Eyes In The Sky

Ever had a feeling you are being watched from space?  Well wipe that look off your face because your not.  Although, there is something that is constantly being watched from space.  The atmosphere!  Satellites that fly around Earth are constantly watching our atmosphere in many different ways allowing us to see things we wouldn't normally see with the naked eye from space or even from the ground.

In general, these satellites will look down in 3 different ways: visible, infrared, and water vapor.  Visible imagery from a satellite is like our human eye and shows us what it sees with the available sunlight.  Infrared imagery from a satellite shows us how things look with regards to its temperature.  Cooler objects are seen with cool colors while warmer objects are a warmer color.  Finally, Water vapor imagery shows us how things look with the available moisture in the air.  Here is an example of visible imagery:


Pretty huh?  You can see everything clearly even the shadows of the clouds!  Now an example of infrared imagery:


It's like looking at a rainbow isn't it?  Notice that Florida and the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean are like a burnt orange color.  That's because it is really warm.  Clouds, which are the greens and blues, are much colder so they are represented with cooler colors.  Finally, an example of water vapor imagery:


As mentioned earlier this shows moisture in the atmosphere.  The green and purple colors represent areas with moisture at a specific level in the atmosphere.  The oranges and reds represent really dry areas in the atmosphere.

So are the only things that satellites can show are areas of moisture, clouds, and temperature?  Oh no, they can show so much more!  Satellites can show areas of large wildfires.


Ash from active volcanoes.


Fronts and even sea breezes and land breezes.


And even areas of fog!


Looks like veins doesn't it?  This is actually valley fog.

These are only some of the examples of what satellites can see.  There are several other things that they can see that's just fun to find out on your own.  Here is a link that will show you focused areas to look at and even a national view of the U.S. using each of the 3 different kinds of imagery.  Enjoy!

http://weather.rap.ucar.edu/satellite/