Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
With the launch of the next polar-orbiting JPSS satellite slated for Sept. 2022, meteorologist Jorel Torres, NOAA's JPSS Satellite Liaison, will be discussing the many ways that data from these Low Earth Orbiting satellites can be used and the role that JPSS-2 will play when it becomes operational in orbit.
With the launch of the next polar-orbiting JPSS satellite slated for Sept. 2022, meteorologist Jorel Torres, NOAA's JPSS Satellite Liaison, will be discussing the many ways that data from these Low Earth Orbiting satellites can be used and the role that JPSS-2 will play when it becomes operational in orbit.
![NOAA Satellites Track Atmospheric Rivers
Since Jan. 31, NOAA satellites have been closely monitoring a series of strong atmospheric rivers bringing heavy rain and mountain snow from central California to the Pacific Northwest, the Sierra, southern Cascades, and northern Rocky mountains.
Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of concentrated water vapor that transport moisture from warm tropical oceans to higher latitudes. In these regions, heat from the sun causes large amounts of water to evaporate into the atmosphere. When this humid air meets the mountains along the West Coast, the winds blow uphill, and the air cools, condenses, and precipitates, forming a torrent of rain and wind.
These systems vary in size and strength, but on average, they carry as much water vapor as the Mississippi River discharges at its mouth—and some can even transport up to 15 times that amount. When they make landfall, they unleash heavy rain or snow, accounting for roughly 30 to 50 percent of annual precipitation in the West Coast states.
NOAA and its partners utilize advanced satellite observations to study atmospheric rivers. Satellite data, combined with land-based observations, helps refine forecast models, improving predictions of atmospheric river intensity and duration to support water resource management and public safety.
Learn more:
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/noaa-satellites-track-powerful-atmospheric-rivers-impacting-the-west-coast
Credits:
NOAA, NASA, CIRA
Total Precipitable Water graphic courtesy of CIMSS
Music: “Argosy” by David Norath [BMI], Arun Ganapathy [BMI] and Victor Mercader [BMI]; Emperia Beta Publishing; Universal Production Music NOAA Satellites Track Atmospheric Rivers](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qmFKMwSsQPQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![5 Haunting Sights from NOAA Satellites
NOAA satellites keep vigilant watch over the Earth 24/7, and occasionally view some haunting images, shown above.
Also, dont let the GOES-T scare you... it didnt rise from the graveyard orbit! Our newest satellite will launch in February of next year, and we cant wait to see what else it will show us from above!
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Credits:
NOAA
NASA
CIRA
Additional imagery courtesy of CIMSS, and Lockheed Martin.
Stock footage provided by Iario/Pond5
Music:
“Ghost and Ghouls,” by Rob Manning [PRS]; Atmosphere; Universal Production Music 5 Haunting Sights from NOAA Satellites](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qmfO-JTTB-8/mqdefault.jpg)

![Fires Rage Across Texas Panhandle
The largest wildfire in Texas’s state history broke out on Feb. 26, 2024 and quickly spread within days, fueled by dry, windy conditions. By Monday, March 4, the blaze, known as the Smokehouse Creek fire, had become one of the largest fires in U.S. history, though the initial cause is still unclear.
The Smokehouse Creek Fire is one of five fires that ignited in the Panhandle last week, and as of March 7, has burned more than 1,058,000 acres (roughly 1,655 square miles)—an area larger than the state of Rhode Island—and has spread into Oklahoma. In addition to this fire, three others are continuing to burn in Texas this week: the Magenta Fire, the Windy Deuce fire, and the Grape Vine Creek fire.
Credits:
NOAA
NASA
CIRA
“Wildfires” by Magnum Opus [ASCAP]; Volta Music; Universal Production Music Fires Rage Across Texas Panhandle](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rEBvENm-vH4/mqdefault.jpg)
![Hurricane Ians Path of Destruction
On Sept. 28, Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa in southwestern Florida as a dangerous, high-end Category 4 storm after plowing a path of destruction through the Caribbean, bringing particularly heavy rainfall and dangerous surf to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and western Cuba. After crossing over the Florida peninsula, where it had weakened to a tropical storm, it strengthened again over the water to a Category 1 hurricane and made a second landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina.
