The picture on the right shows how the new instrument sees the world. The red colors are warm air rising from the west coast of the United States and the purple colors are cool air over the Pacific Ocean. For comparison, the image on the left shows what we would see with our own eyes. Both pictures were taken on March 11, 2003.
Click on image for full size
NASA/JPL
A New Look at Weather!
News story originally written on May 14, 2003
Figuring out what tomorrow's weather will be can be a tough job. But now scientists have made a new tool that will make it easier. It looks at the weather from above!
The tool is orbiting Earth aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. It peers through all levels of Earth's atmosphere even on a cloudy day, recording the temperature, cloudiness and the amounts of greenhouse gases.
The information will be used to create better weather predictions and track weather events such as hurricanes. It will also be essential to scientists who are trying to understand our changing climate.
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