NASA satellite images capture extreme climate events of 2020

NASA satellite images capture extreme climate events of 2020

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In addition to a deadly pandemic, 2020 also brought to mind the seriousness of the global climate crisis – droughts, floods, heat waves, wildfires and hurricanes have brought life to communities around the world, in addition to and despite the challenges that brought by Covid-19.

Images of some of these climatic events – which are equally visually stunning and sobering – were captured by NASA’s fleet of Earth-observing satellites and instruments. the International Space Station.

On this day last year, NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer captured images of thick, brownish smoke drifting across southeastern Australia as the country was devastated by one of its worst wildfire seasons on record.

The fire season in Australia is always dangerous – but the conditions were extremely bad in 2020, causing the flames to flare up and making the firefighting conditions particularly difficult.

Experts believe that climate change has exacerbated the scale and impact of natural disasters such as fires and floods – the weather conditions are becoming more extreme, and for years fires have started earlier in the season and spread with greater intensity.

This natural color image of Southeast Australia was obtained on January 4, 2020 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA's Aqua satellite.
2020 was also a year to remember for many residents of U.S. west coast states, where deadly wildfires in California, Oregon and Washington forced tens of thousands of people into shelters amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In the image below, on 9 September, a thick blanket of smoke can be seen along the West Coast,

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

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

Several of this year’s fires were caused by lightning, but extreme conditions, including record temperatures, dry air, strong winds and drought, caused the fires to wreak havoc in nearby forests and eventually homes.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and the 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 American west, which, according to NASA, was on a scale that satellites and scientists rarely see.

Drought

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

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

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An extended period of exceptionally hot weather and drought in southern Brazil, Paraguay and northern Argentina has caused the river to drop to its lowest level in decades. The drought not only contributed to an increase in fire activity in the surrounding delta and floodplain, but it also affected local businesses and residents, with ships lying on the ground and low water levels costing millions of dollars in the grain industry.

Human activity has been linked to the world’s risk of drought since the beginning of the 20th century: Greenhouse gases generated by power stations, farms, cars, trains and human activities in general have affected the risk of droughts, and experts predict that drought associated with climate change will worsen.

Hurricanes

Hurricane Laura, one of the ten strongest hurricanes to land in the U.S., swept through southwest Louisiana in August, killing at least six people and leaving a wide trail of destruction.

The Atlantic hurricane season in 2020 was the most active recorded, and many of the storms that hit the Gulf Coast, Central America and the Caribbean last year showed signs of being overloaded by global warming.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on NOAA-20 obtained this image of Hurricane Laura at 02:20 Central Daylight Time on 26 August 2020.

In the photo above, captured by the VIIRS on the NOAA-20 satellite, the storm threatens the U.S. coastline, highlighted by the darkness of night, while clouds are displayed in infrared using luminosity temperature data and on the images covered with city lights.

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