Summer2025CloudUpdate - Clouds Protocol

Welcome to our NASA GLOBE Clouds Quarterly Update! This is an exciting time, as we get closer to our GLOBE Annual Meeting. It is always a delight to see old friends, meet new friends, and learn from community members around the world. Meanwhile, the GLOBE Clouds team is excited to launch a new card game, share some special cloud observations, and talk about lidar science and more in this quarterly update.

NUBE: A New GLOBE Clouds Card Game

NUBE (Spanish for “CLOUD” and pronounced “noo-beh”), is a new card game that engages learners of all ages (young children to adults) with clouds. Co-developed with Queens Public Library and also tested at Challenger Center and the Center for STEM Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University, NUBE players win the game when they get rid of all their cards after matching cloud types and/or shades of blue. There are also special cards, such as “rainmakers” that will have players reverse or skip turns, as well as “mystery” cards that will have players describe cloud types using words, a sketch, or even movement. Download your copy now from: GLOBE Clouds NUBE Card Game.

Dust Observations

When making GLOBE cloud observations, it is necessary to pay attention to the sky color. Sometimes, the sky's color gives cues about the presence of tiny particles called aerosols. These include dust, salts, ash, smoke, and pollution. Aerosols can change the climate by affecting clouds and can also impact weather and health. Scientists use satellites to track these particles, and GLOBE observations give firsthand proof to help us understand how they affect the environment.

This spring has been an active period for dust storms over some regions of the world. These storms have had major impacts in some areas.

Let us look at some interesting GLOBE cloud observations submitted by several citizen scientists on March 18, 2025. That day, a dust storm began in southern New Mexico and southwest Texas, darkening the skies over El Paso and nearby cities, snarling traffic throughout the area.

Favorite Cloud and Ask Us Anything

GLOBE Clouds photos from each region are featured, and you are asked to vote for your favorite. Thank you for your participation! Based on your votes, the winning photo of last quarter is below:

 

Here are photos representing each region. Please vote for your favorite using this GLOBE Clouds: Favorite Cloud and Ask Us Anything form.

Ask Us Anything Question, Answered

Thank you to everyone who has submitted a question. It is always difficult to choose which question to answer because all questions are great! This time we are answering a question around a very common misconception: “Do all clouds have vapor in different percentages?”

While clouds do contain water, clouds are not composed of water vapor. The water in clouds is in liquid and/or solid form. The air around us does contain water vapor, but we cannot see it because water vapor is invisible. Water vapor is water in gaseous form. It is only when that water vapor cools and condenses into liquid water droplets or solid ice crystals that clouds form. Low clouds are mostly made of water droplets of various sizes. Thin, upper level (cirrus) clouds are made of tiny ice particles. Deep thunderstorm clouds which can reach up to 20 km in height contain both liquid and ice in the form of cloud and raindrops, cloud ice, snow, graupel and hail.

Meet an Expert: Kris Bedka

Meet Kris Bedka, a Research Physical Scientist at NASA Langley Research Center.

Question: Where are you from?

Answer: I am from Chicago, IL.

Question: What do you do?

Answer: My colleagues and I use satellite data collected by satellites in geostationary orbit and low-earth-orbit to study clouds. We process these data to learn about clouds. For example, we find answers to questions like: How high and thick are the clouds? Are their tops made of ice or water? How do they influence the Earth’s radiation balance? One of my particular areas of expertise is studying the development of hazardous convective storms. We use satellite-based data to automatically detect areas where conditions such as hail, tornadoes, damaging winds, and/or aviation turbulence and icing are likely to occur. I also do some educational outreach work as well. I visit schools to meet with students and tell them about what I do, my career path, and what it’s like working for NASA.

Question: What missions are you involved in?

Answer: The closest connection would be the CERES mission, an instrument on Terra and Aqua as well as other satellites. Scientists need to have very detailed depictions of cloud cover to understand the energy exchange and balance on Earth.

Question: What was your career path?

Answer: All of my degrees have been in meteorology and atmospheric science. I went to Northern Illinois University and then on to the University of Wisconsin-Madison where I also attended school until I began working at their Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS). From there, I moved on to working at NASA Langley.

