Jul 5, 2009 2:45 pm US/Eastern
NASA Technology Shows Hurricane Formation In Movie
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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Imagine watching all of the tropical depressions, storms and hurricanes of 2008 as they formed and made landfall throughout the Atlantic. New NASA technology plays the entire season as a movie.
CBS
Imagine watching all of the tropical depressions, storms and hurricanes of 2008 as they formed and made landfall throughout the Atlantic. New NASA technology plays the entire season as a movie. As
Tim Williams reports, images are helping forecasters get ready for what could be coming this year.
The newest generation of satellite technology has been sent into space. The GOES-O project is a combination of weather satellites and will study tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin.
"They stand off above the earth about 22,000 statute miles above the earth's surface and they sit on the equator, and they pretty much stare at the earth and take pictures in both the visible and the infra-red," said Deputy Project Manager Andre Dress.
That data is used by the National Weather Service to provide forecasts, helping protect your property and life.
The entire 2008 season has been compiled as a movie. It's important to study, even though 2009 predictions are for an average nine or 10 named storms.
"With those satellite images, again, we can look at rainfall in a storm, rainfall intensity. We can see flooding potential, we can look at sea surface temperatures. We can actually see how fast the winds are rotating within a storm," said Hurricane Page Manager Rob Gutro.
The GOES-O satellite will not always be used but will remain in orbit at the ready should another satellite become inoperable. During its 10-12 year mission, it will work toward three primary goals: preparedness, warning and prediction.
"Even a hurricane, just a tropical storm, the remnants of a system coming up through Maryland could cause a lot of problems for us this summer. we have had so much rainfall this spring, this early summer, the reservoirs are full; the ground is saturated. It won't take much additional rain to cause serious flooding," said hurricane specialist Jeff Halverson.
Click
here to see the NASA movie site.
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