Hurricane Katrina Sea Surface Temperature

  • Released Thursday, September 8, 2005
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This visualization shows the cold water trail left by Hurricane Katrina. The data is from August 23 through 30, 2005. The colors on the ocean represent the sea surface temperatures, and satellite images of the hurricane clouds are laid over the temperatures to clearly show the hurricane positions. Orange and red depict regions that are 82 degrees F and higher, where the ocean is warm enough for hurricanes to form. Hurricane winds are sustained by the heat energy of the ocean, so the ocean is cooled as the hurricane passes and the energy is extracted to power the winds. The sea surface temperatures are 3-day moving averages based on the AMSR-E instrument on the Aqua satellite, while the cloud images were taken by the Imager on the GOES-12 satellite.

Sea surface temperature with cloud overlay

Dates overlay (with alpha) corresponding to Hurricane Katrina sea surface temperatures

Dates overlay (with alpha) corresponding to Hurricane Katrina sea surface temperatures

Sea surface temperature showing Hurricane Katrina's cold water wake in blues (08-29-2005)

Sea surface temperature showing Hurricane Katrina's cold water wake in blues (08-29-2005)

Sea surface temperature showing Hurricane Katrina's cold water wake in blues (08-27-2005)

Sea surface temperature showing Hurricane Katrina's cold water wake in blues (08-27-2005)

Color bar for sea surface temperatures (blue=15 degrees C, white= 27.7 degrees C, red=30+ degrees C)

Color bar for sea surface temperatures (blue=15 degrees C, white= 27.7 degrees C, red=30+ degrees C)

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Thursday, September 8, 2005.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.

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