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NASA astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) witnessed the fury of Hurricane Nigel as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Photo/NASA
FLORIDA – NASA astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) witnessed the fury of Hurricane Nigel as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean at a speed of 22 km/hour. The storm is not expected to reach the mainland United States (US), but will bring a lot of rain over the weekend.
Astronauts and satellites tracked Hurricane Nigel from space as it crossed the Atlantic Ocean. The storm rose to Category 2 status on Tuesday 19 September 2023 as it moved from the north-northwest at a speed of 22 km/h across the Atlantic Ocean.
Hurricane Nigel’s highest wind speed reached 160 km/hour. Astronauts on the ISS, along with several Earth observation satellites, are closely observing the path of Hurricane Nigel as it rotates over ocean waters.
NOAA’s GOES-East satellite watched Hurricane Nigel – the sixth hurricane of this hurricane season – spin over the Atlantic Ocean between Sept. 19 and Sept. 20. Satellite imagery captured aerial views of the storm’s enormous eye and intricately rotating clouds as these two features fueled the storm system.
The European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite also observed Hurricane Nigel and its massive storm eye on September 19, when it was located about 1,000 km southeast of Bermuda. At that time, the storm was still classified as a Category 1 hurricane.
NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli shares views of Hurricane Nigel from the space station. Moghbeli is the commander of the SpaceX Crew-7 mission, which launched into space on August 26.
“@Space_Station offers a valuable vantage point for observing a variety of weather phenomena, either through Earth crew observations or numerous experiments conducted externally. We went through Nigel’s eyes! “To me, it looks like a heart,” said Moghbeli, quoted by SINDOnews from the Space page, Sunday (24/9/2023).
From the Cupola’s vantage point on the ISS, Hurricane Nigel appeared to blanket the Atlantic Ocean in a thick layer of white storm clouds. The crew passes right in front of Nigel’s eyes, offering a unique vantage point from which to observe the growing storm.
(wib)