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polar vortex behind us big chill explained
Bookmarked 628 weeks ago the chilling weather phenomenon that hit much of the us in january is explained by scientist eric fetzer using data from nasa039s airs instrument to see a data only version watch at: http:youtubepctdb0zoco4this movie of temperature observations from nasa039s atmospheric infrared sounder airs instrument on nasa039s aqua spacecraft depicts the first major north american weather event of 2014: cold air moving out of the arctic and south to cover much of the continent the temperatures shown are at a pressure of 850 hectopascals hpa formerly knows as millibars sea level pressure is normally around 1000 hpa pressures of 850 hpa correspond to an altitude of about 3000 feet 1 kilometer above sea level the temperatures in the movie range from about minus 18 degrees fahrenheit 245 kelvin or minus 28 degrees celsius to warmer than 66 degrees fahrenheit 290 kelvin or about 17 degrees celsius the very coldest temperatures in purples and blues are minus 18 to 17 degrees fahrenheit minus 28 to about minus 8 degrees celsiusthe most obvious feature of the movie is the tongue of cold air moving out of canada and southward to cover much of the eastern united states during early january 2014 this event was covered extensively in the media and introduced the term 039polar vortex039 to a broader audience this global perspective illustrates some features not noted in all the recent media attention perhaps most obvious: this is not a global phenomenon the eastern half of the united states includes only about one percent of the total surface area of the planet about two million of 197 million square miles one advantage of satellite observations as from airs is coverage of the entire planet a truly global perspective is required when studying variations in climate and this event must be compared against a number of other phenomena occurring around the planet note that alaska and northern eurasia were warm during this period of unusual cold over the eastern united statesabout airsthe atmospheric infrared sounder airs in conjunction with the advanced microwave sounding unit amsu sense emitted infrared and microwave radiation from the earth to provide a three-dimensional look at earth039s weather and climate working in tandem the two instruments make simultaneous observations all the way down to the earth039s surface even in the presence of heavy clouds with more than 2000 channels sensing different regions of the atmosphere the system creates a global three-dimensional map of atmospheric temperature and humidity cloud amounts and heights greenhouse gas concentrations and many other atmospheric phenomena the airs and amsu fly onboard nasa039s aqua spacecraft and are managed by the jet propulsion laboratory pasadena california under contract to nasa jpl is a division of the california institute of technology in pasadenamore information about airs can be found at airsjplnasagovimage credit: nasajpl |
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