Hurricanes and Typhoons

A collection of data visualizations and imagery for tropical cyclones, including hurricanes and typhoons.

For more resources, visit the links below:

NASA's Hurricane Page

2018 Hurricane Archive

Precipitation Measurement Missions' Extreme Weather Page

Content Contact:

Historic Storms

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    Inside Hurricane Maria in 360°
    2018.10.04
    Tour Hurricane Maria in a whole new way! Late on September 17, 2017 (10:08 p.m. EDT) Category 1 Hurricane Maria was strengthening in the Atlantic Ocean when the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's Core Observatory flew over it. The Dual Frequency Precipitation Radar, measuring in a narrow band over the storm center, shows 3-D estimates of rain, with snow at higher altitudes. The tall "hot towers" characteristic of deepening hurricanes are actually topped by snow! Surface rainfall rates estimated by the GPM Microwave Imager paint the surface over a wider swath. During the tour, you'll see the radar-observed rain intensities displayed three different ways in various parts of the storm. Then, for the first time you'll see estimates of the precipitation particle sizes, which the GPM DPR is uniquely capable of showing, and which provide important insights into storm processes. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.
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    Hurricane Maria One Year Later
    Gallery
    In September 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico head-on as a Category 4 storm with winds topping 155 miles per hour. The storm damaged homes, flooded towns, devastated the island's forests and caused the longest electricity black-out in U.S. history. Two new NASA research efforts delve into Hurricane Maria's far-reaching effects on the island's forests as seen in aerial surveys with high-resolution lidar and on its residents' energy and electricity access as seen in Night Lights satellite data from space. The findings, presented Monday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Washington, D.C., illustrate the staggering scope of Hurricane Maria's damage to both the natural environment and communities and expose vulnerabilities in infrastructure.
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    Hurricane Jose lingers in the Atlantic as Hurricane Maria approaches Puerto Rico
    2017.09.19
    The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission shows the rainfall distribution for two major storms churning in the Atlantic and Caribbean basins. The visualization shows Hurricane Jose as it continues to slowly move northward off the US East Coast east of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. At one time, Jose was a powerful category 4 border line category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds reported at 155 mph by the National Hurricane Center back on the 9th of September as it was approaching the northern Leeward Islands. Jose passed northeast of the Leeward Islands as a category 4 storm on a northwest track and then began to weaken due to the effects of northerly wind shear. Remaining over warm water allowed Jose to strengthen back into a hurricane on September 15th as wind shear across the storm diminished. At this time, Jose was still only midway between the central Bahamas and Bermuda, having just completed its loop, and moving to the northwest. On the 16th, Jose turned northward as it moved around the western edge of a ridge of high pressure near Bermuda and began to parallel the US East Coast well away from shore. An overpass by the GPM Core Observatory captured an image of Jose overnight at 3:36 UTC 18 September (11:36 pm EST 17 September) as the storm was moving due north at 9 mph well off shore from the coast of North Carolina. The GPM image estimated areas of very heavy rain on the order of 75 mm/hr (~3 inches per hour). The GPM Core Observatory satellite also had an excellent view of Hurricane Maria when it passed almost directly above the hurricane on September 17, 2017 at 1001 PM AST (September 18, 2017 0201 UTC). GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) showed that Maria had well defined bands of precipitation rotating around the eye of the tropical cyclone. GPM's radar (DPR Ku band) found rain falling at a rate of over 6.44 inches (163.7 mm) per hour in one of these extremely powerful storms northeast of Maria's eye. Intense thunderstorms were found towering to above 9.7 miles (15.7 km). This kind of chimney cloud is also called a "hot tower" (as it releases a huge quantity of latent heat by condensation). These tall thunderstorms in the eye wall are often a sign that a tropical cyclone is becoming more powerful. Maria rapidly intensified following this view to a Category 5 storm on September 19th.
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    GPM Examines Hurricane Irma
    2017.09.10
    The GPM core observatory satellite had an exceptional view of hurricane Irma's eye when it flew above it on September 5, 2017 at 12:52 PM AST (1652 UTC). This visualization shows a rainfall analysis that was derived from GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) data. Irma was approaching the Leeward Islands with maximum sustained winds of about 178 mph (155 kts). This made Irma a dangerous category five hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Intense rainfall is shown within Irma's nearly circular eye. This 3-D cross-section through Irma's eye was constructed using GPM's radar (DPR Ku band) data. GPM's radar revealed that the heavy precipitation rotating around the eye was reaching altitudes greater than 7.75 miles (12.5 km). The tallest thunderstorms were found by GPM's radar in a feeder band that was located to the southwest of Irma's eye. These extreme storms were reaching heights of over 10.0 miles (16.2 km). Intense downpours in the eye wall were found to be returning radar reflectivity values of over 80dBZ to the GPM satellite. Irma rapidly intensified on September 4-5 as it moved over very warm waters and into an environment will weak vertical wind shear (the change of winds with height). Irma maintained maximum winds of 185 mph for a day and a half, making it one of the longest-lived storms at this intensity. That intensity made it the strongest observed storm over the Atlantic Ocean (excluding the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean). Irma’s rapid intensification was very similar to Hurricane Harvey's in the Gulf about 10 days earlier.
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    Harvey Floods Texas and Threatens Louisiana (Final Tropical Storm Update)
    2017.08.31
    The Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Core Observatory captured these images of Hurricane Harvey August 27th through the 30th, 2017. At 11:45 UTC and 21:25 UTC on the 27th of August nearly two days after the storm made landfall Harvey was meandering slowly southeast at just 2 mph (~4 kph) near Victoria, Texas west of Houston. The images at this stage show rain rates derived from GPM's GMI microwave imager (outer swath) and dual-frequency precipitation radar or DPR (inner swath) overlaid on enhanced infrared data from the GOES-East satellite as well as the IMERG precipitation product. Harvey's cyclonic circulation is still quite evident in the infrared clouds, but GPM shows that the rainfall pattern is highly asymmetric with the bulk of the rain located north or east of the center. A broad area of moderate rain can be seen stretching from near Galveston Bay to north of Houston and back well to the west. Within this are embedded areas of heavy rain (red areas); the peak estimated rain rate from GPM during these overpasses was 96 mm/hr (~3.77 inches per hour). With Harvey's circulation still reaching out over the Gulf, the storm is able to draw in a continuous supply of warm moist air to sustain the large amount of rain it is producing. At 10:45 UTC and 20:25 UTC on August 28th Harvey's outer bands can be seen drenching the Louisana coastline, despite the fact that the main part of the storm still lingered over Houston, Texas. Finally, on August 30th at 10:35 UTC Harvey can be seen shortly after making landfall a second time. Approximately 10 hours later Harvey can still be seen in nearly the same location continuing to dump heavy amounts of rain across the Texas/Louisiana border.
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    NASA Studies Hurricane Matthew
    2017.07.31
    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.
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    What Are The Chances Of Another Katrina?
    2015.05.13
    The U.S. hasn’t experienced the landfall of a Category 3 hurricane or larger since 2005, when Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma all hit the U.S. coast. According to a new NASA study, a string of nine years without a major hurricane landfall in the U.S. is Iikely to come along only once every 177 years.

