SPRING OVER NORTH KOREA

FROM:  NASA

On April 27, 2015, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite observed dozens of fires burning in the eastern part of North Korea and parts of Russia north of North Korea. Actively burning areas, detected by the thermal bands on MODIS, are outlined in red.

While North Korea’s best agricultural land is located in the western part of the country, many people farm land along rivers in the mountainous areas. Fire is often used to clear debris from last year’s crops and to help fertilize the soil for the coming season.  While fire helps enhance crops and grasses for pasture, the fires also produce smoke that degrades air quality. The fires in this image have produced enough smoke to send plumes of haze drifting east over the Sea of Japan.  Last year at this time, the Earth Observatory posted a similar image of North Korea's agricultural fires.  NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Lynn Jenner

CLOUD FORMATIONS OVER THE BERING SEA

FROM:  NASA 
Cloud Streets in the Bering Sea

Ice, wind, cold temperatures and ocean waters combined to created dramatic cloud formations over the Bering Sea in late January, 2015. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite passed over the region and captured this true-color image on Jan. 23.

The frozen tundra of Russia lies in the northwest of the image, and snow-covered Alaska lies in the northeast. Sea ice extends from the land well into the Bering Sea. Over the dark water bright white clouds line in up close, parallel rows. These formations are known as “cloud streets”.

Air blowing over the cold, snowy land and then over ice becomes both cold and dry. When the air then moves over relatively warmer and much moister water and lead to the development of parallel cylinders of spinning air. On the upper edge of these cylinders of air, where the air is rising, small clouds form. Where air is descending, the skies are clear. This clear/cloudy pattern, formed in parallel rows, gives the impression of streets.

The clouds begin over the sea ice, but they primarily hang over open ocean. The streets are neat and in tight rows closest to land, while further over the Bering Sea the pattern widens and begins to become more random. The rows of clouds are also not perfectly straight, but tend to curve. The strength and direction of the wind helps create these features: where the wind is strongest, nearest to shore, the clouds line up most neatly. The clouds align with the wind direction, so the direction of the streets gives strong clues to prevailing wind direction.  Image Credit: NASA/Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC.

AFTERMATH OF THE STORM OVER NEW ZEALAND

FROM:  NASA 

A powerful storm passed over New Zealand’s South Island in March 2014 and brought gale-force winds, torrential rains, and flooding to the city of Christchurch. A total of 74 millimeters (3 inches) of rain fell on March 4-5, according to MetService, New Zealand’s national meteorological service. More than 100 homes flooded and more than 4,000 lost power around the country’s third most populous city. Skies had cleared enough by March 6, 2014, for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite to acquire this image showing the aftermath. Coastal communities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to the risk of damage and danger from flooding. NASA and NOAA are together launching a new opportunity for citizens to work with us on the very important topic of coastal flooding. This coastal flooding challenge is part of NASA’s third International Space Apps Challenge - a two-day global mass collaboration event on April 12-13, 2014. During these two days, citizens around the world are invited to engage directly with NASA to develop awe-inspiring software, hardware, and data visualizations. Last year’s event involved more than 9,000 global participants in 83 locations. This year will introduce more than 60 robust challenges clustered in five themes: asteroids, Earth watch, human spaceflight, robotics, and space technology. The Coastal Inundation In Your Community challenge is one of four climate-related challenges using data provided by NASA, NOAA and EPA. > 2014 International Space Apps Challenge: Coastal Inundation in Your Community > NASA Invites Citizens to Collaborate on Coastal Flooding Challenge Image Credit: NASA - Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC

TWO STORMS BRINGING TROUBLE TO AUSTRALIA

FROM:  NASA 
Right:  NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Queensland on March 10 at 04:00 UTC and captured Tropical Cyclones Gillian (left) in the Gulf of Carpentaria, just west of Queensland's York Peninsula, and Hadi (right) in the Coral Sea, east of Queensland. Image Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team
Gillian and Hadi Spell Double Tropical Trouble Around Queensland

