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Distance travelled ~ 917'792'800 km

Who would have thought we'd be closing the submissions for the Flickr group so soon. It's only been a year, right? But that's what it's always been about. Our annual round trip. And sad to say, but 2012 is looking mighty close.

To all who have submitted photos to the pool, the team say a huge thank you! Over two thousand weather and astronomy images have been submitted by a selection of great photographers - photos that will continue to be available to view long after the production ends.

The date you want to remember for the photography pool is 31st December 2011 - as if you'd forget new years eve :-). Submissions after this date will not be able to be made.

I'll leave you with images of the Aurora Australis, acquired by astronauts on board the International Space Station September 11, 2011 as the ISS orbit pass descended over eastern Australia. Magnificent.

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Wishing you all a Merry xmas!

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Distance travelled ~ 765'997'600 km

Across Asia, several areas are severely flooded after unusually heavy monsoon rains since July. Over 200 houses were swept away by flash floods in Burma, where up to 50 people are thought to have died. Thailand and Cambodia are also badly affected, with the worst flooding in 50 years.

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The above images captured by Alexis Taylor 23 October. "They were taken in the center of Bangkok town...10 min from Khaosan road on foot. The hotel I was staying in on Khao San was bricking the doors up - 1 meter high. You have to enter over sand bags"

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Ari Honka took this photo of the first signs of flooding in China Town, Bangkok on 23 October.

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The above images were captured by Derek Armstrong 23 October. "The exact location is outside my house on the Rangsit Nakon Nayok highway which is normally a very busy road linking Bangkok with NE Thailand. It is located in Pathumthani province, just to the north of Bangkok and about 10km from the old Don Mueang Airport.

The situation has deteriorated somewhat as the level of the klong(canal) is now climbing up to near the brim of the temporary sandbag/clay dykes. The road is also flooding over both sides and spilling into the canal as a result of water run-off from the North (see attached pictures taken yesterday at 9.00 am, Monday 24th October). We are now virtually marooned as we cannot get out of our estate to travel to Bangkok. Vipavadee Rangsit Road, to the west, where Don Mueang airport is located is heavily flooded now. To the east, we cannot access the Outer Ring Road, as there is heavy flooding up to Rangsit Klong 6 where that road is located."

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Distance travelled ~ 698'568'800 km

Nesat hit China earlier today and continues west:

After Typhoon Nesat made landfall near Casiguran on the east coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines 27 September, earlier today it made landfall in the northeastern part of Hainan island, . It is moving where it is predicted to make landfall within the next 12 hours. Nesat is weakening and likely to be categorised as a tropical storm soon.

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Distance travelled ~ 683'292'800 km

We recently launched our September Equinox photo challenge with the question: How can you reflect the equinox in a photo?

A few people on Twitter suggested taking a snapshot of all points of the world at exactly 09:04 UTC and sending us a photo of them merged into one; which we just loved the sound of - but - we hadn't given you enough time. Surely to coordinate such a masterpiece 'alone', you would need to be everywhere at once (superman style stuff). Or have a camera positioned and ready at all points of the world, set to click simultaneously at 09.04 UTC (i'm certain they couldn't have meant a lone project). Well because we're a reasonable bunch over here at 23 Degrees, one location was definitely enough. And here's our top photos, enjoy. Roll on Autumn.

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Distance travelled ~ 680'934'400 km

Although Typhoon Roke was a smaller storm than Talas (which hit Japan early September), it was stronger in terms of wind strength. When Roke made landfall in the south coast of Japan, in Hamamatsu 14.00 JST 21 September, it reached speeds of 90kts ( 100 mph). Over the period of 48hours prior to Roke making landfall it dropped over in Tokushima. Japan received an average of over 400mm of rain, including Tokyo. Roke is currently moving .

Image captured by A.Wainwright, Japan. "It was taken from my 4th floor balcony overlooking the tennis courts outside my apartment in Kawasaki City, Greater Tokyo during typhoon Roke, 21st. Sept. 2011"

The above photos captured by Dr Aaron S.G. Robotham of St. Andrew's University. The top image was taken "outside Shibuya station during our long walk home." The second image was outside Ebisu station in the taxi queue. We queued for a taxi for 1-1/2 hours but eventually gave up and decided to walk back to our hotel. We gave up using the umbrellas since they were just getting blown apart and we couldn't get any wetter."

More on this story: Typhoon Roke in pictures

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