Alabama 811 | Know What's Below.

NASA Spacecraft Sees Tornado Tracks

| May 17, 2011 @ 8:39 am | 6 Replies

Even from 438 miles above the Earth, you can tell that something very significant happened around Tuscaloosa and Birmingham April 27th.

For the first time, an energy-sensing instrument aboard a NASA spacecraft has been used to identify tracks left by the devastating tornado that tore through central Alabama.

Here’s what the damage path looks like as seen by ASTER, short for Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer:

ASTER tornado track

ASTER, which flies aboard NASA’s Tera spacecraft, monitors visible and infrared energy reflected from the Earth’s surface. The destruction caused by the tornado shows up clearly in ASTER’s imaging, because of differences in how energy reflects back to the spacecraft from areas where houses and trees have been demolished.

The image above was captured May 4th, while Tera—which has a near polar orbit—made a pass over central Alabama.

Sometimes, knowing exactly where a tornado was on the ground can be difficult to pinpoint.

ASTER’s imaging is one more way we can use technology to better identify what’s happening on Earth.

You can find out more about ASTER and Tera by clicking here

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Category: Alabama's Weather

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