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Sources: BBC, National Weather Services, Intellicast, Space Science and Engineering Center, the Met Office, Yahoo! Weather
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TODAY’S HEADLINES
TODAY’S
EXTREMES
Hottest: Two Boats School, Ascension Island, 34°C
Coldest: Vasa övningsskola, Finland, -6.8°C
Windiest: Chaldon Primary School, Surrey, UK; IES Vidal i Barraquer, Tarragona, Spain; both 44 km/h
Wettest: Jakarta International School, Indonesia, 87.7 mm
TODAY’S REVIEW OF METLINK
OBSERVATIONS
Have you looked at today’s weathercams? If not, click here.
To view today’s observations in the database, click here.
To find out how your observations compare with the average for March, click here.
NB: It is early spring in the northern hemisphere, early autumn in the southern.
A feature of the weather in the MetLink world this week has been the lack of heavy rain. Where rain has fallen, amounts have been quite small (less than 10 mm), and many places have been dry and sunny. Another feature has been that most places in the MetLink world have been warmer than average for the time of year.
AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, INDIA AND INDONESIA
"Another beautiful day" at Pembroke School in New Zealand. Temperature 18.0°C at 10 am Local Time (21:00 GMT on 12 March). Cloud amount 5 oktas of cumulus. Quite windy, though (33 km/h from the north-west). Maximum temperature 20.0°C, minimum 8.0°C. Similar weather across the Tasman Sea in Tasmania, where, at the Marine Discovery Centre in Woodbridge, the temperature was 17°C at 8.50 am Local Time (21:50 GMT on 12 March). Cloud amount 6 oktas (cirrus and stratocumulus) and the wind from the north-west (but only 9 km/h). Maximum temperature 18°C, minimum 14°C.
Considerably warmer in Victoria. Temperature 29.0°C at Donald High School at 3 pm Local Time (04:00 GMT). Calm and cloudless. A very pleasant day for late summer. Maximum temperature 30.5°C, minimum 8.0°C. Very pleasant, too, at Millmerran in Queensland, where the temperature at 11.16 am Local Time (01:16 GMT) was 25°C and the sky cloudless. Wind from the east Force 1. Maximum temperature 32°C, minimum 14°C.
Dry and sunny but quite windy at Greenwood in Western Australia. Temperature at 12.05 pm (04:05 GMT) 25.8°C and the wind speed 33 km/h (from the north-east). Cloud amount 3 oktas (of cumulus and altocumulus). Maximum temperature 26.7°C, minimum 20.6°C. Another observation from Greenwood at 10.10 pm Local Time (14:10 GMT), when the temperature was 21.5°C and the sky almost cloudless (only 1 okta of cirrus cloud). "A mild calm humid autumn night", the students reported. "Only 33 mm (of rain) in the last three months".
A lot of rain in the gauge at Jakarta (87.7 mm) following a "heavy thunderstorm yesterday". Calm at 7 am Local Time (00:00 GMT) and the cloud amount only 2 oktas (of cirrus and altocumulus). Temperature then 23°C and relative humidity 90%. Maximum temperature 32°C, minimum 22°C. "Warm and sunny" at Singapore, where the temperature was 26.0°C at 2.30 pm Local Time (06:30 GMT) and the wind calm. Rather humid, though, with a relative humidity of 94%.
A warm, sunny and dry day at The Assam Valley School, Assam, north-east India. Temperature 31°C at 2 pm Local Time (08:30 GMT) and a small amount of cirrus cloud in the sky. Maximum temperature 33°C, minimum 21°C.
