Voice off Screen: Well all eyes are on Hurricane Matthew as it barrels towards
Florida, NASA has some new views of this hurricane and
here to show us these new views and tell us what NASA is learning is Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum
at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, thanks for joining us. Dalia: Thanks for having me
Voice off Screen: So Hurricane Matthew is the strongest hurricane to develop in the atlantic
in almost a decade, how are scientists using satellites to look
inside of the storm? Dalia: Well NASA has a very powerful suite of tools to better understand
that hurricanes as well as the environmental conditions causing them to move and intensify
One Specific satellite is the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission
Which can look layer by layer through the storm like a cat scan to better understand
hurricane intensity in the form of heavy precipitation as well as
how it's distributed across the storm. this is a view from October 2nd
when the storm was a category 4, and we have rainfall from the eye
all the way out to the rain bands extending 150 miles
This is very important to better understand how these storms might be intensifying and
this is valuable for weather prediction moving forward.
Voice off Screen: This has been a slow moving but rapidly intensifying storm, how can
images like this give us clues as to when a storm is about to intensify
Hurricane Matthew intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 5
storm in a little over 24 hours on September 30th. Now this is very
difficult process to currently model. And so by being able
to see layer by layer through the storm at the precipitation we get a sense of
the energy of the storm, such as through the observation of hot towers
or huge convective systems, and that gives us clues into
the intensification process and where the storm may draw more energy from the ocean
to further intensify
Voice off Screen: Now Matthew produced torrential rains in the Caribbean and could produce significant
rainfall in the US, can we see how
this rainfall is accumulating from space. Dalia: Well with the help of an international
satellite constellation, the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission, we can actually see around
the world every 30 minutes, of where and when rain is falling. Now this helps
us to better understand rainfall accumulation such as you're seeing here with Hurricane Matthew
as it makes it's passage off of the coast of Haiti.
and this is very important for understanding where we might have more
extreme impacts from inland flooding, such as we experienced from Haiti and the Dominican Republic
and even where that storm interacts with mountains and may cause landslides
Voice off Screen: Now what is the future of how NASA will monitor hurricanes?
Dalia: Well we have many many different satellites looking with their eyes pointed down
to understand hurricanes, we also have a current field campaign
with NOAA right now where we're flying NASA's Global Hawk
to better understand Hurricane Matthew and the conditions that might be
impacting it's behavior in terms of intensity, as well as
it's path. but looking forward we have two new missions
that are going to be launching in November, the GOES-R satellite which will give us really
unprecedented new views of tracking these hurricanes, and another mission that's
composed of small satellites, that allows us to see hurricanes
the winds inside of them, tropical winds, and so by being able to piece
together all of this information it gives much more powerful tools
for operational centers like
for these types of events. Voice off Screen: Great and where can we learn more.
Dalia: it's always important to consult your local forecast and the National Hurricane Center for up to date
information on this storm, to see more satellite views of this storm
please go to NASA.gov/hurricanes