image: It is a little unusual to see a tropical cyclone forming in the southern Pacific Ocean this time of the year but tropical cyclone 01P formed northeast of Vanuatu recently. The Global Precipitation Measurement or GPM core observatory satellite saw Tropical Cyclone 01P on Monday August 3, 2015 at 2106Z (5:06 p.m. EDT/9:06 a.m. local time).
GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) found rain falling at a rate of over 30 mm (1.2 inches) per hour in a small area of showers near the center of the tropical cyclone. A 3-D view constructed from GPM's Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instrument (Ku band) showed that some showers located between the tropical cyclone's center and Vanuatu were shallow and reached heights of only about 6.5 km (4 miles). The highest storm tops of 12.4 km (7.7 miles) located northwest of the tropical cyclone were not associated with the TC01P.
Tropical Cyclone 01P ran into wind shear that weakened it to a remnant low pressure area on August 4. At 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT), former Tropical Cyclone 01P was located near 10.4 south latitude and 170.6 east longitude, about 458 nautical miles north-northeast of Port Vila, Vanuatu.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center is watching 01P for the possibility of regeneration. Currently, it has a medium chance to regain tropical depression status in the next day.
Credit: Credits: NASA, Hal Pierce/JAXA