Question: What do you do for fun?

Answer: I like watching and playing sports. I also like gardening and landscaping. My art skills are about the equivalent of a first grader, so flowers and plants are a great type of art form for me. I also like cooking and eating all sorts of ethnic foods.

Question: What inspires you?

Answer: The desire to keep pushing forward and to understand things that others have never done before. In atmospheric science, you start looking at one area, working hard and researching it in depth, and then you realize you might be one of only five people who know what you know. You meet top scientists in the field and it is interesting to connect with them and their research and understand how they became the best of the best. Seeing other people work hard inspires me to work every bit as hard.

Question: Any favorite quote(s) that you would like to share?

Answer: “Shoot for the moon and hope to get off the launching pad.” – Patrick Minnis, Recently Retired From NASA Langley

Science Topic: Lidar

NASA’s Langley Research Center is known around the world for its work with lidar. But what is lidar? The name “lidar” was originally a combination of the words “light” and “radar” but it is now generally used as an acronym that stands for Light Detection and Ranging. Lidar uses laser light and helps scientists study things in the air and oceans—like clouds, winds, water vapor, smoke, and gases such as methane and ozone.

A lidar system sends out fast laser beams. These laser beams hit particles in the air or in the ocean, such as dust particles or water droplets. The light bounces back and is picked up by the lidar detector. The system then uses this information to figure out different things; for example: how high the particles are, how fast the wind is blowing, or how much gas (like ozone or methane) is in the air.

Some lidars are attached to research airplanes or satellites. This helps scientists collect data over large areas. They can even track how particles move across the sky or oceans over time.

NASA Langley Research Center continues to innovate for next-generation observing systems. Each generation of scientists and engineers passes their expertise to the next generation. Equipped with this knowledge, Langley develops new ocean lidar measurement technologies. Langley's aerosol and cloud lidars have flown on 40 science missions. The data from these missions has been published by scientists worldwide.

Aerosol Wind Profiler (AWP), A New Wind Lidar Instrument

Since last fall, NASA scientists have been flying a new wind lidar instrument called the Aerosol Wind Profiler (AWP) across the United States. They used it to collect about 100 hours of data, including during a flight through a hurricane. The AWP measures wind speed, wind direction, and tiny particles in the air. This helps scientists make better weather forecasts.

Storms like hurricanes and thunderstorms form quickly. To predict them better, scientists need more accurate wind data.

According to Kris Bedka, the lead scientist for the AWP, there aren’t enough wind measurements above Earth’s surface. Right now there is some data from airplanes, weather balloons, and satellites. However, wind measurements are not reliable in places without clouds.

The AWP helps by measuring wind in 3D — meaning it can see wind at different heights in the sky. This is useful in places where there is no good wind data.

NASA put the AWP on a special airplane and flew it in September 2024. The tool sends out 200 laser pulses every second. These lasers bounce off particles in the air like dust, smoke, and clouds. When the particles move, they change the laser light. This tells scientists how fast and in what direction the wind is blowing.

The AWP sends lasers in two directions. This helps it create a 3D picture of the wind. Bedka says the AWP is measuring wind at many heights at the same time, and with great detail.

The AWP and HALO instrument teams observing incoming data on board NASA’s G-III aircraft over Tennessee while heading south to observe Hurricane Helene. Sept. 26, 2024. NASA/Maurice Cross

Knowing wind speed and direction helps with weather prediction. Because of this, the AWP was added to a special NOAA program that tests new weather tools. NASA also supports this program.

The AWP flew with another NASA tool called High-Altitude Lidar Observatory (HALO). HALO measures water vapor, aerosols, and clouds. Scientists also dropped small instruments called dropsondes from the plane to measure temperature and wind.

Together, these tools gave scientists a lot of useful weather data, even while flying over a hurricane.

GLOBE Clouds by the Numbers

The GLOBE Clouds Team would like to share some exciting numbers! Thank you to the amazing GLOBE community. Repeat observations are necessary to understand changes in our atmosphere: