APOD: Strawberry Sun (2013 Aug 29)

[APOD Robot]

Strawberry Sun

Explanation: This striking, otherworldy scene really is a view from planet Earth. The ochre sky and strawberry red sun were photographed on August 22nd near the small village of Strawberry, California, USA. Found along Highway 108, that location is about 30 miles north of the origin of California's large Rim Fire, still threatening areas in and around Yosemite National Park. The extensive smoke plumes from the wildfire are easily visible from space. But seen from within the plumes, the fine smoke particles suspended in the atmosphere dim the Sun, scattering blue light and strongly coloring the sky.

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[Boomer12k]

Interesting effect...too bad it has to be from such a tragic and terrible cause....

:---[===] *

[Uwe]

I know it is cynical, but I've come to the (wrong) expression that interesting pictures like this can be taken every year in this area. Are there any thoughts given or means spend to fire prevention at all? Or is it more effective to simply wait until there is (obviously very soon) no tree left? Reminds me of the high water prevention here in Germany, which shows the same null effect.

[nstahl]

For decades too much thought and effort was made to prevent fires, leaving a century's worth of fuel on the forest floor. That fuel should have been disposed of in more frequent, small fires. And of course global warming with the hotter, drier summers in the west, is involved. We must work on that or this kind of view could become a Lot more common.

[saturno2]

Beautiful image

[orin stepanek]

I hope the fires go out soon! The picture is nice!

[geckzilla]

I know it is cynical, but I've come to the (wrong) expression that interesting pictures like this can be taken every year in this area. Are there any thoughts given or means spend to fire prevention at all? Or is it more effective to simply wait until there is (obviously very soon) no tree left? Reminds me of the high water prevention here in Germany, which shows the same null effect.

Fire prevention in the US's major forests was too successful. As nstahl wrote above it's left them very vulnerable. The trees and animals living in those areas are adapted to surviving the natural cycle of forest fires. In fact, some pine trees rely on the heat of a fire to open their cones up so that a new generation of trees can be born, though I'm not sure that one of those species is in the Rim Fire area.

[LocalColor]

What most people have forgotten (or not learned) is that the First Americans set fires to "manage" the land, gleaned firewood for cooking and heating. The "park like" forests that the first Europeans saw were due to thousands of years of "management". Now we lock up the land and call it wilderness, and the fires we have now with the huge buildup of fuels sterilizes the land and affects the local climate. Snow melts faster due to lack of tree cover. Rain causes flash floods that scours the streams down to bedrock and pours silt into the rivers.

We are also having fires in central Idaho, several fires in the wilderness are being allowed to burn. This is what the sun looked like from here on August 9th.

http://local-color.smugmug.com/Working/Recent/i-CgMnkJf

[Otdoorsey]

"Otherworldy?" Obviously the writer of the description doesn't spend much time outdoors.

[geckzilla]

What most people have forgotten (or not learned) is that the First Americans set fires to "manage" the land, gleaned firewood for cooking and heating. The "park like" forests that the first Europeans saw were due to thousands of years of "management". Now we lock up the land and call it wilderness, and the fires we have now with the huge buildup of fuels sterilizes the land and affects the local climate. Snow melts faster due to lack of tree cover. Rain causes flash floods that scours the streams down to bedrock and pours silt into the rivers.

We are also having fires in central Idaho, several fires in the wilderness are being allowed to burn. This is what the sun looked like from here on August 9th.

http://local-color.smugmug.com/Working/Recent/i-CgMnkJf

Well, it probably does need to be locked up and our national parks are certainly wilderness. I think there are a lot of good people doing their best to keep them that way, fire management failure aside. They're isolated enough that some people figured that out and started growing large marijuana farms within. So some meadow gets destroyed so that humans can have their pot. Anyway, I've never heard of indians intentionally setting fires or consciously managing the land, though. I figured their lifestyle didn't require putting any effort into such things.

[geckzilla]

"Otherworldy?" Obviously the writer of the description doesn't spend much time outdoors.

Alternatively, he doesn't spend much time near forest fires. I think it's fair to say most people don't spend much time engulfed in smoke.

[John G. E.]

Samuel Taylor Coleridge must have seen something like this image.

From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

[neufer]

Samuel Taylor Coleridge must have seen something like this image.

From The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:

All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

Except that that was the Rime Fire.

[Beyond]

To 'e', or not to 'e'.
Without the 'e', the Rime is just a Rim, out on the edge somewhere, without Rime or reason.

[Dustin M.]

For those who would like to learn about Fire ecology and Native American use of controlled forest fires. It's a good starting point. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ecology

[stowaway]

"Otherworldy?" Obviously the writer of the description doesn't spend much time outdoors.

Alternatively, he doesn't spend much time near forest fires. I think it's fair to say most people don't spend much time engulfed in smoke.

I'm sorry to say I have spent entirely TOO much time engulfed in the smoke from the Rim Fire. I live in Carson City, Nevada which is just south of Reno and right in the middle of the river of smoke emanating northwards from the fire. It has been thick and heavy for about two weeks now. The Sun here looks like it does in the picture even though we are 75 miles from the fire. I haven't seen a blue sky or a normal cloud in all that time. I didn't know prevailing winds could be so consistent. It is becoming a health issue and shows no signs of letting up.

[fausto.lubatti]

A really beautiful shot!