NASA Sees Newly Formed Tropical Storm Nesat Near Philippines

Tropical Storm Nesat formed early on July 26 just east of the Philippines and NASA's Aqua satellite passed overhead gathering temperature data to determine the location of the most powerful storms. Imagery showed strong storms from Nesat's western side were affecting the central Philippines.

Infrared satellite imagery from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite taken on July 26 at 0529 UTC (1:29 a.m. EDT) provided a look at the temperatures of Nesat’s clouds. That data was false colored and made into an image at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California to highlight cloud top temperatures.

In infrared imagery, the coldest cloud tops indicate towering thunderstorms high into the troposphere. The colder the clouds, the stronger the storms. AIRS data showed that some cloud tops around the center of circulation were as cold as minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 53 degrees Celsius. Cloud top temperatures that cold have been shown to generate heavy rainfall and were seen stretching through the central Philippines from the storm’s western quadrant. At the time of the image, the center of the tropical storm remained east of the Philippines, in the Philippine Sea.

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Image: This infrared image of Tropical Storm Nesat was taken from the AIRS instrument aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite on July 26 at 0529 UTC (1:29 a.m. EDT). The purple areas indicate coldest cloud tops and strongest storms.

Credits: NASA JPL, Ed Olsen