NASA Satellite Gallery Shows Chilean Volcano Plume Moving Around the World

Here's a cool story I wrote yesterday using satellite imagery to track the volcanic ash plume from the Chilean Volcano around the world. 

FEATURE/IMAGE GALLERY: NASA Satellite Gallery Shows Chilean Volcano Plume Moving Around the World
Since its eruption in early June, several NASA satellites have captured images of the ash plume from the eruption of the Chilean Volcano called Puyehue-Cordón Caulle and have tracked it around the world. NASA has collected them in the NASA Goddard FLICKR image gallery that shows the progression of the plume around the southern hemisphere.
FULL STORY: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/20110615-volcano.html
FOR THE NASA Goddard FLICKR Gallery of images of Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano eruption from June 4 to June 14, 2011:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/sets/72157626837498837/

 
CAPTION:  Three different satellite image flyovers were combined from NASA's Aqua satellite to show the journey of the volcanic ash from Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano as it traveled across the southern Pacific Ocean, past New Zealand (at left), on June 14, 2011. Credit: NASA Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response, Jeff Schmaltz 

Dog Walk and Doggone Good Weather

Now that our second heatwave is over, the dogs and I are really enjoying the cool morning temperatures this week.

Politicians Doing Stupid Things

USA Today put together this pictorial of politicians doing stupid things, from texting lewd pictures to adultery.
There are 6 Democrats and 9 Republicans. This is by no means all inclusive, but it is representative that neither party is better than the other when it comes to this, so pushing "Christian values" from one or the other is a bunch of crap. In fact, the Bible says that adulterers should be stoned if you want to take it literally.
http://mediagallery.usatoday.com/Political-sex-scandals/G2337,A9321

Garage Into Room Part 3: Installing Insulation

Tuesday night was NOT relaxing. After work we drove to Lowes and bought insulation for the garage. Earlier that day we had a contractor over who tore all the drywall down and piled it high in the center of the room. We replaced old, dried out insulation, installed insulation on the outside garage wall where there was none before and got it all done by 9am - just in time for bedtime!  Needless to say, our three dogs were not amused. They wanted their daddy time just as much as we wanted our doggy time. Anyway, cutting the insulation was nasty and dust from the removed drywall was all over the place- and of course we breathed it in. Nasty!
 - On Wednesday, the contractor came back and cleared the drywall debris. Next - We need to do the electrical wiring to get the AC/heater working.... THEN comes the drywall.

No Insulation found on the outside wall after drywall torn down.

How we spent Tuesday night-insulating the garage/room

Tom fitting insulation

Annapolis

This morning we met  our friend and Tom's former co-worker Gretchen for breakfast in Annapolis. Of course we recommended our friend Mike B's father's restaurant "Eggcellence" and it was awesome as always. She enjoyed it.  Because she's only been to Annapolis once before- and just to the state house, we took her downtown (yes, we passed up doing home renovations one day!) - and walked around. Here are some pictures.

The Severn River from the downtown Annapolis docks

Severn River from Downtown Annapolis

Downtown historic Annapolis

1700s Architecture Book that Tom and Gretchen wanted to read (its under glass!)

This historic warehouse on Wayman's Alley has a ghost in it. It gave me a headache when we walked by.

Tom and Gretchen in the Annapolis City museum

Hundreds of tiny blown glass animals in a shop- why??

More Home Renovations

We've hired contractors to do more work on the house. We had the outside of the Sun Porch redone and made into a white finish that looks cleaner. We've had flashing and sideboards reinstalled on the roofline to replace the ones done in a messy fashion by a roofer a couple of years ago.

The refinished Sunporch (that we tiled last weekend)

tearing down old roof flashing/sideboards

Some cool stuff I've written this week

I love what I do, and writing about tropical cyclones (hurricanes), tornadoes, severe storms, volcanoes, and wildfires fascinate me. Here are some of the stories I wrote this week you may find interesting:

1_ Landsat Satellite Images Compare Before and After Mass. Tornado

Landsat 5 satellite images showing the area between Springfield and Sturbridge, Mass. before and after the tornado on June 1, 2011 CLICK HERE TO SEE BEFORE AND AFTER IMAGES:  http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/mass-tornado-beforeafter.html

CAPTION  This is a Landsat 5 satellite image of the area between Springfield and Sturbridge, Mass. taken on June 5, 2011 that clearly shows the light-colored tornado track. Credit: NASA/USGS, Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Eye Say, Adrian is Still a Powerful Hurricane on NASA Satellite Imagery

Hurricane Adrian has been good at hiding his eye from satellite imagery over the last two days, but the latest Aqua and GOES-13 satellite imagery provides the best look at the eye, despite some overcast inside.