AFRICA AND ASCENSION
"Hot and cloudy", said the students of Two Boats School, Ascension Island. Temperature 28°C at 12.30 pm Local Time (12:30 GMT). Cloud amount 5 oktas of cumulus and altocumulus. Wind from the north-east, 9 km/h. Maximum temperature 34°C. Hot and cloudy in Botswana, too. Maximum temperature at Kgaswe Primary School 33°C. Sky completely covered with altocumulus cloud at 8 am Local Time (06:00 GMT). Temperature then 23°C and the wind a light (9 km/h) easterly. A contrast in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where there was almost no cloud (just 1 okta of cirrocumulus). Temperature 19.0°C at 10.40 am Local Time (07:40 GMT). Wind calm. Maximum temperature 22.0°C, minimum 2.0°C. Both figures below average for the time of year.
"A lovely calm sunny morning" at Highbury Preparatory School in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. "Yesterday’s rain came to nothing". Temperature 17°C at 7 am Local Time (05:00 GMT) and the cloud amount only one okta (of altocumulus). Maximum temperature 22°C, minimum 16°C. Still very pleasant at Highbury at 1 pm Local Time, when the cloud amount was 4 oktas (cumulus) and the temperature was 24°C. Wind 9 km/h from the east. "A pleasant afternoon for cricket matches", the students said.
Sunny, too, at Micklefield School, Cape Town. Just one okta of cumulus and stratocumulus cloud at 10.30 am Local Time (08:30 GMT) but quite breezy (24 km/h from the north). Temperature 21°C. Maximum temperature 21°C, minimum 20°C. Another place that was calm and sunny was Port Elizabeth, where, at the Collegiate High School, there was a cloudless sky at 1.05 pm Local Time (11:05 GMT). Temperature 25.5°C. Maximum temperature 27.5°C, minimum 16.1°C.
EUROPE
"A beautiful day" in Constanta, Romania. "The sun shines and the wind isn’t blowing". Three observations received today from Carmen Sylva High School, the first made at 8 am Local Time (06:00 GMT), when the cloud amount was three oktas (of cumulus, cumulonimbus, stratus and cirrostratus). Temperature then 4.3°C and the wind blowing at 15 km/h from the south-east. Maximum temperature 6.7°C, minimum 3.9°C. Again three oktas of cloud at 11.30 am Local Time, but now the only cloud type cirrocumulus. Temperature at 11.30 9.1°C. Wind still south-easterly but only 3 km/h. Only one okta of cloud (cirrus) at 3 pm Local Time, when the temperature was 10.4°C. Wind now 9 km/h from the south-west.
A very pleasant day in Strasbourg, where there was very little cloud after the stratocumulus and altocumulus that was present at 8.30 am Local Time (07:30 GMT) had cleared. Temperature rose to 21°C, which is about 10°C above average for March. Calm all day. No cloud and only a light breeze (9 km/h from the south-west) at Milan at 11.15 am Local Time (10:15 GMT). Temperature 18°C. Maximum temperature and minimum temperature the same: 18°C.
Windy but sunny in Tarragona (Spain) at 12.20 pm Local Time (11:20 GMT). Wind blowing at 44 km/h from the north-east. Cloud amount 4 oktas (of cirrus and cirrostratus). Temperature 15.0°C. Maximum temperature 16.1°C, minimum 10.2°C. Cool and wet in Madrid today. Temperature 11°C at 9 am Local Time (08:00 GMT) but only 6°C at 3.25 pm. Overcast with cumulonimbus clouds at 9 am; overcast with stratus and stratocumulus cloud at 3.25 pm. Wind 9 km/h from the west at 9 am, 15 km/h from the north at 3.25 pm.
Calm and partly cloudy (5 oktas of medium and high cloud) at Luxembourg at 11.35 am Local Time (10:35 GMT). Temperature 16.2°C. Maximum temperature 25.0°C, minimum 8.5°C. Both considerably above average for the time of year. Slight rain and light hail at Aizpute in Latvia today. Sky completely overcast. Temperature 3.4°C at 12.34 pm Local Time (10:34 GMT). Maximum temperature 4.1°C, minimum 1.5°C. Wind 9 km/h from the south-west.
