Something to ponder over coffee on a lazy Sunday: Where is this fractal drainage pattern located?
Leave your answers in the comments below, and we’ll see how long it takes for someone to get it right.
The image a screenshot of a satellite image, and it’s also part of a feature here at ImaGeo that will appear regularly: EarthArt. Google Earth is an amazing tool for exploring the world and finding images like this.
What are fractals? From the Fractal Foundation (who knew that such an organization even existed?):
A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales.
Here’s an image of the same region captured from considerably lower — while I was flying on a commercial flight recently:
The same fractal drainage pattern, seen from an airplane. I shot it using my iPhone and processed it with the Snapseed app. (Image: copyright Tom Yulsman)
40*53’38.5″N, 100*32’45.2″W, elev 3000′
.
Although you were flying somewhat south, facing north, at something like
40*50′N, 100*34′, 34000′?, at 2013:01:17 11:19:43
.
Close enough?
Anisa_Khandkar
Haha, I thought to pull the metadata too! Couldn’t get any GPS info though…
Ron Broberg
No GPS. But Yulsman labeled the photos as “Nebraska” when he posted them. Didn’t take long to find something similar on Google Maps and confirm it in Google Earth. The irrigation circle in the lower left hand.made an easy confirmation point.
Nebraska seems like a good pick. I’ve seen similar patterns flying over the Alaska Range, but of course the relief was higher and there was more white!
Patty McNulty
brooks range, alaska.
http://twitter.com/dropeik david ropeik
the amazing thing to me is the predictable periodicity of the spacing. i’m sure geologists have studied why the same patterns and spacing between the run-off vallys occur everywhere.
Darn! I should have remembered to remove the Nebraska label! That’ll teach me to do stuff like this at 2 in the morning. (Couldn’t sleep last night.)
But actually, no one got it precisely right. This is not north of the Platte River, which was Ron’s guess. It is actually just south and a little east of North Platte, NE, which means south of the river. I don’t know for sure, but I do not believe that it is actually sand hills territory. The heart of that is to the north of the river. (But please correct me if I am wrong.)
In any case, it is an astonishing place — a stunningly dissected landscape that gives the lie to the stereotype of the Great Plains as an infinitely flat expanse. I’ve driven along the Platte from Colorado to Iowa many times, but I had no idea that a fractal drainage basin was just to the south. Next time, I’m getting off the highway…
Thank you all for being such good sports. I’ve decided that I’ll do this once a week — a ‘where in the world?’ feature. And I’ll try hard to remember to remove the darn labels. So please make sure to check back!
ImaGeo is a visual blog focusing on the intersection of imagery, imagination and Earth. It focuses on spectacular visuals related to the science of our planet, with an emphasis (although not an exclusive one) on the unfolding Anthropocene Epoch.
About Tom Yulsman
Tom Yulsman is co-director of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado, and a science and environmental journalist with more than 30 years of experience producing content for major publications. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Audubon, Climate Central, Columbia Journalism Review, Discover, Nieman Reports, and many other publications. He has held a variety of editorial positions over the years, including a stint as editor-in-chief of Earth magazine. Yulsman has written one book: Origins: the Quest for Our Cosmic Roots, published by the Institute of Physics in 2003.
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