Australian forecasters are watching minutely the movement of the Tropical Cyclone Frances. NASA satellites are playing an important role in providing important data about this storm.
According to Phys.org, two important satellites of NASA, Aqua satellite, and the GPM core satellite, are playing important roles in this regard. The Aqua satellite is capturing visible images of the Tropical Cyclone Frances. The second one is collecting data regarding the rainfall occurring due to the storm.
The formation of the said Tropical Cyclone appeared in the north of the Melville Island in Australia on April 27, 2017. The storm is gradually gaining strength while moving through the western Timor sea. NASA satellite GPM core estimated the Frances' maximum sustained winds at 50 knots on April 27, 2017, at 1936 UTC. The Microwave Imager of the GPM and the DPR instruments were used to avail data about the rainfall occurring due to this cyclone.
The collected data from NASA satellites revealed the existence of the convective storms close to the center of Frances. These convective storms were responsible for rainfall dropping maintaining a rate of 70mm per hour. The DPR Ku Band, the GPM's Radar, was used to having a 3-D examination of the rainfall structure. The examination shows the towers of the convective storm near the center of the tropical storm were reaching the heights of 9.3 miles.
Notably, the GPM is the joint initiative between the JAXA, space agency of Japan and the NASA. The Blue Alert was issued by the ABM or the Australian Bureau of Meteorology for the residents residing between the Kuri Bay and the Kalumburu. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center monitored Frances on April 28 and noticed that the Tropical Cyclone gained the hurricane strength.
Initially, the cyclone was centered almost 347 nautical miles of Darwin, Australia maintaining south latitude of 12.1 degrees and east longitude of 125.0 degrees. Availed images from NASA satellites show that later the storm moved to the direction of west-southwest at 5.9 knots. It is believed that Frances may stay over the Timor Sea's open water and later move into The Indian Ocean.
According to Business Standard, Frances is approaching towards the westerly direction. That means the Tropical Cyclone may gradually move to the coast of the Western Australia maintaining a distance from the coastline. The NASA satellites are continuously monitoring the important movement of the storm.
With the emergence of the modern satellites, it is now possible to track all kinds of natural calamities in the coming days. Frances, the Tropical Cyclone, is currently a matter of concern for a part of the Australian residents. NASA satellites indicate the storm may encounter the increasing vertical wind shear that may surely cause the dissipation in five days. More data can predict clearer picture in the coming days.
