A close up deploy view of the Hubble Space Telescope on the end of the space shuttle remote manipulator system (RMS) with Eastern Cuba, (20.0N, 74.0W) seen on the left side of the telescope and northern Haiti seen on the right side of the telescope. The light colored blue feature in the water north of Haiti is the shallow waters of the Caicos Bank.

Hubble Space Telescope Deploy, Eastern Cuba, Haiti

Read more from: <a href="http://go.nasa.gov/2duxEeZ" rel="nofollow">go.nasa.gov/2duxEeZ</a> On October 4, 2016, Hurricane Matthew made landfall on southwestern Haiti as a category-4 storm—the strongest storm to hit the Caribbean nation in more than 50 years. Just hours after landfall, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this natural-color image. At the time, Matthew had top sustained winds of about 230 kilometers (145 miles) per hour. Earlier on October 4, temperature data collected by MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite revealed that the cloud tops around Matthew were very cold (at least -57° Celsius, or -70° Fahrenheit). Cold cloud tops are known to produce heavy rainfall. The National Hurricane Center called for 380 to 500 millimeters (15 to 20 inches) of rain in Southern Haiti and in the southwestern Dominican Republic. The northward movement of the storm should bring the center of Matthew over eastern Cuba late on October 4. Dangerous conditions can extend far beyond a storm’s center. According to National Hurricane Center forecasters, Matthew is “likely to produce devastating impacts from storm surge, extreme winds, heavy rains, flash floods, and/or mudslides in portions of the watch and warning areas in Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas.” NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using MODIS data from the Land Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE). Caption by Kathryn Hansen.

An instrument on NASA Terra spacecraft captured a simulated natural color image of the Port-au-Prince, Haiti, area, two days after a devastating earthquake.

Haiti Earthquake Landslides

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

NASA Terra spacecraft captures a clear sky image of the region of the recent Haiti earthquake.

ASTER Captures Clear Sky Image of Haiti Earthquake Region

This image, produced from instrument data aboard NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour, is a stereoscopic view of the topography of Port-au-Prince, Haiti where a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred on January 12, 2010. You need 3-D glasses to view this image.

Southern Haiti Anaglyph

NASA Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar UAVSAR captured this false-color composite image of the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and the surrounding region on Jan. 27, 2010.

NASA Airborne Radar Captures Its First Images of Post-Quake Haiti

Hurricane Matthew over Haiti seen by NASA MISR

On the morning of October 4, 2016, Hurricane Matthew passed over the island nation of Haiti. A Category 4 storm, it made landfall around 7 a.m. local time (5 a.m. PDT/8 a.m. EDT) with sustained winds over 145 mph. This is the strongest hurricane to hit Haiti in over 50 years. On October 4, at 10:30 a.m. local time (8:30 a.m. PDT/11:30 a.m. EDT), the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite passed over Hurricane Matthew. This animation was made from images taken by MISR's downward-pointing (nadir) camera is 235 miles (378 kilometers) across, which is much narrower than the massive diameter of Matthew, so only the hurricane's eye and a portion of the storm's right side are visible. Haiti is completely obscured by Matthew's clouds, but part of the Bahamas is visible to the north. Several hot towers are visible within the central part of the storm, and another at the top right of the image. Hot towers are enormous thunderheads that punch through the tropopause (the boundary between the lowest layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, and the next level, the stratosphere). The rugged topography of Haiti causes uplift within the storm, generating these hot towers and fueling even more rain than Matthew would otherwise dump on the country. MISR has nine cameras fixed at different angles, which capture images of the same point on the ground within about seven minutes. This animation was created by blending images from these nine cameras. The change in angle between the images causes a much larger motion from south to north than actually exists, but the rotation of the storm is real motion. From this animation, you can get an idea of the incredible height of the hot towers, especially the one to the upper right. The counter-clockwise rotation of Matthew around its closed (cloudy) eye is also visible. These data were acquired during Terra orbit 89345. An animation is available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21070

This image, produced from instrument data aboard NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour, is a perspective view of the topography of Port-au-Prince, Haiti and Hispianola. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred on Haiti on January 12, 2010.

