Application Documents
Hurricane Katrina Heats up in the Gulf
Maximum wind speeds of Hurricane Katrina increased dramatically as that storm passed over the warm waters of the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico in late August 2005. The storm evolved quickly from a category 3 to category 5 event in a matter of 9 hours as it drew heat from the Loop Current and a large warm core eddy evident in the sea surface height derived from merged TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason-1, GFO, and Envisat altimeter data processed by the Univ. of Colorado's CCAR group.