Still cold in Finland. Minimum temperature at Vasa last night —6.8°C. Warmer, though, by 1.55 pm Local Time (11:55 GMT), when the temperature was +1.9°C. Maximum temperature 2.7°C. Slight snow falling at Mikkeli at 12 noon Local Time (10:00 GMT). Temperature +0.6°C and the wind Force 1 from the west. Sky completely overcast with stratus cloud. "A snowball day!", the students said. Sunny with a "very chilly wind" at Oslo in Norway. Temperature +3.2°C at 12.25 pm Local Time (11:25 GMT). Cloud amount then 2 oktas (stratocumulus). Maximum temperature 15.1°C, minimum —1.3°C. "Rather cold and dull" at Bor School in southern Sweden, where the temperature at 8 am Local Time (07:00 GMT) was +2.4°C. Wind very light (Force 1 from the north) but the sky was completely overcast, with nimbostratus cloud. Maximum temperature 10.1°C, minimum —1.7°C. "A cold cloudy day with a very few drops of rain" at Aalborg in Denmark. Temperature 5°C at 12.45 pm Local Time (11:45 GMT). Sky completely overcast (with altostratus cloud), the wind 9 km/h from the south-east.
A north-south contrast in the British Isles. Dull and damp in the south, fairly cloudy in the northern half of Scotland, elsewhere a gloriously sunny day.
In the far south, where there was overnight rain, the day was chilly, with continual rain and drizzle, fresh easterly winds and temperatures in the early afternoon around 7 or 8°C. "Winter is still here", wrote the students of Lindfield Primary School in West Sussex. "Grey, overcast, cold and windy", said the students at Lytchett Minster in Dorset. Sky completely covered with cumulonimbus and cirrus clouds at 9.30 am, the wind blowing at 24 km/h and the temperature +0.1°C. Brrr!
At Pitsford Hall Weather Station near Northampton, the sky was overcast with stratocumulus clouds at 9 am. "Some light rain in the early hours", the students reported. The sky was also overcast (with stratocumulus clouds) at Norwich at 11 am and (with cumulus and stratocumulus clouds) at the Royal Hospital School in Suffolk at 1.30 pm. "Windy and cold", said the students of Edgbaston High School Lower School. Temperature only +0.7°C at 10.30 am. Cloud amount then 8 oktas of stratus and cumulus. In South Wales, too, at Coed Cae Junior School, the weather was fairly cloudy today but breaks in the cloud did occur. "A very cold day in the gusty wind with a little sunshine", the students wrote.
Sunny but cool in Sheffield, where the temperature at 1 pm was 5°C. Sunny, too, in the north-west of England. "Sunny with cloudless sky all day" at Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula (and a "keen wind"). Only one okta of cloud (cirrus) at 12.15 pm at St Patrick’s Primary School near Preston, but the wind was "nippy". Only one okta, too, at Blackburn at 1 pm. No cloud at all at Keswick at 12.50 pm.
Rain falling at 9.30 am at Paible School, North Uist. Cloud 5 oktas of nimbostratus. Slight drizzle falling at Farr High School (northern Scotland) at 9 am. Temperature 3.5°C and the cloud amount 7 oktas (of cumulus, stratocumulus and stratus). Maximum temperature 6°C, minimum —0.5°C. Sunny in the southern half of Scotland. No cloud at all at Beaconhurst School near Stirling at 10 am, but the temperature was then only +1.7°C, after a night minimum of -2.6°C.
NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA
"Cold and drizzly with lots of big gusts" at Punta Arenas in southern Chile today. Slight drizzle falling at 5.18 pm Local Time (21:18 GMT). Temperature 5.0°C. Sky completely overcast with nimbostratus and stratocumulus cloud. Wind from the east. Maximum temperature 5.9°C, minimum 4.2°C.
