Shark Attack!

There have been more than 250 recorded shark attacks along the NSW coast since European settlement in 1788, with nearly 30% of these proving fatal. Several of these have been along Sydney beaches and in Sydney Harbour itself, with the last fatality here occurring back in 1963 when the actress Marcia Hathaway was mauled to death in Middle Harbour.

Above: A bull shark - one of the proven man eaters around Sydney waters (Image from Wikipedia Commons - click to enlarge)

The first recorded fatal attack to occur off a Sydney beach happened on February 4^th 1922, just prior to a surf carnival at Coogee Beach. The Sydney newspaper of the day “The Referee” recorded the terrible events of that afternoon:

Coogee Beach panorama today

(Image from Wikipedia Commons - click to enlarge)

February 4 1922 – a terrible tragedy

TORN FROM SHARKS JAW

UNDYING HEROISM OF JACK CHALMERS AND FRANK BEAUREPAIRE.

COOGEE SURF TRAGEDY.

Last Saturday afternoon all Sydney was shocked to learn of the terrible tragedy enacted in the surf at Coogee before the horrified, gaze of at least 6000 persons, gathered to watch the swimming carnival there -which, out of respect to the victim, was postponed.

There was promise of excellent sport. A light, sparkling, sunny day, and long rolling breakers that would carry a man in at express speed 150 yards or more.

The rollers were too tempting, anyhow, for Milton Singleton Coughlan, 18-year-old son of the postmaster of Randwick. This fine, sturdy, bronzed youth, with the physique of a grown man, got down on the rocks near the club house before the carnival was due to start, and took a header into the sea, just as thousands have done before him. He got well out into what is known as the reef, about 30 or 40 yards from the rocks, caught a breaker, and came rushing shore wards. Young Coughlan swam out for another, and yet another. A friend sang out to the lad to look out for sharks in the channel, but Coughlan laughed back fearlessly.

Then the tragedy happened. One minute the swimmer was observed standing about waist deep on the edge of the channel which runs beyond the reef-and the next a huge something flashed in the sun, clear of the water, and the horrified crowd next saw for some minutes a shark and the swimmer threshing around in a welter of blood-stained water and scarlet flecked foam. The shark seized his victim by the right arm just as he was in the act of signalling to his club-mates for assistance. With one snap of its jaws the brute tore off Coughlan's arm, but the plucky boy, although momentarily dragged under, reappeared above water, and the awe-stricken spectators saw him laying about him with the left arm, and trying to beat off his savage assailant. Then the shark got the left arm in its jaws.

Meanwhile those on shore were not altogether idle. The first to act was Jack Chalmers, of Woollahra, a well known swimmer. Seeing Coughlan's plight, and without an instant's hesitation, he rushed down the rocks near the clubhouse. He had hastily got the line off a disused life-saving reel knotted round his waist, and would not wait for a cork lifebelt. Mr. T. Doran, a club-mate, helped to give out the life-line. As Chalmers scrambled over the slippery green rocks he fell heavily, and was for a moment stunned, and his leg was badly lacerated. Struggling to his feet, he plunged into the water to the rescue.

SWARM OF SHARKS.

His time out to Coughlan was pretty nearly a record say those who, with bated breath, watched the plucky fellow go to face what looked like certain death. As Chalmers neared Coughlan, the latter, almost spent with his struggle, turned a tortured, appealing look towards his rescuer, and with wonderful presence of mind, turned on his back-in the way life-savers are taught to do, so that Chalmers' rescue might be made easier.

Chalmers is near now, and he makes his supreme effort to grab Coughlan before the shark drags the exhausted, rapidly weakening lad under. The shark is not of extraordinary size, else it would have succeeded in drowning Coughlan before; but is evidently the advance guard of other sharks who, attracted by blood, are nosing their way towards the struggling pair.

And now Chalmers has his man. He literally has to tear him from the shark’s jaws. "Don't let go of me, Jack!", cries out Coughlan. It is his first cry for aid and is torn from him by terrible torture. Slowly the pair are drawn to the shore, and meanwhile that champion of champions, Frank Beaurepaire, and a Mr. Green, of Coogee, the latter fully clad, have dived in and helped in the rescue and by splashing, lustily in the water, frightens away the sharks prowling in the vicinity eager and hungry to dash in.

