Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the "above normal" hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the above normal hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an activity predictions for 2003 in part to changing conditions in the Pacific Ocean, such as the demise of El Nino. This sequence tracks warmer-than-normal waters. By January, the warm conditions began to dissipate. Fewer than normal hurricanes generally form when El Nino is present. Researchers say the Pacific may transition to the colder-than-normal La Nina phase. Areas in red represent warmer than normal and areas in blue represent cooler than normal.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the "above normal" hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

This animation show a year in the life of anomalous global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide this sea surface temperature data.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the above normal hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the above normal hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an activity predictions for 2003 in part to changing conditions in the Pacific Ocean, such as the demise of El Nino. This sequence traces the evolution of the warmer-than-normal waters associated with the weak El Nino that developed in the late fall of 2002. By January, the warm conditions began to dissipate. Fewer than normal hurricanes generally form when El Nino is present. Researchers say the Pacific may transition to the colder-than-normal La Nina phase. Areas in red represent warmer than normal and areas in blue represent cooler than normal.

During the hurricane season of 2004, an unprecedented four hurricanes hit Florida. This animation shows the accumulated rainfall produced by three of those hurricanes during the month of September. The animation also shows the rainfall from the typhoons in the Pacific Ocean during the same period.

Flying up the east coast of the United States from Florida to North Carolina using a SeaWiFS image taken September 16, 1999

Zooming into the east coast of the United States using a SeaWiFS image taken September 16, 1999

This site includes simulations of more than 40 phenomena: sea ice and CO2, climate change (230-year period), clouds and precipitation, coral reef evolution (starting 21,000 years ago), universal fire shape, fire twirl and burst behavior, tornadoes, thunderstorms, typhoons, El Niño events, greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosols, polar vortex breakdown, CO2 and temperature, CFCs in the ocean, cloud evolution (7-day period), daily weather in the U.S., and more.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on board NASAs Aqua satellite captured Hurricane Isabel on September 14, 2003.

The unit is designed for seventh grade students who have been studying Earth and its atmosphere. In this sequence, students are faced with the realistic issue of personal and social decision-making when planning for hurricane strikes, which includes classification, tracking, and monitoring hurricanes, as well as planning for evacuations. The inquiry-based approach involves a WebQuest in which the learner will assume the role of an emergency management team member who must create a preparation plan for the community.

This visualization shows the cold water trails left first by Hurricanes Fabian and then by Hurricane Isabel in the Atlantic Ocean from August 27, 2003 through September 23, 2003. The colors on the ocean represent the sea surface temperatures, and satellite images of the hurricane clouds are laid over the temperatures to clearly show the hurricane positions. Orange and red depict regions that are 82 degrees F and higher, where the ocean is warm enough for hurricanes to form. Hurricane winds are sustained by the heat energy of the ocean, so the ocean is cooled as the hurricane passes and the energy is extracted to power the winds. A hurricane can experience a dramatic reduction in wind speed when it crosses the cold track of a previous hurricane. However, in this case, the cold water track from Fabian warmed up before Isabel crossed it, so Isabels winds did not decrease. The sea surface temperatures were measured by the AMSR-E instrument on the Aqua satellite, while the cloud images were taken by the Imager on the GOES-12 satellite.

The Digital Earth Workbench is an interactive application that runs on a SGI Onyx Infinite Reality system and is controlled by an Immersive Workbench, tracked stereo glasses, and a tracked wand. The application allows an unprecedented freedom to roam georeferenced datasets at multiple resolutions and timescales. This animation is one of a series of direct screen captures of the application in operation. The occasional menu appearance denotes direct intervention by the operator to add or delete data or to activate a new control option.

The Digital Earth Workbench is an interactive application that runs on a SGI Onyx Infinite Reality system and is controlled by an Immersive Workbench, tracked stereo glasses, and a tracked wand. The application allows an unprecedented freedom to roam georeferenced datasets at multiple resolutions and timescales. This animation is one of a series of direct screen captures of the application in operation. The occasional menu appearance denotes direct intervention by the operator to add or delete data or to activate a new control option.

Final Image of Hurricane Georges (SeaWiFS image)September 27th,1998

On September 6, 1995, Hurricane Luis was a Category 4 hurricane located about 250 kilometers northeast of Puerto Rico. GOES-9, a new weather satellite in geostationary orbit, was undergoing a check-out period and tested a new, rapid scanning capability by taking high-resolution visible images of Luis at 22 images per hour, much more rapid than the normal rate of one image every 15 minutes. These images clearly show a number of hurricane features that had been hard to observe before, including the evolution of the eye-wall structures and small-scale vortex features within the eye. It is also possible to see the formation of the new hurricane arm to the southeast of the eye. This arm is marked by the formation of clouds in the bubbling regions that indicate intense updrafts. The island of Puerto Rico can only be seen as a stationary disturbance under the bright white cloud bank to the southwest of the eye of the hurricane.