#aqua satellite

[noeggets]

my sonic braincells as humans

[icy-saturday]

Me after finding out ICESat-2 and Aqua are literally the same person

[girlbob-boypants]

Saw a Gyre who was running Aqua Blades yesterday. It was the funniest overkill ever

[jooldidyoueatmysandwich]

your voice, jjong...

I heard your voice again.

Unlike my friend's, not-as-long gone, I can still remember yours, hear it more easily, through headphones or through memories. It still echoes in the chambers of my heart, as clear as the brightest aqua diamond.

In the newest songs, some even without Onew (may he recover well), I can tell so clearly where your lines would be. Any higher pitch, anything more melodic, SHINee's style is so different now without you. They've picked up your place so well, some might think there's nothing missing.

But we all still miss you.

And I hate AI voices, I hate how they erase whoever was under those lines before. I hate how your voice is owned and used when it should rest as well as the rest of you. You should be a cherished memory, not something half-assed and fake, erasing the other members. I know you'd hate it too, talk about it on Blue Night radio...

but I heard you again.

I'm sorry, I missed you too much.

and I too, feel like a Satellite sometimes.

.

You said...

"moreul geoya From my point of view, 'Cause you're beautiful"

just like you would have.

just as I remember you...

.

I punched the pillow in mindless grief.

I can barely hear my friends. I can hear your voice, your true voice, in songs at any time.

But that line was what broke me.

I don't ever want to hear you like that again.

I want to hear you still here.

I wish you were still here.

.

All I can do is hope it hurts less wherever you are now.

You will always be missed, jjong.

kkok geuttaega anieossdeorado neowa nan...

[humanoidhistory]

Ireland, observed by NASA's Aqua satellite on October 11, 2010.

[tragedy-of-commons]

call to action

boothill x gn!reader | wc: ~1.4k

Always get your hopes up.

tags/warnings: alcohol mentions and references (reader actually doesn't drink explicitly), romantic tension, ipc cog reader, mental gymnastics, pining in a weird constipated way

notes: this is a request from a lovely ao3 commenter, aqua! "...i'd like to request a Boothill x IPC reader if that's fine?" + i also combined this with a dialogue prompt from @/promptlyprompting!

“You’d be a fool to say no.”

Boothill’s voice remains a coarse drawl that almost sounds scolding. Even if your way of running the show has always been at odds with his, he’s never outright called you a fool of all things. His offer hangs in the air, making the sticky atmosphere of the bar even more unbearable. The bulbous red light fixtures sway overhead as the ringleader of a nearby group slams an animated fist on the counter, licks of crimson fleetingly painting the tops of your heads.

You laugh, drink going untouched as it always does; at the end of the night, when you both fight over the tab, you always surrender yours over to him as a peace offering. Maybe tonight you’ll need to give more than that to appease him. “I’d be a bigger fool to listen to you. You aren’t exactly known for being the most reasonable of the bunch.”

“I don’t extend this opportunity to just anyone,” he reminds you, lips curling into a toothy grin. “To me, it seems like you’re looking for excuses to miss out like you always do. That mind of yours ain’t too rigid for Galaxy Ranger business, y’know. I bet you’d make it work.”

Boothill is weird, that much is apparent, yes, but only he would ask you to join him on his journey, call you a fool, and then compliment your mindset all in the same artificial breath. His audacity is so offensive that it’s a wonder that Lan themself hasn’t struck him down. He gets away with so much - including making you hope for a different future. Including making you hope for a different future with him.

The exterior of the bar is just as cramped and loud as the interior. Visitors modding their vehicles on the outcrop of the main strip—Mechanic’s Haven—shout and drill away at the innards of spaceships, drones, satellites, and whatever else - wayward sparks landing at the feet of shoppers and pedestrians. There’s something to be said about an IPC lackey and a Galaxy Ranger walking into a bar, but he wisely refrains. 