Beaurepaire was in the surf shed on the rocks when the cry of horror went up, and caused him to rush to the balcony of the clubhouse. He could not realise what was happening for a moment. Suddenly the swirl of the blood-flecked water brought home the realisation of the tragedy being enacted. Beaurepaire dropped down the rocks to the water's' edge. Not knowing the locality, he had to make through the crashing breakers over the rocks. Three times he was knocked back, but at last, following fast on a receding wave, the champion swimmer was able to dive into deep water. He sped out to where Chalmers was holding Coghlan and making very little progress towards the shore. Gripping Chalmers by the costume with one hand, Beaurepaire, using his free arm and his renowned trudgeon kick, assisted the rescuer and the victim, to the rocks, where they were lifted out of the water.

As the swimmers get nearer land, helping hands lean down to raise the poor mangled body of Coughlan, and bear him away to the waiting doctor and ambulance men. One arm is snapped off clean at the elbow; the other mangled and torn, hangs by a shred.

Coughlan, though faint and weak, is conscious, and in a whimsical .voice, catching sight of a pal, he says, with the very wraith of a smile, "It's a fair cow, isn't it?" Later, some-one puts a towel over his face. "Take it off, please," says he. They were tying up arteries and putting on tourniquets, at the time' and wanted to spare the poor sufferer all they could.

To Mr. Henderson, the District Superintendent of- the Red Cross, who sat by him in the speeding ambulance, Coughlan remarked, with a still bright light in his eye: "I don't think I've much of a show, have I? I expect my number's up; but, by Jove, that shark stopped one or two good ones!"

Those, were about, his last words. Shortly afterwards he lapsed into unconsciousness, and about a quarter of an hour after admission into hospital, this plucky young Australian passed away.

His burial took place on Monday last, and surfers from far and near with club banners, marched behind the hearse to pay their respect to a gallant surfer and clean sport.

The aftermath

Milton Singleton Coughlan

Milton Singleton Coughlan was only 18 years of age when he met his untimely death. He was born in Bungendore, NSW, the son of the local Postmaster, Thomas Coughlan. His family then moved to Randwick when his father became Postmaster of the Randwick Post Office.

Milton was employed by the Newtown Office of the Railway department, and had previously been a pupil at both Sydney Grammar and Trinity Grammar where he had shown considerable athletic prowess.

Milton Singleton Coughlan, circa 1921

He was also the great great grandson of Benjamin Singleton after which the township of Singleton was named.

After a massively attended funeral service at St. Judes Church in Randwick he was buried in Randwick Cemetery.

His father Thomas also died violently in 1939, at the age of 74, when he tried to stop two robbers from raiding the Randwick Military Hospital Post Office and was beaten over the head with a pistol.

Jack Chalmers

The hero of the tragedy, Jack Chalmers, was a member of the North Bondi Surf Club and also a returned soldier of World War One, where he served on the Western Front.

For his courage in attempting to rescue Milton Coughlan he was granted £3000, made a life member of both Coogee and North Bondi Surf Life Savings Clubs and awarded the Albert Medal, the highest decoration for bravery given to a civilian. This was later changed to the George Cross. He died in 1982, and his ashes were scattered on North Bondi Beach.

Hero of the hour: Jack Chalmers

For further information, plus photographs of Jack Chalmers, go to the following two links:

http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/searcy/35/PRG280_1_35_305.htm

http://cas.awm.gov.au/item/P04794.005/

Frank Beaurepaire

Frank Beaurepaire was the Australian middle and long distance swimming champion from 1906 to 1925, representing Australia at the Olympic Games of London (1908), Antwerp (1920) and Paris (1924). He won a total of six Olympic medals but none of these were gold.

For his part in the attempted rescue of Coughlan he was awarded £500, and made a life member of both Coogee and North Bondi Surf Life Savings Clubs. He used his prize to start a business – Beaurepaire’s Tyres, which made him a millionaire and he was also elected Lord Mayor of Melbourne between 1940 and 1942.

