The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration is preparing comprehensive archive of the April 2011 tornado outbreak. You’ll find the NOAA site here.  Along with many facts, the site also contains an image showing tornado tracks color-coded to show where the strongest ones were.  Yellow is strong; orange stronger and red shows the most severe:

Tracks of the tornadoes of April, 2011. Color indicates tornado intensity with red indicating the most intense. Credit: NOAA

Other imagery has been taken from space to track the impact of the tornado outbreak on the Southeast United States.  Visible imagery — essentially, high-resolution color photographs — taken from space show the scars left across the ground by the devastating storms.  Click the image for a larger view:

Visible satellite imagery reveals the scaring of the earth by the April, 2011 tornado outbreak. Destruction of trees and other vegitation reveals the barren earth beneath the once-dense forest.

Additionally, infrared satellite imagery–imagery that detects the temperature of the ground and clouds–also displays the scouring of the ground by the storms:

Infrared satellite imagery of the tornado tracks from the April 2011 outbreak. Source: NOAA

After recent disasters such as the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and now the 2011 tornado outbreak, Google has created a library of riveting paired photographs that display areas both before and after the storm.  Here’s a sample:

Google has paired several before and after photographs like this one showing the devastation of the Tuscaloosa Tornado of April 27, 2011. Source: Google

Snow blankets the center of Moscow in this file photo from 2007. If the mayor of Moscow has his way, the city will look much different this winter.

The mayor of Moscow has pledged his full support to a plan to seed the clouds upwind from Moscow as a means of encouraging precipitation to fall from the clouds before they reach Moscow.  It is his hope that the clouds that then blanket the city will not result in the usual heavy winter snowfalls Moscow is so well known for.

The Mayor is planning to spend several million dollars to pay the Russian Air Force to fly over the city and spray a fine mist of particulate matter into the clouds.  The hope is that the particles that are sprayed will cause moisture to quickly condense on them, forming small cloud droplets or snowflakes much sooner than they would normally form.  This “fast-forwaring” of the snow-making process would cause the clouds to create snow that would then fall to the ground before the clouds ever arrived in Moscow.  The mayor contends such efforts would save the city millions in snow-removal costs and the quality of life improvement would be immeasurable.

Just last week, a mysterious cloud formation was spotted over Moscow.  Referred to as a “halo cloud” or a “UFO cloud,” the rare formation likely had a much more innocuous title as a “hole punch cloud.”  The cloud was filmed and the images quickly spread across the web, creating quite a buzz about its cause.  As reported earlier by MeteorologyNews.com, the cloud was likely a simple hole punch cloud, whose origins are somewhat mysterious, although several theories support the notion that such clouds form when a cloud is comprised of ice crystals and super-cooled water droplets that are disturbed.  The disturbance causes a quick transformation of the super-cooled droplets into ice which clings to existing ice particles and floats to the ground or sublimates.  The quick dissipation of the water droplets creates a void, or hole.

It thus seems reasonable that the disturbance that caused last week’s hole punch cloud could reasonably be assumed to have been efforts by the Russian Air Force to test out its most recent cloud-seeding efforts in anticipation of the upcoming winter.  The Russian military has offered no confirmation of such suspicion.

It was recently reported that Mayor Yury Luzhkov is no stranger to such grand efforts to manipulate nature. In 2007, the Russian government made a similar attempt at cloud seeding by dropping cement dust into clouds.  But that attempt led to disastrous results:  one bag of cement dust failed to dissipate in the cloud, instead falling to earth and crashing through the roof of a house.  In 2002, he led a project to reverse the flow of the River Ob in Siberia in an effort to help irrigate the region’s agricultural zones.  Scientists have responded that such efforts were impractical, although such failures have not stopped Luzhkov from trying his hand at further manipulations of mother nature.

Such cloud seeding efforts are not new.  Going back to World War II, many countries have attempted to seed the clouds to either generate precipitation where it was needed or to prevent precipitation where it is unwanted.  As recently as early 2008, it was rumored that the Chinese government was planning such weather modification efforts as a means of scouring the air of smog prior to the Olympic Games, as well as ensuring rain-free days for outdoor sporting events.  It is unclear if such efforts were employed or if they were successful.

