The “eyes” are areas of high potential vorticity and the “mouth” is an area of low possible vorticity. In all cases, the ephemeral facial features are triggered by different arrangements of low and high prospective vorticity– an amount that explains how air masses are spinning. In these plots, locations of high possible vorticity appear orange and have counterclockwise circulation; locations of low prospective vorticity appear purple and have clockwise blood circulation. In the set of three, the face on the left likewise had a split vortex, with eyes of high possible vorticity. In both cases, the left eye is made up of a low potential vorticity area, the ideal eye of a high potential vorticity area, and the mouth by linking strands of both.
These faces were seen in prospective vorticity data from December 30, 1984, February 7, 1990, and January 28, 2012.
” The finest time to find faces remains in the winter season in the polar regions of the northern hemisphere,” Pawson said. “Thats when the dark conditions of the polar night lead to a ring of westerly winds in the stratosphere that atmospheric researchers have actually long called the stratospheric polar vortex or circumpolar vortex.”
For much of the winter, the polar vortex spins high in the stratosphere. About as soon as per winter season– normally in January or February– something takes place that interrupts this circumpolar circulation. This causes those westerly winds to weaken and temperatures to increase over the pole. This can even trigger the winds to change instructions and the stratospheric polar vortex to split into sections, Coy explained. “Its frequently during or after these occasions– sometimes called sudden dizzying warming events– that well discover a face.”
In all cases, the ephemeral facial features are brought on by different plans of low and high prospective vorticity– a quantity that describes how air masses are spinning. In these plots, areas of high potential vorticity appear orange and have counterclockwise circulation; locations of low possible vorticity appear purple and have clockwise circulation. (German researcher Hans Ertel first released on possible vorticity in 1942).
In the menacing face at the top of the page, a split in the vortex following an abrupt stratospheric warming event left 2 areas of high possible vorticity serving as eyes, while an area of low prospective vorticity formed the mouth. The face was seen in possible vorticity information from January 25, 1982, at a height of approximately 30 kilometers (18 miles), roughly the middle of the stratosphere.
In the trine, the face left wing also had a split vortex, with eyes of high possible vorticity. A more typical pattern can be seen in the two smiling images to the. In both cases, the left eye is comprised of a low possible vorticity location, the ideal eye of a high possible vorticity area, and the mouth by connecting hairs of both.
” Steven had the concept of finding at least among these faces for each winter,” Coy said. “We already have a collection of more than 40 of these, and I bet we will continue searching in future years.”
When Coy and Pawson find faces in atmospheric data, theyre taking part in face pareidolia– the human tendency of seeing faces in everyday objects. Mental research recommends the routine most likely circulations from the human brains extraordinary facial recognition abilities, something that even the youngest of children can do well.
” Finding these never gets old, and its an enjoyable method to get individuals to think of the stratosphere and our data assimilation models,” stated Pawson. “Its also a great way to highlight year-to-year differences in the stratosphere.”
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, utilizing MERRA-2 data courtesy of Lawrence Coy/GSFC and the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA GSFC.
This “face” was seen in possible vorticity information from January 25, 1982, at a height of approximately 30 kilometers (18 miles), roughly the middle of the stratosphere. The “eyes” are locations of high possible vorticity and the “mouth” is an area of low possible vorticity. In the most basic terms, potential vorticity is a quantity that describes how air masses are spinning
When deals with swirl up in their data, a set of NASA scientists have an unconventional hobby– searching through climatic information to find the uncommon moment.
By day, NASA researchers Lawrence Coy and Steven Pawson develop complicated information assimilation and reanalysis models of Earths atmosphere at Goddard Space Flight Center. When they require a break, they indulge in an unconventional pastime– searching for ghostly faces swirling in their information.
A few of their preferred finds after scouring around 40 years of data are displayed in the images on this page. They found all of these “faces” while analyzing visualizations of wind and temperature information from a reanalysis called the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2). The reanalysis simulates climatic conditions on a worldwide scale by integrating weather data from satellites and numerous other sources.