WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:04.030 Voice off Screen: All eyes are on Hurricane Matthew as it barrels towards the coast 2 00:00:04.030 --> 00:00:08.040 of Florida and NASA has some new views of the storm and here 3 00:00:08.040 --> 00:00:12.090 to show us these new views and tell us what NASA is seeing is Dr. Scott Braun 4 00:00:12.090 --> 00:00:16.140 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, thanks for joining us. Dr. Scott Braun: Sure, good morning. 5 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:20.340 Voice off Screen: So Hurricane Matthew is strongest hurricane to develop in the Atlantic 6 00:00:20.340 --> 00:00:24.380 in almost 10 years. How are scientists using satellites to 7 00:00:24.380 --> 00:00:28.400 look inside of this storm? Dr. Scott Braun: Well NASA's got a fleet of satellites that take 8 00:00:28.400 --> 00:00:32.410 different measurements of the Earth's atmosphere, one of the most important ones for hurricanes is our 9 00:00:32.410 --> 00:00:36.460 Global Precipitation Measurement Mission or GPM, which provides 10 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:40.520 two and three dimensional views of hurricanes such as this example of Matthew from October 11 00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:44.580 2nd. It allows you to see the heavy rain near the center 12 00:00:44.580 --> 00:00:48.650 the major rain bands outside from the center, and the three dimensional structure 13 00:00:48.650 --> 00:00:52.660 is indicated by the blue colors that you saw there, and that can provide 14 00:00:52.660 --> 00:00:56.710 important clues as to whether or not the storm is likely to intensify or weaken 15 00:00:56.710 --> 00:01:00.750 Voice off Screen: This has been a slow moving but 16 00:01:00.750 --> 00:01:04.790 rapidly intensifying storm. How can images like this give us clues 17 00:01:04.790 --> 00:01:08.800 as to when a storm is about to intensify 18 00:01:08.800 --> 00:01:12.980 Dr. Scott Braun: Well Matthew intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm in a little bit over a day. 19 00:01:12.980 --> 00:01:17.050 Its called "Rapid Intensification" and it's still 20 00:01:17.050 --> 00:01:21.120 extremely difficult to forecast and we're still trying to learn a lot about the process 21 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:25.320 that are involved, you know how much of it comes from the effects 22 00:01:25.320 --> 00:01:29.370 of the storms environment versus internal processes. Satellites like GPM give 23 00:01:29.370 --> 00:01:33.380 us those observations of what's going in the storm and again can provide 24 00:01:33.380 --> 00:01:37.420 clues as to what's going on and how the storm is responding to it's 25 00:01:37.420 --> 00:01:41.610 environment, so it's really critical to understanding these storms. 26 00:01:41.610 --> 00:01:45.650 Voice off Screen: Matthew produced torrential rains in the Caribbean and could produce significant 27 00:01:45.650 --> 00:01:49.710 rains along the US coast, can we see how 28 00:01:49.710 --> 00:01:53.760 this rainfall is accumulating from space? Dr. Scott Braun: Yeah GPM is the 29 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.810 linchpin of an international constellation and you can combine all those different 30 00:01:57.810 --> 00:02:01.820 satellites to produce rainfall accumulations on about a half hour 31 00:02:01.820 --> 00:02:05.860 time scale. And just by adding that up over time you can measure 32 00:02:05.860 --> 00:02:09.920 how much rainfall is falling. In this example you can see this storm passing Haiti. 33 00:02:09.920 --> 00:02:13.980 As the storm and it's outer rain band has produced up to 20 inches of rain over Haiti 34 00:02:13.980 --> 00:02:17.980 and the Dominican Republic, with the steep terrain in that area produces 35 00:02:17.980 --> 00:02:22.020 major flooding and potential landslides that can 36 00:02:22.020 --> 00:02:26.040 pose significant risk. 37 00:02:26.040 --> 00:02:30.220 Voice off Screen: What is the future of how NASA will monitor hurricanes? Dr. Scott Braun: Well NASA is getting ready to launch 38 00:02:30.220 --> 00:02:34.270 two new missions, we have the GOES-R Mission getting 39 00:02:34.270 --> 00:02:38.320 ready to launch in November from Cape Canaveral. 40 00:02:38.320 --> 00:02:42.330 And that will provide much more advanced geosynchronous observations compared to what we 41 00:02:42.330 --> 00:02:46.340 had in the past. We're also getting ready to launch a new mission that's 42 00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:50.390 a constellation of very small satellites that will measure wind speeds 43 00:02:50.390 --> 00:02:54.580 at the ocean surface within hurricanes, we also have advanced research aircraft 44 00:02:54.580 --> 00:02:58.580 such as the Global Hawk that can provide measurements and in fact right now 45 00:02:58.580 --> 00:03:02.590 the Global Hawk is flying over Matthew as part of a NOAA campaign 46 00:03:02.590 --> 00:03:06.640 to take measurements within the storm and study how that data 47 00:03:06.640 --> 00:03:10.680 could potentially impact forecasts. 48 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:14.700 Voice off Screen: So where can we learn more and see some more of the latest images? 49 00:03:14.700 --> 00:03:18.710 Dr. Scott Braun: Well for those in the coastal zones of Florida and the southeast they should go to 50 00:03:18.710 --> 00:03:22.720 the National Hurricane website or their local weather service website 51 00:03:22.720 --> 00:03:26.730 to get the latest warnings and information on the storm. For those interested 52 00:03:26.730 --> 00:03:30.880 in imagery from NASA, they can go to NASA.gov/hurricanes. 53 00:03:30.880 --> 00:00:12.090 Voice off Screen: Great, thanks so much for joining us. 54 00:00:12.090 --> 00:03:36.483 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, thanks for joining us. Dr. Scott Braun: Sure, good morning.