NASA’s GPM Core observatory satellite captured an image of Super Typhoon Yutu when it flew over the powerful storm just as the center was striking the central Northern Mariana Islands north of Guam.
NASA’s GPM Core observatory satellite captured an image of Super Typhoon Yutu when it flew over the powerful storm just as the center was striking the central Northern Mariana Islands north of Guam.
Early Thursday, Oct. 25 local time, Super Typhoon Yutu crossed over the U.S. commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. It was the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. The National Weather Service in Guam said it was the strongest storm to hit any part of the U.S. this year.
The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite, which is managed by both NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA analyzed Yutu on Oct. 24 at 11:07 a.m. EDT (1507 UTC)/ 1:07 a.m. Guam Time, Oct. 25. GPM estimated rain rates within Super Typhoon Yutu fusing data from two instruments aboard: the GPM Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar or DPR, which covered the inner part of the storm, and the GPM Microwave Imager or GMI that analyzed the outer swath, just as the center was passing over the Island of Tinian.
Read more at NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center
Image: On Oct. 24 at 11:07 a.m. EDT (1507 UTC)/ 1:07 a.m. Guam Time, Oct. 25, GPM shows the inner eyewall as a near perfect ring of heavy to intense rain (shown by the circle of darker red and magenta). Peak rain rates of up to 269 mm/hr. (~10.6 inches/hr.) were estimated within the DPR swath. The almost perfect symmetry of the inner wall is indicative of an extremely powerful storm. The eyewall replacement is evidenced by the emerging ring of heavy rain outside of the inner eyewall separated by the area of weaker rain (shown in blue). CREDIT: NASA / JAXA, Hal Pierce
