NASA Scientists Take First "Full-Body Scan" of Evolving Thunderstorm

A doctor gets a better view inside a patient by probing the body with CAT and MRI scanning equipment. Now, NASA meteorologists have done a kind of "full-body scan" of an evolving thunderstorm in the tropics, using advanced radar equipment to provide a remarkable picture of the storm's anatomy. The observations are expected to help double-check satellite rainfall measurements, improve computer models of storms, and make the skies safer for airplanes to navigate.

David Atlas of Goddard has gathered the data collected from an unusual storm over the Amazon rainforest in February 1999 and arranged it into an intriguing image of the storm clouds' inner workings.

The research, co-authored by University of Colorado's Christopher Williams, appears in the January 2003 American Meteorological Society's Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.

For the complete article on the scanning of evolving thunderstorms, go to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20021215convective.html