(Press-News.org) Hurricane Igor is a monster hurricane in terms of strength and size. To get a perspective on its size, it is the same distance from one end of the storm to the other as it is from Boston, Mass. to Richmond, Va., some 550 miles. That's a 10-hour drive from one end to the other, and NASA satellites captured that entire distance in one image.
Because Hurricane Igor is a large storm and even if Igor doesn't make a direct landfall in Bermuda, the extent of the winds (the wind field) is so large that the National Hurricane Center noted that Bermuda can be buffeted by winds of hurricane-force or tropical storm-force on its current track.
Maximum sustained winds this morning were near 145 mph, and although the hurricane-force winds extend outward from the center up to 45 miles (90 miles in diameter), tropical-storm-force winds extend as far as 225 miles (550 miles in diameter). Igor is expected to be close to Bermuda within the next 3 to 4 days.
Hurricane Igor was captured in one image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite at 1420 UTC (10:20 a.m. EDT) on Sept. 14. The image showed the massive extent of Igor's cloud cover, stretching over 500 miles. The image also showed that Igor's eye was covered with high clouds.
At 5 a.m. EDT on Sept. 15, infrared imagery from NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument indicated that the cloud tops had warmed over the western part of the center, and that Igor's eye had cooled. That indicates slight weakening, because higher, colder cloud tops indicate strong convection (rapidly rising air that forms the thunderstorms that power Igor) and when they warm that means that convection has waned. Infrared imagery from AIRS on Sept. 14 at 1723 UTC (1:23 p.m. EDT) continued to show strong convective activity in his center as indicated by high thunderstorms that were as cold as -63F. Since that time, cloud tops have warmed.
At 0352 UTC this morning (11:52 p.m. EDT Sept. 14) NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite showed that the southwestern part of the eyewall has eroded, further confirming the weakening that the infrared data showed. However, the National Hurricane Center noted that Igor is still in a good environment for strengthening.
On Sept. 15 at 5 a.m. EDT, Hurricane Igor was still a powerful Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph. It was about 1,090 miles southeast of Bermuda, near 19.5 North and 54.5 West. Igor was moving west-northwest near 10 mph and had a minimum central pressure of 935 millibars.
Igor is expected to run into southerly wind shear in 3 to 4 days, which may cause some weakening. NASA satellites will watch for those signs as Igor continues moving through the Atlantic Ocean this week.
INFORMATION:
NASA satellite measures monstrous Hurricane Igor as a '10 hour drive'
2010-09-15
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Discovery of the secrets that enable plants near Chernobyl to shrug off radiation
2010-09-15
Scientists are reporting discovery of the biological secrets that enable plants growing near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant to adapt and flourish in highly radioactive soil — legacy of the 1986 nuclear disaster in the Ukraine. Their study, which helps solve a long-standing mystery, appears in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology, a semi-monthly journal.
Martin Hajduch and colleagues note that plants have an unexpected ability to adapt to an environment contaminated with radiation following the April 26, 1986 accident at Chernobyl. Their previous research, for example, ...
Quick-intensifying Tropical Storm Karl landfalling in Mexico
2010-09-15
NASA's Aqua satellite captured the birth of Tropical Storm Karl on Sept. 14 as it passed overhead at 3:05 p.m. EDT in the Caribbean. This morning, Karl made landfall in the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.
By 5 p.m. EDT on Sept. 14, System 92L intensified quickly in the western Caribbean and became the thirteenth tropical depression that quickly fired up into Tropical Storm Karl. NASA's Aqua satellite was flying overhead at 3:05 p.m. EDT and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument captured a visible image of Karl as he was rapidly ...
Carbon nanotubes twice as strong as once thought
2010-09-15
Carbon nanotubes — those tiny particles poised to revolutionize electronics, medicine, and other areas — are much bigger in the strength department than anyone ever thought, scientists are reporting. New studies on the strength of these submicroscopic cylinders of carbon indicate that on an ounce-for-ounce basis they are at least 117 times stronger than steel and 30 times stronger than Kevlar, the material used in bulletproof vests and other products. The findings, which could expand commercial and industrial applications of nanotube materials, appear in the monthly journal ...
