NASA's AIRS Captures Polar Vortex Moving in Over US

NASA & JPL - AIRS Mission patch.

Jan. 31, 2019

Animation above: NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument captures a polar vortex moving from Central Canada into the U.S. Midwest from January 20 through January 29. Animation Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech AIRS Project.

The U.S. Midwest has been gripped by the lowest temperatures it has seen in years. An unusually cold Arctic air mass, called a polar vortex, is responsible for the severe temperatures, which in many areas have plunged well below 0 degrees Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius).

NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard the Aqua satellite captured the polar vortex as it moved southward from central Canada into the U.S. Midwest from Jan. 20 through Jan. 29. The lowest temperatures are shown in purple and blue and range from -40 degrees Fahrenheit (also -40 degrees Celsius) to -10 degrees Fahrenheit (-23 degrees Celsius). As the data series progresses, you can see how the coldest purple areas of the air mass scoop down into the U.S.

Aqua satellite. Image Credit: NASA

The polar vortex is responsible for a number of deaths, disruptions to services, and energy outages in the affected areas.

AIRS, in conjunction with the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), senses emitted infrared and microwave radiation from Earth to provide a three-dimensional look at Earth's weather and climate. Working in tandem, the two instruments make simultaneous observations down to Earth's surface. With more than 2,000 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.

Video above: The Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A), a 15-channel microwave sounder designed primarily to obtain temperature profiles in the upper atmosphere (especially the stratosphere) and to provide a cloud-filtering capability for tropospheric temperature observations. The first AMSU was launched in May 1998 on board the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) NOAA 15 satellite. The EOS AMSU-A is part of a closely coupled triplet of instruments that include the AIRS and HSB.

Launched into Earth orbit in 2002, the AIRS and AMSU instruments are managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, under contract to NASA. JPL is a division of the Caltech in Pasadena.

Related article:

Warming Seas May Increase Frequency of Extreme Storms
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2019/01/warming-seas-may-increase-frequency-of.html

More information about AIRS can be found at: https://airs.jpl.nasa.gov

Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS): https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/atmospheric-infrared-sounder-airs/

AMSU-A: https://aqua.nasa.gov/content/amsu

NASA Aqua satellite: https://aqua.nasa.gov/

Animation (mentioned), Image (mentioned), Video, Text, Credits: NASA/Tony Greicius/JPL/Esprit Smith.

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