2001 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| 2000 HURRICANE SEASON RECAP | G01-029 | 04/06/01 | 00:17:54 | A collection of views from the 2000 hurricane season as seen from space with NASA's satellites. Also included are animations showing how hurricanes form and intensify, new science discoveries regarding hurricanes and actual video taken during some of these powerful storms.
The 2000 Hurricane Season:
The 2000 hurricane season consisted of an above-average number of tropical storms, but an average number of the upgraded version, hurricanes. According to the National Hurricane Center, there were 32 tropical storms in the Atlantic and Pacific; of those, 14 were upgraded to hurricane status. Long-term records indicate an average of 15 hurricanes. There were no hurricane landfalls in the U.S., although Hurricane Keith made landfall in Belize and Northeastern Mexico, making it the most destructive hurricane of the season.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): Hurricane Keith - The only hurricane to make landfall this past season, Keith struck Belize and Northeastern Mexico in early October 2000. It was classified a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale at its peak and was blamed for 19 deaths and damage estimated at $200 million. The first sequence is a 'CAT scan' generated from the rain radar flying aboard NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft. The second is an image captured by the SeaWiFS sensor on the OrbView-2 satellite. Courtesy: NASA/NASDA/ORBIMAGE
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| ITEM (2): Hurricane Florence - Striking in the North Carolina area in September, Florence lasted about seven days and threatened areas as far as Bermuda and Newfoundland. The TRMM 'CAT scan' and the SeaWiFS image were taken on September 12.
Courtesy: NASA/NASDA/ORBIMAGE
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| ITEM (3): Hurricane Debby - The SeaWiFS instrument aboard the OrbView-2 spacecraft obtained this August 23 picture of Hurricane Debby. Intense rains from Debby caused damage in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Courtesy: NASA/ORBIMAGE
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| ITEM (4): Hurricane Aletta - Aletta was the second strongest May hurricane on record in the Eastern Pacific, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). SeaWiFS saw it on May 24.
Courtesy: NASA/ORBIMAGE
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| ITEM (5): Typhoon Jelawatt - Typhoon Jelawatt pounded Japan's southern island of Okinawa, knocking down trees and leaves thousands of houses without electricity. The typhoon can be seen approaching Okinawa in this image from SeaWiFS on August 8. The satellite is looking west by northwest with southern Japan visible on the right. Courtesy: NASA/ORBIMAGE
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| ITEM (6): B-Roll From FEMA - Video footage provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. For more information on FEMA footage, contact Adam DuBrowa at: 202-646-2403.
Courtesy: FEMA
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| ITEM (7): Calming & Cooling The Storm - Scientists have observed a link between colder waters churned up by a hurricane and a weaker hurricane following it. As the first hurricane churns up the ocean, its central vortex draws surface heat and water into the storm. The suction at the surface causes an upswelling of deep water, making tropical ocean waters significantly
colder than water found near the surface. These colder waters essentially leave a footprint in the storm's wake that might last up to two weeks.
If another storm enters the cold water trail, it's likely to lose significant strength because the colder water does not contain as much potential energy as warm water. This benefits forecasters who can better predict storm intensity of the second hurricane. Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (8): Case-In-Point For Calming - As Hurricane Bonnie crossed the Atlantic, it left a trail of cooler water in its wake. When crossing the path, Hurricane Danielle's wind speed drops markedly as available energy to fuel the storm's engine drops off. Once Danielle crosses Bonnie's wake, though, wind speeds increase due to temperature increases in surface water
around the storm. Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (9): Improving Hurricane Forecasts - TRMM has been highly successful in increasing meteorological forecasting capabilities. Earlier this year, researchers announced "super-ensemble" forecasting technique where TRMM data was added to traditionally-gathered weather information, yielding to increase in rainfall accuracy of nearly 100%.
TRMM is currently being used by operational agencies such as the National Hurricane Center, and even the military's Typhoon Warning Center to aid in hurricane forecasting. This is a new development and reflective of the realization of TRMM's unique abilities, particularly because TRMM was never intended to study hurricanes, but rather measure rainfall.
Courtesy: NASA/NASDA
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| ITEM (10): Hurricane Mitch, 1998 - One of the deadliest Atlantic tropical cyclones in history, Mitch was responsible for over nine thousand deaths, predominately from rain-induced flooding in portions of Central America. The first sequence shows Mitch approaching the Gulf Coast on October 27, 1998 as seen by TRMM. The second is a 3-D sequence on the
Mexican coast taken October 26-27 by the GOES-8 weather satellite.
Courtesy: NASA/NASDA/NOAA
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| ITEM (11): Hurricane Bonnie, 1998 - Hurricane Bonnie struck the North Carolina coast in 1998 and was tumultuous enough to warrant a federal disaster status in several counties and an estimated $720 million in damage. Unexpected for scientists were Bonnie's massive chimney clouds measuring 59,000 feet (18 km) into the sky from the eyewall. Images for the
first sequence were taken by TRMM on August 22 and August 27 for the second SeaWiFS image.
Courtesy: NASA/NASDA/ORBIMAGE
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| ITEM (12): Hurricane Floyd, 1999 - Floyd was a large and intense Cape Verde hurricane that pounded the Bahama islands, threatened Florida and struck North Carolina and New England. Nearing a category five status on the Saffir-Simpson scale, it produced a
flood disaster in the U.S., particularly in North Carolina. There were 57 deaths attributed to Hurricane Floyd making it the deadliest hurricane in the U.S. since 1972 and caused damage estimated between $3-6 billion. Both the TRMM 'CAT scan' and the following SEAWiFS image reflect Floyd on September 13.
Courtesy: NASA/NASDA/ORBIMAGE
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| ITEM (13): How They Work - Hurricanes essentially act as engines, drawing energy up from warm tropical ocean waters to power the churning winds. Water vapor from the warm ocean surface evaporates, is forced up into towering covective clouds that surround the eyewall and rainband regions of the storm. As the water vapor cools and condenses from a gas
back to a liquid state it releases latent heat. The release of heat warms the surrounding air, making it lighter and promotes more clouds. Because the hurricane speeds surrounding the eye clouds are often absent from the center of a hurricane, they're thrown out from the center. Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (14): TRMM Spacecraft - The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft is the first Earth Science mission dedicated to studying tropical and subtropical rainfall. Its rain radar has allowed scientists to create 3D images of the precipitation rates and rain columns within hurricanes, making it a vital and unexpected tool in improving hurricane forecasts by most operational weather agencies. Courtesy: NASA/NASDA
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| ITEM (15): SEAWIFS Spacecraft - An instrument aboard the OrbView-2 satellite, the purpose of the Sea Viewing Wide Field Sensor (SeaWiFS) instrument is to study ocean color. It was launched in 1997.
Courtesy: NASA/ORBIMAGE
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| ITEM (16): GOES Spacecraft - The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) is a constellation of instruments in a fixed orbit over Earth and is crucial for weather prediction. There are currently three in orbit over the United States; one each for the east and west coasts and a new one currently on standby.
Courtesy: NASA/NOAA
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| ITEM (17): Scientist B-Roll
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (18): Interview Excerpts - Dr. Marshall Shepherd, NASA Research Meteorologist
Courtesy: NASA
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Earth Science Gallery