Tropical Storm Rina
Ever since Hurricane Ophelia, it has been rather quiet in the Atlantic Ocean in regards to tropical cyclone activity, but now we have Tropical Storm Rina in the midst. As of early morning, 7 November 2017, Rina is positioned in the central Atlantic Ocean and is projected to move north, then northeast, and is not expected to hit land. Rina’s magnitude will stay as a tropical storm, not becoming a hurricane during the remainder of its life cycle. The latest updates on Rina can be seen via the National Hurricane Center link, shown here.
Below is a Day/Night Band (DNB) image of Tropical Storm Rina located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean taken at 0421Z, 7 November 2017. For readers that are not familiar, the DNB satellite product utilizes a sun/moon reflectance model that illuminates atmospheric features, senses emitted and reflected light sources and assists with cloud monitoring during the nighttime. In the image, notice the well-defined circulation of Rina, located just west of the convective clouds and bands. The identification of the circulations are crucial in tropical cyclone forecasting, specifically, in finding the strongest/intense part (s) of the cyclones, which can dramatically affect coastal areas with torrential rainfall, flooding, high winds and storm surge. Additionally, in the top-right corner of the image, the moon percent visibility and the moon elevation angle values are provided. The values imply that the the moon is above the horizon and provided adequate moonlight when the image was taken via satellite.
