RapidScat catches a day in the short life of Tropical Storm Vamco
Tropical Storm Vamco lived for two days in the South China Sea. On the day it developed into a depression the RapidScat instrument aboard the International Space Station provided forecasters data on its surface winds.
On Sunday, September 13, Tropical Depression 19W developed and quickly intensified into Tropical Storm Vamco near Hainan in the South China Sea.
The RapidScat instrument measured Vamco's sustained winds on September 13 at 4 p.m. EDT. Maximum sustained winds were near 21 meters per second (46.9 mph/75.6 kph) on the storm's southwestern side, along the coast of southeastern Vietnam.
At 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) on Monday, September 14, 2015, Tropical Storm Vamco had maximum sustained winds near 35 knots (40 mph/62 kph). It was located just 42 nautical miles (48 miles/77 km) southeast of Da Nang, Vietnam near 15.5 North latitude and 108.3 East longitude. It was moving to the west at 8 knots (9.2 mph/14.8 kph).
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) noted that animated enhanced infrared imagery depicts the majority of the convection (thunderstorms and rain) over central Vietnam and north of the system. The position of the low-level center appears to be within 10 nautical miles of the Vietnam coastline.
Forecasters at JTWC expect Vamco to move west over the rugged terrain of Vietnam and Laos and completely dissipate. At 11 a.m. EDT, JTWC issued their final warning on this short-lived system.
Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
