NOAA Earth Satellites Monitor Severe Weather & Smoke over North America

NOAA Earth Satellites Monitor Severe Weather & Smoke over North America

As catastrophic flooding impacts the Northeast, this week skies across the region and particularly along the central and eastern U.S. have also been affected by heavy smoke from wildfires burning across Canada that has continued to drift southward. Both NOAA's GOES East and GOES West (GOES-18) satellites have been monitoring the wildfires in Canada as well as the smoke they are emitting, which continues to flow into the continental U.S. periodically. 

The Joint Polar Satellite System’s NOAA-20 and Suomi NPP satellites also play an important role in detecting and tracking wildfires, especially in remote regions, where many of the current Canadian wildfires are raging. Their high spatial resolution imager detects smaller and lower-temperature fires and also provides nighttime fire detection. The data from these satellites is also critical for accurate predictions by NOAA smoke models, which are used by fire crews, first responders, and air traffic controllers.

Credits: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)

Flood map courtesy of Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Duration: 2 minutes

Release Date:  July 21, 2023

#NASA #NOAA #Space #WeatherSatellites #GOESEast #GOESWest #NOAA20 #SuomiNPP #Science #Earth #Planet #Canada #Ontario #Quebec #BritishColumbia #Wildfires #Smoke #Flooding #ClimateChange #GlobalHeating #Atmosphere #AirQuality #Weather #Meteorology #EarthObservation #RemoteSensing #CIRA #UnitedStates #STEM #Education #HD #Video