The Afternoon Train, or \"A-Train,\" for short, is a constellation of satellites that travel along the same track as they orbit Earth. Four satellites currently fly in the A-Train - Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, and Aura. Three more satellites -- Glory, GCOM-W1, and OCO-2 -- are scheduled to join the configuration in 2011, 2012, and 2013, respectively.
This page features a selection of some of the A-Train's \"greatest hits\" gathered into two sections. The first contains overview materials giving a big-picture look of the A-Train and NASA satellites. The second section contains mostly visualizations featuring a single instrument or instruments on A-Train satellites. (For the purposes of this page, each visual has been labeled with the A-Train data set it was produced from, but keep in mind, visuals are often the product of many data sets from many different satellites.)
For more about A-Train constellation science, visit: http://atrain.gsfc.nasa.gov/
\nAnd for more information on the symposium: http://a-train-neworleans2010.larc.nasa.gov/", "items": [], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 370587, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/atrain/#media_group_370587", "widget": "Card gallery", "title": "Overview videos", "caption": "", "description": "", "items": [ { "id": 403449, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3437, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3437/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "The A-Train Observes Tropical Storm Debby", "description": "The A-Train is a group of spacecraft flying in close formation allowing data taken by each instrument to be correlated to the other instruments providing data synergy. The A-Train includes Aqua, CloudSat, CALIPSO, Parasol, and Aura. The animation begins showing the Earth with moving clouds and with a day/night terminator. Time slows down, and A-train spacecraft orbits are added during a daytime pass. The orbits progress around the globe for 12 hours. During a night time pass the camera zooms into Tropical Storm Debby as the A-train flies over on August 24, 2006. Data sets from some of the A-train's spacecraft/instruments are shown including Aqua/MODIS, CloudSat, CALIPSO, and Aqua/AIRS. This visualization was created to support an A-Train session at the 2007 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS). || ", "release_date": "2007-07-22T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-06-24T15:37:50.822464-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 507949, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003400/a003437/a_train_igarss2007.1700.jpg", "filename": "a_train_igarss2007.1700.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The A-Train observes Tropical Storm DebbyThis video is also available on our YouTube channel.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 403450, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3763, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3763/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "NASA's Orbiting Earth Observing Fleet (NASM 2010)", "description": "NASA's Earth Observing fleet of vehicles constitutes a major milestone in the history of Earth science, facilitating the kinds of wide scale and synergistic research endeavors that until the last decade have been impossible to even consider. Many of the techniques being employed around Earth are a direct offshoot of technological and scientific techniques developed on missions to other worlds. NASA's continued commitment to primary research about our home remains a top priority not only to the agency, but to the nation, and the world as a whole. This visualization shows the spacecraft in NASA's Earth Observing fleet. The relative altitudes, speeds, sun position, and clouds are correct during a portion of February 2010.This version of the orbital fleet was created for a talk by Piers Sellers at the National Air and Space Museum. About half-way through this visualization, the spacecraft that are beyond their designed lifetimes are faded to gray. The only spacraft still within its designed lifetime when this visualization was created was Jason-2. || ", "release_date": "2010-09-16T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:05.282971-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 490388, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003700/a003763/nasm_fleet03_orange_and_gray.0930.jpg", "filename": "nasm_fleet03_orange_and_gray.0930.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Earth observing fleet with spacecraft exceeding their designed lifetimes in gray and the single mission (Jason-2) that is still within its designed lifetime in orange", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 403451, "type": "link", "extra_data": null, "title": "A-Train constellation poster", "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 857309, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/gallery/A-Train/A-TrainEOS_hr_web.jpg", "filename": "A-TrainEOS_hr_web.