Earth ID: 4587

The Brown Ocean Effect

Visualizations by Alex Kekesi Released on October 5, 2017

Before Tropical Storm Bill made landfall over Texas, eastern Texas experienced several days of rain that began flooding areas to the south east and northern parts of the state. As Tropical Storm Bill moved northward through Texas it is hypothesized that it fed off the highly saturated ground (as if it were still over the ocean) and can be seen slightly intensifying (via winds) as it moved into Oklahoma and progressed to the northeast.

In several regions of the world, tropical cyclones have been known to maintain or increase strength after landfall without transitioning to extratropical systems. It is hypothesized that these inland areas help sustain tropical cyclones when there has been plentiful rainfall, leading to unusually wet soil and strong latent heat release. Additionally, given the symmetric structure of warm-core cyclones, the atmosphere should tend toward barotropic conditions that mimic an ocean environment. Observational and modeling studies support this "brown ocean" concept, providing a global climatology of inland tropical cyclones, pinpointing regions that are more favorable for re-intensification, and analyzing individual cyclones to better understand the associated land-atmosphere feedbacks.

Color bar for liquid precipitation rates (ie, rain rates). Shades of green represent low amounts of liquid precipitation, whereas shades of red represent high amounts of precipitation.

Print resolution still of Tropical Storm Bill on June 17, 2015 showing winds, IMERG precipitation, cloud cover, and soil moisture.

Print resolution image of Tropical Storm Bill on June 17, 2015 showing winds, accumulated precipitation (beginning on June 16, 2015 when it made landfall), and cloud cover.

Print resolution still showing the accumulated precipitation from Tropical Storm Bill from the time it made landfall on June 16, 2015 until June 19, 2015.

Visualization Credits

Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Data Visualizer
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Data Visualizer
Trent L. Schindler (USRA): Data Visualizer
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Data Visualizer
Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Lead Producer
Marshall Shepherd: Lead Scientist
Theresa Andersen (University of Georgia): Researcher
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

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Data Used:

CPC (Climate Prediction Center) Cloud Composite

Data Compilation - Climate Prediction Center (CPC) - 6/10/2015 - 6/19/2015

Global cloud cover from multiple satellites

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also referred to as: IMERG

Data Compilation - NASA/GSFC - 6/10/2015 - 6/19/2015

http://pmm.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/document_files/IMERG_ATBD_V4.4.pdf

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Surface Soil Moisture corrected with SMOS imagery and assimilated by the Ensemble Kalman Filter also referred to as: NASA-USDA-FAS Soil Moisture

Data Compilation - NASA and USDA - 6/10/2015 - 6/19/2015

The surface soil moisture product is corrected by integrating satellite-derived Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission surface soil moisture retrievals into the modified Palmer two-layer soil moisture model. The SMOS imagery helps to correct the modified Pal

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