NASA: A Half-Century of Ice Loss in Northwest Greenland A pair of satellite images acquired almost 50 years apart reveals striking changes to the glaciers and ice caps in northwest Greenland. Few other satellite comparisons span this much time, especially in such vivid lifelike color. Related: NASA: Record Summer Melting Across Svalbard, Arctic Circle Observations of Earth from space are now common. But prior to the 1970s, no Earth-observing […] SnowBrains | August 30, 2022 1 Comment
NASA: Record Summer Melting Across Svalbard, Arctic Circle Exceptionally warm air temperatures in summer 2022 have caused record melting across Svalbard. The abundant meltwater, much of which flowed to the ocean, is the latest expression of a rapidly warming climate in Norway’s ice-covered archipelago. Related: Svalbard Trip Report 2018 | Skiing & Sailing Deep Within The Arctic Circle According to Xavier Fettweis, a climatologist at the University of […] SnowBrains | August 5, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: A July of Extremes – Heatwaves Caused 1,000s of Deaths Across the Globe At the beginning of July 2022, NOAA’s monthly climate outlook favored temperatures well above average across much of the United States. The outlook proved prescient. Related: NASA: Wildfire Smoke Over Siberia Around the globe in summer 2022, wave after wave of heat crested and broke. Heat waves, particularly in Europe and Asia, caused thousands of heat-related deaths. On July […] Weather WeatherBrains | August 2, 2022 1 Comment
NASA: Lake Mead, NV/AZ, at Lowest Level Since it Was 1st Filled in 1937 Continuing a 22-year downward trend, water levels in Lake Mead stand at their lowest since April 1937, when the reservoir was still being filled for the first time. As of July 18, 2022, Lake Mead was filled to just 27 percent of capacity. RELATED: Amidst 10-Year Drought, The Andes Get Much Needed Snowfall and Are Completed Blanketed When Viewed From […] SnowBrains | July 22, 2022 1 Comment
[VIDEO] Today is International Moon Day, So Here’s the Apollo 11 Moonwalk – Original Restored NASA EVA Mission Video [arve url="https://youtu.be/S9HdPi9Ikhk"] SnowBrains | July 20, 2022 Likes Tweets 0 Comments
Amidst 10-Year Drought, The Andes Get Much Needed Snowfall and Are Completed Blanketed When Viewed From Space This article originally appeared on earthobservatory.nasa.gov As extreme summer heatwaves deepened droughts and fueled wildfires in the Northern Hemisphere, winter storms brewed south of the equator. In July 2022, back-to-back weather systems eased rainfall deficits in central Chile and added to the snowpack atop the Andes—a critical reserve of water for the coming summer. The blanket of fresh snow along the mountain […] Weather SnowBrains | July 20, 2022 8 Comments
Satellite Captures Rare Image of Colorful Phytoplankton Blooms Off the Coast of Oregon and Washington The article originally appeared on earthobservatory.nasa.gov In early summer 2022, a high-pressure system brought warm, clear weather to the Pacific Northwest. The unusually cloud-free skies on June 26 allowed satellites to observe a colorful phenomenon taking shape in the ocean nearby: the proliferation of countless phytoplankton. Phytoplankton blooms are common in the northeast Pacific Ocean during summer as offshore winds […] SnowBrains | July 8, 2022 1 Comment
NASA: Lack of Snow Causing Rapid Glacier Melt in the Andes The central Andes are typically draped with snowfall for much of the summer. The bright blankets of white aren’t just scenic; they’re also protective. Fresh snow is highly reflective, so it prevents underlying glacial ice from absorbing the sun’s energy, warming up, and melting. Related: NASA: Melting Glacier in Chile Exposes 139-Million-Year-Old Ichthyosaur Fossils This year, extreme heat removed those […] SnowBrains | June 14, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: Taking Stock of the Rocky Mountain Snowpack As another winter ends with the U.S. West still in the grip of the worst megadrought in 1,200 years, scientists and water managers are looking at the state of the snowpack. Mountain snowpack is a natural reservoir: As it melts out over the course of the spring and summer, it provides a steady supply of water for millions of people […] SnowBrains | May 9, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: Wildfires Continue to Burn Across New Mexico Early season wildfires continued to rage in the first week of May 2022 in northern New Mexico. The blazes have been driven by high winds, low humidity, and exceptionally dry tinder—grass, brush, and timber—that are providing ample fuel for burning. The fires have destroyed hundreds of structures and prompted the evacuation of thousands of homes. On May 3, 2022, seven […] Fire Firebrains | May 4, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: Close-Up of Mount Everest This article originally appeared on earthobservatory.nasa.gov An astronaut on board the International Space Station (ISS) took this near-nadir (almost straight down) photograph of Mount Everest. Such imagery provides a unique perspective on Earth’s tallest mountain (on dry land), which towers approximately 8848 meters (29,029 feet) above sea level. Related: Researchers Confirm that Massive Landslide Triggered 300-Foot-Tall Lake Tsunami in Remote British Columbia in […] SnowBrains | March 31, 2022 0 Comments
