Hurricane
Catarina Hits Brazil
High-resolution
image (328 Kb)
Before March
2004, only two tropical cyclones had ever been noted in the South
Atlantic Basin, and no hurricanes. In late March 2004, a circulation
center well off the coast of southern Brazil developed tropical
cyclone characteristics and continued to intensify as it moved westward.
The system developed an eye and apparently reached hurricane strength
on Friday, March 28, before eventually making landfall late the
next day.
The crew of
the International Space Station was notified of the cyclone and
acquired these excellent oblique photos of the storm just as it
made landfall on the southern Brazilian state of Catarina. The storm
has been unofficially dubbed "Hurricane Catarina." Note the
clockwise circulation of Southern Hemisphere cyclones, the well-defined
banding features and the eyewall of at least a Category 1 system.
The coastline is visible under the clouds in the upper right corner
of the image.
Astronaut photograph
ISS008-E-19646
was provided by the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory
at Johnson Space Center. The International
Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts
take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists
and the public, and to make those images freely available on the
Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can
be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway
to Astronaut Photography of Earth.
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