You are browsing the archive for November 2016 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.
30 November 2016
Suomi Satellite Sees the Gatlinburg Fire through Thick Cloud
The VIRRS instrument on the Suomi Satellite saw the Gatlinburg fire Monday night very clearly, through a thick deck of clouds. The image below is a day-night channel. We can often see clouds at night, especially when there is a bright Moon. This data is also useful to see growth patterns of cities, and even to estimate population changes in towns and cities.
The Warm November May Be Setting Us Up For a Cold Winter
The Arctic Sea ice continues to run at record lows, and this has potentially large implications on the winter ahead. Instead of white ice reflecting what little sunlight is available north of 60 degrees, we have ocean water rapidly losing its heat into the atmosphere of the High Arctic. The ice that’s usually there now acts as an insulator to hold in the heat, but not this year! How all …
26 November 2016
Beyond Help
Scientific method requires verified data, and this is part of its genius to discern truth, but I suspect those trained in science, easily forget that this understanding is far less common among the rest of the population. Our educational system seems to have left too many people with the inability to understand their own confirmation bias, and to critically judge what they read and hear. We must do a better …
24 November 2016
What’s Happening in the Arctic is Astonishing
I’ve been busy with the GOES-R launch, but am also following the incredible situation in the High Arctic, where Arctic Sea ice continues to run at record low levels. More like falling of a cliff actually, and the only word I can come up with is astonishing! There is a real temperature dipole showing up between the warm Arctic and the very cold areas of Russia/Asia where the snowfall was …
19 November 2016
GOES-R Launches at 5:42 PM EST Today. Weather Forecasting Will Enter a New Era
by Meteorologist Dan Satterfield at the Kennedy Space Center The weather looks good and fueling of the Atlas 5 booster is underway here at the Kennedy Space Center. The weather is warm and breezy, with temperatures near 76 degrees. A cold front is approaching, but few if any clouds are expected with it. The launch is set for 5:42 PM EST, which is about 15 minutes after sunset. The vapor …
18 November 2016
Timelapse of the GOES-R Satellite Rollout to Pad 41 at Kennedy Space Center
This video shot for me and my fellow meteorologists here at the Kennedy Space Center by Dan Cohen of Storm Center Comm. Big thanks to him and Dave Jones at Storm Center for it!
GOES-R is On The Pad. New Era Begins at 5:42 PM EST Saturday.
Kennedy Space Center in Florida: I’m one of about ten meteorologist who work in TV who were invited by NASA to attend the GOES-R launch tomorrow at 5:42 PM EST. NASA took us out to the coast to watch the roll out at 10 AM, and once the vehicle reached the pad, we were allowed to go as close as 150 yards from the pad (See photo above). The weather …
17 November 2016
The View from the Top of the VAB at Kennedy Space Center is Amazing!
All looks good for the launch of the GOES-R Weather Satellite Saturday evening at 5:42 PM. I am at the Kennedy Space Center as an invited guest to watch the launch, and today we had the rare opportunity to see the famous VAB building. The video below is from the roof, what an amazing view! I chatted with one of the Air Force weather meteorologists and they see no issues …
15 November 2016
Winter is Coming. It May be a Memorable One.
This is a guest post from my weather intern Andrew McCormick (Senior at Salisbury University here in Maryland). We’ve been looking at what the winter may bring for a month or so now, and Andrew has a good track record of past winter forecasts. This is a good summary of the techniques we use to make long range forecasts, and in case you’re wondering, I see nothing to disagree with …
New Era In Meteorology is Days Away
This Saturday evening, NASA will launch the GOES-R weather satellite, and a new 21st century era in weather and climate prediction will begin. This will be the equivalent of going from an old black and white TV, to an HD flat screen in color, and if all goes well it will revolutionize forecasting. I have been invited to attend the launch and will be posting about it here and …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.