Cyclone in the Bay of Bengal
November 21, 2002
Provided by: Earth Observatory, NASA GSFC
Summary authors & editors: Earth Observatory; Jim Foster
Last week, a cyclone moving northward from the Bay of Bengal roared into India's northeast coast, causing wide-spread destruction but fortunately few deaths. Low-lying, densely populated areas of eastern India and Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable to cyclones, which can occur from April through early December. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite image above shows the cyclone as it slammed into India, near the city of Calcutta. TRMM's Precipitation Radar (superimposed on the image) showed that even though circulation was well organized about the storm center, the cyclone had no discernable eye. Note, the Himalayan Mountains stretching across the top center of the image.
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