Hurricane Michael as seen by SMAP

On Oct. 9, 2018 at about 4:30pm EDT, the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) Radiometer got one more snap shot of Hurricane Michael. The radiance acquired by the SMAP L-band Microwave Radiometer can see through clouds and rain, and is sensitive to the extreme ocean surface winds under a tropical storm or hurricane. Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida panhandle Wednesday as a major Category 4 storm.

SMAP is managed for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, with participation by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. JPL is responsible for project management, system engineering, instrument management, the radar instrument, mission operations and the ground data system. Goddard is responsible for the radiometer instrument. Both centers collaborate on the science data processing and delivery of science data products to the Alaska Satellite Facility and the National Snow and Ice Data Center for public distribution and archiving. JPL is managed for NASA by Caltech.

For more information about SMAP, visit http://smap.jpl.nasa.gov.