en-us News from the NASA GES DISC. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ As of this afternoon, around 2pm EST, Tropical Storm Gustav increased movement to the West slightly to 5mph maintaining wind speed of 70 mph and is located around 17.9 N, 76.2 W. Gustav is expected to soon reach hurricane strength again once it begins movement over the warmer gulf waters. As it has moved off the land masses the wind sheer has decreased allowing for a stronger convection which will enable Gustav to increase in strength. The models show a weak mid-level ridge and upper-level ridge of high pressure over Florida and the Eastern Gulf which will help drive Gustav to the West and then Northwest/North in the Gulf over the weekend making landfall around Louisiana. ##:####:####:##Tropical Storm Hanna was named this afternoon with a wind speed of 40 mph, located around 20.5N, 59.2W. Hanna is moving to the West/Northwest at a much greater speed than Gustav at 12 mph. The storm is expected to move to the North of the Greater Antilles and remain over the warm water where there is an upper-level low pressure system moving West that could provide a low shear for Hanna. Depending on the movement of the pressure system and Hanna's movement it could provide for an ideal environment for intensification, allowing Hanna to reach Hurricane strength around Sunday. This could potentially be another major rainfall for the Atlantic coastal states so this will be a system to keep an eye on.##:####:####:##There is another well developed tropical wave coming off the coast of Africa that is moving at approximately 15mph. This wave has potential for becoming a more structured storm as it continues East in the next few days.##:####:##The images below are generated using the GES DISC TOVAS visualization tool for TRMM 3B42RT data (http://disc2.nascom.nasa.gov/Giovanni/tovas/realtime.3B42RT.shtml), from the GES DISC GIVER tool which is in development to generate dynamic visualizations of TRMM Merged IR data, and from WMS at JPL. /news/detailed_story.html?ii=273 2008-08-28 As of this afternoon, around 2pm EST, Tropical Storm Fay increased wind speeds slightly to 60 mph and is located around 29.4 N, 80.8 W. The system is moving ever so slowly to the West/Northwest back to dumping more precipitation on the East and central area's of Florida. Tropical Strom Fay is moving very slowly, around 2 mph, so flooding is expected to continue across Florida with effects from the storm lasting through the weekend. We still need to keep an eye on what happens to the storm after it passes over Florida to see if it moves back over water or if it moves far enough in the Northwest direction to weaken. The image below is generated using the GES DISC TOVAS visualization tool for TRMM 3B42RT Accumulated Rainfall data (http://disc2.nascom.nasa.gov/Giovanni/tovas/realtime.3B42RT.shtml). /news/detailed_story.html?ii=272 2008-08-21 As of this afternoon, around 2pm EST, Tropical Storm Fay was maintaining wind speeds of 50 mph located around 28.6N 80.6 W. Still over Florida, evident by the image seen below, Fay had been dumping much less precipitation on Florida as the days previous. Most of the rainfall now falls to the North/Northeast region of the storm and will continue through most of this evening. Fay is expected to move slightly over water where marginally warmer SSTs and upper level winds will help strengthen the storm slightly before moving back to the Northwest over land where it will start its decent into nonexistence. We will have to keep a close eye on this storm to see if it moves West enough to bring it back over the northern Gulf. ##:##The images below are generated using the GES DISC TOVAS visualization tool for TRMM 3B42RT data (http://disc2.nascom.nasa.gov/Giovanni/tovas/realtime.3B42RT.shtml),##:##and the GES DISC GIVER tool which is in development to generate dynamic visualizations of TRMM Merged IR data. /news/detailed_story.html?ii=271 2008-08-20 Tropical Storm Fay made landfall in Florida on Tuesday. The TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) shows that the slowing moving storm is bringing heavy rain to southern Florida. The tropical storm will bring the much needed rain in severe drought areas in Georgia and Alabama according to the forecast. For more information about TMPA, please visit, http://disc2.nascom.nasa.gov/Giovanni/tovas/realtime.3B42RT.shtml##:## /news/detailed_story.html?ii=270 2008-08-19 Hurricane Dolly reached landfall over Texas on Wednesday and moved in the Northwest-West direction. The storm