CHANCE OF STORMS, REDUCED: A solar wind stream expected to envelop Earth on Nov. 4th did not arrive. As a result, NOAA forecasters have downgraded the chance of geomagnetic storms today to only 20%. Free: Aurora Alerts
THE CANIGOU EFFECT: On the evening of Nov. 1st, J.P. Pettit watched the sunset from Marseille, France. As the fiery solar disk sank into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, a jagged mountain thrust up in front of the sun. "...which is strange," says Pettit, "because there are no mountains sticking out of the Mediterranean." So he took this picture to document the apparition:
Indeed, there are no mountains in the Mediterranean, but there are mountains 165 miles away in the Pyrenees. "Pettit witnessed the 'Canigou Effect'," explains atmospheric optic expert Les Cowley. "This is the silhouette of the Pyrenees' Canigou Massif."
"There is no direct line of sight to the Massif because of the Earth's curvature," continues Cowley. "The view is only possible because light is refracted around Earth. Basically, the atmosphere is denser at lower levels and acts like a lens to bend sun rays around the horizon. Mirages can do the same thing, but a mirage was not needed here – just steady and clean air and a long stretch of sea."
"What an incredible special effect," says Pettit. "Just WOW!"
"This is not a chance observation," adds Cowley. "Alain Origne has made a systematic study of the phenomenon and predicts when it will occur. He would like to hear of other long distance sightings."
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SPACE WEATHER BALLOONING OVER KANSAS: Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus are continuing to expand the Intercontinental Space Weather Balloon Network. On Oct. 29th, they added a new launch site: Independence, Kansas. Led by a veteran member of Earth to Sky, a team of students and teachers from local schools released their first helium balloon. The payload ascended to the stratosphere, gathering data on temperature, pressure, and cosmic radiation from ground level to 117,000 feet. Here is the view from the apex of the flight:
Students have been reducing data from the flight, and they have found something surprising. X-ray and gamma radiation in the atmosphere over Kansas is stronger than expected. The plot below compares dose rates vs. altitude for Kansas and our regular launch site in central California:
Although the two sites are at nearly the same magnetic latitude, their radiation levels are quite different--much more so than we anticipated based on our previous experience flying balloons at different locations in the USA.
What's going on here? At the moment, we do not know. However, we plan to fly additional balloons from Kansas to confirm and explore these results. Stay tuned.
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