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Indecisive El Nino Exhibits …
Title Indecisive El Nino Exhibits 'Split Personality'
Abstract The central equatorial Pacific Ocean warmed by about one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) between June and August 2004, which can indicate development of a weak to moderate El Nino. Yet in other locations, important signals have been absent, suggesting the climate pattern may be of two minds. NASA satellites show warm water anomalies concentrated in the central Pacific Ocean in August. By September, the anomalies are weaker. The SeaWinds instrument on NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) satellite has shown stronger than normal trade winds for this time of year on the eastern side of the Pacific basin. Since the 1997 to 1998 El Nino, these trade winds have exhibited a kind of 'split personality' condition during times when the central equatorial Pacific warmed.
Completed 2004-10-07
Indecisive El Nino Exhibits …
Title Indecisive El Nino Exhibits 'Split Personality'
Abstract The central equatorial Pacific Ocean warmed by about one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) between June and August 2004, which can indicate development of a weak to moderate El Nino. Yet in other locations, important signals have been absent, suggesting the climate pattern may be of two minds. NASA satellites show warm water anomalies concentrated in the central Pacific Ocean in August. By September, the anomalies are weaker. The SeaWinds instrument on NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) satellite has shown stronger than normal trade winds for this time of year on the eastern side of the Pacific basin. Since the 1997 to 1998 El Nino, these trade winds have exhibited a kind of 'split personality' condition during times when the central equatorial Pacific warmed.
Completed 2004-10-07
Indecisive El Nino Exhibits …
Title Indecisive El Nino Exhibits 'Split Personality'
Abstract The central equatorial Pacific Ocean warmed by about one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) between June and August 2004, which can indicate development of a weak to moderate El Nino. Yet in other locations, important signals have been absent, suggesting the climate pattern may be of two minds. NASA satellites show warm water anomalies concentrated in the central Pacific Ocean in August. By September, the anomalies are weaker. The SeaWinds instrument on NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) satellite has shown stronger than normal trade winds for this time of year on the eastern side of the Pacific basin. Since the 1997 to 1998 El Nino, these trade winds have exhibited a kind of 'split personality' condition during times when the central equatorial Pacific warmed.
Completed 2004-10-07
Indecisive El Nino Exhibits …
Title Indecisive El Nino Exhibits 'Split Personality'
Abstract The central equatorial Pacific Ocean warmed by about one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) between June and August 2004, which can indicate development of a weak to moderate El Nino. Yet in other locations, important signals have been absent, suggesting the climate pattern may be of two minds. NASA satellites show warm water anomalies concentrated in the central Pacific Ocean in August. By September, the anomalies are weaker. The SeaWinds instrument on NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) satellite has shown stronger than normal trade winds for this time of year on the eastern side of the Pacific basin. Since the 1997 to 1998 El Nino, these trade winds have exhibited a kind of 'split personality' condition during times when the central equatorial Pacific warmed.
Completed 2004-10-07
Indecisive El Nino Exhibits …
Title Indecisive El Nino Exhibits 'Split Personality'
Abstract The central equatorial Pacific Ocean warmed by about one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) between June and August 2004, which can indicate development of a weak to moderate El Nino. Yet in other locations, important signals have been absent, suggesting the climate pattern may be of two minds. NASA satellites show warm water anomalies concentrated in the central Pacific Ocean in August. By September, the anomalies are weaker. The SeaWinds instrument on NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) satellite has shown stronger than normal trade winds for this time of year on the eastern side of the Pacific basin. Since the 1997 to 1998 El Nino, these trade winds have exhibited a kind of 'split personality' condition during times when the central equatorial Pacific warmed.
