Today ’s forecast : cloudy with a chance of maps . The NASA Earth Observatory has condense more than a decade of data from theModerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS ) to make a single function of Earth ’s average cloud cover for the last 13 years .
Aroundtwo - thirdsof the Earth ’s surface is cover by clouds at any afford point , especially concentrated over the oceans . Clouds are so prevalent in the atmospheric state that when NASA does manage to capture satellite prototype of Earth without clouds , it ’s newsworthiness .
MODIS cloud observation from July 2002 to April 2015 show Earth has some perpetually sunny region . ( Dark blueing indicates few cloud on average , while white indicates frequent clouds . ) Notably , the desert of northern Africa and Saudi Arabia show up as clear black spots in an otherwise opaqueBlue Marble . you’re able to also piece out certain mountain range based on the phenomenon ofrain shadows : flock shape a form of wind instrument break , protect the neighborhood on the far side . As a outcome , one side of the mountain range forms clouds and remains lush and unripe , while the other side dry out . This design add to the dry weather west of the Sierra Nevadas in California ’s Death Valley and Occident of the Andes Mountains in Chile ’s Atacama Desert .
Cloud spread over from January 2015 to April 2015 . Image Credit : NASA Earth Observatory
By contrast , Europe and the upper half of South America seem to be perpetually hazy . Skies are more likely to be muddy near the equator , where tropic weather pattern create thunderstorms . Clouds are also more likely on the westerly sharpness of continents , because of the way sea water circulates due to Earth ’s rotary motion on its axis of rotation : water system at the aerofoil of the ocean gets pushed Occident , forth from the westerly edge of continents , and cool water from the bottom of the ocean rises to exchange it .
See more cloud single-valued function from MODIShere .
[ h / t : Scientific American ]