NASA Finds 2022 Arctic Winter Sea Ice 10th-Lowest on Record Arctic sea ice appeared to have hit its annual maximum extent on Feb. 25 after growing through the fall and winter. This year’s wintertime extent is the 10th-lowest in the satellite record maintained by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, one of NASA’s Distributed Active Archive Centers. Related: Antarctica Experiences Record High Temps Amid Transition to Winter Arctic sea […] SnowBrains | March 23, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: Winter in the Appalachian Mountains Another blast of winter weather passed over the eastern United States in mid-February 2022. Though the storm was less substantial than the nor’easter in January, it managed to drop enough snow to accent parts of the Appalachian Mountains. Related: How To Tell The Difference Between An East Coast Skier and A West Coast Skier This image, acquired on February 15, […] SnowBrains | February 28, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: A Sea of Icy Variability This article was originally published on NASA.gov In 2022, the floating ice cover in the Bering Sea reached its greatest extent for early to mid-February since 2013. By February 13, the sea ice had reached St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands for the first time since March 2020. The ice growth is an outlier amid a long-term decline. In the Arctic, where […] SnowBrains | February 26, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: A Satellite View of Olympic Terrain Beijing, the host city for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, is situated on the northern edge of the North China Plain, near the meeting of the Xishan and Yanshan ranges. (Shan means “mountain” in Chinese.) Bordering the city on three sides, mountains have a long history of shielding Beijing from roving invaders from the steppe regions to the northwest. In […] Olympics SnowBrains | February 8, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: Blizzard Blankets Northeast U.S. in Snow The article originally appeared on NASA.gov After several mostly uneventful months of winter, the densely populated northeastern United States was buried in mounds of snow and blasted by gale-force winds on January 28-29, 2022. Twelve states from North Carolina to Maine received measurable snowfall from the nor’easter; eight of them had towns report more than a foot (30 centimeters) of snow. […] Weather WeatherBrains | February 2, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: 2021 Continued Earth’s Warming Trend | 6th Warmest Year on Record Earth’s global average surface temperature in 2021 tied 2018 as the sixth-warmest year on record, according to independent analyses from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Global temperatures in 2021 were 0.85 degrees Celsius (1.5 degrees Fahrenheit) above the average for NASA’s baseline period, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). NASA uses […] SnowBrains | January 14, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: La Niña Returns for a Second Winter For the second year in a row, the cooler sister to El Niño showed up at the winter party in the Eastern Pacific. La Niña is expected to stick around until at least spring 2022 in the Northern Hemisphere. Part of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycle, La Niña appears when energized easterly trade winds intensify the upwelling of cooler water […] Weather WeatherBrains | December 13, 2021 0 Comments
NASA: Antarctica Experiences Total Solar Eclipse On December 4, 2021, a handful of people in Antarctica were treated to clear views of a total solar eclipse, the only one to occur in 2021. A partial eclipse was visible in other parts of the Southern Hemisphere. The eclipse reached totality at 07:44 Universal Time (UTC) and lasted just under 2 minutes, darkening the Antarctic summer skies at a time when […] Brains SnowBrains | December 8, 2021 0 Comments
NASA: Retreating Glaciers Revealing World War I Secrets in European Alps On November 11, the United States honors those who have served in the armed forces with the federal holiday Veterans Day. Elsewhere in the world, this date is observed as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day. Today it is a day to honor all veterans, but the date was originally chosen to mark the anniversary of the end of hostilities in […] SnowBrains | November 11, 2021 0 Comments
Weather
Fire
Olympics
Brains