Hispaniola

These visualizations of Hurricane Jeanne on September 24, 2004 were captured by NASA Terra spacecraft after the hurricane caused widespread destruction on Puerto Rico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Hurricane Jeanne Cloud Height and Motion

Satellite Data Shows Ground Motion from August 2021 Haiti Earthquake

On August 14, 2021, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck western Haiti causing widespread damage and loss of life, and triggering landslides throughout the region. Scientists with the Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis project (ARIA), a collaboration between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology analyzed interferometric synthetic aperture radar images from the Copernicus Sentinel-1A satellite operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) to calculate a map of the deformation of Earth's surface caused by the quake. Using images acquired before and after the earthquake – August 3 and 15, 2021, respectively – scientists produced this false-color map showing the amount of permanent surface movement the quake caused. Areas in blue moved toward the satellite by as much as 16 inches (50 centimeters) in a combination of up and eastward motion. These blue areas are close to the epicenter – marked with the orange star – indicating that there was likely a large slip on the fault beneath them. The areas to the west – shown with various shades of red – moved away from the satellite, mostly downward or westward, by as much as 8 inches (20 cm). The two areas of significant ground movement (darker red and blue) are both west of the epicenter and indicate the fault rupture proceeded westward from its starting point. Areas with gray are open water or heavy vegetation that prevents the instrument from measuring change between satellite images. Scientists use these maps to build detailed models of the fault slip at depth and associated land movements to better understand the impact on future earthquake activity. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23697

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ISS017-E-013843 (19 Aug. 2008) --- A panoramic view of the island of Hispaniola in the foreground and Cuba extending to over the horizon. The sunglint is illuminating Haiti and the Dominican Republic while the thunderstorms persist in the late afternoon of the summertime day. Taken by the Expedition 17 crew onboard the ISS on Aug 19, 2008 with a 28 mm lens.

Earth Observations taken by the Expedition 17 Crew

ISS017-E-013842 (19 Aug. 2008) --- A serene view of a portion of the Greater Antilles islands in the Caribbean Sea. The island of Hispaniola is in the foreground, comprised of the Dominican Republic and Haiti (in the sunglint). Looking toward the horizon, the eastern tip of Cuba is seen through the clouds and thunderstorms that are scattered over the islands. The light blue shallower areas, to the right or north of Hispaniola and extending toward the Earths limb, are the Turks and Caicos islands and the Acklins Islands. The Great Inagua island is off the coast of Haiti. These islands are located along the geological border of the North American Plate (to the right) and the Caribbean Plate (to the left). The photo was taken by the Expedition 17 crew onboard the International Space Station on Aug 19, 2008 with a 28 mm lens.

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Earth Observation

ISS040-E-080921 (26 June 2014) --- Dominican Republic and Haiti, Hispaniola, Caribbean are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 40 crew member on the International Space Station. Looking east into a rising sun, the crew took this panorama of Hispaniola with the sun’s glint point illuminating the long western peninsula of Haiti. Several thunderheads throw shadows towards the camera (left). The plume from a very large wildfire stretches west (center). The Constanza Fire started in a national forest on the Dominican Republic growing to the extent that it threatened surrounding towns and prompting an International Disaster Charter activation, whereby requests for imagery were uplinked to the station crew as possible assistance to help firefighters on the ground. Hurricane Bertha tracked over the island a week later helping to douse the flames. The view looks hazy probably because of dust in the atmosphere. Dust blows across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa reaching the western hemisphere every month of the year. Despite the austere tone of the image, touches of color are blue waters of the Turks and Caicos Islands extending from under a large thundercloud (left) and the edge of a space station solar panel (top right).

Earth observations taken from shuttle orbiter Discovery during STS-82 mission

STS082-723-071 (11-21 Feb. 1997) --- The island of Hispaniola appears left center in this wide-angle view, photographed with a 70mm handheld camera from the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Discovery. The prominent cape is Cap-a-Foux, the northwest point of Haiti. The cloud is broken by the mountainous spine of the island. Smoke from bush fires appears in the valleys between the ridges. The coppery tinge of light reflected off the sea surface indicates pollution in the air -- probably industrial pollutants from North America which are typically fed around from the Atlantic seaboard into the Caribbean from the east.

Earth observation taken by the Expedition 20 crew

ISS020-E-043301 (28 Sept. 2009) ?-- A view of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola from the International Space Station. This island is comprised of Haiti (in the center left of the image) and the Dominican Republic and is part of the Greater Antilles island chain which lies along the geological boarder of the North America Plate and the Caribbean Plate. A major fault line in the region, Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault, runs along the longer peninsula, in the foreground, and just south of Port-Au-Prince. Part of a docked Russian spacecraft can be seen in the foreground. The epicenter of the recent disastrous earthquake occurred near this fault. This image was taken by the Expedition 20 crew on the International Space Station on Sept. 28, 2009 using a 25 mm lens setting.

Earth Observations taken by the Expedition 22 Crew

ISS022-E-035426 (22 Jan. 2010) --- Photographed from the International Space Station orbiting Earth at an altitude of 211 statute miles, this image of the Port au Prince area of Haiti from Jan. 22 is centered on the area that was heavily damaged by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Center, a number of tremors of varying magnitudes up to 6.0 were recorded in ensuing days. Ships can be easily delineated in the harbor. The single runway of the airport, heavily damaged by the quake, is seen near center of the frame. The airport?s control tower was destroyed and has since been rebuilt and is now in service, thanks to part of the huge world-wide aid offered to the nation

NASA Satellite View of Tropical Storm Isaac

NASA's Terra satellite passed over Tropical Storm Isaac on Aug. 24 at 15:20 UTC (11:20 a.m. EDT) as it continued moving through the eastern Caribbean Sea. The MODIS instrument onboard Aqua captured this visible image. At 2 p.m. EDT on Aug. 24, Isaac's maximum sustained winds were near 60 mph (95 kmh). The National Hurricane Center noted that Isaac could strengthen later before reaching the coast of Hispaniola tonight, Aug. 24. Hispaniola is an island that contains the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Isaac is located about 135 miles (215 km) south-southeast of Port au Prince, Haiti, near latitude 16.8 north and longitude 71.4 west. Isaac is now moving toward the northwest near 14 mph (22 kmh). Isaac is expected to reach hurricane status over the weekend of Aug. 25-26 and NASA satellites will continue providing valuable temperature, rainfall, visible and infrared data. Text Credit: Rob Gutro NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. To read more go to: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2012/h2012_Isaac.html" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2012/h2012...</a> Credit: NASA Goddard MODIS Rapid Response Team <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a> Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a> Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a>

Earth Observation

ISS032-E-008976 (15 July 2012) --- Saharan dust reaching the Americas is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 32 crew member on the International Space Station. Weather satellites frequently document major dust palls blowing from the Sahara Desert westward from Africa out into the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Space station crew members frequently see these Saharan dust masses as very widespread atmospheric haze. Dust palls blowing from Africa can be transported right across the Atlantic Ocean. It takes about a week to reach either North America (in northern hemisphere summer) or South America (in northern hemisphere winter). This puts the Caribbean basin on the receiving end of many of these events. Recently, researchers have linked Saharan dust to coral disease, allergic reactions in humans, and red tides. The margin of the hazy air in this image reaches as far as Haiti (top center) and the nearby Turks and Caicos Islands (top left) ? but the eastern tip of Cuba in the foreground remains in the clear air.

