Category Archives: Earth Systems
The State of our Lakes
Overview Seen from space, Earth is a beautiful blue sphere. Take away the clouds and you’ll discover that 71% of the surface is covered by water. Looking a little closer you’ll see that just 3% is freshwater from lakes, glaciers, … Continue reading
GOES R – A glimpse into the future of Weather Satellites
Overview The first satellite of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites – R Series (GOES-R) is scheduled for launch in March 2016! There are many exciting improvements on the way and this short video introduces and demonstrates two of them: Advanced … Continue reading
Winter? Winter? Winter? Anyone seen Winter?
As we begin February, the northern hemisphere winter has been unseasonably warm and not snowy for much of the United States and parts of Western Europe. Chicago, for example, had its warmest January in about eighty years. While Punxsatawney Phil saw his shadow on Groundhog Day (2 February), indicating six more weeks of winter, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) suggests continued above normal temperatures for much of the U.S. over the next three months. For this EarthNow entry, we’re taking a look at snow and ice cover for January 2012 and how that compares with January 2012. Further, we’ll investigate how the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) may have a role in the not so winter-like conditions. Continue reading
