Hurricane Norbert pinwheels in NASA satellite imagery
2014-09-04
(Press-News.org) The Eastern Pacific's Hurricane Norbert resembled a pinwheel in an image from NASA's Terra satellite as bands of thunderstorms spiraled into the center. NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement or GPM mission has helped forecasters see that Norbert has lost some of its organization early on September 4.
The MODIS instrument or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible picture of Tropical Storm Norbert on Sept. 4 at 2:15 p.m. EDT when it resembled a pinwheel. The western bands of Norbert were moving over Socorro Island, located several hundred miles west of Mexico's west coast. An eye was not apparent in the image, although Norbert was strengthening into a hurricane. The image was created by the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Less than six hours later at 8 p.m. EDT, the National Hurricane Center noted that Norbert became a hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 75 mph (120 kph). Overnight and into the early morning hours of September 4, maximum sustained winds increased to 80 mph (130 kph).
On Thursday, September 4, 2014, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) continued the Tropical Storm Warning from La Paz to Cabo San Lazaro, Mexico. A tropical storm watch is also in effect north of Cabo San Lazaro to Puerto San Andresito and north of La Paz to San Evaristo.
At 8 a.m. EDT (5 a.m. PDT), Norbert's maximum sustained winds remain near 80 mph (130 kph) and some slow strengthening is expected during the next 24 hours. Those hurricane-force winds only extend up to 25 miles (35 km) from the center, and tropical storm force winds extend out 105 miles (165 km), which is why the Baja is under a tropical storm warning.
Norbert's center was located near latitude 20.6 north and longitude 110.0 west. That's just 160 miles (255 km) south of the southern tip of Baja California. Norbert was moving toward the northwest near 6 mph (9 kph) and movement in that direction is expected to continue over the next couple of days taking Norbert along the coast.
On the NHC's forecast track the center of the hurricane is expected to approach the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula today and move nearly parallel to the pacific coast of the peninsula tonight and Friday, September 5.
The NHC uses data from multiple satellites, including NASA's new GPM satellite. The NHC discussion on Norbert at 5 a.m. EDT today, September 4, said "Recent microwave images, including a NASA GPM overpass at 0516 UTC (1:16 a.m. EDT), indicate that Norbert has lost some organization during the past few hours due to easterly vertical wind shear. The low-level center is in the northeastern part of the central convection with a mid-level eye displaced to the southwest of the low-level center.
Norbert is forecast to track parallel along the coast of Baja California for the next couple of days.
INFORMATION:
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Climate-smart agriculture requires three-pronged global research agenda
2014-09-04
Faced with climate change and diminishing opportunities to expand productive agricultural acreage, the world needs to invest in a global research agenda addressing farm and food systems, landscape and regional issues and institutional and policy matters if it is to meet the growing worldwide demand for food, fiber and fuel, suggests an international team of researchers.
In a paper appearing online in the journal Agriculture and Food Security, the authors summarize the findings of the second international Climate Smart Agriculture conference held in March 2013 at UC Davis.
"Climate-smart ...
News media losing role as gatekeepers to new 'social mediators' on Twitter, study finds
2014-09-04
The U.S. government is doing a better job of communicating on Twitter with people in sensitive areas like the Middle East and North Africa without the participation of media organizations, according to a study co-authored by a University of Georgia researcher.
The study looked at the U.S. State Department's use of social media and identified key actors who drive its messages to audiences around the world. In particular, it examined the role played by news media and the government in bridging the State Department communication with people domestically and internationally. ...
Scientists identify rare stem cells that hold potential for infertility treatments
2014-09-04
DALLAS – Sept. 4, 2014 – Rare stem cells in testis that produce a biomarker protein called PAX7 help give rise to new sperm cells — and may hold a key to restoring fertility, research by scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center suggests.
Researchers studying infertility in mouse models found that, unlike similar types of cells that develop into sperm, the stem cells that express PAX7 can survive treatment with toxic drugs and radiation. If the findings hold true in people, they eventually could lead to new strategies to restore or protect fertility in men undergoing ...
