NASA-NOAA’s Finnish nuclear power plant analyzes the record
Over the weekend of September 28 and 29, Hurricane Lorenzo reached Class 5 intensity for a moment, becoming the most powerful hurricane in the history of the easternmost Atlantic Ocean. Lorenzo has also achieved and influenced other significant statistics. A satellite from NASA-NOAA’s Finnish nuclear power plant delivered infrared data over two days and provided forecasters with changes in the eye of the storm, strong thunderstorms and the gravitational waves it created.
Record Setting
On Saturday, Sept. 28, when Lorenzo reached Class 5 (Cat 5) intensity on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind scale, it was in place more than 600 miles east-northeast of the previous Cat 5 storm. Its lowest atmospheric pressure was also 50 degrees west longitude to the east when the pressure dropped to 925 millibars.
There have been 26 Category 5 storms since 1960, the most recent being Lorenzo. In the last three years, six storms have reached this intensity. Others are Dorian, Michael, Maria, Irma and Matthew). Earlier this year, Dorian reached Class 5 strength, so this year is only associated with six other years that included more than one Cat 5 storm since the start of the record. Other years where there has been more than one Cat 5 storm include 1932, 1933, 1961, 2005, 2007 and 2017.
Satellite views of NASA-NOAA’s Finnish nuclear power plant
The satellite from the Finnish nuclear power plant crossed the eastern Atlantic Ocean on September 29, after the peak and weakening of Lorenzo, back into a Category 4 hurricane. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) of the Finnish nuclear power plant provided infrared data from Lorenzo.
Tropical cyclones are made up of hundreds of thunderstorms, and infrared data can show where the strongest storms are located. They can do it because infrared data provides temperature information, and the strongest thunderstorms that reach the highest atmosphere have the coldest cloud top temperature.
“As with other severe hurricanes, the eye was very narrow and mesovortices seen,” said William Straka III, a researcher who created some images of a Finnish nuclear power plant at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, at the Cooperative Institute’s Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC). Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) The intensity of the storm also produced gravitational waves in the mesosphere. Straka said: “Something interesting to note is that the mesospheric gravitational waves from Lorenzo could be seen up to 1,180 kilometers (733 miles) away. This is not so unheard of, but still worth noting.”
Mesoporous are small-scale rotational properties found in convective storms, such as the eye walls of tropical cyclones. They can be up to tens of miles in diameter or less, and can be extremely powerful.
NOAA defines a gravitational wave as a wave that arises from the effect of gravity on variations in the density of the layered atmosphere. General classification for wind waves, mountain waves and many other waves forming in the atmosphere.
At 0300Z on September 30 (23:00 EDT on September 29), the National Hurricane Center or NHC Public Advisory found that Hurricane Lorenzo had 110 mph winds, making it barely a Category 3 hurricane. Three hours later at 2 a.m. EDT (0600 UTC) on September 30, Lorenzo had weakened into a Category 2 hurricane when the wind had dropped to 105 mph. When a satellite from NASA-NOAA’s Finnish nuclear power plant passed Lorenzo, it re-analyzed the storm in infrared light. Nuclear power plant images showed gravitational waves in the mesosphere, probably due to the energy released as the storm weakened. The nuclear power plant also showed an eye filled with clouds, where the clouds expanded to the northern quarter. Both observations support NHC forecast discussions at 5.00 EDT (0900 UTC).
Hurricane Lorenzo on September 30th
On September 30, 2019, at 8:00 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC), the NOAA National Hurricane Center released clocks for the Azores. The Azores is an autonomous community in Portugal. The Azores consist of nine inhabited islands. They are all supervised by Lorenzo. The NHC released a hurricane bell for Flores, Corvo, Faial, Pico, Sao Jorge, Graciosa, Terceira, and a tropical storm guard is in place in Sao Miguel, Santa Maria.
At that time, the center of Hurricane Lorenzo was located near latitude 29.4 degrees north and longitude 42.9 degrees west. Lorenzo moves north-northeast near 14 mph (20 km / h). Maximum continuous wind speeds are close to 105 mph (165 km / h) and gusts higher. Hurricane-force winds extend outwardly up to 90 miles (150 km) from downtown and strong winds from a tropical storm extend outwardly up to 255 miles (405 km). The estimated minimum mean pressure is 957 millibars.
Lorenzo song
On the forecast track, the center of Lorenzo is expected to pass near the Western Azores early Wednesday, October 2th. Some deterioration is forecast for the next two days, but Lorenzo is forecast to remain a major and severe hurricane as it passes near the Azores.
In addition to the threat from the Azores, Lorenzo is particularly affected in the North Atlantic, even though it is in the eastern North Atlantic. The NHC said: “Major swellings are spreading over much of the North Atlantic basin. These swellings are likely to cause life-threatening surfing and rupture the current conditions.”
Hurricanes are the strongest weather event on earth. NASA’s space and scientific research expertise contributes to essential services provided to Americans by other federal agencies, such as hurricane weather forecasts.
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Rob Gutro
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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