Only 2 oktas of cloud (cumulus) at Livermore in California at 12 noon Local Time (20:00 GMT). Wind from the west, 9 km/h. Temperature 19°C. Maximum temperature 19°C, minimum 6°C. Both about average for the time of year. Sunny, too, with 2 oktas of cloud (cirrus) at Reseda in California at 10.49 am Local Time (18:49 GMT). Wind from the north, 15 km/h. Temperature 14.8°C. A large daily range: maximum temperature 29.5°C, minimum 2.7°C. Also sunny with an almost cloudless sky at Victoria, Texas, after a foggy start to the day. Cloud amount one okta (cirrus) at 2.20 pm Local Time (20:20 GMT). Temperature 25°C. Wind from the south-east, 15 km/h. Maximum temperature 26°C, minimum 7.5°C.
Another place with very little cloud today was Fernley, Nevada. Two oktas of altocumulus at 6.40 am Local Time (14:40 GMT). Temperature then only +1°C. Quite windy, with a 24 km/h north-westerly wind. The sky partly clouded at 11 am Local Time (19:00 GMT) at Moses Lake, Washington State, with 5 oktas of cirrus, cumulus and stratus. A light breeze blowing (15 km/h from the east) and the temperature 10.0°C. Maximum temperature 11.7°C, minimum 3.3°C. Thus, a little warmer than average for the time of year. Not a very pleasant day at Raleigh, North Carolina. Slight rain falling at 8.33 am Local Time (13:33 GMT), the sky completely overcast. Temperature 12°C and the wind quite strong (33 km/h from the south). Relative humidity 100%. Maximum temperature 13°C, minimum 12°C.
INTRODUCTION TO ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEMS
For information about atmospheric circulations, click here.
INTRODUCTION TO SATELLITE IMAGES
On the so-called ‘visible’ images from satellites, what you see is more or less what you would see with your own eyes if you were in the satellite and looking in black and white.
On the so-called ‘infra-red’ images, the whitest areas are the coldest and the blackest the hottest. Thus, high clouds (e.g. the tops of cumulonimbus anvils and the sheets of cirrus clouds ahead of warm fronts) show as white areas. Medium-level clouds and very cold land areas show as grey.
On the so-called ‘water vapour’ images, the whitest areas are the most humid, the blackest areas the driest. The water vapour indicated by these images tends to be in the upper half of the troposphere, not lower down.
For information on how to obtain satellite images of the highest quality, see the Notes section below.
To return to A Suggestion for Primary Schools, click here.
AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND INDONESIA
For a chart showing isobars and fronts over New Zealand at 06:00 GMT, click here. For a chart showing isobars and fronts over Australia at 06:00 GMT, click here. These charts show that the area of high pressure which has been situated off the eastern side of New Zealand’s South Island this week has moved north-eastwards and declined (to 1019 mb). A cold front over the southern part of South Island today brought cloud to southern New Zealand. The chart for Australia shows that pressure was high over the eastern half of the Great Australian Bight (1030 mb) and also to the west of Perth (1021 mb). Fronts from depressions over the Southern Ocean did not extend as far as Australia today.
As the visible and infra-red satellite images for 03:00 GMT show, skies were again clear and day-time surface temperatures high over much of Australia. An extensive area of high cloud can be seen over central Australia, and small cumulus clouds were widespread over eastern Queensland.
The 03:00 GMT visible and infra-red images from the GMS geostationary satellite (which is 36,000 km above 0°lat 140°E) show that the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) was again today, like yesterday and the day before, weak between Australia and south-east Asia. Cloud amounts were small over Singapore and Indonesia, though cumulonimbus build-up did occur in some places. The images also show that tropical cumulus and cumulonimbus activity was again very extensive over the Pacific to the north-east of Australia.
INDIA
Today’s 08:00 GMT visible, infra-red and water vapour images from the INDOEX satellite show that cloud was again, like yesterday, extensive over north-western parts of India. For a detailed water vapour view of the cloud, click here. This image shows, like yesterday’s, that a broad strip of moist air extends from the clouds to an area of cumulonimbus activity west and south of the Maldives. Today’s 00:00 GMT chart of winds at 300 mb (approximately 9 km height) shows that winds over the Arabian Sea were south-westerly and quite strong (120-130 km/h). Thus, it appears that moisture from the upper parts of the cumulonimbus clouds is being transported towards northern India and there lifted in the right-hand side of the subtropical jet stream’s entrance region. For a detailed explanation, see the MetLink report for 12 March (in the section of ‘Today’s Analysis’ entitled ‘India’).
AFRICA
Today’s chart of isobars and fronts over Africa and adjacent oceans at 06:00 GMT shows that Tropical Cyclone Hary was then near 28°S 58°E, well to the south-east of Madagascar. For a close-up infra-red satellite view of this storm at 08:00 GMT, click here. The weather chart for 06:00 GMT also shows several depressions over the Southern Ocean between 40°S and 70°S, with the cold front of one of them extending almost to Cape Town. Pressure was high over the South Atlantic to the south-west of St Helena (1021 mb), whilst shallow areas of low pressure were situated on the coast of Namibia and the southern coast of South Africa. A trough of low pressure from equatorial regions lay across southern Africa. The 06:00 infra-red image from METEOSAT shows that cumulus and cumulonimbus activity was extensive over central and southern Africa today. Over South Africa, however, cloud amounts were small. Skies were clear over most parts of North Africa and the surface temperatures were high (as the blackness of the infra-red image shows).
EUROPE
Today’s 06:00 GMT chart of isobars and fronts over Europe shows that pressure was high (1025 mb) over eastern and central Europe and low (986 mb) to the west of Iberia, with fronts from this depression bringing cloud and precipitation to Spain, northern France, southern England, Denmark, northern Germany and the southern Baltic. Pressure was low over the Black Sea (1016 mb) and a complex area of low pressure covered Scandinavia. A warm sector lay over France and temperatures within it were high for the time of year. In south-west France, to the lee of the Pyrenees, temperatures exceeded 20°C.
The 06:00 GMT chart of observations over Scandinavia shows that inland temperatures were very low (below —20°C) over northern parts of Norway and Sweden this morning. This chart also shows that winds were light over the whole of Scandinavia, which was to be expected, given that pressure gradients were slack in the complex area of low pressure. Cloud amounts were small over Italy, central Europe and eastern Europe, the dominant influences here being the aforementioned belt of high pressure across Europe and a ridge of high pressure extending across the central Mediterranean from an anticyclone centred over Libya.
Pressure was high over the northern half of the British Isles, giving the areas affected by the high pressure clear skies and light variable winds, though a weak front brought cloud to northern Scotland. For satellite views of clouds over the British Isles at 13:26 GMT today, see the visible and infra-red images from Dundee University. These show that frontal cloud covered southern counties of England and Wales and the southernmost part of Ireland. As the chart of observations over the British Isles at 06:00 GMT shows, winds were easterly and quite strong (gusting to gale force) over the English Channel and the south coast of England.
For a chart of significant weather over Europe at 06:00 GMT today, click here. For an infra-red satellite view of the clouds over Europe at 12:00 GMT, click here.
NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA
For a chart showing isobars and fronts over North America at 09:00 GMT today, click here. For another plot of isobars and fronts over North America at 09:00 GMT today, one that shows concurrent satellite-derived distributions of cloud and precipitation, click here. These charts show that pressure was high to the west of the USA (1039 mb) and also to the east of Newfoundland (1032 mb). A secondary depression with a central pressure of 994 mb lay over Ontario and its parent depression with a central pressure of 986 mb lay over the Davis Strait between Labrador and Greenland. The infra-red satellite image for 09:00 GMT shows that fronts brought cloud to many parts of the USA, and the weather forecast chart shows that showers of rain and/or snow were expected today over many parts of North America.
The infra-red satellite image of South America at 09:00 GMT shows that cloud amounts were large today over the northern half of South America, with many cumulonimbus clouds bringing downpours of rain. Southern Chile and southern Argentina were also cloud-covered. The cloud over the northern parts of South America was associated with the ITCZ. The cloud over southern Chile and southern Argentina was associated with a Low (988 mb) centred near 45°S 88°W. For a chart showing observations and isobars over South America at 00:00 GMT today, click here.
