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.


Encore - Fogbow Near Mount Luxmore, New Zealand

February 08, 2020

Cloud Bow - New Zealand
Today and every Saturday Earth Science Picture of the Day invites you
to rediscover favorites from the past. Saturday posts feature an EPOD
that was chosen by viewers like you in our monthly Viewers' Choice
polls. Join us as we look back at these intriguing and captivating
images.

Photographer: Simon Williams
Summary Authors: Simon Williams; Jim Foster

April 2014 Viewer's Choice Shown above is a breathtaking fogbow
I observed hiking the Kepler Track, near Mount Luxmore,
Fiordland, New Zealand. The time was approximately 25 minutes after
sunrise, around 8:09, on March 10, 2014. As I was hiking up the track
in cloud and mist, with the rising Sun directly behind me, the mist
cleared somewhat and this wonderful but nearly colorless bow took
shape. Mist was being gently blown across the path I was walking along,
and I noticed that the bow would form, dissipate somewhat, then form
again -- an amazing sight that lasted several minutes. Fogbows are
similar to rainbows, but the fog droplets that form them are
considerably smaller than raindrops that form rainbows. The small
size of the droplets results in overlapping colors that in essence
produces a bow bereft of color. Note the supernumerary bows on the
inside of the primary fogbow.
* Mount Luxmore, New Zealand Coordinates: -45.386174, 167.590464

Related EPODs

Encore - Fogbow Near Mount Luxmore, New Zealand Corona Over
Westmoreland State Park, Virginia Twilight Sky at Mont-Saint-Michel
Red Sprites and Airglow Double Rainbow Over LaJolla, California
Encore - Green Flash Turning Blue
More...

Atmospheric Effects Links

* Atmospheric Optics
* 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 2 weeks, 3 days, 15 hours, 5 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (21:1/186)

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.


Archive - Sheep Mountain Anticline

March 08, 2020

Sheepmt_anticline

Each Sunday we present a notable item from our archives. This EPOD was
originally published March 5, 2014.

Photographer: Ryan Miller
Summary Author: Ryan Miller
The Sheep Mountain anticline, in the Bighorn Basin of
Wyoming, formed during the Laramide orogeny. Many of the ranges
that form the Rocky Mountains also took shape at this time. Shown
above is a railroad cut that runs through this northwest-southeast
trending anticline. The limestone cliffs belong to the
Madison Formation, deposited during the Mississippian
sub-period of the Carboniferous Period. The stream at left is the
Bighorn River. Photo taken on May 28, 2013.
* Sheep Mountain Anticline, Wyoming Coordinates: 44.604017,
-108.129386

Related EPODs

Archive - Sheep Mountain Anticline Mulaku Atoll, Maldives
Crescent Moon and Jupiter Conjunction Above Evia Island, Greece
Archive - Petrified Forest of Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Archive - Bird Rock in Chiricahua National Monument São Miguel
Island and Santa Iria Vista
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Geography Links

* Atlapedia Online
* CountryReports
* GPS Visualizer
* Holt Rinehart Winston World Atlas
* Mapping Our World
* Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
* Types of Land
* World Mapper

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

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 6 weeks, 4 days, 15 hours, 5 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (21:1/186)

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 Harding Icefield

April 08, 2020

IMG_0833 Stitch_small

IMG_0958sm

Photographer: Gabrielle Tepp
Summary Author: Gabrielle Tepp

Most commonly, we view glaciers from the bottom near the
terminus or toe. But what do they look like at the top? The
Harding Icefield, pictured at top, is the source of around 40 glaciers
in south-central Alaska, including the alpine Exit Glacier,
featured on the bottom photo. It's rapidly retreating toe is shown at
bottom-center. Exposed mountain peaks called nunataks can be seen
poking through the icefield on the right. A keen observer may also
spot the person enjoying the view (at far right), showing the huge
scale of the icefield.

