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Ardizzone", "employer": "NASA/GSFC" }, { "name": "Helen-Nicole Kostis", "employer": "USRA" } ], "Scientific consulting by": [ { "name": "Lesley Ott", "employer": "NASA/GSFC" } ] }, "progress": "Complete", "media_groups": [ { "id": 378209, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5552/#media_group_378209", "widget": "Globe Viewer", "title": "Science On a Sphere Content", "caption": "", "description": "NASA merges satellite and ground-based observations, advanced models, and computing power to study aerosols in the atmosphere. Aerosols are tiny solid or liquid particles that float in the atmosphere and can travel long distances, affecting air quality and visibility far from their sources. These particles come from natural and human sources and include sea salt (cyan), dust (magenta), black carbon (orange/red), and sulfates (green). For instance, in South America you can see black carbon from fires burning in the Amazon rainforest, and over the Atlantic you can see Saharan dust wafting from North Africa towards the Americas. This visualization covers the period from August 1 to September 14, 2024, and is based on NASA's Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model, which delivers realistic, high-resolution weather and aerosol data that enable customized environmental prediction and advances in AI research.", "items": [ { "id": 490523, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": "", "instance": { "id": 1157684, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005500/a005552/Aerosol_2048x1024_30fps_h264.mp4", "filename": "Aerosol_2048x1024_30fps_h264.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "", "width": 2048, "height": 1024, "pixels": 2097152 } }, { "id": 475934, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": "", "instance": { "id": 1156438, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005500/a005552/Aerosols_4096x2048_30fps_h264.mp4", "filename": "Aerosols_4096x2048_30fps_h264.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "", "width": 4096, "height": 2048, "pixels": 8388608 } }, { "id": 475935, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": "", "instance": { "id": 1156439, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005500/a005552/Aerosols_4096x2048_30p_large_h264.mp4", "filename": "Aerosols_4096x2048_30p_large_h264.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "", "width": 4096, "height": 2048, "pixels": 8388608 } }, { "id": 475933, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": "", "instance": { "id": 1156437, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005500/a005552/Aerosols_2048x1024_sos.mp4", "filename": "Aerosols_2048x1024_sos.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "", "width": 2048, "height": 1024, "pixels": 2097152 } }, { "id": 475932, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": "", "instance": { "id": 1156436, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005500/a005552/Aerosols_4096x2048_sos.mp4", "filename": "Aerosols_4096x2048_sos.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "", "width": 4096, "height": 2048, "pixels": 8388608 } }, { "id": 488378, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": "", "instance": { "id": 1156441, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005500/a005552/frames/2048x1024_2x1_30p/WithLabels/", "filename": "WithLabels", "media_type": "Frames", "alt_text": "", "width": 2048, "height": 1024, "pixels": 2097152 } }, { "id": 488377, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": "", "instance": { "id": 1156440, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005500/a005552/frames/4096x2048_2x1_30p/WithLabels/", "filename": "WithLabels", "media_type": "Frames", "alt_text": "", "width": 4096, "height": 2048, "pixels": 8388608 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 378721, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5552/#media_group_378721", "widget": "Basic text", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "NASA uses satellites, ground measurements, and powerful computer models to track tiny particles floating in our air called aerosols. These small solid or liquid particles can travel thousands of miles, affecting the air we breathe and how far we can see, even far from where they originated.\r\n\r\nThis visualization shows how these particles moved through Earth's atmosphere from August 1-September 14, 2024. Different colors represent different types of aerosols: sea salt (blue), dust (pink/magenta), smoke from fires (orange/red), and sulfates from pollution and volcanoes (green).\r\n\r\nThe visualization highlights several atmopsheric phenomena:\r\n\r\n**Hurricanes and Typhoons:** Hurricane Ernesto in the Atlantic Ocean pulls in dust from Africa, while Typhoon Ampil near Japan draws pollution from mainland Asia. The storms' powerful winds churn up ocean water, creating sea salt particles visible as blue spirals.\r\n\r\n**Saharan Dust Journey: ** Desert dust from the Sahara travels all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, creating hazy skies in the Caribbean and affecting air quality as far away as Texas and Florida during summer 2024.\r\n\r\n**Volcanic Plumes:** Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano released a narrow stream of sulfate particles moving westward.\r\n\r\n**Wildfire Smoke:**\r\n\r\n* In southern Africa, seasonal agricultural burning created smoke that drifted over the Atlantic Ocean\r\n\r\n* South America faced record-breaking wildfires in 2024, creating a river-like flow of smoke particles that affected major Brazilian cities\r\n\r\n* Canada experienced its second-worst wildfire season on record, with smoke traveling as far as northern Europe\r\n\r\nThe swirling blue patterns over oceans show sea salt kicked up by strong winds.\r\n\r\nThis visualization helps us understand how our atmosphere connects distant parts of the world. What happens in one region—whether natural events or human activities—can affect weather patterns and air quality thousands of miles away. By tracking these movements, NASA helps communities prepare for changes in air quality and visibility while advancing our understanding of Earth's complex atmospheric system.