New Rain-Sensing Satellite Can X-Ray Tropical Cyclones

Image: NASA/JAXA

Scientists now basically have the ability to x-ray rainstorms and cyclones from space. NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA just released the first images from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory satellite, which launched on Feb. 27.

The image above, taken with GPM’s space-based radar, provides a snapshot into an extratropical cyclone that spun through the northwest Pacific Ocean on Mar. 10. Red indicates heavy rainfall, yellow is less intense, and blue indicates light rain or snow. Previous satellites, like the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, have used space-based radar before but were designed to monitor heavy rain, not snow.

GPM can also look at three-dimensional cross-sections of a storm. Below, you can see how heavy or light different rainfall was throughout the cyclone. The image shows heavy precipitation in the center, which transitions to snow on the left, the first time scientists have been able to see this 3-D view of a rain/snow transition zone from space. Information from GPM will be used as part of a network of satellites that can provide a snapshot of rain and snow over the entire globe every three hours.

Image: NASA/JAXA