TRMM


See SMALL 3-D ANIMATION of Slice	See LARGE 3-D ANIMATION of Slice

NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Observes Hurricane Isidore These images capture the formation of Hurricane Isidore, the first major storm of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season. Isidore first developed from a tropical disturbance north of Venezuela on September 14. The image on the right shows the vertical structure of precipitation embedded in Isidore's clouds, taken through the center of the storm at 7 AM on September 21, 2002. The rain cross section is oriented from southwest to northeast and is labelled "AB". The larger cloud and rainband structure is shown in white, while rainfall intensity is indicated by the colors: Blue represents light rain, and red the heaviest rain. At this time, Isidore is passing through the narrow Yucatan Strait and is beginning to gather steam; winds were 85 kts and the central pressure was 969 mb. TRMM captured the moment when a slender eye was beginning to develop inside intense thunderstorms erupting in the storm's core. Maximum cloud tops of 10 km are shown adjacent to the eye. Isidore later became a major Category 3 hurricane before making landfall over the Yucatan Peninsula.