Browse All : WMS of Atlantic Ocean and Goddard Space Flight Center

Printer Friendly
1-22 of 22
     
     
Global Atmospheric Surface P …
Title Global Atmospheric Surface Pressure during Hurricane Frances (WMS)
Abstract The weight of the Earth's atmosphere exerts pressure on the surface of the Earth. This pressure varies from place-to-place due the variations in the Earth's surface since higher altitudes have less atmosphere above them than lower altitudes. Atmospheric pressure also varies from time-to-time due to the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun and the rotation of the Earth, causing weather. This animation shows the atmospheric surface pressure for the whole globe from September 1, 2004, through September 5, 2004, during the period of Hurricane Frances in the western Atlantic Ocean and Typhoon Songda in the western Pacific Ocean. The major changes in pressure occur over land where the surface altitude varies, but the sharp, moving low pressures areas for Frances and Songda can be clearly seen in the oceans. Since changing surface pressure areas over land are hard to see in these images due to the strong altitude variations, plots of the atmospheric surface pressure are almost never used to study the weather. A different plot, of sea-level pressure, is used instead.
Completed 2005-07-25
Global Atmospheric Surface P …
Title Global Atmospheric Surface Pressure during Hurricane Frances (WMS)
Abstract The weight of the Earth's atmosphere exerts pressure on the surface of the Earth. This pressure varies from place-to-place due the variations in the Earth's surface since higher altitudes have less atmosphere above them than lower altitudes. Atmospheric pressure also varies from time-to-time due to the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun and the rotation of the Earth, causing weather. This animation shows the atmospheric surface pressure for the whole globe from September 1, 2004, through September 5, 2004, during the period of Hurricane Frances in the western Atlantic Ocean and Typhoon Songda in the western Pacific Ocean. The major changes in pressure occur over land where the surface altitude varies, but the sharp, moving low pressures areas for Frances and Songda can be clearly seen in the oceans. Since changing surface pressure areas over land are hard to see in these images due to the strong altitude variations, plots of the atmospheric surface pressure are almost never used to study the weather. A different plot, of sea-level pressure, is used instead.
Completed 2005-07-25
Hurricane Regions Indicated …
Title Hurricane Regions Indicated by Sea Surface Temperature from June 2002 to September 2003 (WMS)
Abstract The temperature of the world's ocean surface provides a clear indication of the regions where hurricanes and typhoons form, since they can only form when the sea surface temperature exceeds 82 degrees F (27.8 degrees C). The AMSR-E instrument on the Aqua satellite measures the temperature of the top 1 millimeter of the ocean every day, even through the clouds. In this visualization of AMSR-E data covering the period from June, 2002, to September, 2003, areas with surface temperatures greater than 82 degrees F are shown in yellow and orange, while sea surface temperatures below 82 degrees F are shown in blue. The region in the Atlantic from the Caribbean to the equator only exceeds the critical temperature during late summer and early fall in the Northern Hemisphere, the period known as Hurricane Season. It is also possible to see the Gulf Stream, the warm river of water that parallels the east coast of the United States before heading towards northern Europe, in this data. Around January 1, 2003, a cooler than normal region of the ocean appears just to the west of Peru as part of an La Nina and flows westward, driven by the trade winds. The waves that appear on the edges of this cooler area are called tropical instability waves and can also be seen in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean about the same time.
Completed 2004-02-12
Hurricane Regions Indicated …
Title Hurricane Regions Indicated by Sea Surface Temperature from June 2002 to September 2003 (WMS)
Abstract The temperature of the world's ocean surface provides a clear indication of the regions where hurricanes and typhoons form, since they can only form when the sea surface temperature exceeds 82 degrees F (27.8 degrees C). The AMSR-E instrument on the Aqua satellite measures the temperature of the top 1 millimeter of the ocean every day, even through the clouds. In this visualization of AMSR-E data covering the period from June, 2002, to September, 2003, areas with surface temperatures greater than 82 degrees F are shown in yellow and orange, while sea surface temperatures below 82 degrees F are shown in blue. The region in the Atlantic from the Caribbean to the equator only exceeds the critical temperature during late summer and early fall in the Northern Hemisphere, the period known as Hurricane Season. It is also possible to see the Gulf Stream, the warm river of water that parallels the east coast of the United States before heading towards northern Europe, in this data. Around January 1, 2003, a cooler than normal region of the ocean appears just to the west of Peru as part of an La Nina and flows westward, driven by the trade winds. The waves that appear on the edges of this cooler area are called tropical instability waves and can also be seen in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean about the same time.
