Today a category 2 hurricane named Rina is expected to hit the eastern Mexican coast. The Mexican government has issued a hurricane warning for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, which includes Cancun. NASA's Terra satellite passed over the large storm and took pictures. Then, NASA's Aqua satellite took measurements of the clouds using an infrared instrument mounted on the satellite. The infrared imagery showed powerful convection surrounding the eye of the hurricane. The fastest recorded winds of this storm now are around 110 mph. The infrared imagery also showed forecasts of rainfall estimates which range from 8-16 inches associated with this hurricane. Additionally the infrared data also showed that Rina is in an area of warm ocean temperatures, which will allow the storm to potentially strengthen over time.
The satellite (remote sensing) technology is astounding and helps forecast hurricane strength,rainfall estimates,temperatures, and where storms could make landfall. Technology such as the satellite mounted intruments is the future for forecasting hurricanes and other dangerous storms as technology progresses foreward in this field of remote sensing.
Image taken by the Terra satellite.
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