Aerosol Profile Over Africa

The movie of the atmosphere over Africa is made from the GLAS GLA07 data product (attenuated, calibrated backscatter) comprising all nighttime (descending) passes between October 4 and 16, 2003. The colors indicate the scattering intensity with lowest to highest signal corresponding to blue, green, purple and white. An attempt was made to subdue clouds (which are normally white - the highest signals) by making them transparent so that the aerosols (desert dust over the Sahara and smoke from biomass burning over southern Africa) could be seen more plainly. Movie is courtesy of Steve Palm(SSAI), Jim Spinhirne (GSFC/NASA) and the Goddard Data Visualization Studio.

Aerosol Profile Over India

The movie of the atmosphere over India is made from the GLAS GLA07 data product (attenuated, calibrated backscatter) comprising all nighttime (descending) passes between October 28 to November 18 2003. The colors indicate the scattering intensity with lowest to highest signal corresponding to blue, green, purple and white.  An attempt was made to subdue clouds (which are normally white - the highest signals) by making them transparent so that the aerosols (mineral dust and anthropogenic pollution) could be seen more plainly. Movie is courtesy of Steve Palm(SSAI), Jim Spinhirne (GSFC/NASA) and the Goddard Data Visualization Studio.