AMSR-E Anomalous Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Data Used to Forecast 2003 Hurricane Season

  • Released Monday, June 23rd, 2003
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 1:57PM
  • ID: 2758

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the 'above normal' hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion.
These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002, to May 11, 2003. Blue indicates the coolest water anomaly, red the warmest anomaly.
The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite takes measurements through clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

This animation places the AMSR-E Sea Surface Temperature anomaly data on a sphere and sequences from June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003.

Video slate image reads "AMSR-E Anomalous Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Data Used to Forecast 2003 Hurricane Season".

Video slate image reads "AMSR-E Anomalous Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Data Used to Forecast 2003 Hurricane Season".

For More Information

See http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2003/0529hurricane03.html

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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Datasets used in this visualization

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