The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (or TRMM) satellite was launched back in
November of 1997 with the primary mission of measuring rainfall from space using
both passive microwave and active radar sensors. The TRMM-based, near-real time
Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight
Center provides estimates of rainfall over the global Tropics. TMPA rainfall
totals are shown from the time when Alex first became a tropical depression
in the western Caribbean to the present, 26 June to 2 July 2010. The solid black
line shows the path of Alex with appropriate storms symbols marking the 00 and 12Z
positions and intensity. Most of the moderate (shown in green) to heavy rain
amounts (shown in orange and red) fell offshore over the western Gulf of Mexico.
The rain in the central and southwestern Gulf are directly associated with Alex,
while the rain across the northern Gulf was enhanced by the storm's counter-clock-wise
circulation drawing moist air into the northern Gulf. The heaviest amounts were
just south of Louisiana where from 200 to over 300 mm of rain fell (~8 to 12 inches,
shown in orange and dark red). The highest rainfall totals over land for the
period are located over the northern Yucatan Peninsula north of where Alex made
its first landfall in Belize and range from 100 to over 200 mm (~4 to 8 inches,
shown in green and orange). So far Alex has dumped from 50 to over 100 mm
of rain (~2 to 4 inches, shown in blue and green) over northeastern Mexico,
resulting in two fatalities. In addition to the flooding of land, winds and
heavy seas from Alex have hampered efforts to the clean up the oil spill in
the Gulf of Mexico.
See a movie of rainfall accumulation for hurricane Alex.
Click here to see earlier TRMM images of ALEX.
Heavy rain amounts (from satellites) and flood inundation calculations (from a hydrological model) are updated every three hours globally with the results shown on the "Global Flood and Landslide Monitoring" TRMM web site pages.
Click here to see a quicktime animation that shows calculated flood potential estimates near Alex.
TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.
Image by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and Caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC)
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