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You may be able to debate which monuments are visible from outer space, but there's no debating this picture: Three storms dominate the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico in the image from the GOES-13 satellite, which is managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and provides data to NASA. From left to right are Tropical Storm Karl, which is heading for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula; Hurricane Igor, a Category 4 storm that forecasters say will arc northward through the Atlantic; and Hurricane Julia, a Category 1 storm expected to parallel Igor's path.
Igor looks particularly scary: The CIMSS Satellite Blog offers a series of amazing animated images showing monstrous clouds churning around the hurricane's well-defined, 20-nautical-mile-wide eye.
Ed Olsen / NASA / JPL
Color-coded infrared imagery from the AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite shows Hurricane Igor with a clear and large eye, with very strong convection (purple) and high, powerful thunderstorm cloud tops around the center. The dark orange areas indicate ocean temperatures well over the 80-degree-Fahrenheit threshold needed to maintain intensity.
An infrared image from NASA's Aqua satellite illustrates in psychedelic colors just what it is that keeps the storm going. The satellite's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, or AIRS, detected temperatures that dropped to 90 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (-68 degrees Celsius) at Igor's cloud tops (shown in purple). The big chill suggests that the clouds are rising to the top of the troposphere, driven by strong winds.
Meanwhile, the water surrounding Igor is very warm. The deep orange colors represent sea surface temperatures in excess of 80 degrees F (27 degrees C) — warm enough to keep Igor in business for days. In a news release, NASA notes that the temperature difference between the cold cloud tops and the warm waters that are powering the storm exceeds 170 degrees Fahrenheit, or 95 degrees Celsius. That's just about equal to the difference between boiling and freezing water.
To keep track of these scary storms in the days ahead, click into the Weather section and check out our whiz-bang Hurricane Tracker. And for a quick primer on hurricane science, take a spin through our "Birth of a Hurricane" interactive.
Join the Cosmic Log corps by signing up as my Facebook friend or hooking up on Twitter. And if you really want to be friendly, ask me about "The Case for Pluto."
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They're even scarier on the ground.
The hurricanes themselves are a awesome display of power, it's the aftermath that often remains well underestimated.
We were prepared for Andrew [92] when we lived in Miami. The 6 to 8 hours it took the for the storm to pass over was the easy part. What followed, in the days, weeks, etc. was something no one prepares for.
Screw hurricanes I live in Calif and I prefer the occasional earthquakes we get here to a yearly hurrican season. That is just some crazy weather you would have to live thru. No way, all we have to worry about here are a really bad earthquake every 20 or so years.
I feel for all those people that have to deal with hurricanes.
Do not feel bad for people that deal with Hurricanes they choose to live there it's stupid. Once your house is destroyed by a storm maybe you should take that as a hint.
There are few things as awe inspiring as a hurricane.
Same stuff; different day...
It amuses me that the more our science and technologies allow us to analyze and predict the dynamics of the planet, they are equalled by science and technologies that allow hundreds of thousands of people to be presented with the information, and comment on it. Rather than consider themselves informed and forewarned, most choose to chide, ridicule or speculate on various conspiracies or government propaganda....can't you just watch your radars and make intelligent choices as to the safety of your families???
What REALLY looks scary from outer space is our bloated $13 TRILLION in unfunded dead busted broke
Mil.Gov Corporate-State Congress, which has approved NA$A's science fiction fantasy Mission to Mars that
will leave every one of US a Usury Slaves of America to the Globalist Financiers and to the House of Saud.
http://www.space.com/news/senate-approves-nasa-bill-shuttle-extension-100715.html
Nothing scary about storms that will not impact people. PLEASE quit the boy-crying-wolf headlines about storms that, until we had aircraft/satellite tracking, just plowed through the mid-atlantic and perhaps ruined some Bermuda vacations. Karl could cause some trouble in Yucatan, but the others are just beautiful to view from outer space and will affect nobody. There are spectacularly nasty storms raging in the winter of the Southern Ocean (now) that are frightening to contemplate but,again, will harm no one.
"The wages of sin is death." Romans 6:23. The wages of sin is not everlasting life being tormented by some kind of sado masochistic worse-than-satan God. In the beginning God told Adam and Eve, "the day you eat thereof, you shall surely deserve death." He did not tell them that they would deserve being kept alive forever and would deserve to be tortured forever in a roaring fire. "Eternal life" is granted in the Bible only to those who accept Jesus as their savior FROM SIN ("to save his people FROM their sins" Matthew 1:21). "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. The reason people die is because they transgress God's law. The "everlasting gospel" says, "Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand." False gospel proponents leave out "repent". All the disciples, apostles, and Jesus preached "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20:21. Read the Bible instead of just accepting the false gospel propounded by the so-called christian churches!
Nutball. This is the wrong forum.
Predictions this year call for a "heavier than usual" amount of storms. The westardly winds coming off the U.S. are keeping those on the Atlantic side polite, however I can't help but wonder if the conditions are calm enough to allow the Big Ones to form in the gulf?
Really...? Do you think that this is the right forum to proselytize? A wonderful picture and explanation of the mechanics of a powerful process in nature and you are telling me of "your" religious/political beliefs? Really...? Wow! Maybe the inverse is true, that I'll be able to go to "your" religious/political website to find interesting and pertinent comments on this natural, scientific phenomenon.
Rational, scientific comments would only be attacked and marked as "devil stuff" on such websites. After all, religion is a meme protected by it's own rules and locked in an endless circle of ooga-booga logic. Ironically, religion is also a product of evolution (read any Dawkins book). We can only hope that their rantings get so extreme that they embarrass the others and make them see how childish religion is.
