Challenge: Earth live

Preventing the impact of natural disasters

Our planet is changing. We take care of It.

We develop a website that leverages NASA imagery and climate data to illustrate the impacts of our changing Earth apply to prevent the impact of natural disasters.

Data from AIRS

Launched aboard the NASA Earth Observing System satellite called "Aqua" in 2002, the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument suite constitutes an innovative spaceborne atmospheric sounding system comprised of the AIRS hyperspectral infrared instrument and two multichannel microwave instruments the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A) and the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB). Together these instruments observe global water and energy cycles, climate variation and trends, and the response of the climate system to increased greenhouse gases.

AIRS retrieved data products provide a daily global view of the three-dimensional physical state of the atmosphere (air temperature, water vapor, clouds) and the distribution of trace gas constituents (ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane).

The AIRS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite orbits Earth from pole-to-pole, fifteen times each day. The same area on Earth is covered two times per day, in a descending orbital pass which occurs at 1:30 am local time, and an ascending orbital pass at 1:30 pm local time. As the instrument moves along, it scans from side to side, creating a swath in which data is collected. At the north pole the swaths overlap but at the equator gaps occur between swaths. These gaps are eventually scanned within two to three days.

_{We extract the data from publications:
AIRS Science Team/Joao Texeira (2010), AIRS/Aqua Level 2 CO2 in the free troposphere (AIRS+AMSU), version 005, Greenbelt, MD, USA, Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), Accessed at 10.5067/AQUA/AIRS/DATA218
AIRS Science Team/Joao Texeira (2009), AIRS/Aqua Level 3 Daily CO2 in the free troposphere (AIRS-only), version 005, Greenbelt, MD, USA, Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), Accessed at 10.5067/AQUA/AIRS/DATA335}