NASA’s Hurricane Science, Tech, Data Help American Communities

NASA · June 12

12 Min Read

NASA’s Hurricane Science, Tech, Data Help American Communities

View from space shows a massive Hurricane Milton with a well-defined eye and spiral cloud bands over the ocean.

Hurricane Milton swirls over the ocean in this view from the International Space Station.

Credits:
ISS Astronaut/Earth Observatory

NASA supports hurricane preparedness and response by providing satellite data and science before, during, and after storms.
During hurricane season, NASA delivers timely flood maps, power outage insights, landslide risk assessments, and more to state and federal partners.
NASA tests innovative technologies, from AI models to mini satellites, to enhance how we monitor hurricanes and their impacts.
NASA’s long-term tracking of wind, ocean heat, and atmospheric moisture improves understanding of where hurricanes might form and intensify.

With the Atlantic hurricane season underway, NASA is again gearing up to produce cutting-edge research that strengthens the nation’s ability to prepare for and respond to severe weather. From satellite imagery of our planet to improved storm modeling, the agency’s work supports communities in anticipating and reducing the impacts of hurricanes.

In 2024, hurricanes including Helene and Milton showed NASA’s wide-ranging capabilities. As the storms approached the United States, the agency’s network of satellites and scientists swung into action. Within hours of landfall, NASA’s Disasters Response Coordination System was supplying emergency managers and others with flood maps, power outage assessments, and other crucial data.

“People might be surprised how deeply NASA is involved in hurricane science,” said Scott Braun, a research meteorologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We are not the agencies issuing forecasts or warnings, but our technologies and science are making fundamental contributions to how we understand, predict, and respond to these storms.”

Disaster Response Powered by NASA

When hurricanes strike, NASA’s Disasters Response Coordination System aids state and federal agencies, producing and sharing imagery and data, including the NASA Disasters Mapping Portal, which offers tools to assess storm damage.

One crucial tool is NASA’s Black Marble product suite, produced and maintained by NASA Goddard. Using data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), researchers and others can map nighttime lights and detect power outages.

Unlike traditional outage maps, which often show only county-level data, NASA’s Black Marble can provide a more detailed view. It offers calibrated, daily observations, enabling high-confidence tracking of neighborhood-level impacts. Emergency response teams in Florida, for instance, have used this imagery to assess conditions near hazardous waste sites before heading into the field after a hurricane.

before

after

The night satellite image of the greater Augusta area shows gray dark city streets across most of the image with small pockets of orange to purple coloration that indicate lighting.

The state faced widespread power outages after winds from Hurricane Helene snapped trees, tore off roofs, and toppled power lines. View the full story

NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin

The state faced widespread power outages after winds from Hurricane Helene snapped trees, tore off roofs, and toppled power lines. View the full story

NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin

before

after

Scientists with NASA’s Black Marble processed data from VIIRS on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite to show how power outages darkened Augusta, Georgia, before and after Hurricane Helene. View the full story

Other NASA technologies map flooding. Scientists at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama used the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar data and other data from the NASA/U.S. Geological Survey Landsat satellites and ESA’s Sentinel-2 to track flooding after multiple hurricanes in 2024, including Helene and Milton.

These maps were shared through the NASA Disasters Mapping Portal with state and federal emergency managers responding to storms’ impacts in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and elsewhere.

“The ability to see floodwaters and landscape changes gives communities a critical edge during response and recovery,” said Shanna McClain, disasters program manager for NASA’s Earth Science Division at NASA headquarters in Washington. “It helps decision-makers act faster when every minute counts.”

Hurricanes don’t just knock out power or trigger flooding — they can also loosen mountains. After Hurricane Helene, NASA scientists partnered with USGS to tackle a different threat: landslides throughout the southern Appalachian Mountains. NASA’s Landslide Hazard Assessment for Situational Awareness tool, developed at NASA Goddard, can help spot landslide-prone areas by combining different troves of satellite data.

