Earth ID: 4371

Joaquin 360

Visualizations by Kel Elkins and Alex Kekesi Released on October 1, 2015

Joaquin became a tropical storm Monday evening (EDT) midway between the Bahamas and Bermuda and has now formed into a hurricane. Joaquin is the 3rd hurricane of the 2015 season, though it could be the first to impact the US East Coast.

This visualization shows a 3D view of Joaquin via GPM's Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar on September 29th, 2015 21:39Z. The visualization shows a large area of very intense rain with rain rates ranging from around 50 to 132 mm/hr (~2 to 5 inches) just to the right of the center. This is a strong indication that large amounts of heat are being released into the storm's center, fueling its circulation and providing the means for its intensification. Associated with the area of intense rain is an area of tall convective towers with tops reaching above 16 km. Part of the snow aloft (in blue shades) extends as an anvil across the western part of the storm.This feature indicates that vertical wind shear (difference of winds with height) is strong, and can serve to rip a storm apart..

Print resolution still of Tropical Storm Joaquin showing a side view of the internal precipitation structure. The areas in blue are frozen precipitation. Areas in green and red are liquid 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 frozen precipitation rates (ie, snow rates). Shades of cyan represent low amounts of frozen precipitation, whereas shades of purple represent high amounts of precipitation.

Visualization Credits

Kel Elkins (USRA): Lead Visualizer
Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Visualizer
Gail Skofronick Jackson (NASA/GSFC): Lead Scientist
George Huffman (NASA/GSFC): Lead Scientist
Dalia B Kirschbaum (NASA/GSFC): Lead Scientist
Rani Gran (NASA/GSFC): Producer
Ryan Fitzgibbons (USRA): Lead Producer
Stephen Lang (NASA/GSFC): Writer

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4371

Mission:
Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)

Data Used:

GPM/GMI/Surface Precipitation also referred to as: Rain Rates

9/29/2015 21:36Z

Credit:
Data provided by the joint NASA/JAXA GPM mission.

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GPM/DPR/Ku also referred to as: Volumetric Precipitation data

Observed Data - JAXA - 9/29/2015 21:36Z

Credit:
Data provided by the joint NASA/JAXA GPM mission.

view all stories where this data set is used

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.

Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
SVS >> Tropical Storm
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Precipitation >> Rain
SVS >> Hyperwall
NASA Science >> Earth
SVS >> Presentation

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0