2019年12月

初雪与最后的秋色相会，日本 Early season snowfall meets the last of the autumn colors, Japan (© SpontaneousPictures/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

"Snow and autumn leaves" Tokushima

Today is “Koyuki”. On the calendar, it is said that it is slightly snowing. It's still autumn, but it's getting colder in the morning and feeling the coming of winter ...

This is the mountain landscape of Tokushima. The snow in the far peak is thin, contrasting with the autumn leaves remaining in the foreground. In Tokushima Prefecture, you can enjoy abundant mountain peaks and beautiful autumn leaves that color the Sanuki Mountains that extend to the border with Kagawa Prefecture and the Kenzan Mountains with coniferous forests.

南邦国家公园的尖峰石阵，西澳大利亚州 (© Frank Krahmer/Getty Images Plus)

安大略省的圣诞树农场，加拿大 Christmas tree farm in Ontario, Canada (© FatCamera/Getty Images Plus)

A growing business

Today we're showing off a serene scene at a Christmas tree farm outside Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. If you were to visit a farm like this, however, it's unlikely you'd find much peace and quiet. Of the 25 million to 30 million natural Christmas trees sold each year in the US alone, 98 percent of them come from farms. 'Tis the season for tree chopping. Oregon, home to the popular noble and Douglas firs, produces the most Christmas trees of all US states, shipping much of the harvest to California. North Carolina, of Fraser fir fame, comes in at No. 2. Canada is the world's largest exporter of Christmas trees, spreading holiday cheer around the world.

Tonight, the National Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington, DC, will be held in President's Park near the White House. President Trump will push a button to illuminate a towering evergreen, just as other presidents have done since the first ceremony in 1923.

Exit Glacier at Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska (© Nathaniel Gonzales/Alamy)

Wild and beautiful Alaska

In honor of Alaska National Parks Day, we're traveling to Kenai Fjords National Park—home of the awe-inspiring Exit Glacier seen here. The park sits at the edge of the North Pacific Ocean where frequent winter storms dump the snow that feeds this land of ice. The Harding Icefield crowns the park with at least 38 flowing glaciers—one of which is Exit Glacier. Exit Glacier is known for being one of the most-visited of Alaska's glaciers, likely because it’s accessible via the Seward Highway. In mid-November, the road to the glacier closes due to heavy snowfall, so visitors can only get there via snow-friendly transportation like dogsled or cross-country skis.

Kenai Fjords is just one of Alaska's eight national parks, which together boast the nation’s largest glacial system, incredible wildlife viewing, and North America’s tallest peak. These parks exist in part because of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which President Jimmy Carter signed into law on this day in 1980. It converted massive tracts of Alaskan wilderness into protected land, doubling the amount of national park land in the state. For that, we are grateful. Alaska may be cold, but it sure is beautiful and worth protecting.

Southern lights for Antarctica Day

In honor of Antarctica Day, you're seeing the southern lights dazzle above Halley VI, the latest version of the six-decade-old Halley Research Station in the British Antarctic Territory. The modular building stands on hydraulic legs and is movable via retractable skis. The five previous facilities, Halley I–V, were each compromised by Antarctica's harsh climate and were decommissioned. Since 2017, while scientists monitor dangerous cracks in the surrounding Brunt Ice Shelf, Halley has been unmanned during the dark Antarctic winter months—but the research team equipped it with an autonomous micro-turbine that keeps its atmospheric instruments ticking as the snowdrifts pile up.

The first Antarctica Day was December 1, 1959, when twelve nations peacefully agreed to dedicate Earth's southernmost continent to the pursuit of science by signing the Antarctic Treaty. That agreement, adopted by both the US and the USSR amid the accelerating Cold War, stands 60 years later as an important landmark in global relations and has expanded to include 54 countries.

星空迷