The SeaWinds scatterometer aboard NASA's QuikSCAT satellite collected the data used to create this colorful image of hurricane Frances as it approached Cuba on September 1st at 6:09pm EDT. The colored background shows the near-surface wind speeds at 2.5 km resolution. The black barbs indicate wind speed and direction at QuikSCAT's nominal 25 km resolution; white barbs indicate areas of heavy rain.
QuikSCAT background
NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) spacecraft was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on June 19, 1999. QuikScat carries the SeaWinds scatterometer, a specialized microwave radar that measures near-surface wind speed and direction under all weather and cloud conditions over the Earth's oceans. More information about the QuikSCAT mission and observations is available at http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov.
QuikSCAT is managed for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. JPL also built the SeaWinds radar instrument and is providing ground science processing systems. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, managed development of the satellite, designed and built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, CO. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has contributed support to ground systems processing and related activities.
In recent years, the ability to detect and track severe storms has been dramatically enhanced by the advent of weather satellites. Data from the SeaWinds scatterometer is augmenting traditional satellite images of clouds by providing direct measurements of surface winds to compare with the observed cloud patterns in an effort to better determine a hurricane's location, direction, structure, and strength. Specifically, these wind data are helping meteorologists to more accurately identify the extent of gale-force winds associated with a storm, while supplying inputs to numerical models that provide advanced warning of high waves and flooding.