You sigh. “You know I can’t. As fun as chasing pipe dreams with you would be, I’m locked into a contract with the largest corporation in the whole known universe,” you make a point of gesturing to your uniform. “That kind of obligation doesn’t just go away, even if you run from it.”

He snorts, an empathetic little thing. Boothill then pops his hat off and situates it on your head, much to your chagrin. The noise you let out is affronted, the brim of the relic obscuring the better part of your vision. How disgustingly fond of him. “I see where you’re comin’ from, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you to reconsider. You’d be a much better fit here than there.”

(The unspoken words stick to the roof your mouth. You’d be a much better fit with me than with them.)

Part of you agrees. There’s always been a scale in your head that weighs the fairness of each step you take - measuring the footfalls of others in tandem with yours; you know what it is like to have a strong sense of justice that itches to be upheld. Boothill witnessed this side of you firsthand, when the first words you ever spoke to him were something along the lines of: “Leave the freelancers here alone. Those are the prices, and they’re that steep for a reason. Pay him in full or I’ll make sure you’re in need of a few more repairs.”

You’re also aware of the strange role you play in this. Being on the IPC’s payroll, the contractual thing to do was to report the outlaw to your superiors immediately and enjoy the generous bounty on his head, but you didn’t. You didn’t because when you came face to face with the Boothill, you were ambushed with a childlike wonder you hadn’t felt in years, even if your righteous admonishment didn’t reflect it.

Nowadays, this dingy old bar with no name isn’t the same without his wild tales. Mechanic’s Haven isn’t the same without him at your side as you weave through the clusters of people, him poking fun at your job and your unwillingness to turn him in. When he calls you one of the good ones, you begrudgingly call him a pretty stand-up guy. He gets a kick out of that.

This planetary pitstop is growing more suffocating by the minute. You tip the hat upward to let it sit on your head at a higher angle so you can actually see, narrowed eyes trained on your companion. “You think so? And what makes you so sure, huh?”

He makes a show of flexing his fingers before balling the scrapwork appendages into a fist, taking great care in placing it over where his heart would be, if he was not the thing he is now. The look he fixes you with is complicated, layers of something hidden behind that thick accent and the centers of those crosshairs. “Call it a gut feeling. Y’know, as arbitrary,” he enunciates the word painstakingly, “as the universe is, there’s a reason we met. You got what it takes… and I ain’t afraid to shy away from that truth like you are.”

There it is again. “I’m not afraid. I just happen to think before I act.”

Boothill sighs and swipes your drink that’s been collecting dust with a deft hand, knocking it back. He recovers, gaze raking over your form. It isn’t salacious in the slightest, you think, the way he starts at the tip of his hat’s feather to the silver insignia resting over your heart. Maybe his eyes lingered on your lips too, but that could be you injecting something pointless like hope into this relationship that doesn’t need to be there. That seems more likely. 

“A little too much if I do say so myself,” he guffaws, much to the displeasure of the other patrons. He plucks his hat back off your head with something like amusement, returning it to its rightful place. “You’re as stubborn as a mule, but I know when I’ve been bested. Come on, it’s gettin’ late.”

You two don’t fight over the tab this time around, him sliding a generous amount of credit to the barkeep who just looks slightly bewildered at two of his regulars not verbally fistfighting each other like they normally do. The question in his stare makes your cheeks feel hotter than lava, and you walk with Boothill out of the bar without much fuss, greeting the mild night cold. The silence that you share isn’t uncomfortable, but there’s more to be said. You know he wants nothing more than to hear a yes from you, which sends your mental equilibrium into dizzying contention.

Something is not right, and it is your fault.

With an audible swallow, you fight the butterflies in your stomach and nudge his side. The raucous song of Mechanic’s Haven harmonizes with the thrumming in your ears. “Hey.”

He turns to look at you, whistling a tune you can’t place.

“I’ll give it some more thought. Don’t get your hopes up, because becoming a fugitive by association seems like a lot more trouble than it’s worth,” you cough.

