Image 1

Major typhoon Etau landed near Muroto-city, Kochi around 9:30 p.m. on August 8. After going through Kinki, Hokuriku, and Tohoku districts, it landed again near Erimo Cape in Hokkaido, and was down graded to an extratropical cyclone in the sea off Chishima around 6 a.m. on August 10. GLI acquired Image 1 of Japan after the typhoon on August 10, 2003. This typhoon caused damage in various parts of Japan with its strong rain, and we can see the influence in this GLI image.

Image 2 is the closeup of Shikoku and Kii Peninsula; Image 3, Ise Bay; and Image 4, Suruga Bay in Tohoku district. In some parts of Tokushima and Kochi, the total rainfall for four days (from August 7 to 10) exceeded 600 mm. The sea around the mouth of the swollen Yoshino River is muddy with tons of earth and sand carried from the river. In Kii Peninsula, we can see earth and sand carried from Kino River and Kumamo River (Image 2). In the Tokai district, we can find earth and sand carried from Kiso River and Nagara River that flow to Ise Bay (Image 3), and from Tenryu River and Oi River (Image 4).

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) instruments acquired Image 5 of Kinki, Chugoku, and Shikoku districts around 4 p.m. on August 8, about five hours before the typhoon landed near Muroto-city. On a cloud image captured by Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on TRMM, We overlaid an image indicating strength of rain captured by the Precipitation Radar (PR) on TRMM on a cloud image captured by Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) on TRMM. In this image, red areas indicate strong rain, and blue areas, light rain. We can see that moist air from the typhoon, which is the source of rain, was pushed against the Shikoku Mountains and Kii Mountains, and caused strong rainfall on the southeast side of the mountains. TRMM is a collaborative project between NASA and Japan.