These images come from satellites which remain above a fixed point on the Earth (ie. they are "geostationary"). The infrared picture shows the same view but looking at a part of the spectrum which our eyes do not detect. The infrared pictures allow us to measure the temperature of the cloud tops, which can be used to determine their height. The whiter clouds are colder than the greyer clouds in this image. Infrared images can be recorded 24 hours a day. Visible pictures can only be made during daylight hours. Coast-lines and lines of latitude and longitude have been added to the images and they have been altered to northern polar stereographic projection.
