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A Fixed View of Hurricane Je …
Title A Fixed View of Hurricane Jeanne's Progression
Abstract After days of hammering Haiti, Hurricane Jeanne heads towards the United States.
Completed 2004-09-24
A Fixed View of Hurricane Je …
Title A Fixed View of Hurricane Jeanne's Progression
Abstract After days of hammering Haiti, Hurricane Jeanne heads towards the United States.
Completed 2004-09-24
A Fixed View of Hurricane Je …
Title A Fixed View of Hurricane Jeanne's Progression
Abstract After days of hammering Haiti, Hurricane Jeanne heads towards the United States.
Completed 2004-09-24
Hurricane Jeanne on Septembe …
Title Hurricane Jeanne on September 23, 2004
Abstract After days of hammering Haiti, Hurricane Jeanne heads toward the United States.
Completed 2004-09-24
Hurricane Jeanne on Septembe …
Title Hurricane Jeanne on September 23, 2004
Abstract After days of hammering Haiti, Hurricane Jeanne heads toward the United States.
Completed 2004-09-24
Haitian Deforestation
Title Haitian Deforestation
Abstract The border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic (D.R.) is more than just a political boundary. It also reflects the large amount of deforestation that has occurred on the Haitian side of the border. One can easily see from satellite imagery the lush forests still thriving on the D.R. side of the border, which is in sharp contrast to the Haitian side of the border.
Completed 2002-09-25
Haitian Deforestation
Title Haitian Deforestation
Abstract The border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic (D.R.) is more than just a political boundary. It also reflects the large amount of deforestation that has occurred on the Haitian side of the border. One can easily see from satellite imagery the lush forests still thriving on the D.R. side of the border, which is in sharp contrast to the Haitian side of the border.
Completed 2002-09-25
Haitian Deforestation
Title Haitian Deforestation
Abstract The border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic (D.R.) is more than just a political boundary. It also reflects the large amount of deforestation that has occurred on the Haitian side of the border. One can easily see from satellite imagery the lush forests still thriving on the D.R. side of the border, which is in sharp contrast to the Haitian side of the border.
Completed 2002-09-25
Hurricane Dennis
Title Hurricane Dennis
Abstract The formation of Hurricane Dennis on July 5 made that the earliest date on record that four named storms formed in the Atlantic basin. Dennis proved to be a powerful and destructive storm in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It crossed over Cuba on July 8 and 9, leaving at least 10 dead, and caused additional deaths in Haiti. After re-emerging over open water, Dennis re-strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with top wind speeds of 233 kilometers per hour (145 mph). The storm passed within 90 kilometers (55 miles) of Pensacola, Florida, and hit land about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of where Hurricane Ivan struck in September, 2004. A large storm surge of more than 10 feet was created in certain areas, and many homes and businesses in low-lying areas were flooded.
Completed 2005-07-11
Hurricane Dennis
Title Hurricane Dennis
Abstract The formation of Hurricane Dennis on July 5 made that the earliest date on record that four named storms formed in the Atlantic basin. Dennis proved to be a powerful and destructive storm in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It crossed over Cuba on July 8 and 9, leaving at least 10 dead, and caused additional deaths in Haiti. After re-emerging over open water, Dennis re-strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with top wind speeds of 233 kilometers per hour (145 mph). The storm passed within 90 kilometers (55 miles) of Pensacola, Florida, and hit land about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of where Hurricane Ivan struck in September, 2004. A large storm surge of more than 10 feet was created in certain areas, and many homes and businesses in low-lying areas were flooded.
Completed 2005-07-11
Hurricane Dennis
Title Hurricane Dennis
Abstract The formation of Hurricane Dennis on July 5 made that the earliest date on record that four named storms formed in the Atlantic basin. Dennis proved to be a powerful and destructive storm in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It crossed over Cuba on July 8 and 9, leaving at least 10 dead, and caused additional deaths in Haiti. After re-emerging over open water, Dennis re-strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with top wind speeds of 233 kilometers per hour (145 mph). The storm passed within 90 kilometers (55 miles) of Pensacola, Florida, and hit land about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of where Hurricane Ivan struck in September, 2004. A large storm surge of more than 10 feet was created in certain areas, and many homes and businesses in low-lying areas were flooded.
Completed 2005-07-11
Hurricane Dennis
Title Hurricane Dennis
Abstract The formation of Hurricane Dennis on July 5 made that the earliest date on record that four named storms formed in the Atlantic basin. Dennis proved to be a powerful and destructive storm in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It crossed over Cuba on July 8 and 9, leaving at least 10 dead, and caused additional deaths in Haiti. After re-emerging over open water, Dennis re-strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with top wind speeds of 233 kilometers per hour (145 mph). The storm passed within 90 kilometers (55 miles) of Pensacola, Florida, and hit land about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of where Hurricane Ivan struck in September, 2004. A large storm surge of more than 10 feet was created in certain areas, and many homes and businesses in low-lying areas were flooded.
Completed 2005-07-11
Hurricane Dennis
Title Hurricane Dennis
Abstract The formation of Hurricane Dennis on July 5 made that the earliest date on record that four named storms formed in the Atlantic basin. Dennis proved to be a powerful and destructive storm in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It crossed over Cuba on July 8 and 9, leaving at least 10 dead, and caused additional deaths in Haiti. After re-emerging over open water, Dennis re-strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with top wind speeds of 233 kilometers per hour (145 mph). The storm passed within 90 kilometers (55 miles) of Pensacola, Florida, and hit land about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of where Hurricane Ivan struck in September, 2004. A large storm surge of more than 10 feet was created in certain areas, and many homes and businesses in low-lying areas were flooded.
Completed 2005-07-11
Progression of Hurricane Den …
Title Progression of Hurricane Dennis, 2005 (WMS)
Abstract The formation of Hurricane Dennis on July 5 made that the earliest date on record that four named storms formed in the Atlantic basin. Dennis proved to be a powerful and destructive storm in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It crossed over Cuba on July 8 and 9, leaving at least 10 dead, and caused additional deaths in Haiti. After re-emerging over open water, Dennis re-strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with top wind speeds of 233 kilometers per hour (145 mph). The storm passed within 90 kilometers (55 miles) of Pensacola, Florida, and hit land about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of where Hurricane Ivan struck in September, 2004. A large storm surge of more than 10 feet was created in certain areas, and many homes and businesses in low-lying areas were flooded.
Completed 2005-07-18
Progression of Hurricane Den …
Title Progression of Hurricane Dennis, 2005 (WMS)
Abstract The formation of Hurricane Dennis on July 5 made that the earliest date on record that four named storms formed in the Atlantic basin. Dennis proved to be a powerful and destructive storm in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It crossed over Cuba on July 8 and 9, leaving at least 10 dead, and caused additional deaths in Haiti. After re-emerging over open water, Dennis re-strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with top wind speeds of 233 kilometers per hour (145 mph). The storm passed within 90 kilometers (55 miles) of Pensacola, Florida, and hit land about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of where Hurricane Ivan struck in September, 2004. A large storm surge of more than 10 feet was created in certain areas, and many homes and businesses in low-lying areas were flooded.
