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Earth of Taiwan and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
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Shaded Relief Mosaic of Umna
PIA03509
Sol (our sun)
AirSAR
| Title |
Shaded Relief Mosaic of Umnak Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This image is a shaded relief mosaic of Umnak Island in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. It was created with Airsar data that was geocoded and combined into this mosaic as part of a NASA-funded Alaska Digital Elevation Model Project at the Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar Facility (ASF) at the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute in Fairbanks, Alaska. Airsar collected the Alaska data as part of its PacRim 2000 Mission, which took the instrument to French Polynesia, American and Western Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Northern Marianas, Guam, Palau, Hawaii and Alaska. Airsar, part of NASA's Airborne Science Program, is managed for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise by JPL. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. |
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Perspective View of Umnak Is
PIA03508
Sol (our sun)
AirSAR
| Title |
Perspective View of Umnak Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska (#2) |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This image is a perspective view of Umnak Island, one of Alaska's Aleutian Islands. The active Okmok volcano appears in the center of the island. The image was created by draping a Landsat 7 Thematic Mapper image over a digital elevation mosaic derived from Airsar data. This work was conducted as part of a NASA-funded Alaska Digital Elevation Model Project at the Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar Facility (ASF) at the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute in Fairbanks, Alaska. Airsar collected the Alaska data as part of its PacRim 2000 Mission, which took the instrument to French Polynesia, American and Western Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Northern Marianas, Guam, Palau, Hawaii and Alaska. Airsar, part of NASA's Airborne Science Program, is managed for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise by JPL. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. |
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Perspective View of Umnak Is
PIA03507
Sol (our sun)
AirSAR
| Title |
Perspective View of Umnak Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska (#1) |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This image is a perspective view of Umnak Island, one of Alaska's Aleutian Islands. The active Okmok volcano appears in the center of the island. The image was created by draping a Landsat 7 Thematic Mapper image over a digital elevation mosaic derived from Airsar data. This work was conducted as part of a NASA-funded Alaska Digital Elevation Model Project at the Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar Facility (ASF) at the University of Alaska Geophysical Institute in Fairbanks, Alaska. Airsar collected the Alaska data as part of its PacRim 2000 Mission, which took the instrument to French Polynesia, American and Western Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Northern Marianas, Guam, Palau, Hawaii and Alaska. Airsar, part of NASA's Airborne Science Program, is managed for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise by JPL. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. |
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Perspective View of Okmok Vo
PIA03511
Sol (our sun)
AirSAR
| Title |
Perspective View of Okmok Volcano, Aleutian Islands, Alaska (#2) |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This perspective view shows the caldera of the Okmok volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. The shaded relief was generated from and draped over an Airsar-derived digital elevation mosaic. Airsar collected the Alaska data as part of its PacRim 2000 Mission, which took the instrument to French Polynesia, American and Western Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Northern Marianas, Guam, Palau, Hawaii and Alaska. Airsar, part of NASA's Airborne Science Program, is managed for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise by JPL. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. |
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Perspective View of Okmok Vo
PIA03510
Sol (our sun)
AirSAR
| Title |
Perspective View of Okmok Volcano, Aleutian Islands, Alaska (#1) |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This perspective view shows the caldera of the Okmok volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. The shaded relief was generated from and draped over an Airsar-derived digital elevation mosaic. Airsar collected the Alaska data as part of its PacRim 2000 Mission, which took the instrument to French Polynesia, American and Western Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Northern Marianas, Guam, Palau, Hawaii and Alaska. Airsar, part of NASA's Airborne Science Program, is managed for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise by JPL. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. |
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Super Typhoon Haitang
PIA07968
Sol (our sun)
SeaWinds Scatterometer
| Title |
Super Typhoon Haitang |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Typhoon Haitang is shown here churning steadily towards Taiwan and China. This image shows the storm's swirling wind patterns as observed by NASA's QuikScat satellite on July 14, 2005, at 19:19 UTC (14:19 Eastern Daylight Time). At this time, the typhoon was located hundreds of kilometers from the nearest major land masses. The image depicts wind speed in color and wind direction with small barbs. White barbs point to areas of heavy rain. The highest wind speeds, shown in purple, surround the center of the storm. Measurements of the wind strength of Typhoon Haitang show sustained winds of around 85 knots and gusts up to 105 knots at the time of the QuickScat observations. The images, however, reveal lower wind speeds. This is because the power of the storm makes accurate measurements difficult. The scatterometer sends pulses of microwave energy through the atmosphere to the ocean surface, and measures the energy that bounces back from the wind-roughened surface. The energy of the microwave pulses changes depending on wind speed and direction, giving scientists a way to monitor wind around the world. Tropical cyclones (the generic term for hurricanes and typhoons), however, are