Document Description

This excerpt from the November 2014 edition of The Earth Observer provides a summary of the activities at the PMM Science Team Meeting which took place from August 4 - 7, 2014. The PMM program supports scientific research, algorithm development, and ground-based validation activities for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory that launched on February 27, 2014.

Deadly Super Typhoon Hagupit Moved Slowly

As of Today, super typhoon Hagupit has been deadly with up to 27 deaths reported but the Philippines has been spared the widespread destruction caused by Super typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Hagupit's (called Ruby in the Philippines) forward motion slowed on December 4, 2014 before reaching the Philippines. After hitting Samar in the eastern Philippines Hagupit's continued slow movement resulted in high rainfall amounts along the typhoon's track. These high rainfall totals meant that flooding occurred frequently along the typhoon's track. When the TRMM satellite flew over on December 8, 2014 at 0132

GMI Production Halted for Deep Space Calibration

On December 8, 2014 and December 10, 2014 the GPM MOC will conduct deep space calibrations maneuvers that will assist in physically verifying GMI calibration changes and also help in further characterization of the GMI instrument itself. Special processing is required for the data collected during the DSC. Therefore, PPS production of Standard GMI products will be halted on Dec 8 at 20:30 UTC. Processing will resume during normal business hours on Dec 9. On December 10, the maneuver is scheduled to begin at 12:00 UTC. Depending on the arrival of the DSC data processing may again be halted

GPM Core Observatory Sees Hagupit's Eye

The GPM satellite flew almost directly above dangerous typhoon Hagupit on December 5, 2014 at 1032 UTC as the typhoon was approaching the Philippines. The GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument measured rain falling at a rate of over 76 mm (almost 3 inches) per hour in the typhoon's eye wall. This 3-D view of Hagupit's precipitation structure was made using data from the Ku band on GPM's dual frequency radar instrument (DPR). DPR showed that some tall thunderstorm in Hagiput's eye wall were reaching heights of almost 15 km (about 9.3 miles). Click here to see a Low Resolution 640x360 simulated

Super Typhoon Hagupit Threatens Philippines

Super Typhoon Hagupit is threatening the Philippines a little over a year after deadly Super Typhoon Haiyan devastated the island nation in November 2013. Hagupit was weakening slightly from peak wind speeds of 155 kts (178 mph) when the GPM core observatory satellite passed over on December 4, 2014 at 2304 UTC in the image shown above. Hagupit had winds of about 125 kts (144 mph) when viewed by the TRMM satellite on December 5, 2014 at 0308 UTC in the image shown below. Rainfall data from these satellites are shown overlaid on daylight views from the MTSAT-2 satellite captured at close to the