Earth  ID: 2990

TRMM Observes Cloud Towers in Hurricane Frances

Visualizations by Greg Shirah Released on September 7, 2004
NASA's TRMM satellite (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) can see hurricanes in three dimensions. Looking down from its near Earth orbit, the vehicle is unique in the space agency's fleet of Earth observing instruments. Here we see Frances depicted showing aspects of the storm's inner structure. Red colors indicate regions of the most significant rainfall. Notice the spires stretching up in to the sky. These 'hot towers' suggest an efficient and powerful heat engine inside the storm, emphasizing to experts just how powerful this particular hurricane may be.

This visualization shows the internal storm structure by melting away different surfaces of constant rain rates then building them back up. The surfaces are 0.25mm/hr (blue), 0.5mm/hr (green), 1.0 mm/hr (yellow), and 2.0 mm/hr (red/orange).
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TRMM views Hurricane Frances
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Hurricane Frances relative to North America
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Hurricane Frances with 0.25mm-hr (blue) and 0.5mm-hr (green) rain rates
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Hurricane Frances with 0.25mm-hr (blue) and 0.5mm-hr (green) rain rates #2
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Hurricane Frances with 1.0mm-hr (yellow) and 2.0mm-hr (orange-red) rainfall rates
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Straight down view of Hurricane Frances with 0.25mm-hr rainfall rates

For More Information

http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2004/0902frances.html

Visualization Credits

Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC): Animator
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/2990

Mission:
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission - TRMM

Data Used:
TRMM/PR
2004/09/01
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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 these series:
Hurricanes
Hurricane Frances

Keywords:
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Precipitation
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Phenomena >> Hurricanes
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Human Dimensions >> Natural Hazards >> Meteorological Hazards
SVS >> For Educators
SVS >> Atmospheric Circulation
SVS >> Atmospheric Science
SVS >> Meteorological Phenomenon
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