NASA’s Terra Satellite provided a visible image of Hurricane Humberto when it was off the coast of the Carolinas and slowly moving north. The satellite image revealed that Humberto is a very large storm. On Sept. 16, the Moderate Imaging…
Tag: Atmospheric Science
NASA’s Terra Satellite sees the birth of Tropical Storm Imelda
NASA’s Terra satellite passed over the western Gulf of Mexico during the early afternoon of Sept. 17 and captured a visible image of the newly formed Tropical Depression 11. The eleventh tropical depression developed during the late morning of Sept.…
Peatlands trap CO2, even during droughts
Although peatlands make up only 3% of the Earth’s surface, they store one third of the soil carbon trapped in soils globally. Preserving peatlands is therefore of paramount importance for mitigating climate change, provided that these vulnerable environments are not…
Low sea-ice cover in the Arctic
Second-lowest September minimum since observations began
Satellite study of Amazon rainforest land cover gives insight into 2019 fires
LAWRENCE — Throughout August and early September 2019, media around the world have reported on the extensive forest fires ravaging Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. Much of the concern stems from the Amazon’s significance to regulating the world’s climate. According to the…
‘Fire inversions’ lock smoke in valleys
Research shows why fire inversions happen and offers new air quality prediction tools
Study offers verdict for China’s efforts on coal emissions
Researchers from China, France and the USA have evaluated China’s success in stemming emissions from its coal-fired power plants (CPPs). CPPs are one of the main contributors to air pollution in China, and their proliferation over the last 20 years…
Clemson physicists lead rocket missions to explore Earth’s atmosphere
Clemson University physicists will conduct a pair of three-year rocket missions funded by NASA Helio
A precise chemical fingerprint of the Amazon
Drone-based monitoring system reveals important information on the health of the Amazon
The danger of heat and cold across Australia
Cold temperatures are not nearly as deadly as heat, with around 2% of all deaths in Australia relate
To reduce pollution, policymakers should broaden focus beyond smokestacks
Emissions from air pollutants are associated with premature mortality. Between 2008 and 2014, air pollution health damage from fine particulate matter exposure fell by 20 percent in the United States. There are four sectors in the U.S. economy that together…
NASA finds a few strong storms left in Fernand’s remnants over Northeastern Mexico
Tropical Storm Fernand made landfall in northeastern Mexico and began dissipating. However, infrared imagery from NASA’s Aqua satellite shows that there are still fragmented strong storms left in the tropical cyclone’s remnants. Those storms have the potential to generate heavy…
NASA measures Dorian’s heavy rainfall from Bahamas to Carolinas
Hurricane Dorian continues to generate tremendous amounts of rainfall, and has left over three feet of rain in some areas of the Bahamas and is now lashing the Carolinas. NASA’s IMERG product provided a look at those rainfall totals. By…
NASA-NOAA satellite finds wind shear pushing on Tropical Storm Gabrielle
NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite passed over the eastern Atlantic Ocean and infrared data revealed that the storm was being adversely affected by wind shear, pushing its strongest storms northeast of its center. NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite used infrared light to…
Satellite finds a ‘hook’ of heavy rainfall in Hurricane Juliette
From its vantage point in orbit around the Earth, when the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite passed over the Eastern Pacific Ocean, it gathered data on rainfall rates occurring in Hurricane Juliette. The areas of strongest rainfall…
Source water key to bacterial water safety in remote Northern Australia
In the wet-dry topics of Australia, drinking water in remote communities is often sourced from groundwater bores. The geochemistry of that groundwater impacts the occurrence of opportunistic pathogens in the drinking water supply, researchers now report in PLOS Neglected Tropical…
Tiny airborne particles from wildfires have climate change implications
Scientists with Arizona State University connections are important contributors to a newly published
Tropical storm Faxai gets a name and NASA gets an infrared picture
Tropical Storm 14W has been moving through the Northwestern Pacific Ocean for several days and has now been renamed Faxai. NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the newly renamed storm and took the temperature of Faxai’s clouds and storms. NASA’s Terra…
Breakdown in coral spawning places species at risk of extinction
