Global Warming is taking place, data undeniable
(Source NASA) – The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.

NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated analysis that shows temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience warmer temperatures …

M3.2 Class flare seen by several NASA satellites
See Live images of the sun here

See article about new flare on 1/24/12 here
Update 1/21/12 – The CME has passed and NOAA has removed the warning for a CME Event.
The CME is Earth directed with impact predicted for Jan. 21, 2012. Increasing sun activity let loose a long duration M3.2 class flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) between 15:15 and 16:30 UT (or 10:15 eastern) 1/19/12.

This video taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows a close-up of sunspot 1401 region as the flare erupts. The CME cloud lifting off is visible just past …

Ross Iceberg B15 ends 12 years after it broke off
When Terra Earth Observation Satellite was launched by NASA in December of 1999 the timing was perfect. In March of 2000, the largest iceberg ever seen broke away from the Ross Ice Shelf.. The iceberg , dubbed B-15, was a over 170 miles long and 25 miles wide, about the size of Connecticut. Terra managed to capture the creation one of the largest icebergs ever to be captured by any satellite. The stunning images of this were clear evidence that something was going on with the climate and could not be …

 
NASA Space Telescope Finds Fewer Asteroids Near Earth
WASHINGTON — We are safer then once estimated. New observations by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, show there are significantly fewer near-Earth asteroids in the mid-size range than previously thought. The findings also indicate NASA has found more than 90 percent of the largest near-Earth asteroids, meeting a goal agreed to with Congress in 1998.
Astronomers now estimate there are roughly 19,500 — not 35,000 — mid-size near-Earth asteroids. Scientists say this improved understanding of the population may indicate the hazard to Earth could be somewhat less than previously thought. However, the …

Source WWF – Durban, South Africa:The United Nations climate change talks starting this week present a unique opportunity for leaders of the world to move beyond political posturing and lay the foundations for an ambitious global climate deal.The climate talks are at a crossroads, and governments have a lot of work to do in Durban if they want the world to know they are serious about addressing dangerous climate change, WWF said today.

Samantha Smith, leader of WWF’s Global Climate and Energy Initiative:
“ Climate change is a global threat that makes borders and politics irrelevant – and it needs a united response …

VIIRS Opens Doors
GREENBELT, Md. — The Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard NASA’s newest Earth-observing satellite, NPP, acquired its first measurements on Nov. 21, 2011. This high-resolution image is of a broad swath of Eastern North America from Canada’s Hudson Bay past Florida to the northern coast of Venezuela. The VIIRS data were processed at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility (NSOF) in Suitland, Md.

VIIRS is one of five instruments onboard the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite that launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Oct. 28. Since then, NPP reached its final orbit …

On October 28th NASA launched the NPP mission. This is the newest satellite in it’s fleet of Earth Observation Satellites. The satellite is still being commissioned and most of the science instruments are not yet fully on but the ATMS instrument has released the first official picture from the Satellite.

This is known as “First Light”. When a satellite is launched the first light picture represents the culmination of years of work by scientists and engineer and is a real milestone for any mission.Here is a link to NASA article.

The image above is the actual NPP First light image.
Link to this …

(SOURCE NOAA )

NOAA’s Patricia Lang prepares to measure greenhouse gas levels inside a flask that is part of NOAA’s global air sampling network. Network measurements, made from remote sites around the world, are critical to NOAA’s Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, an annual measure of the heating effect of greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere by human activities.

NOAA’s updated Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), which measures the direct climate influence of many greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, shows a continued steady upward trend that began with the Industrial Revolution of the 1880s.
Started in 2004, the AGGI reached 1.29 …

Source – (JAXA) The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been operating the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS (AMSR-E) for over nine years (despite a design life of three years) as an onboard device installed in the American earth observation satellite Aqua, after its launch on May 4, 2002. Since the end of August, 2011, however, the continuous increase of relatively large antenna rotation friction was detected twice, thus JAXA has been monitoring the condition. At 3:58 p.m. on October 4, 2011 (Japan Standard Time,) the AMSR-E reached its limit(*1) to maintain the rotation speed necessary for regular observations (40 rotations …