Boothill beams and it just serves to confuse your internal scale even more. One would think you’re suddenly inorganic with how it feels like you’re short-circuiting. Is this an acute onset of cardiac arrest? Or is it something else you’ve been pushing away for months on end?

He nudges you back. “I knew you’d come around! And the first lesson of being a Galaxy Ranger,” he starts, “is to always get your hopes up.”

Yeah… it’s definitely something else entirely. Something that, in all likelihood, is going to get you into massive trouble. You understand the risks that come with fraternizing with an outlaw, have weighed them heavily against your heart, and have reached only one verdict:

You’ll sleep on it.

(You’ll end up following this cowboy no matter what. Even you, deep down, know that he’s been sticking around the area for way too long, like he’s waiting for something or someone. It just so happened to be you. Dang it all to heck and back.)

taglist: @flower-yi, @moineauz, @aphrodict, @nomazee, @singularity-sam, @harque, @thestarswhisper

[mapsontheweb]

Sandstorms of the coast west coast of Africa

Easterly winds blew across Namibia in July 2023, lofting bands of dust across the coastal plains and out to sea. Streams of tan-colored dust jetted out from the entire length of Namibia’s coast and parts of the southern Angola coast when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on July 11. In addition, a streak of white salt dust from the Etosha Pan swept across the northern part of Namibia.

The pattern is not unusual for this time of year, when hot, dry squalls known as berg winds rush down from the interior highlands. In 2023, the warm east winds set in on July 6, picking up dust from the desert and salt pans and sending it toward the coast.

By the time this image was acquired, the dust and sand had created poor visibility and hazardous driving conditions in some coastal towns, including Walvis Bay. According to news reports, heavy machinery was needed to clear sand drifts from roadways.

The Etosha Pan, the distinct bright rectangular patch in the image, is an expansive salt flat roughly 130 kilometers (80 miles) long and 50 kilometers (30 miles) wide. It is typically dry except for brief periods in the summer months, when flamingos and other aquatic congregate there. At the time of the image, winds had carried the salty dust approximately 300 kilometers (180 miles) toward the Atlantic.

The windy conditions were forecast to persist in coastal and interior regions for several days, with the possibility for more sandstorms, according to the Namibia Meteorological Service. However, compared with Saharan dust storms that are large enough to influence hurricane formation and ultimately the weather on the opposite side of the Atlantic, the amount of dust in southern African storms is negligible.

[girlvinland]

Some cool satellite imagery I collected for something at work. All images are taken from NASA's Ocean Color Web at the Ocean Biology Distributed Active Archive Center (OB.DAAC).

Info about each image under cut.

1. South Korean Aquaculture - Aquaculture operations off the southern end of the Korean Peninsula, featuring tide-drive swirls of suspended sediment and phytoplankton (captured by Landsat 8 on Feb. 19, 2021)

2. Smoke on Blue Waters - Coastal waters of the SE Gulf of Mexico, Western Caribbean Sea, and Lucayan Archipelago. Smoke plumes from forest fires in Cuba can also be seen (captured by Aqua-MODIS sensor on March 1, 2023)

3. Mesopotamia- The artificial Lake Tharthar near Baghdad and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (captured by SeaHawk/HawkEye on September 11, 2021)

4. Mackenzie River Delta - A heavy sediment load delivered by Canada's Mackenzie River to its delta by the Beaufort Sea (collected by Landsat 8 on September 9, 2021)

5. Svenskøya - Dense blooms of phytoplankton around the island of Svenskøya in the Svalbard Archipelago (captured by Landsat 8 on July 6, 2021)

6. East Siberian Sea - Color from phytoplankton, suspended sediments, and colored dissolved organic matter from sea ice (captured by Aqua/MODIS on July 20, 2020)

7. Laptev Sea Ice - Thin sea ice in the southern Laptev Sea transmitting colors of water, algae, sediment, colored dissolved organic matter, and the ice itself (captured by Landsat 8 on June 12, 2020)

