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Except these are mountains made of water, not rock! Taken from an altitude of 65,000 feet, the image above shows enormous storm cells swirling high over the mountains of western North Carolina on May 23, 2014. It was captured from one of NASA's high-altitide ER-2 aircraft during a field research flight as part of the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment (IPHEx) campaign.
The photo was NASA's Image of the Day for June 19, 2014.
For six weeks the IPHex campaign team from NASA, NOAA, and Duke University set up ground stations and flew ER-2 missions over the southeastern U.S., collecting data on weather and rainfall that will be used to supplement and calibrate data gathered by the GPM Core Observatory launched in February.
By the time its role in IPHex was completed on June 16, the Lockheed ER-2 aircraft had flown more than 95 hours during 18 flights over North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee. Its high-altitude capabilities allow researchers to safely fly above storm systems, taking measurements like a satellite would.
Learn more about the ER-2 flights here, and read more about the IPHex campaign on Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering site here.
Source: NASA
A graphic designer in Rhode Island, Jason writes about space exploration on his blog Lights In The Dark, Discovery News, and, of course, here on Universe Today. Ad astra!
Entities 0 Name: NASA Count: 4 1 Name: Duke University Count: 2 2 Name: Georgia Count: 1 3 Name: North Count: 1 4 Name: U.S. Count: 1 5 Name: Florida Count: 1 6 Name: North Carolina Count: 1 7 Name: GPM Core Observatory Count: 1 8 Name: Tennessee Count: 1 9 Name: Pratt School of Engineering Count: 1 10 Name: South Carolina Count: 1 11 Name: Jason Count: 1 12 Name: Lockheed Count: 1 13 Name: Rhode Island Count: 1 14 Name: NOAA Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1lBVODD Title: December Test Flight Huge for NASA's Next Manned Spacecraft Description: This computer-generated art shows the launch abort system still attached and the jettison of the service module fairing panels. Credit: NASA The first flight test of NASA's new manned spacecraft may be six months away, but agency engineers are already looking forward to what they will learn from the trial.
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