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "", "width": 80, "height": 118, "pixels": 9440 } }, { "id": 403452, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3436, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3436/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "CloudSat, Calipso and MODIS over Central America", "description": "Associated with tropical thunderstorms are broad fields of cirrus clouds that flow out of the tops of the vigorous storm systems that form over warm tropical oceans. These clouds play a role in how much infrared energy is trapped in Earth's atmosphere. NASA's Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling (TC4) mission, which runs from July 16, 2007 through August 8, 2007, aims to document the full lifecycle of these clouds. Observations from four A-Train satellites flying in formation will complement the aircraft measurements with large-scale views of many different features of the atmosphere. Observations from this mission along with previous studies will improve our understanding of what effect a warming climate with rising ocean temperatures will have on these cloud systems. These images over Central America, produced in support of the TC4 mission, show a tropical storm system over Central and South America on August 2, 2006 as measured from multiple satellite sensors, including Aqua MODIS, CloudSat and CALIPSO. In this view from the Pacific Ocean, Panama is on the left and South America is shown on the right. In the following series of still images, each satellite's measurement is shown individually and in combination with the others from the same camera viewpoint. The profile showing CloudSat and CALIPSO data is truncated at a height of twenty kilometers and exaggerated ten times. The land topography is also exaggerated by a factor of ten. || ", "release_date": "2007-07-05T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-12-29T22:00:19.184122-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 508022, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003400/a003436/Cen_Amer_02_b_cloudsat_calipso_modis.0030_web.png", "filename": "Cen_Amer_02_b_cloudsat_calipso_modis.0030_web.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Both CloudSat and CALIPSO detect attributes of clouds on slices through the atmosphere. Here both are shown over an image of MODIS reflectance which is mapped onto the terrain.", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } } }, { "id": 403453, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 10340, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10340/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Cross Calibration of the Afternoon Constellation's Instruments", "description": "The name \"A-Train\" comes from the formation of international, Earth-observing satellites known as the Afternoon Constellation, which operate in a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 705 km. The close proximity of the different spacecraft within the A-Train allows for coincident observations between instruments on different spacecrafts, providing scientists additional capabilities in their pursuit of answers about the Earth and its climate. Upon joining the A-train, Glory will help researchers better understand two critical forcings of Earth's climate: atmospheric aerosols and total solar irradiance. || ", "release_date": "2008-12-02T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:55:00.716742-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 500822, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010300/a010340/A-train_512x28800551_print.jpg", "filename": "A-train_512x28800551_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Animation of the A-train including the Glory satellite.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } }, { "id": 403454, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3348, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3348/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Aqua Satellite and MODIS Swath", "description": "NASA's Aqua satellite was launched on May 4, 2002 with six Earth-observing instruments on board. Aqua circles the Earth every 99 minutes and is in a polar orbit, passing within ten degrees of each pole on every orbit. The orbit is sun-synchronous, meaning that the satellite always passes over a particular part of the Earth at about the same local time each day. Aqua always crosses the equator from south to north at about 1:30 PM local time. One of the instruments on Aqua, MODIS, measures 36 spectral frequencies of light reflected off the Earth in a 2300-kilometer wide swath along this orbit, so that MODIS measures almost the entire surface of the Earth every day.The first animation shows the Aqua satellite orbiting for one day, August 27, 2005, showing a set of MODIS measurements taken that day that have been processed to look like a a true-color image of the Earth. Notice that MODIS only takes data during the dayside part of the orbit because it measures reflected light from the Sun, and that there is a bright band of reflected sunlight in the center of swaths over the ocean. Also visible in this animation are Hurricane Katrina, just to the west of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico, and Typhoon Talim, in the western Pacific between Japan and New Guinea.The second animation spans five days of Aqua orbits, from August 27, 2005 through August 31, 2005. For this animation, the orbits and data are shown over an Earth image that shows the day and night parts of the Earth at each time of the animation. The daylight part of the Earth is a cloud-free MODIS composite, while the nighttime regions show the 'city lights', the Earth's stable light sources. During the first day, August 27, the Aqua satellite is shown with a red line indicating the orbit of the satellite. Since the Earth's surface is stationary