FYFD

Tag: atmospheric science

  • Titan’s Vortex

    Titan’s Vortex

    The timelapse animation above shows a swirling vortex above the south pole of Saturn’s moon Titan. It completes a full rotation in about nine hours, significantly quicker than the 16-day rotation of the moon. The vortex appears to demonstrate open cell convection, in which air sinks at the center of the cell and and rises at the edges to form clouds along the cell edges.  For the most part the dense haze of Titan’s atmosphere prevents scientists from seeing what goes on beneath the clouds, but Titan is thought to have weather cycles similar to Earth’s, except featuring methane rather than water. (Photo credit: NASA, Cassini; submitted by Adam L)

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    Atmospheric Dynamics in the Lab

    One way to explore some of the large-scale atmospheric dynamics we observe here on earth is through table-top demonstrations such as this one. Here a platform with a water tank is rotating at a constant velocity. The camera rotates with the tank; this is why the hand in the video seems to spin. At the center of the tank, ice in a can cools the water, while the warmer air along the periphery provides heating. The green dye marks initially cooler fluid while the red dye marks the warmer fluid from the outside of the tank. The dense cooler fluid sinks and moves outward while warmer water moves in to replace it. This creates radial circulation; the thermal gradients and rotation cause the eddies and jets seen from this top view, in much the same way that they form in the mid-latitudes of earth’s atmosphere.  (Video credit: Marshall Lab, MIT)

  • Winds Across the US

    Winds Across the US

    A collaborative project on data visualization brings to life the wind velocity data across the United States.  The Wind Map is an interactive, nearly real-time indicator of wind conditions across the country, compiled on an hourly basis from the National Digital Forecast Database.  Be sure to click through to see the data in motion. Observing the variety in wind patterns over the scale of days brings to light the swirling motion of surface winds much the way Perpetual Ocean does for surface currents. Fluid dynamics are all around us. (via Gizmodo)

  • Jovian Storms

    Jovian Storms

    Home to storms capable of lasting for a hundred years or more, Jupiter’s atmosphere is a highly turbulent place. Currently, no comprehensive theory exists to explain the symmetry of Jupiter’s bands of clouds and the persistence of vortices such as the Great Red Spot, however, the mixing and stratification visible on the planet remains a beautiful reminder of the power of fluid dynamics. (Photo credits:Cassini – 1, 2,  Voyager 1, New Horizons – 1, 2)

  • Rocket Launch Phenomena

    Rocket Launch Phenomena

    The launch of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) last year provided a rarely seen glimpse of how shock waves affect the atmosphere during launch, but only recently have researchers explained the white column that seemed to follow SDO toward orbit. Simulations indicate that the shock waves from the rocket aligned the ice crystals in the atmosphere into an array of spinning tops. Individual crystals precess as a result of the rocket passing; the column is part of a larger oval that would have been visible had the ice crystals covered a larger range. See Wired for more. #