Completed 2004-10-07
QuikSCAT Launches
Title QuikSCAT Launches
Description NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) lofted into space on June 19 from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. QuikScat will provide climatologists, meteorologists, and oceanographers with daily, detailed snapshots of ocean winds. The mission will greatly improve weather forecasting. The satellite was launched on a U.S. Air Force Titan II launch vehicle soaring over the Pacific Ocean at sunset. Approximately two and a half minutes after launch, the Titan II first-stage engine shut down and the second stage ignited. A minute later, the nose cone separated in two halves and was jettisoned as planned. An hour into flight, QuikScat deployed its solar arrays. For more information, see:related story [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Stories/QuikScat.html ] in the Newsroom QuikSCAT web site [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
QuikSCAT Launches
Title QuikSCAT Launches
Description NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) lofted into space on June 19 from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. QuikScat will provide climatologists, meteorologists, and oceanographers with daily, detailed snapshots of ocean winds. The mission will greatly improve weather forecasting. The satellite was launched on a U.S. Air Force Titan II launch vehicle soaring over the Pacific Ocean at sunset. Approximately two and a half minutes after launch, the Titan II first-stage engine shut down and the second stage ignited. A minute later, the nose cone separated in two halves and was jettisoned as planned. An hour into flight, QuikScat deployed its solar arrays. For more information, see:related story [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/Stories/QuikScat.html ] in the Newsroom QuikSCAT web site [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Fires in Southern California
Title Fires in Southern California
Description The fires that sprang up in Southern California over the weekend of October 20, 2007, were driven by strong offshore winds, known locally as the Santa Ana Winds. The strength and scope of these winds were observed by NASA's QuikScat satellite at about 7 a.m. local time October 22. The wind speeds are shown in colors and the direction by small white barbs. The dominant direction of the winds is offshore, from the high deserts of the Great Basin southwest toward the Pacific Ocean. QuikScat measures wind speed over the ocean only, by sending radar pulses to the surface and measuring the strength of the signals returned. The strength and direction of the return signal reveal how winds are stirring the surface of the ocean. Santa Ana winds are a California firefighter's nightmare. These blustery, dry, and often hot winds blow out of the high-altitude deserts of the Great Basin and race through canyons and passes in the mountains on their way toward the coast. The air is hot not because it is bringing heat from the desert, but because it is flowing downslope from higher elevations. As fall progresses, cold air begins to sink into the Great Basin deserts to the east of California. As the air piles up at the surface, high pressure builds, and the air begins to flow downslope toward the coast. When winds blow downslope, the air gets compressed, which causes it to warm and dry out. In fact, the air can warm at a rate of 10 degrees Celsius per kilometer of descent (29 degrees Fahrenheit per mile). Canyons and passes funnel the winds, which increases their speed. Not only do the winds spread the fire, but they also dry out vegetation, making it even more flammable. NASA image courtesy the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Beginnings of Typhoon Ha …
Title The Beginnings of Typhoon Hagibis
Description Although it eventually reached ?Super Typhoon? status, on May 15, 2002, Typhoon Hagibis was just getting started in the western Pacific Ocean north of New Guinea. This QuikSCAT image shows the wind speed and direction, with speeds categorized from 0.5 meters per second (1.1 miles per hour, darkest blue) to 12.5 meters per second (27.9 miles per hour, red) and higher. Black arrows mark the direction of the air flow. The storm tracked westward for a time towards the Philippines before turning northeast. As of May 22, wind speeds had dropped to under 70 miles per hour, and the storm was several hundred miles east of Japan. Though it's rather early in the season for typhoon development, the western Pacific is unusually warm for this time of year, and the warmer temperatures are fueling earlier storms. Image provided by W. Timothy Liu, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Scatterometry Team, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] Pasadena, CA.
Typhoon Krosa
Title Typhoon Krosa
Description This colorful image reveals the wind structure within the quickly developing Typhoon Krosa. NASA's QuikSCAT [ http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/index.cfm ] satellite captured the data used to make this image. Wind speeds are depicted in a rainbow of colors, with the highest speeds in purple and the slowest speeds in blue. The barbs show wind direction, and white barbs depict areas of heavy rain. Though Krosa was a weak storm when QuikSCAT observed it at 9:48 UTC on October 2, 2007, its strengthening winds still have the classic bull's eye shape observed in a strong storm. Sustained winds in the center of the storm ranged between 110 kilometers per hour (70 miles per hour or 60 knots) and 120 km/hr (75 mph or 65 knots), said the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. These wind speeds put the storm on the border between a tropical storm and a Category 1 typhoon. In this image, the strongest winds are depicted in purple and surround concentric rings of calm air where an eye has clearly formed. The strong wind fields aren't perfectly symmetric, and that is a sign that the storm was still forming. Krosa initially formed over the western Pacific Ocean on October 1. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center predicted that the storm would grow into a powerful typhoon as it moved towards the China coast. Measurements of the actual wind strength of cyclones are often higher than those measured by QuikSCAT. QuikSCAT employs a scatterometer, which 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. This technique does not work over land, but allows measurements in storms over oceans. Tropical cyclones, however, are difficult to measure. To relate the radar energy that returns to the sensor 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 km/hr or 58 mph). 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. NASA image courtesy of David Long, Brigham Young University, on the QuikSCAT Science Team [ http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Still Waiting for El Nino: I …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
The Pacific Ocean doesn't sh …
topex_20020614
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2002-06-14
creator NASA -- Image courtesy NASA/JPL sealevel.jpl.nasa.gov/ Topex and Jason Team
identifier topex_20020614
Typhoon Krosa: Natural Hazar …
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
This colorful image reveals …
krosa_qsc_2007275
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2007-10-02
creator NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day
identifier krosa_qsc_2007275
Fires in Southern California …
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
The fires that sprang up in …
quick_calif_2007oct22
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2007-10-22
creator NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day
identifier quick_calif_2007oct22
The Beginnings of Typhoon Ha …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
Although it eventually reach …
hagibis_q2002135
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2002-05-15
creator NASA -- Image provided by W. Timothy Liu, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab winds.jpl.nasa.gov/ Scatterometry Team, Pasadena, CA.
