I like trees too.signsoflifeMay 5 2006, 01:27:17 UTC
Structural ecologists and the shapes trees make?
I'd guess then you've seen these guys? (The idea is that common tree shapes are predicted by some fairly simple rulesets about propagule distribution, light capture and wind resistance in a computer model.)
I just think they're so neat -- someone plugged some basic algorithms into a computer and, hey presto! TREES!
It's easy to forget how far North Seattle is, given how mellow/rainy the weather is, but we're at 47'43", more north than the top bit of Maine. :) They're fairly common here - this is maybe the fifth or sixth I've seen this year, I think, though none of them terribly impressive. Other years are much better - we're at the minimum of the eleven-year solar cycle at the moment, so there aren't a lot of magnetic particles from the sun to trigger them.
The biggest problems with seeing them here are the rainy-for-fourty-four-days-straight weather, and the fact that Seattle proper has too much light pollution. If you'll be living in the City, you'll have to get out somehow to have any chance of seeing them. The general rule of thumb is that the sky has to be dark enough you can see the Milky Way. I would be glad to drive you up into the mountains aurora-hunting. :)
Every time I see a picture of an aurora I acutely miss thinking them common (from back when I lived somewhere northerly where there was little light pollution, and they *were* common - though never lessened for it).
Lovely, and with multiple colors, no less! I've only seen the northern lights once, and not anywhere near as vividly. However, the setting was wonderful and since we were in Ithaca, NY (a good bit farther south), we were quite surprised as well!
If you look on this map/satellite image, you'll see a thin white line extending north into the lake from the center section of land on the south shore. It's a long breakwater about 3 feet wide, ending in a small lighthouse. Or maybe "beacon" is a better word, as "house" is definitely stretching it. You could get out there by parking at the public park along the beach on the eastern section of land, walking through the park to a bridge over to the center section (not visible here), and then through a golf course back to the beginning of the breakwater. And then it was just a long walk along it out into the middle of the lake
( ... )
Comments 16
Reply
I'd guess then you've seen these guys?
(The idea is that common tree shapes are predicted by some fairly simple rulesets about propagule distribution, light capture and wind resistance in a computer model.)
I just think they're so neat -- someone plugged some basic algorithms into a computer and, hey presto! TREES!
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
The biggest problems with seeing them here are the rainy-for-fourty-four-days-straight weather, and the fact that Seattle proper has too much light pollution. If you'll be living in the City, you'll have to get out somehow to have any chance of seeing them. The general rule of thumb is that the sky has to be dark enough you can see the Milky Way. I would be glad to drive you up into the mountains aurora-hunting. :)
Reply
Every time I see a picture of an aurora I acutely miss thinking them common (from back when I lived somewhere northerly where there was little light pollution, and they *were* common - though never lessened for it).
Danke.
Reply
If you look on this map/satellite image, you'll see a thin white line extending north into the lake from the center section of land on the south shore. It's a long breakwater about 3 feet wide, ending in a small lighthouse. Or maybe "beacon" is a better word, as "house" is definitely stretching it. You could get out there by parking at the public park along the beach on the eastern section of land, walking through the park to a bridge over to the center section (not visible here), and then through a golf course back to the beginning of the breakwater. And then it was just a long walk along it out into the middle of the lake ( ... )
Reply
Leave a comment