“The landslide model brings together a wide range of Earth science,” said Thomas Stanley, a research scientist at NASA Goddard. “It’s a real convergence of satellite observations — soil moisture, precipitation, elevation — each one adding a key piece to the puzzle.”

NASA and USGS used rainfall data and modeling to estimate landslide hazards in the Appalachians following Hurricane Helene, highlighting high-risk zones across western North Carolina.

NASA/USGS

In the days during and after Helene, a NASA-USGS team adapted this model to incorporate ground-based rainfall measurements. “This collaboration proved crucial during the critical first days when lingering clouds prevented direct satellite imaging of landslides,” said Kate Allstadt, a research geophysicist at USGS. “Combining NASA and USGS landslide models guided aerial reconnaissance over four states and helped prioritize areas for detailed mapping.”

NASA Disasters Response coordinators also partnered with USGS to manually map likely landslide areas in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, using high-resolution satellite imagery. This partnership enabled early warnings to agencies such as the North Carolina Geological Survey about potential landslide zones before visual confirmation was possible.

Tracking Hurricanes in Near Real Time

As hurricanes gather strength over warm ocean waters, NASA’s satellites begin tracking them. One effort providing essential data on hurricanes is the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, a collaboration between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Passing over storms once or twice per day, the GPM core satellite captures high-resolution data on rainfall intensity and distribution.

“The GPM mission gives us an inside look at where a storm is dropping the most rain and how intense it is,” said George Huffman, GPM project scientist at NASA Goddard. “That kind of information helps forecasters make better predictions and gives communities more time to prepare for flooding and dangerous conditions.”

Huffman’s team leads NASA’s IMERG (Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM) product, which combines GPM Core Observatory data with observations from other satellites to generate near real-time, global rainfall estimates every 30 minutes. For example, IMERG tracked the record-breaking rainfall that fell during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, when parts of Texas saw more than 50 inches of rain.

Satellite-based rainfall data can be especially vital when a big storm like Harvey or Helene knocks out ground-based rain measurements, Huffman said.

Watch Hurricane Harvey as it makes landfall in Texas and Louisiana in 2017. The visualization depicts precipitation measured by the GPM mission, highlighting record-shattering rainfall over Texas and Louisiana. Blue is frozen precipitation, while green to red is rainfall.

NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

NASA also is working to turn precipitation data into practical flood predictions. One such effort, led by NASA-funded hydrologist Ed Beighley at Northeastern University in Boston, merges rainfall estimates from the GPM mission with National Weather Service river discharge models and surface water mapping methods to identify areas likely to experience flooding.

During Hurricane Helene, his team provided early versions of these flood maps to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

“In some cases, like with Helene, we could see where disasters were likely to be declared just from the rainfall data — days before the disaster declarations were made official,” Beighley said. “That kind of near real-time information could really help counties and health departments prepare and coordinate response efforts.”

That same focus on improving early flood prediction was at the heart of NASA’s response to Hurricane Debby when it made landfall in Florida in August 2024. At NASA Marshall, the Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) team used its Land Information System to track soil moisture levels, crucial for understanding the potential for flooding.

The team’s Streamflow-AI model — a machine learning tool trained to predict how rivers respond to rainfall — also forecasted rising waters in small streams and creeks in Florida and the Carolinas.

“The streamflow tool is used pretty heavily by the National Weather Service now to help inform flood forecasts, which then filters down to evacuation orders,” said Patrick Duran, a NASA Marshall research scientist with SPoRT.

SPoRT’s Stream Flow AI showing the flooding potential for Swannanoa River in Asheville, North Carolina.

NASA SPoRT’s Streamflow-AI model shows the flooding potential for the Swannanoa River in Asheville, North Carolina, during and after Hurricane Helene.

