides)

Surrounded by the warm waters of the South Pacific, the Fiji Islands are often cloaked in clouds when the Aqua or Terra satellites fly over. But July 21, 2011, offered up a perfectly cloud-free view. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Aqua shows Fiji’s second-largest island, Vanua Levu, and the Cakaulevu Reef that shelters the island’s northern shore. (via NASA Earth Observatory)

weandthecolor:

Crystals - Jökulsárlón Beach in Iceland

Stunning landscape photography by Raymond Hoffmann.

More photography inspiration.

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(via jnbrg)

icescape (by highlatitude)

A jagged field of sea ice created by winds acting to converge multiple floes of first year ice.

Scientists responding to undersea volcanic eruptions are looking for evidence of fresh lava. This lava, photographed on the Galapagos Rift in 2002, was estimated to be less than 10 years old. One way scientists place an age on lava is by looking at its surface. As lava ages, it loses its glassy black luster. Photo: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. (via WHOI)

Earth from Space: Island swirls (by europeanspaceagency)

This Envisat image, acquired on 15 June 2011, shows the volcanic island of Guadalupe peeking through the clouds. The island lies in the Pacific Ocean around 250 km off the west coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. The swirling clouds to the south of the island are the result of a meteorological phenomenon known as a ‘von Karman vortex’. As wind-driven clouds encounter Guadalupe, they flow around the high volcanic outcrop to form the large spinning eddies that can clearly be seen in the image. Credit: ESA.

Seafloor chimneys are formed by minerals precipitating out of solution when hot hydrothermal fluids mix with cold seawater. The same process creates large, concentrated deposits of precious metals on the seafloor. Photo courtesy of Maurice Tivey and WHOI Deep Submergence Lab, Cruise Manus 2006 with ROV Jason, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. (via WHOI)