NASA's QuikScat and Aqua providing important data on Tropical Storm Anja
NASA's QuikScat satellite uses microwave technology to peer through a tropical cyclone's clouds, and actually read the speed of the rotating surface winds. In an overpass from space at 7:58 p.m. ET last night, November 18 (Nov. 19 at 0058 UTC), QuikScat noticed Anja's maximum sustained winds have dropped to 63 mph, making it a tropical storm.
Around that time, Anja's center was 560 miles east of Port Louis, Mauritius, near 22.4 degrees South latitude and 68.1 East longitude. Anja was moving south-southeast at 23 mph (20 knots). Anja is staying at sea and away from any landmasses, and poses no threat before it is expected to dissipate by the weekend.
Satellite imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite has helped forecasters determine where Anja's center is located, and how it has changed shape. Animated infrared imagery, such as that from NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument showed the system has become sheared and elongated toward the southeast. Another instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite, the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B (AMSU-B), helped determine Anja's position using microwave technology when it flew overhead.
As Anja continues to weaken, its tropical storm-force winds don't have the extent they had yesterday. Today, November 18, tropical storm-force winds of 37 mph or higher extends out to 105 miles from Anja's center.
In addition to the wind shear that has been weakening Anja, sea surface temperatures are also decreasing as Anja continues to move toward the southeast. Sea surface temperatures are now below 26 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit) and are cooler farther southeast. To maintain intensity, tropical cyclones need sea surface temperatures of at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Anja has now begun to speed up and is making a transition into an extra-tropical storm.
Media Contact
All latest news from the category: Earth Sciences
Earth Sciences (also referred to as Geosciences), which deals with basic issues surrounding our planet, plays a vital role in the area of energy and raw materials supply.
Earth Sciences comprises subjects such as geology, geography, geological informatics, paleontology, mineralogy, petrography, crystallography, geophysics, geodesy, glaciology, cartography, photogrammetry, meteorology and seismology, early-warning systems, earthquake research and polar research.
Newest articles
Superradiant atoms could push the boundaries of how precisely time can be measured
Superradiant atoms can help us measure time more precisely than ever. In a new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen present a new method for measuring the time interval,…
Ion thermoelectric conversion devices for near room temperature
The electrode sheet of the thermoelectric device consists of ionic hydrogel, which is sandwiched between the electrodes to form, and the Prussian blue on the electrode undergoes a redox reaction…
Zap Energy achieves 37-million-degree temperatures in a compact device
New publication reports record electron temperatures for a small-scale, sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch fusion device. In the nine decades since humans first produced fusion reactions, only a few fusion technologies have demonstrated…