------------------------------------------http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002679/ wrote:
Venus: Not so neat and tidy as we thought
The Planetary Society Blog
By Emily Lakdawalla Sep. 23, 2010
<<When Pioneer Venus visited our sister planet in 1979, it found an atmospheric feature called a "dipole" near Venus' north pole -- a pair of eddies swirling and rotating around each other as Venus rotated. When ESA's Venus Express arrived in 2006, it observed the same sort of thing at Venus' south pole, and scientists wrote a lot about how Venus was symmetric from north to south and how the polar dipoles were atmospheric features that were stable over decades.
Except that it turns out it's not stable! Venus Express has been there for more than four years now, and as it's kept watching Venus' swirling atmospheric patterns, that "stable" southern dipole turned out not to be stable. At all. In a press release issued today, Venus scientist Giuseppi Piccioni remarks that the original observation of the southern dipole by Venus Express was "just a coincidence...the dipole in reality is not a stable feature on Venus, but just one shape among others."
The press release included several other cool images and animations. This one was my favorite.A movie of the complicated swirling motions of Venus' south polar vortex as seen at a near-infrared wavelength of 3.8 microns, acquired by the Venus Express VIRTIS camera. The set of images show the temperature of the clouds' top. Darker regions correspond to higher temperature and thus lower altitude. The temperature contrast leads to an apparent three-dimensional effect of the images.Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Credits: ESA / VIRTIS / INAF-IASF / Obs. de Paris-LESIA
Because I just can't get enough of animations, here are a couple more. These are cool because in each of them the frames have been rotated to take out the overall rotational motion of the vortex. What's left is the dynamics of clouds within the vortex, which are mesmerizing.
A 10-frame animation of the Venus' south polar vortex seen by Venus Express' VIRTIS at a near-infrared wavelength of 3.8 microns. The set of images has been reprojected to compensate for the overall rotation of the vortex, making the dynamics of atmospheric flow within the vortex more easy to spot. Credit: ESA / VIRTIS / INAF-IASF / Obs. de Paris-LESIA / Univ. of Oxford>>
- James Joyce » Ulysses » Episode 4 - Calypso
Your head it simply swirls.
Seaside girls. Torn envelope. Hands stuck in his trousers pockets, jarvey off for the day, singing. Friend of the family. Swurls, he says. Pier with lamps, summer evening, band,
Those girls, those girls,
Those lovely seaside girls'
Song: "Those Lovely Seaside Girls" in James Joyce's Ulysses
lyrics (and music) by Harry B Norris, 1899
- Down at Margate looking very charming you are sure to meet
Those girls, dear girls, those lovely seaside girls,
With sticks they steer and promenade the pier to give the boys a treat,
In pique silks and lace, they tip you quite a playful wink.
It always is the case you seldom stop to think,
You fall in love of course upon the spot,
But not with one girl, always with the lot.
Chorus: Those girls, those girls, those lovely seaside girls,
All dimples smiles and curls, your head it simply whirls,
They look all right, complexions pink and white,
They've diamond rings and dainty feet,
Golden hair from Regent Street,
Lace and grace and lots of face, those pretty little seaside girls.
There's Maud and Clara, Gwendolen and Sarah where do they come from?
Those girls, dear girls, those lovely seaside girls.
In bloomers smart, they captivate the heart, when cycling down the prom.
At wheels and heels and hose, you must not look 'tis understood,
But ev'ry Johnnie knows, it does your eyesight good,
The boys observe the latest thing in socks,
They learn the time by looking at the clocks.
When you go to do a little boating just for fun you take,
Those girls, dear girls, those lovely seaside girls,
They all say 'we so dearly love the sea.' Their way on board to make.
The wind begins to blow. Each girl remarks 'how rough today,
It's lovely don't you know,' and then they sneak away.
And as the yacht keeps rolling with the tide,
You'll notice hanging o'er the vessel's side
2nd Chorus: Those girls, those girls, those lovely seaside girls,
All dimples smiles and curls, each head it simply whirls,
They look a sight, complexions green and white,
Their hats fly off, and at your feet,
Falls golden hair from Regent Street,
Rouge and puffs slip down the cuffs of pretty little seaside girls.
