NASA's New EPIC Camera Captures Three Tropical Lows in the Indian Ocean, Massive Wildfires in Indonesia

Sean Breslin
Published: October 27,2015

NASA's EPIC instrument that flies aboard NOAA's DSCOVR satellite captured three tropical low-pressure areas developing in the Indian Ocean on October 25 at 05:37 UTC (12:37 a.m. EDT).
(NASA/NOAA)

Located a million miles from Earth, NASA's new camera is already capturing awesome weather phenomena.
The new EPIC, which stands for Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera, captured a stunning image of the Indian Ocean on Sunday, when three tropical systems were attempting to form. You can see the image at the top of this page.
Of the three storms caught on camera spinning in the Indian Ocean, only one has a real chance to develop into something larger and more organized, forecasters say.
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"Computer model forecast guidance continues to indicate that the farthest northwest disturbance, dubbed Invest 94A, will develop into a tropical cyclone," said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. "If it does form, it could approach the coast of Yemen or Oman late this weekend or early next week."
In the middle of the image, where there's a strong haze, you can also see the thick smoke being produced by the hazardous, widespread fires burning in Indonesia.
EPIC was launched a week ago on NASA's Deep Space Climate Observatory to help monitor space weather, like solar storms. The camera is focused on Earth at all times to post an updated daily image of the entire planet on a new website.
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