He was knighted, and as Sir Frank Beaurepaire, died a very wealthy and admired public figure in 1956.

Beaurepaires Tyres remains a vibrant and successful company today and the website can be seen at

http://www.beaurepaires.com.au

For details of two other infamous shark attacks, see

http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2011/11/brighton-shark-attack-of-1930.html

http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/bondi-shark-attack.html

Christmas Day 1914 - Miracle in the Trenches

Following the outbreak of war in June 1914, the British and German armies dug in across France and Belgium and faced each other in a long series of trenches that extended for hundreds of kilometres across the countryside.

Above - Soldiers moving up to the front line through a communication trench. (Image from Wikipedia Commons - click to enlarge)

In a totally new type of defensive warfare, the soldiers lived in hellish conditions in these trenches, exposed to the weather, constant shelling, and small arms fire. Occasional attacks ordered by the various high commands required the men to climb up out of the trenches and advance over the ground between, usually strewn with barbed wire entanglements, where hundreds would be slaughtered in “no-man’s land” by the waiting machine guns of the enemy.

In day-to-day trench life it was courting death to raise one’s head above the trench parapet – waiting expert snipers dotted about the countryside in concealed positions could snuff out a mans life with a head shot from 300 metres away.

It was in these diabolical circumstances that Christmas Day 1914 approached and both armies were reconciled into having to experience thoroughly miserable conditions for their Yuletide. But it was not to be.

On Christmas Eve, carols were heard emanating from the German trenches that began to glow as candles were placed along the parapets. The Germans sang “Stille Nacht” (Silent Night), and the British responded with the English version, together with bursts of mouth organ rag time music.

Christmas Day 1914 dawned and a British officer and later war cartoonist, , Captain Bruce Bairnsfather, recalled the scene as it emerged across a Flanders field looking towards the German trenches:

“On Christmas morning I awoke very early and emerged from my dug – out into the trench. It was a perfect day. A beautiful, cloudless blue sky. The ground hard and white, fading off towards the wood in a thin, low-lying mist. It was such a day as is invariably depicted by artists on Christmas cards – the ideal Christmas day of fiction.”


Bruce Bairnsfather's immortal sketch of Christmas Day, 1914, in the trenches of World War One. (Click to enlarge)

As the morning wore on the British became increasingly aware of German heads appearing above their trench lines, and soon followed suit, with a sort of tacit agreement developing that the snipers would not shoot in Christmas Day. Eventually a full German figure emerged above the trenches – a suicidal manoeuvre on any other day.

The British followed and soon scores of soldiers, all unarmed, advanced towards each other across no man’s land. Amid surreal scenes, Germans and British shook hands, swapped souvenirs, chatted and exchanged pleasantries.


Another Bairnsfather sketch showing the British and German soldiers mixing together on Christmas Day 1914. (Click to enlarge)

It was later revealed that similar scenes took place across some 500 km of frontal lines on that magic day, with friendships made, soccer games played and photographs taken – all normal young men taking 24 hours out from the insanity of war.

British and German troops mixing in the sunshine at Bridoux Rouge on Christmas Day 1914. (Image from Wikipedia Commons; click to enlarge)

Both the British and German High Commands were outraged by these activities for this was “fraternisation with the enemy” – a serious military offence that could mean the firing squad for any individual identified. Sensibly this was overlooked, although strict orders were issued forbidding any future repeats.

It was back to business as usual soon after, with the war extending nearly another four years before ending on the 11th November 1918. Nine million soldiers lay dead in one of histories greatest tragedies.

The events of Christmas Day 1914 would constitute one of the more remarkable events of World War One and remain as a testament to the desire for peace in the common soldier - as contrasted by the desire for war from those in high places that are usually far away in safe locations.


Descendants of British and German World War One soldiers in the uniforms of the day commemorate Christmas Day 1914 near some of the old trenches in a ceremony held in 2008. (Image from Wikipedia Commons - click to enlarge)



For more on the extraordinary Bruce Bairnsfather see


http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2011/03/bruce-bairnsfather-cartoonist-of.html

Bruce Bairnsfather - Cartoonist of the Western Front

The First World War began in June 1914, and in a patriotic fervour, British troops from all parts of the world flocked to the colours – English, Australians, Canadians, South Africans and Indians all joined up to assist the Mother Country in her struggle with Germany.

