Group for Earth Observation

No 78 - June 2023

On May 4 this year, Japan’s Himawari 9 satellite captured this image of Earthwhich includes the Moon at lower left. Refer to the Editorial for more details
Original data © 2023 JAXA and EUMETSATUseful User Groups

GEO MANAGEMENT TEAM
General Information
John Tellick,email: information@geo-web.org.uk

GEO Newsletter Editor

Weather Satellite Reports
This group provided weekly reports, updates and news
on the operational aspects of weather satellites.

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Les Hamilton,
email: geoeditor@geo-web.org.uk

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email: tech@geo-web.org.uk

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2

Les HamiltonT

he cover of this issue of the Newsletter carries a remarkable
image acquired by Japan’s Himawari 9 satellite, which
includes the Moon (shown full size opposite). David Taylor
spotted a similar image from Simon Proud posted on Twitter, andused his own EUMETCast data to select band 6 (2.3 µm), whichshowed the brightest lunar image. This was processed in his
MSG Data Manager to 8-bit JPEG followed by a little contrast andsharpening adjustment in Paint Shop Pro.

At last there is news of a new Meteor satellite. Both the Meteor M 2-3 satellite andits Fregat launcher were delivered to Vostochny cosmodrome earlier this year, andthere are high hopes of a July launch. You can read all the latest information in Carl
Reinemann’s article on page 4. Should there be updated information on the launch
after this Newsletter is published, you will ﬁnd it on Carl’s web page:https://usradioguy.com/satellites/meteor-m-no-2-3/

Contents
Meteor M 2-3: Probable July Launch
Antarctic Sea Ice reaches another Record Low
Antarctic Peninsula Glaciers on the Run
Nishinoshima island, Japan
Saving a Forest of One
Smoke from Canadian Fires reaches Europe
Mayotte’s Lagoon
Unseasonal high temperatures in Greenland
Unprecedented Sea Surface Temperatures of Global Oceans
Great Salt Lake level rises after record-breaking snowfall
Shrinking Lake Urmia
Heavy Rains Hit Drought-Stricken Horn of Africa
Cloud Streets over Labrador Sea
A Salty Desert Retreat
Glaciers in New Zealand threatened by Climate Change
Contrails criss-crioss the Iberian Peninsula
Volcanic Activity at Mexico’s Popocatépetl Volcano
Tulips abloom in the Netherlands
NASA Tracks and Projects Rising Seas
Saharan Dust Plume in the Mediterranean Basin
SicilyFrozen Lakes in Manitoba
Tropical Cyclone Ilsa
A Dazzling Aurora Borealis
Satellite Status

Carl Reinemann
NASA Earth Observatory
European Space Agency
European Space Agency
NASA Earth Observatory
Copernicus Image of the Day
NASA Earth Observatory
Les Hamilton
Copernicus Image of the Day
Copernicus Image of the Day
MODIS Web Image of the Day
NASA Earth Observatory
MODIS Web Image of the Day
NASA Earth Observatory
Copernicus Image of the Day
MODIS Web Image of the Day
Copernicus Image of the Day
Copernicus Image of the Day
NASA Earth Data
Copernicus Image of the Day
MODIS Web Image of the Day
MODIS Web Image of the Day
MODIS Web Image of the Day
NASA Earth Observatory

www.geo-web.org.uk

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Meteor M No 2-3
Possibility of a late July launchCarl Reinemann - https://usradioguy.com/

After years of delay there are at last signs that thelaunch of Russia’s Meteor M No 2-3 satellite could be
imminent as, on April 28 this year, a launch date ofJuly 28 was assigned. This not to say that this is byany means guaranteed as the Meteor program has
been continuously plagued by uncertainty: customdesigned to observe oceans with a high-resolution
phased-array radar Meteor M N2-3 has in fact beenin storage since 2016!
Historic Background
The Russian Meteor M Satellite program, which aims
to monitor weather patterns and provide accurate
climate data, was initially launched in 2014 with thesuccessful launch of Meteor M2. But since then, theMeteor programme has been plagued by technicalissues and bureaucratic obstacles as well as launch
failures and software malfunctions. In November
2017, the launch of the Meteor-M N-1 satellite
failed due to a programming error which caused the
payload to ditch into the North Atlantic ocean.

The upper-stage Fregat being delivered to
Vostochny cosmodrome in February 2023
Image: Roscosmos

The repeated delays to the Meteor M program havecaused concern among scientists and meteorologists
who rely on the data provided by these satellites tomake accurate weather predictions. This delay has
also affected Russia’s ability to provide climate data
to the international community and participate inglobal climate research initiatives.
By the middle of 2020, the launch of Meteor M2-3
was delayed by 12 months till the end of 2021, at
which time it was planned to launch Meteor M2-4
in early 2022 and Meteor M2-5 in the first half of2023. But all these dates lapsed as the launch dateof Meteor M 2-3 continued to advance, with proposed
launch dates in February, March and June this year.
At the time of writing, a date of July 28th has been
set.

Meteor-M № 2-3 arriving at the
Vostochny Cosmodrome
Image: Roscosmos

Interestingly enough, in my search for information, I
contacted a private space tourist company that offers
ground tours for rocket launch viewing in Russia.
Even they could not give me a date for the launch of
Meteor M2-3, just telling me, ‘it will launch when the
rubles say it will’.
Latest Developments
In February this year, the Fregat Upper Stage for
the Soyuz launch vehicle was delivered to Vostochny
Cosmodrone in the Amur Oblast in Russia’s
Far East, and the Meteor‑M No 2-3 satellite wasdelivered for installation in the aero shell along withother satellites that are hitching a ride. Compared

One of the Meteor M2 satellites undergoing testingprior to mating with its Fregat launcher
Image: Roscosmos

www.geo-web.org.uk

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with earlier Meteor-M craft, the new satellite isadditionally equipped with an onboard radarsystem based on an active phased antenna array,and heliogeophysical instruments (a short-wavereflected radiation meter and a radio frequency mass
spectrometer). These will ensure all-weather radar
monitoring of the Northern Sea Route and expand
the range of controlled heliogeophysical parameters.
April Update
An update from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in mid
April announced that their Launch Schedule for
Meteor-M No.2‑3 aboard the Soyuz 2.1b launcher
had again been delayed, with an anticipated
July 28, 2023 launch date. The actual time of thelaunch was not specified, but if and when the launchdoes take place, it will be from Cosmodrome Site 1Sat the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Siberia, RussianFederation.
As is usual these days, the launcher payload will
include numerous other satellites as well. Manyof these are small ‘Cube Sats’ and/or ‘Nano Sats’.
Two cubesats, Yarilo No 3 and Yarilo No 4, aresolar research microsats developed by the Bauman
Moscow State Technical University which will be
manoeuvred using solar sails. Interestingly they willbe transmitting on 433 MHz.
I will continue to post updated information on thislaunch on my USRadioGuy website at the URL below:
https://usradioguy.com/satellites/meteor-m-no-2-3/

A Soyuz/Fregat launcher on its launchpad
Image: Roscosmos

Cyclone Mocha
Copernicus Image of the Day
This image, acquired by theCopernicus Sentinel-3 satellites
on May 14, 2023, shows
Cyclone Mocha before it madelandfall along the coasts of
Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Mocha struck the Bay of
Bengal coastlines as acategory‑4 equivalent cyclone,bringing heavy rain, windsof up to 195 km/h, andcoastal flooding. Myanmar,
particularly the western
Rakhine state, experienced
significant destruction, withup to 90% of the capitalcity, Sittwe destroyed. The
storm’s impact included power
outages, fallen trees, disrupted
telecommunications, anddamage to camps for displaced
Rohingya.

