| Astronaut Photos of Hurricane Lili: On October 2, 2002,
Houston’s Mission Control Center powered down and people along the
coasts of Texas and Louisiana prepared for landfall of Hurricane
Lili. The storm held special significance for International Space
Station astronauts orbiting above 210 n. mi. above—it delayed that
day’s launch of the Space Shuttle that was scheduled to bring them
visitors and supplies and hardware. However, the crew gained
perspective on Lili by tracking and photographing the hurricane near
its peak. Early in the day, the storm strengthened rapidly from a
strong Category 2 (at 7 AM CDT Oct. 2, maximum winds were near 95
knots with a central pressure of 954 millibars) to a robust Category
4 Hurricane (125 knots with the central pressure of 940 millibars).
Fortunately the storm weakened to a Category 2 Hurricane again prior
to landfall
about twelve hours later on the marshy, uninhabited coast of central
Louisiana south of Lafayette. In successive late afternoon
orbits, the astronauts viewed the storm in the northern Gulf of
Mexico and acquired these dramatic digital photos of Lili’s compact
storm system along with details of the structure of its estimated 15
nautical mile wide eye. During this interval, the storm continued to
intensify. The first pair of photos (left) were taken at 4:37 PM CDT.
At 4 PM CDT Hurricane Hunter aircraft had estimated 120 knot winds.
The pair of images on the right were taken 1 orbit later, at 6:13 PM
CDT—the darker, bluer color results from lower sun angles. At 7 PM
the Hurricane Hunter estimated the wind speeds at 125 knots These
oblique views with low sun provide details and perspectives of such
storms unavailable from meteorological satellite systems. |
