Wednesday, November 21, 2012

11/21/12 Earth Art From Space


The Earth's atmosphere experiences a roller coaster of changes over the course of 24 hours -- from dust storms, solar storm particles, carbon bursts, to tropical cyclones, pollution, and even sea salt swirls. However, most of this is invisible to us here on Earth’s surface, but from space, you have the perfect view.

Earlier this week, NASA posted a video compilation, titled “Paint by Particle” which illustrates the movement of all the particles that are in Earth’s atmosphere. The time-lapse takes place from August 2006 to April 2007.

At first glance, the video conjures up images of sand art picture frames such as these, but then you realize it is so much more than that. Each color represents a different type of particle in the atmosphere: dust (red), sea salt (blue), sulphate and/or high storm clouds (white), but also living organisms (green). Yes, the green color is actually organic carbon material, some of which came from living plants/bacteria. Here is the video below so you can see the beauty for yourself.
 
Sources: NASA, Youtube, Yahoo, Mashable

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