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Read more:
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Credits:
NOAA
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
CIRA
Music:
“Ivy House” by Laurel Violet [PRS]; Chappell; Universal Production Music Hurricane Ians Path of Destruction](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/riPXi2jEUPc/mqdefault.jpg)

![Atmospheric Rivers Drench the Pacific Northwest
NOAA satellites are closely monitoring a strong atmospheric river that has been bringing excessive rainfall, flooding, and high elevation snow to the Pacific Northwest, a region already soaked by previous atmospheric rivers. Earlier this week, the National Weather Service issued flood alerts for Washington, Oregon, and Idaho for river and stream flooding, as well as Northern California for heavy rainfall and snowmelt.
Atmospheric rivers get their names from their long, narrow shape and the prodigious amount of water vapor they carry through the atmosphere–like a river in the sky. They form when winds over the Pacific draw up moisture from the band of warm, moist air over the tropics and channel it toward the West Coast of North America. Atmospheric rivers are the largest transport mechanisms for freshwater on Earth, and when they make landfall, they often release this water vapor in the form of rain or snow over relatively short periods of time.
Credits:
NOAA
NASA
CIRA
Photos courtesy of the Oregon Department of Transportation
Music: “Seven Sisters” by Clément Durand [SACEM]; Collection Ideale; Universal Production Music Atmospheric Rivers Drench the Pacific Northwest](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/t-SgavBxBgQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![Earth From Orbit: Fires Rage Across the Globe
As wildfires continue to rage in North America, the Dixie Fire became the second largest fire in California history. The fire has burned more than half a million acres, filling the air as far as Denver and Salt Lake City with smoke. And that’s just one of 108 large fires that have burned more than 2.4 million acres in 15 states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Meanwhile, by August 6, 2021, thick smoke from the hundreds of wildfires burning in Siberia had reached parts of Mongolia, western Greenland, and, for the first time in recorded history—the North Pole.
Learn more by reading about this weeks Earth From Orbit on our site: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/fires-rage-across-globe
Credit:
NOAA
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
CIRA
Additional imagery from Meteosat-8/EUMETSAT
Music:
“Revealing the Truth,” by Martin Tillman [BMI] & Matteo Pagamici [SUISA]; Atmosphere; Universal Production Music Earth From Orbit: Fires Rage Across the Globe](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tipcXe-kL68/mqdefault.jpg)
![NOAA Satellites Monitor Western Wildfire Outbreak
NOAA satellites have been monitoring significant wildfire activity that erupted across the western U.S. in June 2026 and continue to burn.
View and download on the NESDIS website:
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/noaa-satellites-monitor-western-wildfire-outbreak.
Credits:
NOAA
NASA
The Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA)
Music:
Title: A Twinkle In The Matrix
Composers: Amon Turner [PRS] 10%, Eben Stone [PRS] 10%, Joe Kora [PRS] 80%
Publishers: Freshworx Music Limited [PRS] 100%
Album: Oxygenate The idea
Catalog: FRX086
Track number: FRX086-19
Labels: Freshworx
German Label Code: LC 78182
ISRC: UK-QUJ-23-01020 NOAA Satellites Monitor Western Wildfire Outbreak](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uQl8mLNaw40/mqdefault.jpg)
![Earth from Orbit: First Atlantic Hurricanes of 2022 Arrive
After a slow start to the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, activity has ramped up with the first two hurricanes forming during the first week of September.
The Atlantic went without a named storm for nearly two months, from July 6 through Aug 31. August passed without a named storm for the first time since 1997. Tropical Storm Danielle formed on Sept. 1 in the far North Atlantic. The storm gained strength unusually far north where hurricanes are rare. Record-warm ocean temperatures fueled Danielle, which strengthened into a hurricane on Sept. 2, after 332 days without an active hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.
Read more:
https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/earth-orbit-first-atlantic-hurricanes-of-2022-arrive
Credits:
NOAA
NASA
CIRA
Music:
“Peace From Within” by Paul Reeves [PRS]; Freshworx; Universal Production Music Earth from Orbit: First Atlantic Hurricanes of 2022 Arrive](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/v70Bqdcxcl4/mqdefault.jpg)