For Today’s Review of MetLink Observations, click here.
For Today’s Analysis, click here.
INTRODUCTION TO ATMOSPHERIC SYSTEMS
To return to Today’s Headlines, click here.
To return to Today’s Analysis, click here.
1 Low latitudes
Near the equator, air rises to the upper troposphere (to altitudes of 12 to 15 km) inside cumulonimbus clouds. Over the rest of the tropics and in the subtropics, air subsides throughout all but the lowest one or two kilometres of the troposphere, where turbulence and small-scale convection prevail. An inversion of temperature marks the boundary between the subsiding air and the air containing the turbulence and convection. Trade winds blow in the lower troposphere, from the north-east in the northern hemisphere, south-east in the southern. The trades of the two hemispheres converge in a zone near the equator called the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Here, the cumulonimbus activity is concentrated (in clusters of cumulonimbus clouds) and winds tend to be light and variable. A belt (or trough) of low pressure accompanies the ITCZ. Otherwise, extensive areas of high pressure (subtropical anticyclones) dominate the tropics and subtropics. Where these anticyclones prevail, the weather is predominantly dry. In contrast, the cumulonimbus clouds of the ITCZ produce heavy falls of rain. This basic pattern of flow in low latitudes is known as the Hadley Cell of the atmospheric general circulation, after the meteorologist George Hadley, who first proposed it (in 1735).
2 Middle and high latitudes
In middle and high latitudes, weather is controlled by transitory depressions and anticyclones throughout the year. These weather systems are mobile and constantly changing. Therefore, considerable day-to-day variations of wind direction may occur in any given locality. Nevertheless, the winds are not without pattern: westerly winds prevail in middle latitudes and easterlies in polar regions. As winds from a westerly point occupy the equatorward flanks of depressions and easterlies the poleward flanks, the prevailing winds are consistent with the tendency for depressions to be deepest when their centres of low pressure lie between the parallels of 50° and 70°. Surface air currents flow away from the poles and are deflected by the Coriolis force to become easterlies.
3 Seasonal rhythms
Climatic zones migrate. Each zone migrates towards the pole of the summer hemisphere, reaching a point farthest from its mean position about two months after the summer solstice. Accordingly, there are seasonal rhythms in global patterns of wind, pressure and precipitation. These migratory movements are not steady; on the contrary, they tend to be intermittent. When a particular type of weather develops over an area, it tends to persist for several days or a few weeks, until a different type replaces it. Fluctuations of atmospheric state on shorter time scales also occur, because weather systems are mobile and ever-changing. They develop to maturity and subsequently decay and during their life cycles respond to local influences such as the temperature of the underlying surface. Thus, in any given locality, weather varies not only from season to season but also from day to day and, especially over land, from one time of day to another.
Over the monsoonal regions of Africa, Asia, Indonesia, Australia, the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, impressive changes in atmospheric behaviour occur at certain times of year. These changes are characteristic of the onset and retreat phases of monsoons, and they involve comprehensive and widespread reorganizations of atmospheric circulation patterns. There are changes in patterns of vertical motion such that the droughts of winter are replaced by rainy weather during summer, and there are associated reversals of wind direction at all levels in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. The reorganizations are abrupt and cannot be accounted for simply in terms of jerky meridional migrations of climatic zones. Monsoons are complex systems which owe their existence to the collaboration of several meteorological factors, among them the migratory behaviour of the ITCZ.
