Land

Photo Friday: Land distribution around railroad supply town

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By Evan KreagerGreat Lakes EchoThe small town of Reese, just south of the crease of Michigan’s Thumb, was once a bustling supply center at the crossroads of two railways. This true-color image, taken by NASA’s Earth Observing — 1 satellite on May 21, 2012, shows the town at their intersection. The green and white square plots of land also gives insight into some of the area’s history, according to a description of the image produced by NASA. In the late 18th century, the Continental Congress decided how to govern the newly settled lands west of the Appalachian Mountains, according to the NASA description. The Ordinance of 1785 divided the land into townships, and then again into individual square mile plots, creating the colorful collage seen here.

Climate

Photo Friday: Ice atop Lake Erie

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When last week’s snowstorm and cold spell made its way through the Great Lakes, nearly 90 percent of Lake Erie froze over, according to the NASA Earth Observatory. The colorized picture above shows ice (pale blue) and snow (blue-green) formed on top of the lake. A report by Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at Wunderground.com, showed that these high levels of ice coverage had not been seen on the Great Lakes since January 1994.

Echo

Photo Friday: Sunlit storm front over Lake Michigan

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This August photographer Ken Scott captured this panorama, highlighting a storm front moving over Lake Michigan, near Northport, Mich. The photo was taken just before sunset, showing colorful clouds and a low hanging sun. This photo was featured on Earth Science Picture of the Day.

Echo

Photo Friday: Whiting Event

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This photo was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite from the International Space Station. It highlights a late-summer “whiting event” visible across Lake Ontario. Whiting events are caused by changes in the water’s temperature,  which leads to increased photosynthesis by phytoplankton and other microscopic marine life. That photosynthesis reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the water, which changes the water’s acidity. Change in acidity and temperature then allows fine particles of calcium carbonate to form in the water column, and it’s these particles that cause the characteristic lightening, or “whiting,” of the water’s color.