Forum for Science, Industry and Business

The cold power of Hurricane Gilma revealed by NASA satellite

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Hurricane Gilma on August 9 at 5:53 a.m. EDT. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument captured an infrared image of the cloud temperatures that showed the strongest storms and heaviest rainfall were wrapped around the storm's center.

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Hurricane Gilma on Aug. 9 at 5:53 a.m. EDT. The AIRS instrument captured an infrared image of the cloud temperatures that showed the strongest storms (purple) and heaviest rainfall was wrapped around the storm's center.

Credit: NASA JPL, Ed Olsen

Cloud top temperatures in that area were as cold as -63 Fahrenheit (-52 Celsius), indicating very strong thunderstorms (a tropical cyclone is made up of hundreds of thunderstorms), with potentially heavy rainfall. The higher a cloud top extends into the atmosphere, the colder it is, and that data is picked up by the AIRS instrument onboard the Aqua satellite.

On August 9, 2012 at 11 a.m. EDT (8 a.m. PDT) Gilma's maximum sustained winds are near 75 mph (120 kmh), down from 80 mph (130 kmh) which makes Gilma a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane wind scale. Gilma was far from land and its center was about 715 miles (1,155 km) southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, near latitude 16.2 north and longitude 118.6 west. Gilma is moving toward the west-northwest near 7 mph (11 kmh). Forecasters expect Gilma to turn to the northwest because a ridge of high pressure that has been guiding it is now weakening.

The National Hurricane Center expects Gilma to start weakening over the next day as it moves into an area of cooler waters. AIRS also provides temperature data on sea surface temperatures, and has observed declining temperatures north of Gilma's current location in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Waters of 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 Celsius) are needed to maintain a tropical cyclone, and Gilma is headed for waters cooler than that over the next couple of days.

Watching Two Other Areas

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) are now watching two additional areas of low pressure to the east of Gilma. The first area is several hundred miles south-southwest of Acapulco, Mexico. The NHC gives this low a meager 10 percent chance of development in the next two days because it appeared more disorganized today on satellite imagery. The second area is a trough (elongated area) of low pressure along Mexico's west coast. That low may interact with Tropical Storm Ernesto which is poised to cross from the Gulf of Mexico into the Pacific. However, because of upper level winds, this low pressure area also has a 10 percent chance of development in the next two days.

Rob Gutro | EurekAlert!
Further information:
http://www.nasa.gov

Im Focus: Can we see monkeys from space? Emerging technologies to map biodiversity

An international team of scientists has proposed a new multi-disciplinary approach in which an array of new technologies will allow us to map biodiversity and the risks that wildlife is facing at the scale of whole landscapes. The findings are published in Nature Ecology and Evolution. This international research is led by the Kunming Institute of Zoology from China, University of East Anglia, University of Leicester and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.

Using a combination of satellite and ground data, the team proposes that it is now possible to map biodiversity with an accuracy that has not been previously...

Im Focus: Climate satellite: Tracking methane with robust laser technology

Heatwaves in the Arctic, longer periods of vegetation in Europe, severe floods in West Africa – starting in 2021, scientists want to explore the emissions of the greenhouse gas methane with the German-French satellite MERLIN. This is made possible by a new robust laser system of the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen, which achieves unprecedented measurement accuracy.

Methane is primarily the result of the decomposition of organic matter. The gas has a 25 times greater warming potential than carbon dioxide, but is not as...

Im Focus: How protons move through a fuel cell

Hydrogen is regarded as the energy source of the future: It is produced with solar power and can be used to generate heat and electricity in fuel cells. Empa researchers have now succeeded in decoding the movement of hydrogen ions in crystals – a key step towards more efficient energy conversion in the hydrogen industry of tomorrow.

As charge carriers, electrons and ions play the leading role in electrochemical energy storage devices and converters such as batteries and fuel cells. Proton...

Im Focus: A unique data centre for cosmological simulations

Scientists from the Excellence Cluster Universe at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich have establised "Cosmowebportal", a unique data centre for cosmological simulations located at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. The complete results of a series of large hydrodynamical cosmological simulations are available, with data volumes typically exceeding several hundred terabytes. Scientists worldwide can interactively explore these complex simulations via a web interface and directly access the results.

With current telescopes, scientists can observe our Universe’s galaxies and galaxy clusters and their distribution along an invisible cosmic web. From the...

Im Focus: Scientists develop molecular thermometer for contactless measurement using infrared light

Temperature measurements possible even on the smallest scale / Molecular ruby for use in material sciences, biology, and medicine

Chemists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in cooperation with researchers of the German Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM)...