Chantal Loses Closed Circulation, Still Poses Threats to Hispaniola

Chantal's satellite presentation has deteriorated markedly this morning and is barely classifiable by the Dvorak Technique. Forecasted strong westerly shear and interactions with land over the next couple of days should cause further weakening of the storm as it transitions back into a tropical wave. Tropical Storm Warnings remain in effect for the entire coast of the Dominican Republic, the entire coast of Haiti, Turks and Caicos and the southeastern Bahamas. This image was taken by GOES West at 1200Z on July 10, 2013. Copy credit: NOAA Photo credit: <a href="http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow">Credit: NOAA/NASA GOES Project</a> More info about the storm: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/12mvQcC" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/12mvQcC</a> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a> Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a> Find us on <a href="http://instagram.com/nasagoddard?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a>

Hurricane Sandy off the Carolinas

NASA image acquired acquired October 28, 2012 For the latest info from NASA on Hurricane Sandy go to: <a href="http://1.usa.gov/Ti5SgS" rel="nofollow">1.usa.gov/Ti5SgS</a> At noon Eastern Daylight Time (16:00 Universal Time) on October 28, 2012, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image of Hurricane Sandy off the southeastern United States. At 11 a.m. local time (one hour before the image was captured), the U.S. National Hurricane Center reported that the storm was located at 32.5° North and 72.6° West, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and 575 miles (930 kilometers) south of New York City. Maximum sustained winds were 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, and the central pressure was 951 millibars (28.08 inches). Forecasters predicted that the storm would continue heading north-northeast until the morning of October and then take a hard turn to the northwest into the coastaline of Delaware, New Jersey, or New York. The wind field from the storm was said to stretch 500 to 700 miles and was likely to affect an area from South Carolina to Maine, and as far inland as the Great Lakes. The storm has already caused significant damage in the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti; at least 65 lives have been lost to the storm. NASA image courtesy LANCE MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michael Carlowicz. Instrument: Terra - MODIS Credit: <a href="http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/" rel="nofollow"> NASA Earth Observatory</a> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a> Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a> Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a>

Latest View of Hurricane Joaquin

Hurricane Joaquin continued to intensify in the Bahamas on October 1 and NASA and NOAA satellites have been providing valuable data on the storm. NASA's GPM and Terra satellites and NOAA's GOES-East satellite provided rainfall, cloud extent, cloud height and other data to forecasters. Joaquin became a major hurricane today, October 1, reaching Category 3 status on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. On October 1 at 1330 UTC (9:30 a.m. EDT) NOAA's GOES-East satellite captured this visible image of Hurricane Joaquin covering the southern Bahamas and extending over southeastern Cuba, and the island of Hispaniola (which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Joaquin's eye had become completely visible now that the storm had reached Category 3 status. On October 1, a Hurricane Warning was in effect for the Central Bahamas, Northwestern Bahamas including the Abacos, Berry Islands, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama Island, and New Providence, The Acklins, Crooked Island, and Mayaguana in the southeastern Bahamas. A Hurricane Watch was in effect for Bimini and Andros Island, and a Tropical Storm Warning was in effect for the remainder of the southeastern Bahamas excluding the Turks and Caicos Islands and Andros Island. According to NHC, at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC), the center of Hurricane Joaquin was located near latitude 23.2 North, longitude 73.7 West. That's just 10 miles (15 km) north of Samana Cays, Bahamas and about 75 miles (120 km) southeast of San Salvador, Bahamas. Joaquin was moving toward the west-southwest near 5 mph (7 kph), and this motion is expected to continue today. NHC noted that a turn toward the west- northwest is forecast tonight (Oct. 1), followed by a turn toward the north and an increase in forward speed on Friday, Oct. 2. On the forecast track, the center of Joaquin will move near or over portions of the central Bahamas today and tonight and pass near or over portions of the northwestern Bahamas on Friday. Maximum sustained winds are near 120 mph (195 km/h) with higher gusts. Joaquin is a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some strengthening is forecast in the next day or so, with some fluctuations in intensity possible on Friday. Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 35 miles (55 km) from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 140 miles (220 km). The minimum central pressure just extrapolated by an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft is 942 millibars. For updated forecasts, watches and warnings visit the National Hurricane Center (NHC) website: <a href="http://www.nhc.noaa.gov" rel="nofollow">www.nhc.noaa.gov</a>. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a> <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a> Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a> Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a>