NASA satellite images capture extreme weather events of 2020

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Along with a deadly pandemic, 2020 also served as a reminder of the severity of the climate crisis facing the world – droughts, floods, heat waves, wildfires and hurricanes have continued to disrupt the lives of communities across the world. the whole world, in addition to and despite the challenges posed. by Covid-19.

Images of some of these climatic events – visually stunning and sobering in equal measure – were captured by NASA’s fleet of Earth observation satellites and instruments found on the International Space Station.

On this day last year, NASA’s Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer captured images of thick beige-colored smoke drifting across southeastern Australia, taken while the country was ravaged by one of its worst forest fire seasons on record.

Australia’s fire season is always dangerous – but conditions were unusually harsh in 2020, fanning the flames and making the conditions for fighting fires particularly difficult.

Experts say climate change has worsened the scope and impact of natural disasters such as fires and floods – weather conditions are increasingly extreme and, for years, fires have started earlier in the season and spread with greater intensity.

This natural-colored image of Southeast Australia was acquired on January 4, 2020 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA's Aqua satellite.
2020 has also been an unforgettable year for many residents of the west coast states of the United States, where deadly wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington have forced tens of thousands to seek shelter in shelters. amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In the image below, captured on September 9, a thick layer of smoke is visible along the west coast,

“Climate and fire scientists have long anticipated that the fires in the American West would become larger, more intense and more dangerous. But even the most experienced of them have been at a loss for words to describe the scale and fire intensity. West Coast states in September 2020, “NASA said.

This image shows North America on September 9, 2020, as a thick blanket of smoke blanketed the West Coast.

Several of the the fires were started by lightning, but extreme conditions including record high temperatures, dry air, high winds and drought wreaked havoc in nearby forests and, eventually, homes.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) sensors, found on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite, collected daily images of thick plumes of aerosol particles blowing across the West American, which NASA said was on a scale that satellites and scientists rarely see.

Drought

On July 3, 2020, the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 captured this false-color image of the river near Rosario, a key port city in Argentina.

Although this image appears to show a lush, green oasis, the image, captured by NASA’s Landsat, actually reveals the parched watershed of the Paraná River in Argentina.

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A prolonged period of unusually hot weather and drought in southern Brazil, Paraguay and northern Argentina caused the river to drop to its lowest level in decades. Not only has the drought contributed to an increase in fire activity in the surrounding areas of the delta and floodplains, but it has also affected local businesses and residents, with stranded ships and low water levels costing them. millions of dollars in the grain industry.

Human activity has been linked to the global risk of drought since the beginning of the 20th century: greenhouse gases generated by power plants, agriculture, cars, trains and human activities in general have influenced the risk of drought, and experts predict that climate change-related drought will get worse.

Hurricanes

Hurricane Laura, one of the 10 strongest hurricanes to make landfall in the United States, swept through southwest Louisiana in August, killing at least six people and leaving a wide path of destruction in its wake .

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active on record, and many of the storms that hit the Gulf Coast, Central America and the Caribbean last year were shown to be overfed. by global warming.
The visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (VIIRS) on NOAA-20 acquired this image of Hurricane Laura at 2:20 a.m. Central Daylight Time on August 26, 2020.

In the image above, captured by VIIRS on the NOAA-20 satellite, the storm looms off the US coast, highlighted by the darkness of the night, while clouds are displayed in infrared using brightness temperature data and superimposed on images showing city lights.

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