However towards the end of 1914 enthusiasm had begun to flag- ships full of maimed and wounded soldiers began to filter back from the Western Front, telling stories of horror that gave many of the potential new recruits second thoughts about enlisting.

The war had bogged down into trench warfare across much of France and Belgium, producing diabolical conditions unmatched in modern history. The British and German armies faced each other from a long series of trenches dug into the mud of farming land that stretched for miles across the countryside.

Hell on Earth - World War One trench warfare. Image from Wikipedia Commons (Click to enlarge)

The soldiers lived in these trenches, enduring terrible weather, artillery bombardments, gas attacks and occasional charges from the enemy where hundreds would be mown down by machine gun and rifle fire while trying to get through the barbed wire entanglements in the ground between the trenches – aptly named “no mans land”.

Men were blown to bits, with battlefield rats feeding off the resulting body parts, and others reduced to trembling, nervous wrecks from the unending artillery bombardments. Morale fell as everyone realised that there was no end in sight for this terrible situation and recruitment for the front fell alarmingly.

Then a remarkable man appeared on the scene - Bruce Bairnsfather – in fact Captain Bruce Bairnsfather, a machine gun officer of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.

Bairnsfather had previously been in the army before the war but had left to become a commercial artist where he performed advertising work for a number of clients, including Lipton’s Tea and Player Cigarettes. He rejoined the army on the outbreak of war and was commissioned as an officer soon after.

This unusual blend of military training and artistic bent soon burst into flower on the Western Front when he began, in his spare time, producing satirical cartoons on trench life that he hung up on farmhouse walls where he was billeted during breaks from the trenches.

The Professional Touch - "Chuck us out that bag o' bombs mate - its under your 'ead" (Click to enlarge)

These cartoons captured a unique type of grim humour that was obtusely derived from the horrors of daily trench life and they soon became highly popular with all his fellow officers.

In 1915 one of these cartoons was submitted to a popular English magazine of the time, “The Bystander”, and the reaction produced resulted in the editors immediately requesting more of the same. A full special edition of Bairnsfather drawings called “Fragments from France” followed and produced the biggest ever monthly sales figures for “The Bystander”, with over 225,000 copies sold – a massive figure for the day.

One of Bairnsfathers' earliest Cartoons - "Where did that one go?" - Fragments from France Vol 1 (Click to enlarge)

However, the reception to the publication was not unanimously positive – a Member of the House of Commons described the cartoons as “vulgar caricatures of our heroes”. However the soldiers along the western front loved “Fragments” and one officer later remarked

“To us out here the “Fragments” are the very quintessence of life. We sit moping over a smoky charcoal fire in a dug-out. Suddenly someone more wide awake than others, remembers the “Fragments”. Out it comes and we laugh uproariously over each picture. For are these not the very things we are witnessing every day, incidents full of tragic humour?”

After being wounded at the second battle of Ypres, Bairnsfather was eventually repatriated to England where it was later decided that he would do far more good for the war in his role as a cartoonist than as a machine gun officer.

More editions of “Fragments” were demanded and generated, and Bairnsfather’s cartoons ended up producing a totally unique chronicle of trench life on the Western Front during the First World War.


Coiffure in the trenches
Fragments from France, Volume 1 (Click to enlarge)

The journalist Martin Walker later remarked that

"The cartoons were by a man who had fought in the trenches and who knew what that kind of wholly new warfare was like. Veterans of the Western Front have paid almost universal testimony to Bairnsfather as a historian of the conditions in which they fought and the sense of humour which the soldiers brought to bear against the life, or more precisely, against the death."

Bairnsfather’s contribution to the war effort was tremendous but ironically he received no official recognition from the Government – a situation that hurt him deeply. He died on 29th September 1959, a much loved figure amongst the veterans of the First World War.

