In light of the Hurricane disasters occurring right now, its a good idea to talk about something space-themed that has been pivotal in saving the lives of many people from these catastrophic forces of nature. No doubt, this has been a very turbulent year for Hurricanes. While Houston and much of Texas begins the cleanup from the destructive Hurricane Harvey, a new and more dangerous storm threatens the US . . .
Hurricane Irma is presently the most powerful Hurricane in the Atlantic’s recorded history.
She is a Category 5 storm with 175 mph or more winds, and charging straight for the south side of Florida and threatens to travel due north overland along the long north-south stretch of Florida and on into Georgia and South Carolina.
Even worse, Irma has two dangerous siblings joining her violent assault . . Katia (left) and Jose (right). Jose is a dangerous storm in his own right and headed for Irma-struck Caribbean islands!
Even up to 60 years ago, when powerful Hurricanes struck the US mainland and other parts of the world (called Typhoons in the Pacific), tremendous loss of life was an absolute certainty along with extremely tragic stories.
The most lethal Hurricane in US history struck Galveston in 1900 as a Category 4 monster, killing up to 12,000 people. Only warning came from Issac Cline’s barometer needle rapidly falling but there needed to be a better way of knowing a dangerous storm was coming.
So what could humanity do to stop these monster storms, or smaller storms like supercells responsible for producing tornadoes?
While there’s nothing physically that can be done to stop them, the key is providing advanced warning to give people more time to take shelter and/or evacuate. The answer can be found on an Atlas-V, flying a payload that is the answer. An eye in Earth’s orbit, high in Space . . . a satellite . . . a weather satellite named GOES-R+!
The successor of the earlier GOES (or Geostationary Environmental Satellite), the GOES-R+ is a significant part of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). GOES carries advanced spacecraft and instrumentation functions to help produce faster and more accurate weather forecasting. It also continues the legacy of older GOES satellites to detect and observe weather-based events and phenomena that have impacts on public well-being, economic impacts, and protecting property.
GOES is equipped with an advanced suite of equipment to fulfill that purpose. Beside the ability to photograph weather events from space, it can superimpose images showing infra-red heat, water vapor, temperature, among others to give meteorologists on earth an accurate view and data to make informative decisions.
GOES can also take still photographs at specified intervals to show time-lapse (or high-speed) motion video images. This can help weather researchers determine the rotational speed and energy of a Hurricane such as Irma, Jose, and Katia.
The above image shows Hurricane Irma, with a combination of clouds and infra-red showing the heat output of this monstrous storm. Same holds true for lesser events such as High pressure and Low pressure systems, and to determine when other storm events will occur (e.g. winter storms, thunderstorms, tornadoes, gales on the Great Lakes, etc).
Presently, the most well-known GOES weather satellite positions are GOES-East and GOES-West. GOES-East is the one that is on Atlantic tropical cyclone (Hurricane) watch duties as well as mainland US and South American monitoring. GOES-West does the same for the Pacific tropical cyclone (or Typhoon).
GOES satellites are placed at a high (18,000 mi+), geo-synchronous orbit above earth (which means they stay centered with the earth below) allowing them to keep a steady eye on the weather picture below with extremely high-resolution pictures.
This is an image from the GOES-East satellite.
GOES (although earlier than the new GOES-R+) was instrumental in reducing the numbered victims of destructive storms. In 1988, Hurricane Hugo slammed ashore in South Carolina causing widespread destruction. But thanks to the watchful eye of GOES, the coastal residents had ample warning of this dangerous storm, and there were fewer casualties. Same held true for many other potentially deadly events where the loss of life and injury were greatly reduced.
It’s tools like GOES-R+ and other GOES satellites that can help weather forecasters give the public updates and weather advisories. Such is the case with Hurricane Irma. As of this posting, many Florida residents have been ordered to flee inland away from the coast where Irma is expected to produce storm surges potentially greater than Hurricane Harvey.
As fearsome as this sounds, the good news is that storms like Irma cannot sneak up on our country or elsewhere in the world without warning anymore. Thanks to the watchful eye of space satellite GOES-R+, we have advanced information . . . the earlier the warning, the more time to take cover and flee.
NOTE: For latest updates on Hurricane Watches and Warnings, please visit Weather.com, and the National Hurricane Center page. And if you’re in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina (as of 09-09-2017), listen to warnings and mandatory evacuations and immediately follow them. Hurricane Irma is extremely dangerous even over land and is the most powerful storm in recorded-Atlantic history. My thoughts and prayers are with you at this time, and you can’t be too careful with your own safety.
For The Great Galactic Space Gimmick, I’m Gimmick Commander Ben Faltinowski. :'(
© Ben Faltinowski and The Great Galactic Space Gimmick, 2017, authorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Ben Faltinowski and The Great Galactic Space Gimmick with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
DISCLAIMER: The info and pics provided in this article came from public postings from various sources on the web such as NOAA. These are used for discussion and informative purposes only, and also to advise the public about the threat of Hurricane Irma and possibly Jose. It is believed this constitutes fair use.