Image: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery

www.geo-web.org.uk

5Antarctic Sea Ice Reaches Another Record Low
NASA Earth Observatory
Story by Kathyrn Hansen

In February 2023, sea ice around
Antarctica reached the lowest extent everobserved since the start of the satellite
record in 1979. But despite several recent
years of low extents, the long-term trend
for sea ice in southern polar waters isessentially flat: it is the declines in sea
ice at the other pole—in the Arctic—that
are pushing the global sea ice trend
downward.
Sea ice around Antarctica reached its
lowest extent on February 21, 2023, at
1.79 million square kilometers (691,000
square miles). That’s 130,000 square
kilometres below the previous recordlow reached on February 25, 2022—adifference that equates to an area about
the size of New York state. It marks thesecond time that scientists have observed
the ice shrinking below two million square
kilometres.
The map in figure 1 shows the ice extent
on the day of its record low. To determine
extent, scientists project satellite
observations of sea ice on to a grid andthen add up the total area of each cellthat is at least 15% ice-covered. The
yellow outline shows the median sea ice
extent for February from 1981–2010. A
median is the middle value: that is, halfof the extents were larger than the yellow
line and half were smaller.

Figure 1
Antarctic Sea Ice at its record low on February 21, 2023
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin,using data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

Amid year-to-year variability, sea ice
trends in the Antarctic prior to 2016 weregenerally headed slightly upward in all
months. Since then, several years hit newrecord lows, including 2017, 2022, andnow 2023.
“There is some discussion about
the Antarctic sea ice undergoinga regime-shift since 2016 towarda generally lower extent, and thatmaybe this could be a response to
global warming; that is, the warming
signal is starting to be seen in the
Antarctic sea ice above the year-toyear variability,” said Walt Meier, asea ice scientist at the National Snowand Ice Data Center (NSIDC). “But
it is hard to say at this point if it is areal shift and response to warming, orjust a temporal multi-year variation.”

Figure 2
Antarctic Sea Ice Trends over the years

www.geo-web.org.uk

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The NOAA 20 satellite captured this image of Tropical
Cyclone Freddy skirting the islands of Mauritius andRéunion in the Indian Ocean on February 20, 2023.
Freddy, which initially developed off the North
Australian coast on February 6, 2023, spent a record
32 days traversing the entire Indian Ocean, becoming

the longest-lived tropical cyclone ever recorded.
During its zig-zag travels, Freddy made repeat visits
to both Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi before
being finally being downgraded over Zimbabwe on
March 14.
Image: NASA Worldview Snapshots(https://wvs.earthdata.nasa.gov)

www.geo-web.org.uk

77Antarctic Peninsula Glaciers on the Run
European Space Agency
Like many places, the Antarctic Peninsula is falling victim
to rising temperatures. However, when scientists usedradar images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission
acquired between 2014 and 2021, they were taken abackto discover just how the fast 105 glaciers on the west coast
are flowing in the summer months.
The Antarctic Peninsula is the most northern and warmest
region of Antarctica, and with a 1000 kilometre longmountainous spine, it is home to a rich marine ecosystem.
The peninsula holds enough ice to raise global sea levels

by around seven centimetres, and is rapidly changing in
response to the climate crisis.
Along the west coast of the peninsula, over one hundredlarge glaciers drain ice from the ice sheet directly into theSouthern Ocean. A team of scientists from the Universityof Leeds in the UK and the Utrecht University in the
Netherlands have processed over 10,000 Copernicus
Sentinel-1 radar images to measure the speed of these
glaciers on the Peninsula’s west coast over the six-year
period between 2014 and 2021.

© Image contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2014–2021), processed by University of Leeds/ESA

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A recent paper published in thejournal Nature Geoscience [1]describes how they found that theglaciers experiencing the most
seasonal change actually flow
over 22% faster in summer than in
winter, with all glaciers in this region
speeding up by 12% on average. This
new discovery of faster summer ice
speeds had not been seen before inthis region of Antarctica.
Climate models of snow melt andocean temperature were used toinvestigate what was driving thissummer speed-up. The data showedthat the glacier speed-up occurs at
the same time as water from melting
snow and warmer ocean temperatures
are present in the summer, showing
how glaciers in this region of
Antarctica can respond quickly tochanges in the environment.
Ben Wallis, from the University ofLeeds, said:“What’s exciting about this study isthat it shows how sensitive glaciersin Antarctica are to the environment.
We’ve known for a long time thatglaciers in Greenland have aseasonal behaviour, but it’s only
now that satellite data has shown
similar behaviour in Antarctica.
“Originally, we didn’t plan to focus
on the west coast of the Peninsula,
but after seeing some interesting
signals on Breguet Glacier, weinvestigated further and foundsummertime speed-ups werewidespread along the whole coast.”

Antarctica air temperature anomaly 2017-2022

Thanks to its ability to acquire images
regardless of day or night and in all
weather conditions, the Copernicus
Sentinel-1 radar mission is key tomonitoring ice change in the polar
regions. While there are still two more
Sentinel-1 satellites to launch in thisfamily to continue the work of thefirst two satellites, other satellites ina new family of Copernicus Sentinel
Expansion Missions are being builtthat will take polar monitoring farther
into the future.
ESA’s Craig Donlon noted: “This study
highlights how high-resolution satellite

images can help us monitor how theenvironment is changing in remoteregions. Future satellites, such as
the family of Copernicus Sentinel
Expansion Missions, promise to bringenhanced continuity and capabilities
that will spearhead further insight into
the characteristics and processes
governing ice mass balance and sealevel rise.”
Reference

1 Widespread seasonal speed-up of west
Antarctic Peninsula glaciers from 2014 to2021
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-02301131-4

Anna Hogg, also from the Universityof Leeds, added:“These results show that it isessential to account for short-termseasonal change in glacier speeds
when measuring how much ice
is being lost from Antarctica andcontributing to global sea-level rise.
“The Antarctic Peninsula has seensome of the most rapid warmingof any region on Earth. Continuing
work like this will help glaciologists
monitor how quickly change isoccurring, enabling accurate
assessments of how Earth’s ice will
respond to climate change.”

