Tormenta severa

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), launched in 1997, uses active and passive microwave instruments to confirm the validity of tropical rainfall estimates derived from operational passive microwave sensors and provides a foundation for merging rainfall information from other satellites. High-resolution microwave information is important for fixing the locations of tropical cyclone tracks as well as establishing accurate initial positions to effectively forecast tropical cyclone progression. The TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) is designed to “see” through clouds and provide high-resolution rainfall structure information within tropical cyclones. TRMM’s Precipitation Radar (PR) is designed to provide vertical structure information within tropical cyclones. Together, TRMM PR and TMI data have been used to establish key characteristics of the distribution and variability of rainfall in tropical cyclones and obtain insights into storm structure,...

The Asia Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) signed the cooperation agreement on establishment of the ADRC UN-SPIDER Regional Support Office (RSO) on the occasion of the 52nd session of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) on 4th June 2009.

Severe thunderstorms constitute a major weather hazard in Europe, with an estimated total damage of € 5-8 billion each year. Yet a pan-European database of severe weather reports in a homogeneous data format has become available only recently: the European Severe Weather Database (ESWD). We demonstrate the large potential of ESWD applications for storm detection and forecast or nowcasting/ warning verification purposes. The study of five warm-season severe weather days in Europe from 2007 and 2008 revealed that up to 47% of the ESWD reports were located exactly within the polygons detected by the Cb-TRAM algorithm for three different stages of deep moist convection. The cool-season case study of extratropical cyclone “Emma” on 1 March 2008 showed that low-topped winter thunderstorms can provide a challenge for satellite storm detection and nowcasting adapted to warm-season storms with high, cold cloud tops. However, this case also demonstrated how ESWD reports...

This study developed a rapid assessment algorithm for post-hurricane forest damage estimation using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) measurements. The performance of five commonly used vegetation indices as post-hurricane forest damage indicators was investigated through statistical analysis. The Normalized Difference Infrared Index (NDII) was identified as the optimal damage indicator among these vegetation indices. An approach for detecting forest damage at a regional scale, without relying on ground inventory or sampling, was designed and validated. The validation showed that the relative change of pre- and post-hurricane NDII was linearly related to the damage severity estimated by the ground inventory with the coefficient of determination 0.79. This approach was applied to evaluate forest damage severity and the impacted region caused by Hurricane Katrina.

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, remote sensing technology played a key role in assessing urban damage caused by windstorm, flood and storm surge. This paper provides an overview of techniques employed operationally damage assessment, presenting them within a spatially-tiered reconnaissance framework. Successfully implemented following disasters including the 2003 Bam earthquake and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the tiered reconnaissance system provides a theoretical framework for evaluating damage at regional (Tier 1), neighborhood (Tier 2) and per-building (Tier 3) scales. In the case of hurricane Katrina, regional activities included the acquisition and interpretation of PDV footage to provide near real-time multi-hazard impact assessments, and the use of Landsat to evaluate flood extent. At a neighborhood scale, NOAA aerial imagery was used to provide a severity ranking of wind damage and to assess storm surge effects along the Mississippi coast,...

Remote sensing of a natural disaster’s damage offers an exciting backup and/or alternative to traditional means of on-site damage assessment. Although necessary for complete assessment of damage areas, ground-based damage surveys conducted in the aftermath of natural hazard passage can sometimes be potentially complicated due to on-site difficulties(e.g., interaction with various authorities and emergency services) and hazards (e.g., downed power lines, gaslines, etc.), the need for rapid mobilization (particularly for remote locations), and the increasing cost of rapid physical transportation of manpower and equipment. Satellite image analysis, because of its global ubiquity, its ability for repeated independent analysis, and, as we demonstrate here, its ability to verify on-site damage assessment provides an interesting new perspective and investigative aide to researchers.Using one of the strongest tornado events in US history,the 3 May 1999 Oklahoma City...

Little is currently known about the potential role of satellite imagery for monitoring and assessing the recovery phase of the disaster management cycle. The impacts and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina provide a unique opportunity to explore recovery at a time when commercial high-resolution remote sensing platforms offer an optimal resolution for such studies. The spatial, spectral and temporal signatures of the recovery process are currently being explored based on field and imagery based observations along the Gulf of Mexico Coastline of the United States. The work seeks to document and describe characteristics of the recovery process through time. A NHC Quick Response Field Grant supported field deployment to collect benchmark (9 month post-event); datasets for informing the remote sensing analysis and validating results. During the nine day deployment within the Hurricane Katrina impact area, the field team documented a range of recovery characteristics. The...

A new conceptual model that facilitates the inference of the vigor of severe convective storms, producing tornadoes and large hail, by using satellite-retrieved vertical profiles of cloud top temperature (T)–particle effective radius (r_e) relations is presented and tested. The driving force of these severe weather phenomena is the high updraft speed, which can sustain the growth of large hailstones and provide the upward motion that is necessary to evacuate the violently converging air of a tornado. Stronger updrafts are revealed by the delayed growth of r_e to greater heights and lower T, because there is less time for the cloud and raindrops to grow by coalescence. The strong updrafts also delay the development of a mixed phase cloud and its eventual glaciation to colder temperatures. Analysis of case studies making use of these and related criteria show that they can be used to identify clouds that possess a significant...

Engineering studies of wind-damaged buildings over the past four decades have helped strengthen the built environment against the effects of severe windstorms by influencing building codes, improving mitigation measures, and identifying life-saving construction practices. Post-windstorm investigations are time- and labor-intensive, however, and critical damage evidence is often lost in cleanup and repair efforts before large damage areas can be surveyed. Digital satellite and aerial imagery offers a means of rapidly preserving critical damage evidence (e.g., roof damage and debris spread) and also enables engineers to see damage conditions in inaccessible areas. A wide range of wind damage states are visible from the exterior of buildings: ranging from minor roof-covering damage to removal of the entire structure from the foundation. Many wind damage states can also be detected from the condition of the roof alone with a high degree of accuracy, and wind damage is therefore subject...

Hurricane Richard: IFRC DREF Operation - 4,639 persons were displaced to shelters. Funds have been allocated to assist 2,500 beneficiaries.
Source: GLIDEnumber