Aerobic exercise relieves insomnia
2010-09-15
CHICAGO --- The millions of middle-aged and older adults who suffer from insomnia have a new drug-free prescription for a more restful night's sleep. Regular aerobic exercise improves the quality of sleep, mood and vitality, according to a small but significant new study from Northwestern Medicine.
The study is the first to examine the effect of aerobic exercise on middle-aged and older adults with a diagnosis of insomnia. About 50 percent of people in these age groups complain of chronic insomnia symptoms.
The aerobic exercise trial resulted in the most dramatic ...
New evidence on how cranberry juice fights bacteria that cause urinary tract infections
2010-09-15
Scientists reported new evidence on the effectiveness of that old folk remedy — cranberry juice — for urinary tract infections at the ACS' 240th National Meeting. "A number of controlled clinical trials — these are carefully designed and conducted scientific studies done in humans — have concluded that cranberry juice really is effective for preventing urinary tract infections," said Terri Anne Camesano, Ph.D., who led the study. "That has important implications, considering the size of the problem and the health care costs involved."
Estimates suggest that urinary tract ...
Progress on vaccine for 'Ich,' bane of fish farms and home aquarium hobbyists
2010-09-15
Tests of a potential vaccine against "Ich" — the dreaded "white-spot" disease that plagues fish in commercial fish farms, public aquariums, pet fish retail outlets, and home aquariums — are raising hopes for finally controlling the disease, scientists reported at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
"Outbreaks of the parasitic disease caused by Ichthyophthirius (Ich) can result in losses of 50-100 percent of fish," Dehai Xu, Ph.D., said. "The disease is very common, and almost every home fish hobbyist has encountered it. Once the parasite infects ...
Secret funding fosters hope for new drugs for autism
2010-09-15
Funding from an anonymous wealthy family has been the secret to progress, at long last, in developing drugs that show promise for helping millions of people worldwide with Fragile X syndrome, the most common genetic cause of autism. That's the topic of a fascinating article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine.
C&EN Senior Editor Lisa Jarvis notes that until recent interest from big pharmaceutical companies, a small drug company in Cambridge, Mass. named Seaside Therapeutics was virtually the only company trying to develop ...
Facial recognition technology aimed at spotting terrorists
2010-09-15
Rapid improvements in facial-recognition software mean airport security workers might one day know with near certainty whether they're looking at a stressed-out tourist or staring a terrorist in the eye.
A research team led by Dr. Alice O'Toole, a professor in The University of Texas at Dallas' School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, is evaluating how well these rapidly evolving recognition programs work. The researchers are comparing the rates of success for the software to the rates for non-technological, but presumably "expert" human evaluation.
"The government ...
New investigational compound targets pancreatic cancer cells
2010-09-15
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Sept. 14, 2010) – A new investigational drug designed to penetrate and attack pancreatic cancer cells has been administered to a patient for the first time ever at the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare.
ASG-5ME is a potent, targeted compound designed to selectively kill cancer cells, says Daniel Von Hoff, MD, a principal investigator in the Phase I clinical trial. Pancreatic cancer is a fast-growing and difficult to treat form of cancer, and is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States.
"ASG-5ME is intended ...
Higher altitudes hide deadly problem: Increased suicide risk
2010-09-15
SALT LAKE CITY—The Intermountain West is renowned for the beauty of its towering mountains and high deserts, but according to new research from an investigator with the University of Utah Brain Institute the region's lofty altitudes significantly influence a deadly problem: the high prevalence of suicides in this part of the country.
In the Sept. 15, 2010, online edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry, Perry F. Renshaw, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, professor of psychiatry at the U School of Medicine and an investigator with Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative, ...