CloudSat Satellite Reveals View Inside Clouds

NASA's recent CloudSat satellite reveals never-before-seen details of both the clouds and sediment within a storm, from the Earth's surface to 19 miles high.

The first images from CloudSat, a formation of five satellites, which was launched on April 28 to measure the moisture content of clouds, provided breathtaking views of storms on Earth, scientists said.

Graeme Stephens, a Colorado State University atmospheric sciences professor and the principal investigator for the CloudSat project said, “For the first time we're seeing inside the clouds,” including that “We can see tropical storms 15 kilometers deep organized on scales of thousands of kilometers across.”

CloudSat, a $ 217 million NASA satellite project, was developed by CSU researchers in conjunction with other agencies to determine the moisture content of clouds, in the hope of developing long-term precipitation models.

The NASA environmental satellite that used radar to measure the altitude and properties of clouds, adding to information on the relationship between clouds and climate, is in orbit 438 miles above the Earth.

Stephens said, “We want to know how much water is in the sky so we can see how much water falls.”

Scientists triggered the satellites' radar on Saturday and they clicked their first picture within 30 seconds, a cross-section of a warm storm front over the North Sea. Since then, CloudSat has taken images of snowfall over Antarctica and a storm over east Africa.

The Antarctic snowstorm pictures were the first ever captured during this time of year, when the continent is in blackness.
Deborah Vane, deputy principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said the project could help scientists make more accurate forecasts about snow and rain and about the probable results if the climate changes.

Vane said, “Fresh water on this planet is a precious commodity and it comes from clouds,” she added, “If we can better understand the process that controls precipitation in clouds, we can better understand the challenges we might face in the future.”

Stating the project predictable, Stephens said, “It can answer the question 'Why is it dry here and not dry somewhere else?.”