Exit Glacier is one of the most easily accessible glaciers in Alaska.
Getting to the icefield, however, is more difficult, but the
spectacular views are worth the 8.5-mile round-trip hike. On this warm
July day in 2018, we spent a couple of hours at the top having lunch
and napping in the sunshine. Just beware of bears, though we,
fortunately, didn’t cross paths with any on this trip. This composite
of 8 photos was taken on July 21, 2018.
* Harding Icefield, Alaska Coordinates: 60.09187, -149.85418

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The Harding Icefield Hoarfrost Flowers and Frozen Ripples
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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 11 weeks, 14 hours, 5 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (21:1/186)

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.


Living Stromatolites

June 08, 2020

Hamelinpool3

Photographer: Claire Konig
Summary Authors: Claire Konig; Jim Foster

Shown above are living stromatolites in Hamelin Pool, on the
coast of Western Australia. Stromatolites have been around since the
Precambrian; at that time there were no creatures with shells
or bones. Thus, these microbial mats played an important role in
increasing the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere of the primeval
Earth. Photosynthetic cyanobacteria remove carbon dioxide from
water and as a result calcium carbonate precipitates onto the
mat-like colonies that they form.
* Hamelin Pool, West Australia Coordinates: -26.4093, 114.4625

Related EPODs

Living Stromatolites Oak Tree Leaves Nyctinasty in
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Leaves Not Green? Flower-head of Cockscomb
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Plant Links

* Discover Life
* Tree Encyclopedia
* What are Phytoplankton?
* Encyclopedia of Life - What is a Plant?
* USDA Plants Database
* University of Texas Native Plant Database
* Plants in Motion
* What Tree is It?

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

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 19 weeks, 5 days, 16 hours, 4 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (21:1/186)

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.


Crepuscular Rays Off La Palma, Canary Islands

July 08, 2020

21042020-SS21042020-DSC_2866SoniLu

Photographer: Sonia Lucía Suárez Domínguez
Summary Authors: Sonia Lucía Suárez Domínguez; Jim Foster
During the morning hours on April 21, 2020, the Sun’s rays slipped
through this overcast forming a curious scene on the sea’s surface
off La Palma (Canary Islands), Spain. Though we’re used to seeing these
crepuscular rays converge toward the Sun as it lies near or
slightly below the horizon, they can also appear when the Sun is higher
in the sky. Aerosols, in this case, sea spray, allow the
projected rays to be more easily seen, creating this “ beam me
up” seascape.

Photo Details: Camera NIKON D3100; Software Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
6.0 (Windows); Exposure Time 0.0016s (1/640); Aperture ƒ/22.0; ISO
equivalent 400; Focal Length (35mm) 93.
* Villa de Mazo, Spain Coordinates: 28.6221, -17.7807

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During the Time of Confinement Encore - Aurora Borealis from Alaska
Solar Halo Over Thessaloniki, Greece Encore - Development of a
Lightning Strike
More...

Atmospheric Effects Links

* Atmospheric Optics
* 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 24 weeks, 16 hours, 6 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (21:1/186)

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.


Encore - Ghost Reef Fossil Find

August 08, 2020

155-adj
NewOne
Today and every Saturday Earth Science Picture of the Day invites you
to rediscover favorites from the past. Saturday posts feature an EPOD
that was chosen by viewers like you in our monthly Viewers' Choice
polls. Join us as we look back at these intriguing and captivating
images.

Photographer: Joe Bauman
Summary Author: Joe Bauman

October 2014 Viewer's Choice
High in the mountains of Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, in
Utah’s Albion Basin, a ghost reef hunkers near a popular hiking
trail. Low boulders that represent parts of the reef were brought to my
attention by Allison Ceresa Genet -- shown in the bottom photo.
Thousands of small sharply defined remnants of creatures that lived
around 330 million years ago cover the surfaces of several boulders.
The vast majority of the figures, which are white or gray and embedded
in dark limestone, are solitary rugosan corals, according to Utah’s
state paleontologist, James I. Kirkland. Rugosan corals (horn
corals) dating to the Mississippian subperiod are found throughout
Utah. In boulders left from the ancient reef, horn coral fossils are
preserved in three dimensions; erosion cut across them directly through
the center, lengthwise or diagonally, resulting in a variety of
patterns. Depending on how Nature slices it, the corals look like
circles with spokes radiating from the middle, fluted shapes like tiny
buffalo horns, spiky vanes, icicles jutting from a semicircle or sprays
of white streaks. Other fossils -- some of which are shown here with a
coin for scale -- that are not rugosan are even more interesting:
ammonites, what looks like a small straight nautiloid, a
carapace that's similar to those of Cambrian period shrimplike
animals, a possible crinoid, and some clearly rendered but hard to
identify shapes. A few seem to show fossilized remains of soft tissue.
Horn corals and many other species were annihilated during Permian
Extinction approximately 250 million years ago.

