Astronaut Photography of Earth - Display Record
ISS016-E-27426
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| File Name | File Size (bytes) | Width | Height | Annotated | Cropped | Purpose | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View | ISS016-E-27426.JPG | 49741 | 639 | 435 | No | No | ||
| View | ISS016-E-27426.JPG | 158255 | 540 | 340 | Yes | Yes | NASA's Earth Observatory web site | |
| View | ISS016-E-27426.JPG | 428235 | 1000 | 629 | No | Yes | NASA's Earth Observatory web site | |
| View | ISS016-E-27426.JPG | 752873 | 3032 | 2064 | No | No |
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Electronic Image Data
Camera Files >> No sound file available.Identification
Mission: ISS016 Roll: E Frame: 27426 Mission ID on the Film or image: ISS016Country or Geographic Name: AFRICA
Features: PAN-LARGE THUNDERSTORM ANVIL
Center Point Latitude: Center Point Longitude: (Negative numbers indicate south for latitude and west for longitude)
Stereo: (Yes indicates there is an adjacent picture of the same area)
ONC Map ID: JNC Map ID:
Camera
Camera Tilt: High ObliqueCamera Focal Length: 400mm
Camera: E4: Kodak DCS760C Electronic Still Camera
Film: 3060E : 3060 x 2036 pixel CCD, RGBG array.
Quality
Film Exposure:Percentage of Cloud Cover: 50 (26-50)
Nadir
Date: 20080205 (YYYYMMDD)GMT Time: 151024 (HHMMSS)Nadir Point Latitude: 13.5, Longitude: -12.0 (Negative numbers indicate south for latitude and west for longitude)
Nadir to Photo Center Direction:
Sun Azimuth: 228 (Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point)
Spacecraft Altitude: 179 nautical miles (332 km)
Sun Elevation Angle: 47 (Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point)
Orbit Number: 761
Captions
Cumulonimbus Cloud over AfricaPerhaps the most impressive of cloud formations, cumulonimbus (from the Latin for “pile” and “rain cloud”) clouds form due to vigorous convection (rising and overturning) of warm, moist, and unstable air. Surface air is warmed by the Sun-heated ground surface and rises; if sufficient atmospheric moisture is present, water droplets will condense as the air mass encounters cooler air at higher altitudes. The air mass itself also expands and cools as it rises due to decreasing atmospheric pressure, a process known as adiabatic cooling. This type of convection is common in tropical latitudes year-round and during the summer season at higher latitudes.
As water in the rising air mass condenses and changes from a gas to a liquid state, it releases energy to its surroundings, further heating the surrounding air and leading to more convection and rising of the cloud mass to higher altitudes. This leads to the characteristic vertical “towers” associated with cumulonimbus clouds, an excellent example of which is visible in this astronaut photograph. If enough moisture is present to condense and heat the cloud mass through several convective cycles, a tower can rise to altitudes of approximately 10 kilometers at high latitudes and to 20 kilometers in the tropics before encountering a region of the atmosphere known as the tropopause—the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere.
The tropopause is characterized by a strong temperature inversion. Beyond the tropopause, the air no longer gets colder as altitude increases. The tropopause halts further upward motion of the cloud mass. The cloud tops flatten and spread into an anvil shape, as illustrated by this astronaut photograph. The photo was taken from a viewpoint that was at an angle from the vertical, rather than looking straight down towards the Earth’s surface. The image, taken while the International Space Station was located over western Africa near the Senegal-Mali border, shows a fully formed anvil cloud with numerous smaller cumulonimbus towers rising near it. The high energy levels of these storm systems typically make them hazardous due to associated heavy precipitation, lightning, high wind speeds and possible tornadoes.
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