    The current nine-year “drought” is the longest period of time that has passed without a major hurricane making landfall in the U.S. since reliable records began in 1850, said Timothy Hall, a research scientist who studies hurricanes at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York.

    The National Hurricane Center calls any Category 3 or more intense hurricane a “major” storm. Hall and colleague Kelly Hereid, who works for ACE Tempest Re, a reinsurance firm based in Connecticut, ran a statistical hurricane model based on a record of Atlantic tropical cyclones from 1950 to 2012 and sea surface temperature data.

    The researchers ran 1,000 computer simulations of the period from 1950-2012 – in effect simulating 63,000 separate Atlantic hurricane seasons. They found that a nine-year period without a major landfall is likely to occur once every 177 years on average.

    While the study did not delve into the meteorological causes behind this lack of major hurricane landfalls, Hall said it appears it is a result of luck.

    Research: The frequency and duration of U.S. hurricane droughts.

    Journal: Geophysical Research Letters, May 5, 2015.

    Link to paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/2015GL063652/full.

    Here is the YouTube video.

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    Hurricane Sandy
    2013.03.08
    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 inland surface winds.
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    Analyzing Superstorm Sandy
    2013.10.30
    A rare convergence of environmental conditions during Hurricane Sandy’s lifecycle led to a storm of unforgettable destruction—hence its nickname, Superstorm Sandy. Scientists can analyze the structure and lifecycle of severe storms like Sandy using weather prediction models and incorporate what they learn into newer models, which hopefully result in even more accurate hurricane forecasts in the future. Scientists at NASA used the Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Version 5 (GEOS-5) to simulate surface wind speeds across the Atlantic during Sandy’s lifecycle. The large image above shows surface wind speeds on October 29, 2012, as simulated by the GEOS-5 at 7-kilometer (~4.3-mile) resolution just before the storm made landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey. Wind speeds range from approximately 10 miles per hour (15 kilometers per hour), shown as dark blue, to 80 miles per hour (130 kilometers per hour), shown as very light purple. In the days following landfall, the remnants of Sandy moved inland over Northern New England and Canada before finally dissipating. The three smaller images show how GEOS-5 simulations of sea level pressure [left], surface wind speeds [center], and accumulated rainfall amounts [right] from October 26, 2012 to October 31, 2012, compare to observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center.

    Used in 2014 Calendar.

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    Tracking a Superstorm
    2013.06.06
    A NASA computer model simulates the astonishing track and forceful winds of Hurricane Sandy.
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    Hurricane Sandy Causes Blackouts in New Jersey and New York
    2013.10.21
    In the days following landfall of Hurricane Sandy, millions remained without power. This pair of images shows the difference in city lighting across New Jersey and New York before (August 31, 2012), when conditions were normal, and after (November 1, 2012) the storm. Both images were captured by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) “day-night band” onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite, which detects light in a range of wavelengths and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as gas flares, city lights, and reflected moonlight. In Manhattan, the lower third of the island is dark on November 1, while Rockaway Beach, much of Long Island, and nearly all of central New Jersey are significantly dimmer. The barrier islands along the New Jersey coast, which are heavily developed with tourist businesses and year-round residents, are just barely visible in moonlight after the blackout.
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    Katrina - Supercomputing Power
    2015.08.25
    How advances in science and computer modeling have lead to improvements in studying hurricanes.
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    Katrina Retrospective: 5 Years After the Storm
    2010.08.24
    On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast. Five years later, NASA revisits the storm with a short video that shows Katrina as captured by satellites. Before and during the hurricane's landfall, NASA provided data gathered from a series of Earth observing satellites to help predict Katrina's path and intensity. In its aftermath, NASA satellites also helped identify areas hardest hit.

    For complete transcript, click here.

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    GOES-12 Imagery of Hurricane Katrina: Longwave Infrared Close-up (WMS)
    2005.10.05
    The GOES-12 satellite sits at 75 degrees west longitude at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers over the equator, in geosynchronous orbit. At this position its Imager instrument takes pictures of cloud patterns in several wavelengths for all of North and South America, a primary measurement used in weather forecasting. The Imager takes a pattern of pictures of parts of the Earth in several wavelengths all day, measurements that are vital in weather forecasting. This animation shows a four-day sequence of GOES-12 images in the longwave infrared wavelengths, from 10.2 to 11.2 microns, during the period that Hurricane Katrina passed through the Gulf of Mexico. This wavelength band is the most common one for observing cloud motions and severe storms throughout the day and night. Since GOES-12 takes images most often over the United States (every 5 to 10 minutes), the motion of the clouds in this close-up of the southeast US is very smooth.
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    Hurricane Katrina Rain Accumulation
    2005.09.08
    This animation shows rain accumulation from Hurricane Katrina from August 23 through 30, 2005 based on data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis. Satellite cloud data from NOAA/GOES is overlaid for context. The accumulation is shown in colors ranging from green (less than 30 mm of rain) through red (80 mm or more). The TRMM satellite, using the world's only spaceborne rain radar and other microwave instruments, measures rainfall over the ocean.
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    Hurricane Katrina Hot Towers
    2005.09.15
    NASA's TRMM spacecraft allows us to look under Hurricane Katrina's clouds to see the rain structure on August 28, 2005 at 0324Z. Spikes in the rain structure known as 'hot towers' indicate storm intensity. 'Hot Towers' refers to tall cumulonimbus clouds and has been seen as one of the mechanisms by which the intensity of a tropical cyclone is maintained. Because of the size (1-20 km) and short duration (30 minute to 2 hours) of these hot towers, studies of these events have been limited to descriptive studies from aircraft observations, although a few have attempted to use the presence of hot towers in a predictive capacity. Before TRMM, no data set existed that could show globally and definitively the presence of these hot towers in cyclone systems. Aircraft radar studies of individual storms lack global coverage. Global microwave or Infrared sensor observations do not provide the needed spatial resolution. With a ground resolution of 5 km, the TRMM Precipitation Radar provided the needed data set for examining the predictive value of hot towers in cyclone intensification.

