Air Quality in DC

Satellites, balloon-borne instruments and ground-based devices make 30 million observations of the atmosphere each day. Yet these measurements still give an incomplete picture of the complex interactions within the membrane surrounding Earth. Enter climate models. Through mathematical experiments, modelers can move Earth forward or backward in time to create a dynamic portrait of the planet. Researchers from NASA Goddard's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office recently ran a simulation of the atmosphere that captured how winds whip aerosols around the world. Such simulations allow scientists to better understand how these tiny particulates travel in the atmosphere and influence weather and climate. In the visualization below, covering August 2006 to April 2007, watch as dust and sea salt swirl inside cyclones, carbon bursts from fires, sulfate streams from volcanoes—and see how these aerosols paint the modeled world. ||

Global surface ozone from a GEOS model run || ozone_only_4k.00000_print.jpg (1024x576) [65.8 KB] || ozone_only_4k.00000_searchweb.png (320x180) [58.9 KB] || ozone_only_4k.00000_thm.png (80x40) [5.1 KB] || ozone_only_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [24.5 MB] || ozone_only_1080p30.webm (1920x1080) [7.2 MB] || ozone_only_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [70.8 MB] || ozone_only (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || ozone_only (5760x3240) [0 Item(s)] || ozone_only_1080p30.mp4.hwshow [208 bytes] ||

A data visualization of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) data for the Washington DC region spanning 2000-2018 (annual averages). Higher values are represented with dark red and lower values are represented with bright yellow. This view uses the hybrid PM 2.5 color bar with a range of 5 to 20. || pm25_dc_annual.2018_print.jpg (1024x576) [216.4 KB] || pm25_dc_annual.2018_searchweb.png (320x180) [75.7 KB] || pm25_dc_annual.2018_thm.png (80x40) [6.2 KB] || pm25_dc_annual (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || pm25_dc_annual_2160p1.mp4 (3840x2160) [30.8 MB] || pm25_dc_annual_2160p60_prores.mov (3840x2160) [41.0 MB] || pm25_dc_annual_2160p1.webm (3840x2160) [1.9 MB] ||

NO2 over the United States as measured by OMI, with labels || NO2_US_2005-2022.399_print.jpg (1024x576) [171.6 KB] || NO2_US_2005-2022.399_searchweb.png (320x180) [80.6 KB] || NO2_US_2005-2022.399_thm.png (80x40) [5.9 KB] || w_dates (3840x2160) [0 Item(s)] || NO2_US_2005-2022_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [20.0 MB] || NO2_US_2005-2022_2160p30.webm (3840x2160) [2.7 MB] ||

All air quality monitoring stations that measure particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) located in Washington D.C. The government operated stations are circled in white. Click the download dropdown for more versions. || dc_air_stations_full_preview.png (1920x1080) [1.1 MB] || dc_air_stations_4320.png (4320x2160) [2.0 MB] || dc_stations_basemap_4320.png (4320x2160) [1.9 MB] || dc_air_stations_full_4320.png (4320x2160) [2.0 MB] || dc_air_stations_full_preview_searchweb.png (320x180) [44.6 KB] || dc_air_stations_full_preview_thm.png (80x40) [3.8 KB] ||

A current view of NASA's Earth observing fleet. This image is updated every 10 minutes. Time shown in UTC. || fleet_now_print.jpg (1024x576) [143.8 KB] || fleet_now_searchweb.png (180x320) [66.4 KB] || fleet_now_thm.png (80x40) [4.2 KB] || fleet_now.tif (3840x2160) [42.3 MB] || fleet_now_hw.tif (9600x3240) [145.3 MB] ||