Radar image of the Trooz Glacier on the Antarctic Penisula in 2021
Image: ESA

You can view a video of the Trooz glacier in motion at the link below.
https://dlmultimedia.esa.int/download/public/
videos/2023/02/053/2302_053_AR_EN.mp4

www.geo-web.org.uk

9Nishinoshima Island, Japan
European Space Agency

Image contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2021), processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

This Copernicus Sentinel-2 image features the Japaneseisland of Nishinoshima, in the northwest Pacific Ocean.
One of the Ogasawara Islands, Nishinoshima is a small
uninhabited volcanic island roughly 1000 kilometre southof Tokyo. Volcanic activity along the western edge of the
Pacific Ring of Fire gave rise to this island, which is in fact
the tip of a submerged volcano.
Until 1974, only a part of the ridge of the otherwise
submerged caldera was visible, and the island wasabout 700 metres long and 200 metres wide. Since then,Nishinoshima has experienced alternating periods of
explosive activity and calm, but lava from various eruptions
over the years has led to the island growing bigger. In thisimage, acquired in January 2021, the island measured
around 2.3 kilometres in the north-south direction and 2
kilometres in the east-west direction.
The yellowish discolouration of the water around the islandis due to volcanic minerals, gas and seafloor sediment thatis being stirred up by the volcanic activity. It stretches forabout 10 kilometre to the southeast, where ocean currents
turn it into bright green swirls.
A plume of gas and steam can be seen rising from thevolcano and drifting northeast over the Pacific Ocean. As
the plume rises higher, the steam condenses and forms
clouds.
Volcanic plumes are of particular concern to the airline
industry because ash can contaminate oxygen supplies
and damage jet engines. Atmospheric sensors on satellites
can identify the gases and aerosols released by eruptions,quantify their wider environmental impact and can help
provide early warnings to the aviation industry.
Satellite data can also be used to better understandvolcanic activity. Optical and radar instruments can image
lava flows, mudslides, ground fissures and earthquakes,
and be used to assess damage.

www.geo-web.org.uk

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Saving a Forest of One
NASA Earth Observatory
Story by Adam Voiland

When viewed from hundreds ofkilometres above Earth, this patchof aspen foliage in south-central
Utah looks somewhat ordinary(figure 1). But the leaves belong
to a colony that is actually quite
extraordinary. More than 40,000
genetically identical trees areconnected by a common rootsystem, and are part of a single
massive organism, a male quaking
aspen (Populus tremuloides), thatscientists have named Pando,
which means ‘I spread’ in Latin.
In the fall image (figure 2),
acquired with the Operational
Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on
Landsat 9, Pando’s yellow leaves
are visible for about 200 metreson either side of State Route 25
just west of Fish Lake. The darker
green forested areas surrounding
it are dominated by evergreen
trees, including spruce and fir.
Many of the other yellow areas in
the image are aspen stands thatare not part of Pando.

Figure 1 - Pando, imaged on August 11, 2021 by Landsat 9
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin
using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey

Pando’s trees and root systemspan 106 acres (43 hectares)
and weigh 5900 tonnes. That isroughly the size of 80 American
football fields and the weight of
15 jumbo jets, making Pando
among the largest and heaviest
land organisms on the planet.
(Offshore, sea grass and coral
reefs also grow to vast sizes,
but most likely do not carry theimmense weight of Pando.)
The precise age of Pando’s rootsystem is difficult to determine.
But scientists think the aspen
seed that started the plantsprouted several thousand years
ago, perhaps even as long as
14,000 years ago as ice retreatedfrom the Fish Lake Valley after
the height of the last glacial
maximum. Since sprouting, thatseed has grown and spread bysending up new shoots every
spring from its root system. These
shoots—sometimes called suckers

Figure 2 - Pando, imaged on September 28, 2021 by Landsat 9
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin
using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey

or ramets—are recognised as trees
as they grow to maturity. They
typically persist for about 100 to
150 years before dying back, evenas Pando sends up more shoots
and lives on.
But Pando has not been well in
recent decades.

www.geo-web.org.uk‘It’s dying,’ said ecologist
Paul Rogers, the director of
the Western Aspen Alliance at
Utah State University. ‘Muledeer—and to a smaller degree
cattle—frequent this area insuch numbers that they are
grazing on the young shoots
and stopping them from getting

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Figure 3 - This photograph shows more growth of young stems on the inside (left side) of one section of fencing
Photo by Paul C. Rogers (Western Aspen Alliance)

established. If you think of Pando as a village, it’sa village full of old people with very few children
growing up to take their place.’like predation and what can be done to keep deer
populations at more sustainable levels to address
the problem in a more comprehensive way.”

Rogers and a colleague from Utah State University
first reported in 2018 that Pando was in trouble.
Field measurements and a series of historical aerial
photographs made clear that the forest had thinned
considerably since the 1930s. In that study, and in
an update published in 2022, Rogers reported thatthe only parts of Pando that were showing signs ofregrowth were the parts that were fenced off fromdeer and cattle. The photograph above, taken by
Rogers, shows more growth of young stems on theinside (left side) of one section of fencing.

For Rogers, the challenges and management
questions don’t end at Pando’s edges. ‘Pando, thoughcharismatic and fascinating, is a microcosm for muchbigger, more global issues,’ he said. ‘We have tothink not just about Pando, but about how we keep
aspens—forests more broadly—all over the world
healthy and thriving as the climate changes andpeople put increasing pressure on ecosystems.’

However, Rogers wonders about how large arole fences should play in trying to save Pando.
‘Is fencing Pando off like a zoo animal the rightsolution’ he asked. ‘We also need to look at things

That is going to require a change in perspective that
expands far beyond Pando or this one part of Utah,
he added. “This Landsat image is a reminder of how
small even one of the world’s largest organisms isfrom a planetary perspective. We’re going to needmonitoring and conservation of aspen forests on a
global scale.’www.geo-web.org.uk

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Smoke from Canadian Fires reaches Europe
Copernicus Image of the Day

Canada is currently experiencing an
extremely severe fire season, which is having
far-reaching consequences. The smoke plume
generated by the fires has not only blanketed
the skies over North America but has also
begun to reach as far as northern Europe on
23 May. A notable instance occurred on 25

May, when one of the Copernicus Sentinel-3
satellites captured the smoke cloud over
Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
Data from the Copernicus Atmosphere
Monitoring Service provide high-resolution
forecasts of air quality in Europe.

Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery

www.geo-web.org.uk

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Mayotte’s Lagoon
NASA Earth Observatory
Story by Emily Cassidy

Millions of years ago, during the
Miocene Epoch, a series of volcanic
eruptions created a chain of islands in
the Indian Ocean between Madagascar
and the African mainland. Theseislands are now known as the Comoros
archipelago.
The oldest and easternmost islandsin the archipelago comprise a territory
known as Mayotte. Mayotte consists of
two principal islands, the main island(known as Grande Terre) and a smaller
island to the east, known as Pamandzior Petite Terre.
The image shown in figure 1, capturedby the Operational Land Imager (OLI)
on Landsat 8, shows the main islandin the centre of an outer ring of barrier
reefs and small islets, which form alagoon rich in marine biodiversity.
Corals and mangroves fringe the coastsof the main island.
Mayotte’s lagoon is home to a diversityof marine life, including corals,
clownfish, and green sea turtles.
But overfishing and coral bleaching
threaten the health of the ecosystem.
A 2022 study of corals in the western
Indian Ocean found that the Comoros
islands corals were at risk of collapse
in response to warming watertemperatures. A marine park, which
covers all of Mayotte and surrounding
waters, was established in 2010 toprotect its aquatic life.