Completed 2005-07-18
Progression of Hurricane Den …
Title Progression of Hurricane Dennis, 2005 (WMS)
Abstract The formation of Hurricane Dennis on July 5 made that the earliest date on record that four named storms formed in the Atlantic basin. Dennis proved to be a powerful and destructive storm in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It crossed over Cuba on July 8 and 9, leaving at least 10 dead, and caused additional deaths in Haiti. After re-emerging over open water, Dennis re-strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with top wind speeds of 233 kilometers per hour (145 mph). The storm passed within 90 kilometers (55 miles) of Pensacola, Florida, and hit land about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of where Hurricane Ivan struck in September, 2004. A large storm surge of more than 10 feet was created in certain areas, and many homes and businesses in low-lying areas were flooded.
Completed 2005-07-18
Progression of Hurricane Den …
Title Progression of Hurricane Dennis, 2005 (WMS)
Abstract The formation of Hurricane Dennis on July 5 made that the earliest date on record that four named storms formed in the Atlantic basin. Dennis proved to be a powerful and destructive storm in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It crossed over Cuba on July 8 and 9, leaving at least 10 dead, and caused additional deaths in Haiti. After re-emerging over open water, Dennis re-strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with top wind speeds of 233 kilometers per hour (145 mph). The storm passed within 90 kilometers (55 miles) of Pensacola, Florida, and hit land about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of where Hurricane Ivan struck in September, 2004. A large storm surge of more than 10 feet was created in certain areas, and many homes and businesses in low-lying areas were flooded.
Completed 2005-07-18
Progression of Hurricane Den …
Title Progression of Hurricane Dennis, 2005 (WMS)
Abstract The formation of Hurricane Dennis on July 5 made that the earliest date on record that four named storms formed in the Atlantic basin. Dennis proved to be a powerful and destructive storm in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It crossed over Cuba on July 8 and 9, leaving at least 10 dead, and caused additional deaths in Haiti. After re-emerging over open water, Dennis re-strengthened into a dangerous Category 4 hurricane with top wind speeds of 233 kilometers per hour (145 mph). The storm passed within 90 kilometers (55 miles) of Pensacola, Florida, and hit land about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of where Hurricane Ivan struck in September, 2004. A large storm surge of more than 10 feet was created in certain areas, and many homes and businesses in low-lying areas were flooded.
Completed 2005-07-18
Examining Hurricane Frances …
Title Examining Hurricane Frances Cloud Structure
Abstract The MODIS instrument on Terra captures great details in the beautiful clouds surrounding Hurricane Frances.
Completed 2004-09-02
Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Title Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Description The floods that claimed the lives of at least 1,500 Haitians and left as many missing, also filled a large lake basin outside of Gonaives. The basin, which was a dry dust bowl on August 8, 2001, was still completely covered with water on October 3, 2004, two weeks after Hurricane Jeanne's heavy rains induced the flooding. Some of the water may have been present before the floods, but the recent influx of water has pushed the lake far beyond its shores. According to the Associated Press, the lake has covered the primary road connecting Gonaives to Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, with over a meter (four feet) of water, making food delivery difficult. The road can be seen here, a blurred white line under the dark blue water. The grey area at the end of the road near the shore is Gonaives. These images were acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]). They were made by combining the infrared, near infrared, and red wavelengths (ASTER bands 4, 3, & 2). In this treatment, bare land appears pink, healthy croplands are light green, and concrete structures such as city buildings have a grey or deep purple tone. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory using data obtained courtesy of the of NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ].
Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Title Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Description The floods that claimed the lives of at least 1,500 Haitians and left as many missing, also filled a large lake basin outside of Gonaives. The basin, which was a dry dust bowl on August 8, 2001, was still completely covered with water on October 3, 2004, two weeks after Hurricane Jeanne's heavy rains induced the flooding. Some of the water may have been present before the floods, but the recent influx of water has pushed the lake far beyond its shores. According to the Associated Press, the lake has covered the primary road connecting Gonaives to Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, with over a meter (four feet) of water, making food delivery difficult. The road can be seen here, a blurred white line under the dark blue water. The grey area at the end of the road near the shore is Gonaives. These images were acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]). They were made by combining the infrared, near infrared, and red wavelengths (ASTER bands 4, 3, & 2). In this treatment, bare land appears pink, healthy croplands are light green, and concrete structures such as city buildings have a grey or deep purple tone. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory using data obtained courtesy of the of NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ].
Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Title Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Description The month that has passed since Tropical Storm Jeanne flooded Haiti has allowed time for a closer look at the tragic flooding. While the floods that killed over a thousand in Gonaives were initially easy to spot, this analysis shows how much more of the northwestern arm of the island was affected. The image compares synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data collected by the RADARSAT-1 satellite (Canadian Space Agency) on September 24 and 30 to data collected on July 16, 2003. The changes have been color-coded and superimposed on a Landsat-7 scene, taken on July 3, 2003. Marbled veins of color across the entire region reveal extensive flooding. In the above image, areas that were dry on September 24, but flooded on September 30 as flood waters advanced and drained, are colored blue. Regions that were flooded between September 24 and September 30 are pink, and areas that were flooded on the 24th, but drained by the 30th are colored red. Landslides and regions that were covered with sediment after flash floods coursed through are green. Grey land shows where no changes were detected. Though grey seems to dominate the image, a close look shows that most of the northwestern peninsula was affected by the floods. Since the region was one of the primary crop areas in Haiti, the widespread flooding could have a lasting impact on the country. Image and analysis courtesy ParBleu Technologies [ http://www.treemail.nl/parbleu/haiti.htm ]. Landsat image provided by the Global Land Cover Facility [ http://glcf.umiacs.umd.edu ] at the University of Maryland. RADARSAT-1 SAR data copyright the Canadian Space Agency and Radarsat International.
Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Title Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Description A wall of water and mud buried much of Gonaives, Haiti, in the wake of Tropical Storm Jeanne, which struck the island of Hispaniola on September 18, 2004. The storm hovered over the island for as much as 30 hours, pounding the region with heavy rain. Four days later, on September 22, the Ikonos satellite captured this high-resolution view of the water-logged city. Brown mud or water still covers a large part of the city. Roads that were visible on September 17 have disappeared, as have a number of buildings. The densely populated city of about 200,000 was the most severely impacted region of Haiti. As of September 24, the death toll stood at 1,260, with at least a thousand more still missing, according to news reports. The large images provided above reveal how much of the city was affected by the floods. They show a wider view of the city at 1 meter per pixel. Brown flood water covers nearly the entire scene. The floods in northeastern Haiti could be doubly devastating because they may have destroyed much of the country's agriculture. Gonaives and the surrounding land, the Artibonite region, is the country's breadbasket. Initial media reports say that Jeanne wiped out fields and gardens around Gonaives, and if the damage is more widespread, Haiti may be facing a food crisis. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations is just beginning their assessment to determine the exact extent of the damage. Ironically, agriculture may be partly to blame for the severity of the floods. Haiti is particularly susceptible to flooding because of large-scale deforestation on the Haitian part of the island where most trees have been cut down to make charcoal for cooking or to clear land for agriculture. Without trees to slow or stop rainfall, the water rushes over the sun-baked ground, filling low spots. In late May [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=12169 ], thousands died after heavy rainfall triggered widespread floods in southern Haiti. Located on the northeast coast of Haiti, Gonaives was not affected by the earlier floods. Images copyright Space Imaging [ http://www.spaceimaging.com/ ].
Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Title Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Description A wall of water and mud buried much of Gonaives, Haiti, in the wake of Tropical Storm Jeanne, which struck the island of Hispaniola on September 18, 2004. The storm hovered over the island for as much as 30 hours, pounding the region with heavy rain. Four days later, on September 22, the Ikonos satellite captured this high-resolution view of the water-logged city. Brown mud or water still covers a large part of the city. Roads that were visible on September 17 have disappeared, as have a number of buildings. The densely populated city of about 200,000 was the most severely impacted region of Haiti. As of September 24, the death toll stood at 1,260, with at least a thousand more still missing, according to news reports. The large images provided above reveal how much of the city was affected by the floods. They show a wider view of the city at 1 meter per pixel. Brown flood water covers nearly the entire scene. The floods in northeastern Haiti could be doubly devastating because they may have destroyed much of the country's agriculture. Gonaives and the surrounding land, the Artibonite region, is the country's breadbasket. Initial media reports say that Jeanne wiped out fields and gardens around Gonaives, and if the damage is more widespread, Haiti may be facing a food crisis. The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations is just beginning their assessment to determine the exact extent of the damage. Ironically, agriculture may be partly to blame for the severity of the floods. Haiti is particularly susceptible to flooding because of large-scale deforestation on the Haitian part of the island where most trees have been cut down to make charcoal for cooking or to clear land for agriculture. Without trees to slow or stop rainfall, the water rushes over the sun-baked ground, filling low spots. In late May [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=12169 ], thousands died after heavy rainfall triggered widespread floods in southern Haiti. Located on the northeast coast of Haiti, Gonaives was not affected by the earlier floods. Images copyright Space Imaging [ http://www.spaceimaging.com/ ].
Hurricane Dennis
Title Hurricane Dennis
Description More than a million people are evacuating the coastal areas of Florida and Alabama as Hurricane Dennis steadily approaches. The first hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, Dennis has already been a deadly storm. It crossed over Cuba on July 8 and 9, leaving at least 10 dead, and caused additional deaths in Haiti. After re-emerging over open water, Dennis re-strengthened into a dangerous Category 3 hurricane with winds approaching 115 miles per hour when this image was taken at 2:45 p.m. EDT on July 9, 2005. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] on NASA?s Aqua [ http://www.aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this image of the storm sliding up Florida?s west coast. The National Hurricane Center warns that Dennis continues to strengthen and may become a powerful Category 4 hurricane before making landfall over the northern Gulf Coast on July 10. For additional information and warnings about this storm, please visit the National Hurricane Center. This image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response Team. NASA image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Hurricane Dennis
Title Hurricane Dennis
Description The swirling clouds of Tropical Storm Dennis span from the northern tip of Venezuela to the southern half of the island of Hispaniola in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) image. NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this image on July 6, 2005, at 10:05 a.m. local time (15:05 UTC) when Dennis was building to winds of 110 kilometers per hour (70 mph). The storm was moving northwest across the Caribbean and should pass between the eastern arm of Haiti and Jamaica, hammering both with four to eight inches of rain. The National Hurricane Center [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ ] predicts that Dennis may become a major hurricane—Category 3 or higher—by July 8. This image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response System. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC
Hurricane Dennis
Title Hurricane Dennis
Description Hurricane Dennis threaded its way between Jamaica and Haiti on a direct course for Cuba on July 7, 2005. The storm now has the distinctive hurricane form, with a well-defined eye surrounded by bands of swirling clouds. At 10:50 a.m. local time (15:50 UTC), when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA?s Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite took this image, Dennis was just below a Category 3 hurricane, with winds of 175 kilometers per hour (110 miles per hour) and stronger gusts. Less than an hour before this image was taken, the storm?s small dark eye was about 105 kilometers (65 miles) northeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and 170 kilometers (105 miles) south-southeast of Guantanamo, Cuba. The National Hurricane Center reports that Dennis is traveling northwest at about 24 kilometers per hour (15 mph). A storm of this size is a threat not just because of its powerful winds: Dennis is expected to produce heavy rain and coastal and inland flooding. Five to ten inches of rain may fall over Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands, with as much as 15 inches falling in parts of Jamaica. Heavy rainfall can trigger flash floods and mudslides in mountainous regions. The storm will probably also raise tide levels by five to seven feet and generate large and dangerous waves. Dennis is expected to strengthen as it moves north towards the Gulf Coast of the United States. For official storm warnings and additional information, please visit the National Hurricane Center [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ ]. The image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response Team. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC
Hurricane Ernesto
Title Hurricane Ernesto
Description Hurricane Ernesto formed in the eastern Caribbean Sea on August 24, 2006. Within a day, it had become organized enough to be classified as a tropical storm and get named as the fifth storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Ernesto. Ernesto built in power gradually as it moved westward and slightly north through the Caribbean Sea, just reaching hurricane strength on August 27 as it neared Hispaniola, the island on which the nations of Haiti and Dominican Republic are located. Ernesto was the first storm of the 2006 Atlantic season to reach hurricane strength. The storm's interaction with land robbed it of enough power to diminish it back to "tropical storm" status. Forecasts as of August 28 anticipate that Ernesto will remain at tropical storm status until after it crosses Cuba. If predictions made on August 28 hold true, the storm will travel most of the length of Cuba, then cross the Straits of Florida, possibly regaining enough power to become a hurricane again before coming ashore in southern Florida. This photo-like image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] on the Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on August 27, 2006, at 11:50 a.m. local time (15:50 UTC). At the time of this image, Hurricane Ernesto was a well-developed storm system, but its interactions with Hispaniola had started to distort the hurricane enough to rob it of a well-defined eye. According to the University of Hawaii's Tropical Storm Information Center, [ http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/tropical.html ] Ernesto had sustained peak winds of around 110 kilometers per hour (65 miles per hour) at the time Aqua MODIS acquired these data. The high-resolution image provided above is provided at the full MODIS spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions. [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2006239-0827/Ernesto.A2006239.1550 ] NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center.
