(Press-News.org) NASA and NOAA satellites have been supplying forecasters with data developing tropical cyclones in the Eastern and Central Pacific Ocean and over the last several days. There have been as many as five tropical systems at the same time. On Monday, August 4, there were three tropical systems stretching from west to east: Tropical Depression Genevieve in the Central Pacific, Hurricane Iselle and Tropical Storm Julio in the Eastern Pacific.
Tropical Depression Genevieve May Strengthen
On August 4, Tropical Depression Genevieve was located about 930 miles (1,495 km) southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. Maximum sustained winds were still near 35 mph (55 kph). Genevieve was moving westward at about 16 mph (26 kph). NOAA's Central Pacific Hurricane Center forecasts gradual strengthening late on August 4 and 5, so Genevieve could once again reach tropical storm status.
To the east of Genevieve lies low pressure area known as System 93C. It is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. System 93C is located about 500 miles south of Hilo, Hawaii. This low pressure area is moving to the west at 15 mph and currently has a near zero percent chance of becoming a tropical depression over the next couple of days.
Hawaii on Guard for Hurricane Iselle
Behind System 93C to the east, lies Hurricane Iselle, the current powerhouse of the Eastern Pacific.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a clear visible image of Hurricane Iselle in the eastern Pacific Ocean on August 3 at 6:05 p.m. EDT. The image revealed Iselle's somewhat cloud-covered eye with bands of thunderstorms wrapping into the center from the eastern quadrant. The image was created by The MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
On August 4 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) Hurricane Iselle's maximum sustained winds had increased to near 140 mph (220 kph) Iselle is a category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. The eye of Hurricane Iselle was located near latitude 16.2 north and longitude 136.5 west. Iselle was moving toward the west near 10 mph (17 kph). The National Hurricane Center noted that gradual weakening is forecast during the next couple of days. The estimated minimum central pressure is 947 millibars.
The current forecast track from the National Hurricane Center takes a weaker Iselle through the entire chain of Hawaiian Islands from August 7 through August 9.
Newborn Tropical Storm Julio Chasing Iselle
Tropical Storm Julio was born around 11 p.m. EDT on Sunday, August 3, about 795 miles (1,280 km) southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico.
On August 4 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT), Julio's maximum sustained winds were near 45 mph (75 kph). The center of Tropical Storm Julio was near latitude 13.5 north and longitude 119.4 west. Julio is moving toward the west near 13 mph (20 kph) and is expected to continue in a west to west-northwestward direction over the next couple of days. The estimated minimum central pressure is 1004 millibars.
Strong northeasterly vertical wind shear is pushing the strongest thunderstorms in Julio to the western side of the storm. The National Hurricane Center noted that the wind shear is expected to continue to August 5 or 6, which will limit any intensification. NHC expects Julio to become a hurricane later this week.
Satellites from NASA and NOAA continue to provide visible, infrared, microwave data to forecasters. Beginning in August, NASA's Hurricane Severe Storms Sentinel or HS3 mission takes to the Atlantic using two unmanned Global Hawk aircraft to study the storms. For more information about NASA's HS3 mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/HS3.
INFORMATION:
Text credit: Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Satellite view of a hyperactive Eastern and Central Pacific Ocean
2014-08-04
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Version 2.0 of Prostate Cancer Risk Calculator now online, complete with emojis
2014-08-04
SAN ANTONIO (August 4, 2014) — A calculator to help men and their doctors assess their risk of prostate cancer, developed at the UT Health Science Center, has had a major upgrade to enhance how men and their physicians better understand a man's risk of prostate cancer.
A description of the update's needs and benefits is described by the Health Science Center authors in a viewpoint published online Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"The prostate cancer risk calculator has been updated using current risk factors and a better interface; the current ...
Newly discovered juvenile whale shark aggregation in Red Sea
2014-08-04
Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus)—which grow more than 30 feet long—are the largest fish in the world's ocean, but little is known about their movements on a daily basis or over years. A newly discovered juvenile whale shark aggregation off Saudi Arabia is giving researchers a rare glimpse into the lives of these gentle giants.
Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and colleagues from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries report on the movements of whale sharks tagged at the ...
Horses communicate with their eyes and mobile ears
2014-08-04
Horses are sensitive to the facial expressions and attention of other horses, including the direction of the eyes and ears. The findings, reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on August 4, are a reminder for us humans to look beyond our own limitations and recognize that other species may communicate in ways that we can't, the researchers say. After all, human ears aren't mobile.
"Our study is the first to examine a potential cue to attention that humans do not have: the ears," says Jennifer Wathan of the University of Sussex. "Previous work investigating ...
Declining intelligence in old age linked to visual processing
2014-08-04
Researchers have uncovered one of the basic processes that may help to explain why some people's thinking skills decline in old age. Age-related declines in intelligence are strongly related to declines on a very simple task of visual perception speed, the researchers report in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on August 4.
The evidence comes from experiments in which researchers showed 600 healthy older people very brief flashes of one of two shapes on a screen and measured the time it took each of them to reliably tell one from the other. Participants repeated ...
Prenatal alcohol exposure alters development of brain function
2014-08-04
In the first study of its kind, Prapti Gautam, PhD, and colleagues from The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles found that children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) showed weaker brain activation during specific cognitive tasks than their unaffected counterparts. These novel findings suggest a possible neural mechanism for the persistent attention problems seen in individuals with FASD. The results of this study will be published in Cerebral Cortex on August 4.
"Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to observe ...
Mid-level scientists most likely to use new research tools, says study in INFORMS journal
2014-08-04
Scientists in the middle of the status hierarchy, not those at the top or the bottom, are the first to work with easy-to-use commercial products. They are also the most prone to imitate their prior collaborators' use of such commercial kits. These are among the findings of a study of scientists-as-customers appearing in Marketing Science, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).
Nonmonotonic Status Effects in New Product Adoption is by Yansong Hu of the University of Warwick and Christophe Van den Bulte of the University ...
Animalistic descriptions of violent crimes increase punishment of perpetrators
2014-08-04
Describing criminals and criminal activities with animal metaphors leads to more retaliation against perpetrators by inducing the perception that they're likely to continue engaging in violence, a new Aggressive Behavior study suggests.
When surveying jury?eligible adults, investigators varied animalistic descriptions of a violent crime and examined its effect on the severity of the punishment for the act. Compared with non?animalistic descriptions, animalistic descriptions resulted in significantly harsher punishment for the perpetrator due to an increase in perceived ...
Evolutionary explanation for why some lessons more easily learned than others
2014-08-04
It's easy to guess why it doesn't take long to learn to avoid certain behaviors and embrace others. But how do we know what drives these predilections? A study led by Aimee Dunlap at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and co-authored by University of Minnesota researcher David Stephens, offers insight into the evolutionary underpinning of animals' innate ability to quickly absorb critical life lessons.
Animals are flooded with stimuli, but survival often depends on their ability to form specific associations that enhance fitness while ignoring others entirely. Psychologists ...
Enhancing biofuel yields from biomass with novel new method
2014-08-04
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A team of researchers, led by Professor Charles E. Wyman, at the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering have developed a versatile, relatively non-toxic, and efficient way to convert raw agricultural and forestry residues and other plant matter, known as lignocellulosic biomass, into biofuels and chemicals.
The patent-pending method, called Co-solvent Enhanced Lignocellulosic Fractionation (CELF), brings researchers closer to solving the long elusive goal of producing fuels and chemicals from biomass at high enough yields ...
NASA catches the brief life of Tropical Storm Nakri
2014-08-04
The low pressure area known as System 96W struggled to organize for a week and finally became Tropical Storm Nakri on August 2 as the Suomi NPP satellite passed overhead. Nakri had a short life, however, as it dissipated the following day while approaching South Korea.
On Saturday, August 2, at 9 p.m. EDT, Nakri's maximum sustained winds were near 40 knots (46 mph/74 kph). At that time it was centered about 100 nautical miles southeast of Kunsan Air Base, near 35.0 north and 125.0 east. It was moving to the north at 14 knots (16.1 mph/21.9 kph).
When NASA-NOAA's Suomi ...