Figure 1 - Landsat 8 image of Mayott and its encircling lagoon
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin
Using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey

A string of volcanic mountains span
the length of the main island. The
tallest peak is Mount Bénara, altitude
660 metres and just south of it stands
the island’s second-tallest summit,
Mount Choungui (593 metres) (figure 2).
Both of these mountains are home
to several species of birds that arevulnerable to extinction, including theyellow-billed Comoros olive pigeon(Columba pollenii) and the glossy black
Mayotte drongo (Dicrurus waldenii).
Geologic activity continues to shapethese islands. Although the islands
went many years without significant
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions,Figure 2 - Landsat 8 image of Mayott and its encircling atoll
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin
Using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey

www.geo-web.org.uk

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multiple earthquakes a day shook Mayotte between May
2018 and July 2019, and more than a dozen in that year
were of magnitude five or more. Landslides and othernatural hazards followed the earthquakes. The cause,scientists discovered, was the birth of an undersea
volcanic ridge and edifice, just 5 kilometres east of
Pamandzi. Using data from the global navigation satellite
system (GNSS), scientists learned that this seismic activity
caused the main island of Mayotte to shift eastward by
between 21 and 25 centimetres and sink approximately 10
to 19 centimetres.
The capital of Mayotte, Mamoudzou, is located on theeastern coast of the main island and looks across a
two kilometre channel to Pamandzi. Most of Mayotte’s
population of 310,000 live on the main island, but the
airport is located on southern tip of Pamandzi, shown infigure 3.
A lake on Pamandzi, called Dziana Dzaha, stands out
as a bright green oval in the north. Dziana Dzaha is a
crater lake with salt concentrations higher than those of
seawater. The salty, oxygen-poor lake is considered amodern analogue to environments of the Precambrian,when multi-cellular life began to form. Researchers havestudied the lake to understand the types of microbes thatflourish in extreme environments.

Figure 3 - Landsat 8 image of Mayott and its encircling atoll
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin
Using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey

Unseasonal high Temperatures in Greenland
Les Hamilton
Readers in the UK and western Europe will recall the intense cold snap in early March
this year when Arctic air swept south bringing the heaviest snowfalls and coldest freezing
temperatures for this month in over a decade. By contrast, southwest Greenland wasexperiencing a most unseasonable heatwave, with air temperatures more than 20°C
above the historical average for this time of year. On March 4, when the Sentinel‑2 image
below showing Nuuk, the Greenlandic capital, was acquired, the temperature reached arecord of 15.1°C, the highest March temperature ever recorded in this area of Greenland.

© Uwe Dedering / Creative
Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 3.0

Image Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery

www.geo-web.org.uk

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There was a heavy overnight snowfall over northern Scotland on March 7, 2023
© NASA Worldview Snapshots (https://wvs.earthdata.nasa.gov/)

www.geo-web.org.uk

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Unprecedented Sea Surface Temperatures of Global Oceans
Copernicus Image of the Day

Credit: European Union, Copernicus Marine Service data

This image illustrates the Sea Surface Temperature(SST) anomaly in the Mediterranean Sea and off theAtlantic coasts of the Iberian Peninsula and North
Africa, using data from the Copernicus Marine
Service. The visualisation highlights that the SST
anomalies reached around +3°C above the reference
value on 10 April.

These findings echo preliminary data from theUnited States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), which revealed that the
global average Sea Surface Temperature has hit
an all-time high (since satellite records began).
In particular, the ocean’s surface reached atemperature of 21.1°C at the beginning of April,
beating the previous high of 21°C set in 2016.

Great Salt Lake level rises afterrecord-breaking snowfall
Copernicus Image of the Day
This image, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2
satellites on April 10, 2023, shows the Great Salt Lake in
Utah, USA.
The Great Salt Lake was at its lowest level ever in
November 2022 as a result of months of record-breaking
drought. However, thanks to a record snow pack since
early 2023, the lake rose by over one metre in just a
few days. The statewide average snow pack in the area
reached 76.2 cm, beating the previous record of 73.2 cm
recorded in 1952.
Copernicus satellite data enables the monitoring of snow
cover around the globe and contributes to hydrologicalmonitoring by providing valuable information on the stateof water resources.

Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery

www.geo-web.org.uk

17

Shrinking Lake Urmia
MODIS Web Image of the Day

Seated near the Zagros Mountain range innorthwestern Iran, Lake Urmia was once thesecond-largest lake in the Middle East, supportinga rich ecosystem filled with fish, birds, and plants,
and held shores studded with tourist centres andhotels. Concerns about how excessive water use
and drought might affect the lake were expressed as
early as the 1970s. Only eight permanent rivers flow
into the lake, and more than 50 dams have been
constructed on those rivers, severely reducing waterflow into the lake.
In 2015, estimates from satellite imagery showedthat the lake had lost about 88% of its size between
2006 and 2015. In 2016, Scientific American
published an interview with Iranian botanist Hossein
Akhani, who described the changes he had seen overyears visiting the lake.
In 1987, he first visited to perform studies in thesaline waters of Lake Urmia. When asked when herealised that the lake was shrinking, he replied,

Lake Urmia, imaged by NASA’s Terra satellite on April 14, 2001
Image: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

“In 2001, when I visited the northeastern partof the lake to collect plants, I saw that the lake
wss receding and there were many areas where
the salt was exposed to earth. It was completely
different from what I saw in 1987.”
Lake Urmia has continued to shrink, and today isbarely a mineral-encrusted remnant of its former
self. The complete loss of this lake would be tragic
in many ways, from the flamingos who feed on theunique crustaceans that live in the saline waters,
to the loss of biodiverse wetlands, to the damage to
agriculture in the basin. In addition, the mineralcrust and bottom sediments contain not only salt,
but heavy toxic metals used in industry and toxic
agricultural substances. As the lakebed becomes
exposed and desiccated, these may become airborneand pose a risk to the environment and people.
In response to the shrinking of this valuable
resource, the Urmia Lake Restoration National
Committee (ULRNC) was established in 2013 to
study and fund a response to slow water loss and try
to restore at least some water to the lake. In 2016,
the Committee approved more than 80 projects inthe basin, including release of water from dams andplans to create a canal to bring water into Urmia. In
mid-February 2023, a long-delayed project designed
to divert water from the Kanisib Dam in the West
Azarbaijan province finally began to carry water. The
project consists of a 40 kilometre long tunnel and17 kilometre long canal, and promises to bring atleast a little water to the shriveling lake.

Lake Urmia, imaged by NASA’s Terra satellite on March 29, 2023
Image: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired
two true-colour images of Lake Urmia, one on March
29, 2023, and an earlier one on April 14, 2001. The
two images illustrate the dramatic changes over time.
In the center of each image is a dark round area.
This is an inactive volcano. At one time, Lake Urmia
completely surrounded the volcano, so that visitors
would have to take a boat to reach it. Even in theearlier 2001 image, waters had already recededso dramatically that the volcano would be easily
accessible by any tourist, with no risk of getting their
shoes damp.

