Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument sections

May marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of JPL’s Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite, on May 4, 2002. A selection of features, videos and animations highlight what AIRS has observed over the 20 years and the impact it has had.

The AIRS instrument on NASA’s Aqua Satellite has helped predict weather, and monitor trace gases, drought, volcanoes, and hints of flu.

In January 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted twice, sending plumes of ash, steam, and gas more than 30 kilometers high and causing unprecedented gravity, shock, and sound waves to move through the global atmosphere. AIRS observations of atmospheric waves and volcanic plumes created by the eruptions have led to the insights described below.

AIRS captures views of Hurricane Ida before and after landfall on August 29, 2021.

AIRS captured the progression of this slow-moving heat dome across the region from June 21 to 30, 2021.

While record-breaking heat enveloped the Pacific Northwest in June 2021, other parts of the Northern Hemisphere also saw early-summer temperatures climb.