Completed 2004-02-12
Global Surface Air Temperatu …
Title Global Surface Air Temperature during Hurricane Frances (WMS)
Abstract As the Sun's energy reaches the Earth, it is either reflected, absorbed by the clouds, or absorbed by the Earth's surface. The part absorbed by the Earth's surface heats the Earth, which then heats the air just above the surface. This process occurs rapidly in the case of dry land and slowly in the case of the oceans. This animation shows the surface air temperature at an altitude of 2 meters for the whole globe from September 1, 2004, through September 5, 2004, during the period of Hurricane Frances in the western Atlantic Ocean and Typhoon Songda in the western Pacific Ocean. The animation clearly shows the air over land reacting rapidly to solar heating during the day and cooling at night, while the daily solar cyle is not visible in the temperature of the air over the ocean. A very dynamic region of changing air temperature is visible in the interaction between the cold air over Antarctica and the warmer mid-latitude air over the southern oceans during this region of polar night. Hurricane Frances and Typhhon Songda are just barely visible as circulating temperature patterns in the western Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Completed 2005-07-25
Global Surface Air Temperatu …
Title Global Surface Air Temperature during Hurricane Frances (WMS)
Abstract As the Sun's energy reaches the Earth, it is either reflected, absorbed by the clouds, or absorbed by the Earth's surface. The part absorbed by the Earth's surface heats the Earth, which then heats the air just above the surface. This process occurs rapidly in the case of dry land and slowly in the case of the oceans. This animation shows the surface air temperature at an altitude of 2 meters for the whole globe from September 1, 2004, through September 5, 2004, during the period of Hurricane Frances in the western Atlantic Ocean and Typhoon Songda in the western Pacific Ocean. The animation clearly shows the air over land reacting rapidly to solar heating during the day and cooling at night, while the daily solar cyle is not visible in the temperature of the air over the ocean. A very dynamic region of changing air temperature is visible in the interaction between the cold air over Antarctica and the warmer mid-latitude air over the southern oceans during this region of polar night. Hurricane Frances and Typhhon Songda are just barely visible as circulating temperature patterns in the western Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Completed 2005-07-25
Progression of Hurricane Jea …
Title Progression of Hurricane Jeanne, 2004 (WMS)
Abstract Hurricane Jeanne was the fourth hurricane to hit Florida during the 2004 hurricane season. This set of images shows the progression of the hurricane as it approached Florida from the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. When it hit the Florida coast on September 26, Jeanne was a Category 3 storm with sustained winds near 115 miles per hour.
Completed 2004-10-22
Progression of Hurricane Jea …
Title Progression of Hurricane Jeanne, 2004 (WMS)
Abstract Hurricane Jeanne was the fourth hurricane to hit Florida during the 2004 hurricane season. This set of images shows the progression of the hurricane as it approached Florida from the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. When it hit the Florida coast on September 26, Jeanne was a Category 3 storm with sustained winds near 115 miles per hour.
Completed 2004-10-22
Progression of Hurricane Jea …
Title Progression of Hurricane Jeanne, 2004 (WMS)
Abstract Hurricane Jeanne was the fourth hurricane to hit Florida during the 2004 hurricane season. This set of images shows the progression of the hurricane as it approached Florida from the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. When it hit the Florida coast on September 26, Jeanne was a Category 3 storm with sustained winds near 115 miles per hour.
Completed 2004-10-22
Progression of Hurricane Jea …
Title Progression of Hurricane Jeanne, 2004 (WMS)
Abstract Hurricane Jeanne was the fourth hurricane to hit Florida during the 2004 hurricane season. This set of images shows the progression of the hurricane as it approached Florida from the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. When it hit the Florida coast on September 26, Jeanne was a Category 3 storm with sustained winds near 115 miles per hour.
Completed 2004-10-22
Progression of Hurricane Jea …
Title Progression of Hurricane Jeanne, 2004 (WMS)
Abstract Hurricane Jeanne was the fourth hurricane to hit Florida during the 2004 hurricane season. This set of images shows the progression of the hurricane as it approached Florida from the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. When it hit the Florida coast on September 26, Jeanne was a Category 3 storm with sustained winds near 115 miles per hour.
Completed 2004-10-22
Progression of Hurricane Jea …
Title Progression of Hurricane Jeanne, 2004 (WMS)
Abstract Hurricane Jeanne was the fourth hurricane to hit Florida during the 2004 hurricane season. This set of images shows the progression of the hurricane as it approached Florida from the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. When it hit the Florida coast on September 26, Jeanne was a Category 3 storm with sustained winds near 115 miles per hour.
