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Now Showing: Spotting and Tracking Wildfires
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NOAA National Weather Service Watches for Wild Fires
Forecasts by the NOAA National Weather Service are a first line of defense in preventing wildfires from getting out of control and are used by firefighters and land management agencies to monitor potential fire areas. These forecasts are reliant on data from NOAA satellites. View the current fire weather watches and warnings at http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ridge2/fire
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Daily fire and smoke analysis for all of North America NESDIS Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO) generates a daily fire and smoke analysis for all of North America utilizing 9 different polar and geostationary satellites which provide continuous monitoring capability. In addition to detecting fires and smoke, satellite analysts provide input that the National Weather Service uses to initialize a daily air quality smoke forecast. Image: Last year's graphic of analyzed fires and smoke from satellites (May 25, 2012). The red dots in the image represent fire locations and the green/yellow shaded regions are showing smoke extent and density.
OSPO-Hazard Mapping System Fire and Smoke Product - +
Wildfires in Ventura County, California
A series of wildfires in Ventura County, California (northwest of Los Angeles) burned over 28,000 acres according to the U.S. Forest Service. The high resolution and sensitivity of the Suomi NPP's infrared heat sensors is able to pinpoint the location of wildfires, seen in this color-enhanced imagery from May 2, 2013.
More on Wildfires in Ventura County, California at NOAA Visualization Laboratory - +
Ivan Csiszar, NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) Ivan Csiszar, a physical scientist with the NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research, discusses how satellites are used to detect wildfires across the globe. Not only can satellites detect the location of fires, but also how they spread over time. The background image uses color enhancements of Landsat satellite imagery of the 2009 Los Angeles Station Fire to show how satellite sensors can distinguish between fire targets (bright yellow), burned areas (brown), unburned areas (green), and even populated areas (purple).
Credit: NOAA Visualizations
Active wildfires throughout the Western U.S. have scorched thousands of acres of land resulting in the loss of property and human life. The recent Ventura County California Fire scorched more than 24,250 acres. Monitoring and mitigating starts with our environmental satellites. NOAA uses its environmental satellites to detect and monitor fires, as well as to help predict when and where wildfires occur.
Global Data: Understanding Our World as it Changes
Ocean Depth
Using data from satellites, ships, and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), the NGDC develops high resolution models of the ocean floor. Use the slider to reveal different depth levels in the ocean. All blue = sea level, each step is 500m below sea level. The term "bathymetry" refers to the ocean's depth relative to sea level. It is the study of the "beds" or "floors" of water bodies, including the ocean, rivers, streams and lakes.
Source: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/bathymetry/relief.html
National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)
Ocean Depth
Using data from satellites, ships, and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), the NGDC develops high resolution models of the ocean floor. Use the slider to reveal different depth levels in the ocean. All blue = sea level, each step is 500m below sea level. The term "bathymetry" refers to the ocean's depth relative to sea level. It is the study of the "beds" or "floors" of water bodies, including the ocean, rivers, streams and lakes.
Source: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/bathymetry/relief.html
National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)
Ice Cover
Satellite data has allowed the tracking of sea ice extents since 1978. During the warmest years, like the winter of 2005-2006, sea ice is observed to reach a winter maximum extent that is smaller than in the years before or after. The summer minimum Arctic ice extent for 2010 was the third lowest over the period of satellite observations of the polar ice. The minimum record summer Arctic sea ice extent was in 2012. This dataset visualization shows the weekly Arctic Ice Extent for 2007.
Source:
http://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/smcd/emb/snow/HTML/snow.htm
Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR)
Climatologies
This dataset visualization shows daily climatology observations for 2010-2011. Climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface, and ice. They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the weather and climate system to projections of future climate. All climate models balance, or very nearly balance, incoming energy as short wave (including visible) electromagnetic radiation to the earth with outgoing energy as long wave (infrared) electromagnetic radiation from the earth. Any unbalance results in a change in the average temperature of the earth.
Source:
http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/SatelliteData/pathfinder4km/available.html
National Oceanographicl Data Center (NODC)
Vegetation Health
NOAA scientists use satellite observations of vegetation greenness to develop Vegetation Health products that can be used as proxy data for monitoring vegetation health, drought, soil saturation, moisture and thermal conditions, fire risk, greenness of vegetation cover, vegetation fraction, leave area index, start/end of the growing season, crop and pasture productivity, teleconnection with ENSO, desertification, mosquito-borne diseases, invasive species, ecological resources, land degradation, and more. This dataset visualization shows a weekly 'greenup' for 2007.
