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Article: Please don't let me be misunderstood.(satellite images of water vapor)
- Article from:
- Weatherwise
- Article date:
- January 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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If fuzzy satellite images of water vapor were inclined to impersonate a rock group (please indulge me here), their likely choice would be the Animals, whose repertoire of 1960s hits included "Please don't let me be understood." That's because there is a popular misconception that dark areas on water vapor images mean "the air is dry." Actually, dark areas represent water vapor in the middle troposphere. Moreover, dark splotches don't suggest anything about concentrations of water vapor near the Earth's surface - even those that can fuel heavy rain.
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