• Credit:

  NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using VIIRS data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. Caption by Adam Voiland.

The Atlantic basin was relatively quiet for much of August 2018, but September brought a surge in storm activity. On September 9, 2018, Florence, Isaac, and Helene were all churning up the North Atlantic. The trio of storms is visible in this image acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite.

Category 4 Hurricane Florence was the most ominous for people in the United States. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center expect the slow-moving storm to reach the coast of the Carolinas on September 12 or 13, bringing a life-threatening storm surge, exceptionally heavy inland rains, and damaging winds. Though weakening, Category 1 Hurricane Isaac is on a path to cross the Lesser Antilles islands and move into the eastern Caribbean Sea on September 13. Category 2 Hurricane Helene was strengthening, but is expected to veer northward into the open ocean.

The bright strips in the image are reflected sunlight, or “glint,” which can show up over ocean areas in the middle of each orbit.

• References

• NASA (2018) Florence (was Potential Tropical Cyclone 6) 2018. Accessed September 10, 2018.
• National Hurricane Center (2018, September 10) Hurricane Florence. Accessed September 10, 2018.
• National Hurricane Center (2018, September 10) Hurricane Issac. Accessed September 10, 2018.
• National Hurricane Center (2018, September 10) Hurricane Helene. Accessed September 10, 2018.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2013, March 5) In a Warming World, Storms May Be Fewer but Stronger. Accessed September 10, 2018.
• NASA Earth Observatory (2018, September 10) Atlantic Hurricane Season 2018. Accessed September 10, 2018.

Images & Animations

Metadata

• Data Date:

  September 9, 2018

• Visualization Date:

  September 10, 2018

• Sensor(s):

  Suomi NPP - VIIRS
  

• Webmaster: Paul Przyborski
• NASA Official: Robert Levy
• Database Updated: June 18, 2019

The Visible Earth is part of the EOS Project Science Office located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.