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Heavy Rains Hit Drought-Stricken Horn of Africa
NASA Earth Observatory
Story by Emily Cassidy

Flash flooding from heavy rains killed
dozens and affected 300,000 people
in Ethiopia and Somalia in March
2023. The damaging flooding cameafter the region had experienced
almost three years of extreme
drought.
In the first 25 days of March, parts ofEthiopia received 5 to 10 centimetres
more rain than is usual for the period,
according to a report from Crop Monitor.
The Crop Monitor is part of the Groupon Earth Observations Global Agricultural
Monitoring Initiative (GEOGLAM), whichuses satellite data and modelling to
produce early warning reports for foodshortages.
The above-average rainfall usheredin an early start to the long Gu
Rains, which occur in March, April,and May in Eastern Africa. Theselong rains typically contribute up to
60% of the total annual rainfall to theHorn of Africa and play a big role inagricultural productivity.

Figure 1 - This MODIS image from NASA’s Terra satellite shows the Shabelle River in

the Somali region of Ethiopia on March 11, prior to the flooding
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin,using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview.

“Normally, the long rains begin in
Kenya and move north to Ethiopia
and Somalia,” said Caroline
Wainwright, a climate scientist at
Cardiff University in the United
Kingdom. “But this year, therains started concurrently, andthe final two weeks of March
were incredibly wet in all three
countries.”
Moderate to heavy rains in the
Ethiopian highlands overtopped banksof the Shabelle and Juba rivers.
Homes, schools, and health facilities
were destroyed along the banks ofthe two rivers, in southern Somalia
and eastern Ethiopia, according to theUnited Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA).
Flooding along the Shabelle Riverin the Somali region of Ethiopia canbe seen in the figure 2, acquired by
the Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
NASA’s Terra satellite. The image
is false colour which makes the

Figure 2 - The same region as imaged by NASA’s Terra satellite
following the rains on April 9, showing the flooding
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin,using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview

water (dark blue) stand out from its
surroundings. Vegetation is green andbare ground is brown. Figure 1 shows
the same area on March 11, 2023.
In the photograph on the following
page, taken by an astronaut aboard

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the International Space Station on
April 1, 2023, sediment-rich floodwater
can be seen overtopping the banks of
the Shabelle River near the EthiopiaSomalia border.

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Astronaut photograph ISS069-E-422 was acquired on April 1, 2023, with a Nikon D5 digital camera using an 400 millimetrelens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit,
Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by a member of the Expedition 69 crew.

The Horn of Africa has seen almost
three years of some of worst drought
conditions in history, according to
the Famine and Early Warning Systems
Network (FEWS NET). Ethiopia andSomalia have experienced five failed
rainy seasons since late 2020, whichhave displaced 1.4 million Somalis
and killed 3.8 million livestock. During
this time the Shabelle-Juba river
basins saw their lowest rainfall totals
since 1981.
“This flooding doesn’t just undo
three years of drought,” stated
Wainwright.

Her recent research into the drivers
and impacts of rainfall variability
in East Africa found that, from themid-1980s to 2010, the long rains
have been getting drier. In fact, theresearch team’s analysis of climate
projections found that the short rains
could deliver more rainfall than thelong rains by 2030–2040.

countries, respectively, and muchof the farmland in the region israin-fed. Although rainfall can
provide some relief, intense rainfall
following extensive drought canwash away crops and topsoil. Mostof the farms in the area also lackthe infrastructure to store water for
future use.

More than 1,000 hectares ofcropland have been swampedby recent rains, challenging the
agricultural economies in Ethiopia
and Somalia. Agriculture employs
67% and 80% of people in these

Even with the unexpectedly earlyand heavy rains this March, climate
models project that the long rains
this year will be drier than normal
and drought conditions are likely tocontinue.

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20

Cloud Streets over Labrador Sea
MODIS Web Image of the Day

Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

On March 23, 2023, the Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s
Terra satellite captured this true-colour image of aspectacular cloud formation above the Labrador Sea.

In this image, the sheets of fast ice clinging to theLabrador Peninsula are edged with delicate filigrees.
These delicate patterns are created by the interactionof thin ice floating over moving currents and waves.

The Labrador Sea is flanked by Canada’s Labrador
Peninsula in the southwest and Greenland in thenortheast. It is part of the North Atlantic Ocean andconnects to the Arctic Ocean via various straits andbays to the north. Springtime brings big changes
to the region, as fast ice—ice which clings toshore—and floating sea ice begin to melt as daylight
lengthens. Despite warming air temperature, strong
winds often blow from the north, carrying bitterly
frigid air. Both the melting ice and frigid air cancreate beautiful patterns when viewed from space.

The predominant pattern, however, consists of thelong, parallel bands of white that stretch across theLabrador Sea. Called ‘cloud streets’, this type of
cumulus cloud is common during the spring, whencold, dry air blows over comparatively warmer water.
The clouds form at the top of parallel cylinders ofrotating air, created by rising warm, moist air. On
the upward-rotating side of the cylinders (rising air),water vapour condenses and forms clouds. Alongthe downward-rotating side (descending air), skies
remain clear. The streets form along the direction of
the prevailing wind.

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Following a chilling winter and early spring, the British Isles enjoyed a summer-like respite for five days in mid
April when High Pressure settled over the North Sea bringing day-long sunshine and warm temperatures.
NASA’s Aqua satellite imaged the final day of this spell as rain clouds approached England from the east.
Image: NASA Worldview Snapshots (https://wvs.earthdata.nasa.gov)

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A Salty Desert Retreat
NASA Earth Observatory
Story by Lindsey Doermann

The salty Siwa Oasis is one of fivelarge oases scattered across Egypt’s
Western Desert, a vast sandy
expanse that is part of the Sahara.
Situated about 50 kilometres eastof the Libyan border and nearly
600 kilometres west of Cairo,
the region averages only about
10 millimetres of rainfall annually.
However, owing to its uniquegeology, there is currently enoughwater to support agriculture, tourism,and salt harvesting operations.
The oasis has sustained settlements
dating as far back as ancient Egypt’s
26th dynasty in the 6th century BCE.
Travellers to the area today canvisit, among other ruins, the temple
where Alexander the Great was said
to be pronounced the son of thedeity Amun. They may also delightin bobbing in the dense waters of its
many salt ponds.

Figure 1 - The Siwa oasis, imaged by the Operational Land Imager-2(OLI-2) aboard Landsat 9 on January 23, 2023

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat datafrom the U.S. Geological Survey.

Figure 1 shows several lakes
and nearby springs amid the arid
environment. It was captured on
January 23, 2023, by the Operational
Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on Landsat 9. The
array of lakes exists here becauseof a tectonically formed depressionthat reaches depths of 20 metres
below sea level. Surface water in the
depression is supplied by springs
that are fed by shallow groundwater,which in turn is supplied with waterfrom the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer
System (NSAS)—one of the largest
aquifers in the world.
Cultivated land, primarily used to
grow olives and date palms, isvisible in figure 2 as the dark areas
abutting the lakes. The extraction ofwater through wells for irrigation has
caused the surface area of the Siwa
lakes to fluctuate significantly.
Researchers monitoring the Siwa
region via remote sensing over the
past several decades have foundthat the surface area of the lakes
and the extent of waterlogged land
generally increase in tandem with
agricultural activity. Drainage in the

Figure 2 - The Siwa oasis, imaged by the Operational Land Imager-2(OLI-2) aboard Landsat 9 on January 23, 2023

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat datafrom the U.S. Geological Survey.

Siwa area is poor, so agricultural runoff
and excess irrigation water pumped
from wells tend to pool. Changes towell design and water management
have helped to mitigate these issues.

