Tag: Climate Change

Satellite images capture Hurricane Milton intensifying into Category 5 storm (videos)

NeRD

In the heart of the Gulf of Mexico, a new hurricane is brewing. Hurricane Milton, now having intensified into a Category 5 storm, was caught in incredible space-based imagery from spacecraft such as the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES-East satellite.  Hurricane Milton comes just ten days after Hurricane Helene, the deadliest hurricane to hit the United States since Katrina, made landfall in the southeastern U.S.  Milton poses a solid threat to the regions it will impact, and the National Hurricane Center is urging residents of Florida to take…

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Proyecto de la NASA en Puerto Rico capacita a estudiantes en biología marina

NeRD

9 Min Read Proyecto de la NASA en Puerto Rico capacita a estudiantes en biología marina Una península cubierta por un bosque verde en la isla de Culebra se adentra en las aguas azules del Caribe mientras una tormenta cae a lo lejos. El azul turquesa que rodea la isla indica la presencia de aguas poco profundas, que son el hogar de los famosos arrecifes de coral de esta isla. Credits: Centro Ames de la NASA/Milan Loiacono Read this story in English here. Tainaliz Marie Rodríguez Lugo respiró hondo, se ajustó…

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NASA Project in Puerto Rico Trains Students in Marine Biology

NeRD

7 Min Read NASA Project in Puerto Rico Trains Students in Marine Biology A forested green peninsula of Culebra Island juts into the blue waters of the Caribbean as a rain storm hits in the distance. The teal blue surrounding the island indicates shallow waters, home to the island's famous coral reefs. Credits: NASA Ames/Milan Loiacono Tainaliz Marie Rodríguez Lugo took a deep breath, adjusted her snorkel mask, and plunged into the ocean, fins first. Three weeks earlier, Rodríguez Lugo couldn’t swim. Now the college student was gathering data on…

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NASA-Designed Greenhouse Gas-Detection Instrument Launches

NeRD

This artist’s concept depicts one of the Carbon Mapper Coalition’s Tanager satellites, the first of which launched on Aug. 16. Tanager-1 will use imaging spectrometer technology developed at JPL to measure greenhouse gas point-source emissions. Planet Labs PBC Developed by the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the imaging spectrometer will provide actionable data to help reduce emissions that contribute to global warming. Tanager-1, the Carbon Mapper Coalition’s first satellite, which carries a state-of-the-art, NASA-designed greenhouse-gas-tracking instrument, is in Earth orbit after lifting off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space…

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NASA satellite data adds key pollutant to national environmental justice database

NeRD

Scientists harnessed satellite technology to track a key air pollutant previously absent from a national database, NASA announced earlier this week, marking a crucial step forward in monitoring differences in air quality across the U.S. and identifying groups whose health is unfairly affected. Measurements of nitrogen dioxide, which is primarily released into air through the burning of fossil fuels and can lead to respiratory diseases like asthma among other health problems, had been missing from the Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool, or EJScreen. The database is maintained by the…

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Is Earth’s weather getting weirder?

NeRD

Severe turbulence, record rainfall, killer heatwaves and raging wildfires to name but a few: is it just me, or is “Is Earth’s weather getting weirder?” The answer? Yes. Well, sort of.  These weather events have happened in the past, but the problem is nowadays they’re happening more frequently and to a far greater extent.  What’s causing this uptick in “global weirding” and is there anything we can do about it? Space.com spoke with a leading climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe to learn more about this strange surge in weird weather events…

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NASA’s PREFIRE mission is ready to unlock the mysteries of Earth’s poles

NeRD

NASA is preparing to launch its latest climate science mission, the Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment (PREFIRE), which aims to capture brand new data on how heat is lost to space from Earth’s polar regions. PREFIRE consists of a pair of cubesats that will launch separately into near-polar orbits. The first, “Ready, Aim, PREFIRE,” is set to launch no earlier than (NET) May 22, on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Pad B at the company’s Launch Complex 1, in Māhia, New Zealand. The second cubesat, “PREFIRE and…

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Meet NASA Women Behind World’s Largest Flying Laboratory

NeRD

5 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s DC-8 aircraft – the world’s largest flying science laboratory – began its science missions in 1987 and since then, has flown in service of the science community over places like Antarctica, Greenland, and Thailand. Aircraft like the DC-8 have enabled scientists to ask questions about life on Earth and explore them in a way that only NASA’s Airborne Science program can make happen. After 37 years, the DC-8 will retire to Idaho State University, where it will serve…

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International SWOT Mission Can Improve Flood Prediction 

NeRD

6 Min Read International SWOT Mission Can Improve Flood Prediction  Flooding on the Souris River inundated this community in North Dakota in 2011. The U.S.-French SWOT satellite is giving scientists and water managers a new tool to look at floods in 3D, information that can improve predictions of where and how often flooding will occur. A partnership between NASA and the French space agency, the satellite is poised to help improve forecasts of where and when flooding will occur in Earth’s rivers, lakes, and reservoirs. Rivers, lakes, and reservoirs are…

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