TRMM

After forming in the north central Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Lee came ashore over south central Louisiana on the morning of Sunday September 4th, 2011. Over the next two and a half days, the slow-moving storm worked its way across central Louisiana and central Mississippi and into northern Alabama, dumping heavy rains along the way. The primary mission of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite is to measure rainfall over the global Tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors. For expanded coverage, TRMM can be used to calibrate rainfall

The TRMM satellite flew over the latest tropical cyclone to form in the Atlantic Ocean basin on 7 September 2011 at 1812 UTC (2:12 PM EDT). This TRMM pass was a few hours before the National Hurricane Center (NHC) named this low pressure center in the Bay Of Campeche tropical storm Nate. Data from TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) shows that the forming tropical cyclone had areas of heavy convection with storm tops reaching to heights of about 14km (~8.7 miles) south of Nate's center of circulation.

The rainfall analysis above is from TRMM calibrated precipitation estimates called Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA). This product was developed by the precipitation research team in the Laboratory for Atmospheres at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and uses satellite data collected in "real time"(3B42 ). This preliminary analysis shows the estimated total rainfall measured for the period from 30 August to 6 September 2011 and includes rainfall from other sources including tropical storm Lee. Tropical storm Lee has been dropping heavy rain since moving over land from the Gulf Of

The TRMM satellite viewed the thirteenth tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season on Thursday 1 September 2011 at 1309 UTC (9:09 AM EDT) when it was still forming. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has predicted that TD13 will intensify and become a tropical storm (Lee) today. The tropical storm is predicted by the NHC to slowly move toward the northwest and cause heavy rainfall over the states along the northern Gulf Of Mexico's coast. One area of heavy rainfall in the middle of the Gulf Of Mexico was in the center of the area viewed by TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR). Some of

Tropical storm Talas was seen by the TRMM satellite approaching the main islands of Japan on 1 September 2011 at 0416UTC (~1:15 PM local time). This daylight TRMM pass shows that Talas had a very large nearly clear eye with large bands of intense thunderstorms located far from the storm's center. Talas is predicted travel over the main islands of japan in the next 36 hours.

While parts of the East Coast and New England are still recovering from Hurricane Irene, a new storm is brewing in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Katia. Katia began as an area of low pressure that had moved away from the coast of Africa south of the Cape Verde Islands in the central eastern Atlantic. This area of low pressure became the twelfth tropical depression of the season (TD #12) early on the morning of August 29th about 640 km (~400 miles) south-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands and about 1400 km (~870 miles) off the coast of Africa. Storms forming in this region are known as "Cape

The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center monitors rainfall over the global tropics. The analysis above shows MPA rainfall totals for the period from 20-29 August 2011. Hurricane Irene was dropping tremendous amounts of rainfall over the eastern United States during a part of this period and caused flooding from the Carolinas to the northeastern states. The heaviest rainfall totals of over 225 mm (~8.9 inches) were located in North Carolina where Irene first made landfall in the United States. Very heavy rainfall

The TRMM satellite had another very good daytime view of hurricane Irene on 27 August 2011 1750 UTC (1:50 PM EDT). The rainfall analysis shown on the right was derived from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data. It clearly shows the location of Irene's eye and the intense rainfall falling over Cape Hatteras east of the eye. Click here to see this image in Google Earth (kml).

The TRMM satellite saw hurricane Irene again on 26 August 2011 at 2023 UTC (4:23 PM EDT) when winds had weakened to about 85 kts (~98mph). This TRMM pass showed no clear eye but bands of heavy rainfall north of the center. Irene was predicted by the NHC to weaken a little more before coming ashore in North Carolina. See the 26 August 2011 2023 UTC image in Google Earth (kml).

Hurricane Irene was seen affecting the Bahamas twice during the daytime by the TRMM satellite on Thursday 25 August 2011 at 1624 UTC ( 12:24 PM EDT) and at 2118 UTC ( 5:17 PM EDT). A rainfall analysis from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) data shows that Irene's eye had moved to the north of the islands of the Bahamas by the second pass. TRMM' Precipitation Radar (PR) data shows that at this time Irene contained bands of intense thunderstorms dropping rain at the rate of over 50 mm/hr (~2 inches) north of the hurricane's eye. Irene weakened slightly today (Friday) from a category 3 to a strong