February 6, 2019

NASA catches development of Tropical Cyclone Gelena

by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA catches development of Tropical Cyclone Gelena
At 5:20 a.m. EDT (1020 UTC) on Feb. 6, 2019, the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite provided a visible image of Tropical Storm Gelena in the Southern Indian Ocean. The image showed the storm developing an eye, with bands of thunderstorms wrapping into the low-level center. Credit: NASA/NRL

Visible-light imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite revealed the development of Tropical Depression 13S into a tropical storm. Tropical Storm Gelena intensified rapidly and appeared to have a cloud-filled eye.

At 5:20 a.m. EDT (1020 UTC) on Feb. 6 the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite provided a visible image of Tropical Storm Gelena in the Southern Indian Ocean. The image showed the developing an eye, with bands of thunderstorms wrapping into the low-level center.

At 10 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on Feb. 6, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center or JTWC noted that Trami had maximum sustained winds near 45 knots (52 mph/83 kph). It was centered near 12.3 degrees south latitude and 53.4 degrees east longitude. That's 504 nautical miles north-northwest of St. Denis, La Reunion Island.

JTWC has forecast Gelena to strengthen rapidly and will eventually turn to the southeast. It is expected to reach hurricane-strength upon approach to Rodrigues, on Feb. 9.

Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Citation: NASA catches development of Tropical Cyclone Gelena (2019, February 6) retrieved 30 September 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2019-02-nasa-tropical-cyclone-gelena.html
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