Topic: Pacific Ocean

NASA’s Aqua spacecraft provides scientists with relative humidity data that could help forecast Hurricane Strengths

December 3, 2012 |

Written by Alan Buis
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – Forecasters could soon be better able to predict how intense tropical cyclones like Hurricane Sandy will be by analyzing relative-humidity levels within their large-scale environments, finds a new NASA-led study.

Scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, UCLA and the University of Hawaii at Manoa analyzed relative humidity data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA’s Aqua spacecraft for nearly 200 North Atlantic hurricanes between 2002 and 2010.

Hurricane Sandy as seen by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA’s Terra spacecraft on Oct. 28th, 2012, when the Category 1 storm was centered off the southeastern U.S. coast. A new NASA-led study finds that analysis of relative humidity levels in the large-scale environment of tropical cyclones may be useful in improving forecasts of their intensity. (Image credit: NASA GSFC/LANCE MODIS Rapid Response Team)

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NASA production editor Tony Phillips gives personal account of November 14th Solar Eclipse

November 24, 2012 |

Written by Dr. Tony Phillips

Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – Astrophysicist and legendary eclipse chaser Fred Espenak has a rating scheme for natural wonders.  “On a scale of 1 to 10,” he says, “total eclipses are a million.”

Apparently, this true even when the eclipse is almost completely clouded out.

Last week, I experienced such an eclipse on Four Mile Beach outside the resort town of Port Douglas in Queensland, Australia. For years, tourists, astronomers and eclipse chasers had been anticipating a fantastic show over the Coral Sea on November 14th, 2012.

The total eclipse of November 14th, 2012, seen through clouds over Yorkeys Beach in Queensland, Australia. (Credit and copyright: Stephen Mudge)

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NASA states there will be a Total Eclipse of the Sun November 14th

November 10, 2012 |

Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – People from around the world are converging on the coast of northeast Australia.  The attraction isn’t the Great Barrier Reef, just offshore, or the surrounding rain forests full of wildlife and exotic plants. They’re going to see a total eclipse of the sun.

On the morning of November 14th (Australia time), about an hour after sunrise, the Moon will pass directly in front of the sun. Residents and visitors of the city of Cairns, also known as the Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, will enjoy an early morning eclipse lasting 2 minutes with the sun only 14 degrees above the eastern horizon.

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Space Exploration Technologies Dragon spacecraft splashes in the Pacific and brings with it NASA Cargo from International Space Station

October 29, 2012 |

Written by Josh Byerly
NASA’s Johnson Space Center

Houston, TX – A Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Dragon spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at 2:22pm CDT Sunday a few hundred miles west of Baja California, Mexico. The splashdown successfully ended the first contracted cargo delivery flight contracted by NASA to resupply the International Space Station.

“With a big splash in the Pacific Ocean, we are reminded American ingenuity is alive and well and keeping our great nation at the cutting edge of innovation and technology development,” said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

The Dragon spacecraft is secured before being transported back to a SpaceX facility. (SpaceX)

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NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) launched Wednesday morning and begins preparing for mission

June 14, 2012 |

Written by Whitney Clavin
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) launched into the morning skies over the central Pacific Ocean at 9:00am PDT (noon EDT) Wednesday, beginning its mission to unveil secrets of buried black holes and other exotic objects.

“We have been eagerly awaiting the launch of this novel X-ray observatory,” said Paul Hertz, NASA’s Astrophysics Division Director. “With its unprecedented spatial and spectral resolution to the previously poorly explored hard X-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum, NuSTAR will open a new window on the universe and will provide complementary data to NASA’s larger missions, including Fermi, Chandra, Hubble and Spitzer.”

NASA's NuSTAR and its rocket drop from the carrier "Stargazer" plane. (Image Credit: Orbital Sciences Corporation.)

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NASA says there will be a Partial Eclipse of the Strawberry Moon June 4th

May 29, 2012 |

Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – On June 4th, 2012, there’s going to be a full Moon. According to Native American folklore it’s the Strawberry Moon, so-called because the short season for harvesting strawberries comes during the month of June.

This Strawberry’s going to have a bite taken out of it.

At 3:00am Pacific Daylight Time, not long before sunrise on Monday, June 4th, the Moon passes directly behind our planet.

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NASA says Solar Eclipse this Weekend is something to see

May 16, 2012 |

Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – Something strange is about to happen to the shadows beneath your feet.

On Sunday, May 20th, the Moon will pass in front of the sun, transforming sunbeams across the Pacific side of Earth into fat crescents and thin rings of light.¹

It’s an annular solar eclipse, in which the Moon will cover as much as 94% of the sun. Hundreds of millions of people will be able to witness the event. The eclipse zone stretches from southeast Asia across the Pacific Ocean to western parts of North America.

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NASA Sees Repeating La Niña Hitting its Peak

January 20, 2012 |

Written by Alan Buis
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Pasadena, CA – La Niña, “the diva of drought,” is peaking, increasing the odds that the Pacific Northwest will have more stormy weather this winter and spring, while the southwestern and southern United States will be dry.

Sea surface height data from NASA’s Jason-1 and -2 satellites show that the milder repeat of last year’s strong La Niña has recently intensified, as seen in the latest Jason-2 image of the Pacific Ocean below.

The latest image of sea surface heights in the Pacific Ocean from NASA's Jason-2 satellite shows that the current La Niña is peaking in intensity. Yellows and reds indicate areas where sea surface height is higher than normal (due to warm water), while blues and purples depict areas where sea surface height is lower than normal (due to cool water). Green indicates near-normal conditions. (Image credit: NASA/JPL Ocean Surface Topography Team)

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What Happened to all the Snow?

January 19, 2012 |

Written by Dauna Coulter
Science at NASA

Washington, D.C. – Winter seems to be on hold this year in some parts of the United States. Snowfall has been scarce so far in places that were overwhelmed with the white stuff by the same time last year.

Here’s a prime example. “The Mammoth Mountain ski resort in the Sierras of California got more than 200 inches of snow last December,” says NASA climatologist Bill Patzert of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “This December they got less than 10 inches.”

Temperatures have flip-flopped too. There were 583 new heat records broken in the first five days of January in the US.

(left) Effects of the positive phase of the arctic oscillation; (right) effects of the negative phase of the arctic oscillation (Figures courtesy of J. Wallace, University of Washington)

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Austin Peay State University fiction writer Kitterman to read from new book on December 7th

December 1, 2011 |

Clarksville, TN – Barry Kitterman, an Austin Peay State University creative writing professor, had what might be called a typical, Midwestern upbringing. He grew up in the small town of Ivanhoe, populated by farmers and situated hundreds of miles from anything resembling a large city.

But this Midwestern childhood actually occurred not too far from the Pacific Ocean, in northern California, causing a few people to scratch their heads when Kitterman tells them about his past.

Barry Kitterman to read from his latest book December 7th at the Austin Peay Music/Mass Communication Building’s Concert Hall.

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