1 00:00:00,010 --> 00:00:04,030 Voice off Screen: All eyes are on Hurricane Matthew as it barrels towards the coast 2 00:00:04,030 --> 00:00:08,040 of Florida and NASA has some new views of the storm and here 3 00:00:08,040 --> 00:00:12,090 to show us these new views and tell us what NASA is seeing is Dr. Scott Braun 4 00:00:12,090 --> 00:00:16,140 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, thanks for joining us. Dr. Scott Braun: Sure, good morning. 5 00:00:16,140 --> 00:00:20,340 Voice off Screen: So Hurricane Matthew is strongest hurricane to develop in the Atlantic 6 00:00:20,340 --> 00:00:24,380 in almost 10 years. How are scientists using satellites to 7 00:00:24,380 --> 00:00:28,400 look inside of this storm? Dr. Scott Braun: Well NASA's got a fleet of satellites that take 8 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,410 different measurements of the Earth's atmosphere, one of the most important ones for hurricanes is our 9 00:00:32,410 --> 00:00:36,460 Global Precipitation Measurement Mission or GPM, which provides 10 00:00:36,460 --> 00:00:40,520 two and three dimensional views of hurricanes such as this example of Matthew from October 11 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:44,580 2nd. It allows you to see the heavy rain near the center 12 00:00:44,580 --> 00:00:48,650 the major rain bands outside from the center, and the three dimensional structure 13 00:00:48,650 --> 00:00:52,660 is indicated by the blue colors that you saw there, and that can provide 14 00:00:52,660 --> 00:00:56,710 important clues as to whether or not the storm is likely to intensify or weaken 15 00:00:56,710 --> 00:01:00,750 Voice off Screen: This has been a slow moving but 16 00:01:00,750 --> 00:01:04,790 rapidly intensifying storm. How can images like this give us clues 17 00:01:04,790 --> 00:01:08,800 as to when a storm is about to intensify 18 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:12,980 Dr. Scott Braun: Well Matthew intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 5 storm in a little bit over a day. 19 00:01:12,980 --> 00:01:17,050 Its called "Rapid Intensification" and it's still 20 00:01:17,050 --> 00:01:21,120 extremely difficult to forecast and we're still trying to learn a lot about the process 21 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,320 that are involved, you know how much of it comes from the effects 22 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:29,370 of the storms environment versus internal processes. Satellites like GPM give 23 00:01:29,370 --> 00:01:33,380 us those observations of what's going in the storm and again can provide 24 00:01:33,380 --> 00:01:37,420 clues as to what's going on and how the storm is responding to it's 25 00:01:37,420 --> 00:01:41,610 environment, so it's really critical to understanding these storms. 26 00:01:41,610 --> 00:01:45,650 Voice off Screen: Matthew produced torrential rains in the Caribbean and could produce significant 27 00:01:45,650 --> 00:01:49,710 rains along the US coast, can we see how 28 00:01:49,710 --> 00:01:53,760 this rainfall is accumulating from space? Dr. Scott Braun: Yeah GPM is the 29 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:57,810 linchpin of an international constellation and you can combine all those different 30 00:01:57,810 --> 00:02:01,820 satellites to produce rainfall accumulations on about a half hour 31 00:02:01,820 --> 00:02:05,860 time scale. And just by adding that up over time you can measure 32 00:02:05,860 --> 00:02:09,920 how much rainfall is falling. In this example you can see this storm passing Haiti. 33 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:13,980 As the storm and it's outer rain band has produced up to 20 inches of rain over Haiti 34 00:02:13,980 --> 00:02:17,980 and the Dominican Republic, with the steep terrain in that area produces 35 00:02:17,980 --> 00:02:22,020 major flooding and potential landslides that can 36 00:02:22,020 --> 00:02:26,040 pose significant risk. 37 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:30,220 Voice off Screen: What is the future of how NASA will monitor hurricanes? Dr. Scott Braun: Well NASA is getting ready to launch 38 00:02:30,220 --> 00:02:34,270 two new missions, we have the GOES-R Mission getting 39 00:02:34,270 --> 00:02:38,320 ready to launch in November from Cape Canaveral. 40 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:42,330 And that will provide much more advanced geosynchronous observations compared to what we 41 00:02:42,330 --> 00:02:46,340 had in the past. We're also getting ready to launch a new mission that's 42 00:02:46,340 --> 00:02:50,390 a constellation of very small satellites that will measure wind speeds 43 00:02:50,390 --> 00:02:54,580 at the ocean surface within hurricanes, we also have advanced research aircraft 44 00:02:54,580 --> 00:02:58,580 such as the Global Hawk that can provide measurements and in fact right now 45 00:02:58,580 --> 00:03:02,590 the Global Hawk is flying over Matthew as part of a NOAA campaign 46 00:03:02,590 --> 00:03:06,640 to take measurements within the storm and study how that data 47 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:10,680 could potentially impact forecasts. 48 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:14,700 Voice off Screen: So where can we learn more and see some more of the latest images? 49 00:03:14,700 --> 00:03:18,710 Dr. Scott Braun: Well for those in the coastal zones of Florida and the southeast they should go to 50 00:03:18,710 --> 00:03:22,720 the National Hurricane website or their local weather service website 51 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,730 to get the latest warnings and information on the storm. For those interested 52 00:03:26,730 --> 00:03:30,880 in imagery from NASA, they can go to NASA.gov/hurricanes. 53 00:03:30,880 --> 00:00:12,090 Voice off Screen: Great, thanks so much for joining us. 54 00:00:12,090 --> 00:03:36,483 at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, thanks for joining us. Dr. Scott Braun: Sure, good morning.