Early Spring 3.20.2014 Live Shots

March 20 frost-free regions over North America. Light green is the 1950-1952 average, darker green is the additional area for the 2009-2011 average.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. April 20 frost-free regions over North America. Light green is the 1950-1952 average, darker green is the additional area for the 2009-2011 average. Macrh 20 frost-free regions over Asia. Light green is the 1950-1952 average, darker green is the additional area for the 2009-2011 average. April 20 frost-free regions over Asia. Light green is the 1950-1952 average, darker green is the additional area for the 2009-2011 average These visualizations show observational evidence that the growing season (climatalogical spring) is occurring earlier in the northen hemisphere. Scientists analyze recorded ground temperatures throughout each season and determine the earliest frost-free dates for each location every year. The earliest frost-free date in a growing season often does not correspond to the northern hemisphere's Spring equinox (about March 20), which is the astronomical first day of Spring.The visualziations below show frost-free regions for March 20 and April 20. The regions colored in light green are the frost-free regions averaged from 1950 through 1952. The darker green regions that fade on are the additional areas covered by the frost-free regions averaged from 2009 through 2011. More area is frost-free in the each of the 2009-2011 averages compared to the 1950-1952 averages. Related pages

Colder then normal temperatures were seen in January of 2014 in the Eastern United States but that much of the rest of the world saw warmer then normal temperatures during that same time period. January Global Temperature Difference in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. January Global Temperature Difference in Celsius. January Global Temperature Difference in degrees Fahrenheit. January 2014 Global Temperature Anomaly of the United States without the colortable overlay. Global Temperature Anomaly from January 2014. This movie shows both January and February data from 2014 in fahrenheit. colorbar in fahrenheit This movie shows January and February data with the colortable label in Celsius. colorbar in fahrenheit Residents of the eastern United States know that the temperature was colder then the average temperature. This visual of the GISTEMP anomalies for January of 2014 show the United States and then zooms out to show the global picture. Temperature anomalies indicate how much warmer or colder it is than normal for a particular place and time. For the GISS analysis, normal always means the average over the 30-year period 1951-1980 for that place and time of year. For more information on the GISTEMP, see the GISTEMP analysis website located at: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/ Related pages

This 30 second animation shows 907 days (~2.5 years) of MODIS snow data overlaid on top of MODIS NDVI data. The still image is from January 2.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. Colortable showing MODIS 16 day composite Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) To determine the density of green on a patch of land, researchers must observe the wavelengths of visible and near-infrared sunlight reflected by the plants. The pigment in plant leaves, chlorophyll, strongly absorbs visible light (from 0.4 um - 0.7 um). Vegetation strongly reflects near-infrared light (from 0.7 -1.0 um). The more healthy leaves a plant has, the more the the visible light will be absorbed and the near-infrared will be reflected. In this animation, dark green indicates dense, healthy vegetation, whereas beige areas represent bare soil. Snow from the MODIS instruments is overlaid on top. Related pages