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I created a graphic this morning for The Northeast Quadrant's Facebook page WEATHER PHOTO OF THE DAY album which depicts satellite images of the four category 4's of 2010 (so far), featuring Hurricanes Danielle, Earl, Igor and Julia.
These four storms were classic Cape Verde hurricanes and while Danielle and Julia remained out to sea, Earl and Igor directly and indirectly impacted land mass. Both Igor and Julia attained category 4 strength simultaneously – an occurrence that has not happened since September 16, 1926.
I thought this was a pretty cool way of showing that no two storms are alike despite their similar characteristics!
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Last week NASA and NOAA reported that the third and final spacecraft in the GOES N-P Series of geostationary environmental weather satellites known as GOES-15, has successfully completed five months of testing and has been accepted into service.
The GOES fleet help NOAA forecasters track life-threatening weather and it is one of the most useful satellites, providing a constant stream of data and imagery as it observes clouds, ocean temperatures, winds, atmospheric properties, severe storm systems, fires and many other environmental parameters covering more than 50 percent of the Earth's surface.
GOES-15 has already started to deliver high-resolution photos from space (see image above of Hurricane Danielle), including the first visible and infrared images of Earth taken by its imager instrument, and the first image of the sun taken by its solar X-ray imager instrument.
GOES-15 will be placed in an on-orbit storage location at 105 degrees west longitude should one of the operational GOES satellites degrade or exhaust their fuel. It will share a parking space with GOES-14, currently in the same storage orbit. Both satellites can be made operational within 24 hours to replace an older satellite.
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Earthquakes Indicate Volcanic Activity Persists While NASA Captures Stellar Satellite Image
With a series of earthquakes occurring this week inside Eyjafjallajökull, it seems there is no end in sight for the erupting volcano. In fact, over fifty quakes have been reported since Monday morning, which prove that magma is still flowing into the volcano from the Earth's mantle.
As for the eruption, there was a slight increase in explosive activity Monday, resulting in an ash plume at times shooting up 20,000 feet. At the same time, luck would have it that NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on its Aqua satellite captured the image above. In my opinion it's the best satellite image of Eyjafjallajökull's ash plume yet.
In related news, you can now purchase official Eyjafjallajökull ash online! An Icelandic Internet retailer by the name of nammi.is is selling the ash to support the search and rescue team responsible for safekeeping and restoring work in the area.
Apparently orders have been coming in from across the world... so ummm, get your ash today!
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) is one of NOAA’s most useful satellites, providing a constant stream of data and imagery back to Earth as it observes clouds, ocean temperatures, winds, atmospheric properties, severe storm systems, fires and many other environmental parameters.
GOES-13, launched in May 2006, is the first of three new GOES satellites and just yesterday it became the official GOES-EAST orbiter, being called the 'Hurricane Eye in the Sky.' That is because just in time for hurricane season, in its current position, GOES-13, perched 22,300 miles above the equator, will closely track this year's tropical storms – from when they develop to when they dissipate.
In addition to monitoring tropical activity, NOAA says GOES-13 will also be able to spot any other severe weather that could pose a threat to the eastern half of the nation. Go GOES!!!
The European Space Agency (ESA) launched Thursday from Kazakhstan its CryoSat-2 satellite in an effort to map Earth’s ice cover. From its polar orbit, CryoSat-2 will send back data leading to new insights into how ice is responding to climate change. In doing so it will measure changes in the thickness of the vast ice sheets that overlie Antarctica and Greenland, as well as variations in the thickness of the relatively thin ice floating in the polar oceans.
The launch of CryoSat-2 is the third in a series of ESA's Earth observation satellites now orbiting the planet. These 'Earth Explorers' as ESA calls them, are periodically launched in direct response to issues identified by the scientific community and aim to improve our understanding of how human activity is affecting Earth's natural processes.
I think it's pretty neat indeed, to see other world regions working on Earth science issues just as NASA does here in the U.S.!
Today marks the 50th anniversary of NASA's launch of TIROS-1 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Initially delivering a fuzzy picture of thick bands and clusters of clouds over the United States, and later capturing an image of a typhoon off the coast of Australia, TIROS (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) was the first meteorological satellite to revolutionize weather forecasting.