Wind turbines along the Buffalo Ridge in rural southwest Minnesota (2004)

A relatively new wind energy farm in central Wisconsin has created a newly-discovered, puzzling side effect:  interference with the local National Weather Service doppler radar.

The Butler Ridge wind farm was constructed in February of this year and contains a total of 36 wind turbines, each standing about 300 feet above ground level.  These windmills were build on a ridge line that is about 1100 feet above sea level, placing the turbines in an optimal location to benefit from the highest wind speeds in the region.  Coincidentally, the location is in the sight of the local doppler radar tower in Sullivan, WI that is approximately 30 miles south of the wind farm.

This image from April 1, 2009 displays the location and reflecdtivity of the wind farm 30 miles north of the radar site. Credit: NOAA

Doppler radar functions to detect atmospheric phenomena by sending out an electromagnetic signal and simultaneously “listening” for the signal to return if it is bounced off of an object.  Many objects will reflect the radar beam, most notably rain droplets, ice crystals, and snowflakes.  But as we reported earlier this year, doppler radar can also detect bats, birds, aircraft, surface traffic, and even tragedies like 9/11 and the Columbia disaster.  They are even believed to have the potential to alter the weather.

In the case of the Butler Ridge wind farm, the radar beam is being reflected by the large blades on the spinning turbines.  This electromagnetic energy is then reflected back to the radar dome and the radar detects the object.  The turbine blades then appear on the radar image.  This seemingly innocuous interference could have significant ramifications in the upcoming severe weather season though.

This image from the National Weather Service demonstrates how wind turbines can be mistaken for storms on doppler radar. Credit: NOAA

Doppler radar is arguably one of the most critical tools at the disposal of the National Weather Service when they look to provide timely watches and warnings of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.  By examining the output of doppler radars, meteorologists are able to detect and forecast thunderstorms that may become severe and where they may track.  But if the radar image is masked by interference such as the wind turbines, it is feared that severe weather watches and warnings may be less robust.

The National Weather Service Radar Operations Center has enlisted the help of the wind energy industry to try to alleviate these problems in the future by locating the wind farms in places that would not interfere with such radar signals.  They have published an extensive analysis of the problem.  The map below displays the locations (in red) of the doppler radar sites that may be impacted.  The yellow regions are those in which the radar beam travels close enough to the ground that it could be impacted by windmills constructed in those regions.

This map displays the locations of all National Weather Service radar locations (red) and the regions in which the radar beam is low enough to the ground that it may be impacted by windmills (yellow). Credit: NOAA

Meteorologists may be able to write software code that is able to filter out this interference, but such work can be costly and time-consuming.  The primary concern is that filtering the data to remove such interference may also increase the risk of filtering out true radar echoes – those of actual storms that must be detected for public safety.

With the mushrooming popularity of wind energy around the country, this problem is one that is sure to warrant further study and creative mitigation attempts.

A smaller spate of wildfires in early February did less damage, but was also well-monitored by the local agencies, including the Norman National Weather Service office which posted information concerning the wildfires near the Kansas border that were visible on local radar.

This week’s larger wildfires have been visible from even farther away:  from space.

Wildfires burning throughout Oklahoma were visible from space on Thursday evening. This image was captured by a heat-detecting infrared satellite. (Credit: NOAA)

On the image above, lighter shades indicate cooler temperatures, such as the high-altitude, cooler clouds visible in the northern portion of the state and also near the Red River south of Ardmore and Durant.  The darker shades indicate higher temperatures and, in this case, fires burning at ground level, as indicated in the yellow circles.

Good news is on the way:  Widespread moderate to heavy rain is forecast for the central Oklahoma corridor over the weekend.  This rainfall should significantly decrease the threat of more fires in an already scorched region. Below is the rainfall forecast from the Norman, Oklahoma National Weather Service Office.

Widespread rainfall is forecast for the weekend. Such rainfall should significantly decrease the wildfire theat in much of central Oklahoma. (Credit: NOAA)

The WSR-88D doppler radar out of Norman Oklahoma captured this image of smoke resulting from wildfires. Credit: National Weather Service

Several large grassland fires burned along the central Kansas/Oklahoma border.  Strong winds from the southwest helped fan the flames, blowing miles-long plumes of smoke to relatively high altitudes.  As the fires burned, the doppler radar stationed in Norman, Oklahoma was actually able to detect the smoke plumes as they drifted to the northeast.

One massive grass fire covered 16 square miles and burned throughout the afternoon and early evening near Crescent in Logan County.

Five wildfires also burned in Woodward and Harper counties. Woodward Fire Chief Steve Day says the largest blaze, near Selman, charred approximately 12,000 acres.

UPDATE 04/10/09:  The April Wildfires were also detected by meteorology technology:  See how the larger April fires were visible from space.

The path of a polar orbiting satellite above the Earth.

The National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is on track to launch a new weather satellite into space next month.

NOAA-N Prime will be the newest polar orbiting satellite that will be used not only to monitor weather and climate variables, but even to assist in search-and-resue missions and track wildlife migration patterns.

“NOAA-N Prime data will help us monitor current conditions in the atmosphere and oceans and keep tabs on long-term climate trends,” said Wayne Higgins, director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. “These data are increasingly important in polar regions, given the potential effects of a warming climate on the polar ice cap and sea ice extent.”

For more information about NOAA-N Prime, including a fact sheet detailing the instruments and photos of the satellite, visit the N Prime Satellite Web page.

While doppler weather radar is traditionally used to detect water and ice droplets in the sky – otherwise known as clouds and precipitation – weather radar has also been shown to detect birds, buildings, vehicular traffic, airplanes, and even the smoke from the collapsing World Trade Center towers and the disintegration of the Space Shuttle following the 2003 Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Speeding Traffic?

Take, for instance, the case of the National Weather Service doppler radar located just outside of Chicago, Illinois.  On August 12, 2008 the local doppler radar was able to detect traffic flowing on Interstates 55 and 57.  When a low-altitude layer of warm air developed over the region, the radar beam was refracted lower to the ground than normal.  The result was the radar beam being bounced off of vehicles along the area interstates.  (Click each image for a larger view).

What sets doppler radar apart from first-generation traditional radar tools is that doppler radar can detect velocities; that is, it can detect the speed at which droplets are moving toward or away from the radar site. Not only does the radar detect the presence of the vehicles, but also their velocities.  When the radar is switched into velocity mode, the display shows red and green shades – green representing movement toward the radar and red representing movement away from the radar site:

When keyed to the green and red shades represented in the image above, the radar indicates some traffic was flowing as fast as 115 knots (130mph).  The National Weather Service, however, states that this may simply be “noise” – false radar returns – rather than someone actually driving that fast.

Bats

When bats congregate in large swarms, their volume can reflect the radar signal in sufficient strength to be detected by the radar tower, as shown in this image (which also displays a supercell thunderstorm) from the Storm Prediction Center, taken over Texas in 2006:

The National Weather Service has archived a loop of radar images of the above even displaying a supercell thunderstorm swallowing a swarm of bats.

Birds and Migrations

The National Weather Service out of Green Bay, Wisconsin captured an amazing set of images displaying a large group of birds leaving from Green Island on the morning of August 10th, 2006:

Research is being done on how radar may actually be useful in tracking certain migratory species over large distances:  Radar technology – A tool for detecting migratory aerofauna.

Space Shuttle Columbia Disintegration

In February of 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry as it attempted to land in Cape Canaveral, Florida.  As the shuttle broke apart in the upper atmosphere, weather radar towers in the southern states detected the debris streaming through the atmosphere late that morning, as shown in this image from the Shreveport, LA National Weather Service office on the morning of February 1st, 2003:

The National Weather Service has compiled an in-depth archive of the Shuttle Columbia Diaster.

