TRMM

The TRMM satellite passed over rapidly dissipating tropical storm Rina twice on 28 October 2011. The images shown above were made using TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data collected by the first orbit before daylight at 0753 UTC (3:53 AM EDT). Tropical storm Rita was still dropping heavy rainfall in a small area off the northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula but an even larger area of convective rainfall had formed to the north-northwest of Rina. The image on the upper right , looking toward the east, was made from TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) data. It reveals

The TRMM satellite had a good daytime view of a much smaller tropical storm Rina on 27 October 2011 at 1522 UTC (10:22 AM CTD). Rina had decreased in size and strength due to vertical wind shear and dry air entrainment. Rainfall from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) shows that heavy rainfall with the much diminished tropical cyclone was then only located off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Click here to see a movie that fades from the visible image to the rainfall image.

After a two-week period without any storms, the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season has picked up with the arrival of Hurricane Rina. Rina began as a tropical depression on October 23rd in the western Caribbean. Like many storms that form later in the season, Rina's formation was influenced by a midlatitude front that had penetrated deeper into the Tropics over warm water. These fronts can provide a focus for showers and thunderstorms that can eventually evolve into a tropical cyclone. During the peak of hurricane season in late August and September, a lot of storms form out over the central

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded an area of disturbed weather in the Caribbean to tropical depression eighteen and then to tropical storm Rina on 23 October 2011. The TRMM satellite flew over the forming tropical cyclone on 23 October 2011 at 1728 UTC (1:28 PM EDT). Data from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) showed that the future storm already was well organized and had a large area of heavy rainfall extending toward the northeast from eastern Honduras.

The TRMM satellite passed over an area of disturbed weather in the southern Caribbean Sea between Nicaragua and Jamaica on 21 October 2011 at 0929 UTC. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has given this area a high chance (60%) of becoming a tropical cyclone over the weekend. Data from TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) instrument were used to make the 3-D image above that shows that a cluster of strong convective storms in the southern part of this area were higher than 15 km (~9.3 miles). The heavy rainfall in this area of deep convection releases heat, known as latent heating, into these

The accurate measurement of the tropical rainfall around the globe is one of the main objectives of the TRMM satellite. The TRMM satellite has also proven useful for global monitoring of tropical cyclone development. The images above were made from data received by the TRMM satellite when it passed over tropical cyclone 02B in the eastern Bay Of Bengal on 19 October 2011 at 2340 UTC. The image above shows a rainfall analysis that was made from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data. It shows that moderate to heavy rainfall associated with 02B was extending

The TRMM satellite flew over an area of disturbed weather in the southeastern Gulf Of Mexico on 17 October 2011 at 1310 UTC (9:10 AM EDT). The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has given this area of low pressure a medium chance (40%) of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours. A rainfall analysis from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data shows that a large area of rainfall associated with this disturbance extends from the northern tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula to the southwest coast of Florida. Several stormy areas within this disturbed weather are

Within just the past week, the East Pacific has seen a resurgence in tropical activity with the formation of three tropical systems: two hurricanes and a depression. Two of the systems, the two that would go on to become hurricanes, formed on the evening and night of 5 October 2011. The first was TD #10E, the 10th tropical depression of the season in the East Pacific. It formed about 1000 km (~625 mi) south of the Mexican coast and later strengthened into Hurricane Jova. Jova intensified to a Category 3 hurricane before eventually making landfall as a Category 2 storm on Wednesday October 12th

The TRMM satellite collected data on 14 October 2011 at 0837 UTC that were used to make the images above of tropical depression Banyan (known as Ramon in the Philippines). Tropical storm Banyan was the latest killer cyclone to hit the Philippines this year following closely on the heels of typhoons Nesat and Nalgae. Banyan resulted in the reported deaths of at least nine people in the Philippines before weakening and moving into the south china sea as a tropical depression. TRMM satellite data shows that Banyan, although small, contained some powerful convective storm near the center of the

The TRMM satellite passed above hurricane Jova off the west coast of Mexico on 11 October 2011 at 1700 UTC. The image above shows a rainfall analysis from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) overlaid on a combination visible and infrared image from Visible and InfraRed Scanner (VIRS). This TRMM orbit shows that rainfall bands from the powerful category three hurricane were starting drench coastal Mexico.