Precipitation observation by the TRMM radar (in 1 orbit)
Precipitation observation by the TRMM radar (in 1 orbit)
This image shows the precipitation radar observation area in one orbit on December 8 (UT), when a sequence of images were acquired. The TRMM observed a cyclone seen in the north-east of New Zealand at 18:00 of December 8(UT),in one orbit, which passed over Okinawa, then moved southward, reaching above a cyclone (equivalent to a typhoon in Japan) and ran through close to the center.
This is the 17th cyclone this year which occurred in the Pacific region of the southern hemisphere, and named "Pam". Around 8 or so cyclones usually occur in this area per year, however, twice as many cyclones emerged this year due to a giant El Nino. This cyclone was born on December 7, then slowly moving towards the south-east direction.
The orbit in the image is shown in a band, which shows the observation swath of 220 km for the PR. The dots in the orbit show rainfall at an altitude of around 2 km. the warmer color means more rainfall.
Clouds in this image are acquired by Japan's geostationary satellite, "Himawari"(GMS) and the U.S's geostationary satellite, GOES. Clouds image in the European and African region acquired by the European geostationary satellite, METEOSAT will be released on this page in the near future.
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