Three space fliers posted views of Super Typhoon Noru whirling across Earth Aug. 1, and satellites caught vivid images of the storm as well.
Super Typhoon #Noru , amazing the size of this weather phenomenon, you can almost sense its power from 250 miles above. pic.twitter.com/x4R0FZSfRn
— Randy Bresnik (@AstroKomrade) August 1, 2017
The typhoon clearly displays its power and might in these images taken by Astronaut Randy Bresnik from the International Space Station . The eye of the storm and its winding storm clouds leave a vivid impression.
NASA astronaut Jack Fischer tweeted another view of the storm:
When Mother Nature gets to spinning, it can be an awesome but scary sight. Looks like super Typhoon #Noru is gaining momentum. #EarthShapes pic.twitter.com/hR8gyYlhEs
— Jack Fischer (@Astro2fish) August 1, 2017
And Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, newly arrived to the station along with Bresnik, tweeted his own image of the swirling mass.
Прямо сейчас этот #супертайфун по имени #Нору «гуляет» над Тихим океаном. // Super #Typhoon #Noru swirling in the Pacific Ocean. pic.twitter.com/SUPOnXCM6h
— Сергей Рязанский (@SergeyISS) August 1, 2017
Yurchikhin and Bresnik have been on the station for just five days, although they’d both been in space before.
Typhoon Noru tears across the northwestern Pacific Ocean toward Japan on July 31, 2017. MODIS on board NASA’s Terra satellite passed over the massive storm, capturing this visible-light image.
Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team
Seen from NASA’s Terra satellite, bands of thunderstorms seem to envelop Noru’s eye in a July 31 image by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, circling the very large, defined core of the storm. [Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones: Storms of Many Names ]
Noru’s sustained winds were at 90 knots (103.6 mph), down from 125 knots (143.8 mph) on the morning of July 30. In an infrared light image by NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite on July 30, taken by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument, the cloud top of Noru reached temperatures as low as 190 Kelvin (-117.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Typically the frigid temperatures translate into very heavy rains produced by these storms.
The Suomi NPP satellite used the VIIRIS instrument to capture this infrared image of Typhoon Noru, illustrating the extremely cold temperatures present in the topmost clouds making up the massive thunderstorms circling the eye.
Credit: University of Wisconsin-Madison/CIMSS/William Straka III
Noru was headed toward Japan’s Iwo To Island at about 7 knots (8 mph). The storm is expected to make landfall on Kyushu, Japan’s third largest and most southwest island, on Aug. 5. While the storm has weakened slightly, its intensity is expected to rise and fall as it approaches southwestern Japan.
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