Gallery: Satellite images of killer cyclone

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  • The government of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) has reported that over 22,000 people have died so far due to the effects of Tropical Cyclone Nargis which hit the country on May 3. But experts think the death tool is more likely between 63,000 and 100,000 people, according to CNN. Worldwide humanitarian efforts are being slowed down by an isolationist government which brings fears of even more mass deaths to follow because of disease and starvation.

    The image above shows Myanmar on April 17 before Cyclone Nargis hit while the image below shows the flooding of about 130,000 square miles in the Irriwadi Delta on May 5, after the storm.

    Photo credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • The image above was taken on May 7 and shows the flooding as compared to the lower image taken on April 19 before Tropical Cylclone Nargis.

    Photo credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • On May 3, 2008, Tropical Cylclone Nargis was directly over Myanmar

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • The coastal region in Myanmar along the Bay of Bengal is heavily populated and prone to flooding. This image shows the rainfall accumulations along the path of Cyclone Nargis with the heaviest areas in blue. Almost two feet of rain was recorded in the dark blue patches.

    The storm was a measured as a Category 2 cyclone over the Bay of Bengal, then diminished to Category 1 storm before gaining steam to Category 3 strength with sustained winds of 120mph when it hit land.

    Credit: NASA/Jesse Allen, using data provided by the TRMM science team

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • This image from April 28 shows the storm as it was still forming--right after it officially became a Category 1 clone with sustained winds of 75mph.

    Credit: NASA

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • This image from NASA's Aqua satellite shows the temperature of the cloud tops with orange the warmest and purple the lowest. The high high, cold cloud tops (purple) show the center of the storm.

    Credit: NASA/JPL

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • This 3D image of Cyclone Nargis shows the height of the clouds as it rolled over Myanmar. The tallest clouds (red) are areas of severe thunderstorms that are associated with the intense rainfall.

    Image: Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC)

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • This map shows the amount of precipitation over Myanmar on May 3 as Cylclone Nargis passed over.

    Credit: Hal Pierce, SSAI/NASA GSFC

    Caption by: Andy Smith

  • Hurricane Katrina, as seen on this August 29, 2005 was a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph when it hit the U.S. coast.

    Hurricanes and cyclones are basically the same type of storms that contain sustained winds of more than 74mph. They are called hurricanes over the Atlantic, the Northeast Pacific east of the International Dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean; and cyclones over the Indian Ocean.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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Satellite images from NASA show the track of a cyclone and the resulting flooding that may end up killing over 100,000 residents of Myanmar (formerly Burma).

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The government of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) has reported that over 22,000 people have died so far due to the effects of Tropical Cyclone Nargis which hit the country on May 3. But experts think the death tool is more likely between 63,000 and 100,000 people, according to CNN. Worldwide humanitarian efforts are being slowed down by an isolationist government which brings fears of even more mass deaths to follow because of disease and starvation.

The image above shows Myanmar on April 17 before Cyclone Nargis hit while the image below shows the flooding of about 130,000 square miles in the Irriwadi Delta on May 5, after the storm.

Photo credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team

Caption by: Andy Smith

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