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But water is only part of Siwa’s story.
The area is rich in salt deposits,
which is evident in this detailed viewof evaporation ponds used for salt
harvesting (figure 3, on next page).

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Near-surface groundwater
has high salt content
and contributes to salt
accumulation in the topsoil.
Water from the deep
aquifer, while suitable for
irrigation, still contains
some salt and contributes
to soil salinity when it’sapplied to cropland.
The accumulation ofsalts in the soil andgroundwater has had aprofound impact on crop
yield. For example, one
study reported that olive
and date palm yields
decreased about 46% and55%, respectively, from2000 to 2011. Researchers
have proposed
establishing a surface
drainage network tosustain more agriculture.

Figure 3 - Evaporation ponds in the Siwa oasis, imaged by the Operational

Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) aboard Landsat 9 on January 23, 2023

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data fromthe U.S. Geological Survey.

Glaciers in New Zealand threatened by Climate Change
Copernicus Image of the Day

Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery

The glaciers in New Zealand are rapidly retreating due
to the effects of climate change, and it is predicted thatmany of them will vanish within the next decade. Among
those at risk is the Brewster Glacier, which can be seen inthis image acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2
satellites on 22 March, 2023. According to the scientists
at the National Institute of Water and AtmosphericResearch (NIWA) who monitor the glacier, it has lostits distinctive ‘happy, living’ features. The annual snowline survey conducted by NIWA highlights the alarming
rate of melting and the fact that it poses a serious threat
to the environment, water resources, as well as local
communities and wildlife that depend on the glaciers.
The Copernicus Sentinel satellites are essential tools formonitoring the changing conditions of the world’s glaciers.

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Contrails Crisscross the Iberian Peninsula
MODIS Web Image of the Day

Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFCLong streaks of cloud crisscrossed the skies
over the Iberian Peninsula on April 7, 2023. The
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired
this true-colour image of the complex pattern.
The streaks are a type of cirrus cloud known asa ‘contrail’. Cirrus clouds typically form in thesky when humidity is high, but contrails formin the wake of passing aircraft due to particles
and water vapour contained in their exhausts.
The temperature and humidity of the air affects
how long contrails last. When air is dry, contrails
last just seconds or minutes; but when the air ishumid, contrails can be long-lived. Young, freshly
formed contrails appear like neat lines, with sharp

and distinct sides. As contrails age, they spreadoutward until they become difficult to distinguishfrom naturally occurring cirrus clouds.
The complex set of contrails captured in thisimage is a mix of both young and older contrails
that have formed in the wake of many different
aircraft. Near the right side of the image, a few
thin lines stretch from the northeast to thesouthwest, marking the youngest contrails. The
majority, however, are older and appear as thickgray lines over the North Atlantic and passing
over the coast of Spain. A group of fuzzy cloudlike areas located inland are most likely older
contrails, while broad swaths of white over the
North Atlantic are banks of clouds.

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Volcanic Activity at Mexico’s Popocatépetl Volcano
Copernicus Image of the Day

Popocatépetl is one of the most active volcanoesof Mexico. At the end of April 2023, its volcanic
activity increased, with frequent explosions andemissions of ash and toxic gases. The National
Centre for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED)
and the National Autonomous Universityof Mexico (UNAM) issued a yellow alert andadvised people to stay away from the volcano.
This image, acquired by one of the Copernicus
Sentinel-2 satellites on April 26, 2023 at

17:18 UTC, shows the volcano’s emission
plume and hot spots in the crater.
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites play animportant role in volcanic activity monitoring
thanks to the Short-Wave InfraRed channelsof their Multispectral Instrument. The highspatial resolution and an average revisit timeof five days allow them to monitor different
volcanic processes and improve hot-spot
detection techniques.

Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery

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Tulips abloom in the Netherlands
Copernicus Image of the Day

Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery

As spring arrives, the mesmerising tulip fields of
the Netherlands burst into full bloom, adorning
the European landscape with an impressive arrayof vibrant colours. This image, acquired by a
Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite on April 30, 2023,
shows the breathtaking beauty of the blooming fields
near Julianadorp, a picturesque village located in
the province of North Holland known for its flowering
fields.

The image catches just the tulips’ hues of red, yellow
and pink, which create a kaleidoscope of colours
visible from space.
Copernicus plays a crucial role in agriculture byproviding valuable crop monitoring and management
data, such as identification of optimal planting times
and tracking plant health, ultimately enhancing
productivity and sustainability.

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NASA Uses 30-Year Satellite Record to Track and Project Rising Seas
NASA Earth Data

Observations from space show thatthe rate of sea level rise is increasing.
Knowing where and how much rise ishappening can help coastal planners
prepare for future hazards.
The average global sea level rose by
0.27 centimetres from 2021 to 2022,
according to a NASA analysis ofsatellite data. That’s the equivalent ofadding water from a million Olympicsize swimming pools to the ocean
every day for a year, and is part of amulti-decade trend of rising seas.
Since satellites began observing
sea surface height in 1993 with
the U.S.-French TOPEX/Poseidon
mission, the average global sea levelhas increased by 9.1 centimetres,
according to NASA’s Sea Level
Change science team. The annual
rate of rise—or how quickly sea level
rise is happening—that researchers
expect to see has also increased
from 0.20 cm per year in 1993 to 0.44
cm per year in 2022. Based on thelong-term satellite measurements, theprojected rate of sea level rise will hit
0.66 cm per year by 2050.
The graphic above shows rising sea
levels (in blue), obtained from data
recorded by a series of five satellites
starting in 1993.
“We have this clear view ofrecent sea level rise—and canbetter project how much and how
quickly the oceans will continue torise—because NASA and Centre
National d’Études Spatiales (CNES)
have gathered decades of ocean
observations. By combining thatdata with measurements from therest of the NASA fleet, we can also
understand why the ocean is rising,”
said Karen St. Germain, director ofNASA’s Earth Science Division in
Washington. “These fundamental
climate observations help shape
the operational services of manyother federal and international
agencies who are working withcoastal communities to mitigate andrespond to rising waters.”

This graphic shows rising sea levels (in blue) from data recorded by a series of fivesatellites starting in 1993. The solid red line shows the trajectory of rise from 1993 to
2022, illustrating that the rate of rise has more than doubled.
By 2040, sea levels could be 3.66 inches (9.3 cm) higher than today.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The 2022 increase was less thanthe expected annual rate becauseof a mild La Niña. During years withan especially strong La Niña climate
pattern, average global sea level
can even temporarily drop because
weather patterns shift in a way that
leads to more rainfall over land
instead of the ocean.
“With an increasing demand
for accurate and timely climate
information, NASA is committed
to providing annual sea level
observations and future
projections in order to help
vulnerable communities aroundthe world better understand therisks they face in a new climate,”
said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, aNASA program scientist for ocean
science. “Timely updates are key
to showing which climate trajectory
we are on.”
Despite natural influences like
La Niña, sea levels continue to risebecause of human-caused climate

