Artificial clouds help scientists understand the dynamics of particle motion in the ionosphere.
Published Jul 1, 2017
Circulation around a jet streak—a fast-moving pocket of air within the jet stream—formed this distinctive arc of clouds.
Published Dec 4, 2019
High-altitude clouds appeared as far south as the continental United States in early June 2015.
Published Jun 19, 2015
As spring turns to summer in the northern hemisphere, unusual streaks of clouds form high in the atmosphere around sunset.
Published Jun 27, 2019
Made from a model based on satellite data, these animations contrast wind patterns that brought drought to the U.S. Midwest in 1988 with those that brought floods in 1993.
Published Oct 5, 2010
An astronaut aboard the International Space Station shot this photograph looking north into the snow-covered landscape of Canada’s Coast Mountains, the Canadian Rockies, and Vancouver Island.
Published Jan 25, 2016
Noctilucent clouds float high enough in the atmosphere to capture a little bit of stray sunlight even after the Sun has set below them.
Published Dec 2, 2016
By the afternoon, clouds ring the volcanoes on the Indonesian island of Java.
Published May 28, 2017
The rare night-shining clouds seen in this photo are both forming more frequently and becoming brighter, trends that point to changes in the atmosphere linked to greenhouse gases.
Published Jan 27, 2011
In the northern hemisphere, night-shining clouds seem to be forming earlier and spreading farther each year, as they did in 2013.
Published Jun 25, 2013
High-altitude night-shining clouds form and dissipate on a daily cycle revealed in this series of images made from data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on NASA’s Aura satellite.
Published Jan 28, 2011
Researchers probed the auroral wind by shooting instruments into them in February 2013.
Published Feb 9, 2013
A pair of sounding rockets took aim at the aurora over Svalbard, Norway, to help scientists understand how Earth loses oxygen into space.
Published Dec 17, 2018
Extremely cold and wet conditions in the mesosphere have led to abundant noctilucent clouds.
Published Jul 9, 2020
Different air flow patterns at low and high altitudes provoke compelling cloud features over Indonesia.
Published Sep 8, 2014
Strong winds and the Andes Mountains clashed, resulting in a rare view of a bank of high cirrus clouds over South America.
Published Nov 3, 2013
