NASA Studies Hurricane Matthew

  • Released Monday, July 31st, 2017
  • Updated Wednesday, November 15th, 2023 at 12:10AM
  • ID: 4575

This data visualization follows Hurricane Matthew throughout its destructive run in the Caribbean and Southeast U.S. coast. By utilizing different data sets from NOAA's GOES satellite, NASA/JAXA's GPM, MERRA-2 model runs, IMERG, Goddard's soil moisture product, and sea surface temperatures, scientists are able to put together a clearer picture of how this hurricane quickly intensified and eventually weakened.

Hurricane Matthew was the first Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in almost ten years. Its torrential rains and winds caused significant damage and loss of life as it coursed through the Caribbean and up along the southeastern U.S. coast. Researchers use a combination of satellite observations to re-create a multi-dimensional picture of the hurricane in order to study the complex atmospheric interactions.

Animated time stamp to accompany data visualization of Hurricane Matthew. This is provided for video editors who would like to include accurate date and time information while showing the Hurricane Matthew visualization.

Wind height colorbar.

Wind height colorbar.

Color bar for frozen precipitation rates (ie, snow rates). Shades of cyan represent low amounts of frozen precipitation, whereas shades of purple represent high amounts of precipitation.

Color bar for frozen precipitation rates (ie, snow rates). Shades of cyan represent low amounts of frozen precipitation, whereas shades of purple represent high amounts of precipitation.

Color bar for liquid precipitation rates (ie, rain rates). Shades of green represent low amounts of liquid precipitation, whereas shades of red represent high amounts of precipitation.

Color bar for liquid precipitation rates (ie, rain rates). Shades of green represent low amounts of liquid precipitation, whereas shades of red represent high amounts of precipitation.

Sea Surface Temperature Colorbar.

Sea Surface Temperature Colorbar.

Soil Moisture Anomaly Colorbar.

Soil Moisture Anomaly Colorbar.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio. GPM data provided by the joint NASA/JAXA GPM mission.

Missions

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Series

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Datasets used in this visualization

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.