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Thick Smog over China
Published February 1, 2006
Skies over China have darkened in the past five decades, thanks to a nine-fold increase fossil-fuel emissions. Yun Qian and collaborators examined data from over 500 weather stations, finding a reduction overcast days and an increase in cloud-free days. In January 2006, they reported these results in the journal...
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Phytoplankton bloom in the Black Sea
Published January 31, 2006
Phytoplankton are tiny, microscopic plants that form the base of the food web in marine ecosystems; they are consumed by zooplankton, or microscopic animals, which in turn are eaten by variety of fish, whales, and birds. A large population or bloom was occurring in the Black Sea (the body of water in the upper right corner of the image) when this image was acquired on January 29, 2006. Often blooms such as this one are fed by the upwelling of nutrients
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Snow storm across the Upper Midwest
Published January 30, 2006
The first snow storm of 2006 dumped several inches of snow across a wide swath of the Midwest, with snowfall totals from four to five inches recorded in Chicago to as much as a foot just north of the city. Beyond the traffic accidents caused by icy roads, the storm was not a remarkable one. It did, however...
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Cloud patterns in the Bering Sea
Published January 29, 2006
The Aleutian Islands seem to be dividing two large weather systems in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image, collected on January 21, 2006, by NASA’s Terra satellite. The clouds define the lines of high and low air pressure as well as any weather map. In the top of the image...
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Snow Storm in Colorado
Published January 28, 2006
A big snowstorm brought much-needed moisture to the state of Colorado on January 19, 2006. As reported by the Rocky Mountain News, before the storm, the state’s assistant climatologist had warned that drought was beginning to affect the foothills west of the Denver metro area and the plains to the east of the city. A week later...
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Fire in Victoria, Australia
Published January 27, 2006
A massive plume of smoke from a large fire event dominates this image of Victoria, Australia acquired on January 24, 2005. This raging brushfire is still occurring in and around Grampians National Park, west of Melbourne. As of January 26, 2006...
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Fires in Western Australia
Published January 26, 2006
Smoke from several fires merges to form a giant plume in this image of Western Australia, near the coastal city of Perth. At least some of the fires in the area (in the towns of Yarloop and Waroona, south of the city) began on Sunday, January 22, 2006, a day before this image was acquired. The cause is still under investigation...
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Dust storm in Iraq
Published January 25, 2006
A large dust storm was blowing over and obscuring the Tigris and Euphrates rivers when this image was acquired on January 21, 2006. Both rivers originate in Turkey and flow through Syria (the country in the upper left corner of the image) into Iraq; the Tigris is on the right (East) side of the image. A large reservoir...
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North-central Africa
Published January 24, 2006
A series of images shows the extent of vegetation in North-central Africa, including the countries of Nigeria (bottom left), Cameroon (bottom center), Chad (bottom right and right), Niger (left), Algeria (top left), and Libya (top). The dark green patch towards the bottom of the image is Lake Chad. The first image, when you first open the page...
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Drought on the Serengeti Plain
Published January 23, 2006
Widespread drought in eastern Africa has withered the grass and other vegetation of northern Tanzania’s famous Serengeti Plain in January 2006. The rainy season should have begun around October (2005), but so far, has failed to arrive. According to some news reports...
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The Snow-capped Rockies
Published January 22, 2006
The dendritic (tree-like) pattern shown in this image of the Rocky Mountains gives clues about the underlying geology and topography of the region. The linear features are stream channels, where precipitation has struck the ground and flowed downhill. If a small amount of precipitation strikes a level...
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Cyprus and the Middle East
Published January 21, 2006
The countries of Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, as well as the island of Cyprus are featured in this image of the Middle East acquired on January 16, 2006. The island of Cyprus is located south of Turkey and northwest of Lebanon in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is 225 kilometers (140 miles) across...
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