Earth  ID: 4213

GPM captures Hurricane Odile

Visualizations by Alex Kekesi Released on September 17, 2014
On September 15, 2014 (15:11 UTC) the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's Core Observatory flew over Hurricane Odile as it made landfall on the Baja peninsula. At this point, Hurricane Odile is category 2 with maximum sustained winds at 98 miles per hour (mph) and gusts reaching 121 mph. Odile caused major damage to several Mexican beach resorts including Cabo San Lucas, and has the potential to cause flash flooding as far as Phoenix, Arizona.

The GPM Core Observatory carries two instruments that show the location and intensity of rain and snow, which defines a crucial part of the storm structure – and how it will behave. The GPM Microwave Imager sees through the tops of clouds to observe how much and where precipitation occurs, and the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar observes precise details of precipitation in 3-dimensions.

For forecasters, GPM's microwave and radar data are part of the toolbox of satellite data, including other low Earth orbit and geostationary satellites, that they use to monitor tropical cyclones and hurricanes.

The addition of GPM data to the current suite of satellite data is timely. Its predecessor precipitation satellite, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, is 18 years into what was originally a three-year mission. GPM's new high-resolution microwave imager data and the unique radar data ensure that forecasters and modelers won't have a gap in coverage. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. All GPM data products can be found at NASA Goddard's Precipitation Processing Center website.
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Animation revealing a swath of GPM/GMI precipitation rates over Hurricane Odile. The camera then moves down closer to the Hurricane to reveal DPR's volumetric view of Odile. As the camera rotates around the Hurricane, a slicing plane dissects Odile revealing it's inner precipitation rates closer to the eye. Shades of blue indicate frozen precipitation (in the upper atmosphere). Shades of green to red are liquid precipitation which extend down to the ground.
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Colorbar for frozen precipitation rates (ie, snow rates). Shades of cyan represent low amounts of frozen precipitation, whereas shades of purple represent high amounts of precipitation.
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Colorbar for liquid precipitation rates (ie, rain rates). Shades of green represent low amounts of liquid precipitation, whereas shades of red represent high amounts of precipitation.
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Print resolution still of precipitation rates from Hurricane Odile on September 15, 2014 collected by GPM/GMI.
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Print resolution still showing the volumetric precipitation structure of Hurricane Odile looking Northeast along GPM's track.
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Print resolution still showing the volumetric precipitation structure of Hurricane Odile.
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Print resolution still showing the volumetric precipitation structure of Hurricane Odile looking Northeast along GPM's track.
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Print resolution still showing the volumetric precipitation structure of Hurricane Odile looking southward.
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Print resolution still of a dissected Hurricane Odile. Notice the very heavy rain rates (depicted in red) near the eye.
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Print resolution still showing the volumetric precipitation structure of Hurricane Odile looking Northward.

Visualization Credits

Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Animator
Ryan Fitzgibbons (USRA): Producer
Rani Gran (NASA/GSFC): Producer
Gail Skofronick Jackson (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Dalia B Kirschbaum (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
George Huffman (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4213

Missions:
Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)
Viking

Data Used:
GPM/DPR/Ku also referred to as: Volumetric Precipitation data
Observed Data - JAXA - 9/15/2014 15:11 UTC
Credit:
Data provided by the joint NASA/JAXA GPM mission.
view all stories where this data set is used
GPM/GMI/Surface Precipitation also referred to as: Rain Rates
9/15/2014 15:11 UTC
Credit:
Data provided by the joint NASA/JAXA GPM mission.
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:
GPM Animations

Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
DLESE >> Cryology
SVS >> HDTV
DLESE >> Natural hazards
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Precipitation
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Phenomena >> Hurricanes
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Phenomena >> Storms
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Precipitation >> Precipitation Rate
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