WeiPoints #02: A Year From Above
Your irregularly timed dose of wonder about the world
From Maxar’s GeoEye-1, the colors of fall shine bright in this image of Quebec, Canada, caught during September 2023.
Hello! A fresh wave of subscribers joined after I sent out my first newsletter, and I can’t thank y’all enough for your interest in my little missives. If you want to read the first edition of WeiPoints about my walk with some geologic giants you can find a link here!
For most people, the new year marks a time for reflection—a time to think about lessons learned, celebrate their biggest wins, and set next year’s goals. But for me, the new year also marks the anniversary of my paternal grandad’s passing. I miss him dearly and can still hear the wistful tone of his voice as he told tales of his many adventures, from code breaking during WWII to his time with NASA. But my favorite story was that of the Nimbus satellite explosion.
The Nimbus satellites marked a new era of observing our planet above. The first of seven was launched in 1964, equipped with the latest technology of the age. But the second craft of the series, Nimbus-B, never would have made it off the ground if it weren’t for my grandad. (If you want that full story, I wrote about it for Smithsonian Digital News in 2017.)
So in honor of Grandpa Haas, I’m closing the year with a newsletter full of images from space. These types of images never fail to give me perspective—daily inconveniences and anxieties seem to shrink in comparison to the vastness of our solar system. And I hope this collection does the same for you. <3
Coming up …
Earth from above 2023: Images of our planet this past year that will make you stop and think
Rocks Reveal: Pre-orders are now open for my illustrated kid’s book about rocks!
Adventures Ahead: Updates on travels that await in 2024.
The following images are a mix of snaps from satellites and astronauts on board the International Space Station. Some are stunning visuals and exciting events, others are visible marks of our impact on this wonderous world. I hope each one makes you pause and think about our shared home planet.
Peeking through the clouds is Antarctica’s Mount Erebus, the world’s southernmost active volcano. This image was captured by Landsat 9, which also used infrared data to reveal waves of heat radiating from the lava lake burbling within the volcano’s summit crater.
This Southern Californian landscape looks more like abstract art than it does grassy expanse. The image, also collected by Landsat 9, captures a superbloom of poppies painting the valley in oranges, reds, and yellows. The geometric patterns of a solar farm overlay blocks of grey on to the colorful swirls.
This snap, taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station last April, reveals the remote dune fields of southeastern Saudi Arabia. The rows of mounded sand are crafted by strong winds, with the orientation of the dunes reflecting the most intense prevailing winds. But these dunes, known as “star dunes” are a bit different than most because atop the ridges are star-shaped mounds of sand, which are the result of wind from multiple directions.
At the very center of this image is Etra Ale—a volcano known as the “gateway to hell” or the “smoking mountain” in the Afar language. Molten rock has churned in the lava lake at its peak since at least 1967. The second image includes a closeup that shows the roiling heat of the molten rock as red specs, which were created from data captured by infrared cameras onboard Landsat 8.
These pockmarks are what’s known as “fairy circles” located near the town of Moora in Western Australia. Captured by Landsat 9 in June 2023, this line of watery depressions follows a deep crack in the landscape known as the Darling Fault. Seeping up around the watery edges of the fairy circles is an increasingly sought-after fossil fuel alternative: hydrogen gas. A recent study hints that the gas is generated naturally in this region as water percolates down through the fissure and reacts with the iron-rich rocks deep under the surface.
Last April, a solar storm bombarded Earth with charged particles that crashed into our planet’s magnetosphere. The result was stunningly vivid auroras that danced across a much larger expanse of the sky than usual. The activity was so intense that it was even captured in this black and white satellite image taken by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite.
On October 14, 2023, the Moon passed directly between the sun and Earth, casting its shadow across our planet. But this wasn’t a total eclipse. Instead, it was what’s known as an annular eclipse, when the moon is too far from Earth to fully block out the light as it passes in front of the sun. This image was obtained by NASA’s EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) imager aboard DSCVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) satellite.
Update: What a Rock Can Reveal
Pre-orders are now open for my first kid’s book about rocks! WHAT A ROCK CAN REVEAL will be shipped on February 28, and can be found where most are sold, including Amazon and Target.
Here’s a sneak peek of one of the many gorgeous illustrations in this book. Most books color almost all rocks beneath’s Earth’s surface in various shades of vivid red. This fact has likely contributed to an extremely common misconception about our planet’s subsurface — that a river of magma is rushing just beneath the crust. But these rocks are not only largely solid but also sparkle with a vibrant green mineral known as olivine! Check out the page details below:
Adventures Ahead
I’m going to be the expert geologist for trips with both National Geographic Expeditions and Smithsonian Journeys in 2024. This section hasn’t changed much compared to my previous newsletter, but I wanted to include it in each send as a reminder of what is to come. I’d love it if any of you wanted to join these adventures, and I hope to see you all on a trip soon!
January 13-24: Discover Patagonia with National Geographic Expeditions
March 2-13: New Zealand Journey with National Geographic Expeditions
June 28-July 7: Hiking the Alpe-Adria Trail with National Geographic Expeditions
July 10-17: Alaska: Denali to Kenai Fjords Expedition with National Geographic
CANCELLED: July 25 - August 1: Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks with National Geographic — unfortunately, the company has decided to cancel this departure date. Hopefully, I’ll catch another trip to Yellowstone this year or next!
September 12-22 & September 26 - October 6: Adventure in Iceland with Smithsonian Journeys
***Please note: Sometimes there are unforeseen changes in the experts/guides on these trips due to illness or other scheduling needs that are out of my control. But I am currently under contract to travel on the above scheduled trips and will do my absolute best to keep to the plan!
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