in this animation, the satellite orbit moves westward with the sun. During the second day, August 28, the most recent observation swath is shown in addition to the satellite orbit line. In this way , the drift of th orbit relative to the observations is illustrated. Starting with the third day, August 29, the orbit line disappears and the observation swaths accumulate. The observations cover the Earth during the third day except for small gaps at the equator, which are filled in during the fourth day, August 30. The animation continues to show the MODIS observations through August 31, the fifth day.The third animation shows the same composition as the second one, but the point of view has changed to that of the Sun. In this animation, the Earth rotates and the orbit is stationary. At this date, the North Pole of the Earth is tilted towards the Sun and in daylight, while the South Pole is tilted away and is in darkness. || ", "release_date": "2009-09-20T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-01-05T00:00:30.484010-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 502202, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003300/a003348/newaqua.small.01410.png", "filename": "newaqua.small.01410.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This animation shows the Aqua satellite orbiting the Earth on August 27, 2005 by revealing MODIS true-color imagery for that day. This animation is on a cartesian map projection, so the satellite will look accurate only when the animation is wrapped on a sphere.This product is available through our Web Map Service.", "width": 1024, "height": 512, "pixels": 524288 } } }, { "id": 403455, "type": "link", "extra_data": null, "title": "The Road to Glory podcasts", "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 495352, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010500/a010521/The_Road_to_Glory_512x288_web.png", "filename": "The_Road_to_Glory_512x288_web.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Glory is a unique research satellite designed to orbit the Earth and achieve two major goals. Glory's first goal is to collect data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon in the Earth's atmosphere and climate system; its second goal is to collect data on solar irradiance for Earth's long-term climate record. This seven-minute video introduces Glory's science objectives, people, and instruments, and provides an overview of the Glory mission.For complete transcript, click here.", "width": 180, "height": 320, "pixels": 57600 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 370588, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/atrain/#media_group_370588", "widget": "Tile gallery", "title": "Data-driven visuals", "caption": "", "description": "", "items": [ { "id": 403456, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3783, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3783/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull Volcanic Ash Plume May 6-8, 2010 - Stereoscopic Version", "description": "During April and May, 2010, the Eyjafjallajökull volcano on Iceland's southern coast erupted, creating an expansive ash cloud that disrupted air traffic throughout Europe and across the Atlantic. This animation shows the flow of this ash cloud for three days in early May on an hourly basis as sensed from a geostationary satellite. The ash cloud heights were determined using an approach developed by NOAA/NESDIS/STAR for the next generation of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R). Data from EUMETSAT's Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) was used as a proxy for GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) data. This data is shown intersecting with the CALIPSO Parallel Attenuated Backscatter curtain on May 6th. In this page the visualization content is offered in two different modes to accommodate stereoscopic systems as: Left and Right Eye separate and Left and Right Eye side-by-side combined on the same frame. || ", "release_date": "2010-10-21T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-10-09T16:01:22.308073-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 489466, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003700/a003783/volcanicAsh_comp_L.0413_web.png", "filename": "volcanicAsh_comp_L.0413_web.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This set provides stereoscopic visualization content (Left and Right Eye separate) of the composite animation including the foreground, star background and date overlay.", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } } }, { "id": 403457, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3757, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3757/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Hurricane Danielle Churns in the Atlantic on August 26, 2010", "description": "The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image of Hurricane Danielle on August 26 at 1555 UTC. At this time, she was a category 2 storm with winds of 90 knots and a pressure reading of 982 mb. Danielle has a distinct eye with the storm's longest spiral arms streching toward the northeast. || ", "release_date": "2010-08-27T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:06.235950-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 490514, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003700/a003757/Danielle08262010print.0900.jpg", "filename": "Danielle08262010print.0900.