8. Chinese Aquaculture - Aquaculture in the Yellow Sea off the coast of Jiangsu Province (captured by Landsat 8 on March 8, 2017)

9. Ice Gouges in the Caspian Sea - Lines on the floor of the Caspian Sea in the Tyuleniy Archipelago that were gouged out by ice (captured by Landsat 8/OLI on April 6, 2016)

10. The Bering Strait - The Bering Strait joining the Bering (south) and Chukchi (north) seas. It is the only connection between the Pacific and Arctic Oceans (captured by Landsat-8/OLI on June 17, 2015)

[chikinan]

can you tell us some interesting things about chilean y2k commercials?

Ok so in the year 1999-2000, Chile was going through its third election cycle after the end of Pinochet's dictatorship. I won't go into much detail about the political implications of that, but needless to say it was a transition period. Technology previously uncommon for the region such as the internet was just arriving, the conservative, catholic sphere still had a great deal of power over secular life, American influence was being both challenged and promoted , along with the forming of an image of our country as an advanced, stable haven in opposition to the rest of Latin America (xenophobia and racism in Chile is another huge topic to be honest)

I think commercials and campaigns are always a very interesting way to see how people saw the world during a period of time- or at least, how people in power wanted us to see it at the time. I grew up in the late 90's an early odds, so I have personal memories of a lot of this, and sometimes in my spare time I archive some commercials I find interesting.

Here's a private campaign from the early 2000's against abortion (abortion was illegal under any circumstances at the time, and would be for about 15 years. Divorce wasn't even legal at the time this ad was running) In case you're wondering, the schoolgirl and the fetus are both chanting "I'm gonna be killed") Here's a needlessly cryptic and offputting ad announcing the upcoming arrival of satellital internet.

Here's a clip of the news in 1995 reporting on the alien autopsy video as if it were real footage.

Here's a hilarious commercial promoting a plush you could exchange for some bottle caps plus money. It sings Boys & Girls by Aqua, for some reason.

And my personal favorite, an ad campaign called "Piensa Positivo" (think positive), which shows people laughing and doing so, so well, along with some local landscapes, ending with the phrase "you see what you want to see". Truly unsettling in the political context at the time, very catchy though!

If you'd like to check it out, I made playlist to kind of emulate the feeling of being a young child in this country, watching tv unsupervised.

[lileeeeee]

caden always lived in his brother's shadow, since he had no aspect, and when his brother got one - ignis - and started to work more for his kingdom as honorable knight, caden became too obsessive and focused only on somehow getting the aspect. when brother tried to stop him from doing dangerous and dubious stuff, caden started to see enemy in him, and in not so long - ran away from his country.

after he became a recruit, he met other team members:

ethan, cunty genesis mage of 1 class

ferdinand, goofy soldier of 7th class

and phin, leader of the group, who had both ice and water aspects. of course, he’s excellent class.

about world:

in short, that’s 6824, planet that used to look like our world, but at some point there were an agreement between humanity in order to save their world. ecology was almost dead, that critical their condition were. all mankind decided to destroy all excessive technologies, like satellites, tv, internet, phones in a way they existed, etc. after that, era of solitude started.

humans couldn’t communicate for thousands of years, and since that planet had more water and divided continents, not much of news were there. but that changed in 2050 before war of aspects, after first ships reached other continents.

that’s where people started to communicate again.

and turned out, in every country there were a blessing — some people got some kind of magic. there are aspects, that your soul generates, and for overcoming obstacles — you’ll get a blessing of gods, which includes full power of aspect you have.

they are given for action, not for wishing

so it kinda means you’re chosen one, you’re superior, you’re doing something that made ceo of gods look at you.

original aspects include:

• ignis (fire)

• aqua (water)

• aer (air)

• terra (ground, soil, earth, any type of rocks or minerals)

• ineteritus (or inanis, like void, not destruction)

