OrbitalHub

NASA dicit:

“On February 27, 2019, we celebrated five years in orbit for the NASA/JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement mission, or GPM. Launched from Japan on February 27, 2014, GPM has changed the way we see precipitation. It has provided unprecedented three-dimensional views of precipitation light rain to intense thunderstorms. To mark its five years, we’re looking back at five big moments in GPM’s history of observing storms.”

Video Credit: NASA Goddard/Ryan Fitzgibbons

NASA dicit:

“A NASA F/A-18 performs the quiet supersonic dive maneuver of NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. The dive include climbing to 50,000 feet, followed by a supersonic, inverted dive. This creates shock waves in such a way that they are quieter in a specific area. The dive has been used in support of NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology project, to study perception feedback provided by members of the public.”

Video Credit: NASA Goddard/Jefferson Beck

NASA dicit:

“Just 114 miles from the newly-found Hiawatha impact crater under the ice of northwest Greenland, lies a possible second impact crater. The 22-mile wide feature would be the second crater found under an ice sheet, and if confirmed, would be the 22nd-largest crater on Earth. A NASA-led team discovered the feature using satellite data of the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet as well as radar measurements from the airborne campaign Operation IceBridge. Although the two massive craters lie fairly close to each other, it’s thought they weren’t created at the same time. The second crater looks to be much older than Hiawatha, with features that are significantly more eroded, and it contains older ice than its neighbor.”

Video Credit: NASA Goddard/Jefferson Beck

NASA dicit:

“Year 2018 was the fourth hottest year in the modern record, part of a decades-long trend of warming. The record dates back to 1880, when it became possible to collect consistent, reliable temperatures around the planet. NASA and NOAA work together to track the temperatures, part of ongoing research into our warming planet.”

Video Credit: NASA Goddard

NASA dicit:

“The Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, or GOLD, instrument launched aboard a commercial communications satellite in January 2018 to inspect the dynamic intermingling of space and Earth’s uppermost atmosphere. Together, GOLD and another NASA mission, Ionospheric Connection Explorer spacecraft, or ICON, will provide the most comprehensive of Earth’s upper atmosphere we’ve ever had.

Above the ozone layer, the ionosphere is a part of Earth’s atmosphere where particles have been cooked into a sea of electrically-charged electrons and ions by the Sun’s radiation. The ionosphere is co-mingled with the very highest — and quite thin — layers of Earth’s neutral upper atmosphere, making this region an area that is constantly in flux undergoing the push-and-pull between Earth’s conditions and those in space. Increasingly, these layers of near-Earth space are part of the human domain, as it’s home not only to astronauts, but to radio signals used to guide airplanes and ships, and satellites that provide our communications and GPS systems. Understanding the fundamental processes that govern our upper atmosphere and ionosphere is crucial to improve situational awareness that helps protect astronauts, spacecraft and humans on the ground.”

Video Credit: NASA Goddard

NASA dicit:

“A new NASA-led study has determined that an increase in snowfall accumulation over Antarctica during the 20th century mitigated sea level rise by 0.4 inches. However, Antarctica’s additional ice mass gained from snowfall only makes up for about a third of its current ice loss. These findings don’t necessarily mean that Antarctica is growing; it’s still losing mass, even with the extra snowfall. However, without these gains, the planet would have experienced even more sea level rise in the 20th century. The polar ice sheets grow via snow accumulation and shrink through melting and the production of icebergs. Presently, both ice sheets are imbalanced –losing more ice annually than they are gaining– and their ice loss is estimated to be currently causing about a half of the observed sea level rise.”

Video Credit: NASA Goddard