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Hurricane Danielle scene through the eyes of AQUA/MODIS on August 26, 2010.", "width": 3840, "height": 2160, "pixels": 8294400 } } }, { "id": 403458, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3586, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3586/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "What Would have Happened to the Ozone Layer if Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) had not been Regulated?", "description": "Led by NASA Goddard scientist Paul Newman, a team of atmospheric chemists simulated 'what might have been' if chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and similar ozone-depleting chemicals were not banned through the Montreal Protocol. The comprehensive model — including atmospheric chemical effects, wind changes, and solar radiation changes — simulated what would happen to global concentrations of stratospheric ozone if CFCs were continually added to the atmosphere.The visualizations below present two cases, from several different viewing positions: the 'world avoided' case, where the rate of CFC emission into the atmosphere is assumed to be that of the period before regulation, and the 'projected' case, which assumes the current rate of emission, post-regulation. Both cases extrapolate to the year 2065. || ", "release_date": "2009-03-17T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-01-05T22:01:59.106242-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 483597, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003500/a003586/ozone_side_by_side_720p_web.png", "filename": "ozone_side_by_side_720p_web.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Comparison between projected and world-avoided cases.", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } } }, { "id": 403459, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3685, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3685/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Aqua/AIRS Carbon Dioxide, 2002-2009, With Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide Graph", "description": "This visualization is a time-series of the global distribution and variation of the concentration of mid-tropospheric carbon dioxide observed by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on the NASA Aqua spacecraft. For comparison, it is overlain by a graph of the seasonal variation and interannual increase of carbon dioxide observed at the Mauna Loa, Hawaii observatory. The AIRS data show the average concentration (parts per million) over an altitude range of 3 km to 13 km, whereas the Mauna Loa data show the concentration at an altitude of 3.4 km and its annual increase at a rate of approximately 2 parts per million (ppm) per year. The two most notable features of this visualization are the seasonal variation of CO2 and the trend of increase in its concentration from year to year. The global map clearly shows that the CO2 in the northern hemisphere peaks in April-May and then drops to a minimum in September-October. Although the seasonal cycle is less pronounced in the southern hemisphere it is opposite to that in the northern hemisphere. This seasonal cycle is governed by the growth cycle of plants. The northern hemisphere has the majority of the land masses, and so the amplitude of the cycle is greater in that hemisphere. The overall color of the map shifts toward the red with advancing time due to the annual increase of CO2. Although the mid-latitude jet streams are not visible in the map, we can see their influence upon the distribution of CO2 around the globe. These rivers of air occur at an altitude of about 5 km and rapidly transport CO2 around the globe at that altitude. In the northern hemisphere, the mid-latitude jet stream squirms like a released garden hose over the period of a few days due to the continental landmasses. In the southern hemisphere the jet stream flow is more directly West to East, and during the period from July to October the CO2 concentration is enhanced in a belt delineated by the jet stream and lofting of CO2 into the free troposphere by the high Andes is visible in this period. The zonal flow of CO2 around the globe at the latitude of South Africa, southern Australia and southern South America is readily apparent. Eastward flow of CO2 from Indonesia and the Celebes sea can be seen in the November to February time frame. || ", "release_date": "2010-03-15T23:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-02-02T22:01:35.248582-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 491561, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003600/a003685/runup.2800.jpg", "filename": "runup.2800.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A 48 second long movie showing a graph of carbon dioxide taken from Mauna Loa, Hawaii and global mid-tropospheric carbon dioxide measured by NASA's AIRS intrument from September 2002 through December 2009.