Watch NASA’s mesmerizing new visualization of the 2017 hurricane season

This is worth a watch for two minutes.

www.youtube.com...

How do you observe the invisible currents of the atmosphere? By studying the swirling, billowing loads of sand, sea salt and smoke that winds carry. A new simulation created by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., reveals just how far around the globe such aerosol particles can fly on the wind. The complex new simulation , powered by supercomputers, uses advanced physics and a state-of-the-art climate algorithm known as FV3 to represent in high resolution the physical interactions of aerosols with storms or other weather patterns on a global scale (SN Online: 9/21/17). Using data collected from NASA’s Earth-observing satellites, the simulation tracked how air currents swept aerosols around the planet from August 1, 2017, through November 1, 2017. In the animation, sea salt (in blue) snagged by winds sweeping across the ocean’s surface becomes entrained in hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria, revealing their deadly paths. Wisps of smoke (in gray) from fires in the U.S. Pacific Northwest drift toward the eastern United States, while Saharan dust (in brown) billows westward across the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. And the visualization shows how Hurricane Ophelia formed off the coast of Africa, pulling in both Saharan dust and smoke from Portugal’s wildfires and transporting the particles to Ireland and the United Kingdom.

www.sciencenews.org...

Now that is cool.

Thanks to both of you for the thread. It amazing to me how dynamic the atmosphere really is.

a reply to: skywatcher44

How do you observe the invisible currents of the atmosphere? By studying the swirling, billowing loads of sand, sea salt and smoke that winds carry.

Great, all the pollution is swept up and airborne, round the world.

Contrails block the suns light, is that 'smoke'? What about Fuku rads? Chinese coal smoke?

originally posted by: vinifalou

The smoke from the wildfires was equally cool

-Alee

a reply to: skywatcher44

I don't know if it was the colours and fluidity of the model, but I found it to quite beautiful to watch mesmerising in fact. Thanks for sharing 👍 👍 👍

originally posted by: NerdGoddess

The smoke from the wildfires was equally cool

-Alee

As was the dust from the Sahara swirling westward over the Atlantic.

Wow. That was amazing. Great find, it really gives you an idea of how dynamic our atmosphere is.

Thank you! That was awesome to watch.

That was awesome.