image: NASA's Terra satellite observed Tropical Storm Shanshan just east of Japan on Aug. 9 at 9:10 a.m. EDT (1310 UTC). Terra observed Shanshan in infrared light that revealed cloud top temperatures were coldest (yellow) in limited areas of the northern and eastern quadrants, as cold as minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 45.5 degrees Celsius). view more
Credit: NASA/NRL
NASA's Terra satellite caught an infrared view of former typhoon Shanshan off the east coast of Japan and saw the storm fading.
On Aug. 9 at 9:10 a.m. EDT (1310 UTC) the MODIS instrument or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard NASA's Terra satellite observed Tropical Storm Shanshan just east of Japan. MODIS observed Shanshan in infrared light that revealed cloud top temperatures were coldest in limited areas of the northern and eastern quadrants, as cold as minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 45.5 degrees Celsius). The western quadrant appeared to be devoid of precipitation.
On Aug. 9 at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued their final bulletin on Shanshan. At that time, Shanshan had maximum sustained winds near 45 knots (51.7 mph/83.3 kph).
Shanshan was located near 38.2 degrees north latitude and 143.6 degrees east longitude, approximately 164 nautical miles northeast of Narita Airport. Shanshan has tracked east-northeastward.
The JTWC forecasters noted that Shanshan "will soon be picked up in the mid-latitude westerlies (winds), accelerate to the northeast, and begin extratropical transition. Before Completing that transition on Aug. 11, Shanshan forecast to weaken rapidly due to increasing vertical wind shear and decreasing sea surface temperatures."
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