Tropical Cyclones: Visualizations

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    GOES and GPM Capture Florence Trying to Intensify Over the Atlantic
    2018.09.12
    Hurricane Florence originally formed from an African Easterly wave that emerged off the west coast of Africa back on the 30th of August. When it reached the vicinity of the Cape Verde Islands the next day, it was organized enough to become a tropical depression. The following day the depression strengthened enough to become a tropical storm and Florence was born on the 1st of September. Over the next 3 days, Florence gradually strengthened as it moved in a general west-northwest direction into the central Atlantic. Then, on the 4th of September, Florence began to rapidly intensify. By the morning of the 5th, Florence was a Category 3 hurricane before reaching Category 4 intensity later that afternoon with maximum sustained winds estimated at 130 mph by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). At this point, Florence became the victim of increasingly strong southwesterly wind shear, which greatly weakened the storm all the way back down to a tropical storm the by evening of the 6th. The following GOES-East Infrared (IR) loop shows Florence from 17:54 UTC (1:54 pm EDT) 6 September to 19:27 UTC (3:27 pm EDT) 7 September when it was struggling against the strong southwesterly wind shear in the Central Atlantic. A very interesting looking feature is the arc-shaped cloud that propagates outward from the storm towards the west. This cloud feature is occurring at upper-levels and is likely tied to a gravity wave propagating outward from an area of intense convection that erupted from deep within the storm. When the tops of these smaller scale storms within a storm reach the upper troposphere, they can trigger gravity waves. As these waves progagate outward they can enhance cloud formation where they induce rising motion and erode cloud where they induce downward motion or subsidence. As this arc-shaped cloud is able to propagate outward uniformly from the center, it must be occurring above the shear layer. Compensating areas of subsidence can also surround the strong rising motion occurring within the tall convective clouds. This can help to erode surrounding clouds and may be contributing to the clearing that occurs between the arc-shaped cloud and the main area of convection. The end of the loop shows surface rainfall and a 3D flyby of Florence courtesy of the GPM core satellite, which passed over the storm at around 19:21 UTC (3:21 pm EDT) on the 7th. At the surface, two areas of intense rain (shown in magenta) reveal the presence of two areas of strong thunderstorms within Florence north and northeast of the center. The flyby shows a 3D rendering of the radar structure of the storm. The darker blue tower indicates an area of deep convection that has penetrated well over 10 km high and is associated with the southernmost area of intense rain just north of the center. It is these areas of deep convection that fuel the storm by releasing heat, known as latent heat, mainly from condensation, near the core. Although it would be nearly 2 days before Florence re-gained hurricane intensity, these convective towers are what helped Florence to survive the effects of the wind shear and eventually grow back into a Category 4 hurricane. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA. Caption by Stephen Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and Joe Munchak (GSFC). A short 360 video flying under Florence is available here:
    Look for a longer narrated 360 video flying through Hurricane Maria in the coming weeks!
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    NASA's Black Marble night lights used to examine disaster recovery in Puerto Rico
    2018.12.09
    At night, Earth is lit up in bright strings of roads dotted with pearl-like cities and towns as human-made artificial light takes center stage. During Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico's lights went out. In the days, weeks, and months that followed, research physical scientist Miguel Román at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and his colleagues combined NASA's Black Marble night lights data product from the NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite with USGS-NASA Landsat data and Google's OpenStreetMap to develop a neighborhood-scale map of energy use in communities across Puerto Rico as the electricity grid was slowly restored. They then analyzed the relationship between restoration rates in terms of days without electricity and the remoteness of communities from major cities.
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    GPM Captures Super Typhoon Mangkhut Approaching The Philippines
    2018.09.19
    At nearly the same time that the US East Coast was experiencing the arrival of Hurricane Florence, a much more powerful storm was also arriving half a world away in the Philippines—Super Typhoon Mangkhut. While the slow-moving Florence arrived as a Category 1 hurricane that brought record flooding to the Carolinas, less than 7 hours later Mangkhut (known as Ompong in the Philippines) made landfall on the northern main island of Luzon as a full on Category 5 super typhoon with sustained winds reported at 165 mph. The visualization starts with a view of Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) precipitation rates from 15:11 UTC (11:11 pm PST) 12 September to 15:41 UTC (11:41 pm PST) 13 September 2018 as the storm was making its way across the Philippine Sea headed for Luzon. Before entering the Philippine Sea, Mangkhut passed just north of Guam on the evening of the 10th as a Category 2 typhoon with sustained winds reported at 105 mph by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) causing widespread power outages. The next day on the 11th as it entered the eastern Philippine Sea, Mangkhut underwent a rapid intensification cycle wherein the storm’s intensity shot from Category 2 on the afternoon of the 10th (local time) to Category 5 with sustained winds estimated at 160 mph by JTWC by the evening of the 11th (local time). Mangkhut is estimated to have reached its peak intensity at 18:00 UTC on the 12th (2:00 am PST 13 September) with maximum sustained winds estimated at 180 mph by JTWC, making it the strongest tropical cyclone of the year thus far. At the start of the visualization, Mangkhut was an extremely powerful Category 5 super typhoon and just approaching its peak intensity. Over the next 24 hours, Mangkhut’s intensity leveled out such that when the GPM core satellite over flew the storm, Mangkhut’s peak intensity was estimated at 165 mph, a still very powerful Category 5 storm. The end of the visualization shows the surface rainfall within Mangkhut as well as a 3D flyby of the storm courtesy of the GPM core satellite, which passed over the storm at around 15:40 UTC (11:40 pm PST) on the 13th. At the surface, a distinct eye is present surrounded by a large area of very heavy to intense rain (shown in dark red and magenta). Further out, heavy rain bands are rotating counter clockwise around the storm’s center. The flyby shows a 3D rendering of the radar structure of Mangkhut using data collected from GPM’s Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar or DPR. At the heart of the storm surrounding the eye is a ring of elevated echo tops associated with Mangkhut’s eyewall. The strong symmetry and continuity of the ring is consistent with an intense tropical cyclone and suggests no inhibiting effects such as dry air or wind shear are affecting the storm. In fact, after these images were taken, Mangkhut would continue on to strike the northern part of Luzon at the same estimated intensity, becoming the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines since Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. So far the storm is being blamed for at least 95 fatalities in the Philippines, many due to a large landslide around the town of Itogon. After crossing Luzon, Mangkhut continued on to strike Hong Kong with winds reported at 121 mph before dissipating over mainland China, where it is being blamed for 6 fatalities. GPM data is part of the toolbox of satellite data used by forecasters and scientists to understand how storms behave. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Current and future data sets are available with free registration to users from NASA Goddard's Precipitation Processing Center website.