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 403460, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3767, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3767/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Extent for 2010", "description": "Sea ice is frozen seawater floating on the surface of the ocean. Some sea ice is semi-permanent, persisting from year to year, and some is seasonal, melting and refreezing from season to season. The sea ice cover reaches its minimum extent at the end of each summer and the remaining ice is called the perennial ice cover.In this animation, the Arctic sea ice and seasonal land cover change progress through time, from March 31, 2010 when sea ice in the Arctic was at its maximum extent, through September 19, 2010, when it was at its minimum. The blueish white color of the sea ice is derived from a 3-day running maximum of the AMSR-E 89 GHz brightness temperature. Over the terrain, monthly data from the seasonal Blue Marble Next Generation fades slowly from month to month. || ", "release_date": "2010-09-29T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:03.025221-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 489818, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003700/a003767/2010_sea_ice_min_689.jpg", "filename": "2010_sea_ice_min_689.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Arctic sea ice minimum extent for 2010", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 403461, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3390, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3390/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "AMSR-E Sea Surface Temperature", "description": "This animation is part of an NSF-funded, international project, Exploring Time. The two-hour television special, broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the spring of 2007, explores how the world changes over different timescales ... from billionths of seconds to billions of years. This animation portrays a 3-day moving average of AMSR-E sea surface temperature (SST) over the western hemisphere from the beginning of 2005 to early December, 2006. In addition, seasonal MODIS land cover shows the advance and retreat of snow over the northern hemisphere.This program was also broadcast in Japan through a partnership with the NHK international broadcasting service and in France through a partnership with the ARTE television network. || ", "release_date": "2007-03-17T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:55:43.923891-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 509025, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003300/a003390/SST.0220.jpg", "filename": "SST.0220.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This animation shows AMSR-E sea surface temperature and MODIS seasonal landcover from the beginning of 2005 to December, 2006.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } } }, { "id": 403462, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3256, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3256/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "The 2005 Antarctic Ozone Hole", "description": "A relatively warm Antarctic winter in 2005 kept the thinning of the protective ozone layer over Antarctica, known as the ozone 'hole,' slightly smaller than in 2004. The ozone hole is not technically a 'hole' where no ozone is present, but is actually a region of exceptionally depleted ozone in the stratosphere over the Antarctic that happens at the beginning of Southern Hemisphere spring (August-October). The average concentration of ozone in the atmosphere is about 300 Dobson Units; any area where the concentration drops below 220 Dobson Units is considered part of the ozone hole. Each year the 'hole' expands over Antarctica, sometimes reaching populated areas of South America and exposing them to ultraviolet rays normally absorbed by ozone. This data was acquired by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA's Aura satellite, NASA's newest tool to study this annual phenonmenon. On September 15, 2005, ozone thinning over Antarctica reached its maximum extent for the year at 24.2 million square kilometers (9.4 million square miles). The largest maximum area on record was 29.2 million square kilometers, in 2000. || ", "release_date": "2006-10-26T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:55:48.197364-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 509859, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003200/a003256/rgbozone.1769.jpg", "filename": "rgbozone.1769.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "NASA's OMI instrument's daily Antarctic total ozone images from July 1 through September 15, 2005", "width": 720, "height": 486, "pixels": 349920 } } }, { "id": 403463, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3129, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3129/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Aqua/AIRS Water Vapor near Southern California #2", "description": "This visualization shows 3D volumetric water vapor data from the Aqua/Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument. As the camera moved down and around the data set, the low data values are faded out revealing only the highest concentrations of water vapor data.This version (#2) ends with a slightly lower threshold than the original version - showing more of the highest water vapor concentrations.The color and opacity at each 3D voxel are driven by the water vapor data. The data set was obtained by Aqua on January 1, 2003. Only data from the sea level to about 10km are shown.This visualization was created to support a JPL press release about how assimilated AIRS data is improving global atmospheric simulation model forecasts by about 6 hours (from about 5 days to about 5 days and 6 hours). || ", "release_date": "2005-03-10T12:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2024-06-24T15:37:09.148124-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 515044, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003100/a003129/FINAL2_airs_southernCalSTILL_labels.0820.jpg", "filename": "FINAL2_airs_southernCalSTILL_labels.0820.