NASA satellite analyzes super Typhoon Mangkhut

NASA's Aqua satellite provided an infrared look at the mighty Super Typhoon Mangkhut in early September 13, revealing a large eye surrounded by a vast area of ​​powerful storms. Mangkhut is a Category 5 storm.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted that "enhanced and animated infrared satellite imagery shows a deepening or strengthening of convection (increasing the air that forms storms that make up a tropical cyclone) with cooler cloud tops. ". Summits of colder clouds mean that the rising of the air has increased and pushed the summits of the clouds higher into the troposphere. The higher the top of the cloud is high and cold, the stronger the storm and the higher precipitation potential.

At 9:35 am EDT (1335 UTC) on 13 September, the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite observed Typhoon Mangkhut under infrared light as it approached the Philippines. MODIS saw that Mangkhut had a 27-nautical eye.

MODIS also found the coldest cloud top temperatures around the eye, as cold or cold as minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit (F) / minus 112 degrees Celsius (C). Around the eye, there were thick rings of powerful storms with summits of clouds as cold or cold as less 70F (minus 56.6 ° C).

NASA research has shown that maximum cloud temperatures, as cold or cold as 70F / 56.6C, can generate heavy precipitation.

At 11:00 am EDT (1500 UTC), the center of the Super Typhoon Mangkhut was located near 15.2 degrees north latitude and 128.4 degrees west longitude. It is about 465 miles east of Manila, Philippines. The super typhoon Mangkhut was heading west-northwest. Maximum winds sustained by Mangkhut were near 167 mph (145 knots / 268 km / h) with higher gusts. Mangkhut is a category 5 hurricane on the wind scale of Hurricane Saffir-Simpson.

Mangkhut is expected to reach the northeast coast of Luzon, Philippines, around 17h. EDT (2100 UTC) on September 14th. Warnings are already in effect.

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NASA-NOAA satellite tracking Super Typhon Mangkhut