For many atmospheric scientists, the Amazon Rainforest is a natural cloud laboratory. The vegetation exhales tremendous amounts of water vapor that drapes over the forest as a thick mist. The mist blends with layers of clouds that can reach from the treetops to altitudes of 10 kilometers. When the air over the Amazon is clear, the clouds that form over the forest are so like maritime clouds that scientists have referred to the Amazon as “the Green Ocean.” But increasingly, the air over the Amazon is not clear, at least not during the annual dry season.
Published Mar 11, 2008
This series of images shows aerosols (particles in the air) over the Amazon each September, the peak of the fire seasons, from 2005 through 2008. The amount of aerosols was unusually high in 2007, and unusually low in 2008.
Published Jun 30, 2009Image of the Day Atmosphere Land Life Human Presence Remote Sensing
With dozens of wildfires burning in a part of Russia best known for its frigid winters, the CALIPSO satellite offered this view through the clouds and smoke.
Published Jul 30, 2014
A ribbon of smoke connects two clusters of intense fires in central Russia in this photo-like image from August 12, 2010.
Published Aug 12, 2010
This photo-like image from August 4, 2010, shows intense fires burning across central Russia and a thick plume of smoke stretching about 3,000 kilometers (1,860 miles).
Published Aug 5, 2010
Gray-brown smoke drifts north over the Canadian Arctic and the Beaufort Sea in this true-color image from June 28, 2010.
Published Jun 30, 2010
