Super Typhoon Noul in the West Pacific Ocean
Himawari-8 0.64 µm visible channel images (click to play animation)
Following a period of rapid intensification, Super Typhoon Noul reached Category 5 strength late in the day on 09 May 2015 (ADT plot) as it slowly approached the northern tip of the Philippine island of Luzon. The Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) positioned one of the Himawari-8 rapid-scan “target” areas over the tropical cyclone, providing images at 2.5-minute intervals; 0.5-km resolution 0.64 µm visible (Band 4) images (above; click image to play animation; also available as an MP4 movie file and YouTube Video) showed intricate mesovortices within the eye, as well as gravity waves propagating radially outward from the eyewall region.
