Publication Date August 10, 2016 | Phys.org

NASA's IMERG measures Hurricane Earl's deadly rainfall in Mexico

Mexico
Earl's locations and intensities, as defined by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), are shown overlaid in white. Image: NASA/JAXA/Hal Pierce
Earl's locations and intensities, as defined by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), are shown overlaid in white. Image: NASA/JAXA/Hal Pierce

Data from NASA's Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) were used to estimate the amount of rain that fell from Aug. 2 through Aug. 8. GPM is the Global Precipitation Measurement mission, a joint mission of NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

The analysis, created at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, showed rainfall over the period from when Earl became a tropical storm until Earl's remnants interacted with an area of disturbed weather along the Pacific coast. Some areas in extreme southern Mexico received up to 43.3 inches (1,100 mm) of rain