| 21st of April 2021 |
|---|
 |
| ASKAP Update for April |
|
The ASKAP Update
for April is now available, and includes
news on the commencement of quality gate observations for Pilot Surveys Phase II
and current processing priorities. An update is also given on the impact of tropical cyclone Seroja.
Earlier this month Seroja, a category three storm. made a rare landfall in
Western Australia, causing significant damage to coastal towns, with
at least 15,000 homes losing power.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP
satellite captured the image above on April 11, hours before the storm made
landfall. The image was
NASA's Earth Observation image of the day on April 13th.
Kalbarri, a coastal town of 1,500 people located 150 km north of Gerladton, received the brunt of the storm’s force. Seroja made landfall just south of Kalbarri on the evening of the 11th and damaged about 70 percent of the town’s buildings. Wind gusts of up to 170 km/hr were recorded and Kalbarri received over 160 mm of rain overnight. Seroja continued southeast and caused further damage in the city of Geraldton. Downgraded to a category two storm by that time, Seroja was the first storm of that intensity to hit Geraldton in more than 50 years. No damage was sustained to the Murchison Support Facility, though staff, like all townspeople, suffered power and communications outages. The Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory was relatively spared, though ASKAP was stowed in advance as a preventative measure. (Image credit: Joshua Stevens, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. Text credit: Kasha Patel) |