Image courtesy of Janine Goldstein

From: Janine Goldstein
Schopfloch, Germany, August 7, 2007

First Ops

Hi! Boy did we get a big storm today. Today is my first day doing "ops" (that means operating the Doppler on Wheels). We set up the radar in the middle of a field and have been operating all night long. Just a bit ago a big thunderstorm developed and it went right over our truck!

The picture above is what the storm looks like to the radar. This radar image is like a map of the storm's location. In the image, blue is clear sky. The cloud is in shades of pink, yellow, and red, and the black parts show where it is raining. The Doppler on Wheels (DOW) truck that we were in is the little black rectangle in the middle. The storm was blowing from North-West to South-East. North is up and East is right in the image, so this is just minutes before we got slammed with rain. There were big raindrops and even a bit of lightning for about 1/2 an hour, then the storm moved past us, the clear air that was behind the storm moved over us, and the rain stopped. That was a nice storm for my first time in the DOW. I can't wait to see what other storms we get to measure.

Go to the next postcard

Postcards from the Field: COPS

You might also be interested in:

Cool It! Game

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms are one of the most thrilling and dangerous types of weather phenomena. Over 40,000 thunderstorms occur throughout the world each day. Thunderstorms form when very warm, moist air rises into...more

Penguin Colonies

This is Ross Island, a volcanic island embedded in the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Adelie penguins are found all around Antarctica, but we will be filming the documentary at the breeding colonies shown...more

View from our home

This is a view of the Adelie penguin breeding colony at Cape Royds in Antarctica. In the foreground you see Shackleton’s hut. Sir Ernest Shackleton and his team of explorers tried and failed to cross the...more

Time to Raise the Chicks

We are at Cape Royds, Ross Island, Antarctica, a penguin breeding colony of several thousand Adelie penguins. This female is 8 years old and has been a successful breeder in the past. She was first seen...more

Ice, Fire, and Penguins

Cape Royds penguin breeding colony is in the shadow of Mt Erebus, one of three volcanoes on Ross Island and the only active one. Antarctica Explorer James Clark Ross named two of the volcanoes after his...more

Proud Parents

At long last the moment we have been waiting for, the first Adelie chick of the season. We have been scanning nest sites for broken egg shells, evidence that a chick has hatched. On Dec 12, 2006 we sighted...more

A Family of Penguins

Chicks are hatching everyday now and the colony is bubbling with new life. The air is filled with the songs of penguins returning from feeding and the growls of predatory Skua birds as they circle the...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA