NASA SVS | NASA On Air

LEAD: NASA scientists expect the area of Arctic sea ice by the end of the summer will be between the 3rd and the 7th lowest since the satellite records began in 1978.1. The continual decline of sea ice over the past 38 years has become "the new normal."2. The increased melting is driven primarily by the warmer Arctic climate, but it also depends on the summer's changing weather patterns of clouds and winds.TAG: A new NASA satellite, ICESat-2, will be launched in 2018 to use lasers for more detailed observations of how the sea ice is thinning.

ID: 12345

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Monitors 'New Normal' Of Arctic Sea Ice (8/19/2016)

LEAD: Bonnie, the second tropical storm of the 2016 season, drenched parts of the Atlantic coast from Georgia to Rhode Island with up to 8 inches this past Memorial Day weekend. What’s ahead for the hurricane season of 2016?1. Over the past 10 years there have been 69 Atlantic hurricanes but during that time no hurricanes of Category 3 or higher have hit the U.S. coastline. Such a string of lucky years is likely to happen only once in 270 years, according to a NASA study.2. Storms less than Category 3, such as Sandy in 2012, can still be dangerous.3. But what about this upcoming hurricane season? Statistical analysis indicates that for any given year there is a 40% chance of a Category 3 or higher hurricane landing across the U.S. coastline.TAG: But remember it only takes one storm in your area. Be prepared this summer.

ID: 12269

Produced Video

NASA On Air: Ten-Year Gap In Major Hurricanes Continues For U.S. (5/31/2016)

LEAD: NASA is on a mission to probe the lifecycle of plankton, especially the effects on clouds and climate.1: Plankton are the tiniest of sea creatures, but when they multiply in what's called a 'bloom' they can be seen from space. 2: Using satellites, planes and ships NASA's 5-year mission will explore the complete life cycle of plankton. 3: Of special interest is how plankton help produce minute particles in the air that initiate cloud formation.TAG: The indirect effects of tiny particles on clouds are the single largest uncertainty in current estimates of climate change warming models.

ID: 12270

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Probes Lifecycle Of Plankton (5/31/2016)

LEAD: NASA scientists are developing new ways to map and forecast the ash plumes from volcano eruptions and redirect aircraft from dangerous plumes.1. The small volcanic ash particles are especially dangerous to the jet engines of airplanes.2. Because only volcanic clouds contain significant abundances of SO2 (sulfur dioxide) the Suomi NPP satellite (launched in 2011) is able to track the volcanic plumes.3. The high-resolution vertical profiles will allow more accurate forecasts and help reduce airline cancellations and re-routing costs.TAG: This capability of three-dimensional mapping of a moving volcanic cloud has never been done before.

ID: 12257

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Scientists Helping To Track Dangerous Volcanic Ash Plumes (5/17/2016)

LEAD: A project using NASA/USGS satellite and citizen science has resulted in new pop-up wetlands for shorebirds. 1. An 11-year satellite database helps predict where surface water (ponds) is located through-out the year. 2. Ponds are needed for rest and food by the millions of shorebirds that migrate northward along the Pacific flyway each spring.3. Matching the water availability with the number of birds arriving makes it possible for farmers to flood unused rice fields and provide temporary wetlands to aid birds precisely when the birds migrate.TAG: The program, called Bird Returns, is a project of The Nature Conservancy and has produced over 20,000 acres of temporary wetlands in California in the last two years.

ID: 12256

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Satellites Help Feed Migrating Birds (5/13/2016)

LEAD: NASA Scientists and engineers at Langley Research center have developed quick methods of detecting severe thunderstorms from satellite measurements.1. These storms often have a signature cauliflower shape- the overshooting top- that indicates powerful updrafts associated with generating hazardous weather such as damaging winds, hail, or tornadoes.2. This example shows NASA forecast computer quickly detecting the 'overshooting tops' by measuring reflected sunlight and cloud top temperatures. This information will be especially useful for aircraft pilots over oceans and forecasters in developing countries where there are no Doppler radar systems.TAG: The new weather satellite, GOES-R, to be launched by NASA, in October 2016 will help forecasters utilized this method to deliver more accurate severe weather forecasts. This method was designed for GOES-R but it can operate on any satellite measurement across the globe.

ID: 12240

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Tracks Overshooting Tops Of Thunderstorms (5/5/2016)

LEAD: NASA researchers are making the first detailed measurements of changes along Greenland's 27,000 mile-long coastal fiords and the outlet glaciers to see how Greenland ice is melting from the bottom up.1. Relative warm ocean currents flowing into the fiords are melting the bottoms of some of the glaciers. 2. Accurate maps of the sea floor, ocean temperatures and salinity data will help scientists make better estimates of just how much melting is taking place along the coast. TAG: This specific mission will last 5 years and will lead to improved climate models about sea level rise around the world.

ID: 12234

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Mission Explores Melting Of Greenland’s Fjords And Glaciers (4/29/2016)

LEAD: A network of Earth-observing satellites is helping to track crop growing conditions around the world.

1. Rainfall, shown here as radar-like moving bands of reds and yellows, can now be tracked every 30 minutes across most of the earth.

2. The base maps of the continents change color indicating the available moisture (water) in the surface soils for growing crops.

3. This information is especially helpful to farmers waiting for the summer monsoon rain in countries such as India that only have limited number of weather stations.

TAG: The data is already being used by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service.

ID: 12230

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA's GPM Satellite Tracks Rain For Farmers Around The World (4/28/2016)

LEAD: Another record low has been set in the Arctic by the floating winter sea ice. 1. This winter the area represents nearly a 10% loss since 1979 when satellite measurements began. That's a loss that is more than twice the area of Texas.2. Record warm temperatures during the Arctic winter probably contributed to the low ice amount. During January 2016 Alaska was 15 degrees Farenheight above average.* TAG: The trend of decreasing ice amount is related to the long-term pattern of the warming atmosphere and oceans.* NOAA's NCDC Climate Review for January 2016

ID: 12190

Produced Video

NASA On Air: 2016 Arctic Sea Ice Wintertime Area Hits Another Record Low (3/28/2016)

LEAD: Earlier this month (March 13, 2016) NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite camera captured a striking solar prominence.
1. Prominences are notoriously unstable clouds of solar material suspended above the solar surface by the sun’s complex magnetic forces.
2. This video was made from images taken every 12 seconds.
TAG: This prominence was captured in extreme ultraviolet light that is typically invisible to our eyes, but is colorized here in red.

ID: 12184

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Sees A Solar Prominence (3/24/2016)

LEAD: During the solar eclipse a NASA camera captured the moon's shadow cross the surface of the earth. 1. This animation was assembled from 13 images acquired on March 9, 2016, by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC).

2. The shadow of the Moon starts over the Indian Ocean and marches past Indonesia and Australia into the open waters and islands of Oceania (Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia).

3. The camera is onboard the DSCOVR satellite located 1 million miles from Earth toward the Sun.

TAG: DSCOVR’s primary mission is to monitor the solar wind for space weather forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Its secondary mission is to provide daily color views of our planet as it rotates through the day.

ID: 12174

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Camera Captures Moon's Shadow During Solar Eclipse (3/11/2016)

LEAD: A new NASA visualization shows the 2015 El Niño unfolding in the Pacific Ocean. The sea surface temperatures presented different patterns than seen in the 1997-1998 El Niño.

1. This visualization shows how the 1997 event started from colder-than-average sea surface temperatures – but the 2015 event started with warmer-than-average temperatures.
2. The water temperature variations also occur below the surface. And these variations were also different in 2015, compared to 1997. The red in this vizualization indicates warmer than normal temperatres and the blue is cooler.
TAG: In the past, very strong El Niño events typically transition to neutral conditions and then a La Niña event. This current El Niño has been different so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next forecast and the coming months.

ID: 12162

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Compares El Niños: 1997 vs. 2016 (2/26/2016)

LEAD: A new NASA visualization reveals that the Earth system, like the human body, comprises diverse components that interact in complex ways.
1. Heat absorbed by the ocean is transported by ocean currents.
2. This energy is released into Earth’s atmosphere.
3. Heat and moisture influence weather patterns with clouds and precipitation.
TAG: Improved observational and computational capabilities increasingly allow scientists to study the numerous interactions and gain unprecedented insight into how the Earth system works—and how it might change in the future.

ID: 12163

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Depicts Earth's System Of Systems (2/26/2016)

LEAD: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory catches the sun in HD video. 1: Images shown here are in the extreme ultraviolet range. 2: The temperature of the solar material is near 1 million degrees F.3: It's easy to see the sun's rotation, 1 full rotation every 25 days. TAG: Scientists study these images to better understand the solar flares and solar explosions called coronal mass ejections that can sometimes disrupt our technology such as GPS systems.

ID: 12151

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA's SDO Satellite Captures HD Time Lapse Of The Sun (2/12/2016)

LEAD: This month government scientists are making special research flights into and over the Pacific El Niño storms.

1. NASA's remotely piloted Global Hawk aircraft will complete a series of high-level flights near 60,000 feet to measure the rainfall and upper level winds of the El Niño storms.
2. This special research project is probing how the current El Niño’s unusually warm ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific are producing extreme precipitation on the West Coast, thousands of miles away.
TAG: The goal of the research is help provide better warnings for the extreme weather that can accompany El Niño related storms.

ID: 12143

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA's Global Hawk Flies Over El Niño Storms (⅖/2016)

LEAD: A colorful new animation shows a simulated flight over the surface of dwarf planet Ceres, based on images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft.
1. The movie shows Ceres in enhanced color, which helps to highlight subtle differences in the appearance of surface materials. Scientists believe areas with shades of blue contain younger, fresher material, including flows, pits and cracks.

TAG: Ceres is the largest body in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It has a diameter of about 590 miles and is made up of ice and rock.

ID: 12140

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA's Imagery Shows Dwarf Planet Ceres (2/2/2016)

LEAD: Climate change is rapidly warming lakes around the world, threatening freshwater supplies and ecosystems, according to a new NASA and National Science Foundation-funded study. 1. In the US, Lake Tahoe's surface water has warmed on average 1F (.97 to 1.28 F) per decade over 25 years * NASA's Terra satellite shows the lake’s temperature variations. (cold is blue, warm is red).2.Ground truth measurements of 235 lakes on six continents in this study -- the largest of its kind--found lakes around the world are warming at an average of 0.61 degrees Fahrenheit each decade.3. As warming rates increase over the next century, algal blooms, which can rob water of oxygen, are projected to increase 20 percent in lakes.TAG: Various climate factors are associated with the warming trend. In northern climates, lakes are losing their ice cover earlier in the spring and many areas of the world have less cloud cover, exposing their waters more to the sun's warming rays.

ID: 12138

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Data Show The World's Lakes Are Warming (1/27/2016)

LEAD: NASA and NOAA report today that 2015 was by far the warmest on record. 1. In this specific graph NASA compares global temperatures to the base line temperature of 1880 to 1899, when the fossil fuel burning was much less than today. With this reference period 2015 was warmer by 1.95 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. The global time lapse from 1970 shows that 2015 warming is a continuation of a long term trend of global warming. 3. Looking back at just the month of December, 2015, 29 US states had the warmest December on record by nearly 6 degrees F, and parts of Europe also had a record warm December.TAG: The current El Niño has played a part in the warming, but 2015 would be a record with or without El Niño.

ID: 12135

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA and NOAA Report Today That 2015 Was By Far The Warmest On Record (1/20/2015)

LEAD: Scientists have a new satellite to help forecasters track El Niño and global sea levels.

1. On Sunday, 1-17-2016, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket placed the U.S.-European Jason-3 satellite into orbit.

2. From an altitude of 830-miles Jason-3 will precisely measure the height of 95 percent of the world's ice-free ocean every 10 days.

3. The data will help improve forecasts of hurricanes and El Niño events.4. Jason-3 will add to a 23-year satellite record of global sea surface heights. Since 1992, researchers have observed a total global sea level rise of 2.8 inches.

TAG: Because it is a measure of both ocean warming and loss of land ice, sea level rise is an important indicator of human-caused climate change.

ID: 12130

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Launches Jason-3 Satellite To Measure Global Sea Levels And El Niño (1/20/2016)

LEAD: NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission helped forecasters track the heavy 20-inch flood-producing rainfalls of December 2015.

1. The animation shows the accumulation of rainfall from December's three major storm systems that took place on December 1st through 3rd, the 13th through 16th, and 21st through 31st.
2. Red colors indicate accumulate rainfall of 20 inches, yellow 10-12 inches, green 6-10. And shades of blue 2-6 inches. The extent of the area that drains into the Mississippi River is outlined in black.

3. Extensive flooding took place in Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Mississippi.

TAG: Alabama and Georgia were hardest hit by rainstorms that arrived Christmas week, which led to massive flooding and declarations of a state of emergency in Alabama and northern Georgia.

ID: 12127

Produced Video

NASA on Air: NASA GPM Mission Detects Mississippi River Flooding Rains (1/15/2016)

LEAD: Year number one of data from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (or OCO-2) satellite is providing NASA’s first detailed, global measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. 1. Every 16 days, during which it makes 232 orbits and 16 million soundings (measurements), the OCO-2 satellite yields a global view of CO2 with unprecedented detail. 2. Across the northern hemisphere, the annual CO2 concentration changes of 2 percent can be seen as the concentrations increase through blue, up to green, to yellow and to the high levels in red, and then back down. 3. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels recently surpassed a concentration of 400 parts per million, higher than any time in at least the past 400,000 years. TAG: As carbon dioxide is the largest human-produced driver of our change climate, having regular observations from space is a major step in understanding and predicting climate change.

ID: 12106

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA's OCO-2 Satellite Provides First Global Maps Of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (12/16/2015)

LEAD: NASA is ready to track atmospheric rivers during this winter's El Niño.
1. Atmospheric rivers are short-lived, narrow streams of wind that carry water vapor from the tropical oceans to mid-latitude land areas.
2. Shown here is an atmospheric river traveling across the Pacific between October 25 and November 2, 2014. (White colors are clouds, light blues water vapor, and green to red precipitation.)

TAG: Atmospheric rivers tend to intensify during El Niño events, and this year's strong El Niño is likely to bring more precipitation to California and some relief for the drought.

ID: 12103

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Tracks Atmospheric Rivers (12/16/2015)

LEAD: A new NASA camera keeping a steady eye on the sunlit side of Earth is yielding new insights about our changing planet. 1. The camera is onboard a satellite a million miles out in space. 2. A second instrument measures the total amount of solar energy that reflects off Earth, as well as the heat emitted from our planet, filling in missing pieces of energy information not observed by other satellites. TAG: These reflectance measurements will help scientists study Earth's changing climate.

ID: 12100

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA's New Million-Mile View of Earth Yields New Insights (12/15/2015)

LEAD: NASA's first satellite to measure carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere is yielding a new global view of our breathing planet.
1: CO2 levels in the atmosphere decrease (shown from red to blue) during the summer growing season as plants take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis.
2: Satellite measured plant life during the growing season. As the 'greening' moves northward the CO2 levels drop from red to blue.
3. In the fall and winter CO2 levels go back up as plants stop growing and stop absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere.

ID: 12069

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA's OCO-2 Satellite Yields Global View Of Carbon Dioxide (11/20/2015)

LEAD: If you want to test and fine-tune a satellite that measures snow and rain, it makes sense to go to THE wettest area in the United States: the rainforest of Washington State. 1. Each year the slopes of the Olympic Mountains are soaked with over 100 inches of rain, with a record total of 184", or 15 feet of rain! 2. NASA and university scientists are utilizing NASA's DC-8 and ER-2 research planes as well as ground radar and other instruments to gather "ground truth" data to help calibrate NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite, launched in 2014. TAG: The GPM satellite network of 12 satellites provides unprecedented worldwide radar measurements of precipitation every 30 minutes that will assist weather and climate scientists, as well as flood emergency managers.

ID: 12063

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA's OLYMPEX Program Helps Validate Global Precipitation Measurement Satellite (11/18/2015)

LEAD: NASA scientists and astronomers are already planning for the first total solar eclipse for the United States in 38 years. 1. On August 21, 2017, the moon will pass between the sun and Earth in an alignment that will cast the moon's shadow onto Earth. 2. A dark shadow of the moon, 170 miles wide, will sweep across the U.S. over the course of one-and-a-half hours. 3. People in cities lying within the narrow path of the shadow (red line in the video) will experience an eerie sense of twilight as day turns to night and back to day again within roughly 2-2.5 minutes. TAG: Solar astronomers will use the solar eclipse to study the outer atmosphere of the sun.

ID: 12049

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Previews 2017 Total Solar Eclipse (11/11/2015)

LEAD: NASA scientists have identified the process that changed Mars from a warm and wet Earth-like planet to a cold, arid world. 1. New results from NASA’s MAVEN mission show the Martian atmosphere has been stripped away by a stream of particles, known as the solar wind, flowing from the sun at a speed of about one million miles per hour. 2. The Martian atmosphere has escaped from different regions of the Red Planet, including down the "tail," where the solar wind flows behind Mars, and above the Martian poles in a "polar plume." (Note: Atmospheric losses in the “tail” and “polar plume” region are rainbow-colored in the video.) TAG: Fortunately, Earth's atmosphere is protected from the solar wind effects because it has a magnetic field, which acts as a shield and deflects the stream of particles blowing off the sun.

ID: 12045

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Solves Mars Mystery Of Lost Atmosphere (11/6/2015)

LEAD: Step outside on Sunday evening (September 27th) to see a special astronomical event: a supermoon total lunar eclipse. 1. At 9:07 p.m. EDT the moon will start to enter Earth’s shadow. An hour later, the moon will appear a ghostly copper color. The change in color will last for over an hour as the moon passes through Earth’s central shadow and is illuminated by filtered sunlight passing through Earth’s atmosphere. 2. As the moon orbits Earth, it has a farthest point in its orbit (apogee) and closest point (perigee). On Sunday, the full moon occurs during the closest perigee of the year. This is sometimes called a supermoon. 3. Supermoons occur *on average* every 14 months. But what’s special about Sunday’s supermoon is that it will happen during a total lunar eclipse. TAG: The next supermoon total lunar eclipse won't happen until 2033.

ID: 12014

Produced Video

NASA On Air: Preview of September 27, 2015, Supermoon Total Lunar Eclipse (9/25/2015)

LEAD: This year's fall equinox arrives WEDNESDAY, Sept. 23, at 4:21 a.m. EDT. The name equinox comes from the Latin words for "equal" (aequus) and "night" (nox). The length of day and night is the same on this date: 12 hours each.1. Looking at the Northern Hemisphere, night is on the left and day is on the right.2. Advancing towards December, the Northern Hemisphere night becomes longer and days become shorter. Shorter days mean less solar energy and consequently colder days.3. It is the relative tilt of Earth as it goes around the sun that causes the seasons.TAG: By Dec. 21, 2015, Earth’s North Pole will be tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun.NOTE: Time-lapse video assembled from images taken by EUMESAT's Meteosat-9 satellite in 2010 and 2011. For more information about the images, see links below.

ID: 12011

Produced Video

NASA On Air: Satellite Sees Fall Equinox From Space (9/22/2015)

LEAD: With a bit of serendipity that comes often comes from science research, a NASA satellite played a key role in discovering the 3,000th comet. 1. Before the launch in 1995 of the NASA and European Space Agency's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite (known as SOHO) there were about 900 known comets. After 20 years SOHO has just spotted its 3000th comet. 2. SOHO's ability to spot comets turns out to be an unplanned and unexpected benefit. 3. SOHO's main job is to study the sun, not comets. But citizen scientists and astronomers from around the world combing through SOHO data have greatly expanded our knowledge about comets. 4. An amateur astronomer in Thailand spotted number 3,000.TAG: Citizen scientists, including two 13-year-olds, have found 95 percent of SOHO comets.

ID: 12006

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA/ESA SOHO Helps Discover The 3,000th Comet (9/17/2015)

LEAD: Scientists report today (September 15, 2015) that the Arctic sea ice summertime minimum is the fourth lowest on record.

1. Analysis of satellite data by NASA and the National Snow Ice Data Center indicates that the accelerated summer melting trend since the late 1970s continues.

2. This increased melting is a response to the warming global temperatures.

3. It is unclear whether this year's strong El Niño has had any impact on the Arctic sea ice.

TAG: Weather and climate researchers are continuing to study the possible effects that the increased open Arctic waters in the autumn might have on snowstorm development in the winter season.

ID: 12002

Produced Video

NASA On Air: 2015 Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Annual Extent Is Fourth Lowest On Record (9/15/2015)

LEAD: NASA's satellites are tracking the developing El Niño across the Pacific Ocean.

1. Ocean conditions in 2015 bear some similarities to the powerful 1997 El Niño. This NASA visualization shows side-by-side comparisons of Pacific Ocean sea surface height anomalies measured by satellites in 1997 and 2015.

2. Red shows where the ocean is above the normal sea level.

3. Blue shades indicate areas of lower sea levels.

4. Sea surface height is an indicator of the temperature of the water below. Above normal levels indicate warmer temperatures, below normal colder temperatures.

5. El Niño events are characterized by a mass of warm water migrating from Southeast Asia toward South America.

TAG: Weather and climate forecasters are tracking El Niño closely because it could help steer beneficial rains to parts of drought-stricken California and the American West.

ID: 11997

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Satellites Are Tracking Current El Niño Across The Pacific (9/11/2015)

LEAD: September 21st, 2015, marks the one-year anniversary of NASA's MAVEN spacecraft circling Mars.

1. MAVEN's goal is to determine how Mars lost its thick early atmosphere, and with it, its once hospitable climate.

2. The spacecraft's Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph measures how the light from background stars dims as the starlight passes through different layers of the Martian atmosphere. This tells scientists about the atmosphere’s chemical makeup and its structure.

3. The vertical distributions of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide are important clues to Mars’ climate history.

TAG: MAVEN is the first spacecraft specifically designed to study the upper atmosphere of Mars.

ID: 11782

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA's MAVEN Measures Martian Atmosphere Using Starlight (9/3/2015)

LEAD: Detailed measurements from NASA satellites are yielding new perspectives on sea level rise.1. This visualization shows the sea level change between 1992 and 2014. Since 1992, seas around the world have risen an average of nearly 3 inches. Regional differences in sea levels are caused by ocean currents and natural long-term ocean cycles.2. Scientists estimate one-third of the ocean rise is caused by the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice shelves. The big concern now is that the ice sheets are ‘waking up’ to the warming climate and will contribute more and more to sea level rise in the coming decades.3. An intense research effort by NASA and others is now underway to measure and analyze how Greenland and Antarctica will respond to Earth's warmer air temperatures and the changing ocean currents along the edges of the ice shelves.TAG: Faster melting of the polar ice caps could mean sea rise of 3 feet or more by the end of the century.

ID: 11990

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Sea Level Rise Team Zeros In On Greenland (8/28/2015)

LEAD: On this 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, it is interesting to compare the size of Katrina to the size of Sandy of three years ago. 1. Katrina is shown on the left, and Sandy on the right. Katrina was a textbook hurricane. Sandy started as a hurricane, but turned into an extra-tropical storm. 2. Tropical storm winds of 40 mph are shown in yellow, hurricane winds in red.3. Katrina's winds greater than 40 mph stretched 300 miles across.4. Sandy's winds over 40 mph stretched three times as wide, or 900 miles. TAG: The size of the wind field is just one of the critical components that forecasters use to predict the storm surges during landfall.

ID: 11979

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Compares Katrina And Sandy Wind Fields (8/24/2015)

LEAD: Science and computer advances over the past ten years since Katrina are giving meteorologists clearer pictures of hurricanes.

1. A NASA weather and climate model now (2015) has a resolution of 4 miles, and updates the dynamic state of the atmosphere every 5 seconds and physical processes every 5 minutes.

2. Katrina's wind speed is shown on the left, water vapor on the right.

3. Abundant water vapor was one factor that helped to intensify Katrina to a Category 5 storm, with sustained wind speeds of 175 mph.

4. But, 18 hours later Katrina made landfall over Louisiana as a Category 3 storm, with winds of 125 mph.

TAG: Detailed computer models will help meteorologists understand these quick wind changes and make better forecasts about hurricane strength at landfall.

ID: 11977

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA's Hurricane Modeling Advancements Since Katrina, 10 Years Ago (8/21/2015)

LEAD: Thanks to a NASA satellite camera launched in February we have a new and unique view of the moon.

1. This time lapse shows the moon as it moved in front of the Earth last month.

2. This is the fully illuminated "dark side" that is never visible from Earth.

3. The same side of the moon always faces an earthbound observer because the moon's orbital period is the same as its rotation around its axis.

ID: 11970

Produced Video

NASA On Air: Million Mile Moon Shot (8/5/2015)

LEAD: So far, 2015 has been the tale of two extremes when it comes to rainfall across the U.S. 1. NASA's GPM satellite network shows accumulated rainfall since January 1st of this year. Heavy flooding rains in parts of the east. But it has been very dry over California this year. 2. In fact a California drought has been going on since 2012. Ground water supplies are low. California's 4-year dry spell has left the state short by 20 inches of rain, an entire year's worth of rain. 3. Persistent high pressure off California has blocked Pacific rainstorms. What is needed are a series of "atmospheric rivers", often called the Pineapple Express, similar to December 2014, when 3 inches of rain fell. TAG: About 20-50% of California's rain comes from the "atmospheric rivers" that pump warm tropical moisture over California.

ID: 11968

Produced Video

NASA On Air: NASA Measures Rainfall: A Tale Of Two Extremes (7/31/2015)

$LEAD: We now have close-up views of Pluto thanks to NASA's New Horizons spacecraft. 1. Because Pluto is only two-thirds the size of our moon and 3 billion miles away, it is not visible without a telescope. 2. But, from the flyby distance of 7,750 miles, the New Horizons spacecraft has provided new perspectives of Pluto. 3. One giant surprise on Pluto: mountains about 11,000 feet high. The mountains are probably composed of water ice. 5. With Pluto's temperature at nearly 400 degrees Fahrenheit below zero, the water ice behaves like bedrock. 6. Pluto's moon Charon shows cliffs and trough 4 to 6 miles deep and 600 miles long. 7. This suggests widespread fracturing of Charon's crust. TAG: Data from the seven instruments aboard New Horizons will provide years of study and will help rewrite textbooks about Pluto.$