(Press-News.org) Lowell is now a large hurricane in the Eastern Pacific and NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites double-teamed it to provide infrared and radar data to scientists. Lowell strengthened into a hurricane during the morning hours of August 21.
When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Lowell on August 20 at 21:05 UTC (4:05 p.m. EDT), the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder got an infrared look at Lowell's cloud top temperatures when it was still a tropical storm. AIRS showed a very thick band of thunderstorms surrounding the center of circulation and what appeared to be a very small cloud-free center of circulation, like the formation of an eye. Cloud top temperatures exceeded -63F/-52C, the threshold for high, cold thunderstorms with the potential for dropping heavy rainfall.
The TRMM or Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite passed over Lowell on August 21 at 01:14 UTC and captured rainfall rates and cloud height data. TRMM showed that moderate rainfall circled the center of the storm, with rain rates to about 30 mm per hour. A large band of thunderstorms extending southwest of the center also contained moderate rainfall. TRMM found that cloud tops in that band of thunderstorms were about 6.2 miles (10 km) high. TRMM is managed by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Lowell became the seventh hurricane of the Eastern Pacific Ocean season today, August 21 at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC). Maximum sustained winds had increased to 75 mph (120 kph) making Lowell a Category One hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. Little change in intensity is forecast by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) today, and NHC forecasters expect a slow weakening trend later today through August 22.
It was centered near latitude 20.0 north and longitude 122.1 west, about 810 miles (1,300 km) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California, Mexico. It is moving to the northwest near 3 mph (4 kph) and is expected to move faster in that direction over the next two days.
There are no coastal watches or warning in effect.
INFORMATION:
Text credit: Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
A NASA satellite double-take at Hurricane Lowell
2014-08-21
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Researchers examine impact of race and ethnicity in motor complete spinal cord injury
2014-08-21
West Orange, NJ. August 21, 2014. Researchers have published a study examining racial and ethnic influences in the outcomes of patients with motor complete spinal cord injury (SCI). The article, "Racial and ethnic disparities in functioning at discharge and follow-up among patients with motor complete SCI," was published online ahead of print on August 2 by the Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2014.07.398). Findings included small but significant differences in self-care and mobility at discharge; no differences were apparent at 1-year ...
Reading 'Fifty Shades' linked to unhealthy behaviors
2014-08-21
EAST LANSING, Mich. --- Young adult women who read "Fifty Shades of Grey" are more likely than nonreaders to exhibit signs of eating disorders and have a verbally abusive partner, finds a new study led by a Michigan State University researcher.
Further, women who read all three books in the blockbuster "Fifty Shades" erotic romance series are at increased risk of engaging in binge drinking and having multiple sex partners.
All are known risks associated with being in an abusive relationship, much like the lead character, Anastasia, is in "Fifty Shades," said Amy Bonomi, ...
Yale's cool molecules
2014-08-21
New Haven, Conn. – It's official. Yale physicists have chilled the world's coolest molecules.
The tiny titans in question are bits of strontium monofluoride, dropped to 2.5 thousandths of a degree above absolute zero through a laser cooling and isolating process called magneto-optical trapping (MOT). They are the coldest molecules ever achieved through direct cooling, and they represent a physics milestone likely to prompt new research in areas ranging from quantum chemistry to tests of the most basic theories in particle physics.
"We can start studying chemical reactions ...
Influenced by self-interest, humans less concerned about inequity to others
2014-08-21
ATLANTA—Strongly influenced by their self-interest, humans do not protest being overcompensated, even when there are no consequences, researchers in Georgia State University's Brains and Behavior Program have found.
This could imply that humans are less concerned than previously believed about the inequity of others, researchers said. Their findings are published in the journal Brain Connectivity. These findings suggest humans' sense of unfairness is affected by their self-interest, indicating the interest humans show in others' outcomes is a recently evolved propensity.
It ...
Women's health and Fifty Shades: Increased risks for young adult readers?
2014-08-21
New Rochelle, NY, August 21, 2014—Popular fiction that normalizes and glamorizes violence against women, such as the blockbuster Fifty Shades series, may be associated with a greater risk of potentially harmful health behaviors and risks. The results of a provocative new study are presented in the article "Fiction or Not? Fifty Shades Is Associated with Health Risks in Adolescent and Young Adult Females," published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health ...
AAAS: Sri Lanka images show no significant increase in public facilities, despite promises
2014-08-21
Thousands of Sri Lankans remain refugees five years after a long civil war, and satellite-image analysis seems to reveal many new housing-like structures and development in a military zone in the northern part of the country. However, the analysis also shows no significant increase in civic facilities despite government claims that it has seized the land for public use.
The analysis, completed by the nonprofit, nonpartisan American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), suggests a sharp increase in the number of residential housing-type structures within the ...
Research offers insight into cellular biology of colorectal cancer
2014-08-21
LAWRENCE — A study recently published in the journal Carcinogenesis by researchers at the University of Kansas shows a new role for the protein adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) in suppressing colorectal cancer — the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S.
Lead author Kristi Neufeld, associate professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences and co-leader of the Cancer Biology program at the KU Cancer Center, has spent the better part of her career trying to understand the various activities of APC, a protein whose functional loss is thought to initiate ...
Delivery by drone
2014-08-21
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- In the near future, the package that you ordered online may be deposited at your doorstep by a drone: Last December, online retailer Amazon announced plans to explore drone-based delivery, suggesting that fleets of flying robots might serve as autonomous messengers that shuttle packages to customers within 30 minutes of an order.
To ensure safe, timely, and accurate delivery, drones would need to deal with a degree of uncertainty in responding to factors such as high winds, sensor measurement errors, or drops in fuel. But such "what-if" planning typically ...
Conclusive evidence on role of circulating mesenchymal stem cells in organ injury
2014-08-21
New Rochelle, NY, August 21, 2014--Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are present in virtually every type of human tissue and may help in organ regeneration after injury. But the theory that MSCs are released from the bone marrow into the blood stream following organ damage, and migrate to the site of injury, has long been debated. M.J. Hoogduijn and colleagues provide conclusive evidence to resolve the controversy over the mobilization and migration of MSCs in humans in a new study published in Stem Cells and Development, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., ...
The Lancet: Experimental Ebola drugs must be fairly distributed and tested ethically in clinical trials
2014-08-21
Researchers and health authorities need to ensure that experimental drugs to treat Ebola are distributed fairly, and in the context of randomized controlled trials, according to a new Viewpoint, published in The Lancet today [Thursday 21 August, 2014].
Leading bioethicists Professor Ezekiel Emanuel, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, and Dr Annette Rid, of King's College London, UK, outline critical ethical principles which need to be adhered to if experimental drugs are to be deployed in the Ebola outbreak, stating that the patients selected to receive ...