Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Our big blue Earth.

Jack Cook from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Howard Perlman of USGS made this image of Earth without its water covering. The oceans cover about 70% of the surface but they're shallow compared to the Earth's radius.



That blue spot is made up of all the water and is about 700 kms in radius, less than half the radius of our moon. It doesn't show water that may be trapped beneath the surface and research is still in progress to find out how this much water came to be on Earth in the first place.
 
Spooky!

10 comments:

Elephant's Child said...

That is more than spooky it is down right frightening.

iODyne said...

yes I was gonna say what El Chi did.
scary and clever though.
I believe the ocean between AUS and NZ is the deepest, but what I always wonder is what goes into the space previously occupied by the zillions of gallons of oil that has been pumped OUT of the Earth's centre?

we are all hurtling through outer space in the pitch dark clinging to a revolving mass of molten rock. (copyright me 1969)

River said...

I would have thought our water would make a bigger marble, that small size is astonishing.

Marshall Stacks poses another question- what DOES fill the spaces that previously held all the oil that has been removed?

JahTeh said...

EC, I love it when they do things like this and turn your thinking upside down.
I mean photos from space just has us as a big blue ball but we could lose it anytime.

Stacks, I have another "There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth, we are all crew." Now I'm going to have to find out about all those holes but I have a feeling they use water or mud or air. And wasn't there a scheme to shove our carbon dioxide in storage. Trouble is, if it goes down, it can come up.

River, the oil is under pressure when it comes up which is why they have to cap the wellhead quickly but what happens after it's all gone, I've never thought about and now I won't stop thinking.

bloody commenters.

R.H. said...

Hi. I don't understand any of this. I want gossip.

And cars and motorbikes. And dancing girls.

JahTeh said...

Robbert, I'd like tattslotto but that's not going to happen either.

Did you read about the cafe in Austria that is for people who aren't allowed to keep pets in their apartments? They have five cats that roam about the cafe, sleep in beds attached to the walls and will sit on knees, be petted and loved.

I can see it now, Cafe de Rochester with you sprawled on the floor to be petted or walked all over. The joint would be crowded with bloggers once word got around.

R.H. said...

Well what a brilliant idea. Any sort of attention is appreciated.
When my old pal Big Lance was in the nuthouse a little Miss came on Wednesdays to give the patients relaxation therapy. She'd sit in a chair with a CD player beside her (she lived down near Kew junction and everyone in the hospital: Doctors, staff, patients, cleaners, were trying to root her) playing nice music to the patients while they lay on the floor. "Relax," she'd say, "Relax...Relax..." but poor dumb Lance had trouble doing it; from where he was laying he could see straight up her dress.

Lad Litter said...

That's a fabulous image, Jahteh. You can put all the water back now. Please?

R.H. said...

I'm getting the second injection in my eyeball tomorrow, Vision Eye Institute, Footscray. The surgeon there does about twenty a day at $585 a pop. Dope dealers out on the street flog ten caps a day at $40 a pop. You can see who's in the best racket.

JahTeh said...

Just think about this image next time you wonder if you could get away with peeing in the sea. Ladlitter does his best for mankind.

Jeebus, Rochester, did you have to tell me that. It's bad enough me having to put drops in one eye, one drop and it takes me three tries.