seemed to move slowly as it was approaching land, almost decreasing its speed by half and rapidly weakened to a tropical storm shortly after landfall. The storm has continued on a path along the Texas-Mexican border decreasing to about 35 mph. ##:##The image was generated using the online visualization tool TOVAS of Hurricane Dolly on July 24 at 12Z, using TRMM 3B42RT Rain Rate (mm/hr). /news/detailed_story.html?ii=267 2008-07-25 The Atlantic hurricane season started early in 2008, with the tropical storm Arthur recorded on May 31. A-Train shows the cross section of Arthur as seen by CloudSAT in Google Earth. By July 20, Dolly was the forth tropical storm, and it developed into a hurricane of category 2 on July 23, just before it started to pound the Gulf coast of Texas and Mexico. This is how MODIS/Aqua saw Hurricane Dolly on that day. This image can be interactively viewed in Google Earth by downloading the KMZ file provided on the site. The red line represents Dolly\'s track. Please see the A-Train Data Depot (http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/atdd/) for more information. /news/detailed_story.html?ii=269 2008-07-25 Hurricane Dolly is moving to the coast and has gained strength. At 11 AM EST, The hurricane center was located at approximately 26.0 N 97.0 W, moving Northwest at 7 mph, with a central pressure of 964 mb and maximum winds of 100 mph. The pressure has made a dramatic decrease, dropping over 20mb in a 16 hour period causing the winds to increase around 20 mph, making it now a category 2 storm. The storm in expected to gain strength in the next few hours as it moves over the coastline and will veer Westward before it begins to decrease. Please see http://www.nhc.noaa.gov for public advisories for when it makes landfall.##:####:##The image was generated using the online visualization tool TOVAS of Hurricane Dolly on July 23 at 03Z, using TRMM 3B42RT Rain Rate (mm/hr). /news/detailed_story.html?ii=266 2008-07-23 The 2008 Hurricane season has definitely begun. Tropical Storm Cristobal is moving further away from the East coast with wind speeds around 55 knots, with a pressure of 1002 mb. As the storm moves further North over cooler waters it will steadily weaken as it encounters high wind shear. It is located at approximately 39.1 N and 68.2 W, Northeast of the Delaware coast and is moving at approximately 21 mph. The storm will continue to move in a Northeast direction, later moving East and then Southeast following the Northern Subtropical Ridge.##:####:##Unlike Cristobal, Tropical Storm Dolly is gaining strength as it heads towards Texas and Mexico. Dolly is moving in a Northwest direction and will be moving over slightly warmer waters allowing it to gain strength before it makes landfall. As of this morning it had maximum winds at 50 knots, with a central pressure of 997 mb and was centered at 23.3N, 93.8 W. There is an upper-level low pressure to the Northwest of the system that could contribute to Dolly strengthening, and Dolly has decreased in pressure as the storm continues to move at a rapid pace. The storm is expected to reach landfall as a category 1 storm but if it continues to strengthen and loses momentum it could strengthen to a strong category 1 with winds around 94 mph.##:####:##Another system to keep an eye on is off the coast of Africa. The system hasn't organized yet but shows promise to develop into a tropical storm.##:####:##The images of TS Cristobal, TS Dolly and the coastal system are 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). The data is from July 20, 2008 at 23Z.##:####:## /news/detailed_story.html?ii=265 2008-07-22 The AIRS Project Team has discovered an error in the software that combines the daily Level 3 Product (AIRSX3STD, AIRH3STD, AIRS3STD) to create the multi-day products (AIRX3ST8, AIRX3STM, AIRH3ST8, AIRH3STM, AIRS3ST8, AIRS3STM). The total counts of all points that fall within a 1x1 deg grid cell (whether included in the final product or not) have been double-counted when creating the multi-day products.##:####:##The following fields in the L3 multi-day products are incorrect. They are off by a factor of 2. Users of these fields in the L3 multi-day products should divide the values by 2.##:## TotalCounts_MW_A##:## TotalCounts_MW_D##:## TotalCounts_A##:## TotalCounts_D##:####:##The values in these fields in the daily L3 products are correct. They are incorrect only in the multi-day L3 products. /news/detailed_story.html?ii=263 2008-07-18 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, 2008 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).