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    Hurricane Tracks from 2017 with Precipitation and Cloud Data
    2017.10.05
    These visualizations show the tracks of Atlantic hurricanes during 2017. Data from the Global Precipitation Mission called IMERG is used to show rainfall and data from NOAA's GOES East shows clouds. Storm position and wind speed data from UNISYS are used to show the track lines. The numbers 1 through 5 as well as "T" are displayed when storms change categories. The "T" stands for tropical storm. There are 2 visualizations at various resolutions: - a wide Atlantic view that shows all of the hurricane tracks - a view that follows and zooms in only on Hurricane Harvey These visualizaitons were created to support NASA talks given at the National Air and Space Musuem (NASM) in October 2017. The wide Atlantic view was updated at the end of hurricane season to include all Atlantic hurricanes in 2017 for display at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference. These visualizations only go through October 2017 because there were no Atlantic hurricanes in November or December 2017.
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    Hurricane Jose lingers in the Atlantic as Hurricane Maria approaches Puerto Rico
    2017.09.19
    The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission shows the rainfall distribution for two major storms churning in the Atlantic and Caribbean basins. The visualization shows Hurricane Jose as it continues to slowly move northward off the US East Coast east of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. At one time, Jose was a powerful category 4 border line category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds reported at 155 mph by the National Hurricane Center back on the 9th of September as it was approaching the northern Leeward Islands. Jose passed northeast of the Leeward Islands as a category 4 storm on a northwest track and then began to weaken due to the effects of northerly wind shear. Remaining over warm water allowed Jose to strengthen back into a hurricane on September 15th as wind shear across the storm diminished. At this time, Jose was still only midway between the central Bahamas and Bermuda, having just completed its loop, and moving to the northwest. On the 16th, Jose turned northward as it moved around the western edge of a ridge of high pressure near Bermuda and began to parallel the US East Coast well away from shore. An overpass by the GPM Core Observatory captured an image of Jose overnight at 3:36 UTC 18 September (11:36 pm EST 17 September) as the storm was moving due north at 9 mph well off shore from the coast of North Carolina. The GPM image estimated areas of very heavy rain on the order of 75 mm/hr (~3 inches per hour). The GPM Core Observatory satellite also had an excellent view of Hurricane Maria when it passed almost directly above the hurricane on September 17, 2017 at 1001 PM AST (September 18, 2017 0201 UTC). GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) showed that Maria had well defined bands of precipitation rotating around the eye of the tropical cyclone. GPM's radar (DPR Ku band) found rain falling at a rate of over 6.44 inches (163.7 mm) per hour in one of these extremely powerful storms northeast of Maria's eye. Intense thunderstorms were found towering to above 9.7 miles (15.7 km). This kind of chimney cloud is also called a "hot tower" (as it releases a huge quantity of latent heat by condensation). These tall thunderstorms in the eye wall are often a sign that a tropical cyclone is becoming more powerful. Maria rapidly intensified following this view to a Category 5 storm on September 19th.
  • GPM Examines Hurricane Irma
    2017.09.10
    The GPM core observatory satellite had an exceptional view of hurricane Irma's eye when it flew above it on September 5, 2017 at 12:52 PM AST (1652 UTC). This visualization shows a rainfall analysis that was derived from GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) data. Irma was approaching the Leeward Islands with maximum sustained winds of about 178 mph (155 kts). This made Irma a dangerous category five hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Intense rainfall is shown within Irma's nearly circular eye. This 3-D cross-section through Irma's eye was constructed using GPM's radar (DPR Ku band) data. GPM's radar revealed that the heavy precipitation rotating around the eye was reaching altitudes greater than 7.75 miles (12.5 km). The tallest thunderstorms were found by GPM's radar in a feeder band that was located to the southwest of Irma's eye. These extreme storms were reaching heights of over 10.0 miles (16.2 km). Intense downpours in the eye wall were found to be returning radar reflectivity values of over 80dBZ to the GPM satellite. Irma rapidly intensified on September 4-5 as it moved over very warm waters and into an environment will weak vertical wind shear (the change of winds with height). Irma maintained maximum winds of 185 mph for a day and a half, making it one of the longest-lived storms at this intensity. That intensity made it the strongest observed storm over the Atlantic Ocean (excluding the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean). Irma’s rapid intensification was very similar to Hurricane Harvey's in the Gulf about 10 days earlier.
  • Harvey Floods Texas and Threatens Louisiana (Final Tropical Storm Update)
    2017.08.31
    The Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) Core Observatory captured these images of Hurricane Harvey August 27th through the 30th, 2017. At 11:45 UTC and 21:25 UTC on the 27th of August nearly two days after the storm made landfall Harvey was meandering slowly southeast at just 2 mph (~4 kph) near Victoria, Texas west of Houston. The images at this stage show rain rates derived from GPM's GMI microwave imager (outer swath) and dual-frequency precipitation radar or DPR (inner swath) overlaid on enhanced infrared data from the GOES-East satellite as well as the IMERG precipitation product. Harvey's cyclonic circulation is still quite evident in the infrared clouds, but GPM shows that the rainfall pattern is highly asymmetric with the bulk of the rain located north or east of the center. A broad area of moderate rain can be seen stretching from near Galveston Bay to north of Houston and back well to the west. Within this are embedded areas of heavy rain (red areas); the peak estimated rain rate from GPM during these overpasses was 96 mm/hr (~3.77 inches per hour). With Harvey's circulation still reaching out over the Gulf, the storm is able to draw in a continuous supply of warm moist air to sustain the large amount of rain it is producing. At 10:45 UTC and 20:25 UTC on August 28th Harvey's outer bands can be seen drenching the Louisana coastline, despite the fact that the main part of the storm still lingered over Houston, Texas. Finally, on August 30th at 10:35 UTC Harvey can be seen shortly after making landfall a second time. Approximately 10 hours later Harvey can still be seen in nearly the same location continuing to dump heavy amounts of rain across the Texas/Louisiana border.
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    NASA Studies Hurricane Matthew
    2017.07.31
    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.
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    NASA Satellite Captures 3-D View Of Hurricane Matthew
    2016.10.07
    NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement Mission or GPM core satellite captured Hurricane Matthew in 3-D as it made landfall on Haiti and as it travelled up to the Florida coast. GPM flew directly over the storm several times between October 2 - October 6, 2016. The most recent view on October 6 reveals massive amounts of rainfall being produced by the storm as it approaches Florida.

