Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Dust Storms - When the Air Turns Against You ( crazy nature )
Dust Storms
They are known by many names: Haboob, Simum, Black Blizzards. A solid wall of dust almost a mile high, moving whole sand dunes and bringing Biblical darkness to the huge areas of the world. Scorching hot winds (up to 40 degrees Celsius) blowing the sand around with hurricane speeds... What seems extreme to us is actually a common occurrence in Africa and the Middle East. The similar sand-saturated hurricane-speed storms over Mediterranian are called Sirocco, Yugo and Ghibli. The dust (or desert sand) particles become airborne and held in suspension, creating a moving front. The convection of cold air over the heated ground maintains the storm and keeps the dust rolling.
See one such storm coming into the Israeli Negev desert from Sinai (advancing with the speed of appr. 40 mph). According to the photographer Eviathar ben Zedeff (link), the sand wall is over 4,000 ft high:
Dust Storm Israeli Negev Desert
Dust Storm Israeli Negev Desert
Sand Storm in Khartoum, Sudan:
Sand Storm in Khartoum, Sudan
Sand Storm in Khartoum, Sudan
Here is an alarming fact: sand storms now happen ten times more frequently than fifty years ago. For example, Mauritania had only two storms per year in the early Sixties, now it's more like EIGHTY a year. Sahara's sand is also being sent into the Atlantic at an accelerated pace (five times growth in one year, since 2006!) - however, this could be a good thing, according to Wikipedia, as it will cool off the ocean enough to slightly ease the ongoing 2007 hurricane season.
Dust covers Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan:
Dust covers Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan
Dust covers Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan
Storm in Phoenix, Arizona, USA
The lamplighters brave the dust storm in Nevada desert
The next picture may look like an incoming dust storm, but it is just a cloud front.
Cloud Front Australian Outback
They are known by many names: Haboob, Simum, Black Blizzards. A solid wall of dust almost a mile high, moving whole sand dunes and bringing Biblical darkness to the huge areas of the world. Scorching hot winds (up to 40 degrees Celsius) blowing the sand around with hurricane speeds... What seems extreme to us is actually a common occurrence in Africa and the Middle East. The similar sand-saturated hurricane-speed storms over Mediterranian are called Sirocco, Yugo and Ghibli. The dust (or desert sand) particles become airborne and held in suspension, creating a moving front. The convection of cold air over the heated ground maintains the storm and keeps the dust rolling.
See one such storm coming into the Israeli Negev desert from Sinai (advancing with the speed of appr. 40 mph). According to the photographer Eviathar ben Zedeff (link), the sand wall is over 4,000 ft high:
Dust Storm Israeli Negev Desert
Dust Storm Israeli Negev Desert
Sand Storm in Khartoum, Sudan:
Sand Storm in Khartoum, Sudan
Sand Storm in Khartoum, Sudan
Here is an alarming fact: sand storms now happen ten times more frequently than fifty years ago. For example, Mauritania had only two storms per year in the early Sixties, now it's more like EIGHTY a year. Sahara's sand is also being sent into the Atlantic at an accelerated pace (five times growth in one year, since 2006!) - however, this could be a good thing, according to Wikipedia, as it will cool off the ocean enough to slightly ease the ongoing 2007 hurricane season.
Dust covers Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan:
Dust covers Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan
Dust covers Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan
Storm in Phoenix, Arizona, USA
The lamplighters brave the dust storm in Nevada desert
The next picture may look like an incoming dust storm, but it is just a cloud front.
Cloud Front Australian Outback
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Obama Sworn | Spectacular Pictures
Spectators in Times Square watch President Barack Obama take the oath of office during his inauguration Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
Residents of Kibera, one of the poorest quarters in Nairobi gather to watch the inauguration ceremony of US President Barack Obama in Nairobi on January 20, 2009. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images)
People watch a big television screen broadcasting Barack Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 during a ceremony at the Paris town hall in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)
Iraqis gather to watch televised coverage of the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama at a cafe in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
U.S. Soldiers watch the U.S. Presidential inauguration via a webcast from Combat Outpost Keating in eastern Afghanistan January 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Bob Strong (AFGHANISTAN)
Cecilia Perez, center, watches the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama with Oscar Rodriguez at her taco stand in Mexico City, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Villagers of Nyang'oma Kogelo, the Kenyan village where 44th US President Barack Obama's father was born, react as they watch on a giant screen inauguration ceremony of US President Barack Obama, on January 20, 2009. Thousands of people from around and beyond Kogelo, including foreign tourists gathered at Nyang'oma village to celebrate the inauguration of Obama. (TONY KARUMBA/AFP/ Getty Images
Shoppers watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama at the Best Buy Store at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
People gather for the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America on the National Mall January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The Rev. Joseph Lowery gives the benediction during the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America on the West Front of the Capitol January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
US Army Command Sgt. Maj. Julia Kelley, left, of the 229th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, weeps as she watches the inauguration of US President Barack Obama at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009.