##:####:## /news/detailed_story.html?ii=262 2008-07-15 Global 1.0 degree 3-hourly and monthly products from the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model can now be obtained through anonymous ftp and the Mirador service. http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/hydrology/hsbdisc_news.shtml 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). /news/detailed_story.html?ii=257 2008-07-09 Young-In Won is the lead author of a presentation analyzing the effect of solar variability on MLS and AIRS atmospheric temperature measurements. This research will be presented at the 37th COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Montreal, Canada, July 13-16. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/COSPAR_meeting_presentation.shtml 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. /news/detailed_story.html?ii=254 2008-07-08 A short article about the usefulness of Giovanni for environmental research in high school and undergraduate education, is featured at the NASA Web site for educators. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/giovanni_NASA_portal.shtml 2008-07-02 GES DISC Chief Scientist Steven Lloyd and Giovanni science team leader James Johnson will be participants in the Quadrennial Ozone Symposium, Tromso, Norway, June 29-July 5, 2008. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/quadrennial_ozone_symposium.shtml 2008-06-27 GES DISC Chief Scientist Steven Lloyd is demonstrating the use of Giovanni for education at the Earth Science System Educational Alliance (ESSEA) annual conference in Charleston, SC, June 16-19. (http://essea.strategies.org/) /news/detailed_story.html?ii=244 2008-06-17 The re-phasing of the Aura platform, that left the satellite drifting forward and closer to CloudSat and CALIPSO, has been finalized. Thus, as of May 2008, the MLS and CloudSat footprints are within 3-4 km in the lateral (zonal) arc distance at the Equator crossing, and 2-3 sec apart. /news/detailed_story.html?ii=245 2008-06-17 Giovanni analyses of remotely-sensed chlorophyll concentrations were utilized in this historical study of discharge, nutrients, chlorophyll, and primary productivity in the Mississippi River plume. The study is published in a special issue of Continental Shelf Research. http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/mississippi_river_plume_study.shtml 2008-06-17 Monthly averaged 1.0 degree and 0.25 degree resolution GLDAS products were reprocessed. In the reprocessed products, soil temperature data were added and all energy balance and water balance parameters were combined. http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/hydrology/hsbdisc_news.shtml 2008-06-10 Several GES DISC staff members will be participating and presenting at the 2008 AGU Joint Assembly meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, May 27-30, 2008. In addition to presentations, staff members will demonstrated the A-Train Data Depot (ATDD) capabilities during the meeting. http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/AGU_Joint_Assembly_2008.shtml 2008-05-23 The Simple, Scalable, Script-Based, Science Processor for Measurements (S4PM) version 5.26.0 is now available to the open source community from SourceForge. Click the link to view the release notes. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/techlab/s4pm/S4PM5.26.0ReleaseNotes.shtml 2008-04-28 To address the AMSU-A channel 4 noise problem, the AIRS science team delivered a new processing algorithm V5.2. It applies to AIRS+AMSU-A Level-2 (AIRX2*) and Level-3 (AIRX3*) products. Previous to October 1,2007 they will remain as V5.0. Beginning October 1, 2007, the products will be V5.2. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/AIRS/documentation/notices/Notice_20080229.shtml 2008-04-24 Dr. Suhung Shen of the GES DISC is the lead author of a paper published in the IEEE journal - Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters. The paper is entitled: Seasonal Variations of Chlorophyll a Concentration in the Northern South China Sea. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/oceancolor/locus/scs_paper.shtml 2008-04-24 Several GES DISC staff will participate in the NASA CC&E meeting April 28 - May 2 in College Park, MD: Z. Liu, A. Chen, and S. Shen will present posters; J. Acker will co-chair a breakout session; and G. Leptoukh, S. Lloyd, and W. Teng will also attend. http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/news/carbon_cycle_ecosystems_posters.shtml 2008-04-24