    The GPM core satellite carries two instruments that show the location and intensity of rain and snow, which defines a crucial part of the storm structure – and how it will behave. The GPM Microwave Imager sees through the tops of clouds to observe how much and where precipitation occurs, and the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar observes precise details of precipitation in 3-dimensions.

    For more information about the science behind Hurricane Matthew visit: http://www.nasa.gov/matthew

    For the latest storm warnings and safety information please consult your local news channels and the National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

    Video credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Joy Ng

    Music credit: Diamond Skies by Andrew Skeet [PRS], Anthony Phillips [PRS] from the KillerTracks catalog

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    Category 4 Hurricane Matthew on October 2, 2016
    2017.01.22
    NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core observatory satellite flew over Hurricane Matthew as the category 4 hurricane on October 2, 2016 shortly after it downgraded from a category 5 hurricane. The GPM Core Observatory carries two instruments that show the location and intensity of rain and snow, which defines a crucial part of the storm structure – and how it will behave. The GPM Microwave Imager sees through the tops of clouds to observe how much and where precipitation occurs, and the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar observes precise details of precipitation in 3-dimensions. GPM data is part of the toolbox of satellite data used by forecasters and scientists to understand how storms behave. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Current and future data sets are available with free registration to users from NASA Goddard's Precipitation Processing Center website.
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    GPM Monitors Hurricane Matthew Flooding the Carolinas
    2016.10.11
    NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core observatory satellite flew over Hurricane Matthew as the category 2 hurricane drenched North and South Carolina with record-breaking rainfall on October 8, 2016 resulting in historical flooding throughout the Carolinas. The GPM Core Observatory carries two instruments that show the location and intensity of rain and snow, which defines a crucial part of the storm structure – and how it will behave. The GPM Microwave Imager sees through the tops of clouds to observe how much and where precipitation occurs, and the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar observes precise details of precipitation in 3-dimensions. GPM data is part of the toolbox of satellite data used by forecasters and scientists to understand how storms behave. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Current and future data sets are available with free registration to users from NASA Goddard's Precipitation Processing Center website.
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    GPM Monitors Hurricane Matthew Nearing Florida
    2016.10.06
    NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core observatory satellite flew over Hurricane Matthew several times as the category 4 storm headed toward Florida. The GPM Core Observatory carries two instruments that show the location and intensity of rain and snow, which defines a crucial part of the storm structure – and how it will behave. The GPM Microwave Imager sees through the tops of clouds to observe how much and where precipitation occurs, and the Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar observes precise details of precipitation in 3-dimensions. GPM data is part of the toolbox of satellite data used by forecasters and scientists to understand how storms behave. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Current and future data sets are available with free registration to users from NASA Goddard's Precipitation Processing Center website.
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    Tracking Kilo from Hurricane to Typhoon
    2015.09.17
    The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's core satellite captured Hurricane Kilo throughout its life cycle as Kilo slowly worked it's way westward across the Pacific Ocean. Kilo eventually crossed the international dateline where it officially changed from a "hurricane" to a "typhoon". Along it's way, Kilo put itself in the record books. Kilo was the 3rd named storm of the 2015 hurricane season to cross the international dateline. It was also a very long lasting storm persisting for 21 days, which made it a fairly rare event. Because it was such a long lasting storm, GPM was able to capture it several times throughout the course of it's life span. Such multiple captures of the same storm can help scientists better understand the development of hurricanes.