On Friday, March 7 there were two tropical lows located east and west of Queensland, Australia. Those lows organized and intensified into Tropical Cyclone Gillian and Hadi and were caught together in one amazing image from NASA's Aqua satellite. While Gillian has already made one landfall and is expected to make another, Hadi is turning tail and running from the mainland.
NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Queensland on March 10 at 04:00 UTC and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument known as MODIS captured Tropical Cyclones Gillian in the Gulf of Carpentaria, just west of Queensland's York Peninsula, and Hadi in the Coral Sea, east of Queensland.
On March 10 at 0300 UTC, Tropical Cyclone Gillian, formerly known as the low pressure area "System 98P" had maximum sustained winds near 35 knots/40 mph/62 kph. It was located about 230 nautical miles northeast of Mornington Island. Gillian is moving to the southeast at 5 knots/5.7 mph/9.2 kph, but is expected to re-curve to the southwest.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center or JTWC noted that animated multi-spectral satellite imagery and radar from Weipa showed that the center made landfall in the northwestern coast of the York Peninsula.  Gillian's center is also being battered by moderate northeasterly vertical wind shear, which is preventing any further intensification, but that's expected to change as Gillian turns back toward the Gulf.  The JTWC expects Gillian to re-emerge in the Gulf of Carpentaria and head in a southwesterly direction, passing west of Mornington Island (located in the southern Gulf). JTWC forecasts Gillian to make its second and final landfall on the mainland near the Northern Territory/Queensland border on March 13.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology noted on March 10, that residents from Burketown to the Queensland / Northern Territory border, including Mornington Island and Sweers Island should consider what action they will need to take if the cyclone threat increases.

Tropical Cyclone Hadi, formerly tropical low pressure area "System 96P" lingered off the coast of eastern Queensland near Willis Island on March 8 and 9 and is now being pushed northeast and out to sea.

On March 10 at 0900 UTC/5 a.m. EDT, Tropical Cyclone Hadi had maximum sustained winds near 35 knots/40 mph/62 kph. It was located about 176 nautical miles east-southeast of Willis Island, near 18.8 south and 151.3 east. Hadi was moving slowly to the east-southeast at 4 knots/4.6 mph/7.4 kph.

Satellite imagery showed moderate to strong vertical wind shear, between 20 and 30 knots/23.0 and 34.5 mph / 37.0 and 55.5 kph pushed the strongest thunderstorms south of the center of circulation. The JTWC expects Hadi to strengthen to 55 knots/63.2 mph/101.9 kph as it tracks to the northeast over the next several days.

VOG OVER THE PACIFIC

FROM:  NASA 
Volcanic Smog and Sunglint in the Vanuatu Archipelago

The Vanuatu Archipelago is a collection of volcanic islands about 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) northeast of Australia. Two of the islands, Gaua and Ambrym, frequently vent sulfurous gases.

On Jan. 7, 2014 NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Vanuatu, allowing the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard to capture this true-color image. A broad plume of volcanic vog and ash rises from Ambrym and spreads across the South Pacific. Vog is a combination of “volcanic” and “smog”, and is formed when gases from a volcano react with sunlight, oxygen and moisture.
The vog appears as a light blue-gray plume which arcs from the volcanic island both to the northwest and to the northeast. In the northeast, the vog crosses a mirror-like swath of silver-gray which runs from north to south. That swath is not volcanic in origin, but is an artifact called “sunglint” – the reflection of the sun off the ocean in a satellite image.  Image Credit-NASA-Jeff Schmaltz-MODIS Rapid Response Team

NASA'S MODIS IMAGE OF MOORE, OKLAHOMA TORNADO

 

FROM: NASA
Strong Storms Over Oklahoma

This image of the storm system that generated the F-4 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma was taken by NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard one of the Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites. The image was captured on May 20, 2013, at 19:40 UTC (2:40 p.m. CDT) as the tornado began its deadly swath.

Image Credit: NASA/Goddard/Jeff Schmaltz/MODIS Land Rapid Response Team