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A MISR NASA satellite recently captured several views of a near-record intensity hurricane spinning across the Pacific Ocean.
By Andrew Bridges
Pasadena Bureau Chief
posted: 07:00 pm ET
07 July 2000
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carlotta_misr_000707 PASADENA, Calif. A $1.3 billion NASA satellite recently captured several views, including one in stereo, of a near-record intensity hurricane spinning across the Pacific Ocean.NASAs Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer MISR, for short snapped the views of Hurricane Carlotta at its peak intensity on June 21 from its vantage point aboard the Terra satellite. With winds reaching 155 m.p.h. (250 kilometers per hour), Carlotta became the second strongest eastern Pacific hurricane on record. 
The first of the three-color images released by NASA shows Carlottas location in the eastern Pacific, about 310 miles (500 kilometers) south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The middle image gives a stereo view best seen with 3-D glasses of the area around the hurricane. Carlottas eye measures about 16 miles (25 kilometers) across, although it is partially obscured with a thin veil of clouds. The bottom image gives an up-close look at convective clouds in the hurricanes spiral arms. The region is a fertile breeding ground for severe thunderstorms, made up of individual cells (apparent in the image) about 12 miles (20 kilometers) across. NASA launched Terra in December 1999. The satellite and its suite of Earth-observing instruments is designed to give scientists a regular "checkup" of our planets health. A follow-on satellite, Aqua, will be launched this December.
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