Daily Image

04-08-2010
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Riding the Dust Devil

Submitter: Marchel Gerbers, Jan Noordam
Description: The long hot Dutch summer has started. Dry weather and high temperatures create perfect conditions for the roll-out of the last few LOFAR stations. During geodetic measurements, a dust devil popped up, moving slowly across the field and passing the ASTRON crew at a distance of approximately 15 meters. Fortunately, no-one was hurt.

Dust devils are evidence for strong thermal updraugths near the ground. Similarly, the fat cauliflower-topped cumulus clouds in the background are caused by rising thermal bubbles higher up in the atmosphere. In uplifting conditions like these, a glider pilot can fly straight and fast towards his distant goal, without having to circle and weave. There is a limping metaphore in there, along the well-known Shakespearian lines: "There is a Tide in the Affairs of Mice and Men, and even those of Astronomical Institutes ..."
Copyright: ASTRON
 
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