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite called GOES-11 captured a visible image of Major Hurricane Adrian on June 10 at 1601 UTC (12:01 p.m. EDT).The image, that shows the eye of the storm with some dense overcast in it, was made at the NASA GOES Project out of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. GOES-13 is managed by NOAA.

When NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead on June 10 at 09:17 UTC (5:17 a.m. EDT) the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument took an infrared image of Adrian. AIRS images are false colored to show cloud temperature where purple colorations indicate the highest, coldest cloud top temperatures (usually colder than -63F/-52C). Today's image showed a large area of those cold cloud tops (indicating strong thunderstorms around the center of the storm) with warmer cloud temperatures (in blue) in the center - revealing an eye. FULL STORY: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2011/h2011_Adrian.html

GOES-11 captured an image of Hurricane Adrian on June 10 at 1500 UTC (11:00 a.m. EDT) and the eye of the storm is apparent even through some clouds over it.
Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project

It's A Bad Day To Be Without Air Conditioning

We're having a zoned damper system installed so that the upstairs will finally be cool in the summer months without the use of supplemental window-type air conditioning units. Unfortunately, the A/C guys arrived, took the AHU apart, and have been gone for HOURS (and still gone) as I work from home in the heat. 
It's 100F (outside temperature) today.  Since the system was disabled this morning at 11am, the temperature inside the house has been steadily rising. At 12:35pm the temperature was 93.2F (inside temperature) according to my digital thermometer.

AC Disabled

Upstairs Temp at 1pm NOW up to 93.7F

Outside temp at 1pm

This is not good timing. - Rob

Newest Home Renovation Project; -Gutting Garage Inside

Now that we've had a contractor enclose the front of the garage, our work started all through this past weekend.  We had to buy an air conditioner/heater unit similar to the ones you see in hotel rooms, to cool and heat the former garage, because there's no duct work in it to connect to the rest of the house.
 - SO, we had to tear down drywall, insulation, etc. Tom had to accurately measure for a hole in the side wall, painfully, and precisely cut it out through the outside wall, and then we had to get the unit in there. It took all weekend.  **After we got this unit in, we hired someone to come in to tear down ALL of the drywall - because that was just too much for us. REVEALED: We learned why it was so HOT in the summer in the garage, and so COLD in the winter. The builder NEVER INSULATED the outside wall of the garage.
   Here are the pictures.

1) Cutting the hole thru wall to insert A/C -Heater

2) Tearing out Drywall

3) Tom framed the area to hold the heater/AC unit

4) Emptying tool cabinets to prep for drywall removal

5) Inserting metal sleeve in Wall opening for AC/Heater - this was tight!

6) Simultaneously starting paneling/drywall removal

7) Ready to install AC/heater! - It FIT!!! YAY!

Why an $8K Medicare Voucher Plan for the Elderly Won't Work

The GOP's plan to do away with Medicare for the elderly and give them $8000 vouchers to purchase health insurance on their own is ridiculous for a couple of reasons. Just listing these Common Sense points below, you can see why the Republican plan won't work, unless we want to deny our aging Baby Boomers health care. After all, the voucher will quickly run out, leaving little for doctor visits and medication.

TOM SAYS:  The cost to my employer for my health care coverage, basic level, for one individual is $12k per year.  The difference between the voucher amount and what an actual plan would cost would have to be made up by the individual.  The GOP thinks that throwing seniors out into the open market, buying their own private health care plans, will bring down the cost of health care insurance.  This is debatable. 

  It is also unreasonable for elderly individuals, perhaps in a diminished mental capacity, to be able to shop for their own health care insurance.    We, that are still employed, have full-time human resources people that shop around for the best pricing for health care coverage.  Seniors would now be responsible for doing this themselves under the proposed GOP plan. 

Rob's Observations:

1) For anyone without a job, to buy health insurance, expect to pay out of pocket at least $300/month. That's $3,600 a year.
2) Add in dental insurance and that's another $2,000 a year.  **Now you're up to $5,600.00.**
3) Medication: Seniors often take maintenance medications for controlling diabetes, to maintain their blood pressure, and other necessary drugs due to medical procedures; even WITH a health insurance, these are expensive.
4) Add in regular doctor's visits.
5) Then the variables: Accidents/ Hospital Visits/ Tests  - things like breaking a hip (which happens VERY often), knee replacements, heart attacks, etc.  Now you're WAY over the $8,000.00  - Maybe even past $10k, $20k.** 
6) Now add in Nursing Home Care or Assisted Living Care. Who will help pay for that for our vastly aging Baby Boomers??
This GOP "plan" is no plan at all; it shows no consideration for America's seniors at all.  The things they propose amount to elder abuse. Wake up, America! The GOP doesn't care about seniors, and their children certainly don't have the money to extend coverage to cover their parents' care either.  We need real reform of Medicare, true. But doing away with Medicare altogether and providing $8,000 vouchers is not the answer.