Hurricane Ernesto
Title Hurricane Ernesto
Description Hurricane Ernesto formed in the eastern Caribbean Sea on August 24, 2006. Within a day, it had become organized enough to be classified as a tropical storm and get named as the fifth storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season. Ernesto built in power gradually as it moved westward and slightly north through the Caribbean Sea, just reaching hurricane strength on August 27 as it neared Hispaniola, the island on which the nations of Haiti and Dominican Republic are located. Ernesto was the first storm of the 2006 Atlantic season to reach hurricane strength. The storm's interaction with land robbed it of enough power to diminish it back to "tropical storm" status, but predictions as of August 29 are that favorable conditions north of Cuba may allow it to re-intensify to hurricane status before it comes ashore in southern Florida. This photo-like image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] on the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on August 28, 2006, at 2:00 p.m. local time (18:00 UTC). Tropical Storm Ernesto at the time of this image was a well-developed storm system, but its interactions with Hispaniola and Cuba had distorted the former hurricane, disrupting its shape enough to prevent the formation of a well-defined eye. The spiral-arm cloud structure was also not as distinct as it would be in a well-developed hurricane. According to the University of Hawaii's Tropical Storm Information Center, [ http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/tropical.html ] Ernesto had sustained peak winds of around 65 kilometers per hour (40 miles per hour) at the time Aqua MODIS acquired these data. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team.
Hurricane Ernesto
Title Hurricane Ernesto
Description On Sunday August 27, 2006, Ernesto became the first storm of the Atlantic season to reach hurricane intensity. Ernesto did not maintain hurricane intensity for long, however, and was soon downgraded back to a tropical storm after grazing the southwestern tip of Hispaniola. Ernesto formed from an easterly wave—a low-pressure ripple in the atmosphere—that moved west across the Atlantic and into the Caribbean. After passing through the Windward Islands, the wave developed into the fifth tropical depression of the year on August 24. This series of images shows the development of the storm. The earliest image (bottom image in the trilogy) shows the storm in the southeastern Caribbean soon after it had formed. The image was taken 10:41 p.m. local time on August 24, 2006, (02:41 UTC on August 25) by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] satellite. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, while those in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager. The rain rates are overlaid on infrared data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner. Scattered areas of light (blue) to moderate (green) rain and little evidence of classic hurricane organization reveal that the system was still in its early stages of development. The storm developed into Tropical Storm Ernesto the next day, when the middle image in the series was taken. As the system tracked west-northwest, it encountered southwesterly winds at higher altitudes, a pattern that tends to shear off the tops of developing storms and to prevent them from gathering strength. These winds kept the storm from gaining much strength despite warm sea surface temperatures. Warm water is the engine that drives tropical storms. When this image was taken at 7:34 a.m. local time (11:34 UTC) on August 26, Ernesto was passing south of the Dominican Republic. At that time, intense areas of rain were present within the storm (red areas). However, Ernesto still did not have a visible eye, nor a particularly well-developed circulation, the spiraling band of clouds typically associated with tropical storms and hurricanes. At that time, the National Hurricane Center [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ ], reported that Ernesto's maximum sustained winds were 74 kilometers per hour (46 miles per hour). Throughout the day, Ernesto continued to encounter high-altitude winds from the southwest that pushed the storm's top eastward, creating the elongated oval shape seen in the top image. This image was obtained at 10:24 p.m. local time on August 26 (02:24 UTC, August 27), when Ernesto was approaching Haiti. Although the center of the storm did not fall within the center of the TRMM instruments' fields of view, the rainfall pattern confirms that high-altitude winds were still confining the heaviest rains to the eastern side of the storm. At the time of this image, Ernesto's sustained winds were up slightly to 92 km/hr (58 mph). During the night of August 26, the shear across Ernesto finally eased off, and the storm responded by intensifying into a Category 1 hurricane. However, by this time, Ernesto was close to southwestern Haiti. Ernesto crossed the southwestern tip of Haiti on August 27, which caused it to weaken back to a tropical storm. Ernesto then continued northwest before making landfall in southeastern Cuba several hours later. As of August 29, Ernesto remained a somewhat disorganized tropical storm system. The storm was expected to reorganize as it left Cuba, but it was unclear if it would have enough time to develop back to hurricane strength before making a projected landfall in south Florida. 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. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
Hurricane Ernesto
Title Hurricane Ernesto
Description shuttle launch information site. [ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/launch/index.html ] NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center., Tropical Storm Ernesto formed in the eastern Caribbean Sea on August 24, 2006. Within a day, it had become organized enough to be classified as a tropical storm and get named as the fifth storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season. Ernesto built in power gradually as it moved westward and slightly north through the Caribbean Sea, just reaching hurricane strength as it neared Hispaniola on August 27. However, the interactions of the storm with land robbed Ernesto of enough power for it to be downgraded back to tropical-storm status. It remained a tropical storm as it passed over the southern tip of Haiti, traveled along the spine of mountains that run the length of Cuba, and crossed the Straits of Florida. Ernesto made landfall in southern Florida on August 30, and it was predicted head northeastward into the Atlantic and then come back ashore near the South Carolina-North Carolina border. This photo-like image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] on the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on August 28, 2006, at 2:00 p.m. local time (18:00 UTC). Tropical Storm Ernesto at the time of this image was a well-developed storm system, but its interactions with Hispaniola and Cuba had disrupted its shape enough to prevent the formation of a well-defined eye. The spiral-arm structure of clouds was also not as distinct as it would be in a well-developed hurricane. Thus, even as the storm was crossing the warm waters of the Straits of Florida, the storm still was unable to significantly re-intensify. According to the University of Hawaii's Tropical Storm Information Center, [ http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/tropical.html ] Ernesto had sustained peak winds of around 75 kilometers per hour (45 miles per hour) at the time of this image. Before August 30, weather forecasters anticipated the storm could re-intensify into a hurricane in the Straits of Florida. With that forecast in hand, NASA mission planners opted to bring the Space Shuttle "Atlantis" off Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center where it was waiting for launch and into its hangar to protect it from potential damage. Partway through the transfer, the forecast changed as weather observations showed how severely Ernesto's interactions with the mountains of Cuba had disrupted the storm. Mission planners then reversed course and sent the shuttle back to its launch pad to resume preparations for a possible launch in the following week. When deciding whether to continue or delay launch preparations, mission teams have to balance safety concerns, launch-window opportunities, and the schedule for construction of the International Space Station. You can read more about shuttle operations and launch schedules, including details of STS-115, the flight to resume construction on the International Space Station, at the Kennedy Space Flight Center
Hurricane Jeanne
Title Hurricane Jeanne
Description After an eventful voyage through the Atlantic, Hurricane Jeanne struck the east coast of Florida on Sunday, September 26, 2004, as shown in the image above. The data in this image was collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM [ http://www.trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]) satellite at 09:47 UTC (4:47 AM EDT), when the storm was at Category 3 on the Saffir/Simpson scale, with sustained surface winds of 110 mph. In the image above, the black bar in the lower left corner is 70 miles long, north is up, and the shades of gray indicate the cloud height with white indicating the highest clouds. Color contours indicate the surface rainfall rate. The cloud height information comes from the satellite?s infrared instrument and the rain estimates from the satellite's passive microwave instrument. By combining the information from both instruments, we can see that, at the time of the satellite overflight, most of Florida was under dense overcast skies but heavy rain was falling only over one portion of Florida's east coast. Scientists are trying to improve their understanding of the complex relationship between clouds and rain. To have a better perspective on the structure of Hurricane Jeanne at landfall, it helps to consider the storm?s evolution over the past ten days. A composite image shows data from five of the TRMM satellite?s overflights of Hurricane Jeanne between September 17 and 26, 2004. The track of the storm is shown in red, based on data from NOAA?s National Hurricane Center [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ ]. The tracks of the other three hurricanes that have struck Florida during the past two months (Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Ivan) are shown in gray. Between September 17 and 18, Jeanne became disorganized due to its collision with the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where it left over 1000 people dead. On September 20, Jeanne reformed a tight eye, and by September 23, there was a symmetric ring of rain surrounding the eye, which suggests a well organized storm. Each of the five overflights mentioned above are shown in greater detail in this image sequence. On September 17, Jeanne was merely a tropical storm after having weakened as it passed over Puerto Rico. Nonetheless, Jeanne remained fairly well organized with heavy rain to the north and east of the low pressure center. The low pressure center had just made landfall over the Dominican Republic and was approaching Haiti. On September 18, Jeanne was so poorly organized that it is difficult to determine the center of the storm by looking at the cloud cover. Several days of favorable conditions in the Atlantic gave Jeanne a chance to regain hurricane strength winds. By September 26, when Jeanne struck central Florida, not only had its winds accelerated to 110 mph, but the area covered by clouds and heavy rain had increased. TRMM [ http://www.trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ], is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Image and caption courtesy Owen Kelley, Steve Lang, and Jeff Halverson, NASA?s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Hurricane Jeanne
Title Hurricane Jeanne
Description After an eventful voyage through the Atlantic, Hurricane Jeanne struck the east coast of Florida on Sunday, September 26, 2004, as shown in the image above. The data in this image was collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM [ http://www.trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]) satellite at 09:47 UTC (4:47 AM EDT), when the storm was at Category 3 on the Saffir/Simpson scale, with sustained surface winds of 110 mph. In the image above, the black bar in the lower left corner is 70 miles long, north is up, and the shades of gray indicate the cloud height with white indicating the highest clouds. Color contours indicate the surface rainfall rate. The cloud height information comes from the satellite?s infrared instrument and the rain estimates from the satellite's passive microwave instrument. By combining the information from both instruments, we can see that, at the time of the satellite overflight, most of Florida was under dense overcast skies but heavy rain was falling only over one portion of Florida's east coast. Scientists are trying to improve their understanding of the complex relationship between clouds and rain. To have a better perspective on the structure of Hurricane Jeanne at landfall, it helps to consider the storm?s evolution over the past ten days. A composite image shows data from five of the TRMM satellite?s overflights of Hurricane Jeanne between September 17 and 26, 2004. The track of the storm is shown in red, based on data from NOAA?s National Hurricane Center [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ ]. The tracks of the other three hurricanes that have struck Florida during the past two months (Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Ivan) are shown in gray. Between September 17 and 18, Jeanne became disorganized due to its collision with the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where it left over 1000 people dead. On September 20, Jeanne reformed a tight eye, and by September 23, there was a symmetric ring of rain surrounding the eye, which suggests a well organized storm. Each of the five overflights mentioned above are shown in greater detail in this image sequence. On September 17, Jeanne was merely a tropical storm after having weakened as it passed over Puerto Rico. Nonetheless, Jeanne remained fairly well organized with heavy rain to the north and east of the low pressure center. The low pressure center had just made landfall over the Dominican Republic and was approaching Haiti. On September 18, Jeanne was so poorly organized that it is difficult to determine the center of the storm by looking at the cloud cover. Several days of favorable conditions in the Atlantic gave Jeanne a chance to regain hurricane strength winds. By September 26, when Jeanne struck central Florida, not only had its winds accelerated to 110 mph, but the area covered by clouds and heavy rain had increased. TRMM [ http://www.trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ], is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Image and caption courtesy Owen Kelley, Steve Lang, and Jeff Halverson, NASA?s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Hurricane Jeanne
Title Hurricane Jeanne
Description After an eventful voyage through the Atlantic, Hurricane Jeanne struck the east coast of Florida on Sunday, September 26, 2004, as shown in the image above. The data in this image was collected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM [ http://www.trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]) satellite at 09:47 UTC (4:47 AM EDT), when the storm was at Category 3 on the Saffir/Simpson scale, with sustained surface winds of 110 mph. In the image above, the black bar in the lower left corner is 70 miles long, north is up, and the shades of gray indicate the cloud height with white indicating the highest clouds. Color contours indicate the surface rainfall rate. The cloud height information comes from the satellite?s infrared instrument and the rain estimates from the satellite's passive microwave instrument. By combining the information from both instruments, we can see that, at the time of the satellite overflight, most of Florida was under dense overcast skies but heavy rain was falling only over one portion of Florida's east coast. Scientists are trying to improve their understanding of the complex relationship between clouds and rain. To have a better perspective on the structure of Hurricane Jeanne at landfall, it helps to consider the storm?s evolution over the past ten days. A composite image shows data from five of the TRMM satellite?s overflights of Hurricane Jeanne between September 17 and 26, 2004. The track of the storm is shown in red, based on data from NOAA?s National Hurricane Center [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ ]. The tracks of the other three hurricanes that have struck Florida during the past two months (Hurricanes Charley, Frances, and Ivan) are shown in gray. Between September 17 and 18, Jeanne became disorganized due to its collision with the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where it left over 1000 people dead. On September 20, Jeanne reformed a tight eye, and by September 23, there was a symmetric ring of rain surrounding the eye, which suggests a well organized storm. Each of the five overflights mentioned above are shown in greater detail in this image sequence. On September 17, Jeanne was merely a tropical storm after having weakened as it passed over Puerto Rico. Nonetheless, Jeanne remained fairly well organized with heavy rain to the north and east of the low pressure center. The low pressure center had just made landfall over the Dominican Republic and was approaching Haiti. On September 18, Jeanne was so poorly organized that it is difficult to determine the center of the storm by looking at the cloud cover. Several days of favorable conditions in the Atlantic gave Jeanne a chance to regain hurricane strength winds. By September 26, when Jeanne struck central Florida, not only had its winds accelerated to 110 mph, but the area covered by clouds and heavy rain had increased. TRMM [ http://www.trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ], is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Image and caption courtesy Owen Kelley, Steve Lang, and Jeff Halverson, NASA?s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Hurricane Jeanne
Title Hurricane Jeanne
Description Hurricane Jeanne spins in the Atlantic Ocean about 855 kilometers (530 miles) east of the Bahamas in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) image, captured by NASA?s Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on September 22, 2004. Though only a Category 2 hurricane, Jeanne has already been a deadly storm. Over 700 have died in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico as a result of floods triggered by Jeanne?s torrential rains. Jeanne currently has winds of 160 kilometers per hour (100 mph) and is moving south at 7 kilometers per hour (5 mph). Though the storm?s course has not been easy to predict, the National Hurricane Center [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ ] expects the storm to turn west and move towards the United States early next week. The large image provided above is at MODIS? maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides the image in additional resolutions and formats. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC
Severe Floods Sweep Across H …
