TRMM Observes Cloud Towers in Hurricane Frances

NASA's TRMM satellite (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) can see hurricanes in three dimensions. Looking down from its near Earth orbit, the vehicle is unique in the space agency's fleet of Earth observing instruments. Here we see Frances depicted showing aspects of the storm's inner structure. Red colors indicate regions of the most significant rainfall. Notice the spires stretching up in to the sky. These 'hot towers' suggest an efficient and powerful heat engine inside the storm, emphasizing to experts just how powerful this particular hurricane may be.

This visualization shows the internal storm structure by melting away different surfaces of constant rain rates then building them back up. The surfaces are 0.25mm/hr (blue), 0.5mm/hr (green), 1.0 mm/hr (yellow), and 2.0 mm/hr (red/orange).

See http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2004/0902frances.html