Earth  ID: 3261

Hurricane Rita Sea Surface Temperature and Clouds

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on September 8, 2005
This visualization shows the sea surface temperatures during Hurricane Rita. The data is from Septemeber 17 through 22, 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.
Download Options
Hurricane Rita clouds and sea surface temperatures (missing cloud time steps are skipped over)
Download Options
Hurricane Rita clouds and sea surface temperatures (missing cloud time steps are shown by freezing last good data frame)
Download Options
Hurricane Rita clouds and sea surface temperatures on Sep 21, 2005 at 20:15GMT
Download Options
Hurricane Rita clouds and sea surface temperatures on Sep 22, 2005 at 15:45GMT
Download Options
Hurricane Rita clouds and sea surface temperatures on Sep 23, 2005 at 13:45GMT

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Animator
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Animator
J. Marshall Shepherd (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Jeff Halverson (JCET UMBC): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3261

Mission:
Terra

Data Used:
GOES/IR4
2005/09/17 - 2005/09/22
view all stories where this data set is used
Terra/MODIS/Blue Marble
Credit:
The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).
view all stories where this data set is used
Aqua/MODIS/Blue Marble
Credit:
The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).
view all stories where this data set is used
Aqua/AMSR-E
2005/09/17 - 2005/09/22
For more information, please click http://wwwghcc.msfc.nasa.gov/AMSR/
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
Hurricane Rita

Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Phenomena >> Hurricanes
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Ocean Temperature >> Sea Surface Temperature
SVS >> GOES
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0