What Was Behind Idalia’s Rapid Intensification? - related image preview

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What Was Behind Idalia’s Rapid Intensification?

A new analysis suggests that a large freshwater plume in the hurricane’s path helped fuel its extraordinary growth.


NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using sea surface salinity data courtesy of JPL and the SMAP Science Team and the Multiscale Ultrahigh Resolution (MUR) project. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

Published March 10, 2025
Data acquired August 18 - 25, 2023

Sources:
Model
SMAP