Monday, 15 January 2007
Exploring Meterological Variables in Hurricanes using Giovanni
Exhibit Hall C (Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center)
Giovanni, an online data exploration tool developed at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES) Data Information Services Center (DISC), is used (http://giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov) to explore applications of multi-satellite atmospheric and surface data (http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov) in understanding hurricane structure and dynamics, and how variations in the atmospheric variables are related to the formation, intensification and movement of hurricanes. Many studies in the past using aircraft and satellite observations have shown that total ozone and water vapor are good tracers of meteorological phenomena and can be used to study hurricanes. We have used high resolution data of atmospheric trace gases (ozone, water vapor, nitrous oxide, etc.) and climatological variables (for example, cloud height, air and surface temperature and pressure, etc.) from multiple sensors (TOMS, OMI, MLS, MODIS, AIRS, HALOE, etc.) from NASA satellites to examine the spatial and vertical variations induced by the strong winds, and pressure and temperature changes in the hurricane eye wall and its surroundings. Results from these analyses and in particular variations in the vertical distributions of trace gases near tropopause region will be presented. A new web portal supporting applications of NASA satellite data in hurricane monitoring (http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/hurricane/) is also available providing easy access to maps and data from different satellites along hurricane tracks.
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