NASA SPoRT

Reinventing the Tech That Sees Into Storms

NASA doesn’t just collect data on hurricanes or aid in their aftermath — it is redefining the technology we use to observe and understand them. This work is not only improving forecasts and warnings but also helping to fuel the growth of America’s commercial satellite industry.

Take NASA’s TROPICS mission. Short for Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats, TROPICS represents a fundamental shift in how we might monitor hurricanes from space. Rather than relying solely on intermittent passes by larger satellites, TROPICS uses a group of small, lower-cost satellites working in concert to provide more frequent observations of tropical storm systems — offering a complementary approach to storm monitoring.

During Hurricane Helene, the TROPICS satellites tracked the storm through nearly its entire life cycle, capturing data on its rapid intensification from a tropical depression to a powerful category 4 hurricane before landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region.

Each TROPICS satellite carries a microwave radiometer. Unlike optical sensors, this instrument can see through clouds, making it ideal for tracking storms. The TROPICS’ radiometers are tuned to detect temperature, moisture, and precipitation patterns inside hurricanes.

“The TROPICS mission is really good at providing images of the structure of a storm, showing how well defined the eye is, which is key for improving forecasting,” said William Blackwell, TROPICS principal investigator at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Massachusetts.

NASA’s TROPICS mission monitored Hurricane Helene throughout its life cycle. This visualization shows how the tropical depression rapidly intensified into a category 4 hurricane before hitting Florida and then moving inland.

NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

Tomorrow.io, an American weather company, is using radiometer technology derived from TROPICS as it develops tools for commercial weather forecasting. The company also is working to adapt radar technology first tested on NASA’s RainCube mission.

RainCube, a small satellite about the size of a shoebox developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, operated from 2018 to 2020. It used radar to study precipitation, sending signals toward Earth and analyzing how long they took to bounce back, and how strong they were after reflecting off raindrops, snowflakes, and cloud ice.

Full-scale satellites have been using radar technology to make that kind of measurement for years. “The key thing with RainCube wasn’t bringing in new science,” said Simone Tanelli, RainCube principal scientist at JPL. “Instead, it was showing that we could give you similar data with a box that’s roughly 100 times smaller in volume than a full-size satellite.”

NASA also tests how other small, lower-cost instruments could transform how we monitor tropical storms. Two such tools — COWVR, short for Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer measures ocean surface winds, and TEMPEST, short for Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems tracks atmospheric water vapor — were launched to the International Space Station in 2021.

Using technology and designs from JPL and other NASA teams, TEMPEST and COWVR already are proving their value. Their data has been used by the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center to help track and forecast powerful storms, such as Tropical Cyclone Mandous in December 2022.

This image of Tropical Cyclone Mandous, created with COWVR and TEMPEST data, shows the storm's structure and intensity as it nears southern India in December 2022.

Data from the COWVR and TEMPEST instruments aboard the ISS was used to create this image of Tropical Cyclone Mandous, which forecasters used to understand the December 2022 storm’s intensity and predict its path toward southern India.

U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center/U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

NASA researchers also are investigating lightning, which has emerged as a key clue in predicting rapid storm intensification, a dangerous phase of the hurricane life cycle that is one of the most difficult aspects of hurricane forecasting. Spikes in lightning activity, especially in the eyewall, can be an early sign that a storm is about to strengthen quickly.

The agency’s SPoRT project is researching how lightning data from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper can improve hurricane forecasting. This sensor provides a nearly continuous view of lightning activity over oceans and in remote land regions that have fewer weather observations. The instrument rides aboard NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) GOES weather satellites.

“By studying the size and energy of lightning flashes inside hurricanes, we’re learning how they might signal whether a storm is about to intensify or weaken,” said Duran. “It’s an evolving area of research with a lot of potential.”

During Hurricane Helene, SPoRT’s lightning analyses revealed a burst of strong, frequent flashes in the eyewall just before the storm surged from category 2 to category 4 intensity. That’s exactly the kind of signal researchers hope to detect more reliably in the future.