So, Piltdown Man, be comforted to know that lots of people agree with you, and don't waste your afternoon arguing with these nuts on their websites.
But as for the hurricanes, it's amazing what can happen when the atmospheric conditions are right. Amazing, beautiful and terrible all at once. But it's not "coming to get" anyone.
A beautiful disaster is the best way to sum a hurricane up. Nature is truly a remarkable and awe-inspiring thing. It'd be rather interesting to get a view of a hurricane from inside the eye. I've had the pleasure (or displeasure depending on how you look at it) of seeing a tornado up close and personal. Still, I can certainly sympathize with those who had a less fortunate encounter with these displays of nature's unprecedented power.
As to the religious comments being made, while I certainly appreciate and respect an individuals ability to choose for themselves, I have to wonder if you people are even capable of commenting upon the actual subject matter of an article or if all you are capable of is preaching your hellfire and brimstone.
When I was in college (in the early 1970s in the Midwest, where I grew up and lived until later in life), we had a student from Maryland. George commented that he'd rather face a tornado than a hurricane. We all chuckled at that comment. After all, with a hurricane, there are days and days of warning - not so with a tornado.
A few months later, George had the opportunity to see the aftermath of a relatively small tornado (probably an EF-2 or 3), and learned that the residents of the damaged and destroyed homes had been given about a five minute warning that a tornado was possible, and a negative few minutes that one had actually formed.
George amended his comment to state that he would rather face neither a hurricane NOR a tornado.
Oh, and Les-1994642? Mind if we go to your church, and in the middle of the minister's sermon, we start a VERY LOUD and very long discussion of weather phenomena? Since you pulled the opposite action here, I'm sure you (and the minister) wouldn't mind us doing that at all.
This doesn't seem a subject worth arguing about. The National Weather Service provided pictures of 3 tropical storms spinning across the Atlantic. It is either a an impressive sight, or it is nothing worth your attention.
But yet people are in here throwing ideological rocks at one another. It must be human nature.
I find it amusing that you think that weather as a subject is the opposite of religion. Since I believe God made ALL, including the weather, I can happily say that is some interesting technology that has been invented. I think it is great that we can learn about our weather and be warned and take precautions. Thank God He gave man the curiosity, tenacity and intelligence to invent ways to track weather and analyze it. A pity that some here feel I don't have the right to believe and still enjoy scientific discoveries. Since my body, mind and spirit are all me I do not drop one part of myself, spirit, simply to comment here. I do not need a special website about religion where only discussion of religion is allowed. Since you seem bothered by people being off topic, as you say. Then all comments that speak of anything else must be bad in your opinion. Tolerance. Look it up. I have never been in a hurricane. I have been near a tornado. I have been in an earthquake. Both were awful. No warning. NONE. How wonderful that hurricanes can be tracked and people can take action. Truly wonderful technology that saves lives and educates us on the power of hurricanes and how they form and are maintained. Thank you for the article and graphics. Was that on topic enough? May I stay or am I not allowed because I believe in God?
Hoofpick your belief in God and mentioning how wonderful the weather he created doesnt matter, your statment isnt a in your face rubbing the I am saved/ you are damed dogma, its when people start spouting your are all going to burn and I am saved look at how awesome I am and how all you sinners will burn if you dont join the JC club comments that are the problem.
Posting those type of comments on something that doesnt even mention religion but instead deals with weather ? Seriously how lame and stupid and obnoxious can one be?
Its people like that that need to talk to their pastor to find constructive ways to try to harvest and help "save" people souls.
I am all for people freedom of religion and them being able to follow thier faith in tying to find people to "help" but there is a time and place for everything and this subject matter isnt the place for Doom and gloom if you dont join the JC club.
Seriously do people even think before they say or post things?
Off-topic: Making statements and references that have absolutely nothing even remotely in common with the discussion thread (I.E. Religious rantings and recriminations.)
Pirate: My post was intended for Hoofpick, not you.
No worries, You and I are on the same wavelength :)
Non-Smokers die every day. Sleep tight.
I live in Florida, and I've been through many a hurricane.........they're very powerful. These pictures had me in awe, they're such a gorgeous display of the natural, raw power of such a force.
Hey, Pirate C...I think you answered your own question!
Been through a few hurricanes including one direct hit-yes, we were in the eye. It is pretty intense with the wind howling and your house creaking and things crashing; and you're not sure if that crash was the beginning of your roof coming off. In our case the hurricane shutters actually blew off the window!
As a resident of Florida, I too appreciate the technology now available to track hurricanes & trust me, as you are about to get hit by a nasty one, you do sit @ computer to track 'em down to the last minute to decide to flee or not. I enjoy with both amazement & disgust the commentary by Puritans & heathens alike. The lack of logic used by some people re-enforces what I see on the roads, in the elections & in the media every day. Forrest Gump was a true philosopher when it comes to average Joe Sixpack American....Stupid is as Stupid does. I did like the suggestion of Mike in B-more of going to churches to interupt sermons with weather discussions. But irony & sarcasm like this is wasted on the minds of Puritans....unless it is shown on Fox TV. Keep those trailer park entries coming folks, us college graduates like to see why we did not waste that time.
Boeing will have some stiff competition with Ellon Musk and his Dragon spacecraft, which is further along in development.
SpaceX, with it's much lower overhead costs, would likely underbid Boeing for taxi services to the ISS.
Other smaller companies are developing commercial manned spacecraft too.
Competition for this limited market will be intense.