NASA Instruments Image Fireball over Bering Sea

On Dec. 18, 2018, a large "fireball" - the term used for exceptionally bright meteors that are visible over a wide area - exploded about 16 miles (26 kilometers) above the Bering Sea. The explosion unleashed an estimated 173 kilotons of energy, or more than 10 times the energy of the atomic bomb blast over Hiroshima during World War II. It was the most powerful meteor to be observed since 2013; however, given its altitude and the remote area over which it occurred, the object posed no threat to anyone on the ground.
READ MORE

MOPITT Imagery for California Fires
The Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument is flying on board NASA's Terra satellite. It observes CO in the troposphere through thermal and near infrared channels.The imagery clearly shows enhanced levels of CO associated with the Camp and Woolsey wildfires in northern and southern California, respectively. The high CO west of Mexico may be an aged part of the Woolsey/Camp plumes, based on the location of high CO the day before and on the smoke trajectories shown by the MODIS visible images.
READ MORE

Hurricane Maria near the Caribbean Sea and Tropical Storm José off the northeast U.S. coast on September 20, 2017. Data from the CALIPSO lidar and CloudSat radar appear as vertical slices in the atmosphere. CALIPSO lidar data is visualized as a bluish slice, with red and yellow colors denoting more scattering off of clouds and aerosols. CloudSat radar data is superimposed on the CALIPSO slice in brighter colors. Areas of heavier precipitation, found in each storm’s spiral bands, appear in red and pink.
READ MORE