{"id":534831,"date":"2026-09-10T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=1045192"},"modified":"2026-09-10T02:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T16:00:00","slug":"how-2-us-european-satellites-are-studying-hurricanes-during-el-nino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=534831","title":{"rendered":"How 2 US, European Satellites Are Studying Hurricanes During El Ni\u00f1o"},"content":{"rendered":"
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5 min read<\/p>\n

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Hurricane Melissa is seen 50 miles south of Jamaica in this photograph taken from the International Space Station on Oct. 28, 2025.<\/div>\n
NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Last November, NASA and its European partners launched the Sentinel-6B satellite to improve hurricane forecasts, help protect infrastructure, and benefit commercial industries, including shipping. The satellite now is flying 30 seconds behind its predecessor, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich. Both satellites are providing precise sea level height measurements during what oceanographers expect to be a historic El Ni\u00f1o, a naturally occurring oceanic phenomenon in which warmer-than-usual Pacific waters shift global weather patterns.<\/p>\n

The two satellites make up the Copernicus Sentinel-6\/Jason-CS (Continuity of Service) mission, the latest in a series of ocean-observing radar altimetry missions that have been monitoring Earth\u2019s changing seas continuously since the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

The data each satellite is collecting will not only allow scientists to better understand this year\u2019s El Ni\u00f1o but will also help them create more accurate hurricane predictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis El Ni\u00f1o was a late-bloomer,\u201d said Josh Willis, Sentinel-6B<\/a>\u2019s project scientist at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. \u201cIt didn\u2019t kick off until the middle of the year and is just now reaching a strength similar to what we\u2019ve seen in the satellite record during significant El Ni\u00f1os in 1997 and 2015. We expect it to be big, and it\u2019s already having big impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n

El Ni\u00f1os generally scramble weather patterns tied to rainfall and storms, including hurricanes. They also redistribute heat in the ocean, which affects sea level. Normally, Earth\u2019s warmest ocean waters sit along the equator in the western Pacific. During El Ni\u00f1o, weakened winds, which usually blow westward along the equator, result in heat spreading east toward South America. The change in ocean heat shifts hurricane activity from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

Predicting hurricane strength<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On July 15, Sentinel-6B began delivering low-latency data to scientists that could be used for weather predictions. That data will take some time to work its way into the research models on which meteorologists and climate scientists rely, but when it does, those improved models could save lives.<\/p>\n

Data from Sentinel-6 satellite missions feeds into hurricane tracking algorithms used by federal and state agencies. Those predictions can activate disaster response efforts, mobilizing resources ranging from sandbag placement to National Guard activation. They also can lead to evacuation orders that require quick but well-informed decisions about logistics at a local level. More severe events may require engaging larger organizations, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.<\/p>\n

A tropical storm can take a week or more to become a hurricane and make its way to a coastline, but a hurricane can rapidly intensify in the 48 hours prior to landfall, leaving planners little time to prepare.<\/p>\n

\u201cHurricanes have been known to speed up quickly at the last moment, so the window in which to decide what to do is short,\u201d said Deirdre Byrne, an oceanographer and altimetry expert with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). \u201cThe goal is to forecast how much and how rapidly intensification will happen so that officials can make the right calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byrne oversees one of the country\u2019s most crucial hurricane forecasting algorithms, NOAA\u2019s Satellite Ocean Heat Content Suite<\/a><\/a>, which has been operating since 2012.<\/p>\n

Each Sentinel-6 satellite measures ocean height, as well as the size of waves and marine wind speed, using a radar altimeter, which bounces thousands of radar pulses a second off the crests and troughs of waves. Ocean height varies from place to place and provides insight into the ocean\u2019s heat content, since warm water expands. That, in turn, helps forecast how fast hurricanes will grow.<\/p>\n

The satellites each carry a second instrument, called the Global Navigation Satellite System – Radio Occultation<\/a> (GNSS-RO)<\/a>, which measures atmospheric properties, such as humidity, pressure, and temperature.<\/p>\n

Among the measurements Sentinel-6 is gathering, Byrne is most anticipating the ocean height data, which she plans to begin incorporating into the current Satellite Ocean Heat Content Suite algorithm by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of data quality, the Sentinel-6 missions are unparalleled,\u201d Byrne said.<\/p>\n

Together, the missions are also extending a precise dataset deep into its fourth decade. This record of sea level observations traces back to the TOPEX\/Poseidon mission, which launched in 1992, and continues through to the present day with Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich. Sentinel-6B will take over for its predecessor as the reference satellite for global sea level measurements later this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe key is consistency, measuring the same way, every time,\u201d said Severine Fournier, Sentinel-6B deputy project scientist, JPL. \u201cThat\u2019s what lets us predict hurricanes, and, in turn, protect coastal communities and infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

More about Sentinel-6B<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, named after a former director of NASA\u2019s Earth Science Division, is one of two satellites that compose the Copernicus Sentinel-6\/Jason-CS mission.<\/p>\n

Sentinel-6\/Jason-CS, a part of the European Union\u2019s Earth observation program called Copernicus, was jointly developed by ESA (European Space Agency), EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites), NASA, and NOAA, with funding support from the European Commission and technical support on performance from the French space agency CNES (Centre National d\u2019\u00c9tudes Spatiales). Spacecraft monitoring and control, as well as the processing of all the altimeter science data, is carried out by EUMETSAT on behalf of the European Union\u2019s Copernicus Programme, with the support of all partner agencies.<\/p>\n

NASA JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, contributed three science instruments for each Sentinel-6 satellite: the Advanced Microwave Radiometer<\/a>, the GNSS-RO<\/a>, and the Laser Retroreflector Array<\/a>. NASA also contributed launch services, ground systems supporting operation of the agency\u2019s science instruments, the science data processors for two of these instruments, and support for the United States members of the international Ocean Surface Topography Science Team.<\/p>\n

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For more about Sentinel-6B, visit:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/sentinel-6B<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Media Contacts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andrew Good \/ Andrew Wang
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433 \/ 626-379-6874
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a> \/ andrew.wang@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

2026-060<\/p>\n

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