Atmosphere Archives - Geography Realm

Taken at about 30,000 feet (9 kilometers) over eastern Washington, the smoke plume (gray) feeds the pyrocumulonimbus cloud (white). Photo: David Peterson (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory), public domain, August 8, 2019.

Smoke from Australian Wildfires Reaches Atmospheric Highs

August 19, 2020 by Elizabeth Borneman

Smoke from the 2019 wildfires not only impacted Australian population centers but drifted far into the atmosphere as well.

Using Remote Sensing to Understand Steve in the Sky

November 4, 2021February 8, 2020 by Elizabeth Borneman

Scientists took a scene from the movie and applied it to real life. When they observed something in the sky they didn’t understand and couldn’t readily identify, they called it Steve.

Water vapor imagery of the eastern Pacific Ocean from the GOES 11 satellite, showing a large atmospheric river aimed across California. Image from United States Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey. (Captured December 20, 2010).

Atmospheric Rivers

December 14, 2021January 15, 2019 by Caitlin Dempsey

Atmospheric Rivers are trails of moisture in the atmosphere composed of condensed water vapor.

A view of green and red lights in the sky over the Earth.

Spooky Sky Created by a Coronal Mass Ejection

October 28, 2022October 27, 2015 by Caitlin Dempsey

An eerie night sky in Norway as the result of a coronal mass ejection (CME).