Synchronized coral spawning has become erratic, endangering the long-term survival of coral species,
Scientists to use advances in 3D imaging to predict effects of rising CO2 levels on crops
ST. LOUIS, MO, September 4, 2019 – Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are higher than at any point in the past 800,000 years and in 2017, the global average amount of CO2 hit a new record: 405 parts per million, according…
It is best not to fly to conferences
Several times a year, researchers from all over the world travel long distances in order to share their latest findings and establish contacts at conferences. Dr. Sebastian Jäckle from the Department of Political Science at the University of Freiburg advocates…
Natural ways of cooling cities
Urban heat islands are a phenomenon where the temperature in a city is noticeably higher than in the surrounding rural area. When combined with the sort of heatwave that hit many parts of Europe at the beginning of July, urban…
GPM finds a band of heavy rainfall in Tropical Storm Gabrielle
The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite provided information about the rate in which rain was falling within the Eastern Atlantic Ocean’s latest tropical storm, Gabrielle. Tropical Depression 8 formed around 5 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, Sept. 3.…
NASA analyzed Tropical Storm Fernand’s strength before landfall
NASA’s Aqua satellite provided forecasters at the National Hurricane Center with infrared data and cloud top temperature information for Tropical Storm Fernand as it was making landfall in northeastern Mexico. Those temperatures indicated Fernand’s rainmaking capabilities. The infrared data also…
NASA catches Hurricane Juliette over Mexico’s Socorro Island
Although Hurricane Juliette is no longer a major hurricane in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, NASA’s Aqua satellite revealed there are still powerful thunderstorms around its center and captured an image of the storm over Socorro Island, Mexico. Aqua provided forecasters…
NASA estimates Hurricane Dorian’s massive Bahama rainfall totals
Hurricane Dorian dropped excessive rainfall on the Bahamas and NASA calculated the rainfall the storm generated. “By Wednesday morning, September 4, the rain accumulation from Hurricane Dorian exceeded 36 inches in an area that included parts of Grand Bahama Island…
Solutions to urban heat differ between tropical and drier climes
In summer heat, cities may swelter more than nearby suburbs and rural areas. And while the size of this urban heat island effect varies widely among the world’s cities, heat island intensity can largely be explained by a city’s population…
NASA infrared data reveals rainmaking potential in tropical depression 7
Another Atlantic Ocean basin depression formed while Hurricane Dorian is still wreaking havoc on the Bahamas and affecting the southeastern U.S. Infrared imagery from NASA’s Aqua satellite shows that Tropical Depression 7 in the western Gulf of Mexico has developed…
NASA’s IMERG estimates hurricane Dorian’s rain
In the early hours of Tuesday, September 3, Hurricane Dorian had been stationary over the island of Grand Bahama for 18 hours, most of the time as a category 5 hurricane. Storm-total rain accumulation over parts of Grand Bahama and…
ERC starting grant for turbulence research: 1.9 million euros in funding for meteorologist
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Starting Grant to Dr Cedrick Ansorge at the University of Cologne’s Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology. His project, Turbulence-Resolving Approaches to the Intermittently Turbulent Atmospheric Boundary Layer (trainABL), will receive a total…
GPM analyzes tropical depression Kajiki’s rainfall over Vietnam and Laos
The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite provided a look at rainfall rates in Tropical Depression Kajiki after it made a quick landfall in Vietnam. On Sept. 2, Kajiki formed as Tropical Depression 16W in the South China…
Major Hurricane Juliette’s emerging eye spotted in NASA satellite imagery
NASA’s Aqua satellite passed over the Eastern Pacific Ocean and provided an image of Hurricane Juliette as its eye began to emerge. Juliette has grown into a major hurricane, about 450 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California,…
NASA finds tropical storm 14W strengthening
Tropical Storm 14W formed as a depression a couple of days ago in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean and strengthened into a tropical storm on Sept. 2. Infrared data from NASA’s Aqua satellite shows some powerful thunderstorms fueling further intensification. On…
NASA infrared eye analyzes typhoon Lingling
