Earth ID: 2897

Cold Water Trails from Hurricanes Fabian and Isabel (WMS)

Visualizations by Eric Sokolowsky Released on February 11, 2004

This visualization shows the cold water trails left first by Hurricanes Fabian and then by Hurricane Isabel in the Atlantic Ocean from August 27, 2003 through September 23, 2003. The colors on the ocean represent the sea surface temperatures, and satellite images of the hurricane clouds are laid over the temperatures to clearly show the hurricane positions. Orange and red depict regions that are 82 degrees F and higher, where the ocean is warm enough for hurricanes to form. Hurricane winds are sustained by the heat energy of the ocean, so the ocean is cooled as the hurricane passes and the energy is extracted to power the winds. A hurricane can experience a dramatic reduction in wind speed when it crosses the cold track of a previous hurricane. However, in this case, the cold water track from Fabian warmed up before Isabel crossed it, so Isabel's winds did not decrease. The sea surface temperatures were measured by the AMSR-E instrument on the Aqua satellite, while the cloud images were taken by the Imager on the GOES-12 satellite.

For More Information

http://www.ssmi.com/amsr/amsr_data_description.html

Visualization Credits

Eric Sokolowsky (GST): Lead Animator
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Animator
Jesse Allen (Raytheon): Animator
Marte Newcombe (GST): Animator
Stuart A. Snodgrass (GST): Animator
Kevin Mahoney (CSC): Animator
J. Marshall Shepherd (NASA/GSFC): Scientist

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio The Blue Marble Next Generation data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC) and NASA's Earth Observatory.

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/2897

Mission:
Terra

Data Used: