TRMM (MISSING FERRY IN RED SEA)

SEVERE STORMS SWEEP THE RED SEA AS FERRY SINKS

An Egyptian ferry carrying 1300 people sank overnight in the northern Red Sea as strong storms swept across the region. While the exact cause of the disaster is not yet certain, the most likely reason has been attributed to bad weather and high seas. At the time of the incident, a potent upper-level shortwave trough was advancing eastward over Egpyt and the western Mediterranean. Out ahead of this advancing trough, strong southerly winds drew warm moist air up from the south. These conditions are favorable for the development of severe storms.

Link to image of weather after ferry sinking

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite was launched into service in November of 1997. Designed to measure rainfall over the global Tropics, TRMM is armed with both passive and active sensors, including the first and only precipitation radar in space. As such, TRMM can observe numerous precipitation features from space across the Tropics, including this image of a storm complex sweeping eastward into Saudi Arabia from the Red Sea. The image was taken at 04:20 UTC on the 3rd of February 2006 (11:20 pm EST February 2nd), just a few hours after radar contact with the ferry was lost. The image shows the horizontal distribution of rain rates (top down view) observed by the TRMM satellite. Rain rates in the center swath are from the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR), while rain rates in the outer swath are from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). The rain rates are overlaid on infrared (IR) data from the TRMM Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS). TRMM reveals that an intense thunderstorm complex has just come ashore on the Saudi coastline, after having crossed the northern Red Sea. The storm complex contains a sizeable area of heavy rain with rain rates on the order of 50 mm/hr (dark red areas). While not a direct measure of storm intensity, the heavy rain, shape and orientation of the storm complex relative to the upper-level shortwave are a good indication that it likely was severe.

TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).