NASA Image of the Day, Feb 4th ..[ 2103 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Blue on Mars

This image shows part of the floor of Rabe Crater, a large impact crater in Mars' southern highlands. Dark dunes--accumulations of wind blown sand--cover part of crater's floor, and contrast with the surrounding bright-colored outcrops. 

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The extreme close-up view reveals a thumbprint-like texture of smaller ridges and troughs covering the surfaces of the larger dunes. 

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These smaller ripples are also formed and shaped by blowing wind in the thin atmosphere of Mars. 

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One puzzling question is why the dunes are dark compared with the relative bright layered material contained within the crater. The probable answer is that the source of the dark sand is not local to this crater; rather, this topographic depression has acted as a sand trap. 

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This image was originally released Oct. 24, 2007. 

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Τετάρτη, 16 Φεβρουάριος 2011 7:00:00 πμ

Korea: The heaviest snowfall in a century. ..[ 2102 ]

Heavy Snow on the Korean Peninsula

Posted February 16, 2011

February, 2011, residents along South Korea’s east coast were struggling to dig out from the heaviest snowfall in more than a century.
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The BBC reported that hundreds of stranded motorists awaited rescue, and hundreds of homes had collapsed under the weight of heavy snow. The South Korean government had deployed 12,000 soldiers to assist and rescue residents.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this natural-color image on February 15, 2011. Mostly clear skies allowed MODIS a nearly uninterrupted view of the Korean Peninsula. East of Seoul, clusters of small white clouds cast shadows onto the surface below. But most of the white on the peninsula is snow.

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Agence France-Presse reported that the port city of Samcheok recorded 100 centimeters (39 inches) of snowfall on February 11 and 12—the heaviest snowfall amount since recordkeeping began in 1911. In the west, Seoul escaped heavy snow, although the Han River froze over for the first time in years, according to the BBC.

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The Chosunilbo reported that snow was expected to taper off for the east coast on February 14, although some snow might fall inland, including Seoul.

The heavy snowfall arrived on the heels of Sout.h Korea’s coolest January since the 1960s.

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The unusual cold might have been driven at least partly by the Arctic Oscillation (AO). A negative phase of the AO lowered temperatures in other parts of the Northern Hemisphere in January 2011.

1. References

2. Agence France-Presse. (2011, February 14). Thousands in S. Korea help clear record snow. Accessed February 15, 2011.
3. BBC. (2011, February 14). South Korea chaos after “heaviest” snowfall. Accessed February 15, 2011.
4. The Chosunilbo. (2011, February 14). More heavy snow forecast. Accessed February 15, 2011.

NASA images courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.

Instrument: 

Aqua - MODIS

Japan: Presence of U.S. Marines in Okinawa ..[ 2101 ]

Hatoyama was irresponsible to use presence of U.S. Marines in Okinawa as political maneuver

 (Mainichi Japan) February 16, 2011

Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's remarks to the effect that he cited the deterrent role of U.S. Marines in Japan merely as a political maneuver to justify his administration's decision to scrap its pledge to relocate the force's Air Station Futenma out of Okinawa Prefecture is extremely irresponsible and outrageous.

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During the campaign for the 2009 general election, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) pledged to relocate Futenma base out of the prefecture.
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In May last year, however, then Prime Minister Hatoyama changed his policy and signed an agreement with the United States to shift the base to the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, as agreed to under the previous administration comprised of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito.
At the time, Hatoyama said his studies concluded that the presence of Marines in Okinawa Prefecture is indispensable as a deterrent against war.
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In a recent joint interview with the Ryukyu Shimpo and other local newspapers in Okinawa, however, Hatoyama denied that he recognizes that the presence of Marines in the southernmost prefecture is necessary as a deterrent.
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"Tokunoshima Island (in Kagoshima Prefecture) refused to host a substitute facility, and we had no choice but to move it to Henoko, but we needed to offer a rationale to justify that," he said in the interview. "I don't think the presence of the Marine Corps in Okinawa will serve as a deterrent against war. My earlier comments were expedient, so to speak."
In short, Hatoyama admitted that he rationalized the relocation within the prefecture by citing the Marines' deterrent against war because his administration failed to persuade Washington to accept the relocation of the base out of Okinawa and he was unable to convince Okinawa residents or the entire nation of the decision to relocate the U.S. base within the prefecture.
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Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima expressed displeasure at the former prime minister's remarks while Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine asserted that the national government lost the basis for its decision to relocate Futenma base within the prefecture. It is natural that the local community is angry at Hatoyama's remarks.
Hatoyama had pledged not to seek re-election as a House of Representatives member after resigning as prime minister. However, after his resignation last year, he retracted his pledge and has also failed to live up to his promise to submit documents regarding his mother's provision of funds to him to the Diet.
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The public has lost faith in anything Hatoyama says. Moreover, Hatoyama has joined hands with DPJ heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa in criticizing the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
Kan, who was deputy prime minister in the Hatoyama Cabinet, has taken over the policy of relocating Futenma base to Henoko and Tokyo's agreement with Washington on the issue. The Kan administration is moving ahead with the relocation on the grounds that the presence of the Marine Corps in Okinawa is indispensable as a deterrent. The fact that Hatoyama, who was responsible for the decision, reversed this reasoning certainly has a huge impact on the Kan administration's policy.
Hatoyama should explain why he changed his policy on relocating Futenma base as well as his recent remarks to convince the public. The Diet has an option to summon him to testify over the issue.
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At the same time, Kan is required to explain the need to keep U.S. Marine Corps stationed in Okinawa and their role as a deterrent.
Hatoyama's recent remarks have made it far more difficult for the central government to regain the confidence of Okinawa residents.