identifier hagibis_q2002135
The Beginnings of Typhoon Ha …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
Although it eventually reach …
hagibis_q2002135
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2002-05-15
creator NASA -- Image provided by W. Timothy Liu, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab winds.jpl.nasa.gov/ Scatterometry Team, Pasadena, CA.
identifier hagibis_q2002135
Hurricane Paul: Natural Haza …
nasa, nasanaturalhazards
As October drew to a close, …
paul_qsct_2006296
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2006-10-23
creator NASA -- NASA Image Of The Day
identifier paul_qsct_2006296
El Nino Threatens, but Fizzl …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
For the first two weeks in J …
quikscat_nino_200206
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2002
creator NASA -- Image courtesy NASA JPL airsea-www.jpl.nasa.gov/ Air-Sea Interaction & Climate Team
identifier quikscat_nino_200206
Hawaiian Islands' Wake: Imag …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
The Hawaiian Islands trigger …
quikscat_hawaii_wake
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 1999
creator NASA -- Images courtesy Shang-Ping Xie, University of Hawaii International Pacific Research Center and Meteorology Department, and Timothy Liu, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory winds.jpl.nasa.gov/ Seawinds science team.
identifier quikscat_hawaii_wake
Twin Convergence Zones: Imag …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
NASA's winds.jpl.nasa.gov/mi …
ITCZ_QUI_2001
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2002
creator NASA -- Image courtesy Liu and Xie, NASA JPL
identifier ITCZ_QUI_2001
Twin Convergence Zones: Imag …
nasa, nasaimageofthedaygalle …
NASA's winds.jpl.nasa.gov/mi …
ITCZ_QUI_2001
mediatype IMAGE
mediatype image
date 2002
creator NASA -- Image courtesy Liu and Xie, NASA JPL
identifier ITCZ_QUI_2001
Pacific Ocean Surface Winds …
PIA01346
Sol (our sun)
SeaWinds Scatterometer
Title Pacific Ocean Surface Winds from QuikScat
Original Caption Released with Image This image shows wind speeds and direction in the Pacific Ocean on August 1, 1999, gathered by the Seawinds radar instrument flying onboard the QuikScat satellite. This image was released in conjunction with PIA01347 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01347 ]. The caption released for these images mostly details the Pacific region. The intense surface winds of Typhoon Olga, represented by yellow spirals, can be seen moving around South Korea in the China Sea. QuikScat tracks its birth as a tropical depression in the Philippines and its northward journey in the western Pacific to its landfall in Korea. The eastern North Pacific is dominated by a persistent high-pressure system, whose anticyclonic (clockwise) flow creates strong winds blowing parallel to the coast of Canada and the United States. Three groups of very intense winter storm scan be seen around Antarctica, which are associated with the season of maximum sea ice in that region of the world.
SeaWinds Radar Clocks Hurric …
PIA02404
Sol (our sun)
SeaWinds Scatterometer
Title SeaWinds Radar Clocks Hurricane Dora's Wind Speeds
Original Caption Released with Image The SeaWinds instrument onboard NASA's new QuikScat ocean-viewing satellite captured this image of Hurricane Dora in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean on August 10, as it was blowing at speeds of nearly 40 meters per second (90 miles per hour). The image shows surface wind speed (colored background) and wind direction (arrows) in the vicinity of the hurricane, which was centered near 14.5 degrees north latitude and 117.8 degrees west longitude. With its broad, 1,800-kilometer-wide (1,116-mile-wide) swath and nearly all-weather capabilities, the SeaWinds scatterometer is providing unprecedented, frequent surface wind speed and direction measurements over the global oceans. Coupled with other satellite measurements of cloud patterns, water vapor and rain, the data are contributing to scientists' ability to predict the intensity, location and movements of hurricanes and other severe marine weather patterns. More information about the SeaWinds radar instrument is available at http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/news/newsindex.html The orbiting SeaWinds radar instrument is managed for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC, by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which 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. NOAA has contributed support to ground systems processing and related activities. NASA's Earth Science Enterprise is a long-term research and technology program designed to examine Earth's land, oceans, atmosphere, ice and life as a total integrated system. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA.
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