NASA improves Hurricane Vision form Space

NASA has made considerable improvements not only when it comes to planetary exploration, but in hurricane detection as well. If we were to sit down and talk hurricane detection 10 years ago, things would have been a lot different. With models having a 50 kilometer resolution, they were not exactly pleasant to the eye, but with today’s 6 kilometer resolution things are looking quite well.

Satellites have undergone big changes ever since 2005 and NASA chose to reveal these changes in a recent post. It’s not only the resolution that changed. Because, honestly, we know that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. The computers that are gathering info about hurricanes are also top notch.

NASA has also launched an array of programs that verify how hurricanes become stronger or weaker over time and that does nothing more than improve the accuracy with which we can identify them and learn how to come with them in due time.

But how much did things change? You can check out yourself by comparing some hurricane satellite images from 2005 and 2015. The 2015 ones look like a pixelated video game from the 90s while the 2015 ones look like the greatest paintings modern artists could make. The difference is not only scientifically impressive, but it is also very beautiful.

But as mentioned before, it’s not all about the cover, it’s about the book itself. The supercomputers that NASA use in order to get all the information they need from all over the world is sending back millions of pieces of data every hour, every day, every week. And these supercomputers are the real deal.

But recording and predicting are two different things. Information comes in, but it needs to be interpreted so that something is going to be made of it. This is why NASA announced its new project back in 2010: the Center for Climate Stimulation. While NASA said that they would be dealing with 8 million observation every day, things surely changed in the 5 years that followed.

But only time will tell how good our technology will get. At the moment, Hurricane Danny is slowly but surely building up force in the Atlantic and more are sure to come in the following years. With NASA getting better and better at measuring hurricane behavior, predictions on where they will land will also get better. It is definitely something worth looking forward to.

Photo Credits nasa.gov