From its vantage point in orbit around the Earth, when the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite passed over the Eastern Pacific Ocean, it gathered data on rainfall rates occurring in Hurricane Juliette.
From its vantage point in orbit around the Earth, when the Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite passed over the Eastern Pacific Ocean, it gathered data on rainfall rates occurring in Hurricane Juliette. The areas of strongest rainfall resembled a hook.
The GPM satellite passed over Juliette on Sept. 5 at 8:46 a.m. EDT (1246 UTC). GPM found the heaviest rainfall in the northwest of thunderstorms circling the center where it was falling at a rate of over 36 mm (about 1.4 inch) per hour. Heavy rainfall of about 25 mm (1 inch per hour) stretched east and south in that same thunderstorm band circling the eye of the storm, giving the appearance of a hook around the storm’s eye. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA.
At 5 a.m. EDT (2 a.m. PDT) on Sept. 5, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) noted, “Juliette’s cloud pattern has changed little during the past several hours. If anything, the spiral bands appear to have improved a bit in the western portion of the cyclone.” At that time, the center of Hurricane Juliette was located near latitude 20.2 degrees north and longitude 119.1 degrees west. That’s about 620 miles (995 km) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico.
Read more at NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center
Image: The GPM core satellite passed over Juliette on Sept. 5 at 8:46 a.m. EDT (1246 UTC). GPM found the heaviest rainfall (purple) in the northwest of thunderstorms circling the center where it was falling at a rate of over 36 mm (about 1.4 inch) per hour. Heavy rainfall of about 25 mm (1 inch per hour) (in yellow and orange) stretched east and south in that same band circling the eye of the storm, giving the appearance of a hook around the storm’s eye. Credit: NASA/JAXA/NRL
