{"id":187852,"date":"2025-03-19T00:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-18T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=830438"},"modified":"2025-03-19T00:15:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T14:15:00","slug":"observing-storms-from-skylab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=187852","title":{"rendered":"Observing Storms from Skylab"},"content":{"rendered":"
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2 min read<\/p>\n

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Skylab 3<\/a> astronauts witnessed many spectacular sights during their 858 orbital trips around the Earth in the summer of 1973. One involved watching powerful Hurricane Ellen take shape off the West African coast. \u201cThere\u2019s a nice storm down there. She looks pretty big. She\u2019s got a lot of clouds,\u201d said astronaut Alan L. Bean<\/a> upon viewing the storm from Skylab\u2019s low-Earth orbit. <\/p>\n

Knowing they were witnessing something of interest to meteorologists on Earth, Bean and his fellow Skylab crew members captured stereo photographs of the storm using cameras aboard the space station. Meteorologists later used these images, which provided three-dimensional data, to help them understand how the clouds in tropical systems formed and functioned.<\/p>\n

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\"Skylab<\/a><\/figure>
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This image of Hurricane Ellen was taken by Skylab astronauts in September 1973. Unscheduled weather observations that relied on the judgement and actions of Skylab astronauts captured valuable research data for scientists.<\/div>\n
NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Like the Skylab 3 crew’s photographs of Hurricane Ellen, the lightning observations of Skylab 4<\/a> astronaut Edward G. Gibson<\/a> were also used by meteorologists to understand regional weather phenomena. While gazing down at a storm over South America\u2019s Andes Mountains, Gibson noted that the thunderstorm he observed generated recognizable lightning patterns over a 500-square-mile region. <\/p>\n

\u201cA few things impressed me here: one is the fact that they could go off simultaneously or near simultaneously over a large distance\u2014sympathetic lightning bolts, if you will, analogous to sympathetic flares on the sun. And that we do get periods of calm between periods of very high activity. Some sort of collective phenomenon appears to be at work,\u201d Gibson recalled.<\/p>\n

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\"Astronaut<\/a><\/figure>
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This photograph of Edward G. Gibson, Skylab 4 science pilot, was taken at Kennedy Space Center, Florida on November 8, 1973, before his November 16 launch to Skylab. Meteorologists were very interested in the regional lightning patterns he witnessed while aboard the space station.<\/div>\n
NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The photographs of Hurricane Ellen and Gibson\u2019s notes about lightning patterns are just two of many valuable meteorological observations and recordings astronauts made during Skylab\u2019s three crewed missions. All told, astronaut-conducted Earth studies provided important regional, also known as mesoscale, weather data that improved storm forecasting.<\/p>\n

Along with providing valuable data to meteorologists, the notable findings of the Skylab astronauts supported the argument of the era\u2019s scientists and mission planners who insisted that there was no adequate replacement for intelligent human observers in space. <\/p>\n

Perhaps the authors of Living and Working in Space: A History of Skylab<\/em><\/a>  put it best when they wrote: \u201cMan’s ability to discriminate, to select the important features of a wide vista, and to respond effectively to unexpected events constituted his greatest contribution to orbital investigations.”<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tRead more about how Ed Gibson's lightning observations impacted weather forecasting<\/span>
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\n\t\tRead the NASA publication Skylab Explores the Earth<\/span>
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