Daily Earth Maps from Space from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
Global Nighttime Air Temperature
Today's Near-Real-Time Satellite Feed
Last 3 Days Combined
Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit at 700 millibar atmospheric pressure
(700 mbar atmospheric pressure = 10,000 feet / 3,000 meters / 1.6 miles altitude)
The temperature of the atmosphere changes as you go up from Earth's surface. At what altitude are these temperature maps associated with?
AIRS can retrieve temperature data from different levels in the atmosphere. The temperatures you see here are found at an atmospheric pressure level of 700 millibar. Atmospheric pressure is highest at Earth's surface and then decreases as you go up in altitude. 700 millibar pressure occurs at approximately 10,000 ft (3,000 m) altitude.
Roughly 1/3 of the atmosphere's mass is found in the layer below 10,000 ft. This level of the atmosphere is located in the upper reaches of the lower troposphere, and the display of warm air masses, cold air masses, and frontal boundaries are particularly vivid at this pressure level.
What do the colors mean?
The color bar is the key to reading the temperature map. The bar will tell you the darkest purple color in the map shows where temperatures are -30 degrees F. Sky blue is approximately 20 degrees, yellow shows temperatures of around 40 degrees, and deepest red tops out at 70 degrees.
Why are there "stripes" of color in the real-time map?
The AIRS instrument on the Aqua satellite orbits Earth from pole to pole. Imagine if you held a beach ball and tried wrapping a ribbon around the ball, going from top to bottom then bottom to top. Depending on the width of the ribbon, it can take many loops to cover the entire ball. AIRS orbits Earth 15 times a day--not enough orbits for AIRS to completely cover the globe. The black areas between the colored stripes show where AIRS has not yet retrieved data. We call these areas "gores". The stripes in the map shows where AIRS collected data in it's orbital path. We call this stripe a "swath".
> View an Aqua satellite orbit animation
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What do the black areas in the map signify?
In addition to the gores explained in the paragraph above, this map displays nighttime temperatures only, so data retrieved by AIRS during the night are not included (which explains the big empty area). Black areas can also show where the 700 millibar pressure surface intersects mountainous terrain, such as in the western part of North and South America. Also, AIRS was designed to retrieve data in clear skies or skies with speckled or thin clouds. So black areas can also show where dense clouds have collected.
View Today's Data Granule Maps
AIRS data is sectioned into pieces called "granules".
DID YOU KNOW?
The circulation of air over Earth is caused in part by the unequal heating over the surface of the Earth.