You are browsing the archive for Terra Satellite Archives - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.
1 January 2020
Oz is Burning Like Never Before; Smoke Extends 3000 km Across New Zealand!
The deadly bushfires in Australia have now crossed into the new year and the smoke from the fires has crossed over 1700 km to New Zealand. These fires are now the worst on record and also the deadliest. Look at the image below from the Tasman Glacier on the South Island in New Zealand. The sky is thick with smoke and there are many reports that you can even …
29 June 2015
Smoke From Canada Fires Turns Skies Orange Across the Plains
Raging wildfires in Western Canada have spread smoke over much of the northern/central U.S. this evening. The plume of smoke now extends over 2000 km, and it will likely move into the Eastern U.S. over the next few days, with the summer blue skies turning a milky white. You can see what the smoke looks like from Fargo, ND here. Very dry conditions coupled with recent extreme heat have caused …
8 May 2015
Sub-Tropical Storm Ana Taking on Tropical Storm Characteristics
Pretty cool shot no? NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly took that photo on-board the ISS. Here is a view (below) from this afternoon from the NASA Aqua satellite (just a little higher up from the ISS). If the convection can wrap around the center, this system may become mainly a tropical cyclone. It appears to be a hybrid storm as of now. Satellite images this afternoon indicate that it is taking …
13 April 2015
Spring Marches North: The View from Space
This is from the NASA Aqua satellite. You can see the green of spring moving into Virginia, while snow remains in the Adirondacks. High resolution, color imagery from polar orbiting satellites allows folks like me to better tell the story of our planet to our TV audience and to our online viewers as well.
2 April 2015
The California Drought from Space
The animated GIF image below shows the snow pack on the Sierra on April 3 2013, and today April 2, 2015. Keep in mind that California was in serious drought even in 2013 but it’s a whole lot worse now.
6 March 2015
True Color View from NASA of a Snowy Northeast
This is from the NASA Terra Satellite today March 6, 2015. Click for a size large enough to print.
15 May 2014
Can You Think Like A Forecaster??
Any ideas?? Pretend you’re a forecaster, and you need to make a short term forecast for the area I have delineated. Will you forecast it to stay clear? I’ll post the answer below tomorrow! Fellow meteorologists, you are NOT allowed to guess! (you should immediately know the answer!). Answer below, but think about it for a few mins. What could have been happening before. What kindof clouds are …
30 December 2013
Icy Shots From Space
How can you tell the difference between white clouds and white snow on a satellite image?? Rivers don’t run through clouds! Study the image from the Aqua satellite today above and you will see what i mean. Speaking of satellite images of icy cold, the folks at CIMMS at the Uni. of Wisconsin posted the animated gif below showing ice forming on Lake Michigan. Speaking of ice, I had a …
22 April 2013
Happy Earth Day!
The view from the NASA Terra satellite this afternoon is just stunning. It shows the cold and snow of winter remaining over Canada but look at the advancing bright green spring in Virginia! This is a true colour image from low Earth orbit. Click here for a BIG version!
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.