NASA ’s run low satellite recently tracked a meteorological phenomenon largely unknown to weather soothsayer : The localisation of the thick layer of water vaporisation in Earth ’s atmosphere . The results are as beautiful as they are helpful .
NASA ’s GOES project — the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites — is being used to help not just weather prognosticator , but also pilots who wing up near the jet stream . For planes , wetness is badness .
Looking at the top animation , the motion of upper - air water vapor over the Eastern Pacific is show using satellite air temperature data . gamey , cold clouds are prove in white , high , cold , clean atmosphere ( around -28 F/-33 C ) is in blueish , and gloomy , warmer , dry air travel ( around -10 F/-23 C ) is magenta where clear , ironical line penetrates lower in the atmosphere .
The animation below shows the drift of upper - zephyr piss vapor over the Atlantic Ocean .
These are shorter , low resolution versions of the original NASA animation . Gohereto see them in their full halo .
NASA explicate the significance of the data :
In area where the airwave is ironic , the colors appear warm and brighter because we can see deeper into the standard pressure . The bound of these dry slots often contain jet streams and turbulency between the air masses . recognition of jet flow is of import for air traveling . Jet streams can be helpful and damaging to pilots , so the airline industry habituate these water system vapor images to adjust flight of steps routes . A squirt stream is a fast - moving horizontal or tubular current of air that primarily course west to east . For good example , aeroplane can wing in the same focussing as a jet stream and get a pushing . Conversely , to fly into a green flow would ask more fuel , take longer to travel and may be roiled .
Another welfare of the animations is that they are also useful wind - tracer of the middle ambiance over the open oceans , where there are no weather balloon . “ accordingly , global ‘ water vapour wind ’ are estimated from the motion of these features and used in numerical weather models to meliorate foresighted - orbit forecasts , ” Chesters say . “ For instance , the dry slot between Hawaii and Southern California sometimes spins up into a whirlwind that moves ashore and would surprise the southwestern U.S. if NOAA ’s GOES - West orbiter had not detected it . ”
[ informant : NASA| Image cite : NASA / NOAA run short Project Dennis Chesters ]
AtmosphereNASAScience
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