Earth ID: 4884

2020 Hurricane Season

Visualizations by Alex Kekesi and Greg Shirah Released on February 25, 2021

Data visualization of the 2020 Hurricane Season. Starts on May 1, 2020 just showing Sea Surface Temperatures and cloud cover. Precipitation data then dissolves in as hurricanes are tracked throughout 2020. Hurricane tracks include Hurricane strengths depicted with the letter "T" for Tropical Storm and numbers for each storm's respective strength. The visualization then culminates by showing all the storm tracks at once.
This video is also available on our YouTube channel.

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season smashed records with an unprecedented 30 named storms, marking the fifth year in a row with above-average hurricane activity. The National Weather Service noted that every mile of the U.S. Atlantic coast was under a tropical watch or warning in 2020. NOAA reported the most billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. in a single year in the 40 years of record-keeping, with significant contributions from the five storms that made landfall in the U.S.

This visualization shows the hurricanes and tropical storms of 2020 as seen by NASA’s Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) - a data product combining precipitation observations from infrared and microwave satellite sensors united by the GPM Core Observatory. IMERG provides near real-time half-hourly precipitation estimates at ~10km resolution for the entire globe, helping researchers better understand Earth’s water cycle and extreme weather events, with applications for disaster management, tracking disease, resource management, energy production and food security. IMERG rain rates (in mm/hr) are overlaid on infrared cloud data from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Cloud Composite dataset together with storm tracks from the NOAA National Hurricane Center (NHC) Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting (ATCF) model. Sea surface temperatures (SST) are also shown over the oceans, derived from the NASA Multi-sensor Ultra-high Resolution (MUR) dataset, which combines data from multiple geostationary and orbiting satellites. Sea surface temperatures play an important role in hurricane formation and development, with warmer temperatures linked to more intense storms. 2020 was the warmest year on record, and this year’s hurricane season brought many examples of storms that intensified quickly: ten of the 30 named storms showed rapid intensification.

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.

Color bar for frozen precipitation rates (ie, snow rates). Shades of cyan represent low amounts of frozen precipitation, whereas shades of purple represent high amounts of precipitation.

Used Elsewhere In

Visualization Credits

Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Animator
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Animator
George Huffman (NASA/GSFC): Lead Scientist
Dalia B Kirschbaum (NASA/GSFC): Lead Scientist
Scott Braun (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Ryan Fitzgibbons (USRA): Lead Producer
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Technical Support

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Additional credits:

Storm tracks and strengths courtesy of NOAA's National Weather Service.

Blue Marble MODIS data composite courtesy of the MODIS Science Team NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the NASA Earth Observatory.

Music created and produced by UniqueTracks. Fantasy (theme from Norma) - Vincenzo Bellini.

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4884

Data Used:

CPC (Climate Prediction Center) Cloud Composite

Data Compilation - Climate Prediction Center (CPC) - 5/1/2020 - 12/31/2020

Global cloud cover from multiple satellites

view all stories where this data set is used

Multi-scale Ultra-high Resolution (MUR) Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Analysis also referred to as: MUR SST

Analysis - JPL PO DAAC - 5/1/2020 - 12/31/2020

view all stories where this data set is used

also referred to as: IMERG

Data Compilation - NASA/GSFC - 5/1/2020 - 12/31/2020

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

view all stories where this data set is used

Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecast (ATCF) - Best Track also referred to as: Hurricane Tracks

Event List - NOAA

https://ftp.nhc.noaa.gov/atcf/

Credit:
NOAA

view all stories where this data set is used

Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of these series:
Hurricane-SST Connection
Hurricanes

Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
SVS >> HDTV
DLESE >> Natural hazards
DLESE >> Physical oceanography
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Clouds
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Phenomena >> Hurricanes
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Oceans >> Ocean Temperature >> Sea Surface Temperature
SVS >> Hyperwall
SVS >> GOES
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0