Tropical Cyclones: Visible Imagery

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    Hurricane and Tropical Cyclone Image Gallery
    External Resource
    Gallery of visible imagery of tropical cyclones.
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    Views of Hurricane Florence at Landfall
    External Resource
    Cameras outside the International Space Station captured views of Hurricane Florence on Sept. 14 at 7:41 a.m. EDT minutes after the storm made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina packing winds of 90 miles an hour. The National Hurricane Center said Florence is moving very slowly to the west at only 6 miles an hour, then is expected to turn to the southwest, increasing the threat for historic storm surge and catastrophic flooding to coastline areas and inland cities in North Carolina and South Carolina.
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    Landfall of Hurricane Michael from Space
    External Resource
    Cameras outside the International Space Station captured views of Hurricane Michael at 12:58 p.m. EDT Oct. 10 from an altitude of 255 miles as the storm made landfall as a category 4 hurricane over the Florida panhandle. The National Hurricane Center reported maximum sustained winds near 150 mph with the potential to bring dangerous storm surge and heavy rains to the Florida panhandle area.
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    Trio of Hurricanes Over the Pacific Ocean
    2015.09.18
    Hurricanes traversing the Pacific Ocean are often solitary storms. Occasionally they show up in pairs. But according to meteorologists, August 2015 marked the first time in recorded history that three Category 4 storms simultaneously paraded over the central and eastern Pacific. This image pair shows hurricanes Kilo, Ignacio, and Jimena (from west to east) at night, and about 12 hours later during daylight hours. The nighttime image is a mosaic, based on data collected during three orbital passes of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite, acquired between 11:30 PM and 3:00 AM Hawaii Standard Time on August 29-30. The second natural-color image is also a mosaic, acquired by VIIRS between about 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM Hawaii Standard Time on August 30. At the time, all three hurricanes were Category 4 storms. Hurricane Kilo had maximum sustained winds of 215 km (135 mi) per hour, according to the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Meanwhile, Hurricane Ignacio had similar sustained wind speeds that measured 220 km (140 mi) per hour. Huricane Jimena, the easternmost of the three storms, carried maximum sustained winds of about 210 km (130 mi) per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center.
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    Hurricane Watch
    2016.09.01
    NASA tracks two storms churning in the Pacific Ocean.
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    Hurricane Crossing
    2015.09.10
    NASA observes three powerful storms simultaneously whipping across the Pacific Ocean.
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    Tropical Storm Bill
    2015.06.23
    Explore views of the storm taken from space.
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    GOES-14 Scans Superstorm Sandy
    2014.10.17
    Credit: NOAA
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    Hurricane Irene
    2011.09.15
    This visualization follows the development of Hurricane Irene as it moves up the East Coast of the United States in August of 2011. There are three versions of this visualization. Two of the versions follow the eye of the storm until it dissipates, then pulls back to reveal the rain fall accumulation track as measured by the Tropcical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) using two different color tables. The first version only includes rainfall along the storm track. The second and third versions include all rainfall. The third version shows the rainfall accumulating as the storm moves.

    These visualizations were created to support presenstations at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) 2011.

Near Real-Time Global Precipitation

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    Near Real-Time Global Precipitation from the Global Precipitation Measurement Constellation
    2015.03.31
    The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission produces NASA's most comprehensive global rain and snowfall product to date, called the Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG). It is computed using data from the GPM constellation of satellites — a network of international satellites that currently includes the GPM Core Observatory, GCOM-W1, NOAA-18, NOAA-19, DMSP F-16, DMSP F-17, DMSP F-18, Metop-A, and Metop-B. The global IMERG dataset provides precipitation rates for the entire world every 30 minutes. Although the process to create the combined dataset is intensive, the GPM team creates a preliminary, near-real-time dataset of precipitation within several hours of data acquisition. This visualization shows the most currently available precipitation data from IMERG, depicting how rain and snowstorms move around the planet. As scientists work to understand all the elements of Earth's climate and weather systems, and how they could change in the future, GPM provides a major step forward in providing comprehensive and consistent measurements of precipitation for scientists and a wide variety of user communities.

Edited Features

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    NASA Has Eyes On The Atlantic Hurricane Season
    2019.06.03
    NASA has a unique and important view of hurricanes around the planet. Satellites and aircraft watch as storms form, travel across the ocean and sometimes, make landfall. After the hurricanes have passed, the satellites and aircraft see the aftermath of hurricanes, from downed forests to mass power loss.
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    Five Years of GPM Storms
    2019.02.25
    On February 27, 2019, we celebrate five years in orbit for the NASA/JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement mission, or GPM. Launched from Japan on February 27, 2014, GPM has changed the way we see precipitation. It has provided unprecedented three-dimensional views of precipitation light rain to intense thunderstorms. To mark its five years, we’re looking back at five big moments in GPM’s history of observing storms.
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    3-D Views of Puerto Rico's Forests After Hurricane Maria
    2018.12.10
    In September 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico head-on as a Category 4 storm with winds topping 155 miles per hour. The storm damaged homes, flooded towns, devastated the island's forests and caused the longest electricity black-out in U.S. history. Hurricane Maria's lashing rain and winds transformed Puerto Rico's lush tropical rainforest landscape. Research scientist Doug Morton of Goddard was part of the team of NASA researchers who had surveyed Puerto Rico's forests six months before the storm with Goddard’s Lidar, Hyperspectral, and Thermal (G-LiHT) Airborne Imager, a system designed to study the structure and species composition of Puerto Rican forests. Shooting 600,000 laser pulses per second, G-LiHT produces a 3D view of the forest structure in high resolution. In April 2018, post-Maria, they went back and surveyed the same tracks as in 2017. Comparing the before and after data, the team found that 40 to 60 percent of the tall trees that formed the canopy of the forest either lost large branches, were snapped in half or were uprooted by strong winds. "Maria gave the island's forests a haircut," said Morton. "The island lost so many large trees that forests were shortened by one-third. We basically saw 60 years' worth of what we would consider natural treefall disturbances happen in one day."
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    Inside Hurricane Maria in 360°
    2018.10.04
    Tour Hurricane Maria in a whole new way! Late on September 17, 2017 (10:08 p.m. EDT) Category 1 Hurricane Maria was strengthening in the Atlantic Ocean when the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's Core Observatory flew over it. The Dual Frequency Precipitation Radar, measuring in a narrow band over the storm center, shows 3-D estimates of rain, with snow at higher altitudes. The tall "hot towers" characteristic of deepening hurricanes are actually topped by snow! Surface rainfall rates estimated by the GPM Microwave Imager paint the surface over a wider swath. During the tour, you'll see the radar-observed rain intensities displayed three different ways in various parts of the storm. Then, for the first time you'll see estimates of the precipitation particle sizes, which the GPM DPR is uniquely capable of showing, and which provide important insights into storm processes. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.
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    NASA Catches Hurricanes Jose and Maria
    2017.09.20
    The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission shows the rainfall distribution for two major storms churning in the Atlantic and Caribbean basins. The visualization shows Hurricane Jose as it continues to slowly move northward off the US East Coast east of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. At one time, Jose was a powerful Category 4 border line Category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds reported at 155 mph by the National Hurricane Center back on the 9th of September as it was approaching the northern Leeward Islands. Jose passed northeast of the Leeward Islands as a Category 4 storm on a northwest track and then began to weaken due to the effects of northerly wind shear. Remaining over warm water allowed Jose to strengthen back into a hurricane on September 15th as wind shear across the storm diminished. At this time, Jose was still only midway between the central Bahamas and Bermuda, having just completed its loop, and moving to the northwest. On the 16th, Jose turned northward as it moved around the western edge of a ridge of high pressure near Bermuda and began to parallel the US East Coast well away from shore. An overpass by the GPM Core Observatory captured an image of Jose overnight at 3:36 UTC 18 September (11:36 pm EST 17 September) as the storm was moving due north at 9 mph well off shore from the coast of North Carolina. The GPM image estimated areas of very heavy rain on the order of 75 mm/hr (~3 inches per hour). The GPM Core Observatory satellite also had an excellent view of Hurricane Maria when it passed almost directly above the hurricane on September 17, 2017 at 1001 PM AST (September 18, 2017 0201 UTC). GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) showed that Maria had well defined bands of precipitation rotating around the eye of the tropical cyclone. GPM's radar (DPR Ku band) found rain falling at a rate of over 6.44 inches (163.7 mm) per hour in one of these extremely powerful storms northeast of Maria's eye. Intense thunderstorms were found towering to above 9.7 miles (15.7 km). This kind of chimney cloud is also called a "hot tower" (as it releases a huge quantity of latent heat by condensation). These tall thunderstorms in the eye wall are often a sign that a tropical cyclone is becoming more powerful. Maria rapidly intensified following this view to a Category 5 storm on September 19th.
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    Intense String of Hurricanes Seen From Space
    2017.10.04
    In 2017, we have seen four Atlantic storms rapidly intensify with three of those storms - Hurricane Harvey, Irma and Maria - making landfall.

