Friday marked a major anniversary for satellites. On Oct. 16, 1975, NASA sent in a long run of successful weather satellites into orbit more than 22,000 miles above the earth's surface. Just nine days later, it returned its first image. The satellite, dubbed GOES-1, gave meteorologists their first near real-time view of the planet from a fixed
MoreBombogenesis might be the coolest word in meteorology and it was on stunning display this weekend in the Pacific. Not one but two storms bombed out in the north Pacific on Saturday and Japan’s Himawari-8 satellite captured the moment of synchronized bombing.
First, a little meteorological geekery. The term bombogenesis describes when a storm’s pressure drops 24 millibars or greater in 24 hours. The process that can happen when tropical storms scoot polewards and transition into a post-tropical low. Nor’easters and other storms that originate outside the tropics can also bomb out. This process should not be confused with Kris Kross’ middling single, “Da Bomb.”
The process happens fairly regularly, but video above, uploaded by the Ocean Prediction Service, showing a satellite view of two storms undergoing bombogenesis at once, is impressive. The storms in question are the remnants of Typhoon Champi and Hurricane Olaf, which roamed the western and eastern tropical Pacific, respectively, before taking a turn northward.
The imagery of the spiraling extratropical cyclones comes from Japan’s Himawari-8 satellite. It’s the most advanced weather satellite ever put into the orbit and has been delivering astounding imagery of storms in the Pacific since coming online in July.
The western hemisphere will get its own fancy new satellite with similar capabilities next year when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES-R satellite enters orbits.