Since the historic NOAA-NASA collaboration in 1960, meteorologists have been able to obtain greater information about severe weather and thus have issued more accurate forecasts and warnings that save lives and protect property. Throughout the 1960s, each TIROS spacecraft carried increasingly advanced instruments and technology, and by 1965, meteorologists combined 450 TIROS images into the first global view of the world’s weather.
Throughout the 1960s NASA launched a total of ten TIROS satellites, and after the turn of the decade it began launching its series of GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) orbiters which further revolutionized weather forecasting and is still to this day depended upon.
NOAA and NASA continue to collaborate. NASA is expected to launch the next generation GOES-R satellites beginning in 2015. These spacecraft will have twice the clarity of today's GOES and provide more than 20 times the information.
By early this month several winter storms had left snow cover over much of The Northeast Quadrant. Mostly clear skies over the eastern United States and Canada allowed the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite this unobstructed view on March 6.
The navy blue of the eastern Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean contrasts with the snow cover in this true-color image. South of Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes resemble giant claw marks in otherwise snow-covered New York. Snow appears the most opaque in Ohio, central New York, and between Lake Huron and its neighboring lakes to the east. In Canada, the mottled appearance likely results from a combination of snow cover and forest.
Terra, which launched ten years ago on Dec. 18, 1999, is a multi-national NASA scientific research satellite in a sun-synchronous orbit around the Earth. It is the flagship of NASA's Earth Observing System. Terra carries a payload of five remote sensors designed to monitor the state of Earth's environment and ongoing changes in its climate system. In the decade since Terra launched, scientists have gained insight into the intricate connections that shape our planet's climate.
Congratulations to NASA on this Terra-ific decade in orbit!
NASA yesterday launched NOAA’s latest GOES-P meteorological satellite, which promises to deliver the most awesome global images of storm development [and more] known to man!
GOES-P, which is scientifically known as the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, lifted off Thursday evening from Cape Canaveral and is the third and final launch in the GOES N-P series. It will join four similar spacecraft aimed at improving weather forecasting and monitoring of environmental events in North, Central and South America, and the surrounding oceans. In doing so it will detect ocean and land temperatures, monitor space weather, relay communications and provide search-and-rescue support.
GOES-P promises to provide meteorologists with nearly continuous satellite images, as well as temperature and moisture data, enabling more accurate weather forecasts. GOES-P will also add to the global climate change databases of knowledge embraced by worldwide forecasting organizations that work to benefit people everywhere and help save lives.
I can’t wait to see these out-of-this-world images… no pun intended!
Over, Roger.
Last week NASA and NOAA reported that the third and final spacecraft in the GOES N-P Series of geostationary environmental weather satellites known as GOES-15, has successfully completed five months of testing and has been accepted into service.
With a series of earthquakes occurring this week inside Eyjafjallajökull, it seems there is no end in sight for the erupting volcano. In fact, over fifty quakes have been reported since Monday morning, which prove that magma is still flowing into the volcano from the Earth's mantle.
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) is one of NOAA’s most useful satellites, providing a constant stream of data and imagery back to Earth as it observes clouds, ocean temperatures, winds, atmospheric properties, severe storm systems, fires and many other environmental parameters.
The European Space Agency (ESA) launched Thursday from Kazakhstan its CryoSat-2 satellite in an effort to map Earth’s ice cover. From its polar orbit, CryoSat-2 will send back data leading to new insights into how ice is responding to climate change. In doing so it will measure changes in the thickness of the vast ice sheets that overlie Antarctica and Greenland, as well as variations in the thickness of the relatively thin ice floating in the polar oceans.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of NASA's launch of TIROS-1 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Initially delivering a fuzzy picture of thick bands and clusters of clouds over the United States, and later capturing an image of a typhoon off the coast of Australia, TIROS (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) was the first meteorological satellite to revolutionize weather forecasting.
By early this month several winter storms had left snow cover over much of The Northeast Quadrant. Mostly clear skies over the eastern United States and Canada allowed the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite this unobstructed view on March 6.
NASA yesterday launched NOAA’s latest GOES-P meteorological satellite, which promises to deliver the most awesome global images of storm development [and more] known to man!