difficult to measure. To relate the radar energy return to actual wind speed, scientists compare measurements taken from buoys and other ground stations to data the satellite acquired at the same time and place. Because the high wind speeds generated by cyclones are rare, scientists do not have corresponding ground information to know how to translate data from the satellite for wind speeds above 50 knots (about 93 kilometers per hour or 58 miles per hour). Also, the unusually heavy rain found in a cyclone distorts the microwave pulses in a number of ways, making a conversion to accurate wind speed difficult. Instead, the scatterometer provides a nice picture of the relative wind speeds within the storm and shows wind direction. "QuikScat Background" NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) spacecraft was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on June 19, 1999. QuikScat carries the SeaWinds scatterometer, a specialized microwave radar that measures near-surface wind speed and direction under all weather and cloud conditions over the Earth's oceans. More information about the QuikScat mission and observations is available at http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07968 http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov ]. QuikScat is managed for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, DC, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. JPL also built the SeaWinds radar instrument and is providing ground science processing systems. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, managed development of the satellite, designed and built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, CO. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has contributed support to ground systems processing and related activities. |
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AIRS First Light Data: Typho
PIA00341
Sol (our sun)
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
| Title |
AIRS First Light Data: Typhoon Ramasun, July 3, 2002 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Four images of Tropical Cyclone Ramasun were obtained July 3, 2002 by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder experiment system onboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft. The AIRS experiment, with its wide spectral coverage in four diverse bands, provides the ability to obtain complete 3-D observations of severe weather, from the surface, through clouds to the top of the atmosphere with unprecedented accuracy. This accuracy is the key to understanding weather patterns and improving weather predictions. Viewed separately, none of these images can provide accurate 3-D descriptions of the state of the atmosphere because of interference from clouds. However, the ability to make simultaneous observations at a wide range of wavelengths allows the AIRS experiment to "see" through clouds. This visible light picture from the AIRS instrument provides important information about the location of the cyclone, cloud structure and distribution. The AIRS instrument image at 900 cm-1 (Figure 1) is from a 10 micron transparent "window channel" that is little affected by water vapor but still cannot see through clouds. In clear areas (like the eye of the cyclone and over northwest Australia) it measures a surface temperature of about 300K (color encoded red). In cloudy areas it measures the cloud top temperature, about 200K for the cyclone, which translates to a cloud top height of about 50,000 feet. On the other hand, most clouds are relatively transparent in microwave, and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Instrument channel image (Figure 2) can see through all but the densest clouds. For example, Taiwan, which is covered by clouds, is clearly visible. The Humidity Sounder for Brazil instrument channel (Figure 3), also in the microwave, is more sensitive to both clouds and humidity. Only in clear, dry regions, such as the eye of the cyclone or the area north of Australia, does it see the surface. It is also severely affected by suspended ice particles formed by strong convection, which causes scattering and appears to be extremely cold. These blue areas indicate intense precipitation. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder is an instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite under the space agency's Earth Observing System. The sounding system is making highly accurate measurements of air temperature, humidity, clouds and surface temperature. Data will be used to better understand weather and climate. It will also be used by the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve the accuracy of their weather and climate models. The instrument was designed and built by Lockheed Infrared Imaging Systems (recently acquired by British Aerospace) under contract with JPL. The Aqua satellite mission is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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AIRS First Light Data: Typho
PIA00341
Sol (our sun)
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
| Title |
AIRS First Light Data: Typhoon Ramasun, July 3, 2002 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Four images of Tropical Cyclone Ramasun were obtained July 3, 2002 by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder experiment system onboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft. The AIRS experiment, with its wide spectral coverage in four diverse bands, provides the ability to obtain complete 3-D observations of severe weather, from the surface, through clouds to the top of the atmosphere with unprecedented accuracy. This accuracy is the key to understanding weather patterns and improving weather predictions. Viewed separately, none of these images can provide accurate 3-D descriptions of the state of the atmosphere because of interference from clouds. However, the ability to make simultaneous observations at a wide range of wavelengths allows the AIRS experiment to "see" through clouds. This visible light picture from the AIRS instrument provides important information about the location of the cyclone, cloud structure and distribution. The AIRS instrument image at 900 cm-1 (Figure 1) is from a 10 micron transparent "window channel" that is little affected by water vapor but still cannot see through clouds. In clear areas (like the eye of the cyclone and over northwest Australia) it measures a surface temperature of about 300K (color encoded red). In cloudy areas it measures the cloud top temperature, about 200K for the cyclone, which translates to a cloud top height of about 50,000 feet. On the other hand, most clouds are relatively transparent in microwave, and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Instrument channel image (Figure 2) can see through all but the densest clouds. For example, Taiwan, which is covered by clouds, is clearly visible. The Humidity Sounder for Brazil instrument channel (Figure 3), also in the microwave, is more sensitive to both clouds and humidity. Only in clear, dry regions, such as the eye of the cyclone or the area north of Australia, does it see the surface. It is also severely affected by suspended ice particles formed by strong convection, which causes scattering and appears to be extremely cold. These blue areas indicate intense precipitation. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder is an instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite under the space agency's Earth Observing System. The sounding system is making highly accurate measurements of air temperature, humidity, clouds and surface temperature. Data will be used to better understand weather and climate. It will also be used by the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve the accuracy of their weather and climate models. The instrument was designed and built by Lockheed Infrared Imaging Systems (recently acquired by British Aerospace) under contract with JPL. The Aqua satellite mission is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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AIRS First Light Data: Typho
PIA00341
Sol (our sun)
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
| Title |
AIRS First Light Data: Typhoon Ramasun, July 3, 2002 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Four images of Tropical Cyclone Ramasun were obtained July 3, 2002 by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder experiment system onboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft. The AIRS experiment, with its wide spectral coverage in four diverse bands, provides the ability to obtain complete 3-D observations of severe weather, from the surface, through clouds to the top of the atmosphere with unprecedented accuracy. This accuracy is the key to understanding weather patterns and improving weather predictions. Viewed separately, none of these images can provide accurate 3-D descriptions of the state of the atmosphere because of interference from clouds. However, the ability to make simultaneous observations at a wide range of wavelengths allows the AIRS experiment to "see" through clouds. This visible light picture from the AIRS instrument provides important information about the location of the cyclone, cloud structure and distribution. The AIRS instrument image at 900 cm-1 (Figure 1) is from a 10 micron transparent "window channel" that is little affected by water vapor but still cannot see through clouds. In clear areas (like the eye of the cyclone and over northwest Australia) it measures a surface temperature of about 300K (color encoded red). In cloudy areas it measures the cloud top temperature, about 200K for the cyclone, which translates to a cloud top height of about 50,000 feet. On the other hand, most clouds are relatively transparent in microwave, and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Instrument channel image (Figure 2) can see through all but the densest clouds. For example, Taiwan, which is covered by clouds, is clearly visible. The Humidity Sounder for Brazil instrument channel (Figure 3), also in the microwave, is more sensitive to both clouds and humidity. Only in clear, dry regions, such as the eye of the cyclone or the area north of Australia, does it see the surface. It is also severely affected by suspended ice particles formed by strong convection, which causes scattering and appears to be extremely cold. These blue areas indicate intense precipitation. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder is an instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite under the space agency's Earth Observing System. The sounding system is making highly accurate measurements of air temperature, humidity, clouds and surface temperature. Data will be used to better understand weather and climate. It will also be used by the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve the accuracy of their weather and climate models. The instrument was designed and built by Lockheed Infrared Imaging Systems (recently acquired by British Aerospace) under contract with JPL. The Aqua satellite mission is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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AIRS First Light Data: Typho
PIA00341
Sol (our sun)
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder
| Title |
AIRS First Light Data: Typhoon Ramasun, July 3, 2002 |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Four images of Tropical Cyclone Ramasun were obtained July 3, 2002 by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder experiment system onboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft. The AIRS experiment, with its wide spectral coverage in four diverse bands, provides the ability to obtain complete 3-D observations of severe weather, from the surface, through clouds to the top of the atmosphere with unprecedented accuracy. This accuracy is the key to understanding weather patterns and improving weather predictions. Viewed separately, none of these images can provide accurate 3-D descriptions of the state of the atmosphere because of interference from clouds. However, the ability to make simultaneous observations at a wide range of wavelengths allows the AIRS experiment to "see" through clouds. This visible light picture from the AIRS instrument provides important information about the location of the cyclone, cloud structure and distribution. The AIRS instrument image at 900 cm-1 (Figure 1) is from a 10 micron transparent "window channel" that is little affected by water vapor but still cannot see through clouds. In clear areas (like the eye of the cyclone and over northwest Australia) it measures a surface temperature of about 300K (color encoded red). In cloudy areas it measures the cloud top temperature, about 200K for the cyclone, which translates to a cloud top height of about 50,000 feet. On the other hand, most clouds are relatively transparent in microwave, and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Instrument channel image (Figure 2) can see through all but the densest clouds. For example, Taiwan, which is covered by clouds, is clearly visible. The Humidity Sounder for Brazil instrument channel (Figure 3), also in the microwave, is more sensitive to both clouds and humidity. Only in clear, dry regions, such as the eye of the cyclone or the area north of Australia, does it see the surface. It is also severely affected by suspended ice particles formed by strong convection, which causes scattering and appears to be extremely cold. These blue areas indicate intense precipitation. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder is an instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite under the space agency's Earth Observing System. The sounding system is making highly accurate measurements of air temperature, humidity, clouds and surface temperature. Data will be used to better understand weather and climate. It will also be used by the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve the accuracy of their weather and climate models. The instrument was designed and built by Lockheed Infrared Imaging Systems (recently acquired by British Aerospace) under contract with JPL. The Aqua satellite mission is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Typhoon Bilis
