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NASA sees 'hot towers' in intensifying Typhoon Bopha

November 30, 2012


Bopha intensified into a typhoon today, Nov. 30, as it continues to affect the islands in Micronesia in the western North Pacific Ocean. NASA's TRMM satellite captured rainfall data of Bopha and noticed "Hot Tower" thunderstorms as it was intensifying from a tropical storm into a typhoon.

When NASA and the Japanese Space Agency's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite passed over Bopha twice on Nov. 29, and the later data showed that the area of heaviest rainfall had expanded and was still south of the center of circulation. The heaviest rainfall was occurring at a rate of 2 inches/50 millimeters per hour. TRMM data also showed several "hot towers" within Tropical Storm Bopha. A "hot tower" is a tall cumulonimbus cloud that reaches at least to the top of the troposphere, the lowest layer of the atmosphere. It extends approximately nine miles (14.5 km) high in the tropics. The hot towers in Bopha were over 9.3 miles (15 km) high. These towers are called "hot" because they rise to such altitude due to the large amount of latent heat. Water vapor releases this latent heat as it condenses into liquid. NASA research shows that a tropical cyclone with a hot tower in its eyewall was twice as likely to intensify within six or more hours, than a cyclone that lacked a hot tower. It was after TRMM spotted the hot towers in Bopha that the storm intensified into a typhoon.

Forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast Bopha's center to pass close to Palau on its way to the Visayas region of Philippines by Dec. 4. Residents in the Philippines need to prepare for heavy rains, rough surf and strong winds.
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