• genesis (creation, there are still options for renaming)

two last ones can transform into sanguis — blood benders. that includes wide spectrum of abilities, but it’s marginalized kinda like void/destruction aspect.

they exist to maintain some kind of conditional world order and peace, but for ordinary people the gods have made other aspects that are already possible:

a) literally pray for it but like for VERY long time

b) purchase but it’s inhumanly pricey

c) get spent in a company that recruits agents for keeping world order locally (aka searching for people of destroyed nation and kill those who survived) (they were murdered by rest of original gods because you can’t sell the darkness as a friend and protector to your people, but rather as an invader, so they were simply murdered with following ethnic cleansing, simply ground into powder together with their ceo from God; but still someone survived.)

among these aspects, which are also called synthetic:

• natura (to grow all kinds of fruits, crops, vegetables and take better care of livestock, because the aspect has a wide but limited range of possibilities, such as: weather bending, understanding the language of animals, the ability to predict natural disasters, grow plants faster and stronger, that is why it is synthetic, so that ordinary people won’t get bored like gods say)

• fulgur (electrical discharge; it can be both organic lightning and a machinery control, because a person who has this aspect can have control over any electrical device)

• frigus (freezer basically; cools any other aspect, can freeze anything + makes snow or can grow large af icicles; overall it’s about bending frozen stuff and generating it too)

but among owners of aspects, there is obviously a clear hierarchy:

the original aspect is always >>>>>>>>>> synthetic.

the human body cannot withstand more than two aspects; and two ORIGINAL aspects can only be in legends about the most powerful type that will destroy the world.

some countries are more solarpunk, dieselpunk, etc; some are steampunk and atompunk (those are more 1800-esque, but less impacted by diseases and far more safe). in most of countries there is 1 religion, and it’s mostly aspectism. but in some there are different, much smaller cults.

[stormvanari]

oc episode stuff:

-The Psyche Rescue Team escaped to Broomstown from Mirage City and hid in that "tire labyrinth." Their sudden appearance scared Spooky, and he contacted the Broomstown Rescue Team to extract them from the site. However, Amber noticed bruises on each of the PRT members and before she could come closer to aid them, the trio fled further into the labyrinth, but got stuck and caused chaos. Afterwards, the trio were sent to Jin for closer inspection, and they identified themselves as Lucky, Qin, and Midnight. It was tough for the BRT to interact with them, since the PRT came from an abusive director. Once they accepted the BRT's trust, the PRT were then taken a tour around Broomstown to get comfortable with their citizens. Then there's this psychological warfare between the PRT and their director over radio waves in the second half of this 2-part special. The BRT and Jin, plus the Mountain and Desert Rescue Teams, band together to prove they're the PRT's REAL studio!

-During a stormy mission to retrieve items stolen by pirates, Poli was knocked overboard into the crashing waves and was rescued by Isla. She takes him to the Aqua Rescue Team's base in Ripple Island. Poli meets Fisher and Khai, the latter being ART's leader. The police car disagreed with the boat's way of lazily leading a rescue team, but a picture frame leading to a story behind Khai's leadership becomes clear to Poli. He learns that ART's leader was an old friend of Sandy who Khai cut contact because of a near-death experience. They were reluctant to take risks because Khai didn't want to hurt people or their close ones, especially Fisher and Isla (who did the missions for their leader). Basically, Khai's barely in the frontlines themselves and Poli worked to fix that. They would then work together, including the other ART and BRT members, to take down the pirates who looted from Broomstown earlier in the episode. Afterwards, Khai wanted to send their apologies to Sandy, but Poli asked them if he can take them to Sandville in-vehicle. ART's leader was surprised their friend became a rescue team leader. "Her team would love to meet a friend of their leader." But Khai replies cryptically to Poli, "It's up to Sandy."