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": " Aqua-AIRS water vapor data (highest water vapor concentrations)", "width": 3200, "height": 2400, "pixels": 7680000 } } }, { "id": 403464, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3365, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3365/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "CALIPSO Profile over China", "description": "Aerosols, small particles in the atmosphere, can be produced from natural sources, such as volcanos and dust storms, or from human activity, such as pollution from manufacturing and automobiles. Aerosols remain in the atmosphere for long periods and travel across the globe propelled by winds. They also affect weather and climate by reflecting or absorbing sunlight and by altering chemical reactions within the atmosphere. The CALIOP lidar onboard the CALIPSO satellite enables scientists to collect aerosol data on slices or 'curtains' through the atmosphere. In these images looking eastward across China over the Yellow Sea and the Korean Peninsula, slices of total attenuated backscatter show the geographic location and altitude of both aerosols and subvisible clouds in the upper troposphere. The curtain shown here extends from sea level to a height of 20 km. Both the height of the curtain and the terrain are exaggerated by 6x. The near-vertical line indicates 40 degree North latitude, while the horizontal line marks 120 degree east longitude. || ", "release_date": "2006-08-03T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:55:51.296901-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 510380, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003300/a003365/CALIPSOwideView.6x.0394.jpg", "filename": "CALIPSOwideView.6x.0394.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This image is a wide-angle view of the profile of CALIPSO total attenuated backscatter from 2006-06-15. The view is looking eastward across China to the Yellow Sea and the Korean Peninsula. ", "width": 2000, "height": 1000, "pixels": 2000000 } } }, { "id": 403465, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3532, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3532/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Current Sea Surface Temperatures Rising in the Gulf of Mexico", "description": "Sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico rise due to natural summer warming. These warm surface temperatures are a contributing factor to favorable conditions that can lead to the formation of tropical storms and hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and off the East Coast of the United States. In general, hurricanes tend to form over warm ocean water whose temperature is 82 degrees Fahrenheit (approximately 27.7 degrees Celsius) or higher. These areas are depicted in yellow, orange, and red. This blended microwave- and infrared-wavelength data was taken by the AMSR-E and MODIS instruments aboard the Aqua satellite, and the TMI instrument aboard the TRMM satellite. This animation updates every 24 hours. || ", "release_date": "2008-09-11T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:55:05.042614-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 502439, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003500/a003532/sst_current_w_date.jpg", "filename": "sst_current_w_date.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This animation shows the progression of warm waters slowly filling the Gulf of Mexico (shown in yellow, orange, and red). This natural annual warming contributes to the possible formation of hurricanes in the Gulf. SST data shown here ranges from January 1 to the present.", "width": 2560, "height": 1920, "pixels": 4915200 } } }, { "id": 403466, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3667, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3667/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Ship Tracks Reveal Pollution's Effects on Clouds", "description": "NASA's MODIS satellite instrument is revealing that humans may be changing our planet's brightness. Pollution in the atmosphere creates smaller, brighter cloud droplets that reflect more sunlight back to space and may have a slight impact on global warming.This narrated visualization illustrates how we can study the effect against a clean backdrop by looking for zones of pollution in otherwise pristine air - in this case the North Pacific Ocean near the Aleutian islands. On an overcast day, the clouds look uniform. However, MODIS' sesor reveals a different picture - long skinny trails of brighter clouds hidden within. As ships travel across the ocean, pollution in the ships' exhaust create more cloud drops that are smaller in size, resulting in even brighter clouds. On clear days, ships can actually create new clouds. Water vapor condenses around the particles of pollution, forming streamers of clouds as the ships travel on. The ship tracks themselves are too small to impact global temperatures, but they help us understand how larger pollution sources such as industrial sites or agricultural burning might be changing clouds on a larger scale. || ", "release_date": "2010-06-03T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:12.874954-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 492476, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003600/a003667/ShipTracks_1920x1080.2428.jpg", "filename": "ShipTracks_1920x1080.2428.