For all our readers that use satellite images CIMSS Satellite blog announced today that at 15:46 UTC on 06 December 2011, GOES-15 replaced GOES-11 as the operational GOES-West satellite. GOES-11 (launched in 2000, and operational since 2006) was one of the older
After three days of meteoric growth, sunspot AR1363 has reversed course and is beginning to decay. As its magnetic field relaxes, the active region poses a subsiding threat for strong flares. It’s not dead yet, though, as this snapshot shows: There is still a slim
Thick fog and smog have settled over North China early this week. Dense fog has enveloped Shandong and Hebei provinces in northern China, and Anhui, Zhejiang, and Fujian provinces in the east. Traffic has been crippled on expressways, and hundreds of flights have
Haze continues over Himalayas. At this time of year, cold air often slides down the Himalaya, coming to rest over northern India. As the cold air settles into place, it may be trapped under a layer of warmer air. Usually, air is warmer near the Earth’s surface, and
Mt. Gamalama volcano burst to life on Sunday in a blast that dusted villages and sent thousands of people to flight on the Indonesian island of Ternate. There were no immediate reports of casualties but the eruption apparently did cause some panic among residents of
The inclined equatorial orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) limits astronauts to nadir views of Earth—looking straight down from the spacecraft—between approximately 52 degrees North latitude and 52 degrees South. However, when viewing conditions are
When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look east. Jupiter and the waxing full Moon are in conjunction less than 7o apart.Jupiter shines lower left of the Moon this evening. Although they look close together, Jupiter is 1,550 times farther away — and 40
Sunspot AR1363 is growing rapidly, more than doubling in size since Friday. A 48-hour movie from NASA’s SOlar Dynamic Observatory shows the expansion:The active region has a “beta-gamma” magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Because of
Wandan mud dome erupted early Friday after nearly a year of inactivity is spilling mud flows of up to two meters high. The Wandan mud volcano, Pingtung County, erupted around 3 a.m. near a cemetery area, ejecting mud and releasing natural gases, according to the
The massive waves were triggered by a devastating 9.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan last March and crippled the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, gave the sea floor a huge shove toward Honshu, Japan’s largest island. But until now it has been unclear how
