by Playfuls Staff |
17th May 2006
NASA scientists say they have discovered that cloud tops in a hurricane offer clues about the behavior of winds on the Earth's surface. [more]
They have found that if rain is falling from clouds that extend up to 9 miles, and that rain continues for at least one out of three hours, a hurricane's surface winds are likely to become stronger.
The study involved a precise mathematical method and a technique with the very precise rain measurements from the radar onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite. Once the technique was developed it was applied to data collected by National Weather Service radars on the ground.
"Thanks to the precise measurements from TRMM, we've found a new way to use data that's collected all the time by weather radars on the ground," said Owen Kelley, a scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
"The trick is to keep an eye on the height of rain that radars see when a hurricane approaches within 200 miles of the coast," Kelley said.
During this year's Atlantic hurricane season, which begins June 1, researchers will continue to use TRMM to further hurricane studies.
© 2006 UPI
