NASA’s Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Captures Movement of Polar Vortex
The U.S. Midwest has been gripped by the lowest temperatures it has seen in years. An unusually cold Arctic air mass, called a polar vortex,…
Weather
NASA Satellite Captures 360-View of Hurricane Maria
Two days before Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the NASA/JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory satellite captured a 3D view of the 2017 storm. At…
‘Fingerprints’ of Ancient Weather Conditions
When a coastal tide rolls out, it can reveal beautiful ripples in the temporarily exposed sand. These same undulating patterns can also be seen in…
NASA Satellites Show Hurricane Florence Strengthening
NASA satellites are providing a lot of different kinds of data to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center to help them understand what’s happening Hurricane…
Satellite Imagery Reveals the Above Anvil Cirrus Plume of a Storm
It’s not quite a smoking gun, but one could be forgiven for thinking of it that way: a distinctive cloud formation that often signals damaging…
Planetary Defense Has Unexpected Support From a New Satellite
NASA’s efforts to better understand asteroid impacts has found unexpected support from a new satellite sensor designed to detect lightning. New research published in the…
Space Storm Hunter Captures First Images and Data
As the International Space Station flew over the Indonesian coast of Sumatra on an April night, lightning from a thunderstorm reached the upper layers of…
Mild Winters Have Led to Physical Alterations in Two Species of Mice
New research by McGill University biologists shows that milder winters have led to physical alterations in two species of mice in southern Quebec in the…
NASA Study Shows Wind and Warm Water Accelerating Glacier Melt
New research from NASA reveals the Antarctic glaciers that accelerated the fastest between 2008 and 2014 and finds that the most likely cause of their…
Evidence That The Southern Amazon Rainforest Triggers Its Own Rainy Season
New research gives the first observational evidence that the southern Amazon rainforest triggers its own rainy season using water vapor from plant leaves. The new…
NASA Shows Current Sierra Snowpack Bigger Than Last Four Years Combined
A major source of water for San Francisco and California’s Central Valley is the Tuolumne River Basin in California’s Sierra Nevada. New data from NASA…
New Research Examines the Intersection of Weather and Climate
A new study probes the global interactions between weather and climate, revealing the seasonal “fingerprints” of Arctic sea ice, El Nino, and other climate phenomena….
MIT Study Predicts Frequency of Heavy Precipitation with Global Warming
Researchers from MIT reveal that extreme precipitation events should become more frequent as the Earth’s climate warms over this century. On December 11, 2014, a…
AIM Spacecraft Observes Early Noctilucent Ice Clouds Over Antarctica
Data from NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere spacecraft shows the sky over Antarctica is glowing electric blue due to the start of noctilucent,…
El Niño Continues to Grow, Set to Bear Down on U.S.
The latest satellite image from the U.S./European Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 mission shows that the current strong El Niño brewing in the Pacific Ocean…
2015 El Niño Appears Likely to Equal the Event of 1997-98
NASA scientists continue to monitor and study this year’s El Niño, which appears likely to equal the event of 1997-98 – the strongest El Niño…
“Grey Swan” Cyclones Will Become More Frequent and Intense
A newly published study from MIT and Princeton University reveals that “grey swan” cyclones will become more frequent and intense over the next century. “Grey…
How Rain Droplets Attract Aerosols Out of the Atmosphere
Atmospheric chemists from MIT test how effective rain is at cleaning the atmosphere, revealing the most accurate values of coagulation to date. As a raindrop…