NASA aerosol map shows the beauty of nature's fury amidst fires and storms
From a ground-level perspective, blazing wildfires and different varieties of storm are terrifying displays of nature's might. But viewed from space, through the right (computer-enhanced) eyes, they're all things of beauty.
On Friday, NASA released a visualization of Earth showing the aerosols that were swirling through our planet's atmosphere on Aug. 23. It was a busy day for Mother Nature, as you can see.
Aerosols are specks of solids and liquids that swirl through the air we breathe. Most of the time, they're invisible to the naked eye. But when, say, a fire releases ash into the sky, or when a wind storm blows dust across the desert, those invisible aerosols are made visible.
In NASA's visualization, you can see how fires and industrial areas, primarily in North America and Africa, released black carbon particles that painted those regions in a reddish-orange haze. Dust storms in Africa and Asia are rendered in purple. And sea salt aerosol kicked up by Pacific cyclones are varying shades of light blue.
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According to NASA, the images are produced by Earth-observing satellites that chart (among other things) the ebbs and flows of aerosol in our atmosphere. The imaging model has a mouthful of a name -- it's the Goddard Earth Observing System Forward Processing (GEOS FP for short) -- but the results speak for themselves.
This visualization is particularly noteworthy because of all the major weather events that have been happening around the world in recent days.
The dense zone of red/orange concentrated in the western half of North America is a sign of the wildfires that have been raging in that part of the country for large portions of the summer. And in the tropical cyclones, you can get a sense of the weather patterns that led to storms that continue to lash Hawaii even now.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
