Strongest Quake shakes Persian Gulf and beyond

A very strong earthquake shakes south eastern part of Iran that is very close to Pakistan border.The shock was so strong that whole region from Iranian cities to Arabian cities felt it. According to USGS the recent earthquake has following parameters:

Magnitude	7.8
Date-Time	Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 10:44:20 UTC Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 03:44:20 PM at epicenter
Location	28.107°N, 62.053°E
Depth	82 km (51.0 miles)
Region	IRAN-PAKISTAN BORDER REGION
Distances	194 km (121 miles) SE (144°) from Zahedan, Iran 256 km (159 miles) NNW (336°) from Turbat, Pakistan 256 km (159 miles) WSW (250°) from Dalbandin, Pakistan 605 km (376 miles) NE (34°) from MUSCAT, Oman

The earth quake was so strong that estimated its power is 40 times more than the quake that jolted city of Bam  360 Km NW of the current quake. Bam quake happened in December 26, 2003 with 6.6 magnitude and killed thirty thousands of people. But the recent quake is very deep( 82 to 95 Km according Iranian Geophysics Centre) and  population is sparse and low that's why  casualty has remained very low.Indeed, according to official news most casualties happened in more populated area in Pakistan with 34 people while Iran reported only one person killed and around 27 people injured.
Same as the quake that shook Bushehr in April 9 2013,the Arabian platform is responsible for the shock and after shocks. 

Clockwise Vs CounterClockwise

In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate anti-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth.

It is definition of Wikipedia and it is true.On the other word , direction of clouds movement depends on their location on the earth. Generally speaking If a cyclone forms in northern hemisphere, winds which try to reach to the center of a low pressure incline to right.In southern hemisphere winds incline to left on their way toward the center of a low pressure.Thus , in northern hemisphere, clouds spin around the low pressure center anti-clockwise or counterclockwise, and in southern hemisphere, clouds rotate clockwise around center of a low pressure( depression).

Here is a cyclone over Iceland (Northern hemisphere)

Here is a cyclone over Pacific coast of Chile (Southern hemisphere)

This image is sent by Chris Hadfield , Commander of International Space Station on April 2013. Center of the cyclone or eye of the cyclone is visible from space, huge and thick rows of clouds spinning clockwise around the center .

What do you see from orbit?

Commander Chris Hadfield keep sending astonishing pictures from space.Nesting 400 to 500 kilometers above the earth surface, ISS sending us pictures which looks a little bit different and amazing.

Clouds over Western Europe

A love cloud

Sand Dunes,Erosion by sand and wind,Arabian peninsula

Swirling clouds, Pacific Ocean,Mexican coast

A fish bone made of clouds and St. Helana Island. South Atlantic Ocean

Lagoons and everglades Florida key Southern United States.

Effect of water and ice erosion on hard rocks of Patagonia,South America, Andes, Chile

 Geshm Island, An empty salt dome and red soil (Iron Oxides accumulation), Hormuz Strait, Persian Gulf. Iran

A Sahara Cloud and its shadow, Africa

Erosion by sand and wind Sahara, Africa

Earth Day Earth Hour

Earth Day is an annual day on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. Earth Day is observed on April 22 each year. The April 22 date was designated as International Mother Earth Day by a consensus resolution adopted by the United Nations in 2009. Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and is celebrated in more than 192 countries every year.

 To celebrate the Earth Hour and in an attempt to attract people attention to conserve energy International Space Station turned off its light on March 23 2013 and send this spectacular picture of stars to earth by its commander Chris Hadfield. Earth aurora (polar light) is visible under stars. 

Toronto day and night in winter

Toronto capital of Ontario province is the largest city of Canada with 5.5 million population. Toronto is a modern city which established in 1793 by Lord Simcoe, governor of Canada. It was named York. Later the city decide to change the name to Toronto which means "meeting place" in a native language. Winter in Toronto is long, snowy and cold but beautiful.Its location along the great lakes gives the city a unique milder climate comparing to the interior territories of Canada.Toronto at night shows all of its beauty in form of lights of well organized streets. These pictures which dated to 19 of January 2013 are taken by International Space Station from 400 to 500 km above the earth surface and Canadian Space Agency distributed it through its Facebook.

Toronto in night 19 Jan. 2013 lake Ontario at the top 

Toronto at winter 19 Jan. 2013 Ontario lake at the bottom 

Fish Rush from Space

Pacific white line

The Pacific White Line is a periodic but random natural feature in the Pacific Ocean. It is a huge collection of fish, foam and algae that usually occurs between January and August. When conditions are right it can be seen from space. Below picture send by Col. Chris Hadfied from International Space Station dated March 5th 2013.

Under certain circumstances the deeper and colder current of pacific ocean comes to surface. This cold current  is rich in nutrition and algae from depth of the ocean.Probably the ocean surface winds and their directions play important role in displacement huge amount of water.La Nina current is an example of  cool water which comes to surface while carrying nutrition which fish are depend on it. Contrary to La Nima called El Nino which is a hot current. All fish attract to this huge source of food and create a white line which can be seen from 400 kilometer above earth surface. Combination of huge school of fish, foam and algae form a line which has 2 kilometers wide and hundreds of kilometers long.

Night Vision of Cities from Space

Cites shows interesting geographical pattern at night. International Space Station provides us with up to date images of cities after sunset. The images send by Col. Chris Hadfield, a Canadian astronaut who was the first Canadian to walk in space.Chris Hadfield a former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot, now spending more than three months in the space station. By comparison we will find out that most European cities show a eccentric, circular pattern and cites along rivers and seas show a linear pattern. In coastal cities, settlements follow the coast lines and in arid and semi arid regions cities follow the river courses and water supplies. Cities like Seoul and Pyongyang the city's lights reflect their economic and industrial development and energy consumption under two different political system. Developed countries shows higher consumption of energy and their cities are sparkling at night.New part of the cities shows a more organized distribution of light which imply to better urban plan and architecture.

Beijing
 The total population Including
suburbs as of 2012 was 20,693,000.

Calgary, Canada

Brussels

England, Ireland and Northern light in distance (Aurora) 

Dublin

Dhahran ,Saudi Arabia 

Nile and its delta along Mediterranean sea to the right