He is also well remembered for his eye-witness account and drawings of the amazing Christmas Day truce of 1914 when British and Germans abandoned the war for the day, shook hands, played soccer and chatted together. To read about this see

http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2011/04/christmas-day-1914-miracle-in-trenches.html

Over recent years Bairnsfather’s legacy has enjoyed a comeback, thanks largely to the miracle of the Internet. Two interesting websites can be seen here:

http://www.olebill.zoomshare.com/0.html

http://www.brucebairnsfather.org.uk/index.htm

Teresa Teng - The Angel Of China

Teresa Teng was a Chinese singer whose songs had, and continue to have, an enormous musical influence across southeastern Asia, and over the last decade, a rising impact on western countries in the area, in particular Australia.

Teresa Teng - the Angel of China (Image Wikipedia Commons)

She possessed a wonderful voice, said to be the "voice of an angel", that covered a wide vocal range and sang in a distinctive melodic style that became highly sought after around the world. Multilingual, she recorded many songs in different languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Vietnamese and English, using a style that uniquely bridged the gap between traditional Chinese music and western culture. For the first time, western people were able to hear modern Chinese music and as a result Teresa become highly popular around the world.

She sang many songs that were to become quite famous during the 1970's and 80's, including "Small Town Story" , "The Moon Represents My Heart" and "When Will You Return", all of which became well known in counties outside China, including Japan where she became very well known.

She was an asthmatic and tragically died from this condition in 1995, but her music has enjoyed a continually rising popularity around the world ever since.

A wax likeness of Teresa Teng located at Madame Tussauds in Hong Kong.
(Image Wikipedia Commons - click to enlarge)

In Australia, exposure to Chinese culture rose markedly during the 1990's and Teresa Teng was increasingly heard. In my case I had the good fortune to work with some Chinese meteorologists during this time and was introduced to the talents of Teresa. I have enjoyed them ever since.

Some of her wonderful songs can be heard here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDO6V5ueVv0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97-GXzi6PPw&feature=fvwrel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMw2U8KqqHE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9VaF-7YMY8&feature=related

Earthquake in New Zealand

At 12.51 local time on February 22nd, a powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.3 occurred only 10km from Christchurch in New Zealand.

What has made this earthquake particularly devastating is that it occurred only 5 km below the surface which is a shallow depth.

Although not as powerful as the 7.1 earthquake that hit on September 4 last year, because of its location and depth this event has been far more catastrophic for Christchurch. The September quake was some 40 km from the city at a depth of about 10km below the ground.

The quake was one of the most devastating in the history of New Zealand, producing massive property damage and a death toll that may reach close to 200.



The Pacific "Ring of "Fire". Image from Wikipedia Commons - Click to enlarge)

New Zealand lies on the western branch of the so called Pacific Ring of Fire – a geologically active area that extends from New Zealand up through Tonga, New Guinea, Indonesia, the Phillipines, Japan, and down the west coasts of North and South America.

Earthquakes and volcanic activity are common along this ring but two major earthquakes near Christchurch only five months apart has not been seen before in recorded history.



The tectonic plates of the world -the Pacific Ring of Fire (in purple) follows a large part of the circumference of the Pacific plate. Image from Wikipedia Commons - Click to enlarge)

New Zealand lies across an area where the Australian tectonic plate grinds into the Pacific plate, creating an area of seismic instability.

The collision of these two plates also causes earthquakes around Tonga, Vanuatu and New Guinea.

The Most Famous Photograph of All

Above - the official Apollo 17 insignia (Image courtesy of NASA - click to enlarge)

"The world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it". - Thomas Carlyle, Scottish essayist and historian.

The Apollo 17 Space Mission blasted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in the early hours of December 7, 1972, bound for the Moon. The Mission was to be one of the most successful of all time, setting numerous records along the way, including the longest manned lunar landing flight, the longest time in lunar orbit, the longest lunar excursions (using the Lunar Rover vehicle) and the biggest payload of "Moonrock" ever collected. It was to be the last time that man walked on the Moon in the twentieth century.

Despite all these mighty achievements, the Mission is probably best remembered for something else, something much smaller, but destined to become one of the iconic products from all of human spaceflight history.

