(Press-News.org) Satellites have been busy this week covering severe weather across the U.S. Today, the GOES-13 satellite and NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of the huge stretch of clouds associated with a huge and soggy cold front as it continues its slow march eastward. Earlier this week, NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite captured images of severe weather that generated tornadoes over Louisiana.
Today the eastern third of the U.S. is being buffered by a large storm that stretches from southeastern Minnesota east to Wisconsin and Michigan, then south through the Ohio Valley and all the way down to eastern Louisiana. That massive storm system was captured in an image by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite called GOES-13.
GOES satellites are operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA's GOES Project, located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. creates some of the GOES satellite images and animations.
Dennis Chesters, a GOES Project scientist at NASA Goddard, noted "The wide angle view provided by GOES reveals that the on-shore flow from the Gulf is part of a much larger oceanic circulation centered east of the Bahamas. That is driving a nearly unlimited supply of warm moisture over the eastern U.S. from as far south as Jamaica. With all that energy to work with, the wall of condensation and rainfall at the front pushed convective towers up to the stratosphere, which cast long shadows into the dawn behind the storm."
Flooding is already occurring in various areas around the eastern third of the U.S. NOAA's National Weather Service Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC), the organization that monitors flooding, noted that flooding is already occurring in west-central Illinois, and along the Illinois/Kentucky border area of the Ohio River. Flooding has also been on-going this past week in Indiana. Heavy rains had previously flooded roads and raised levels of creeks and rivers across the state. This system is expected to bring up to a quarter of an inch more rain to the soggy state, maybe mixed with some snow near Indianapolis tonight. For more information about flooding maps and potential flood areas, go to the NOAA HPC website: http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/nationalfloodoutlook/index.html.
The storm is forecast by the National Weather Service (NWS) to move eastward by Thursday and affect the central Appalachian Mountains and U.S. east coast bringing heavy rainfall. The rainfall potentials will be high because the system is expected to pull moisture northward from the Gulf of Mexico up into the Ohio Valley. As the storm system progresses, more moisture will feed in from the Atlantic Ocean over the east coast.
NASA's Aqua satellite captured another view of the massive storm system today, March 9 at 07:59 UTC (2:59 a.m. EST) that revealed deep convection (rapidly rising air that forms thunderstorms) and cold cloud top temperatures in the southern part of the system.
Cloud temperatures are a key in determining storm strength. The higher the cloud tops are, the stronger the convection and the stronger the thunderstorms are. That's why infrared data from AIRS is so important to forecasters. AIRS data showed that most of the coldest, highest cloud tops and strongest thunderstorms (and heaviest rainfall) were over eastern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama this morning, and those cloud-tops were as cold as or colder than -63 Fahrenheit (-52 Celsius).
The northernmost part of the storm is expected to bring light snows, freezing rain and rain to some areas of the upper Midwest and east to northern New England on Thursday. Further south, light to moderate rains are expected over the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys today, that will move northeast tomorrow.
The New York metro area is expecting between 1 and 3 inches of rain as the front creeps eastward and a series of low pressure waves develop along it. Flooding of rivers, small streams and poorly drained areas will be possible. Further north in Albany, N.Y. snow is expected to mix into the rain.
In the Mid-Atlantic, heavy rains are possible from this slow moving low pressure area and associated cold front. The same area received heavy rain just four days before on Sunday. Today, the National Weather Service in Washington, D.C. has posted flood watches and coastal flood watches. The Nation's Capital may receive up to three inches of rain before the storm passes late Thursday. Farther south in Norfolk, Va. 1 to 2 inches of rainfall are expected, and south central and southeast Virginia along with northeast North Carolina may get strong to severe thunderstorms on Thursday.
The central Gulf coast and southeastern U.S. are expected to see showers and thunderstorms from the front, and there's a slight risk of severe thunderstorms in that region Wednesday and Thursday. The NWS in Savannah, Ga. forecast says "a few of the storms may become severe with damaging wind gusts and possibly isolated tornadoes between midnight tonight (Wednesday) and dawn on Thursday along and to the west of Interstate 95."
Farther south in Florida, Jacksonville is going to see an interaction of that approaching cold front with strong high pressure to the north that will kick up winds from the south to the southeast today, gusting to 35 mph, so a lake wind advisory was issued today from the local NWS. There's also a moderate risk of rip currents at the beaches. Even before the front gets there, a pre-frontal squall line is forecast to cross the Gulf Coast region today, and the NWS says there is a potential for strong or possibly severe thunderstorms to impact interior southeast Georgia and the northern Suwannee River Valley in Northeast Florida.
This past weekend, NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite was flying in space when it passed over tornadoes occurring in the state of Louisiana on March 5 at 1411 UTC (8:11 a.m. CST). The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported that seven tornadoes were spotted in Louisiana on that date. Those tornadoes caused at least 15 injuries and one death when a tornado hit in the northwest section of Rayne, Louisiana.
TRMM captured rainfall rates of the tornadic thunderstorms from March 5, 2011 when the system generated tornadoes in Louisiana. TRMM's Microwave Imager and Precipitation Radar showed that extremely heavy rainfall was falling from those storms at a rate of more than 2 inches (50 mm) per hour. Surrounding the intense rainfall areas were areas of moderate rainfall between .78 to 1.57 inches (20 to 4 mm) per hour.
Another view of the storm looking from the east was created by the TRMM Team at NASA Goddard. Using TRMM Precipitation Radar data, Hal Pierce of the NASA TRMM team created a 3-D image that sliced through the storm. The 3-D image showed that one of those powerful tornadic thunderstorms had intense echoes reaching as high as 9.3 miles (15km).
TRMM images are pretty complicated to create. At NASA Goddard, rain rate data from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) instrument are taken from the center of the swath (the satellite's orbit path over the storm). The rain rates in the outer portion of the storm are created from a different instrument on the satellite, called the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are then overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS). The TRMM satellite is managed by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA. For more information about TRMM, visit: http://www.trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/.
The GOES-13 satellite continues to provide updated imagery on the NASA GOES Project website at http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/, so if you want to see when sunshine and a clear sky will return, look to the left (west) of the cloud cover on GOES images.
INFORMATION:
NASA and other satellites keeping busy with this week's severe weather
2011-03-10
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
International panel revises 'McDonald Criteria' for diagnosing multiple sclerosis
2011-03-10
International Panel Revises "McDonald Criteria" for Diagnosing MS -- Use of new data should speed diagnosis -- Publication coincides with MS Awareness Week
An international panel has revised and simplified the "McDonald Criteria" commonly used to diagnose multiple sclerosis, incorporating new data that should speed the diagnosis without compromising accuracy. The International Panel on Diagnosis of MS, organized and supported by the National MS Society and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis, was chaired by Chris H. Polman, MD, PhD ...
MIT scientists identify new H1N1 mutation that could allow virus to spread more easily
2011-03-10
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In the fall of 1917, a new strain of influenza swirled around the globe. At first, it resembled a typical flu epidemic: Most deaths occurred among the elderly, while younger people recovered quickly. However, in the summer of 1918, a deadlier version of the same virus began spreading, with disastrous consequence. In total, the pandemic killed at least 50 million people — about 3 percent of the world's population at the time.
That two-wave pattern is typical of pandemic flu viruses, which is why many scientists worry that the 2009 H1N1 ("swine") flu ...
New study proves the brain has 3 layers of working memory
2011-03-10
Researchers from Rice University and Georgia Institute of Technology have found support for the theory that the brain has three concentric layers of working memory where it stores readily available items. Memory researchers have long debated whether there are two or three layers and what the capacity and function of each layer is.
In a paper in the March issue of the Journal of Cognitive Psychology, researchers found that short-term memory is made up of three areas: a core focusing on one active item, a surrounding area holding at least three more active items, and a ...
Giving children the power to be scientists
2011-03-10
Children who are taught how to think and act like scientists develop a clearer understanding of the subject, a study has shown.
The research project led by The University of Nottingham and The Open University has shown that school children who took the lead in investigating science topics of interest to them gained an understanding of good scientific practice.
The study shows that this method of 'personal inquiry' could be used to help children develop the skills needed to weigh up misinformation in the media, understand the impact of science and technology on everyday ...
Researchers selectively control anxiety pathways in the brain
2011-03-10
A new study sheds light--both literally and figuratively--on the intricate brain cell connections responsible for anxiety.
Scientists at Stanford University recently used light to activate mouse neurons and precisely identify neural circuits that increase or decrease anxiety-related behaviors. Pinpointing the origin of anxiety brings psychiatric professionals closer to understanding anxiety disorders, the most common class of psychiatric disease.
A research team led by Karl Deisseroth, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and bioengineering, identified ...
Researchers develop synthetic compound that may lead to drugs to fight pancreatic, lung cancer
2011-03-10
DALLAS – March 10, 2011 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a chemical compound that may eventually lead to a drug that fights cancers that are dependent on a particular anti-viral enzyme for growth.
The researchers are testing the compound's effectiveness at fighting tumors in mice. If it is successful, they will then work to develop a drug based on the compound to combat pancreatic and non-small cell lung cancer, two cancer types in which this particular enzyme, TBK-1, often is required for cancer cell survival.
"Our prediction is that ...
Report: International collaboration between researchers results in greater recognition
2011-03-10
U.S. researchers who collaborate with international scientists are more likely to have their work cited than peers who do not utilize overseas expertise, according to a new study released this week by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. U.S. collaborators with international scientists are also more likely to receive greater recognition and produce work with greater impact.
The study, "International Stem Cell Collaboration: How Disparate Policies Between the United States and the United Kingdom Impact Research," was authored by Kirstin Matthews, a fellow ...
New UF study shows some sharks follow 'mental map' to navigate seas
2011-03-10
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A new study led by a University of Florida researcher uses tracking data of three shark species to provide the first evidence some of the fish swim directly to targeted locations.
Researchers found tiger and thresher sharks showed the ability to orient at large distances, with tiger sharks swimming in direct paths at least 4 miles away and reaching specific resource areas about 30 miles away, said lead author Yannis Papastamatiou, a marine biologist in the division of ichthyology at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus.
A research ...
Researchers identify new biomarker for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human form of mad cow disease
2011-03-10
Neena Singh, MD, PhD and colleagues at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have identified the first disease-specific biomarker for sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD), a universally fatal, degenerative brain disease for which there is no cure. sCJD is one of the causes of dementia and typically leads to death within a year of disease onset.
The finding, published in the March 9th issue of PLoS ONE, a scientific journal produced by the Public Library of Science, provides a basis for developing a test to diagnosis sCJD while patients are still alive. ...
Nottingham scientists identify trigger in cat allergy
2011-03-10
A breakthrough by scientists at The University of Nottingham could provide hope for any allergy sufferers who have ever had to choose between their health and their household pet.
The team of immunologists led by Drs Ghaem-Maghami and Martinez-Pomares in the University's School of Molecular Medical Sciences, and funded by the charity Asthma UK, have identified a cell component which plays a key role in triggering allergic responses to cat dander.
The discovery furthers our understanding of how the body's immune system identifies and reacts to allergens, which could ...