New technology has created a 3D model of a hurricane

We used the satellite data.

Last year, hurricane "Maria" swept through the Caribbean and caused a lot of damage. Continuing the study of this phenomenon, scientists have created a video showing the formation of a hurricane from within, reports Chronicle.info with a reference on Voice.

Two days before the hurricane "Maria" that hit Puerto Rico, the NASA / JAXA satellite, the central observatory for measuring rainfall, received a three-dimensional image.

The satellite was equipped with a radar that measures the amount of atmospheric moisture in the liquid state and frozen. By combining all the data, the scientists presented a 3D visualization of the hurricane processes, allowing only a one-day increase from the first to the fifth category on a hurricane scale from Saffira-Simpson.

The luminous spots on average rain the amount of humidity in the air: the low green and yellow levels marked, the red and purple levels are high. At the top of the hurricane colder: blue and purple dots, icy precipitation of different sizes and densities. Colored spots on the surface of the planet show the amount of moisture that has reached the surface.

Fifteen minutes after the beginning of the video (1:29), the dots are converted into numbers representing the amount of precipitation in millimeters per hour: about 0.5 mm / h to 150 mm / h. It is the same parameter that an ellipsoid illustrates the phenomenon on the other side: heavy rainfall – red or purple, spherical, green or yellow, and snowfall for a selected range of purple to blue.

In addition, the satellite measures the spread of small precipitation particles around the cyclone, calculating their size. The big drops are visualized in dark blue color, the small ones painted in light blue and white.

By analyzing the combination of these data, scientists can more accurately predict the direction of the hurricane and its dynamics.