People attend the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States on the National Mall January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
U.S. President Barack H. Obama greets guests after he is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States on the West Front of the Capitol January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (J. Scott Applewhite-Pool/ Getty Images)
Keith Hart, center, a Vietnam Army veteran, cheers as he watches Barack Obama be inaugurated as president, on television with other patrons of the Oxford Bar in Missoula, Mt., one of the oldest bars in Montana, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Michael Albans)
Vertie Hodge, 74, weeps during an Inauguration Day party near Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 after President Barack Obama delivered his speech after taking the oath of office, becoming the first black president in the United States. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Mayra Beltran)
Members of a US Navy Honor Guard stand at attention as US President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive at the Presidential Reviewing Stand during the Inaugural Parade January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/ Getty Images)
President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle stand with former US president George W. Bush and Laura Bush on the steps of the US Capitol following the inaugural ceremony for Obama as 44th US president in Washington on January 20, 2009. (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)
Former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush wave as they board a Marine helicopter at the Capitol in Washington after Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
A Marine helicopter with former President George W. Bush on board departs from the East Front of the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, in Washington, as President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife wave goodbye from the steps of the Capitol. (AP Photo/Tannen Maury, Pool)
Former President George W. Bush looks out over the U.S. Capitol as his helicopter departs Washington, D.C. January 20, 2009, for Andrews Air Force Base following the inauguration ceremonies for President Barack Obama. (ERIC DRAPER/AFP/Getty Images)
Mujo Bota and Alamasa Bota, Bosnian Muslims, watch a TV broadcast of the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama with their grandson Ajdin Bota, 10, in the village of Dejicici, near Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina on Tuesday Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)
Students of the Crested Butte Community School, in Crested Butte Colo. sit on the floor in the main hallway of the school and applaud the inaugural address of President Barack Obama while watching the presidential inauguration in Washington, Tuesday, Jan., 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Nathan Bilow)
Afghan men watch a television broadcast showing the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, at a restaurant in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Jan 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Ahmad Masoud)
Kenyans who gathered at the grounds of the University of Nairobi to watch in giant screens the inauguration ceremony where Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America celebrate the ocassion on January 20, 2008. Barrack Obama's father was born in Kenya.
40 years after their silent protest at the 1968 Olympics, Gold Medalist Tommie Smith hugs Bronze Medalist John Carlos, and their wives Delois Smith and Charlene Carlos after Barack Obama is officially sworn in as the President of the United States. Photo taken in the Smith room at the Sheraton Boston in Boston, MA. (Boston Globe/Stan Grossfeld)
U.S. President Barack Obama with his wife Michelle at the inaugural luncheon after he was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States in Washington, January 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)
U.S. President Barack Obama talks with U.S. Sen. John McCain after arriving at the luncheon at Statuary Hall the luncheon at Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Amanda Rivkin-Pool/ Getty Images)
President Barack Obama signs his first act as president, a proclamation declaring a national day of renewal and reconciliation and calling on Americans to serve one another, after being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States during the inaugural ceremony in Washington Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Molly Riley, Pool)
A South Korean man reads a newspaper reporting on U.S. President Barack Obama's Inauguration on the subway in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)
Pakistani Christian children hold portraits of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama during a prayers ceremony for global peace in Islamabad, Pakistan on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo
People wave American flags at the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States on the National Mall January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk in the inaugural parade following his inauguration as the 44th President of the United States of America on January 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)
Sasha Obama waves through the limousine window as she and her sister Malia leave Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Bill Mesta replaces an official picture of outgoing President George W. Bush with that of newly-sworn- in U.S. President Barack Obama, in the lobby of the headquarters of the U.S. Naval Base January 20, 2009 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Brennan Linsley-Pool/ Getty Images)
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attend the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center on January 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/ Getty Images)
Guests at the "Biden Home States Ball" record the moment as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dance at the Washington Convention Center in the nation's capital, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill dance during the Commander in Chief's Ball at the National Building Museum in Washington January 20 2009 . (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)
U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama dance their first dance at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball in Washington January 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Jason Reed)
People watching President Barack Obama's inauguration via television raise a toast to the nation's new president at Brooklyn's Fort Greene Senior Action Center in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
In this handout photo provided by the White House, a folder for U.S. President Barack Obama (the 44th president) is shown, left for him by Former U.S. President George W. Bush on the Resolute desk in the Oval Office of the White House January 20, 2009 in Washington, D.C. (Eric Draper/The White House via Getty Images)
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