After a little more than 5 hours into the Mission, Apollo had left parking orbit around the Earth and was on track for the Moon. The fully illuminated disc of the Earth appeared in stunning beauty through the window of the spacecraft, amazing the flight crew of Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans and Jack Schmitt. It appeared to them as an intricate blue and white glass marble suspended in the black emptiness of space around.

The Apollo 17 crew: from left to right Jack Schmitt, Eugene Cernan (seated) and Ronald Evans. (Courtesy of NASA - click to enlarge)

They were equipped with a 70 mm Hasselblad Camera with an 80 mm lens, and Jack Schmitt pointed this through the window and snapped away. The result was possibly the most famous photograph ever taken, an image that is believed to be the most widely distributed in history.

It showed an entire hemisphere of the Earth bathed in brilliant sunlight - Africa and the Arabian peninsular are clearly visible, as well as various cloud patterns and the sparkling blue of the oceans. And, for the first time, the Antarctic ice cap was photographed from space.

Planet Earth, December 7 1972 (Image courtesy of NASA - click to enlarge)

Soon after returning to Earth, the image was disseminated to the public and became "front page" around the world. Scientists and meteorologists were amazed with the detail revealed and others just marvelled at the beauty of our planet. Here the cradle of life as we know it, from ancient times, to the dinosaurs, to early civilisations, with culture, art, warfare all playing out over the millennia, was laid before us in photographic form.

The image is credited with launching the environmental movement. Earth appears both beautiful but delicate, and many then realised that it was finite and cannot be exploited without limit.

Some of the main features of the image (Click to enlarge)

This photograph became known as "The Blue Marble" and despite the fact that it was taken many years ago, it has never lost its marvel and relevance.

On December 7 2012 it will be forty years since Jack Schmitt aimed his Hasselblad camera through the window and produced this timeless image. I've made a note in my diary so that I don't forget this important anniversary.

See also
http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2011/02/weather-from-space.html

Weather From Space

The first ever image of the Earth taken from space by TIROS 1, on April 1st 1960. (Image courtesy of NASA - click to enlarge)

“We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and all technology, has no conscience of its own.

Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of pre-eminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new, terrifying theatre of war.”

President John F. Kennedy
Rice University Stadium
Houston, Texas
September 12, 1962

Since the launch of the first meteorological satellite, Tiros 1, in 1960 there has been a steady proliferation of “eyes in the sky”, constantly sending back to earth images of the weather far below.

Most of these “eyes” are unmanned space vehicles, equipped with increasingly sophisticated instrument packages, which not only perform weather photography but can also undertake many other scanning functions, such as the monitoring of crops
and the tracking the movement of mosquitoes across continents.

Some of these are polar orbiting satellites, and others are in geostationary orbit, but all are vital sources of environmental data, and are constantly used by a diversity of Government and non-Government agencies.

Manned space vehicles have also been used to photograph the Earth from above, and these images have been collected from the early days of the Mercury Project (1961 to 1963), all the way up to today’s regular Space Shuttle flights. Although some of the older images in this category date back more than 40 years, their relevance and sheer majesty remain as important today as when they were first taken.


Image taken from Gemini 7, November 13 1966, above Baja California (Image courtesy of NASA - click to enlarge)

The USA Manned Space Program

Much of the early manual photography from space was not intended to highlight the weather, but was more focussed on landforms and cities, as well as on-board tasks and activities.

However, many of the photographs taken, which were not intended for meteorological purposes, still contain some fascinating images of weather phenomena.

The entire program can be divided into the time series

Mercury Project Flights 1961-63
Gemini Project Flights 1965-66
Apollo Project Flights 1968-72
Apollo-Soyez/SkyLab 1973-75
The Space Shuttle Pre-Challenger 1972 – 1988
Space Shuttle Post-Challenger 1988 – present

The USA manned space flight program began in 1961 with a Mercury Project sub orbital flight commanded by astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr, in his “Freedom 7” spacecraft, and then expanded rapidly, culminating with the “Man on the Moon” Apollo missions, which ran between 1968 and 1972.


Official portrait of Alan Shepard taken 12 December 1963, dressed in his Mercury pressure suit and holding his space helmet. (Image courtesy of NASA - click to enlarge)

Photographs of the Earth taken by astronauts on these missions created a sensation in scientific circles, as well as for the general public, and were widely disseminated in newspapers, magazines and in special issue collections of boxed slides.

