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Tropical Storm Bebinca
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Tropical Storm Bebinca |
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Tropical Storm Bebinca formed as a tropical depression (area of low air pressure) early in the morning on October 1, 2006, east of the Philippines. Over the course of the next day, the depression gradually moved north and east away from the island chain and gained enough power to become a storm and earn a name. Despite moving farther offshore into the Pacific, Bebinca was largely staying over waters recently cooled by the powerful Typhoon Xangsane, [ /NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13913 ] which formed in the same general area approximately a week before Bebinca. The storm system was not expected to develop into a typhoon as of October 5, according to the University of Hawaii's Tropical Storm Information Center. [ http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/tropical.html ] This data visualization shows Bebinca just as the depression was becoming strong enough to be classified as a tropical storm. The image depicts wind speed in color and wind direction with small barbs. White barbs point to areas of heavy rain. The data were obtained by NASA's QuikSCAT [ http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/quikscat/index.cfm ] satellite on October 2, 2006, at 09:16 UTC (5:16 p.m. local time). Bebinca appears to be quite asymmetrically shaped at this time, with wind-direction barbs showing that the center of the storm has an area of relatively calm winds, while more intense winds are located in the southwestern portion of the storm. The center, or eye, of the storm is well-defined by wind direction, but the wind speeds are not symmetrical. Weak winds around the storm's center show that the storm system does not have the classic eye and eyewall of a typhoon, which a more intense storm would have. QuikSCAT employs a scatterometer, which sends pulses of microwave energy through the atmosphere to the ocean surface, and measures the energy that bounces back from the wind-roughened surface. The energy of the microwave pulses changes depending on wind speed and direction, giving scientists a way to monitor wind around the world. This technique does not work over land, and hence the lack of measurements over the Philippine Islands shown here. NASA image courtesy of David Long, Brigham Young University, on the QuikSCAT Science Team [ http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. |
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Typhoon Xangsane
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Typhoon Xangsane |
| Description |
Typhoon Xangsane formed on September 25, 2006, in the western Pacific near the coast of the Philippine Islands. Over the next 36 hours, it grew from a tropical depression (area of low air pressure) to a typhoon. The typhoon crossed the Philippines and was credited for causing 76 deaths there before crossing the South China Sea and coming ashore in central Vietnam on October 1, according to the Agence France-Presse news service. As the storm came ashore in central Vietnam, it packed winds of 148 kilometers per hour (92 miles per hour), causing another six deaths and many injuries. Vietnamese authorities called Typhoon Xangsane the biggest storm to hit the country in several decades. 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 October 1, 2006, at 10:10 a.m. local time (03:10 UTC). Xangsane at the time of this image was a well-defined spiral of clouds, but other typhoon characteristics were not obvious. It lacked a well-defined eye, and the spiral arms of the storm did not have sharp edges or evidence of strong thunderstorms. Much of the initial power of the storm had apparently been sapped as the typhoon came over land. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidresponse.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Typhoon Xangsane Floods Viet
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Typhoon Xangsane Floods Vietnam |
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Typhoon Xangsane slammed into the coast of Vietnam on October 1, 2006, pounding the coastal city of Da Nang with sustained winds of 150 kilometers per hour (90 miles per hour) and heavy rain. The storm moved west over Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, and by October 3, the clouds had cleared enough to give the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite a view of the hard-hit Vietnam coast. The image, top, reveals that Xangsane left extensive flooding in its wake. The land between the Vu Gia River and the Thu Bon River is covered with water. Mud gives the water on land its pale blue color in contrast to the dark blue and black seen in the ocean. As the sediment-laden water empties into the ocean, it pours a cloud of sediment into the ocean. The sediment creates the bright blue fan along the shore and in the bay near Da Nang. Though flooding isn't visible in Da Nang itself, the sediment in the bay suggests that the region may be flooded. Most obviously flooded is Hoi An, a historic port city that is a World Heritage Site. [ http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=948 ] The image shows that the Thu Bon River had burst its banks and was flowing through the city. According to the Associated Press, [ http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2006-10-03-asia-typhoon_x.htm ] Typhoon Xangsane caused extensive damage in Da Nang, Hoi An, and the surrounding communities. The storm had killed 119 people as of October 2. Of these deaths, 41 were in Vietnam, and the remaining 78 were in the Philippines. In the city of Da Nang, which has 770,000 residents, 12,000 homes were destroyed and 113,000 were damaged, said the Associated Press. The lower image shows the region on September 9, 2006, and provides a perspective on normal conditions. Both images were created with a combination of visible and infrared light, which increases the contrast between water and land. In these images, water ranges from black to light blue, the color being lighter when the water is filled with sediment. Clouds are turquoise blue and white, plant-covered land is bright green, and bare earth, such as the cities or the beach, is tan. Red boxes outline regions where MODIS detected fires. Photo-like, true-color versions [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Indochina/2006276 ] of the images are available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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