Completed 2004-10-22
Progression of Hurricane Jea …
Title Progression of Hurricane Jeanne, 2004 (WMS)
Abstract Hurricane Jeanne was the fourth hurricane to hit Florida during the 2004 hurricane season. This set of images shows the progression of the hurricane as it approached Florida from the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. When it hit the Florida coast on September 26, Jeanne was a Category 3 storm with sustained winds near 115 miles per hour.
Completed 2004-10-22
Global Surface Latent Heat F …
Title Global Surface Latent Heat Flux during Hurricane Frances (WMS)
Abstract As the Sun's energy reaches the Earth, it is either reflected, absorbed by the clouds, or absorbed by the Earth's surface. The part absorbed by the surface heats the Earth, which causes surface water to evaporate to the air, particularly over oceans or moist land. Similarly, a cold surface causes water to condense from the air onto the land or ocean. Latent heat flux is the amount of energy moving from the surface to the air due to evapolation (positive values) or from the air to the land due to condensation (negative values). This animation shows the latent heat flux for the whole globe from September 1, 2004, through September 5, 2004, during the period of Hurricane Frances in the western Atlantic Ocean and Typhoon Songda in the western Pacific Ocean. The animation clearly shows the evaporation over land only during the heat of the day, while the evaporation over the ocean is continuous throughout the day. The highest positive latent heat flux occurs during hurricanes and typhoons, as these events are powered by the movement of heat energy from the warm ocean to the atmosphere, seen here in Hurricane Frances and Typhoon Songda. Significant negative latent heat flux is somewhat rare and occurs over the ocean only during certain configurations of air and surface conditions.
Completed 2005-07-25
Global Surface Latent Heat F …
Title Global Surface Latent Heat Flux during Hurricane Frances (WMS)
Abstract As the Sun's energy reaches the Earth, it is either reflected, absorbed by the clouds, or absorbed by the Earth's surface. The part absorbed by the surface heats the Earth, which causes surface water to evaporate to the air, particularly over oceans or moist land. Similarly, a cold surface causes water to condense from the air onto the land or ocean. Latent heat flux is the amount of energy moving from the surface to the air due to evapolation (positive values) or from the air to the land due to condensation (negative values). This animation shows the latent heat flux for the whole globe from September 1, 2004, through September 5, 2004, during the period of Hurricane Frances in the western Atlantic Ocean and Typhoon Songda in the western Pacific Ocean. The animation clearly shows the evaporation over land only during the heat of the day, while the evaporation over the ocean is continuous throughout the day. The highest positive latent heat flux occurs during hurricanes and typhoons, as these events are powered by the movement of heat energy from the warm ocean to the atmosphere, seen here in Hurricane Frances and Typhoon Songda. Significant negative latent heat flux is somewhat rare and occurs over the ocean only during certain configurations of air and surface conditions.
Completed 2005-07-25
Global Atmospheric Sea Level …
Title Global Atmospheric Sea Level Pressure during Hurricane Frances (WMS)
Abstract The weight of the Earth's atmosphere exerts pressure on the surface of the Earth. This pressure varies from place-to-place due the variations in the Earth's surface since higher altitudes have less atmosphere above them than lower altitudes. Atmospheric pressure also varies from time-to-time due to the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun and the rotation of the Earth, causing weather. In order to see the changes in pressure which affect the weather, the variation due to altitude is removed from the surface pressure, creating a quantity called sea level pressure. This animation shows the atmospheric sea level pressure for the whole globe from September 1, 2004, through September 5, 2004, during the period of Hurricane Frances in the western Atlantic Ocean and Typhoon Songda in the western Pacific Ocean. The sharp, moving low pressures areas for Frances and Songda can be clearly seen in the oceans. Even with the direct effect of altitude removed, cold high-altitude regions such as the South Pole and the Himalayan Plateau still exhibit lower-than-normal pressures, probably due to the interaction of cold air over those regions with the warmer air in the surrounding regions.
Completed 2005-06-22
Global Atmospheric Sea Level …
Title Global Atmospheric Sea Level Pressure during Hurricane Frances (WMS)
Abstract The weight of the Earth's atmosphere exerts pressure on the surface of the Earth. This pressure varies from place-to-place due the variations in the Earth's surface since higher altitudes have less atmosphere above them than lower altitudes. Atmospheric pressure also varies from time-to-time due to the uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun and the rotation of the Earth, causing weather. In order to see the changes in pressure which affect the weather, the variation due to altitude is removed from the surface pressure, creating a quantity called sea level pressure. This animation shows the atmospheric sea level pressure for the whole globe from September 1, 2004, through September 5, 2004, during the period of Hurricane Frances in the western Atlantic Ocean and Typhoon Songda in the western Pacific Ocean. The sharp, moving low pressures areas for Frances and Songda can be clearly seen in the oceans. Even with the direct effect of altitude removed, cold high-altitude regions such as the South Pole and the Himalayan Plateau still exhibit lower-than-normal pressures, probably due to the interaction of cold air over those regions with the warmer air in the surrounding regions.