When the “full Earth” images from the Apollo Projects appeared, unprecedented world wide interest was generated, and the fabulous “Earth rise” photographs, showing the Earth appearing above the lunar horizon, would surely be one of the most famous series of images ever taken.


View of the Earth “rising” over the Moon's horizon, taken from the Apollo 11 spacecraft on 16 July 1969. (Image courtesy of NASA - click to enlarge)

The tradition then continued with the Apollo-Soyez/SkyLab projects, which were launched between 1973 and 1975, right through to the Space Shuttle missions of today.

All these photographs are still of considerable interest to the meteorologist, as many weather phenomena, such as hurricanes, cold fronts, low pressure cells, jet streams and thunderstorms were brilliantly captured, contributing greatly to our knowledge of the structures of these systems.

Unmanned Space Vehicles

While the manned space program was under way, an ever increasing number of unmanned vehicles was also launched, and many of these were designed for specifically monitoring the weather, and in recent times, more general aspects of the environment.

From the vague, primitive imagery of Tiros 1, we have progressed to high-resolution photography of astonishing detail, in which information from meteorological satellites has been augmented with that from broader function “environmental” satellites.

There are two general varieties of these satellites.

(a) Polar-orbiting vehicles, which take measurements from an altitude of between 250 to 850 km, (~155 to 525 miles) scanning over several different wavelengths.

Such satellite images provide information on a wide variety of weather phenomena, including the extent of fog, floods, snow cover and sea ice, sea surface temperatures and ocean waves, temperatures, humidity and pressures throughout the troposphere, and on upper wind speed and direction, which can be derived from cloud movements.

The images also display cloud formations associated with hurricanes, cold fronts and jet streams, and can also capture smaller scale features such as mountain waves and von Karman vortices, caused by disturbed airflow around raised features such as islands.


Intricate von Karman vortices produced by winds blowing around the Cape Verde Islands off north-western Africa. (Image courtesy of NASA - click to enlarge)

(b) Geostationary satellites, revolve around the earth at a height of 36,000 km (22,320 miles) over the equator at the same speed as the earth turns – a feature which is called “solid rotation”.

Successive images provide a moving picture of clouds as they form, are carried by the winds, and finally dissipate, enabling estimations of wind speed and direction at different altitudes in the atmosphere to be calculated. This is of vital importance in forecasting the speed of movements of such phenomena as cold fronts, low pressure cells and hurricanes.

Several different countries have launched their own meteorological satellites, including both the polar orbiting and geostationary varieties. These include METEOR (Russia), NOAA (USA), METEOSTAT (Europe), GOES-E and GOES-W (USA), GMS (Japan), FENGYUN (China) and INSAT (India).

Environmental satellites

In very recent times, the next generation of environmental satellites have been launched, and these are providing dazzling images of a variety of global phenomena, including very high-resolution views of the weather.

The USA Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites Terra and Aqua, carry the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) package, which is a key instrument in monitoring climate change through the observation of sea ice, glacier extent and ocean levels.

Another USA environmental space vehicle is SeaStar, which carries the highly advanced SeaWifs (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor) package. This is designed to monitor and study the role of oceans in determining our climate, including the exchange of critical elements and gases between the atmosphere and ocean, and how these exchanges affect microscopic marine plant (phytoplankton) production.


A dust-storm from out of Africa blows across the Mediterranean towards Sicily to western Greece. (Image courtesy of NASA - click to enlarge)

In performing these diverse functions, MODIS and SeaWifs have also captured some amazing weather-related images that have contributed substantially to our knowledge of the weather and the effects that it produces.

The role of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) cannot be overstated here. Imagery collected from NASA space programs has always been made freely available across the Internet and this has revolutionised public understanding of the structure of our atmosphere. It has also provided educational material of tremendous value to everyone around the world and greatly increased public interest in the science of meteorology.

Some great weather imagery can be accessed from the following NASA web sites:

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/EFS/atmo.htm

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

See also:

http://passingparade-2009.blogspot.com/2011/02/most-famous-photograph-of-all.html