Finalists for the 2009 Student Essay Competition Sustainability through Earth Observation and Engineering
By David F. Mullins Ph.D., posted on November 15th, 2009 in Articles, Education, Sustainability
Read the essays here!
Earthzine’s 2009 Student Essay Competition has been a tremendous success so far! The quality of essays submitted truly reflects the international scope of Earthzine, and a global recognition of the importance and timeliness of Sustainability through Earth Observation and Engineering! We received essays from around the world from students who discussed issues like marine ecosystems, environmental exploitation, human ecology, and ecological activism.
Now it’s the readers’ turn to be involved in the student essay contest. We’ve posted the top seven essays as determined by a panel of judges. The authors will lead a blog about their essay, and they’ll be asking questions and making comments about the other essays as well. The blogging will take place between November 15th and December 15th. It’s up to Earthzine readers like you to ask questions of the authors, make comments about the essays, and to build blogs that really help the student authors explain and expound on their essays. Let’s all join in and support these terrific students in the final stage of the 2009 Student Essay Competition!
Dave Mullins
Associate Editor for Education
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NASA Image of the Day
Orbital Sunrise
The Expedition 24 crew on the International Space Station photographed this image of polar mesospheric clouds illuminated by an orbital sunrise. Polar mesospheric, or noctilucent ("night shining"), clouds usually are seen at twilight, following the setting of the sun below the horizon and darkening of Earth's surface. Occasionally the station's orbital track becomes nearly parallel to Earth's day/night terminator for a time, allowing the clouds to be visible to the crew at times other than the usual twilight because of the station's altitude. This photograph shows polar mesospheric clouds illuminated by the rising, rather than setting, sun at center right. Low clouds on the horizon appear yellow and orange, while higher clouds and aerosols are illuminated a brilliant white. Polar mesospheric clouds appear as light blue ribbons extending across the top of the image. The station was located over the Greek island of Kos in the Aegean Sea (near the southwestern coastline of Turkey) when the image was taken at approximately midnight local time. The orbital complex was tracking northeastward, nearly parallel to the terminator, making it possible to observe an apparent "sunrise" located almost due north. A similar unusual alignment of the ISS orbit track, terminator position and seasonal position of Earth's orbit around the sun allowed for this striking imagery of over the Southern Hemisphere. Image Credit: NASA
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