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[ music ]

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August 29, 2005.

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After passing over the Caribbean, Hurricane Katrina made landfall

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along the Gulf of Mexico. By the time the skies cleared,

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Katrina had killed more than 1800 people, caused

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roughly $125 billion in damages,

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and went down as one of the strongest storms to hit the U.S. in a century.

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Five years later, NASA revisits Katrina

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as captured by NASA satellites.

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While these images can't tell the whole story of the hurricane

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and its impacts, they remind us of the power and destructive nature

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of tropical cyclones.

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In the weeks leading up to Katrina, NASA's Aqua satellite

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captures sea surfaces temperatures with the AMSR-E instrument.

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Warm ocean temperatures, indicated in red,

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provide energy to fuel the growing storm.

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As Katrina moves, it leaves a trail of cooler water in its wake, stirred up from below.

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Two days before landfall...

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NASA's MISR instrument on the Terra satellite witnesses growing cloud tops

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as the storm gathers strength.

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Just before landfall... the TRMM satellite at

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"hot towers" - powerful thunderstorms that help propel Katrina

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to category 5 strength.

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The same satellite reveals heavy rains.

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Green means at least a half inch of rain is falling per hour. Yellow, an inch.

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Red, over two inches per hour.

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As the hurricane sweeps through,

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TRMM's multi-satellite analysis reveals where the hurricane delivered the heaviest rain,

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shown here in yellows and reds.

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Finally, Landsat satellite imagery

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shows the extent of flooding in New Orleans.

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First, the city before the storm, with Lake Pontchartrain to the north.

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Two days after the storm made landfall, much of the city is

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flooded by the catastrophic levee failures.

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Today, Landsat sees a city still rebuilding from the storm.

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[ music ]

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NASA satellites continue to provide detailed observations of tropical cyclones

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around the world - to better understand how they work, and so we can