\r\n\r\nThe visualization was developed using NASA’s Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS), a complex modeling and data assimilation system that creates global analyses of the Earth System. GEOS integrates satellite observations, in situ measurements, and approximately one million weather observations collected hourly to inform its models. Through the GEOS Forward Processing (FP) product, the system generates both analyses and forecasts in near real-time. 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This camera move orbits the Earth from a distance.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 5150, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5150/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "GEOS-FP Near-Surface Humidity", "description": "Near-surface Humidity, also known as specific humidity (Q2M) from NASA’s GEOS-FP system. 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This version has been created for wide aspect ratio display systems with resolution up to 9600x3240. It is recommended to use content from this version for display systems with 16:9 aspect ratio. || ", "release_date": "2022-04-11T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2022-08-12T19:31:38-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 372178, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a004900/a004983/CO2Volumetric_9600x3240_30fps.02582_print.jpg", "filename": "CO2Volumetric_9600x3240_30fps.02582_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Data visualization in wide aspect ratio and 9600x3240 resolution, featuring volumetric carbon dioxide on a global scale for the period June 1, 2020 - July 31, 2021. This set of frames can be shown on 5x3 hyperwalls and wide aspect ratio displays. 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This visualization shows concentrations of air pollutants, such as Particulate Matter (PM2.5, fine particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers), Ozone (O~3~), Carbon Monoxide (CO), and Nitrogen Oxides (NO~x~) as they are tracked from NASA's Goddard Earth Observing System Composition Forecasting (GEOS-CF) system.", "release_date": "2025-05-05T11:30:00-04:00", "update_date": "2026-02-18T21:16:12.213175-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1156851, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005500/a005518/AirQuality_1920x1080_preview.png", "filename": "AirQuality_1920x1080_preview.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 5151, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5151/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5", "description": "Near surface concentration of fine particular matter (PM2.5) estimated from NASA’s aerosol and weather fields produced by NASA’s GEOS-CF model.", "release_date": "2023-09-26T17:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2026-04-09T02:00:28.302995-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 858344, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005100/a005151/MC01_stage4_GMAO_pm25_2048x1024_en.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "MC01_stage4_GMAO_pm25_2048x1024_en.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Near surface concentration of fine particular matter (PM2.5) estimated from NASA’s aerosol and weather fields produced by NASA’s GEOS-CF model.", "width": 1024, "height": 512, "pixels": 524288 } }, { "id": 5152, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5152/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Near surface Ozone (O3)", "description": "Near surface concentration of ozone (O3) estimated by NASA’s GEOS-CF model.", "release_date": "2023-09-26T17:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2026-04-09T02:00:32.101837-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 858348, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005100/a005152/MC02_stage4_GMAO_O3_2048x1024_en.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "MC02_stage4_GMAO_O3_2048x1024_en.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Near surface concentration of ozone (O3) estimated by NASA’s GEOS-CF model.", "width": 1024, "height": 512, "pixels": 524288 } }, { "id": 5153, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5153/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Carbon Monoxide (CO)", "description": "Near surface concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) estimated by NASA’s GEOS-CF model.", "release_date": "2023-09-26T17:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2026-04-09T02:00:33.939604-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 858352, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005100/a005153/MC03_stage4_GMAO_CO_2048x1024_en.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "MC03_stage4_GMAO_CO_2048x1024_en.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Near surface concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) estimated by NASA’s GEOS-CF model.", "width": 1024, "height": 512, "pixels": 524288 } }, { "id": 5154, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5154/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)", "description": "Near surface concentration of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) estimated from concentrations of nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide produced by NASA’s GEOS-CF model.", "release_date": "2023-09-26T17:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2026-04-09T02:00:35.919502-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 858357, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005100/a005154/MC04_stage4_GMAO_NO2_2048x1024_en.00001_print.jpg", "filename": "MC04_stage4_GMAO_NO2_2048x1024_en.00001_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Near surface concentration of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) estimated from concentrations of nitrogen oxide and nitrogen dioxide produced by NASA’s GEOS-CF model.", "width": 1024, "height": 512, "pixels": 524288 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [ { "id": 5572, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5572/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "GEOS Aerosols", "description": "Aerosols are tiny solid or liquid particles that float in the atmosphere and can travel long distances, affecting air quality and visibility far from their sources. 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