NASA On Air: NASA's RapidScat Launches To International Space Station (9/22/2014)

LEAD: NASA launched a new tool for hurricane forecasters from Cape Canaveral.

1. A SpaceX Falcon rocket is delivering a radar system called RapidScat to the International Space Station.

2. It will scan the oceans around the world, using the action of ocean waves to determine surface wind speeds and direction.

3. Hurricane forecasters can use the information for better forecasts of storm surge.

TAG: Large-scale patterns such as El Niño in the Pacific Ocean can be monitored by looking at changes in ocean winds.

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

- Hurricane Sandy
  March 7, 2013, 7 p.m.
  Surface wind speeds range from blue (10 miles per hour) to purple (80 miles per hour). Surface and near-surface (850 hPa) wind speeds from the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS-5) operational assimilation system (consisting of a 50-kilometer analysis coupled with a 25-kilometer model) beginning September 1, 2012 preceding a 7-kilometer global simulation with the GEOS-5 atmospheric model initialized at 09Z on October 26, 2012 reveal the massive size of Hurricane Sandy versus the other storms for this period, including the persistent Hurricane Nadine, as well as hurricanes Michael and Rafael. The 7-kilometer simulation depicts the strong onshore winds in New York and New Jersey even after landfall and the dramatic influence of the land surface slowing down Sandy s near-surface (850 hPa) winds. Sea level pressure, wind speeds, and accumulated rainfall from a GEOS-5 28-km simulation versus National Hurricane Center (NHC) observations. Sea level pressure, wind speeds, and accumulated rainfall from a GEOS-5 7-km simulation versus National Hurricane Center (NHC) observations. Accumulated rainfall from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, a GEOS-5 7-km simulation, and a GEOS-5 28-km simulation.
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