April 8, 2003 Viewing a California Storm
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+Visible/near-infrared image
Looking as if they were tie-dyed, these images of a recent California storm have meaning in their color. With cooler areas pushing to purple and warmer areas pushing to red, the images are a snapshot of a storm moving up from the lower latitudes.
The images show a prominent squall line pointing nearly north-south that is approaching the coast, and a large isolated cloud formation almost due west. Both features have high cold cloud tops, according to the AIRS image, and both were probably a major source of intense rainfall. The AMSU microwave sensor reveals the warm land surface and the moisture below the cloud tops. The Vis/NIR image below reveals three distinct very large "blooms" within the large cloud formation, which may be major convective cells.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Experiment, with its visible, infrared, and microwave detectors, provides a three-dimensional look at Earth's weather. Working in tandem, the three instruments can make simultaneous observations all the way down to the Earth's surface, even in the presence of heavy clouds. With more than 2,000 channels sensing different regions of the atmosphere, the system creates a global, 3-D map of atmospheric temperature and humidity and provides information on clouds, greenhouse gases, and many other atmospheric phenomena. The AIRS Infrared Sounder Experiment flies onboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., under contract to NASA. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Images and text courtesy of the AIRS Science Team, JPL.
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