September 11th Attacks

Following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers in New York City as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, the New York City radar detected the plume of smoke slowly rising over New York City that morning (click image for larger view):

Sunrises and Sunsets

Whenever the sun gets low in the sky – at sunrise or sunset – its electromagnetic energy can wreck havoc with a doppler radar receiver.  When the energy is received by the radar site, the algorithms often display this energy as a “spike” on radar.  The images below are from the Twin cities radar site in Chanhassen, Minnesota.  Interestingly, the spike changes position with the seasons.  Click each image for a larger view:

Winter:  When the sun sets South of due West in the winter, the “sunset spike” indicates as much:

Summer:  When the sun sets North of due West:

Finally, when the sun rises and sets due East and West, respectively, the radar spike reflects that direction as well – an event that occurs twice each year – the first day of spring and the first day of fall:

Spring and Fall:

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More Information:

• Update 07/06/2011:  View radar images of a haboob (dust storm) over Phoenix Arizona here.
• To view your local doppler radar image, visit the National Weather Service Radar page.
• If you have more interesting radar images to share, please post in the comments.

NOAA deployed the final two tsunami detection buoys in the South Pacific this week, completing the buoy network and bolstering the U.S. tsunami warning system. This vast network of 39 stations provides coastal communities in the Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico with faster and more accurate tsunami warnings.

The buoys are ingenous little contraptions, designed to collect an array of quantitative data on the conditions from each site and relay that information back to central data collection and analysis points:

DART stations consist of a bottom pressure sensor anchored to the seafloor and a companion moored surface buoy. An acoustic link transmits data from the bottom pressure sensor to the surface buoy, and then satellite links relay the data to NOAA tsunami warning centers. The DART network serves as the cornerstone to the U.S. tsunami warning system.

This attempt comes via prompting from the catastrophic tsunami that struck Indonesia over three years ago:

Since the Indonesian tsunami of December 2004, NOAA has made significant upgrades to the U.S. tsunami warning system, including:

• Installing 49 new or upgraded tide gages
• Installing or upgrading eight seismic stations
• Expanding the network of DART buoys from six (exclusively in the eastern Pacific) to 39 (from the western Pacific to the Atlantic)
• Growing the number of TsunamiReady communities from 16 to more than 50 today
• Developing 26 inundation forecast models and implementing a new Tsunami Warning System
• Extending the operations of the Pacific and West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Centers to 24 hours a day
• Assisting Australia and Indonesia with installing tsunami warning systems off their coasts.

The sensors are able to monitor lightning strikes from a distance of thousands of miles, allowing scientists to investigate with greater accuracy how lightning produced within a hurricane’s eyewall is tied to the changing strength of that hurricane.

“There are very few observing systems that offer a broad view of a storm over the open ocean where hurricanes tend to build or lose strength,” said study lead author Kirt Squires. “This development is essential to improving the way meteorologists can look at a growing storm to judge just how harsh it will be.”

Researchers are planning on publicizing this new project in American Meteorological Society journal Monthly Weather Review.

As the sun gains more significance in the eyes of researchers examing the possible causes of terrestrial climate change (see more On Solar Variability and Global Warming), these three dimensional imaging techniques stand to provide a wealth of data that could assist researchers in understanding the complex, natural cycles of the sun’s energy output.

A link to the images (if not the images themselves) will be posted to this page as soon as they become available. For more on the plans, check out this article:

NASA scientists said 3-D images of the sun taken by the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory are expanding our understanding of solar physics.

The images, to be released Monday on the Internet, television and at museums, are also expected to help improve space weather forecasting.

The observatory, called STEREO, is part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Solar Terrestrial Probes program. That 2-year mission involves two nearly identical observatories — one ahead of Earth in its orbit, the other trailing behind — that will trace the flow of energy and matter from the sun to Earth.

The observatories are expected to reveal the 3-D structure of coronal mass ejections — violent eruptions of matter from the sun that can disrupt satellites and power grids — and help scientists understand why they occur.

NASA said STEREO will become a key addition to the fleet of space weather detection satellites by providing more accurate alerts for the arrival time of Earth-directed solar ejections.

Technorati Tags: Astronomy, Solar Variability, Sun, NASA, Space Weather