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DESCRIZIONE (a cura dell'Editore)

12 belle fotografie meteorologiche di grande formato, più la copertina, ci accompagnano mese per mese durante tutto il nuovo anno. Sul retro di ogni pagina troviamo un ampio commento trilingue (inglese, francese, tedesco) relativo all’argomento meteorologico rappresentato dalla fotografia del mese. Il tema scelto per quest’anno è: “Sistemi di allerta in meteorologia”. Non solo un calendario, quindi, ma un vero e proprio libretto ricco di informazioni, da conservare e collezionare. Un corposo lavoro curato da un team europeo di specialisti, con la supervisione dell’ European Meteorological Society.

LE IMMAGINI DELL'EUROPEAN METEOROLOGICAL CALENDAR 2012

COPERTINA Cloud vanes over the Pyrenees, 19 December 2010 Photographer: Jordi Martín García This image was taken flying over La Cerdanya Valley (Catalonia, Spain). Winter was approaching, a cold front had passed and a strong airflow coming from the north caused the first snowfall of the year in the Pyrenees. Because the intense air stream flowed almost at right angles to the mountains, mountain wave phenomena occurred that were accompanied by the characteristic altocumulus lenticularis clouds. This photograph was taken at an altitude of 30,000 feet (about 10,000 m). At this level there was only slight turbulence, in contrast to the bumpy ride we had experienced during our climb.

GENNAIO Kasprowy Wierch Observatory, Tatra Mountains, Poland, 1,991 m (exposure 45 minutes) Photographer: Witek Kaszkin On 28 January 2011 the sky was clear, the temperature around midnight was -9 °C and the snow had a depth of 79 cm. “I set up my camera, which has a powerful battery, on a tripod in the snow. I set a long time exposure of 45 minutes and went back to work (in the observatory). In the morning I went to fetch the camera and discovered that the camera had managed to take four pictures before the battery ran out.” – Here are some meteorological values: mean annual temperature 0.8 °C, absolute lowest temperature -30.2 °C in January 1963, highest temperature +23 °C in July 1957, mean annual precipitation 1,766.8 mm, maximum precipitation 2,396 mm in 1945, maximum daily precipitation 232 mm on 30 June 1973, maximum snow depth 355 cm on 15 April 1995. (See also March page, Met. Calendar 2009)

FEBBRAIO 'The gates of hell', Alicante, Spain, 11 May 2010 Photographer: Samuel Biener Camacho Alicante, situated on Spain’s Mediterranean coast, enjoys a healthy and warm climate with many hours of sunshine throughout the year. This is because the weather on most days is determined by either high-pressure areas or west winds, which lose their humidity after blowing across the Iberian Peninsula and arrive very dry. However in spring, and particularly in autumn, the weather is not always so kind. If warm and humid Mediterranean air coming from the east meets cold air at higher levels of the atmosphere and/or if it collides at ground level with cold air coming from the north, severe thunderstorms can occur. An example of such a thunderstorm can be seen in the photograph, which was taken from the top of Mount Benacantil. It produced 20 mm of rain and generated gusts exceeding 150 km/h. The author called this image 'the gates of hell'.

MARZO Chimney plumes above low fog, 23 October 2010 Photographer: Jordi Martín García We took off from Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain) and headed north, quickly reaching the area of La Coruña. On this day we were lucky with the weather conditions, enabling us to enjoy this landscape. The chimneys and their plumes from the thermal power plant at Meirama emerged from the sea of fog, illuminated by the early morning light. This light produced warm hues, which made up for the low temperatures at this time of the year. The airports in the area, including at Santiago, Coruña and Vigo, had to operate throughout the morning with low visibility procedures. These are in force when the Runway Visual Range is 400 m or less, and causes delays to scheduled operations.

APRILE Onset of winter in New Zealand’s Fjordland region, 8 April 2004 Photographer: Sebastian Dikty The Kepler Track hiking route affords a spectacular view of New Zealand’s mountainous Fjordland region. The virgin snow and frost, combined with the mist rising from the blue-coloured fjord below, looks almost out of a fairytale. The mist has formed in the cold air that flows in above the relatively warm water in the fjord. It is spreading up the slope of the mountain, carried by the weak air movements. Cumulus clouds in the upper left part of the picture and to the far right above the mountains are typical for the vertically instable layers of cold air that are flowing in. The frozen tuft of tussock grass in the foreground and the lenticular foehn clouds above the mountains in the background instil the picture with a considerable sense of depth, whereby the cold air ensures that it is possible to see more than 50 km into the distance.

