NASA Planes And Satellites Watching Hurricane Earl From Above

As hurricane Earl is getting ready to hit the US East Coast, NASA is watching from the skies, using its large high tech fleet of aircraft and satellites. Yesterday Earl was a category 3 storm with 125 mph winds. But in a single day, it’s reached category 4 140 mph winds.

NASA scientists are flying airplanes into this swirling mass, measuring the hurricane’s wind speeds, precipitation and more. As part of NASA’s GRIP program — Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes — a NASA DC-8 flew through Earl’s eye six times as the hurricane intensified from a Category 2 to a Category 4 storm.

Meanwhile, an ISS crew member used a digital camera with a 50mm lens to take the above photo, from a much safer distance.

Source: Popular Science.

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