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change driven by the excess amountsof greenhouse gases like carbon
dioxide that society pumps into
the atmosphere. Climate change
is melting Earth’s ice sheets andglaciers, adding more fresh water
to the ocean, while warming causes
the expansion of seawater. Both ofthese effects contribute to rising seas,
overriding many natural effects on sea
surface height.
“Tracking the greenhouse gasesthat we add to the atmospheretells us how hard we’re pushing
the climate, but sea levels show
us how much it’s responding,” said
Josh Willis, an oceanographer at
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in Southern California. “These
measurements are a criticalyardstick for how much humans
are reshaping the climate.”
A Long-Term Record
The measurements of sea surface
height that began 30 years ago with
TOPEX/Poseidon have continued

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through four subsequent missions led by NASA andpartners, including the French space agency CNES,
ESA (European Space Agency), and the U.S. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The most recent
mission in the series, Sentinel-6/Jason-CS (Continuityof Service), consists of two satellites that will extend
these measurements through 2030. The first of these twosatellites, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, launched in 2020,
with the second slated to head to orbit in 2025.
“The 30-year satellite record allows us to see
through the shorter-term shifts that happen naturally
in the ocean and helps us identify the trends thattell us where sea level is headed,” said JPL’s Ben
Hamlington, a sea level researcher who leads NASA’s
Sea Level Change science team.
Scientific and technical innovations by NASA andother space agencies have given researchers a better
understanding of the current state of the ocean on a global

scale. Specifically, radar altimeters have helped produce
ever-more precise measurements of sea level aroundthe world. To calculate sea level height, they bounce
microwave signals off the ocean’s surface and record thetime the signal takes to travel from a satellite to Earth andback, as well as the strength of the return signal.
When altimetry data from all ocean basins is combinedwith more than a century of observations from coastal
surface-based sources, together they dramatically expand
and improve our understanding of how sea surface
height is changing on a global scale. And when thosemeasurements of sea level are combined with other NASAdata sets on ice mass, land motion, and other Earthchanges, scientists can decipher why and how seas arerising.
Learn more about sea level and climate change at:https://sealevel.nasa.gov/

Saharan Dust Plume in the Mediterranean Basin
Copernicus Image of the Day
In early April 2023, multiple plumes of Saharan dust were observed originating from Africa, and on April,
Copernicus Sentinel-3 captured an image of a large plume stretching hundreds of kilometres from the coastof Libya to Türkiye. These dust plumes can have severe impacts on the environment, air quality, and humanhealth. Therefore, monitoring them is crucial for protecting human health and the environment.
The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service provides essential information on the movement andbehaviour of these Saharan dust plumes, enabling authorities to take preventive measures to minimise theirimpact.

Credit: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery

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The NOAA 20 satellite captured this splendid image of Cyclone Mocha over Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal on May 14, 2023
Image: NOAA

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Sicily
MODIS Web Image of the Day

The triangular-shaped island of Sicily sits at theheart of the Mediterranean Sea, positioned roughly
160 kilometres north of Tunisia, in north Africa,
and just three kilometres from the southern tipof mainland Italy. This strategic location has
placed the Mediterranean’s largest island at thecrossroads of history for many thousands of years
and through a variety of civilizations. The island
has been inhabited for at least 10,000 years.
On February 22, 2023, the Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-colour
image of Sicily surrounded by the blue waters of
the Mediterranean Sea, coloured in green, and thehighest peaks topped with winter snow.

In the east, a light gray plume can be seen risingfrom Sicily’s most iconic feature, Mount Etna,and blowing towards the southeast over theMediterranean. Standing at 3,329 metres tall,the volcano is in almost continuous eruption. In
late November 2022 a new fissure vent openedon Etna’s southeast crater, permitting lava toflow and beginning a new effusive eruption. On
February 8, 2023, the volcano observatory in
Catania released a bulletin for aviation services
mentioning that the effusive eruption at thesummit craters had ended. Low level activity
above background levels have continued, with very
little ash emission. The light gray plume captured
in this image is most likely consists primarily of
volcanic gases with little ash.

Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

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Frozen Lakes in Manitoba
MODIS Web Image of the Day

Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

The province of Manitoba, Canada has beencalled ‘the land of 100,000 lakes’ and, on
May 4, 2023, most of the many lakes and ponds
remained covered in ice.
On that same day, the Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-colour
image of Lake Winnipeg, said to be the 12thlargest freshwater lake on Earth, and several
surrounding lakes. To the west of northern
Lake Winnipeg, sits Lake Winnipegosis, andLake Manitoba stretches south of Winnipegosis.
Together, Lakes Winnipeg, Winnipegosis, andManitoba are often referred to as Manitoba’s
Great Lakes. The lakes are surrounded bywetlands and forest (dark green) and prairie or

grasslands (light tan) and are covered with brightwhite ice.
The origins of the lakes and surrounding
wetlands can be traced to the last ice age.
The wetlands were created in the low-lying
topography ground down by the advancing andretreating ice sheets. The three Manitoba Great
Lakes, however, are actual remnants of glacial
Lake Agassiz. This was an ice-dammed lake thatformed south of the Laurentide Ice Sheet about
14,500 years ago. At its largest, Lake Agassiz
was 1,125 kilometres long and 400 kilometreswide. As the ice dams melted and receded at theend of the ice age, about 8,000 years ago, outlets
to the sea opened and the lake drained, leaving
behind the deeper lakes.

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Tropical Cyclone Ilsa
MODIS Web Image of the Day

Around midnight local time on April 13, 2023, Tropical
Cyclone Ilsa made landfall in Western Australia. Bearing
winds that gusted to 298 kph (kilometres per hour), it
was one of the most potent storms to hit the area inrecent years.
Earlier that day, the Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terrasatellite acquired a true-colour image of the fierce
cyclone approaching the Western Australian coast. Near
the time this image was captured, Ilsa was approachingwith sustained winds of 240 kph. That equates to a
Category 5 storm on Australia’s intensity scale, which isequivalent to a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson
hurricane wind scale. Although the storm’s centre had
not yet reached the coast, its outer cloud bands werealready interacting with the land.
According to Western Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology,
winds were especially fierce at Bedout Island (obscuredin this image by clouds). Ground-based instruments
measured sustained wind speeds of 218 kph there—

topping the previous record of 194 kph measured at theisland during Cyclone George in 2007.
The storm crossed the coast about 120 kilometres
east-northeast of Port Hedland, maintaining Category 5
status on the Australian scale. By late April 14, Ilsa’s
windspeeds had decreased to near 80.5 kph, bringing it
to Category 1 on the Australian scale. The storm broughtdamaging winds and torrential rain across a large swathof Western Australia. Fortunately, major cities, suchas Port Hedland, were spared a direct hit and damage
appeared to be relatively mild.
The strongest winds appeared to have crossed overmore remote territory. Photos of severe damage
to buildings and a tractor-trailer overturned havecirculated on social media, as well as photos of neartotal destruction of the Pardoo Roadhouse, a remoterestaurant and gas station near Port Hedland. The
cyclone passed directly over Pardoo Station, a cattle
ranching operation, leaving only two buildings intact at
the main location.

Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC

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A Dazzling Aurora Borealis
NASA Earth Observatory
Story by Adam Voiland

As we move closer to the peak of solar cycle 25, activity on the Sun is ratcheting up. One
sign of this appeared in Earth’s atmosphere in the form of the dazzling display of the aurora
borealis that reached beyond the Arctic Circle deep into midlatitudes in late February 2023.