Source: http://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/smcd/emb/vci/VH/vh_browse.php
Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR)
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Vislab YouTube Feed
Bob Kuligowski - On Using Satellite Data to Monitor Flash Floods
Bob Kuligowski, a meteorologist with the NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research, discusses how the satellites are used to monitor for potential flash flood conditions. The infrared sensors on weather satellites can detect cloud top temperatures. Usually the coldest, highest cloud tops are associated with areas of heavy rainfall. These measurements are especially critical in open ocean areas or in countries without sophisticated ground-based rain gauge and radar networks for more precise rainfall estimates, along with mountainous areas where radar measurements are obscured by the terrain.Arctic Ice Breaks Up in Beaufort Sea
A series of intense storms in the Arctic has caused fracturing of the sea ice around the Beaufort Sea along the northern coasts of Alaska and Canada. High-resolution imagery from the Suomi NPP satellite shows the evolution of the cracks forming in the ice, called leads, from February 17 -- March 18 2013. The general circulation of the area is seen moving the ice westward along the Alaskan coast.20th Anniversary of the "Storm of the Century" March 1993
What started out as an area of low pressure off the coast of Texas on March 12, 1993 quickly developed into what many people refer to as "The Storm of the Century." The evolution of this winter superstorm can be seen in this imagery from the GOES-7 satellite, using both visible and colorized infrared data. As the storm developed in the Deep South, it spawned 15 tornadoes in Florida and dumped from 8 to 33 inches of snow from Alabama to the Carolinas. As the storm moved north and intensified, conditions became even worse. With a central pressure of 961 millibars, usually found only in Category 3 hurricanes, whiteout conditions were common. Snowfall exceeded 2.5 feet in some locations.
When the storm passed, at least 270 people were dead and $5.5 billion dollars in damage were sustained. The National Climatic Data Center still ranks the 1993 as the most impactful winter storm to hit the Northeast. Though the 1978 and 1996 blizzards may have brought more intense localized conditions, the scale of the 1993 storm has not been equaled in recent history.Early March Storm Affects Large Swath of the U.S.
A winter storm that brought 24 inches of snow to Rocky Boy, MT, 11 inches to La Grange Point, IL, and 9 inches to Bellefontaine, OH, impacts the mid-Atlantic on Wednesday, March 6 before delivering more snow to parts of the Northeast. Heavy wet snow, more than a foot deep in spots, in parts of Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia resulted in downed trees and power outages, while a sloppy mix of rain and snow fell along the I-95 corridor, including Washington, D.C. This movie spans March 3 through the morning of March 6, 2013, made from GOES East infrared imagery.February 8-10, 2013, Snowstorm from the GOES Satellite
This movie shows the imagery over New England during the historic snow event spanning February 8-10, 2013. The snowstorm in New England brought historic snowfall to many communities in New England with snow totals in excess of 2 feet. Blizzard warnings along the coast were put in place ahead of high winds that reached 83 miles per hour in Cuttyhunk, MA, 82 in Westport, CT, and 81 in Mount Washington, ME. This movie starts February 6, 2013, and goes through February 10, 2013. The imagery is a mix of visible and infrared channels from GOES East.A Shroud of Cold Air Descends on the U.S.
A drop in the jet stream sent temperatures across the United States plummeting over the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday weekend. The pronounced change in temperatures can be seen in this weather data from NOAA/NCEP's Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis. Areas colored blue are below freezing. The diurnal cycle of heating and cooling can be seen over time, but the pattern is clear: much of the U.S. is pretty cold.A River of Atmospheric Moisture Moves Across the Pacific
Plumes of moisture stream across the entire Pacific basin and head toward the U.S. coastline. Over the first week of December 2012, over a foot of rain is expected to fall in parts of Northern California and up into British Columbia.
This animation shows the total precipitable water in the atmosphere for November 28 - December 6, 2012 using the NOAA Global Forecast System model - one of the main weather models used by forecasters across the world. Dark blues are areas of high moisture content in the atmosphere. The large "tongues" of moisture can be seen extending thousands of miles across the ocean.The 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season in 4.5 Minutes
After 19 named storms (10 hurricanes), the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season has come to a close. This season was a relatively active one -- with 7 more storms than the historical average. Though the official season lasts from June 1 -- November 30th, 2012 started off early with Alberto and Beryl appearing in May. Later on, Isaac pummeled the Gulf Coast, and in October, Sandy caused destruction throughout the Northeast.