Sugar substitutes not so super sweet after all
2014-09-04
The taste of common sugar substitutes is often described as being much more intense than sugar, but participants in a recent study indicated that these non-nutritive sugar substitutes are no sweeter than the real thing, according to Penn State food scientists.
In the study, participants compared the taste of non-nutritive sweeteners that are often used as low- or no-calorie sugar substitutes with those of nutritive sweeteners, such as sugar, maple syrup and agave nectar. The participants indicated they could perceive the non-nutritive sweeteners -- such as aspartame, ...
UCSB researchers develop ultra sensitive biosensor from molybdenite semiconductor
2014-09-04
Move over, graphene. An atomically thin, two-dimensional, ultrasensitive semiconductor material for biosensing developed by researchers at UC Santa Barbara promises to push the boundaries of biosensing technology in many fields, from health care to environmental protection to forensic industries.
Based on molybdenum disulfide or molybdenite (MoS2), the biosensor material — used commonly as a dry lubricant — surpasses graphene's already high sensitivity, offers better scalability and lends itself to high-volume manufacturing. Results of the researchers' study have been ...
A minimally invasive, high-performance intervention for staging lung cancer
2014-09-04
Endoscopic biopsy of lymph nodes between the two lungs (mediastinum) is a sensitive and accurate technique that can replace mediastinal surgery for staging lung cancer in patients with potentially resectable tumours. Such were the conclusions of a prospective controlled trial conducted under Dr. Moishe Liberman, a researcher at the CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM) and an Associate Professor at the Université de Montréal. Moreover, the study showed that it is not necessary to perform surgery to confirm negative results obtained through the endoscopic approach during the pre-operative ...
Breakthrough study identifies genetic link between the circadian clock and seasonal timing
2014-09-04
Researchers from the University of Leicester have for the first time provided experimental evidence for a genetic link between two major timing mechanisms, the circadian clock and the seasonal timer.
New research from the Tauber laboratory at the University of Leicester, which will be published in the academic journal PLOS Genetics on 4 September, has corroborated previous observations that flies developed under short days become significantly more cold-resistant compared with flies raised in long-days, suggesting that this response can be used to study seasonal photoperiodic ...
The yin and yang of overcoming cocaine addiction
2014-09-04
PITTSBURGH—Yaoying Ma says that biology, by nature, has a yin and a yang—a push and a pull.
Addiction, particularly relapse, she finds, is no exception.
Ma is a research associate in the lab of Yan Dong, assistant professor of neuroscience in the University of Pittsburgh's Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. She is the lead author of a paper published online today in the journal Neuron that posits that it may be possible to ramp up an intrinsic anti-addiction response as a means to fight cocaine relapse and keep the wolves of relapse at bay.
This paper ...
A metallic alloy that is tough and ductile at cryogenic temperatures
2014-09-04
A new concept in metallic alloy design – called "high-entropy alloys" - has yielded a multiple-element material that not only tests out as one of the toughest on record, but, unlike most materials, the toughness as well as the strength and ductility of this alloy actually improves at cryogenic temperatures. This multi-element alloy was synthesized and tested through a collaboration of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley and Oak Ridge National Laboratories (Berkeley Lab and ORNL).
"We examined CrMnFeCoNi, a high-entropy alloy that contains ...
Rosetta-Alice spectrograph obtains first far ultraviolet spectra of a cometary surface
2014-09-04
Boulder, Colo. — Sept. 4, 2014 — NASA's Alice ultraviolet (UV) spectrograph aboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta comet orbiter has delivered its first scientific discoveries. Rosetta, in orbit around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, is the first spacecraft to study a comet up close.
As Alice began mapping the comet's surface last month, it made the first far ultraviolet spectra of a cometary surface. From these data, the Alice team discovered that the comet is unusually dark at ultraviolet wavelengths and that the comet's surface — so far — shows no large water-ice ...