    When hurricanes intensify a large amount in a short period, scientists call this process rapid intensification. This is the hardest aspect of a storm to forecast and it can be most critical to people’s lives.

    While any hurricane can threaten lives and cause damage with storm surges, floods, and extreme winds, a rapidly intensifying hurricane can greatly increase these risks while giving populations limited time to prepare and evacuate.

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    A New Multi-dimensional View of a Hurricane
    2017.07.25
    NASA researchers now can use a combination of satellite observations to re-create multi-dimensional pictures of hurricanes and other major storms in order to study complex atmospheric interactions. In this video, they applied those techniques to Hurricane Matthew. When it occurred in the fall of 2016, 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 southern U.S. coast.
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    Ten-Year Gap in Major Hurricanes Continues
    2016.05.27
    Could the first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season break the 10-year “hurricane drought” record? It has been a decade since the last major hurricane, Category 3 or higher, has made landfall in the United States. This is the longest period of time for the United States to avoid a major hurricane since reliable records began in 1850. According to a NASA study, a 10-year gap comes along only every 270 years. The National Hurricane Center calls any Category 3 or more intense hurricane a “major” storm. It should be noted that hurricanes making landfall as less than Category 3 can still cause extreme damage, with heavy rains and coastal storm surges. Such was the case with Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Timothy Hall, a research scientist who studies hurricanes at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York and colleague Kelly Hereid, who works for ACE Tempest Re, a reinsurance firm based in Connecticut, ran a statistical hurricane model based on a record of Atlantic tropical cyclones from 1950 to 2012 and sea surface temperature data. The researchers ran 1,000 computer simulations of the period from 1950-2012 – in effect simulating 63,000 separate Atlantic hurricane seasons. They also found that there is approximately a 40% chance that a major hurricane will make landfall in the United States every year. These visualizations show hurricane tracks from 1980 through 2015. Green tracks are storms that did not make landfall in the U.S.; yellow tracks are storms that made landfall but were not Category 3 or higher; and red tracks are Category 3 or higher hurricanes that did make landfall. Research: The frequency and duration of U.S. hurricane droughts Journal: Geophysical Research Letters, May 5, 2015
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    Hurricane Forecasts Rely on Modeling the Past
    2016.05.25
    Improving hurricane forecasts means testing historical storms with today's sophisticated models and supercomputers. NASA and NOAA work together in gathering ground and satellite observations, as well as experimenting with research forecast models. As a result of this collaboration, model resolution has increased, and scientists are discovering more about the processes that occur within these powerful storms.

    The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission is a joint NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) mission that measures all forms of precipitation around the globe. GPM's Microwave Imager, or GMI, has proven useful in seeing beneath the swirling clouds and into the structure of tropical cyclones. The information gathered by GPM and other missions will be used to improve forecast models.

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    GPM Gets a Ton of Kilo
    2015.09.17
    The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission core satellite provided many views of Tropical Cyclone over its very long life. GPM is a satellite co-managed by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency that has the ability to analyze rainfall and cloud heights. GPM was able to provide data on Kilo over its 21 day life-span. The GPM core observatory satellite flew over Kilo on August 25, 2015 at 0121 UTC as it approached Johnson Atoll and found that rainfall intensity had recently increased and the tropical depression's storm tops were very tall. GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) discovered that rain was falling at a rate of almost 65 mm (2.6 inches) per hour and storm tops were measured at altitudes of over 15.4 km (9.5 miles) Kilo was born in the Central Pacific Ocean on August 21, became a hurricane, crossed the International Dateline and was re-classified as a Typhoon and finally became extra-tropical on September 11 off Hokkaido, Japan, the northernmost of Japan’s main islands.
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    Towers In The Tempest
    2010.07.28
    How cloud super-engines shift hurricanes into overdrive.
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    27 Storms: Arlene to Zeta
    2011.10.06
    Find out what fueled one of the worst hurricane seasons in history.