Animated sequence showing repeated, bright lightning flashes in the circular eyewall of Hurricane Helene, as viewed from space by the Geostationary Lightning Mapper. The flashes intensify and become more frequent, illustrating the storm’s rapid strengthening from Category 2 to Category 4 shortly before landfall.

Bright, large lightning flashes seen in Hurricane Helene’s eyewall, captured by NASA SPoRT’s Geostationary Lightning Mapper viewer, indicate the storm’s rapid intensification from category 2 to 4 just hours before landfall.

NASA SPoRT

NASA frequently uses its airplanes to test new hurricane tech, too. In one recent example, scientists from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, flew a cutting-edge 3-D Doppler wind lidar system across the United States, including making passes through the edges of Hurricane Helene. The instrument is designed to capture high-resolution wind data that can improve predictions of rapidly evolving storms, such as hurricanes and severe thunderstorms, where accurate wind observations are essential, but often lacking.

Braun compared these multiple data streams — from TROPICS, GPM, and other instruments — to medical imaging. “Think about how doctors use different types of scans like X-rays, MRIs, and ultrasound to understand what’s happening inside a patient’s body,” he said. “We’re doing something similar with hurricanes. Each system gives us a different view of the storm’s internal structure and environment, with the goal of improving forecasts.”

Watching For Hurricane Warning Signs

Long before a hurricane takes shape, NASA satellites are already scanning the global ocean and atmosphere, closely tracking the conditions that give rise to powerful storms. One of the most important indicators is sea surface temperature.

NASA combines data from multiple satellites and sensors — such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and VIIRS — to produce sea surface temperature maps like JPL’s Multi-scale Ultra-high Resolution Sea Surface Temperature product and SPoRT’s Sea Surface Temperature Composite product. These global maps, updated daily, support users such as the National Weather Service.

“Having high-resolution, reliable sources of sea surface temperature data is extremely useful,” said Brian McNoldy of the University of Miami, who studies hurricanes. “From one day to the next, these datasets help identify which parts of the tropical Atlantic are above or below average. That information lets forecasters anticipate where storms might strengthen or weaken.”

The image of the gulf coast, land in gray and ocean with a temperature gradient overlay with current cloud coverage shows Hurricane Milton. The ocean temperatures overlay shows all Gulf of Mexico waters in a shade of red. The range of color on the warm side of the spectrum ranges from pale yellow at 21 degrees C to a dark, near black shade of red, at 32 degrees C or more.

Hurricane Milton rapidly intensified to category 5 strength over warm gulf waters. View the full story

NASA Earth Observatory/Wanmei Liang

Ocean surface temperatures are only part of the story. NASA also monitors sea surface height with missions such as Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich and SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography), using these measurements as indicators for deeper ocean heat content, a key source of energy fueling hurricanes.

Other NASA-built satellites and sensors measure atmospheric moisture, ocean surface winds, and atmospheric stability, all essential factors influencing whether a storm strengthens or dissipates.

NASA also uses its aircraft to study early storm development up close. In 2022, the agency’s Convective Processes Experiment-Cabo Verde airborne campaign flew off the northwest coast of Africa to study weather systems that can give rise to hurricanes.

The team focused in part on African easterly waves — swirling disturbances in the atmosphere that often become the seeds of Atlantic storms. One of the waves they observed later developed into Tropical Storm Hermine. The mission also gathered data that same year just before hurricanes Fiona and Ian formed.

“The strength of NASA’s pre-storm monitoring lies in both the breadth of measurements we take and the decades-long consistency behind them,” said Will McCarty, manager of weather programs at NASA Headquarters.

“By combining data on sea surface temperature, ocean heat content, wind patterns, and more, we can see early on when conditions align dangerously — often before a storm visibly forms,” McCarty said. “It’s how we turn early warning into early action.”

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Emily DeMarco

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Last Updated

Jun 13, 2025

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