BB FANS

Here is something not many of us get to see, unless

you live near there - Mt. St. Helens at sunrise.

Mt. St.. Helens continues to spew ash, while it is

forming a lava dome in the crater and still having

minor tremors.


Here in this sunrise shot, she appears to be blowing

smoke rings (and anything so benign is welcomed, given

recent history).


What forms the "smoke rings" is the air flowing over

the mountain getting pushed up higher as it goes up

and over the top. The moisture content and initial

temperature are just right so that the moisture

condenses from a vapor to small particles at the

higher altitude. When the moving air moves past the

peak and comes down again, the particles evaporate

back to an invisible vapor.



The two "pancakes" describe that there are two layers

of air for which this is happening, thus making this

awesome picture possible.

Amazing !

I know the USGS (United States Geological Survey) does have a webcam perminantly pointing at the volcano but I've never seen anything like those images before.

Brilliant photographs, thanks for posting them Madeline

These pics are from....
[url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20061223/sc_space/whitedwarfhintsatoursolarsystemsend]tahoo.com/space

[/url]

Aww! That's really cute.

December 28 2006: A selection of the best images from around the world from the past few days.
guardian

Here's an iteresting one from the MET Office webcam collection


Aurora from Trawsgoed
29 October 2003

I think this pic and story are amazing!

HERE

that is a stunning photo Geena - I recoiled a bit at first (but then looked again and realised how profound it was)