Click here for the original Japanese story

Italy Intercepts Boat of Immigrants...[ 2100 ]

Italy Intercepts Boat of Immigrants

Published February 15, 2011

| Associated Press

LAMPEDUSA, Italy –  Italian authorities have intercepted a boatload of 32 people believed to be from Egypt as the wave of would-be immigrants from North Africa toward Italy's shores continues unabated.

The naval section of Italy's financial police said it intercepted the boat overnight off the coast of Ragusa, on the Sicilian mainland.

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No boats arrived overnight on the tiny island of Lampedusa farther south, where more than 5,000 Tunisians have landed in recent days in an unintended consequence of the "people's revolution" that ousted autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and inspired the uprisings in Egypt and beyond.

Italy has demanded the European Union step in to deal with what one minister has called an exodus of biblical proportions.

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Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/15/italy-intercepts-boat-immigrants-923690018/#ixzz1E2DArVVc

'Tehran Moment' Coming..[ 2099 ]

U.S. Pressures Iran to Allow Protests, Former Prince Says 'Tehran Moment' Coming

Iranians attend a rally marking the 32nd anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in Tehran Feb. 11.

Published February 13, 2011 /
/ FoxNews.com
Posted here February 15,2011/15:10 LT

After popular uprisings toppled regimes in Egypt and Tunisia, the Obama administration appears to be fanning the embers of unrest in Iran, calling on the country's theocratic regime to permit a new wave of demonstrations against its rule.
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Iran, after cracking down on dissent following the disputed 2009 election, is once again vowing to stifle the opposition as anti-government organizers call for a nationwide march Monday. With questions swirling about what regimes, if any, will be claimed next by the regional uprising in the Middle East, the Iranian government is preemptively showing its determination not to become one of them.
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But while the Obama administration, which did not openly back Iranian protesters in 2009, is hardly calling for regime change, top officials have made clear that the people of Iran should have their voices heard -- just as they did in Cairo.
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Iranian dissidents are holding out hope that, if the government faces global pressure, the momentum could shift in their favor.
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Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the last shah of Iran who was deposed in the 1979 revolution, told Fox News on Sunday that the outcome in Egypt must be "emboldening" for his country. Though some analysts warn Iran has proved it has the capacity and the will to strike down the opposition, Pahlavi suggested some in the Iranian military might not stand by the regime to the end.
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"Our time as a region has finally come," Pahlavi said. "My compatriots in Tehran want to have their Tehran moment, as Egyptians had their Cairo moment. ... Iran's turn is going to come up soon as well."
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He urged "free countries" to drop their attempts at dialogue with Iran and offer more support for those trying to effect a change in leadership.
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"The people are now fighting tooth and nail to defend their freedom totally under-armed, totally underequipped," Pahlavi told Fox News. "The least we could do from the point of view of the free world is to stand by them, tell them that they're not alone, that their voices have been heard."
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Obama administration officials have, at this point, said their voices should be heard. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon issued a statement Saturday urging Iran not to follow through with stated plans to crush the protesters.
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"By announcing that they will not allow opposition protests, the Iranian government has declared illegal for Iranians what it claimed was noble for Egyptians," Donilon said. "We call on the government of Iran to allow the Iranian people the universal right to peacefully assemble, demonstrate, and communicate that's being exercised in Cairo."
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That was after Vice President Biden on Friday called for Iran to "let your people march, let your people speak, release your people from jail."
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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, on his last day on the job Friday, echoed that point.
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"I think what you've seen in the region is the government of Iran, quite frankly, scared of the will of its people," he said.
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From Bahrain to Yemen to Algeria, Middle Eastern and African regimes are facing continuing unrest in the wake of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolts. Some of those countries, notably Yemen, are cooperating with the United States in counterterrorism operations. Though President Obama welcomed the political transition in Egypt, the United States had been aligned with ousted President Hosni Mubarak's regime for three decades.
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The United States faces no such dilemma with Iran, though the Obama administration repeatedly has tried to engage with the country over its nuclear program, to little result.
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Former National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley noted that the last time Iranians tried to rise up against their government, "they were brutally repressed." That possibility surely has the administration hedging as it monitors the stirrings of Iranian dissidents two years later. But Hadley suggested the dynamic could be different this time.
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"The question is what the Iranian people will say when they see Egypt. And I think an answer will be, if the Egyptian people can have their freedom ... why not us?"

Fox News' Peter Doocy contributed to this report.