PIA01048
Sol (our sun)
SeaWinds Scatterometer
| Title |
Typhoon Bilis |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
As super Typhoon Bilis, equal in strength to a category 5 hurricane, bore down on Taiwan, these images from August 21, 2000, show the massive storm's most devastating components: rain and wind. Conventional satellite data provide imagery of the clouds at the top of a storm. These images, however, were created by combining data from two NASA instruments capable of looking through a storm's clouds and seeing what is going on at the surface. These two instruments passed over the same location about one hour apart. The images show the surface winds, measured by SeaWinds on QuikScat's radar scatterometer, as red arrows. The wind data are superimposed on rainfall measurements made by the microwave imager on the Tropical Rain Measuring Mission (TRMM). The scale on the right shows the amount of rainfall in millimeters per hour. QuikSCAT, launched in June 1999, and TRMM, launched 18 months earlier, provide the opportunity to observe both wind and rain before landfall. The SeaWinds on QuikScat project is managed for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. TRMM is a joint US/Japanese mission managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. |
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Typhoon Bilis
PIA01047
Sol (our sun)
SeaWinds Scatterometer
| Title |
Typhoon Bilis |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
As super Typhoon Bilis, equal in strength to a category 5 hurricane, bore down on Taiwan, these images from August 21, 2000, show the massive storm's most devastating components: rain and wind. Conventional satellite data provide imagery of the clouds at the top of a storm. These images, however, were created by combining data from two NASA instruments capable of looking through a storm's clouds and seeing what is going on at the surface. These two instruments passed over the same location about one hour apart. The images show the surface winds, measured by SeaWinds on QuikScat's radar scatterometer, as red arrows. The wind data are superimposed on rainfall measurements made by the microwave imager on the Tropical Rain Measuring Mission (TRMM). The scale on the right shows the amount of rainfall in millimeters per hour. QuikSCAT, launched in June 1999, and TRMM, launched 18 months earlier, provide the opportunity to observe both wind and rain before landfall. The SeaWinds on QuikScat project is managed for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. TRMM is a joint US/Japanese mission managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. |
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Space Radar Image of Taipei,
PIA01853
Sol (our sun)
| Title |
Space Radar Image of Taipei, Taiwan |
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Typhoon Sinlaku
PIA03724
Sol (our sun)
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroR
| Title |
Typhoon Sinlaku |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
One of the more destructive cyclones to emerge from the northern hemisphere 2002 summer storm season was Typhoon Sinlaku. Several attributes of this storm event are portrayed in these data products from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer. The images were acquired on September 5, when the western portion of the storm was situated over the Okinawan island chain. Over the next few days it moved west-northwest, sweeping over Taiwan before making landfall along China's Zhejian province on the 7th. The typhoon forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, caused major power outages, and at least 26 people were reported dead or missing before the storm weakened as it moved inland. While the nature and formation of individual storm events is relatively well understood, the influence of clouds on climate is difficult to assess due to the variable nature of cloud cover at various altitudes. MISR's data products are designed to help understand these influences. Typhoon Sinlaku is shown at left as a natural-color view observed by MISR's vertical-viewing (nadir)camera. The center panel shows the cloud-top height field derived using automated stereoscopic processing of data from multiple MISR cameras. Relative height variations, such as the clearing within the storm's eye, are well represented. Areas where heights could not be retrieved are shown in dark gray. Clouds have a significant influence on the global radiation balance of the Earth's atmosphere, and the improvement of climate models requires more accurate information on how different types of clouds influence Earth's energy budget. One measure of this influence is albedo, which is the amount of sunlight reflected back to space divided by amount of incident sunlight. Bright objects have high albedo. Retrieved local albedo values for Typhoon Sinlaku are shown at right. Generation of this product is dependent on observed cloud radiances as a function of viewing angle and the cloud height field. Over the short distances (2.2 kilometers) that MISR's local albedo product is generated, values can be greater than 1.0 due to the contributions from the sides of the clouds. Areas where albedo could not be retrieved are shown in dark gray. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer observes the daylit Earth continuously from pole to pole, and views almost the entire globe every 9 days. This image is a portion of the data acquired during Terra orbit 14442, and covers an area of about 380 kilometers x 1408 kilometers. It utilizes data from blocks 65 to 74 within World Reference System-2 path 113. |
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