A tropical storm called LUA formed in the Indian Ocean off Australia's northwestern coast on 13 March 2012. This area of Australia is sparsely populated but LUA caused the shutdown of over one quarter of the country's crude oil production. The TRMM satellite flew over this area on 13 March 2012 at 1622 UTC. A Rainfall analysis using TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) instruments is shown overlaid on an enhanced infrared image from TRMM's Visible and InfraRed Scanner (VIRS). This analysis indicates that rainfall intensity was mainly in the moderate range of 20 to 30 mm

The TRMM satellite passed directly above an intensifying tropical storm in the South Indian Ocean called KOJI on 8 March 2012 at 2053 UTC. The rainfall analysis above was made from TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data. Those TRMM data reveal that KOJI was getting organized with bands of heavy rainfall spiraling into the storm's center. KOJI has been predicted to increase in intensity and reach hurricane force with peak winds of 70kts (~80 mph) on 10 March 2012. KOJI is predicted to remain at hurricane force for only one day and then weaken while traveling southwestward

This has been an active tropical cyclone season in the South Indian Ocean. The TRMM satellite passed over another forming tropical cyclone (15s) in the South Indian Ocean on 2 March 2012 at 0140 UTC. A rainfall analysis from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) instruments is shown on the image above. This "top down" view shows that very heavy rainfall of over 50mm/hr (~2 inches) was occurring near the center of the storm's circulation. TRMM's Precipitation Radar (PR) was used in the image above to show the 3-D structure of the forming tropical cyclone. Powerful storm

February 29 marked the last day of the GPM Cold Season Experiment. After six weeks of no snow, light snow, rain, and some nice heavy snowstorms, the GCPEx team is heading home. The ADMIRARI instrument at the CARE site with blowing light snow (11 Feb 2012) Credit: NASA / Chris Kidd The campaign ended with a big storm last Friday, February 24th, that put all three planes in the air over an eight hour period. They captured a wide array of different types of snow and rain from Eastern New York as the DC-8 flew in from Maine to north of the CARE site in Huronia and Georgian Bay, off of Lake Huron

By Rob Gutro, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Original www.nasa.gov Press Release (published 3/1/12) The Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument has arrived at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. for integration into NASA's upcoming Earth science spacecraft. The instrument was built at the Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. The GPM Microwave Imager instrument being placed in the acoustic chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center on March 1, 2012. Credit: NASA / Ball Aerospace Engineers at NASA Goddard will integrate both the