Interviewed on WCVB-TV Boston about Massachusetts Tornadoes

On Friday I worked with a scientist on the GOES-13 satellite team who created this cool video  of the severe thunderstorms that passed through Massachusetts and created three tornadoes in the south central part of the state.  I wrote the story below about it, and was also interviewed by WCVB-TV, Channel 5, Boston, Mass. about the satellite imagery.
  

 CAPTION: The interview was done over SKYPE on the computer, using a camera and microphone. But I was seated in a conference room in the office and Rebecca and Karl from the office set up posters and arranged the set up, while Ed filmed this part of the interview from inside the room. WCVB-TV hasn't posted the actual interview on their website, but this is basically most of it! Video Credit: Ed Campion

This animation of GOES-13 satellite imagery begins at 17:45 UTC (1:45 p.m. EDT) to 23:45 UTC (7:45 p.m. EDT) and shows the line of storms progressing from west to east that generated three tornadoes over Massachusetts on June 1. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project, Dennis Chesters 

 Bubbling, severe thunderstorms that generated three tornadoes that struck Massachusetts on June 1 can be seen in a new animation of GOES-13 satellite images.

A line of late afternoon thunderstorms over New England spawned a rare outbreak of tornadoes in south central Massachusetts between 20:00 UTC and 21:00 UTC (4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT) killing at least four people and leaving a path of destruction in the town of Springfield and 19 nearby communities.

The animation of GOES-13 satellite imagery showing the tornadic storms was created by the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The series of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) are managed by NOAA, and the NASA/NOAA GOES Project creates images and animations from those satellites. 

The animation begins at 17:45 UTC (1:45 p.m. EDT) to 23:45 UTC (7:45 p.m. EDT) and shows the line of storms progressing from west to east. In the animation at 20:01 UTC (4:01 p.m.) you can see the bubbling up of high thunderstorms, which coincide with the reported tornadoes on the ground in Springfield, Mass. If there is a tornado, you typically see overshooting cloud tops in satellite imagery, but overshooting cloud tops don't necessarily indicate a tornado.

The Springfield tornado either formed over or tracked over the Connecticut River before moving into downtown Springfield. According to CNN, one person was killed in Springfield, two people died in Westfield, and one person in Brimfield.

In addition to severe weather, GOES imagery also monitors hurricane alley in the Atlantic and the Eastern Pacific, and hurricane season just started on June 1.

CAPTION: In the GOES-13 animation at 20:01 UTC (4:01 p.m.) you can see the bubbling up of high thunderstorms, which coincide with the reported tornadoes on the ground in Springfield, Mass. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project, Dennis Chesters 

Since 2010, the GOES Project offers free, real-time HDTV movies of the east- (Atlantic) and west (Eastern Pacific) coast "hurricane alley" regions on the Internet. There are "Coastal" and "Global" movies.

"The color frames are composed by overlaying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) GOES cloud images on a true-color background previously derived from NASA's Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imager," said GOES Project Scientist Dennis Chesters on the NASA GOES Project at Goddard. MODIS is an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites to provide color imagery of the Earth's surface. "The GOES infrared images show the convective storms 24 hours a day. During daylight, the GOES visible images reveal the low clouds that provide detail and a sense of the low-level winds," Chesters said.

All of the animations can be found at the NASA GOES Project Web page:
http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Hurricane storm updates and data can also be found on NASA's Hurricane page at http://www.nasa.gov/hurricane

Garage Made into a Room!

This week we've had another home renovation happening this week- Our garage is being made into a room! Over the course of this week the garage door was torn down, and a front wall built in its place with windows and doors installed. Tom designed it (being the architect he is), found the appropriate windows and door, ordered them and had them waiting. It's amazing how much room is actually uncovered once garage door rails are removed. -This is where we have gym/workout stuff, so we'll be enjoying it in that respect. This weekend, we're installing an air conditioning/heating unit in it.

Day 1 - Garage Door Removed

Day 1- Front of the Garage- door removed

Day 2 - New Wall already built, windows, doors up!

Day 3- Windows Secured, door lock installed, other stuff

Day 4- Completed in front with shingles attached!