This animation shows all of the GOES East satellite imagery from June 1 -- November 28th. In September, NOAA was able to quickly transition GOES East from the GOES-13 to the backup GOES-14 satellite when problems arose with the GOES-13 imager. GOES-13 returned to service in mid-October. Slight shifts in the imagery in this animation can be seen in late September out in the eastern Atlantic, however it is also clear that no service was lost during this transition. During the 2012 Season, NOAA also began ingesting data from the newly launched Suomi-NPP satellite into the operational forecast models, providing more accurate measurements of atmospheric properties to better predict storm intensification and movement.NOAA National Weather Service Accurately Predicted Sandy's Path
Five days before Sandy made landfall along the New Jersey coastline, NOAA's National Hurricane Center accurately projected the storm's path. This satellite animation shows Sandy's progress from the southwest Atlantic northward into the Northeast U.S. and how it followed the National Hurricane Center's track issued at 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday, October 25 (Advisory #13). This movie's imagery is from GOES East from October 21, 2012 0345Z through October 31, 2012 1315Z and uses the track file located at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gis/forecast/archive/al182012_5day_013.zipHigh Speed Satellite Imagery of Hurricane Sandy
As the NOAA GOES-13 satellite provides on-going operational coverage of Hurricane Sandy, a special Super Rapid Scan Operations (SRSO) has been scheduled for GOES-14, NOAA's backup geostationary weather satellite. Focusing just on the area of the storm, the GOES-14 SRSO is capturing infrared and visible data every minute and relaying that information to forecasters on the ground. This animation shows the GOES-14 SRSO for October 29, 2012 as Hurricane Sandy is approaching the U.S. coastline. The GOES-14 SRSO imagery is intended for research purposes in preparation for the next generation of geostationary satellites, called GOES-R. Highly detailed cloud structures can be seen in this imagery, along with precise tracking of the center of circulation.
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NESDIS News Feed
Down to the Deep: NOAA's Serious Mapping Mission Makes for Fascinating Exploration
If Hollywood director James Cameron reaches the bottom of the Mariana Trench-6.8 miles (10,900 meters) below the waves-this month, he will get a look at the deepest known spot on the ocean floor.Mar22, 2012 00:00:00 -0500
NPP to JPSS Transition Complete
NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) has taken over operations of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) now that all five of the satellite’s instruments are activated and routinely collecting scientific data.Mar06, 2012 00:00:00 -0500
VIIRS captures massive Dust Cloud over Texas
Wind gusts upwards of 70 miles per hour pushed a 6,000 foot high dust cloud through Lubbock, Texas on February 20. From its orbit 500 miles above Earth's surface, the Suomi-National Polar Partnership (NPP) satellite's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) captured this image...Mar01, 2012 00:00:00 -0500
Message from Assistant Administrator Mary Kicza on the President's 2013 Budget
The President submitted his FY 2013 budget request to the Congress on February 13. I want to provide you with the details of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) portion of the budget as well as context for the decisions that were made as this budget was developed.Feb21, 2012 00:00:00 -0500
NPP Resumes Mission Checkout Phase
NPP Resumes Mission Checkout PhaseJan19, 2012 00:00:00 -0500
GOES Transitions from 11 to 15
New technology brings higher resolution imagery and more exacting scienceDec 5, 2011 00:00:00 -0500
Why Change Satellites?
An FAQ about the GOES -11 to Goes-15 transitionDec5, 2011 00:00:00 -0500
NPP Satellite Acquires First VIIRS Image
The Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard NASA's newest Earth-observing satellite, NPP, acquired its first measurements on Nov. 21, 2011Nov21, 2011 00:00:00 -0500
NPP Successfully Launched
America's newest polar-orbiting satellite roared into orbit this morning, setting the stage for enhanced weather data NOAA scientists will use to develop life-saving severe weather forecasts days in advance.Oct28, 2011 05:028:00 -0500
National Ice Center Gears Up for Winter Ice Rescues
With fall and winter's colder temperatures approaching, the U.S. Coast Guard's Ninth District will soon be using satellite data from the National Ice Center (NIC) to aid in rescue missions involving anyone missing or in potentially life-threatening situations on the ice in the Great Lakes area.Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0500