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Can we measure air pollution from satellites?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates weather satellites with instruments capable of locating fires and determining fire characteristics such as size and intensity. These satellites also are critical to observing and monitoring smoke from those fires.
NASA recently launched a new satellite instrument to monitor air pollution. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution, or TEMPO, was launched into geostationary orbit on April 6, 2023. TEMPO measurements join an international satellite constellation of observations that will track pollution around the globe. The instrument measures sunlight reflected off Earth’s surface and solar energy scattered by clouds and the atmosphere. Gases in the atmosphere absorb sunlight at particular wavelengths, and the measured color spectra is used to determine the concentrations of several gases in the air, including nitrogen dioxide. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Weather Dangers
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Are daily weather forecasts affected by climate change?
As it turns out, predictions of the coming weather are nearly exclusively dependent on the observed conditions of the atmosphere in the day prior to the forecast period. Continue reading
Category: Climate, Meteorology, Uncategorized
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How is a heat index determined?
The heat index (HI) indicates how hot it feels.
The HI is calculated using an equation that is a function of air temperature and the relative humidity. The HI is sometimes referred to as the “feels-like” temperature. Continue reading
Category: Meteorology, Severe Weather, Weather Dangers
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Are computers used in weather forecasting?
Weather forecasting is a challenging and fascinating aspect of meteorology. An accurate forecast requires a thorough knowledge of all the variables of the atmosphere. There are also conservation principles of momentum, mass, energy and moisture, combined with the ideal gas law from chemistry that forecasters must consider.
The physical principles are represented as equations, and with current weather conditions, are used to solve for variables meteorologists care about — wind, temperature and precipitation. Computers are used in numerical weather prediction to solve these mathematical models to predict the weather based on current weather conditions. Continue reading
Do birds get struck by lightning?
Yes, birds do get struck by lightning, although it’s not very common. When birds are flying during a storm, they are exposed to lightning strikes and thus can get hit directly. Birds will typically avoid flying in a thunderstorm. They … Continue reading
