News by Subject Atmospheric Science

NASA's Terra satellite provided an infrared look at Tropical Storm Trami, located just over 100 miles from Guam on Sept. 21, 2018. Infrared data provides temperature information that showed two areas of the highest, coldest cloud tops and most powerful storms within the tropical storm.

At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. data was used to create a map of rainfall generated by Super Typhoon Mangkhut.

Scientists know that upward currents of warm air assist birds in flight. To understand how birds find and navigate these thermal plumes, researchers used reinforcement learning to train gliders to autonomously navigate atmospheric thermals. The research highlights the role of vertical wind accelerations and roll-wise torques as viable biological cues for soaring birds. The findings also provide a navigational strategy that directly applies to the development of UAVs.

Princeton geologists used tiny zircon crystals found in volcanic ash to rewrite the timeline for the eruptions of the Columbia River flood basalts, a series of massive lava flows that coincided with an ancient global warming period 16 million years ago.

NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at fading Post-Tropical Cyclone Florence's clouds, revealing where the strongest thunderstorms were located. Those strong thunderstorms stretched from the Mid-Atlantic to New England.

NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at Tropical Depression Joyce and found wind shear was pushing the bulk of clouds and showers to the east of the center.

While scientists fear that rising temperatures could unleash a 'bomb' of carbon from Earth's soil carbon reservoirs, a new FSU study suggests these reservoirs might actually be more stable than predicted.