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Tropical Cyclone and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) from 2006
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Tropical Cyclone Daryl
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Tropical Cyclone Daryl |
| Description |
This pair of images shows the birth of Cyclone Daryl off the northwest coast of Western Australia on January 19, 2006. In the fifteen hours that elapsed between the time the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]) satellite captured the top image at 10:08 a.m. Australian Western Standard Time and when it captured the bottom image at 1:00 a.m., Daryl went from a weak, newly named storm to a mature storm roughly equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The storm's center remained just offshore as it moved southwest along the coast, sparing coastal communities a direct hit. Both images show rain rates in the storm. In the top image, TRMM reveals that despite having a sizeable band of intense rain (dark red segment) centered in a broad area of light (blue areas) to occasionally moderate (green areas) rain, Daryl showed very little evidence of circulation. This lack of circulation indicated that Daryl was in the early stages of development. At the time of this image, Daryl was rated as a Category 1 cyclone by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's Tropical Cyclone Warning Center, indicating peak wind gusts of less than 125 kilometers per hour (78 miles per hour)equivalent to a tropical storm. The lower image was taken just 15 hours later at 17:00 UTC (1:00 a.m. Australian WST on January 20) and shows a very different-looking storm. Although Daryl did not have a well-defined closed eye, the heavy rain had separated into arcing bands (green and darker red arcs), indicating that Daryl had a more mature circulation than it did earlier. Daryl became a Category 3 cyclone the following day. Catching Tropical Cyclone Daryl in the act of building may provide new and critical data for understanding the complexities of storm intensification. Becuase storms tend to form and intensify well away from land, scientists are still trying to understand how cyclones intensify. Armed with both passive and active sensors, including the first and only precipitation radar in space, TRMM has proven itself to be a valuable tool for examining tropical cyclones. These images show rain rates as measured by a number of different sensors on the TRMM satellite. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. Launched in November 1997 to measure rainfall over the global tropics, TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI, NASA/GSFC) and captioned by Steve Lang (SSAI, NASA/GSFC). |
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Tropical Cyclone Daryl
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone Daryl |
| Description |
This pair of images shows the birth of Cyclone Daryl off the northwest coast of Western Australia on January 19, 2006. In the fifteen hours that elapsed between the time the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]) satellite captured the top image at 10:08 a.m. Australian Western Standard Time and when it captured the bottom image at 1:00 a.m., Daryl went from a weak, newly named storm to a mature storm roughly equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The storm's center remained just offshore as it moved southwest along the coast, sparing coastal communities a direct hit. Both images show rain rates in the storm. In the top image, TRMM reveals that despite having a sizeable band of intense rain (dark red segment) centered in a broad area of light (blue areas) to occasionally moderate (green areas) rain, Daryl showed very little evidence of circulation. This lack of circulation indicated that Daryl was in the early stages of development. At the time of this image, Daryl was rated as a Category 1 cyclone by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's Tropical Cyclone Warning Center, indicating peak wind gusts of less than 125 kilometers per hour (78 miles per hour)equivalent to a tropical storm. The lower image was taken just 15 hours later at 17:00 UTC (1:00 a.m. Australian WST on January 20) and shows a very different-looking storm. Although Daryl did not have a well-defined closed eye, the heavy rain had separated into arcing bands (green and darker red arcs), indicating that Daryl had a more mature circulation than it did earlier. Daryl became a Category 3 cyclone the following day. Catching Tropical Cyclone Daryl in the act of building may provide new and critical data for understanding the complexities of storm intensification. Becuase storms tend to form and intensify well away from land, scientists are still trying to understand how cyclones intensify. Armed with both passive and active sensors, including the first and only precipitation radar in space, TRMM has proven itself to be a valuable tool for examining tropical cyclones. These images show rain rates as measured by a number of different sensors on the TRMM satellite. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. Launched in November 1997 to measure rainfall over the global tropics, TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI, NASA/GSFC) and captioned by Steve Lang (SSAI, NASA/GSFC). |
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Tropical Cyclone Daryl
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone Daryl |
| Description |
This pair of images shows the birth of Cyclone Daryl off the northwest coast of Western Australia on January 19, 2006. In the fifteen hours that elapsed between the time the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]) satellite captured the top image at 10:08 a.m. Australian Western Standard Time and when it captured the bottom image at 1:00 a.m., Daryl went from a weak, newly named storm to a mature storm roughly equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The storm's center remained just offshore as it moved southwest along the coast, sparing coastal communities a direct hit. Both images show rain rates in the storm. In the top image, TRMM reveals that despite having a sizeable band of intense rain (dark red segment) centered in a broad area of light (blue areas) to occasionally moderate (green areas) rain, Daryl showed very little evidence of circulation. This lack of circulation indicated that Daryl was in the early stages of development. At the time of this image, Daryl was rated as a Category 1 cyclone by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's Tropical Cyclone Warning Center, indicating peak wind gusts of less than 125 kilometers per hour (78 miles per hour)equivalent to a tropical storm. The lower image was taken just 15 hours later at 17:00 UTC (1:00 a.m. Australian WST on January 20) and shows a very different-looking storm. Although Daryl did not have a well-defined closed eye, the heavy rain had separated into arcing bands (green and darker red arcs), indicating that Daryl had a more mature circulation than it did earlier. Daryl became a Category 3 cyclone the following day. Catching Tropical Cyclone Daryl in the act of building may provide new and critical data for understanding the complexities of storm intensification. Becuase storms tend to form and intensify well away from land, scientists are still trying to understand how cyclones intensify. Armed with both passive and active sensors, including the first and only precipitation radar in space, TRMM has proven itself to be a valuable tool for examining tropical cyclones. These images show rain rates as measured by a number of different sensors on the TRMM satellite. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. Launched in November 1997 to measure rainfall over the global tropics, TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI, NASA/GSFC) and captioned by Steve Lang (SSAI, NASA/GSFC). |
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Tropical Cyclone Gonu
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Tropical Cyclone Gonu |
| Description |
At one time, Cyclone Gonu was a powerful Category 5 storm packing sustained winds of 255 kilometers per hour (160 miles per hour), according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, [ https://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.php ] and on a course towards Oman. This made it the most powerful cyclone ever to threaten the Arabian Peninsula since record keeping began back in 1945. Tropical cyclones do on occasion form in the Arabian Sea, but they rarely exceed tropical storm intensity. In 2006, Tropical Storm Mukda was the only system to form in the region, and it remained well out to sea before dissipating. Gonu became a tropical storm in the morning (local time) of June 2, 2007, in the east-central Arabian Sea. After some initial fluctuations in direction, the storm settled on a northwesterly track and began to intensify. Gonu went from tropical storm intensity to a Category 2 Tropical Cyclone [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.shtml ] on the night of June 3. Overnight, it developed into a Category 4 storm with winds estimated at 210 km/hr (132 mph). The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ], captured this image of Gonu as the storm was moving northwest over the central Arabian Sea. The image was taken at 6:23 a.m. local time (03:23 UTC) on June 4, 2007, when Gonu was a Category 4 storm. It shows the horizontal distribution of rain intensity looking down on the storm. The distribution of rain within the storm reveals the storm's structure, and in this case, Gonu displays all of the tell-tale signs of a potent storm. Not only did Gonu have a complete, well-formed, symmetrical eye surrounded by an intense eyewall (innermost red ring), this inner eyewall was surrounded by a concentric outer eyewall (outermost red and green ring). This double eyewall structure only occurs in very intense storms. Eventually the outer eyewall will contract and replace the inner eyewall, a process known as eyewall replacement. The image was made with data from several sensors on the TRMM satellite. Rain rates in the center of the swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, while those in the outer portion are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. Several hours after this image was taken, Gonu reached Category 5 intensity, the very peak of possible storm strengths. The system remained in this high state through the day, then began weakening during the night of June 4 as it continued to approach the coast of Oman. The center remained just offshore of the northeast coast of Oman as a Category 1 storm before turning northward towards Iran, where it was expected to make landfall as a tropical storm, according to forecasts made on June 6, 2007. The TRMM satellite was placed into service in November 1997. From its low-earth orbit, TRMM provides valuable images and information on storm systems around the tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors, including the first precipitation radar in space. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. NASA image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
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Tropical Cyclone Hubert
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Tropical Cyclone Hubert |
