NASA's TRMM satellite tracks 2006 hurricane rainfall
EcoPolis
NASA's TRMM satellite tracks 2006 hurricane rainfall
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NASA's maps of rainfall in a hurricane's path
How can one know how much rain really falls over the path of a tropical
storm or hurricane? This is a question that greatly interests
meteorologists and hydrologists. On their behalf, and on behalf of the
public which ultimately benefits from better observations of storms,
NASA scientists are using satellite data from its rain gauge in space,
the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or "TRMM" to help provide these
measurements.
TRMM, a joint mission between NASA and JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency,
was launched in 1997 to study rainfall in the tropics. Since then,
researchers and forecasters have found TRMM invaluable. TRMM has
provided rainfall data in places that have no rain gauges, as well as
lightning data and a never before seen 3-D look into storms. That 3-D
capability has also led scientists to formulate a theory on "Hot
Towers," or towering clouds that form in the eyewall of a hurricane.
Currently, scientists are using TRMM data to provide a complete picture
of precipitation around the entire world. Goddard scientists Bob Adler
and George Huffman are compiling this information using TRMM, as well
as data from NASA's Aqua satellite, a few Department of Defense
satellites, a few National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
polar-orbit satellites, and five international geostationary-orbit
satellites. Polar orbiting satellites fly over the north and south
poles. Geostationary satellites are those that orbit the Earth in a
fixed position over the Equator.
This combination of satellite data allows Adler and Huffman to compute
how much rain has fallen over three hour periods for most of the world,
not including the upper northern and lower southern hemispheres.
Huffman said "Data from TRMM are key to getting the complete picture of
rainfall around the world, because of the satellite's high quality
sensors and special orbit." Adler and Huffman take advantage of these
attributes to adjust each of the other satellite data sets to TRMM's
rainfall data.
NASA uses these TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis data to
create maps of rainfall accumulation along the tracks of hurricanes.
These images show the mapped rainfall for 2006's Hurricane Ernesto in
the Atlantic Ocean, Super Typhoon Ioke in the Central Pacific Ocean,
and Hurricane John in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
(SEE IMAGE ON WEB PAGE:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2006/trmm_2006rain.html)
Hurricane Ernesto's Rainfall Track
This image shows the amount of rain that fell from Hurricane Ernesto
from Aug. 24, 2006 at 5:00 p.m. EDT (21 UTC) to 5:00 p.m. EDT (21 UTC)
on Sept. 1.
The rainfall is accumulated within approximately 410 miles (a radius of
6 degrees) from the storm's center along the track. The track line is
superimposed on the rainfall, with the storm intensity indicated by the
color of the line. For the most part, Ernesto was a tropical storm (red
line) and became a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale
on Aug. 28, south of Hispanola. The month and day are indicated along
the track. For example, "8/28" is Aug. 28, 2006.
A significant disruption of the storm's rainfall occurred as the storm
moved over Cuba, likely contributing to Ernesto's inability to
intensify. Despite its modest intensity, Ernesto dumped large
quantities of rain on the East Coast. For example, eastern North
Carolina recorded 8 to 12 inches of rain, while southeastern Virginia
measured up to a foot. Seven inches fell in Worcester County on
Maryland's Eastern Shore. Notice how the accumulations estimated from
the TRMM data approximately match these reports.
(SEE IMAGE ON WEB PAGE:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2006/trmm_2006rain.html)
Super Typhoon Ioke's Track
This image shows the amount of rain that fell from Supertyphoon Ioke
for the period from Aug. 19 at 1:00 p.m. EDT (17:00 UTC) to 8:00 p.m.
Sept. 4, (00:00 UTC) Sept. 5. The rainfall is accumulated within
approximately 410 miles (a radius of 6 degrees) of the storm center
following the track. The track is superimposed on the rainfall, with
the storm intensity indicated by the color of the line (see legend).
The month and day are indicated along the track. Intense precipitation
occurred as Ioke spent approximately 8 days at Category 4 and 5
intensity. The rainfall on the day Aug. 29 is estimated by TRMM to be
between 120-140 millimeters (4.7 inches- 5.5 inches) as depicted in
orange/red in the image. Ioke was a very long-lasting intense storm.
The image shows that the rain accumulation exceeded 80 millimeters once
the storm reached Category 4 intensity and stayed above that value for
about 7 days. On Sept. 1, the rainfall began to diminish and a day
later the storm's intensity began to decrease.
(SEE IMAGE ON WEB PAGE:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2006/trmm_2006rain.html)
Hurricane John Slammed Baja California
This image shows the amount of rain that fell from Hurricane John from
Aug. 28 at 11:00 a.m. EDT (15:00 UTC) to Sept. 4 at 8:00 a.m. EDT
(12:00 UTC). The rainfall is accumulated within approximately 410 miles
(a radius of 6 degrees) of the storm center following the track. The
track is superimposed on the rainfall, with the storm intensity
indicated by the color of the line. For example, for most of the day on
Aug. 30, the track line is cyan or light blue, indicating at that time,
that John was a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale with winds
between 111-130 mph. The month and day are indicated along the track.
On Tuesday, September 5, much of the southwestern United States was
under clouds and rain as the remnants of John moved closer to the
region. The normally dry region of southern New Mexico got enough rain
to cause isolated road flooding, John's remnants brought southern
Arizona scattered rain.
(Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)