-The citizens of Broomstown are both annoyed and terrified of their new visitors. The BRT were dispatched to investigate the situation and found three unidentified vehicles surrounding an uncomfortable citizen. But the BRT found themselves faced with two UFOs, who poured hundreds of questions onto them, and they were escorted to the base to figure things out. The vehicles introduced themselves as the Space Rescue Team: Titan and Titania are the leaders, Altair is the reconnoiterer, and Luno is the "traveling box." They wanted to find a better planet to live in, since their previous one is struck by constant war. The BRT offered to help, but the SRT denied it since the current conditions on their home planet are dangerous. Later on, the SRT and BRT have to work together to deflect an incoming asteroid from their planet and the SRT decided to make their home at the atmosphere of Earth (since, as a rescue team, they decide to look after the planet in their satellite-like base Titan and Titania made). Unlike the PRT and before they were picked up by the BRT, the Space Rescue Team were welcomed by frustration from Broomstown's citizens since Titan and Titania, Altair, and Luno accidentally made a mess across the way (despite fixing them before the asteroid came in).

[noeggets]

it's actually fun to draw the designs you already have instead of making new ocs i forgot that for some reason

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: May 25, 2009

Lyrics:

Back in the Ronald Reagan days

When we put satellites in space

When boys wore skinny leather ties, whoa

Like Don Johnson from Miami Vice

When M&M was just a snack

And Michael Jackson's skin was black

Back when the coolest thing in store, whoa

Was a Commodore 64

Back to the '80s, back to soap

Back to Rocky and Cherry Coke, eh

Those were the days and we go

Back to the '80s and hey there, Mr. T

To Twister Sisters on MTV, yeah

Those were the days, I come back

To Iron Maiden and 7-Up (ooh whoa yeah)

Bananarama and Breakfast Club

Come back, yeah, come back, yeah

I come back

When Huey Lewis was the news

When we went flying with Tom Cruise

When shoulder pads and looking tough, whoa

Lost a dare to David Hasselhoff

Too many men with heavy makeup on (hey)

Too many poodles with guitars

Thanks for all the joy you've given us

You will always be our superstars

Back to the '80s, back to soap (back to soap)

Back to Rocky and Cherry Coke, eh

Those were the days and we go

Back to the '80s and hey there, Mr. T

To Twister Sisters on MTV, yeah

Those were the days, I come back

To Iron Maiden and 7-Up (ooh whoa yeah)

Bananarama and Breakfast Club

Come back, yeah, come back, yeah

I come back

Hooray for Cosby and Rubik's Cube

Hooray for Dynasty and moon boots

Hooray for Devo and barber curls

Hooray for Poltergeist and Barbie girls (girls, girls, girls)

Love you, love you, love you, love you, love you

Back to the '80s (we love the '80s), back to soap (we love it all)

Back to Rocky and Cherry Coke, eh

Those were the days (let's go back)

Back to the '80s (oh, there it goes), to Mr. T (yeah)

To Twister Sisters on MTV, yeah

Those were the days, I come back

To Iron Maiden and 7-Up (ooh whoa yeah)

Bananarama and Breakfast Club

Come back, yeah, come back, yeah

Songwriter:

Let's go back to the '80s (7-Up, we love it all)

All the stars still standing tall

Let's go back to the '80s, back to the '80s

Back to the '80s (7-Up, we love it all)

All the stars still standing tall

Let's go back to the '80s, back to the '80s...

Claus Norreen / Soren Rasted / Thomas Troelsen / Peter During / Nicolaj Rasted

SongFacts:

👉📖

Homepage:

Aqua

[diegosouzalions]

https://at.tumblr.com/diegosouzalions/cada-diamante-tem-uma-fun%C3%A7%C3%A3o-principal-no-planeta/z319s5br62jo

When you did this

Can you translate it into English for those who can't speak or read I know theirs a translation option but translating device's can't be trusted

Sure!