Figure 1 - This image of an aurora above North America as acquired by the Suomi-NPP satellite on February 28, 2023
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin
using VIIRS day-night band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership

In the early morning hours of
February 27, the Visible Infrared
Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)
on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP
satellite acquired figure 1, an imageof a ribbon of light in the skies over
Quebec and Ontario. The nighttime
satellite image was acquired with the
VIIRS ‘day‑night band,’ which detects
light in a range of wavelengths fromgreen to near-infrared and uses

filtering techniques to observe signals
such as airglow, auroras, city lights,
and reflected moonlight.
A day later, NASA astronaut Josh
Cassada took a photograph of theaurora (figure 2) from the International
Space Station. The photo wastaken while ISS was passing oversoutheastern Manitoba. His comment
on Twitter: “Absolutely unreal.”

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People on the ground reported
spotting the pulsating reds, greens,and purples of this aurora in Alaska,
Washington, Michigan, New York andas far south as Ohio, according to areport in The Washington Post.
A solar cycle is traditionally measured
by the rise and fall in the number ofsunspots, but it also coincides withincreases in solar flares, coroQDO

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This is a photograph of the aurora taken from the International Space STATIONThis astronaut photograph (ISS068-E-59877) was acquired on February 28, 2023, with a Nikon D5 digital
camera using an 24 millimetre lens and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and theEarth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center.

mass ejections (CMEs), radio emissions, and otherforms of space weather. These bursts of magnetised
plasma and energetic waves from the Sun’s atmospherecan energise the gases and particles in Earth’s
magnetosphere. These particles crash into Earth’s upper
atmosphere at altitudes of 100 to 400 kilometres, where
they excite oxygen and nitrogen molecules and release
photons. The results are rays, sheets, and curtains ofdancing light in the sky.
According to the NOAA Space Weather Prediction
Center, the Sun erupted with two CMEs on February 25
and 26, including one associated with an M6.2 solar flare.
The biggest flares are known as ‘X-class’, based on aclassification system that divides solar flares according totheir strength.
The smallest flares are A-class (near background levels),followed by B, C, M and X. Similar to the Richter scale forearthquakes, each letter represents a 10-fold increase inenergy output. In this case, geomagnetic storm activity
reached G3 on a scale from G1 to G5.

If you like watching auroral displays such as this one, you
can participate in aurora Citizen Science
https://science.nasa.gov/citizensciencethrough a project called Aurorasaurus.
https://www.aurorasaurus.org/

The project tracks auroras around the world via reports
to its website and on Twitter, then generates a real-time
global map of those reports.
Citizen scientists verify the tweets and reports, andeach verified sighting serves as a valuable datapoint forscientists to analyse and incorporate into space weathermodels. The project is a public-private partnership with the
New Mexico Consortium and is supported by the National
Science Foundation and NASA.
Forecasts from space weather experts indicate thenext peak of solar activity (solar maximum) will likely bereached in mid-2025.

www.geo-web.org.uk

35

Currently Active Satellites and Freqencies
Polar APT Satellites
Satellite

Frequency

StatusFormatImage Quality

NOAA 15

137.6200 MHz

On

APT

Intermittant sync problem

NOAA 18

137.9125 MHz

On

APT

Good

NOAA 19137.1000 MHz

On

APT

Good [1]Meteor M N2

137.1000 MHz

On

LRPT

Good [1]Meteor M N2-2

137.9000 MHz

Off

LRPT

System failure [8]Satellite

Frequency

Mode

FormatImage Quality

NOAA 151702.5 MHz

Omni

HRPT

sync problem

NOAA 18

1707.0 MHz

RHCP

HRPT

Good

NOAA 19

1698.0 MHz

RHCP

HRPT

Good

Feng Yun 3C

1701.4 MHz

RHCP

AHRPT

Inactive [2]Feng Yun 3D

7820.0 MHz

RHCP

AHRPT

Active {2}Polar HRPT/AHRPT Satellites

Feng Yun 3E

7860.0 Mz

RHCP

AHRPT

Commissioning

Metop B

1701.3 MHz

RHCP

AHRPT

Good

Metop C

1701.3 MHz

RHCP

AHRPT

Good

Meteor M N2

1700.0 MHz

RHCP

AHRPT

Off - probably terminal failure

Meteor M N2-2

1700.0 MHz

RHCP

AHRPT

Active [8]Geostationary Satellites
Satellite

Transmission Mode(s)Position

Status

45.5°EIODC - On

Meteosat 9

HRIT (digital)

Meteosat 10

HRIT (digital)

LRIT (digital)

9.5 E

Off [4]

Meteosat 11

HRIT (digital)

LRIT (digital)

0°W

On [3]

GOES-13GVAR 1685.7 MHz

LRIT 1691.0 MHz

61.6°E[5]

GOES-14GVAR 1685.7 MHz

LRIT 1691.0 MHz

105°W

Standby

GOES-15 (W)GVAR 1685.7 MHz

LRIT 1691.0 MHz

135°W

On [6]

GOES-16 (E)GRB 1686.6 MHz

HRIT 1694.1 MHz

75.2°W

On [7]

GOES-17

GRB 1686.6 MHz

HRIT 1694.1 MHz

104.7°W

On [7]

GOES 18

GRB 1686.6 MHz

HRIT 1694.1 MHz

137.0°W

On [7]MTSAT-1R

LRIT 1691.0 MHz

HRIT 1687.1 MHz

140°E

Standby

MTSAT-2

LRIT 1691.0 MHz

HRIT 1687.1 MHz

145°E

On

Feng Yun 2E

SVISSR (digital)

LRIT (digital)

86.5°EOn

Feng Yun 2F

SVISSR (digital)

LRIT (digital)

112.5°E

Standby

Feng Yun 2G

SVISSR (digital)

LRIT (digital)

99.5°EOn

Feng Yun 2H

SVISSR (digital)

LRIT (digital)

79.0°EOn

Feng Yun 4A

HRIT (digital)

LRIT (digital)

99.5°EOn

Feng Yun 4B

HRIT (digital)

LRIT (digital)

Just

Launched

Notes
1 LRPT Signals from Meteor M N2 may cause interference to NOAA 19
transmissions when the two footprints overlap.
2 These satellites employ a non-standard AHRPT format and cannot be received
with conventional receiving equipment.
3 Meteosat prime Full Earth Scan (FES) satellite
4 Meteosat prime Rapid Scanning Service (RSS) satellite.
5 Repurposed by US Space Force
6 GOES 15 also transmits EMWIN on 1692.700 MHz GOES 16 also transmits
EMWIN on 1694.100 MHz GOES 17 also transmits EMWIN
7 GOES Rebroadcast (GRB) provides the primary relay of full resolution, calibrated,near-real-time direct broadcast space relay of Level lb data from each instrument
and Level 2 data from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM). GRB replaces
the GOES VARiable (GVAR) service.
8 Following a collision with a micrometeorite, the power system aboard Meteor M2-2
has been compromised. AHRPT is still being transmitted when the solar panels are
sunlit, but there is insufficient battery power to enable the LRPT stream.

www.geo-web.org.uk

36