Cyclone Jasmine in 3-D: View from space

Here’s a 3-D animation of Cyclone Jasmine over the South Pacific Ocean, created using data from NASA’s TRMM satellite.

Jasmine was classified as a powerful Category 4 storm with wind speeds of about 132 miles per hour at its peak intensity. Jasmine had started to weaken when the TRMM satellite traveled directly above the tropical cyclone in the South Pacific Ocean on February 8, 2012 at 4:56 p.m. EST.

The 3-D cutaway image revealed the funnel shaped surface of Jasmine’s eye. TRMM data also showed that Jasmine’s tallest storms then reached to heights of about 11.5 km (~7.1 miles). Intense thunderstorms in bands wrapping around Jasmine’s large circular eye were dropping rain at a rate of about two inches per hour.

Jasmine is a small cyclone, only about 90 nautical miles (103.6 miles/166.7 km)in diameter, and the eye is about 20 nautical miles (23.2 miles/37 km) wide.

Jasmine is expected to move over cooler waters and encounter drier air, two factors that will further weaken the storm.

More Views from space:
View from space: Video of Comet Lovejoy
View from space: Layers of atmosphere on the horizon
View from space: Crepuscular rays
View from space: US Midwest at night with aurora borealis

Bottom line: Data from NASA’s TRMM satellite was used to create a 3-D animation of Cyclone Jasmine over the South Pacific Ocean.

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