Are hurricanes strengthening more rapidly?
It’s useful to consider a few things: the history of U.S. hurricanes, why the Atlantic is currently so active, and the ingredients that allow storms to strengthen so quickly.
It’s useful to consider a few things: the history of U.S. hurricanes, why the Atlantic is currently so active, and the ingredients that allow storms to strengthen so quickly.
Hurricane Laura's landfall came after officials in both states issued the gravest of warnings about the storm, which is among the strongest ever to hit the United States (New York Times).
A new product funded by CIRA that alerts pilots to clouds, icy conditions and dangerously cold temperatures is tapping into NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System’s satellites for the critical data it needs (NASA).
Every summer, an atmospheric event propels desert dust thousands of miles across the Atlantic. This year is particularly bad, and timed terribly with Covid-19 (Wired).
This real-time tool from Colorado State University’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) is probably the best out there (Fast Company).
Using a sensor flying on two NOAA satellites, CSU scientists can detect visible light at night and map changes in where people live and go.
CIRA Senior Research Scientist Steve Miller speculates that these, “may be cases of people who usually live in NYC in the winter months having relocated to their summertime residences early, due to the slowdown.” (WDRB)
Colorado State University is the only U.S. university in the top 25, and the 11th-fastest rising institution in the Earth and environmental sciences category.
The spectacular composite images were captured by the day-night band of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which is located onboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite (Earth.com).
Researchers at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere are hot on the trail in developing tools to find out if the virus responds to seasonal- and weather-related factors.