NASA Measures Cyclone Chapala's Heavy Rains Across Arabian Sea to Yemen 4 November 2015, by Steve Lang

NASA measures Cyclone Chapala's heavy rains across Arabian Sea to Yemen 4 November 2015, by Steve Lang

heavy rains and flooding to a country that is predominantly dry desert. Although on average the western highlands receive between 10 and 15 inches of rain per year, much of eastern Yemen receives less and 5 inches per year with coastal areas often getting less than 2 inches per year.

The Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM or IMERG is used to make estimates of precipitation from a combination of passive microwave sensors, including the GMI microwave sensor onboard the GPM satellite, and geostationary IR (infrared) data.

From Oct. 28 to Nov. 3, IMERG showed rainfall amounts At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in between 5 to 15 inches (yellow and dark red, Greenbelt, Maryland, the data was used to create respectively) over south central Yemen and along the an image that showed IMERG rainfall estimates coast to the right of where Chapala made landfall. from Oct. 28 at 18:00 UTC to Nov. 3 at 08:30 UTC (Storm track in white) Areas in eastern Yemen appear to for Yemen, the Gulf of Aden and the surrounding have received at least 3 inches of rain (shown in green). region in association with Cyclone Chapala. The highest total over Yemen was 398 mm (~16 inches). Credit: NASA/JAXA, Hal Pierce IMERG showed rainfall amounts between 5 to 15 inches over south central Yemen and along the coast to the right of where Chapala made landfall. Areas in eastern Yemen appear to have received at The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or least 3 inches of rain. The highest total over Yemen GPM core satellite added up the totals as Cyclone was 398 mm (~16 inches). Chapala dropped a lot of rain moving across the Arabian Sea to landfall in Yemen. Most of these totals are the equivalent of a year's worth of precipitation or more. So far at least 3 Cyclone Chapala formed into a rare but powerful persons are reported to have died and 200 injured Category 4 cyclone in the Arabian Sea with winds as a result of the storm on the island of Socotra at one time estimated at 155 mph by the Joint located about 150 miles east of the Horn of Africa. Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) back on Oct. 30. IMERG rainfall totals for Socotra are between 12 Chapala made its initial landfall along the south and 20 inches of rain. coast of Yemen on November 3 west of the port city of Mukulla at around 09:00 UTC as a Category GPM is a joint missions between NASA and the 1 cyclone with maximum sustained winds Japanese space agency JAXA. estimated at 75 mph by JTWC, making it the first Category 1 cyclone on record to strike Yemen. The last cyclone to strike the Arabian Peninsula was Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Cyclone Phet, which hit eastern Oman back in 2010.

In addition to strong gusty winds Chapala brought

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APA citation: NASA measures Cyclone Chapala's heavy rains across Arabian Sea to Yemen (2015, November 4) retrieved 2 October 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2015-11-nasa-cyclone-chapala-heavy- arabian.html

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