PIA07415: Cyclones in the Pacific
 Target Name:  Earth
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  QuikScat
 Spacecraft:  QuikScat Satellite
 Instrument:  SeaWinds Scatterometer
 Product Size:  1456 x 1548 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA07415.tif (4.757 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA07415.jpg (792.9 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

The SeaWinds scatterometer aboard NASA's QuikScat satellite collected the data used to create this colorful image of Cyclone Olaf churning in the South Pacific on February 16, 2005. The colored background shows the near-surface wind speeds at 2.5-kilometer resolution. The strongest winds, shown in purple, are at the center of the storm, with gradually weakening winds forming rings around the center. The black barbs indicate wind speed and direction at QuikScat's nominal, 25-kilometer resolution; white barbs indicate areas of heavy rain.

QuikScat Background
NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikScat) spacecraft was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California on June 19, 1999. QuikScat carriesthe SeaWinds scatterometer, a specialized microwave radar that measures near-surface wind speed and direction under all weather and cloud conditions over the Earth's oceans. More information about the QuikScat mission and observations is available at http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov. QuikScat is managed for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, DC, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. JPL also built the SeaWinds radar instrument and is providing ground science processing systems. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, managed development of the satellite, designed and built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, CO. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has contributed support to ground systems processing and related activities.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
2005-03-03