In all parts of the tropics, winter wind and weather patterns are consistent with the operation of a Hadley Cell. The ITCZ is active near the equator, whilst widespread subsidence occurs in the tropics and subtropics and trade winds blow in the lower troposphere. Between the east coast of Africa and the meridian of 150°E, for example, during the period mid-December to mid-March, clear skies and north-easterly surface winds prevail over India, Sri Lanka, South-East Asia and adjacent oceans, whilst monsoon rain systems and north-westerly winds affect Indonesia and northern Australia and south-easterly trade winds blow over tropical parts of the South Indian Ocean. At the same time, the ITCZ lies a little to the south of the equator. The period from mid-March to early June is one of transition over this region. Dry weather returns to northern Australia and winds become light and variable over India, Indonesia and adjacent waters.
During this period of transition, corresponding changes in atmospheric circulation occur elsewhere in the world. Thus, in the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere, for example, the period from mid-March to early June is one of transition from the winter circulation to the summer circulation. Sometimes in these parts of the world, the winter circulation gives way to a different atmospheric pattern rather abruptly in mid-March. In the British Isles, a manifestation of this may be a return to cold weather in mid-March after a very mild winter. The opposite can also occur. In March 1947 and March 1963, for example, exceptionally cold winters ended very abruptly. The change in 1947 brought disastrous consequences in the form of severe flooding, caused by heavy rain and the melting of snow. For a feature on the winters of 1947 and 1963, click here.
Acknowledgement: Much of this feature on atmospheric circulations has been taken verbatim from the Compendium of Lecture Notes in Marine Meteorology for Class III and Class IV Personnel by J.M.Walker (published by the World Meteorological Organization in 1991).
To return to Today’s Headlines, click here.
To return to Today’s Analysis, click here.
To return to Introduction to Satellite Images, click here.
A SUGGESTION FOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS
As noted earlier in today’s MetLink report, the whitest areas on the so-called ‘water vapour’ satellite images are the most humid, the blackest areas the driest. Pupils in primary schools should, of course, investigate which are the wettest and driest parts of the world, and the water vapour images are very useful in this respect. Artistic pupils may, however, like to use these images differently. They may like to colour them and thus produce some stunning designs for, say, curtains, wallpaper, blouses, skirts, etc. These images often contain very pleasing swirls somewhat reminiscent of Paisley patterns. For today’s 09:00 GMT water vapour image from METEOSAT, the geostationary satellite 36,000 km above 0°lat 0°long, click here. Let the children’s imaginations run riot! To find out how to obtain more satellite images, click here.
To return to Today’s Headlines, click here.
To return to Today’s Analysis, click here.
To return to Introduction to Satellite Images, click here.
To return to A Suggestion for Primary Schools, click here.
You can obtain satellite images of the highest quality from the Dundee Satellite Receiving Station, Dundee University, Scotland. First, though, you must complete an on-line registration form. Registration is free and the images are free. Do not hesitate to register. The staff at Dundee welcome new users and you gain access to images of very high quality. You go first to http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/ and click on the button labelled "Register for free images". All you do then is fill in the form, press the button labelled "Create account", remember the user name and password you chose and start using the site.
From the satellite station’s home page, i.e. http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/, you click on "Home for registered users" and then choose the images you require. I suggest you begin with "Geostationary satellite images — view the whole earth". On this page, which provides links to the latest images from geostationary satellites, you select whichever image you require. If you want an image from a previous day, choose "Archive".
Images from the following satellites are available: METEOSAT (which covers Europe and Africa), Japanese GMS (which covers the western part of the Pacific, Australia and Indonesia), US GOES-EAST (which covers North and South America), US GOES-WEST (which covers the eastern Pacific) and IODC (which covers central Asia, southern Asia and the Indian Ocean).
From all of these satellites, images can be obtained in Visible and Infra-Red formats. From METEOSAT and IODC, images showing distributions of water vapour can be obtained. From METEOSAT, colour-enhanced images of Europe can be obtained.
If you wish to view images from polar-orbiting satellites covering western Europe and the eastern Atlantic from Greenland and northern Scandinavia to western Asia and North Africa, go from "Home for registered users" to AVHRR Images — latest images or, for archived images, AVHRR Images- Archive.
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