Intro music.
Clouds. Whether brilliantly bright or dark and foreboding, clouds are an everyday sight that defies our understanding.
We can easily see them with weather radars and satellites.
But scientists are unsure how clouds produce rain or snow, and which ones will do so.
NASA hopes to demystify the way clouds work with the launch of the new CloudSat and CALIPSO research satellites.
CloudSat is designed to live up to its name by probing the internal structure of clouds.
"We're all very familiar with what clouds look like from below, and even on the weather programs at night,
we see the clouds from above. But until now, we haven't had the ability to actually look inside clouds
and that's what CloudSat's going to do."
Using advanced radar, CloudSat will make estimates like how much moisture is suspended inside clouds and how
many clouds produce rain.
Closely trailing CloudSat in space will be the CALIPSO satellite.
CALIPSO's lidar scanner specializes in detecting wispy cloud layers and aerosols.
Aerosols are tiny particles suspended in the air that greatly contribute to global pollution.
"We're finding that air quality in a given region can be affected by an area far away because the pollution
is transported. So CALIPSO will give us insight into how pollution is transported and once we know where the
pollution is coming from, then we can try to correct it."
Working together, CloudSat and CALIPSO form a complementary team to study clouds inside and out for the benefit of the Earth below.