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NASA
SATELLITES HELP HURRICANE FORECASTERS SINCE 1992's DESTRUCTIVE
HURRICANE ANDREW
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Ten
years ago, on August 24th, 1992, Hurricane Andrew developed
in the Atlantic Ocean and became one of the costliest hurricanes
in U.S. history as it caused massive damage in south Florida.
Since then, NASA has launched three satellites that will help
improve forecasting of tropical cyclones.
NASA's
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), QuikSCAT, and
Aqua satellites each look at different factors of tropical
cyclones to help generate better forecasts. TRMM focuses on
the intensity of tropical rainfall, which is indicative of
whether a cyclone is weakening or strengthening. QuikSCAT
collects wind data, and Aqua records ocean and air temperatures
and humidity. These factors are primary in the strengthening
of a hurricane, and NASA researchers, working with hurricane
forecasters from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) hope
that the data generated from these satellites will improve
hurricane predictions. Hopefully, these efforts will help
lessen damages when another hurricane like Andrew strikes
our coasts.
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"Andrew's
wind data was recently re-analyzed and found to have reached
maximum sustained wind speeds of 165 mph at landfall in South
Florida, making the hurricane a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson
Hurricane Scale," said Max Mayfield, Director of the
National Hurricane Center. Category 5 storms have winds over
155 mph and storm surges generally over 18 feet above normal
sea level. This makes Andrew one of only three Category 5
hurricanes known to have struck the U.S.
On
August 24th Andrew cut its destructive swath through south
Florida and entered the Gulf of Mexico. During the morning
of the 26th, Andrew made landfall 100 miles southwest of New
Orleans, Louisiana and was downgraded to a tropical depression
the next day, northeast of Jackson, Mississippi.
South
Florida was ruled a federal disaster area, as entire neighborhoods
were destroyed. Andrew caused more than $25 billion in damages
(1992 dollars). The enormity of the damage created a new awareness
of hurricanes and further prompted scientists to gain a better
understanding of these deadly storms in an effort to predict
and mitigate future similar catastrophic events.
Towards
this goal, the NHC, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), NASA and other federal agencies work
together to provide the public with the best information possible.
The NHC uses several computer models to help forecast and
track the intensity of tropical cyclones. Each computer model
includes air temperature and pressure, sea surface temperature,
wind speed and humidity as recorded from hurricane hunter
aircraft that fly above tropical cyclones and drop sensors
into them to get this data. The NHC also verifies storm locations
with NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
(GOES).
NASA's
contributions include 3 Earth-watching satellites. "NASA's
TRMM satellite has been very valuable in determining hurricane
or tropical cyclone intensity and in improving hurricane track
forecasting through the use of rainfall data into hurricane
forecast computer models," said Bob Adler, TRMM Project
Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,
Md. TRMM data have been combined with data from other satellites
to detect heavy rain events and the associated flood potential
due to tropical cyclones in areas where there is limited ground
based information.
The
SeaWinds instrument on NASA's Quick Scatterometer spacecraft,
also known as Quikscat, is a specialized microwave radar that
measures both the speed and direction of winds near the ocean
surface. It is being used by many marine weather prediction
centers to improve monitoring and forecasting tropical cyclones.
In January 2002, the United States and Europe incorporated
wind speed and direction data from Quikscat into their operational
global weather analysis and forecast systems. Significant
improvement has been demonstrated. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL), a division of the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, Calif., manages the Quikscat satellite for NASA's
Office of Earth Science, Washington.
Another NASA satellite that will prove helpful with hurricane
forecasts is the Aqua satellite launched by NASA in May of
this year. The AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) instrument,
developed by NASA's JPL is the central part of the AIRS/AMSU
(Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit)/HSB (Humidity Sounder for
Brazil) instrument group that will obtain global temperatures
and humidity records throughout the atmosphere. NASA hopes
these data will lead to improved weather forecasts and improved
determination of cyclone intensity, location and tracks and
the severe weather associated with storms. "The improved
data from Aqua will not make weather forecasting perfect,
but should make it better," said Claire Parkinson, Aqua
Project Scientist at NASA Goddard.
"People should be watchful and remember that it only
took one hurricane named Andrew during 1992 to change the
lives of hundreds of thousands in south Florida," said
Scott Curtis researcher at NASA Goddard and University of
Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Md.
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