A study to be published in the 15 January 2010 issue of Fisheries Research describes characterization of an oceanic region in the southwest Atlantic Ocean, near the coast of southern Brazil, where juvenile blue sharks (Prionace glauca) are found in high numbers. One of the unusual aspects of the region is that mature blues are not found in the region.

The research paper authored by Santiago Montealegre-Quijano and Carolus M. Vooren of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG) Instituto de Oceanografia, Laboratório de Elasmobrânquios e Aves Marinhas, utilized data from commercial fishing operations. The researchers determined that juvenile blue sharks stay in the region until they are about 1.3 meters in length. Then, the juvenile sharks disperse, with the young male sharks heading north, and the young female sharks heading south, south of the Subtropical Convergence Zone, waiting to head north until late austral summer.

Sea surface temperatures from MODIS, analyzed with Giovanni, a data exploration analysis and visualization tool developed in part by a collaborative effort involving SESDA II scientists and engineers were used to characterize the location of the Subtropical Convergence Zone during the study period. These data helped to determine the location of the convergence zone during the periods when the fishing stations were observed. According to the authors, the Subtropical Convergence Zone occurred in the study area from late autumn into spring. The study describes possible migration routes of pregnant female blue sharks through the southwest Atlantic and how they return to the nursery zone to give birth to baby blue sharks.

SESDA II staff members planned and implemented the NASA booth at the Fall American Geophysical meeting in San Francisco. More than 10,000 people viewed booth exhibits and events, including the ‘Dynamic Planet’; an 81” video board showing continuous clips of NASA Science research and results; plus talks by prominent scientists. The SESDA team was led by Jennifer Brennan and Winnie Humberson.

SESDA II staff member, Maurice Henderson, attended and supported the Science on a Sphere exhibit at the 15th Conference of the Parties Climate Change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December. Several climate scientists presented data using the Sphere. The figure shows Dr. Alexander MacDonald, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Deputy Assistant Administrator for Labs and Cooperative Institutes, presenting data which was simulcast to other Spheres around the world. Mr. Henderson is the principle developer of the exhibit.

Dr. Tony Phillips, well-known for penning Spaceweather.com and currently a consultant working with SESDA II staff, has developed a novel freeware application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch that uses real-time observations from the twin STEREO spacecraft to give a 3-D view of the state of the Sun. Views from both the STEREO Ahead and Behind spacecraft are blended together onto a spherical representation of the Sun.

Users can rotate the Sun to see active regions and sunspots both on the Earth-facing side, and on the far side to see what active regions might be coming around in the next few days. If you worry about when that next big Solar flare is going to affect your GPS system or satellite TV, then this is the app for you. The app is now available for download at appshopper.com/education/3d-sun.

If you’re like most people you keep in touch with your social network via Facebook. Well, now you can make a new friend: the James Webb Space Telescope! A SESDA II staff member who participates in Education and Public Outreach for the JWST project started this page as a way to keep the public interested and informed about the telescope, which is currently scheduled for launch in 2014. The JWST Facebook page is updated regularly with news notes, photos, and videos and currently boasts more than 1250 friends!

You can also join the more than 1450 people who follow JWST on Twitter at twitter.com/NASAWebbTelescp or check out the project’s YouTube channel (another SESDA II innovation).

This image shows a visualization of the Atmospheric Temperature Vertical Profile and Cloud Top Pressure Surface Strips from MODIS-Aqua on March 9th, 2009 over the regions in the equatorial Africa. Note that the image is oriented with North to the right.

Come celebrate the season at the
4th annual SESDA Holiday Open House Occasion (HOHO)

Thursday, December 10, 2009
4 – 6pm
Goddard Corporate Park (GCP)
7515 Mission Drive
Suite A100

Sandwiches and wraps, salads and dips, desserts and drinks.
Invite your government customers.

For more information contact Angie Martz (301-352-4606 or amartz (at) sesda2 (dot) com)

Such was the sobering premise of an interview by SESDA II Scientist Dr. Alex Young in a documentary by Discovery Channel about the myths of the end of the world when the Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012. The documentary is timed with the upcoming release of a major science fiction movie about the end of the world on this iconic date. Although very unlikely that an intense Solar storm could wreak the doomsday havoc portrayed in the movie, it can impact society in a variety of ways ranging from damaging GPS and communication satellites to knocking out electrical power grids. The production company (KPI TV of New York City) gave the documentary set an appropriate post-apocalyptic, post-doomsday feel by filming in a large building in Brooklyn undergoing renovation. You can read more about the interview in the blog post Deconstructing Doomsday.

The planetarium show “Journey to the Stars” opened in New York City on July 4, 2009 at the Hayden Planetarium of the Rose Center for Earth and Space, part of the American Museum of Natural History.

Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, this show uses NASA imagery and computer simulations to explore the life and death of stars, including our own Sun. SESDA II staff were instrumental in providing images of the solar corona from the STEREO mission, which are used dramatically in the presentation.

Dennis Overbye of the New York Times described “Journey to the Stars” as “easily the most beautiful planetarium show I have ever seen.” Of the part of the show based on the data provided by SESDA II staff, Mr. Overbye says “The filmmakers are not afraid to get in our faces. Showing us the Sun’s corona, the feathery hot gases that extend invisibly except during total solar eclipses far out into space, they pull the Sun down over our heads until it takes up half the planetarium dome squatting over us like a spider with rays fanning out around it, sort of like Doctor Octopus in ‘Spider-Man 2.”

Watch the show at Journey to the Stars.