Peach: Command Diamonds and Gems (except Rainbow ones), acting as she thinks Rainbow Diamond would do;

Lime: Defense (using the plants in her room) and technology from Color Planet;

Cherry: Aristocracy (greater amount of Gems above Sapphires) and creation of synthetic Pearls (function that was discarded);

Sun: Control of the sun in Color Planet and colonization of stars;

Moon: Control of the moon in Color Planet and colonization of natural satellites;

Hope: Has the largest amount of armies of very powerful Gems and rebel hunter (uses the butterflies to find their location);

Aqua: Color Planet's largest water/essence producer;

Cognac: Producer of male Gems and makes other Diamonds produce essence by practicing exercises when they are invited;

Bi-Color: Spoiler;

Smoky: Producer of male Gems and makes other Diamonds produce essence when they are invited to his shows, telling jokes and making them cry or sweat with laughter;

Gray: Producer of Gems of neutral colors and planning ways to destroy colonies;

Silver: Plans grand balls and decorates "empty" rooms;

Golden: Plans forms of communication and domesticates organic beings in the colonies so they cannot hinder colonization;

Magenta: Spoiler.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Smoke Fills South American Skies

Intense fires burning in several South American countries draped large swaths of smoke across the continent throughout August and early September 2024. In Brazil and Bolivia, fire activity reached levels not seen since 2010 as a prolonged drought parched landscapes in both countries.

From about 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away from Earth, NASA’s EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) imager on the DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) satellite captured this view of smoke billowing from the blazes on September 3, 2024.

Smoke from fires in Brazil swept over the country’s capital city in mid-August and early September. For several days, São Paolo’s air was clouded with smog, and air quality was unhealthy for sensitive groups, according to AirNow. The smoke grounded flights and forced schools to close in the most populous city in Brazil, according to The Guardian.

The fire season in the southern Amazon, which generally ramps up in August and peaks in September and October, has been intense this year. According to the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), a component of the European Union’s space program, emissions from fires have been exceptionally high in Bolivia and the Brazilian states of Amazonas and Mato Grosso do Sul.

CAMS estimates near-real-time wildfire emissions using its Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS), which aggregates observations made by the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) sensors on NASA’s Aqua and Terra satellites. Compared to the previous 21 years, these areas have registered their highest year-to-date total emissions, at 44, 22, and 13 million metric tons of carbon, respectively.

The Pantanal region—which straddles the Brazil-Bolivia border and is home to one of the world’s largest tropical wetlands—has been especially hard hit in 2024. Early and intense blazes spread over the wetlands in late May and continued into August. According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), there were a record number of fire detections in the biome in June 2024, and fires have continued to burn at high levels since.

The false-color image above, acquired by the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8, shows fires near Ascensión de Guarayos, in the Bolivian state of Santa Cruz. The false-color image emphasizes the burn areas (brown) from several fires on September 3, 2024. Unburned vegetation is green. Near- and short-wave infrared bands help penetrate some of the smoke to reveal hot areas associated with active fires, which appear orange.

Through September 6, blazes tore through more than 10 million hectares of Bolivia, or roughly 9 percent of the country’s total area. Out of the 42 million metric tons of carbon emitted in Bolivia between May and August, 33 million metric tons came from fires in the state of Santa Cruz, according to Mark Parrington, CAMS senior scientist with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

Large parts of South America have seen significant rainfall deficits over the past three months. According to ECMWF, this has led to “exceptional drought” (the highest drought ranking) over much of the central and northern parts of the continent. Brazil’s Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alerts Center noted on September 5 that shifted rainfall patterns from El Niño, increased temperatures from climate change, and reduced humidity from deforestation have all contributed to the drought.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison, using data from DSCOVR EPIC and Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Emily Cassidy.

[lonestarflight]

On STS-6, the crew of Challenger launched the first TDRS satellite.

"The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation consists of a number of geosynchronous (GEO) satellites (first generation, second generation and third generation satellites) distributed over the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. They provide near continuous bent pipe information relay services to over 25 missions like the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station and many of our Earth-observing missions like Global Precipitation Measurement, Terra and Aqua."

Date: April 9, 1983

source

NASA ID: link, STS006-21-024, STS006-38-894