en-us News from the NASA GES DISC Hurricane http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/hurricane/ Tropical Storm Bertha has moved past Bermuda dumping some rainfall and producing high winds and surf. At approximately 10:00 am EST on July 15, 1008 Tropical Storm Bertha was maintaining a wind speed of 60 kts, with a central pressure of approximately 995 mb and located around 35.6N 62.7W. The storm is moving North-Northeast at around 10 kts but is forcasted to take a peculiar path. It is expected to move East, then Southeast then back towards the Northeast in the next few days. Depending on the path, it may grow back to hurricane strength if it moves over warmer waters before heading more North.##:##The image below is of Hurricane Bertha as a Tropical Storm on July 13, 2008 at 21Z. The image was generated using GrADs and the TRMM Globally-merged IR brightness temperature data, merged from all available geostationary satellites (GOES-8/10, METEOSAT-7/5 & GMS).##:####:## ?ii= 2008-07-15 hat will Bertha do next? That seems to be the big question. As of July 09 Bertha has started to move in a West/Northwest direction and has been maintaining its category 1 strength. In recent imagery the eye appears to be reforming, and with the storms movement over warmer waters in the next few days would mean intensification would be inevitable. However, the question still remains how the wind shear will affect the storm as it moves in the Atlantic. If the wind shear weakens as the storm moves west then Bertha could intensify, but if it remains strong then the storm will follow the original forecast and weaken. The image below is of Hurricane Bertha as a Category 3 on July 07, 2008 at 21Z. The image was generated using GrADs and the TRMM Globally-merged IR brightness temperature data, merged from all available geostationary satellites (GOES-8/10, METEOSAT-7/5 & GMS). ?ii= 2008-07-09 The first named hurricane of the season, Bertha, rapidly intensified on Sunday to a category 3 storm with winds reaching 120 mph and a central pressure of 948 mb. Hurricane Bertha is expected to stay in the Atlantic region and decrease in intensity over the next few days. As of 2:00 p.m. EDT, Hurricane Bertha was located near 22.4 north and 54.1 west, moving Northwest with wind speeds now around 96 mph. Lower pressure is causing a northwesterly movement and a strong wind shear over the hurricane causing Bertha to loose structure. As long as the shear continues the storm system will continue to decrease in intensity. ?ii= 2008-07-08 The Hurricane Data Analysis Tool (formerly TRMM QuikSCAT Analysis) has now incorporated NCEP Reanalysis data. Users can now generate on-the-fly visualizations for hurricane events and overlay some of the following parameters: sea level pressure, sea surface temperature, winds and precipitation. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/hurricane/trmm_quikscat_analysis.shtml 2008-03-13 User's can now create wind speed plots, along with wind vectors, using the TRMM-QuikSCAT analysis tool! http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/hurricane/trmm_quikscat_analysis.shtml 2008-01-08 The GES DISC will participate in the AGU Fall 2007 Meeting in San Francisco, December 10-14, including 17 papers highlighting recent developments in the Hydrology, AIRS, Giovanni, and Hurricane portals, as well as the A-Train Data Depot, Atmospheric Composition DISC, and other projects. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/conferences/agu_2007.shtml 2007-11-13 The online tool allows users to visualize and analyze NASA's daily QuikSCAT ocean surface wind, TRMM precipitation and TRMM TMI sea surface temperature data. Data from January 1, 1998 through August 31, 2007 is now available. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/hurricane/trmm_quikscat_analysis.shtml 2007-10-10 http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/daac-bin/hurr_archive.pl 2007-09-24 http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/hurricane/HurricaneViewer.shtml 2007-09-18 http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/081407-FirstHurricaneof07.shtml 2007-08-14 http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/051007-FirstStormNamed.shtml 2007-05-10 Our Hurricane Portal now provides kmz files for all hurricanes in our hurricane image gallery archive using 3-hourly data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. These kmz files allow you to display hurricanes going back to 2002 in Google Earth. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/032907-googleearth.shtml 2007-03-29 http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/020307-StormsInFlorida.shtml 2007-02-03 http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/011707-GoogleEarthForHurricane.shtml 2007-01-17 http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/112806-GoogleEarthForKatrina.shtml 2006-11-28 The GES DISC Hurricane Portal group created AIRS visualization products using the vertical temperature profile and water column density profile from the Retreival Support product. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/101906-AirsProfilesForFlorence.shtml 2006-10-19 http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/101206-IsaacMODIS.shtml 2006-10-12 The DISC has created an application for animating a hurricanes path, its varying levels of intensity and atmospheric information occurring at the time of the event. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/092506-HurrViewer.shtml 2006-09-25 http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/091906-CloudsatHeleneAndGordon.shtml 2006-09-19 Gordon has gained strength and is now a category 1 hurricane. It is located approximately 26.0N 57.9W and is expected to gain strength to a category 2 in the near future. See images and animations of Hurricane Gordon using TRMM 3B42RT data. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/091306-TSGordon.shtml 2006-09-13 http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/091206-TSGordon.shtml 2006-09-12 http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/091106-RainfallFlorence.shtml 2006-09-11 Tropical Storm Florence began forming on Sunday, September 03 between the Antilles islands and Africa at approximately 14.6N 40.4W. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/090506-Florence.shtml 2006-09-05 http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/090106-Ernesto.shtml 2006-09-01 http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/082906-Ernesto.shtml 2006-08-29