NASA is keeping an eye on Hurricane Dorian, which has battered the Bahamas and now threatens Florida and much of the southeastern coast of the United States. Their Earth satellites and aircraft have a unique ability to watch as storms form, travel across the ocean and, sometimes, make landfall, while giving details on a hurricane’s heavy rain, cloud height, and wind.
Astronaut Nick Hague, aboard the International Space Station, posted this photograph of Hurricane Dorian to Twitter on September 2, 2019. He added, “You can feel the power of the storm when you stare into its eye from above. Stay safe everyone!”
The ISS has always been useful for studying the Earth, for there are still some things that human scientists in orbit can do that space satellites cannot do – – – – yet!