Title Severe Floods Sweep Across Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Description Over the past week, both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the two countries on the island of Hispaniola, have been ravaged by severe flooding after several days of heavy rain. Hundreds have perished in the two countries as a direct result of mud slides and flash flooding. The hardest hit area was in and around the town of Jimani in the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic near the border with Haiti. The Soliel River overflowed its banks before dawn on the morning of the 25th of May 2004 catching the town by surprise. A trough of low pressure across the central Caribbean provided the impetus for the numerous showers and heavy rains. The effect was amplified as moisture-laden low-level southerly winds from the Caribbean interacted with the topography of the island. The Dominican weather service reported that 10 inches of rain fell near Jimani in just 24 hours. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite which was launched in November of 1997 uses both passive and active sensors to measure rainfall over the global tropics from space. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provides quantitative rainfall estimates over the global tropics. The above images show rainfall accumulation between May 18 and May 25, 2004. The first lower shows MPA rainfall totals over the northern Caribbean. The red areas indicate rainfall totals in excess of 14 inches over most of Hispaniola. Darker red areas along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic show rainfall totals for the period approaching 24 inches. The second image provides a close-in view of rainfall contours over the same period. It shows that the highest totals are right along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and over the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic and exceed 550 mm (21.7 inches). The above animations show that the bulk of the rain appears to have fallen in a single day on May 23. This graph confirms what the animations show in more detail. It shows the instantaneous average rainfall over a 250-km radius centered at 19N 72W (near the center of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic) over the period. It reveals that most of the rain did, in fact, fall on the 23rd of May although significant amounts fell on May 22 and 24 as well. The dates begin at 00Z (midnight Greenwich Mean Time, or 7 pm local time). This graph shows the accumulated rainfall with time for the same area and period. By 00Z on the 25th, an average of 300 mm (11.8 inches) of rain had fallen over the area with a maximum single point accumulation of 598 mm (23.5 inches).TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang
Severe Floods Sweep Across H …
Title Severe Floods Sweep Across Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Description Over the past week, both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the two countries on the island of Hispaniola, have been ravaged by severe flooding after several days of heavy rain. Hundreds have perished in the two countries as a direct result of mud slides and flash flooding. The hardest hit area was in and around the town of Jimani in the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic near the border with Haiti. The Soliel River overflowed its banks before dawn on the morning of the 25th of May 2004 catching the town by surprise. A trough of low pressure across the central Caribbean provided the impetus for the numerous showers and heavy rains. The effect was amplified as moisture-laden low-level southerly winds from the Caribbean interacted with the topography of the island. The Dominican weather service reported that 10 inches of rain fell near Jimani in just 24 hours. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite which was launched in November of 1997 uses both passive and active sensors to measure rainfall over the global tropics from space. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provides quantitative rainfall estimates over the global tropics. The above images show rainfall accumulation between May 18 and May 25, 2004. The first lower shows MPA rainfall totals over the northern Caribbean. The red areas indicate rainfall totals in excess of 14 inches over most of Hispaniola. Darker red areas along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic show rainfall totals for the period approaching 24 inches. The second image provides a close-in view of rainfall contours over the same period. It shows that the highest totals are right along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and over the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic and exceed 550 mm (21.7 inches). The above animations show that the bulk of the rain appears to have fallen in a single day on May 23. This graph confirms what the animations show in more detail. It shows the instantaneous average rainfall over a 250-km radius centered at 19N 72W (near the center of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic) over the period. It reveals that most of the rain did, in fact, fall on the 23rd of May although significant amounts fell on May 22 and 24 as well. The dates begin at 00Z (midnight Greenwich Mean Time, or 7 pm local time). This graph shows the accumulated rainfall with time for the same area and period. By 00Z on the 25th, an average of 300 mm (11.8 inches) of rain had fallen over the area with a maximum single point accumulation of 598 mm (23.5 inches).TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang
Severe Floods Sweep Across H …
Title Severe Floods Sweep Across Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Description Over the past week, both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the two countries on the island of Hispaniola, have been ravaged by severe flooding after several days of heavy rain. Hundreds have perished in the two countries as a direct result of mud slides and flash flooding. The hardest hit area was in and around the town of Jimani in the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic near the border with Haiti. The Soliel River overflowed its banks before dawn on the morning of the 25th of May 2004 catching the town by surprise. A trough of low pressure across the central Caribbean provided the impetus for the numerous showers and heavy rains. The effect was amplified as moisture-laden low-level southerly winds from the Caribbean interacted with the topography of the island. The Dominican weather service reported that 10 inches of rain fell near Jimani in just 24 hours. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite which was launched in November of 1997 uses both passive and active sensors to measure rainfall over the global tropics from space. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provides quantitative rainfall estimates over the global tropics. The above images show rainfall accumulation between May 18 and May 25, 2004. The first lower shows MPA rainfall totals over the northern Caribbean. The red areas indicate rainfall totals in excess of 14 inches over most of Hispaniola. Darker red areas along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic show rainfall totals for the period approaching 24 inches. The second image provides a close-in view of rainfall contours over the same period. It shows that the highest totals are right along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and over the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic and exceed 550 mm (21.7 inches). The above animations show that the bulk of the rain appears to have fallen in a single day on May 23. This graph confirms what the animations show in more detail. It shows the instantaneous average rainfall over a 250-km radius centered at 19N 72W (near the center of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic) over the period. It reveals that most of the rain did, in fact, fall on the 23rd of May although significant amounts fell on May 22 and 24 as well. The dates begin at 00Z (midnight Greenwich Mean Time, or 7 pm local time). This graph shows the accumulated rainfall with time for the same area and period. By 00Z on the 25th, an average of 300 mm (11.8 inches) of rain had fallen over the area with a maximum single point accumulation of 598 mm (23.5 inches).TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang
Severe Floods Sweep Across H …
Title Severe Floods Sweep Across Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Description Over the past week, both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the two countries on the island of Hispaniola, have been ravaged by severe flooding after several days of heavy rain. Hundreds have perished in the two countries as a direct result of mud slides and flash flooding. The hardest hit area was in and around the town of Jimani in the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic near the border with Haiti. The Soliel River overflowed its banks before dawn on the morning of the 25th of May 2004 catching the town by surprise. A trough of low pressure across the central Caribbean provided the impetus for the numerous showers and heavy rains. The effect was amplified as moisture-laden low-level southerly winds from the Caribbean interacted with the topography of the island. The Dominican weather service reported that 10 inches of rain fell near Jimani in just 24 hours. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite which was launched in November of 1997 uses both passive and active sensors to measure rainfall over the global tropics from space. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provides quantitative rainfall estimates over the global tropics. The above images show rainfall accumulation between May 18 and May 25, 2004. The first lower shows MPA rainfall totals over the northern Caribbean. The red areas indicate rainfall totals in excess of 14 inches over most of Hispaniola. Darker red areas along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic show rainfall totals for the period approaching 24 inches. The second image provides a close-in view of rainfall contours over the same period. It shows that the highest totals are right along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and over the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic and exceed 550 mm (21.7 inches). The above animations show that the bulk of the rain appears to have fallen in a single day on May 23. This graph confirms what the animations show in more detail. It shows the instantaneous average rainfall over a 250-km radius centered at 19N 72W (near the center of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic) over the period. It reveals that most of the rain did, in fact, fall on the 23rd of May although significant amounts fell on May 22 and 24 as well. The dates begin at 00Z (midnight Greenwich Mean Time, or 7 pm local time). This graph shows the accumulated rainfall with time for the same area and period. By 00Z on the 25th, an average of 300 mm (11.8 inches) of rain had fallen over the area with a maximum single point accumulation of 598 mm (23.5 inches).TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang
Severe Floods Sweep Across H …
Title Severe Floods Sweep Across Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Description Over the past week, both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the two countries on the island of Hispaniola, have been ravaged by severe flooding after several days of heavy rain. Hundreds have perished in the two countries as a direct result of mud slides and flash flooding. The hardest hit area was in and around the town of Jimani in the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic near the border with Haiti. The Soliel River overflowed its banks before dawn on the morning of the 25th of May 2004 catching the town by surprise. A trough of low pressure across the central Caribbean provided the impetus for the numerous showers and heavy rains. The effect was amplified as moisture-laden low-level southerly winds from the Caribbean interacted with the topography of the island. The Dominican weather service reported that 10 inches of rain fell near Jimani in just 24 hours. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite which was launched in November of 1997 uses both passive and active sensors to measure rainfall over the global tropics from space. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provides quantitative rainfall estimates over the global tropics. The above images show rainfall accumulation between May 18 and May 25, 2004. The first lower shows MPA rainfall totals over the northern Caribbean. The red areas indicate rainfall totals in excess of 14 inches over most of Hispaniola. Darker red areas along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic show rainfall totals for the period approaching 24 inches. The second image provides a close-in view of rainfall contours over the same period. It shows that the highest totals are right along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and over the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic and exceed 550 mm (21.7 inches). The above animations show that the bulk of the rain appears to have fallen in a single day on May 23. This graph confirms what the animations show in more detail. It shows the instantaneous average rainfall over a 250-km radius centered at 19N 72W (near the center of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic) over the period. It reveals that most of the rain did, in fact, fall on the 23rd of May although significant amounts fell on May 22 and 24 as well. The dates begin at 00Z (midnight Greenwich Mean Time, or 7 pm local time). This graph shows the accumulated rainfall with time for the same area and period. By 00Z on the 25th, an average of 300 mm (11.8 inches) of rain had fallen over the area with a maximum single point accumulation of 598 mm (23.5 inches).TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang
Severe Floods Sweep Across H …
Title Severe Floods Sweep Across Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Description Over the past week, both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the two countries on the island of Hispaniola, have been ravaged by severe flooding after several days of heavy rain. Hundreds have perished in the two countries as a direct result of mud slides and flash flooding. The hardest hit area was in and around the town of Jimani in the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic near the border with Haiti. The Soliel River overflowed its banks before dawn on the morning of the 25th of May 2004 catching the town by surprise. A trough of low pressure across the central Caribbean provided the impetus for the numerous showers and heavy rains. The effect was amplified as moisture-laden low-level southerly winds from the Caribbean interacted with the topography of the island. The Dominican weather service reported that 10 inches of rain fell near Jimani in just 24 hours. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite which was launched in November of 1997 uses both passive and active sensors to measure rainfall over the global tropics from space. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center provides quantitative rainfall estimates over the global tropics. The above images show rainfall accumulation between May 18 and May 25, 2004. The first lower shows MPA rainfall totals over the northern Caribbean. The red areas indicate rainfall totals in excess of 14 inches over most of Hispaniola. Darker red areas along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic show rainfall totals for the period approaching 24 inches. The second image provides a close-in view of rainfall contours over the same period. It shows that the highest totals are right along the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and over the northeastern part of the Dominican Republic and exceed 550 mm (21.7 inches). The above animations show that the bulk of the rain appears to have fallen in a single day on May 23. This graph confirms what the animations show in more detail. It shows the instantaneous average rainfall over a 250-km radius centered at 19N 72W (near the center of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic) over the period. It reveals that most of the rain did, in fact, fall on the 23rd of May although significant amounts fell on May 22 and 24 as well. The dates begin at 00Z (midnight Greenwich Mean Time, or 7 pm local time). This graph shows the accumulated rainfall with time for the same area and period. By 00Z on the 25th, an average of 300 mm (11.8 inches) of rain had fallen over the area with a maximum single point accumulation of 598 mm (23.5 inches).TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang
Severe Floods Sweep Across H …
Title Severe Floods Sweep Across Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Description Heavy rain brought tragedy to Haiti and the Dominican Republic in late May 2004. Floods and landslides devastated large areas of the island of Hispaniola, which the two countries share. Up to 2,000 people have been reported dead, and hundreds are still missing. One of the most severely affected areas was southeast Haiti, shown in this Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] (ASTER) image. Taken on May 30, the image shows dark blue lakes over land that was dry on October 26, 2003. One of these lakes is said to cover much of Mapou, where thousands died. Gravel and other flood debris form shiny light blue tracks throughout the scene. Vegetation is red and bare land is grey. The severity of these floods has been blamed on deforestation. Without trees to absorb water and anchor the land, water and mud rushed into low-lying areas. Data courtesy MITI, ERSDAC, JAROS, and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Severe Floods Sweep Across H …
Title Severe Floods Sweep Across Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Description Heavy rain brought tragedy to Haiti and the Dominican Republic in late May 2004. Floods and landslides devastated large areas of the island of Hispaniola, which the two countries share. Up to 2,000 people have been reported dead, and hundreds are still missing. One of the most severely affected areas was southeast Haiti, shown in this Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] (ASTER) image. Taken on May 30, the image shows dark blue lakes over land that was dry on October 26, 2003. One of these lakes is said to cover much of Mapou, where thousands died. Gravel and other flood debris form shiny light blue tracks throughout the scene. Vegetation is red and bare land is grey. The severity of these floods has been blamed on deforestation. Without trees to absorb water and anchor the land, water and mud rushed into low-lying areas. Data courtesy MITI, ERSDAC, JAROS, and the U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Fires on Hispaniola
Title Fires on Hispaniola
Description A thick pall of smoke hung over several thousand square kilometers in the Central Mountains of the Dominican Republic on March 24, 2005, when this image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite. Even through the smoke, MODIS detected several actively burning fires (red dots). March is typically a dry month for the island of Hispaniola, which is home to Haiti as well. As of March 25, the cause of the fires, which began in a national park near Pico Duarte, the island's highest peak, had not been reported. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team.
