NASA-NOAA satellite finds Jerry now a post-tropical storm

NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite passed over Jerry and provided forecasters with a view of its structure that helped confirm it is now post-tropical. On Sept. 25 at 12:48 p.m. EDT (1806 UTC), the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument…

NASA finds Tropical Storm Karen bringing heavy rain to Puerto Rico

Tropical Storm Karen has crossed over Puerto Rico and into the western Atlantic Ocean. Early on Sept. 25 when Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite passed overhead, the satellite found heavy rain occurring over the territory. The GPM’s…

NASA-NOAA satellite sees Hurricane Lorenzo strengthening

Dropping cloud top temperatures from NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite indicated Hurricane Lorenzo was getting stronger in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard Suomi NPP provided an infrared image of the storm. Infrared imagery…

Climate change study finds that maple syrup season may come earlier

Once winter nights dip below freezing and the days warm up above freezing sap begins to flow in sugar maples marking the start of the syrup season. U.S. maple syrup production is a global industry, which has been increasing by…

Global warming makes it harder for birds to mate, study finds

New research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) and University of Porto (CIBIO-InBIO) shows how global warming could reduce the mating activity and success of grassland birds. The study examined the threatened grassland bird Tetrax tetrax, or little…

NASA-NOAA satellite catches Hurricane Kiko at night

Hurricane Kiko continued to track west through the Eastern Pacific Ocean when NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite passed overhead and provided a view of the storm. Satellite imagery revealed an elongated shape, which indicated wind shear was still affecting Kiko. The…

NASA satellite provides a view of a large hurricane Humberto

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…

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.…

Why is Earth so biologically diverse? Mountains hold the answer

What determines global patterns of biodiversity has been a puzzle for scientists since the days of von Humboldt, Darwin, and Wallace. Yet, despite two centuries of research, this question remains unanswered. The global pattern of mountain biodiversity, and the extraordinarily…

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…

Kīlauea lava fuels phytoplankton bloom off Hawai’i Island

When Kīlauea Volcano erupted in 2018, it injected millions of cubic feet of molten lava into the nutrient-poor waters off the Big Island of Hawai’i. The lava-impacted seawater contained high concentrations of nutrients that stimulated phytoplankton growth, resulting in an…

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…

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…

Snowfall frequency declining across Northwest, PSU study finds

With warming temperatures, average snowfall frequency is estimated to decline across the Pacific Northwest by 2100 — and at a faster rate if greenhouse emissions are not reduced, according to a new Portland State University study. Researchers in PSU’s Climate…

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…

Impact of climate change on global banana yields revealed

Climate change could negatively impact banana cultivation in some of the world’s most important producing and exporting countries, a study has revealed. Bananas are recognised as the most important fruit crop – providing food, nutrition and income for millions in…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…