Photo Details: Top - Camera: NIKON D70; Focal Length: 70mm (35mm
equivalent: 105mm); Aperture: f/5.6; Exposure Time: 0.0040 s (1/250);
Software: Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0. Bottom - same except: Focal
Length: 35mm (35mm equivalent: 52mm); Aperture: f/4.2; Exposure Time:
0.0025 s (1/400).
* Albion Basin, Utah Coordinates: 40.5805, -111.6185

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More...

Geology Links

* Earthquakes
* Geologic Time
* Geomagnetism
* General Dictionary of Geology
* Mineral and Locality Database
* Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness
* This Dynamic Earth
* USGS
* 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 3 weeks, 2 days, 15 hours, 25 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (21:1/186)

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.


EPOD 20th - Snow Crystals In February Snowfalls

September 08, 2020

JSP_snowflake3

JSP_snowflake6

We’re celebrating 20 years of Earth Science Picture of the Day during
the month of September! Today’s photo features a popular EPOD from the
past. Thanks to all of our followers (on the blog, Facebook, Instagram
and Twitter) for supporting us. Thanks also to all of you who’ve
submitted your photos. We’re most appreciative. This EPOD was
originally published March 25, 2015.

Photographer: Jen Campbell
Summary Authors: Brian Campbell; Jim Foster
Shown above are photos of snow crystals taken during snowfalls in
Salisbury, Maryland, this past February. A sector plate snow
crystal is featured at top. Plate crystals such as this are typically
observed when the air temperature is quite cold, 0-10 F or about -15 C.
The bottom photo shows a collection of simple needle snow crystals.
These formed when the temperature was in the low 20s F (about -5 C).
The familiar hexagonal shape of snow crystals is a result of the
six-fold symmetry of the ice crystal lattice.
Note that these photos were taken from about 2 in (5 cm) away. It took
100 shots to get 7 or 8 sharp crystals, like the ones above. Top photo
taken on February 16, 2015 and bottom photo taken on February 18, 2015.
Photo Details: 200 mm f/2.8 macro lens, with an ice light for
lighting.
* Salisbury, Maryland Coordinates: 38.431826, -75.634935

Related EPODs

EPOD 20th - Snow Crystals In February Snowfalls EPOD 20th -
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Unusual Snow Crystals The Harding Icefield
More...

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 2 weeks, 20 hours, 20 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (21:1/186)

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.


Indian Pipe

October 08, 2020

Indian_pipes

Photographer: Dale Chadwick
Summary Author: Dale Chadwick

The Indian pipe plant ( Monotropa uniflora) is
mycoheterotrophic. It is a member of the family Ericaceae which
includes azaleas and blueberries. It lacks chlorophyll and
depends on a complex relationship between fungus and trees,
particularly beech, for nutrition. Because it doesn’t need
sunlight, it is often found in the darkest parts of the forest.
* Tucquan Glen Nature Preserve, Pennsylvania Coordinates:
39.86426, -76.33968

Related EPODs

Indian Pipe EPOD 20th - Diatom Wreath EPOD 20th - Fence
Eating Tree EPOD 20th - Giant Puffball EPOD 20th - Driftwood at
La Push, Washington Cotton Trees
More...

Plant Links

* Discover Life
* Tree Encyclopedia
* What are Phytoplankton?
* Encyclopedia of Life - What is a Plant?
* USDA Plants Database
* University of Texas Native Plant Database
* Plants in Motion
* What Tree is It?

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

https://epod.usra.edu

--- up 6 weeks, 2 days, 20 hours, 26 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (21:1/186)