Fires on Hispaniola
Title Fires on Hispaniola
Description Fires burning in the Central Mountains of the Dominican Republic since mid-March have scorched as much 247,105 acres (1,000 square kilometers) in the Jose del Carmen Ramirez National Park. According to a news release from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), three months of drought led to the devasating fires. The fires have produced no human casualties, but drinking water and coffee crops have been compromised. In the mountainous terrain, loss of ground cover has increased erosion and sediment build up in reservoirs and intake locations of the regional water system. This pair of images shows the western part of the island of Hispaniola, with Haiti on the left and the Dominican Republic on the right. The natural-color image at top shows the location of active fires marked in red, while thick smoke hangs over the mountains and spreads westward. The image beneath has been enhanced using infrared observations that distinguish vegetation (bright green) from burned areas (reddish brown). Both images and fire detections were collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA?s Terra satellite on April 1, 2005. The large image linked to above has a spatial resolution of 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides both the natural-color and false-color images at additional resolutions. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC
Tropical Storm Alpha
Title Tropical Storm Alpha
Description While Hurricane Wilma was bringing high winds and rain to western Cuba, newly formed Tropical Storm Alpha was raining on eastern Cuba and the island of Hispaniola. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite took this image at 1:40 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, on October 23, 2005. At this time, Alpha had developed into a tropical storm and was weakening back into a less-powerful tropical depression, even though some of the spiral structure characteristic of tropical storms can be seen in this image. Sustained winds in the storm ran as high as 55 kilometers per hour (35 miles per hour), and the storm brought substantial rains to the area. This heavy rain was responsible for three deaths reported in Haiti, in which individuals were drowned when flash flooding overwhelmed them. Alpha is the 22nd named storm of the 2005 hurricane season, exhausting the entire alphabetical list of names chosen by the National Hurricane Center. (Letters for which there are only a few possible names, such as "X" and "Q", are not used in the list of names). The naming system moves on to naming storms by letters of the greek alphabet (alpha, beta, gamma, and so on). This season is the first time this part of the naming system has been called into use. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team.
Tropical Storm Noel
Title Tropical Storm Noel
Description Tropical Depression 16 was intensifying into Tropical Storm Noel late in the morning of October 28, 2007, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this image. Though still weak, the storm was beginning to take the distinct shape of a tropical cyclone. A dense circle of clouds converged over the Caribbean Sea just south of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and a long tail of clouds curled over Puerto Rico. Shadows cast by towering thunderstorm clouds make the cloud layer appear to be boiling in places. At the time this image was acquired, Noel had winds of 65 kilometers per hour (40 miles per hour or 35 knots) with gusts to 83 km/hr (52 mph, 45 knots), said the National Hurricane Center. [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2007/al16/al162007.fstadv.003.shtml? ] Despite relatively low wind speeds, the storm posed a serious threat to Hispaniola, the island encompassing the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The National Hurricane Center expected Noel to dump between 250 and 500 millimeters (10 and 20 inches) of rain on the island, with a few isolated areas receiving up to 760 mm (30 inches) of rain. The heavy rainfall has the potential to trigger deadly floods and mudslides. Tropical Storm Jeanne [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=12447 ] was just a tropical storm when its heavy rain caused extensive floods and mudslides [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=12485 ] that killed at least 1,500 Haitians in September 2004. Haiti is particularly vulnerable to flash flooding and landslides because of the widespread deforestation of its mountainous terrain. The large image provided above is at MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response System. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC
Tropical Storm Noel
Title Tropical Storm Noel
Description The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this photo-like image of Tropical Storm Noel as the storm passed over the Bahamas Islands on November 1, 2007, at 2:15 p.m., local time. At that time, Noel had sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour (65 miles per hour) and was moving northeast at 23 km/hr (14 mph), said the National Hurricane Center. [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2007/al16/al162007.public_a.020.shtml? ] The storm later intensified into a Category 1 hurricane and tracked north along the east coast of the United States. Noel spreads messily across hundreds of kilometers in this image. The center of the storm, a tightly concentrated mass of clouds, sits nearly directly over the Bahamas, while clusters of thunderstorms stretch north and east from the center. In its rampage across the Caribbean, Noel caused at least 115 deaths, primarily in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, reported the Associated Press on November 2. Though the storm was relatively weak, it moved slowly over the two nations, dumping as much as 550 millimeters (21 inches) of rain. (View a satellite-based rainfall map. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14605 ]) The heavy rain caused deadly flooding and mudslides. The large image provided above is at MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response System. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC
Tropical Storm Noel
Title Tropical Storm Noel
Description Spinning winds around a center of calm defines Tropical Storm Noel in this colorful image, created with data collected by NASA's QuikSCAT satellite. The satellite records wind speed and direction over the ocean by sending radar pulses toward the ocean's surface and measuring the strength of the return signal. By mapping the disturbances on the ocean's surface, scientists can estimate how hard and in which direction the wind is blowing. In this image of Tropical Storm Noel, taken on October 28, 2007, the strongest winds are in the south and west side of the storm and are depicted in purple. A broad area of red points to strong winds, and yellow, green, and blue indicate slower wind speeds. The barbs illustrate wind direction, and white barbs show where rainfall was heaviest. The winds circle around a calm center, depicted in blue. The heaviest rainfall corresponds with the strongest winds in the west side of the storm. Tropical Storm Noel was the sixteenth tropical system to develop in the Atlantic Basin in 2007. Though it was never a strong storm in terms of wind speed, it posed significant danger to the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The slow-moving storm dumped heavy rain on the mountainous Caribbean island that is divided between the two nations. The resulting floods and mudslides killed 25 people in the Dominican Republic with many more still missing, reported CNN on October 30. After striking the Dominican Republic, Noel moved north over Cuba. The National Hurricane Center [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2007/refresh/NOEL+shtml/150444.shtml? ] forecast that the storm would continue northeast over the Bahamas, strengthening slightly, and then weaken as it tracked north over cooler waters. NASA image courtesy of David Long, Brigham Young University, on the QuikSCAT Science Team, [ http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Tropical Storm Noel
Title Tropical Storm Noel
Description After forming just south of Hispaniola on October 28, 2007, Tropical Storm Noel made landfall on the Haitian side of the island on October 29 with sustained winds reported at 80 kilometers per hour (50 miles per hour or 45 knots). Even before making landfall, Noel began to soak the island with heavy downpours. Despite the center of circulation passing over Haiti on the western side of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic, located on the eastern side of the island, felt the brunt of the rain. The storm's asymmetric structure with most of the rain occurring east of the center as well as southerly winds wrapping around the right side of the storm combined to bring the heaviest rain to the Dominican Republic. This image shows rainfall totals over Haiti and the Dominican Republic between October 26 and October 30, 2007, according to the near-real time, Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis at Goddard Space Flight Center. The analysis is based in part on data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM [ http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]) satellite. The highest rainfall totals (shown in the darkest red) are over the south-central Dominican Republic and are on the order of 400 millimeters (about 16 inches). Most of the east side of Hispaniola received at least 150 millimeters (about 6 inches) of rain (shown in yellow). Rainfall totals over Haiti were much less, but still significant, ranging from about 1 to 6 inches (shown by the blue and green areas). As of October 30, 25 people had been reported dead with many more still missing, reported CNN. After passing Haiti, Noel curved westward over Cuba. The storm was expected to turn northeastward and parallel the Eastern Seaboard. TRMM, launched in 1997 to observe rainfall over the Tropics, is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Image produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).
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