The TRMM satellite had another revealing pass over the Mozambique Channel and Madagascar on 27 February 2012 at 2011 UTC. This area is being monitored for significant tropical cyclone development. TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data were used in the rainfall analysis on the upper left. This analysis shows that very intense storms were being produced by a cyclonic circulation off northwestern Mozambique. These storms were dropping rainfall at a rate of over 50mm/hr (~2 inches) in the Mozambique Channel between Mozambique and Madagascar. The 3-D TRMM PR image on the

A weak tropical cyclone locally called Irina caused flooding over northern Madagascar less than two weeks after deadly flooding by Tropical Cyclone Giovanna . The lastest tropical cyclone didn't have very strong winds when it passed over the coastal city of Vohemar on Madagascar's northeastern coast but street flooding was reported. The rainfall analysis above was made at the Goddard Space Flight Center using data from a near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA). TRMM-based near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) data are used to monitor rainfall over

Joe Munchak is a scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center who specializes in remote sensing of snow. This week he writes from the air in the DC-8 out of Bangor, Maine. Last time I wrote for the GCPEx blog, I was stationed in Barrie, Ontario with the ground team. I’ve since switched hats to that of CoSMIR Instrument Scientist. CoSMIR (Conically Scanning Millimeter Imaging Radiometer) is one of two instruments on the NASA DC-8 which is based out of Bangor, Maine – my home for the past ten days. With CoSMIR and the Airborne Precipitation Radar-2 (APR2), the DC-8 is acting as a simulator for the

View on Youtube This video shows a glimpse of operations during the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Cold Season Precipitation Experiment (GCPEx) during a heavy snow event on 18 February 2012 Steve Nesbitt is an assistant professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He studies clouds and precipitation using satellite data and ground based and aircraft observations in projects world wide. Using NASA and other measurements in tropical storms, and mid-latitude cyclones, his research group works to improve the understanding of precipitation

GMI Pre-Ship Review On January 30th and 31st, 2012, the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) underwent its Pre-Shipment Review at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. The GMI has successfully completed acoustic testing, vibration testing, and electromagnetic and thermal vacuum testing at the Ball facility. The instrument will be delivered to Goddard Space Flight Center on February 29th and will be integrated onto the GPM Core Observatory satellite over the coming year. This multi-channel, conical-scanning, microwave radiometer will provide an integrated view of precipitation over 13 different microwave