Advancements in technology have made it possible to view our planet in so many different ways, but here's something you probably haven't seen – a satellite that can capture Earth's "skin temperature."
The colorful image above was captured Tuesday by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which is housed by the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite. The VIIRS has 22 channels that are capable of seeing different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, NOAA said, which provides stellar images such as this one.
Satellite instruments, like the VIIRS aboard the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite, can see the planet in a variety of different ways, each revealing unique features about the world in which we live," wrote NOAA.
In the image, a cooler skin temperature is denoted by blue and white shading, while the oranges and yellows show where the heat reflected off Earth's surface is most intense. Atop mountain peaks and in New England, skin temperatures are cooler, as expected, and many of the inland areas where warmer readings are seen are actually waterways.
But there are other areas, especially in New York City and Philadelphia, where the shading is noticeably warmer than the surrounding areas. That is the urban heat island effect in action, making big cities as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit warming than the areas around it.
https://weather.com/news/news/nasa-noaa-image-skin-temperature-northeast
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