Completed 2005-06-22
Global Surface Wind Speed du …
Title Global Surface Wind Speed during Hurricane Frances (WMS)
Abstract The weight of the Earth's atmosphere exerts pressure on the surface of the Earth. This pressure varies from place-to-place and from time-to-time due to surface irregularities, uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, and the Earth's rotation. Differences in pressure from place-to-place cause winds to try to flow from high pressure to low pressure regions to even out the differences, but the Earth's rotation and wind friction with the surface act to slow or divert the winds. This animation shows the surface wind speeds for the whole globe from September 1, 2004, through September 5, 2004, during the period of Hurricane Frances in the western Atlantic Ocean and Typhoon Songda in the western Pacific Ocean. The highest, smoothest winds occur over the oceans where there are no surface irregularities to break up the flow, while flows over land tend to be irregular and highly variable. The highest winds occur in Hurricane Frances and Typhoon Songda, but note that the hurricane's wind speeds reduce dramatically when crossing Florida.
Completed 2005-07-25
Global Surface Wind Speed du …
Title Global Surface Wind Speed during Hurricane Frances (WMS)
Abstract The weight of the Earth's atmosphere exerts pressure on the surface of the Earth. This pressure varies from place-to-place and from time-to-time due to surface irregularities, uneven heating of the atmosphere by the sun, and the Earth's rotation. Differences in pressure from place-to-place cause winds to try to flow from high pressure to low pressure regions to even out the differences, but the Earth's rotation and wind friction with the surface act to slow or divert the winds. This animation shows the surface wind speeds for the whole globe from September 1, 2004, through September 5, 2004, during the period of Hurricane Frances in the western Atlantic Ocean and Typhoon Songda in the western Pacific Ocean. The highest, smoothest winds occur over the oceans where there are no surface irregularities to break up the flow, while flows over land tend to be irregular and highly variable. The highest winds occur in Hurricane Frances and Typhoon Songda, but note that the hurricane's wind speeds reduce dramatically when crossing Florida.
Completed 2005-07-25
Cold Water Trails from Hurri …
Title Cold Water Trails from Hurricanes Fabian and Isabel (WMS)
Abstract This visualization shows the cold water trails left first by Hurricanes Fabian and then by Hurricane Isabel in the Atlantic Ocean from August 27, 2003 through September 23, 2003. The colors on the ocean represent the sea surface temperatures, and satellite images of the hurricane clouds are laid over the temperatures to clearly show the hurricane positions. Orange and red depict regions that are 82 degrees F and higher, where the ocean is warm enough for hurricanes to form. Hurricane winds are sustained by the heat energy of the ocean, so the ocean is cooled as the hurricane passes and the energy is extracted to power the winds. A hurricane can experience a dramatic reduction in wind speed when it crosses the cold track of a previous hurricane. However, in this case, the cold water track from Fabian warmed up before Isabel crossed it, so Isabel's winds did not decrease. The sea surface temperatures were measured by the AMSR-E instrument on the Aqua satellite, while the cloud images were taken by the Imager on the GOES-12 satellite.
Completed 2004-02-11
Cold Water Trails from Hurri …
Title Cold Water Trails from Hurricanes Fabian and Isabel (WMS)
Abstract This visualization shows the cold water trails left first by Hurricanes Fabian and then by Hurricane Isabel in the Atlantic Ocean from August 27, 2003 through September 23, 2003. The colors on the ocean represent the sea surface temperatures, and satellite images of the hurricane clouds are laid over the temperatures to clearly show the hurricane positions. Orange and red depict regions that are 82 degrees F and higher, where the ocean is warm enough for hurricanes to form. Hurricane winds are sustained by the heat energy of the ocean, so the ocean is cooled as the hurricane passes and the energy is extracted to power the winds. A hurricane can experience a dramatic reduction in wind speed when it crosses the cold track of a previous hurricane. However, in this case, the cold water track from Fabian warmed up before Isabel crossed it, so Isabel's winds did not decrease. The sea surface temperatures were measured by the AMSR-E instrument on the Aqua satellite, while the cloud images were taken by the Imager on the GOES-12 satellite.
Completed 2004-02-11
Global TRMM Rainmap, August …
Title Global TRMM Rainmap, August - September 2003 (WMS)
Abstract This is a three-hour global rainmap from August 27 through September 8, 2003, as observed by the TRMM satellite.
Completed 2004-02-13
1-22 of 22