Contrails in the North Atlantic

High-altitude aircraft leave behind condensation trails, or contrails, which form when extra water vapor is injected into the atmosphere through the aircraft's exhaust. On February 9, 2015, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of contrails above clouds over the North Atlantic Ocean.

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NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Kathryn Hansen.

Published February 9, 2015
Data acquired February 9, 2015

Source:

Terra > MODIS

Collection:

MODIS Rapid Response