Spacecraft Animations

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    Earth Observing Fleet (October 2018)
    2018.12.09
    This animation shows the orbits of NASA's fleet of Earth observing spacecraft that are considered operational as of October 2018. New elements in this version include the ICESat-2 and Cloudsat/CALIPSO in new orbits. The clouds used in this version are from a high resolution GEOS model run at 10 minute time steps interpolated down to the per-frame level.
    Spacecraft included: Aqua Aura CALIPSO: Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation CYGNSS-1: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 1 CYGNSS-2: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 2 CYGNSS-3: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 3 CYGNSS-4: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 4 CYNGSS-5: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 5 CYGNSS-6: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 6 CYGNSS-7: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 7 CYGNSS-8: Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 8 Cloudsat DSCOVR: Deep Space Climate Observatory GPM: Global Precipitation Measurement GRACE-FO-1: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow On-1 GRACE-FO-2: Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow On-2 ICESat-2 ISS: International Space Station Jason 2 Jason 3 Landsat 7 Landsat 8 OCO-2: Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 SMAP: Soil Moisture Passive Active SORCE: Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment Suomi NPP: Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership Terra
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    GPM Core Spacecraft Beauty Passes
    2013.10.31
    A variety of animated beauty passes of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core spacecraft.
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    GOES-R
    2014.05.29
    The new generation GOES-R satellites will carry significant improvements and technology innovation on board. GOES-R will be able to deliver a full globe scan in only 5 minutes, compared to the 25 minutes needed for the same task with the current GOES satellites. GOES-R's lightning mapper instrument is expected to improve warning lead time for severe storms and tornadoes by 50%. This without a doubt will help predict severe weather in advance and save more lives. This reel is a compilation of finished productions about the GOES-R mission as well as supporting materials such as animations, visualizations, and still images.
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    Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Constellation
    2012.05.28
    Nine U.S. and international satellites will soon be united by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, a partnership co-led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). NASA and JAXA will provide the GPM Core satellite to serve as a reference for precipitation measurements made by this constellation of satellites, which will be combined into a single global dataset continually refreshed every three hours.

    While each partner satellite has its own mission objective, they all carry a type of instrument called a radiometer that measures radiated energy from rainfall and snowfall. The GPM Core satellite carries two instruments: a state-of-the-art radiometer called the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and the first space-borne Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), which sees the 3D structure of falling rain and snow. The DPR and GMI work in concert to provide a unique database that will be used to improve the accuracy and consistency of measurements from all partner satellites, which will then be combined into the uniform global precipitation dataset.

    In this animation the orbit paths of the partner satellites of the GPM constellation fill in blue as the instruments pass over Earth. Rainfall appears light blue for light rain, yellow for moderate, and red for heavy rain. Partner satellites are traced in green and purple, and the GPM Core is traced in red.

    The GPM Core observatory is currently being built and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. It is scheduled to launch from Tanegashima space center in Japan in early 2014.

More Resources

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    Global Precipitation Measurement
    Gallery
    The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission is an international network of satellites that provide the next-generation global observations of rain and snow. Building upon the success of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), the GPM concept centers on the deployment of a "Core" satellite carrying an advanced radar / radiometer system to measure precipitation from space and serve as a reference standard to unify precipitation measurements from a constellation of research and operational satellites. Through improved measurements of precipitation globally, the GPM mission will help to advance our understanding of Earth's water and energy cycle, improve forecasting of extreme events that cause natural hazards and disasters, and extend current capabilities in using accurate and timely information of precipitation to directly benefit society. GPM, initiated by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) as a global successor to TRMM, comprises a consortium of international space agencies, including the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES), the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and others. The GPM Core Observatory launched from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, at 1:37 PM EST on February 27, 2014.

    For more information and resources please visit the Precipitation Measurement Missions web site.

  •
    Hurricane Resource Page
    2015.05.29
    This Reel Includes the Following Sections TRT 50:10 Hurricane Overviews 1:02; Hurricane Arthur 15:07; Cyclone Pam 19:48; Typhoon Hagupit 21:27; Hurricane Bertha 22:03; Hurricanes Iselle and Julio 23:15; September 2014 Hurricane Alley 25:07; Satellite Beauty Passes 28:31; Hurricane Katrina 36:32; Global Portrait of Precipitation 42:00; Typhoon Halong 42:36; Typhoon Maysak 43:13; Superstorm Sandy 44:21; Hurricanes Fay and Gonzalo 45:29; RapidScat 46:12; CYGNSS 49:16 Super(s): NASA; Center Contact: Rob Gutro 301-286-4044; HQ Contact: Steve Cole 202-358-0918; Link to gallery hurricane and typhoon resource page. Includes a section for named storms between 1988-2007 including Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Gallery page also includes the following sections: hurricane resources; TRMM 3D hurricane products; narrated hurricane products and hurricanes sea surface temperature connections. Gallery resource page for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. Includes 3D scans of recent storms like Hurricane Bertha and Super Typhoon Maysak. It also includes IMERG visualizations, beauty passes of the satellite and edited features. Gallery resource page for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). Video file for the RapidScat mission. More information about RapidScat can be found HERE. Link to video for the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS mission. More about the mission HERE.
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    Near Real-Time Global Precipitation from the Global Precipitation Measurement Constellation
    2015.03.31
    The global IMERG precipitation dataset provides rainfall rates for the entire world every thirty minutes. This remarkable dataset is created by combining precipitation measurements from 10 international satellites: GPM, TRMM, GCOM-W1, NOAA-18, NOAA-19, DMSP F-16, DMSP F-17, DMSP F-18, Metop-A, and Metop-B Although the process to create the combined dataset is intensive, the Global Precipitation Measurement team creates a preliminary, near real-time data set of precipitation within about a day of data acquisition. The animation on this page shows the most recent week or so of that preliminary data.
  •
    The View from Space: Data Visualizations of Hurricane Katrina
    Gallery
    In the last week of August 2005, what had originated as a disturbance off the western coast of Africa transformed into a devastating storm, ravaging the southern United States.

    Water consumed the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, submerging chunks of Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.

    NASA’s satellites watched the devastation from overhead, sending down a deluge of data that scientists would study for years to come.

    For more information about Hurricane Katrina:
    http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2005/h2005_katrina.html

Visuals