J U P I T E R A N D I O

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1 STORIES TO ACOMPANY THE EXHIBITION CLOUDS OF A CHAOTIC SKY CLAIRE PENDRIGH SALAMANCA ARTS CENTRE

2 RAIN The small ceramic vessels in my rain cloud are made with locally dug clay and were fired primitive style in my West Hobart garden. Supercooled water droplets suspended in the air as clouds, need something to condense to before they can fall as rain. This nucleus is often a particle of dust or earth, carried into the sky by the wind. What happens in the sky and what happens on the earth are inextricably linked. What goes up, must come down.

3 THE FIRST CLOUDS Earth, Mars and Venus were born of the same batch of fireballs. Meteorites bombarded early Earth s molten surface, releasing water and slowly creating clouds. When the assault slowed and the earth could finally cool, the first rains seeped into the earth, filling the craters, creating aquifers, oceans, rivers and setting the scene for the first forms of life. Venus became too hot from a runaway greenhouse effect, its water vaporising. Mars, once a warm wet world, became too cold - a freeze-dried desert. Much like Goldilocks porridge, Earth is just right, but the balance is precarious and the void behind our atmosphere is not hospitable.

4 J U P I T E R A N D I O I n t h e s t o r y o f J u p i t e r a n d I o, t h e R o m a n g o d J u p i t e r ( o r Z e u s i n G r e e k ) d i s g u i s e s h i m s e l f a s a c l o u d, r o l l i n g a c r o s s t h e f i e l d s i n p u r s u i t o f t h e m o r t a l w o m a n I o. I w a n t e d t o r e - i m a g i n e t h e s t o r y t o t a k e p l a c e i n a T a s m a n i a n a l p i n e l a n d s c a p e - t h e v i e w e r t a k i n g t h e p l a c e o f I o, l o o k i n g o u t t o a n o m i n o u s b a n k o f c l o u d s f u l l o f m a l e v o l e n t e n e r g y.

5 A BUTTERFLY FLAPS ITS WINGS The butterfly effect is the idea that a small change in initial conditions can result in large differences in a later state (a butterfly flaps its wings creating minor perturbations, ultimately influencing the formation of a hurricane). The Ptunarra brown butterfly is a Tasmanian endemic species living in native grasslands and grassy woodlands. Loss of habitat has caused the number of these butterflies to decline, and they are now listed as vulnerable. THE WEIGHT OF A CLOUD The water droplets in a typical Cumulous weigh about as much as eighty elephants. Each tiny droplet is held aloft by convection currents, only falling as precipitation when numerous droplets stick together around a particle of dust or freeze into hexagonal crystals of ice, finally becoming heavy enough to fall as rain.

6 WEATHER MAGIC A 1486 German woodcut in a pamphlet titled Weather Magic depicts a group of women gathered around a cauldron out of which bursts storm clouds, rain droplets and radiating crepuscular rays. In many ways, our lives, our well-being and our very existence can be held ransom by the weather. The rise and fall of civilisations have coincided with patterns of climatic shift. I think that s why almost every culture includes some aspect of weather modification, whether it s through rain making ceremonies, weather witches, or seeding clouds with silver iodine. The women in that woodcut would have suffered a terrible fate in the witch trials of the Dark Ages, but that wouldn t have fixed the heavy rains, epidemics and crop failures plaguing Europe at the time. In truth, the worst of the witch persecutions lined up with the worst decades of the Little Ice Age, a five century long climactic shift of dark weather.

7 C L O U D S Y M B O L S ALTOSTRATUS, THICK STRATOCUMULUS, SPREADING FROM CUMULUS STRATOCUMULUS, NOT FROM CUMULUS CUMULUS, LITTLE VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT CUMULUS AND STRATOCUMULUS CUMULUS, CONSIDERABLE DEVELOPMENT CUMULONIMBUS, CLEAR-CUT TOPS LACKING CUMULONIMBUS, CLEAR TOPS THIN, SEMI-TRANSPARENT THIN, PATCHES BANDS THICKENING DOUBLE-LAYERED SPREADING FROM CUMULUS TUFTS OR TURRETS OF A CHAOTIC SKY CIRUS, FILAMENTS, HIGH CLOUDS CIRUS, DENSE, PATCHES, TUFTS CIRUS, FILAMENTS, ANVIL SHAPED CIRRUS, HOOKE-SHAPED THICKENING CIRRUS AND CIRROSTRATUS OVER 45 DEGREES CIRRUS AND CIRROSTRATUS NOT 45 DEGREES CIRROSTRATUS, NOT INCREASING CIRROSTRATUS, VEIL COVERING SKY CIRROCUMULUS STRATUS AND/OR FRACTOSTRATUS FRACTOSTRATUS, FRACTOCUMULUS ALTOSTRATUS, THIN, SEMI-TRANSPARENT

8 P R E C I P I T A T I O N S Y M B O L S SQUALL HAZE LIGHT FOG HEAVY FOG SLIGHT RAIN, INTERMITTENT SLIGHT RAIN, CONTINUOUS DRIZZLE MODERATE RAIN, INTERMITTENT MODERATE RAIN, CONTINUOUS HEAVY RAIN, INTERMITENT HEAVY RAIN, CONTINUOUS PRECIPITATION DURING THE PAST HOUR PRECIPITATION NOT REACHING THE GROUND PRECIPITATION LANDING FAR FROM STATION PRECIPITATION LANDING NEAR STATION SHOWERS RAIN SHOWERS MODERATE OR HEAVY RAIN SHOWERS VIOLENT HAIL SNOW ICE PELLETS SLIGHT SHOWERS OF SNOW PELLETS SLIGHT SHOWERS OF HAIL