NASA Satellite Measurements Imply Texas Wind Farm Impact on Surface Temperature

A Texas region containing four of the world's largest wind farms showed an increase in land surface temperature over nine years that researchers have connected to local meteorological effects of the turbines.The land surface temperature around the west-central Texas wind farms warmed at a rate of .72 degrees Celsius per decade during the study period relative to nearby regions without wind farms, an effect most likely caused by the turbulence in turbine wakes acting like fans to pull down warmer air from higher altitudes at night, said lead author Liming Zhou at the University of Albany, State University of New York.

The results were published in the April 29 issue of Nature Climate Change. Zhou and colleagues studied land surface temperature data ranging from 2003 to 2011, from the MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instruments on NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites.Land surface temperature measures the temperature of the Earth’s surface itself, as opposed to the air temperature readings used in daily weather reports. Across a broad landscape, land surface temperature depends closely on the land cover type and nature of the surface. In specific locations, land surface temperature varies widely from day to night while air temperature varies within a smaller range.

The warming observed by MODIS mostly occurred at night. In the Texas region studied, the land surface temperature after sunset typically cools faster than the air temperature. But as the wind turbines continued to turn, the movement brought warmer air to the surface and thus created a warming effect compared to non-wind farm regions. The researchers expected to see the reverse during the day a slight cooling effect but the data instead showed a small warming or negligible effect in daytime.

NASA's MODIS Instrument Sees Colorado's "Reservoir Road Fire" from Space

NASA's Aqua satellite flies around the Earth twice a day and captures visible and infrared imagery. On Sept. 12 at 19:20 UTC (3:20 p.m. EDT), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on Aqua captured a visible image of the "Reservoir Road Fire" that is currently raging in the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forests / Pawnee National Grassland. According to the National Forest Incident report on September 13, the Reservoir Road Fire near Loveland, Colorado, has burned 600 acres, and firefighting continues. Loveland is the second most populous city in Larimer County, Colo. Loveland is located 46 miles north of Denver. MODIS is a key instrument aboard two of NASA's satellites: Aqua and Terra.

Terra MODIS and Aqua MODIS are viewing the entire Earth's surface every 1 to 2 days. These data are improving our understanding of global dynamics and processes occurring on the land, in the oceans, and in the lower atmosphere. MODIS data has been used to find smoke plumes and capture images of hurricanes and changes in glaciers. There are many applications for this data. The data from both MODIS instruments are processed into images by the MODIS Rapid Response Team located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. U.S. Forest Service in Fort Collins, Colo. is reporting on the fire through their incident information system on-line, known as Inci-Web. They report today, Sept. 13, that crews and engines remained on scene over night from Sept. 12 through today, creating a line on the south side of the fire.

The fire saw little growth overnight. Additional crews will work the fire today and air operations will begin after the weather inversion lifts. The fire is burning in Larimer County, predominately on private land. Meanwhile the Fourmile Canyon Fire, which was raging last week, is 87 percent contained as of Sept. 13, according to the U.S. Forest Service website that noted: "There are still areas within the fire that are smoldering a change in weather conditions can cause the fire to flare up." That fire was about 5 miles west of downtown Boulder and affected 6,250 acres. The U.S. Forest Service also stated that the Boulder County Sheriff's Department announced that residents will be allowed into the fire area over the next several days. Information on the re-entry and the process that will be used has been posted at www.boulderOEM.com.

NASA Images Show Anatomy of Pakistan Flood Disaster

In late July 2010, flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains began across several regions of Pakistan. According to the Associated Press, the floods have affected about one-fifth of this country of more than 170 million. Tens of thousands of villages have been flooded, more than 1,500 people have been killed, and millions have been left homeless. The floodwaters are not expected to recede fully before late August. NASA's CloudSat satellite captured the genesis of the flooding event as it flew over the region on July 28, 2010. At that time, a large area of intense thunderstorms covered much of Pakistan. Between July 28 and 29, up to 400 millimeters (16 inches) of rain fell from these storm cells, triggering flooding along the Indus and Kabul Rivers.

Storms with similar structures to this one have become common this summer as tropical monsoon moisture, coupled with a strengthening La Nina, dominate this region's weather patterns. The top portion of the second image, from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft, reveals the bright white cloud tops of the cluster of thunderstorms. The blue vertical line shows CloudSat's path at the time the MODIS image was acquired. CloudSat's path cut through a large thunderstorm cell in the northern section of the country. The Cloudsat data are shown in the bottom portion of the first image. As seen in the top half of the bottom image, CloudSat classified the majority of the clouds present at the time as deep convective (cumulonimbus) clouds, typical of thunderstorms.

The bottom half of the lower image shows the 3-D vertical structure of the storm along the satellite's flight path, revealing its heavy precipitation. CloudSat measured the cloud heights along the radar's flight path at around 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) in the areas of deepest convection. The next pair of images was taken by the vertical-viewing camera on the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) instrument aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft. The image on the left was taken Aug. 8, 2009, while the one on the right is from Aug. 11, 2010. These false-color views display the instrument's near-infrared, red and green bands as shades of red, green and blue. The colors distinctly highlight the contrast between water and vegetation on the river banks, since vegetation appears bright in the near-infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.