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| NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Depression 02W as it was coming together and soaking provinces in Mindanao and the Palawan province of Luzon. This infrared AIRS image from 12:41 a.m. EST on Feb. 19 showed strong storms (purple) over Mindanao and stretching west to Palawan. Credit: NASA JPL, Ed Olsen |
The second tropical depression of the northwestern Pacific Ocean season formed on Feb. 19, and NASA's Aqua satellite showed the storm was soaking the central and southern Philippines.
NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Depression 02W (TD02W) as it was coming together and soaking provinces in Mindanao and the Palawan province of Luzon. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument that flies aboard Aqua captured an infrared image of the depression at 0541 UTC (12:41 a.m. EST). The AIRS image showed very cold cloud top temperatures, colder than -63F (-52C) over Mindanao and stretching west to Palawan. Cloud top temperatures that cold are indicative of the potential to drop heavy rainfall.
AIRS infrared satellite imagery showed a very poorly organized and ill- defined low-level circulation center. The convection (rising air that forms thunderstorms that make up the depression) appears disorganized in the northern quadrant of the storm.
Text Credit: Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Source : NASA