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AMSR-E/Aqua Data at NSIDC
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Hurricane Frances struck a wide stretch of Florida's east coast over Labor Day weekend, 2004, with winds of 105 mph and more than 13 inches of rain. It weakened into a tropical storm before sweeping across the Gulf of Mexico and into the Florida Panhandle. The storm and its remnants were blamed for at least 19 deaths in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, in addition to two earlier in the Bahamas (CNN, 08 September 2004).
The AMSR-E sensor aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured images of the hurricane as it tracked across the Carribean. AMSR-E is a passive microwave sensor that is well-suited for studying rainfall, ocean, soil moisture, and polar sea ice. The images below were derived from Level-2B swath rainfall and ocean data, available from NSIDC.
The rainfall product provides instantaneous measurements of rain rate and rain type (convective vs. stratiform), generated from Level-2A brightess temperatures (AE_L2A). The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Profiling algorithm determines rain rate and type over ocean areas, and a Modified GSFC Profiling algorithm over land.
Near-surface wind speed is also derived from Level-2A brightness temperatures, and is a function of upwind and crosswind slope variance of the ocean surface. Microwave sea surface temperature (SST) and wind speed measurements become unreliable in rain. Users should examine the quality flags contained in the product and discard SST or wind speed data if necessary to avoid rain contamination.
The AMSR-E rainfall and ocean products are not meant for real-time, operational analysis or forecasting.
Rain Rate
Source: AE_Rain |
Wind Speed over Ocean
Source: AE_Ocean |
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