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Approaching the region of Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } }, { "id": 403467, "type": "details_page", "extra_data": null, "instance": { "id": 3737, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3737/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Tropospheric Column Ozone", "description": "These visuals present retrieved global distribution of tropospheric column ozone from NASA's AURA spacecraft. Tropospheric ozone is close the ground and a component of pollution. This should be distinguished from high-altitude (stratospheric) ozone which shields the Earth's surface from ultraviolet radiation. Ozone measurements from the OMI and MLS instruments on board the Aura satellite are used for deriving global distributions of tropospheric column ozone (TCO). TCO is determined using the tropospheric ozone residual method which involves subtracting measurements of MLS stratospheric column ozone (SCO) from OMI total column ozone after adjusting for intercalibration differences of the two instruments using the convective-cloud differential method. The derived TCO field, which covers one complete year of mostly continuous daily measurements from January 2005 through December 2006, is used for studying the regional and global pollution on a timescale of a few days to months. MLS and OMI are two out of a total of four instruments on board the Aura spacecraft which is flown in a sunsynchronous polar orbit at 705 km altitude with a 98.2 degree inclination. The spacecraft has an equatorial crossing time of 1:45 pm (ascending node) with around 98.8 min per orbit (14.6 orbits per day on average). OMI is a nadir-scanning instrument that at visible (350-500 nm) and UV wavelength channels (UV-1: 270-314 nm; UV-2: 306-380 nm) detects backscattered solar radiance to measure column ozone. The MLS instrument is a thermal-emission microwave limb sounder that measures vertical profiles of mesospheric, stratospheric, and upper tropospheric temperature, ozone and other constituents from limb scans ahead of the Aura satellite. The MLS profile measurements are taken about 7 min before OMI views the same location during ascending (daytime) orbital tracks. These are referred as \"collocated\" measurements between OMI and MLS. The data shows signals due to convection, biomass burning, stratospheric influence, pollution, and transport. They are capable of capturing the spatiotemporal evolution of tropospheric column ozone. For more information see the links below: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/ozone_resource_page.htmlhttp://acdb-ext.gsfc.nasa.gov/Data_services/cloud_slice/#nd || ", "release_date": "2010-06-22T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:54:11.195788-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 491443, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003700/a003737/sphereNoPoles2005.0975_web.png", "filename": "sphereNoPoles2005.0975_web.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A global view of tropospheric column ozone from Jan 1, 2005 through Dec 31, 2005.", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 370589, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/atrain/#media_group_370589", "widget": "Card gallery", "title": "Data Interfaces", "caption": "", "description": "", "items": [ { "id": 403468, "type": "link", "extra_data": null, "title": "Giovanni", "caption": "Giovanni is a Web-based application developed by the GES DISC that provides a simple and intuitive way to visualize, analyze, and access vast amounts of Earth science remote sensing data without having to download the data.", "instance": { "id": 857310, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/gallery/A-Train/Giovanni_320x180_searchweb.png", "filename": "Giovanni_320x180_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Giovanni is a Web-based application developed by the GES DISC that provides a simple and intuitive way to visualize, analyze, and access vast amounts of Earth science remote sensing data without having to download the data.", "width": 169, "height": 320, "pixels": 54080 } }, { "id": 403469, "type": "link", "extra_data": null, "title": "Ozone Watch", "caption": "The Ozone Watch website shows a daily image of the Antarctic ozone hole.", "instance": { "id": 857311, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/gallery/A-Train/ozone_watch_320x180_searchweb.png", "filename": "ozone_watch_320x180_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The Ozone Watch website shows a daily image of the Antarctic ozone hole.", "width": 180, "height": 319, "pixels": 57420 } }, { "id": 403470, "type": "link", "extra_data": null, "title": "MODIS Rapid Response System", "caption": "The MODIS Rapid Response System provides daily satellite images of the Earth's landmasses in near real time using data.", "instance": { "id": 857312, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/gallery/A-Train/MODIS_RR_320x180_searchweb.png", "filename": "MODIS_RR_320x180_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "The MODIS Rapid Response System provides daily satellite images of the Earth's landmasses in near real time using data.", "width": 180, "height": 320, "pixels": 57600 } } ], "extra_data": {} } ] }