MAGGIO Thunderstorm develops above Mount Teide, Canary Islands, 30 November 2010, 06:46 UTC (18-second exposure) Photographer: Jürgen Rendtel The Canary Islands can sometimes experience very stormy weather during the autumn and winter. Just a few hours before this photograph was taken, a storm occurred with wind speeds that, according to the measurement equipment on the neighbouring building, exceeded 200 km/h. The storm also produced heavy rain that, as a result of the wind pressure, flowed under roof covers in the most unbelievable directions and, for example, actually sprayed upwards into the observatory dome, which is otherwise completely rainproof. The storm then cleared up, only to be followed during the early hours of the next morning by another thunderstorm front. This had such a sharply defined front edge that the transition from the clear starry sky to the thunderstorm was almost terrifying, whereby you can also see the snow on Mount Teide. However, the wind did not blow quite so severely as it had during the storm the night before.

GIUGNO  Thunderstorm cloud over Majorca, Spain, 1 November 2010 Photographer: Miguel Angel Fariña de Jesús On this day the atmosphere was very instable. As a result, cumulonimbus clouds (thunderstorm clouds) like the one shown in the picture developed all around the island. They produced precipitation, with heavy rainfalls over localised areas that were sometimes accompanied by hail. I took my rucksack with my camera equipment and went to the cliffs on the western side of the island, in the region of Calvià. I travelled as far as Punta da Cala Figuera lighthouse, which offers an excellent view of the Bay of Palma. From there I could see the impressive development and growth of this magnificent cumulonimbus, which was situated across the bay on the eastern side of the island.

LUGLIO  Foehn clouds above Patagonia Photographer: Sabine Bork The photo was taken on 16 November 2010 on Lago Pehoe in Torres del Paine National Park, which is located in the Chilean part of Patagonia. For Patagonian conditions the day started with little wind and was already rather warm and muggy. It then rained and within a short space of time the wind freshened up to around 35 knots and the temperature dropped noticeably. To the rear of the frontal system, lee waves then developed everywhere, and with them wonderful examples of the associated foehn clouds that make the heart of every glider pilot beat faster.

AGOSTO Flight under turbulent clouds, 14 December 2006 Photographer: Jordi Martín García Our flight took us to Granada in the south of Spain. Near Sierra Nevada, large air currents merged together. This resulted in mountain waves, which occur very frequently in this area. In this case the presence of this meteorological phenomenon is revealed by the altocumulus lenticularis clouds, whereby there was only slight turbulence provided that one remained at a lower flight altitude far enough away from the clouds. However, considerable turbulence was evident at low altitudes near the airport, and we experienced strong and gusty winds during the entire approach and landing.

SETTEMBRE  A 'perfect' thunderstorm cloud, 3 August 2010, 20:52 CEST, Lago Maggiore, Italy Photographer: Karsten Bubner The thunderstorm cloud (cumulonimbus), which is illuminated by the setting sun, was photographed on the western shore of Lago Maggiore looking towards the south. It has a perfect-looking appearance, since the upper part of the cloud, the frozen anvil, has spread out equally on all sides. This indicates that there is little movement in atmosphere, in which the cloud extends up to a height of 12 kilometres. The cloud developed during the course of the afternoon without substantially changing its position. Although the thunderstorm produced considerable precipitation in the mountains, the view across the lake looks very peaceful, with the waves reflecting the colour of the cloud that contrasts with the blue sky.

OTTOBRE    Wind farm emerging from low fog, 30 November 2010 Photographer: Jordi Martín García Galicia is once again the land of clouds and fog. In this Spanish region, large areas are frequently covered by low clouds, especially in anticyclonic situations. Here, wind turbines from a wind farm located in Serra Da Meira emerge from this sea of clouds, as if they were located on islands in the middle of the ocean. This photograph was taken on a flight from Barcelona to Vigo, just as the plane started its final descent from 35,000 ft (11,500 m).

NOVEMBRE Freak wave, Foz do Douro (mouth of the Douro), Porto, Portugal, 9 October 2010 Photographer: António Tedim The roughly 15 metre-high lighthouse on the jetty is hit by a wave whose spray reaches almost twice the height of the tower. Several severe low-pressure areas had already been rapidly moving across the Atlantic from Newfoundland to the Bay of Biscay since 3 October. On route eastwards, their associated storms generated a very high swell that was reinforced by the winds from the individual low-pressure vortices. This spray is the result of the very long swell waves which, just a few metres in height, were generated by the wind sea and which crossed a large part of the North Atlantic.

DICEMBRE Double rainbow, Lekeitio, Biscay, 19 February 2010 Photographer: Xabier Gezuraga The rain alternated with sunshine, which caused an incomplete rainbow. While I was photographing it, a cumulonimbus cloud approached and covered the sun, so that the remains of the rainbow disappeared. The cumulonimbus produced a heavy shower. A few minutes later, the sun began to peek out again from underneath the cloud. When the rain finally arrived at the position where I was standing, this beautiful double rainbow could be seen, whereby my shadow can also be seen at the centre of the semicircular arc. The second rainbow, which runs parallel to the brighter main rainbow, can be seen best of all against the dark clouds behind it.