Summary

Description	Clouds. Whether brilliantly bright or dark and foreboding, clouds are an everyday sight that defies our understanding. We can easily see them with weather radars and satellites. But scientists are unsure how clouds produce rain or snow, and which ones will do so. NASA hopes to demystify the way clouds work with the launch of the new CloudSat and CALIPSO research satellites. CloudSat is designed to live up to its name by probing the internal structure of clouds. Vane: 'We're all very familiar with what clouds look like from below, and even on the weather programs at night, we see the clouds from above. But until now, we haven't had the ability to actually look inside clouds and that's what CloudSat's going to do.' Using advanced radar, CloudSat will make estimates like how much moisture is suspended inside clouds and how many clouds produce rain. Closely trailing CloudSat in space will be the CALIPSO satellite. CALIPSO's lidar scanner specializes in detecting wispy cloud layer
Date	2005-09-30
Source	images.nasa.gov

Licensing

Public Domain (US Government Work)