Earth ID: 3009

TRMM Looks at the Rain Fueling Hurricane Ivan on September 15, 2004

Visualizations by Lori Perkins Released on September 20, 2004

NASA's TRMM spacecraft is used by meteorologists to understand Hurricane Ivan. TRMM snapped this view of Hurricane Ivan on September 15, 2004 just before the storm strikes land. The cloud cover is taken by TRMM's Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS). The rain structure is taken by TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR). It looks underneath of the storm's clouds to reveal the underlying rain structure. Blue represents areas with at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green shows at least 0.5 inches of rain per hour. Yellow is at least 1.0 inches of rain and Red is at least 2.0 inches of rain per hour. High vertical bands on the outside of the storm indicated that Hurricane Ivan was very likely to spawn tornados in Florida and Georgia.

Hurricane Ivan as seen by TRMM PR on September 15, 2004. It looks underneath of the storms clouds to reveal the underlying rain structure. Blue represents areas with at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green shows at least 0.5 inches of rain per hour. Yellow is at least 1.0 inches of rain and Red is at least 2.0 inches of rain per hour. High vertical bands on the outside of the storm indicated that Hurricane Ivan was very likely to spawn tornados in Florida and Georgia.

Hurricane Ivan on September 15, 2004. The rain structure is taken by TRMMs Precipitation Radar (PR). Precipitation Radar has a horizontal resolution at the ground of about 2.5 miles (four kilometers) and a swath width of 137 miles (220 kilometers). One of its most important features will be its ability to provide vertical profiles of the rain and snow from the surface up to a height of about 12 miles (20 kilometers). It looks underneath of the storms clouds to reveal the underlying rain structure. Blue represents areas with at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. High vertical bands on the outside of the storm indicated that Hurricane Ivan was very likely to spawn tornados in Florida and Georgia.

September 15, 2004 Blue represents areas with at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green shows at least 0.5 inches of rain per hour. High vertical bands on the outside of the storm indicated that Hurricane Ivan was very likely to spawn tornados in Florida and Georgia.

September 15, 2004 TRMM PR measures 3-D rainfall distribution over both land and water. It looks underneath of the storms clouds to reveal the underlying rain structure. Blue represents areas with at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green shows at least 0.5 inches of rain per hour. Yellow is at least 1.0 inches of rain and Red is at least 2.0 inches of rain per hour. High vertical bands on the outside of the storm indicated that Hurricane Ivan was very likely to spawn tornados in Florida and Georgia.

September 15, 2004 Blue represents areas with at least 0.25 inches of rain per hour. Green shows at least 0.5 inches of rain per hour. Yellow is at least 1.0 inches of rain and Red is at least 2.0 inches of rain per hour.