The storm that became Typhoon Lingling strengthened very quickly in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean and infrared imagery from NASA revealed the powerful thunderstorms fueling that intensification. Lingling formed on Sept. 2 as Tropical Depression 15W and strengthened quickly into a…
New feedback phenomenon found to drive increasing drought and aridity
New study shows an increasingly high probability of more frequent, more extreme concurrent soil drou
Deep snow cover in the Arctic region intensifies heat waves in Eurasia
Persistent abnormally hot weather can cause negative impacts on human health, agriculture, and natural environments. A heat wave — a spell of hot days with the mercury rising much higher than the average temperature — has been reported more frequently…
Hurricane Dorian marching slowly across Atlantic
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami reports that an Air Force plane is finding Dorian a “little stronger” as of the 8:00am EDT advisory put out today, Aug. 30, 2019. Data from an Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft indicate that…
Scientists discover evidence for past high-level sea rise
Mallorcan cave yields 4-million-year-old geologic evidence providing new insights into magnitude glo
NASA satellites on-hand as Dorian becomes a category 3 hurricane
As Hurricane Dorian was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, NASA’s fleet of satellites were gathering data during the day to assist weather forecasters and scientists. At 2:00 pm EDT the National Hurricane Center…
USF-led team deciphers sea level rise from the last time Earth’s CO2 set record highs
TAMPA, Fla. (Aug. 30, 2019) – An international team of scientists have discovered evidence in the geological formations in a coastal cave showing that more than three million years ago – a time in which the Earth was two to…
Bacteria feeding on Arctic algae blooms can seed clouds
WASHINGTON – New research finds Arctic Ocean currents and storms are moving bacteria from ocean algae blooms into the atmosphere where the particles help clouds form. These particles, which are biological in origin, can affect weather patterns throughout the world,…
Floods are impacted by a changing climate
A large international research project led by the Vienna University of Technology has demonstrated,
NASA finds wind shear affecting Tropical Depression Erin
Visible and infrared imagery from NASA’s Terra satellite revealed that strong wind shear was adversely affecting Tropical Depression Erin, located about 200 miles off the Carolina coast. On Aug. 27, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA’s…
Grassland biodiversity is blowing in the wind
Temperate grasslands are the most endangered but least protected ecosystems on Earth. Grassland restorations are crucial for recovering this important but highly degraded ecosystem. Restored grasslands, however, tend to be more species poor and lose diversity through time as compared…
NASA sees Dorian become a hurricane
NASA’s Terra satellite passed over the northwestern Atlantic Ocean as Dorian reached hurricane status during the afternoon of August 28, 2019. On Aug. 28, 2019 at 1:30 p.m. EDT, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA’s Terra…
NASA analyzes Tropical Storm Dorian day and night
Tropical Storm Dorian was approaching the Leeward Islands when NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite passed overhead from space and snapped a visible image of the storm. When Suomi NPP came by again the satellite provided a night-time image from early morning…
NASA finds Tropical Depression battling wind shear off the Carolina coast
Newly formed Tropical Depression 6 in the Atlantic Ocean may have just formed, but it did so under adverse atmospheric conditions. The depression is battling wind shear and it’s apparent on imagery from NASA’s Aqua satellite. Wind shear is a…
NASA-NOAA satellite tracks tropical depression Podul across Philippines
Tropical Depression 13W, now named Podul, was crossing the Philippines from east to west as NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite provided a visible image of the storm. Podul’s trek across the country triggered many Philippines warnings on August 27, 2019. Tropical…
The positives of climate change? WVU research shows agricultural, economic possibilities
Depending on your side of the aisle, climate change either elicits doomsday anxiety or unabashed skepticism. Jason Hubbart , director of Institute of Water Security and Science at West Virginia University , takes a more centered approach. He’s studied the…
The positives of climate change? WVU research shows agricultural, economic possibilities
Depending on your side of the aisle, climate change either elicits doomsday anxiety or unabashed skepticism. Jason Hubbart , director of Institute of Water Security and Science at West Virginia University , takes a more centered approach. He’s studied the…