Satellite data gives forecasters a leg up on severe weather. NASA has just released an animation of visible and infrared satellite data showing the development and movement of the Great Plains tornado outbreak, using data from NOAA’s GOES-13 satellite. There were more than 135 reports of tornadoes and 124 different warnings over April 14-15, 2012.
Tag Archives: NASA
Solar activity from 2012 to 2013: sunspots lingering under cycle forecasts
NASA: Antarctic winter sea ice extent has 3 decade growing trend – does polar ozone depletion stabilise the climate?
New Greenland melting record – thawing across 97 percent ice sheet surface
First there was ‘unprecedented melting’ in 2005, then came the new Greenland melting record of 2010 – again to be broken this year, during the hot July of 2012, NASA images show.
New source of methane discovered: the Arctic Ocean
It has been know for some time that large quantitites of methane lie hidden in reservoirs under the permafrost layers on the tundra and in clathrates on the continental shelve. It is neither a secret that those large quantities of … Continue reading
Animated NOAA GOES-13 satellite data shows space view of Great Plains tornado outbreak
Tiny air samplers new tool in improving climate models
An air sampler the size of an ear plug is expected to cheaply and easily collect atmospheric samples to improve computer climate models.
“We now have an inexpensive tool for collecting pristine vapor samples in the field,” said Sandia National Laboratories researcher Ron Manginell, lead author of the cover story for the Review of Scientific Instruments, the often-cited journal of the American Institute of Physics.
Meteorites Reveal Another Way to Make Life’s Components
A meteorite analyzed in the study at its collection site in Antarctica. Credit:Antarctic Search for Meteorites program, Case Western Reserve University
Creating some of life’s building blocks in space may be a bit like making a sandwich – you can make them cold or hot, according to new NASA research. This evidence that there is more than one way to make crucial components of life increases the likelihood that life emerged elsewhere in the Universe, according to the research team, and gives support to the theory that a “kit” of ready-made parts created in space and delivered to Earth by impacts from meteorites and comets assisted the origin of life.