The recent launch of STS-119 provided a great demonstration of noctilucent clouds. Launch was at 7:43 PM shortly after sunset. I viewed the launch from southern Florida just North of Naples. As the Shuttle rose into the sky, it’s exhaust trail was highlighted with the red glow of the setting sun. As the shuttle reached an altitude of 60+ miles, it rose above the setting sun and it’s exhaust was directly highlighted with the full spectrum of sunlight. The image above was captured at 8:00 PM. Several minutes later the lower portion of the exhaust trail was no longer highlighted leaving only the bright luminesence of the man made cloud in the upper atmosphere. Over the next hour, the exhaust plume slowly dissipated and finally disappeared as the upper atmosphered darkened with the setting sun.
Here is a video of the launch taken near Titusville. Near the end of the video you can see the developing man made noctilucent cloud.
Very thin clouds in the upper atmosphere are often not visible unless they are highlighted in an otherwise dark sky. These clouds typically appear during summer when water vapor content in the upper atmosphere is at it’s highest. The exhaust from the space shuttle is predominately water vapor and can be a direct source of noctilucent ice crystals.
15,000 years ago, glaciers covered central Wisconsin from the northeast extending to just east of present day Wausau and Stevens Point. As the climate warmed, glaciers released torrents of melt water causing deep gorges in locations throughout Wisconsin. One such area can be seen just north of Hatley, the Dells of the Eau Claire River. On this stretch, the Eau Claire River cascades over outcrops of Precambrian-age rhyolite schist. Rhyolite schist (a very hard rock) was formed through metamorphosis and later tilted to a nearly vertical position allowing the rock to split readily along the cleavage planes. In the dells, the river tumbles and spills across the rock’s cleavage planes while it runs smoothly in other areas where the river flows parallel to the planes. This image is looking upstream from the Dells just east of the bridge.
This is an HDR image. Several different exposures of the same scene were taken by changing only the shutter speed. The images were then combined using Photoshop and Photomatix.
Bear Creek is in eastern Portage County. The image was taken on a bitterly cold morning from a bridge on Lime Lake Road. This portion of the Creek stays open year round and is often mist covered early in the morning. I had stopped by this location a dozen or so times hoping to image a pair of mallards living under the bridge. I missed them again but captured this image. The trees had become ice coated the night before. As the sun rose over the tree line, the cattails were thrown into an intense silhouette while the ice on the trees shimmered.
Ministry Medical Group-Plover, my medical practice building when I was a practicing clinician. The image was captured during a very cold early fall morning. Ice Crystals in the air caused defraction of light resulting in a halo and corona around the moon.
This image was attained near Smokey Hill Road in The George W. Mead Wildlife Area. “The Mead” consists of approximately 30,000 acres, bordering both sides of the Little Eau Pleine River in northern Wood and Portage Counties and southern Marathon County. It is managed by the DNR as a mixture of habitats for plants, animals and birds, especially those associated with water. Parts of the wildlife area are open for hunting and fishing during regular seasons.
The Buena Vista Grasslands, south of Plover, uses a variety of methods to prevent overgrowth of woody plants. Without attention, the grasslands will slowly convert to woody vegetation further reducing prairie chicken habitat. Activities including periods of grazing and cutting for hay are all part of the management plan aimed at maintaining our population of native prairie wildlife.
The Mackinac Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac connecting the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Michigan. It connects the city of St. Ignace on the north end with the village of Mackinaw City on the south and is the longest suspension bridge between anchorages. This image was captured from Mackinac Island.
New Hopes Pines is a Wisconsin State Natural Area. Located just to the east of Rosholt, it is the largest northern dry-mesic forest remaining in central Wisconsin. The vast forests found in the region prior to settlement have been logged with a precious few undisturbed tracts remaining.
This is the Blog of Peter Sanderson, MD, MBA, the Director of Medical Informatics Operations, Executive Sponsor of the Electronic Health Record at Ministry Health Care and a recent graduate of the Physician Executive MBA Program at the University of Tennessee.
Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