| Description |
The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) flew directly over Tropical Cyclone Hubert as the storm was building off Australia's northwestern coast on April 6, 2006. Hubert is one of the seasonal storms that form between December and April in the region between Australia's northwestern coast and the western islands of the Indonesian chain. In a typical year, the cyclone season winds down in April when the Asian Monsoon developing in the north shifts storm formation away from the Australian coastline. The 2006 Australian cyclone season has seen just slightly more than the typical number of storms, including the unusually powerful Cyclone Glenda, which swept over northwestern Australia in late March. The TRMM satellite brought its full suite of instruments to bear on Tropical Cyclone Hubert. The outer regions of the storm were observed by the Visible and Infrared Scanner instrument, showing the extent and structure of clouds in the building storm. Superimposed on top of the clouds (wide outer swath) is the rain intensity, as detected by passive microwave energy using the TRMM Microwave Radiometer. The innermost swath shows the rain intensity as measured by the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR). Reds indicated the heaviest rain regions, with the PR instrument able to peer into the clouds to discern the structure and intensity of the storm. The spiral structure of the rain bands, with the most intense rainfall in the storm center, is not at all obvious to other instruments, where the absence of a clear eye structure disguises the underlying storm form. TRMM's unique abilities provide insight into pressing questions in meteorological research, particularly in critical areas such as how storm systems form and intensify. TRMM observed Hubert at 10:47 a.m. local time (02:47 UTC) on April 6, 2006. At the time of this observation, Hubert was strong enough to be classified as a cyclone, but not particularly intense. Cyclone Hubert had a basic spiral form, but lacked the well-developed eye and tight-wound shape of a powerful storm. The PR observations show that the spiral structure and eye formation existed within the storm even though it was not evident in the cloud tops. Sustained, peak winds in the storm system were roughly 100 kilometers per hour (65 miles per hour) around the time the image was captured. The Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission is shared between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. More detailed images of hurricane rain structure can be found on the TRMM website. [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] NASA image courtesy of Hal Pierce, SSAI/Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Tropical Cyclone Monica
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Tropical Cyclone Monica |
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Cyclone Monica became the strongest storm of the 2006 Australian cyclone season with wind gusts reaching 350 kilometers per hour (215 miles per hour) as reported by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's Cyclone Warning Centre. The Category 5 cyclone hit along the sparsely populated coastline of the Northern Territory, sparing the city of Darwin. Monica originated in the Coral Sea below the southeastern tip of Papua New Guinea, becoming a minimal tropical storm on April 17, 2006. The storm tracked due west towards the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, where it came ashore just south of Lockart River on the afternoon of April 19 as a Category 3 cyclone. Monica weakened as it crossed the peninsula, but when it reached the warm waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria on the other side, it re-organized and re-intensified. The image above shows Cyclone Monica during this re-intensification. The visualization combines data from several different instruments from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, which observed the storm at 16:08 UTC on April 22, 2006 (1:38 a.m., April 23, Australian CST). With an active radar and a passive microwave sensor, TRMM can peer into the core of these storms and relay important details on storm structure and location to forecasters. In this case, TRMM showed a pattern of very heavy rain (red) forming an intense symmetric eyewall around a small, complete eye with tightly curved rainbands spiraling into the centerthe signature of a mature, intense tropical cyclone. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, and rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. At the time of this TRMM overpass, Monica's sustained winds were estimated to be 230 kilometers/hour (144 mph) or equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Soon after these images were taken, Monica reached Category 5 status with sustained winds estimated at 285 km/hr (178 mph). The cyclone tracked westward, skirting the northern coastline of Australia before coming ashore west of Maningrida in the Northern Territory just after 8 p.m. local time. The storm quickly lost strength as it moved inland and passed by the main population center of Darwin. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. TRMM made several passes over Monica, during both the early and the mature stages of the storm. Since its launch in 1997, TRMM has provided valuable information on tropical storms. With an active radar and a passive microwave sensor, TRMM can peer into the core of these storms and relay details on storm structure and location to forecasters. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC). |
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