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Surge Desk

NASA Releases Eye-Opening Satellite View of Hurricane Katrina [VIDEO]

Aug 25, 2010 – 5:21 PM
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AOL News Staff

AOL News Surge Desk
(Aug. 25) -- The approaching fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is bringing with it iconic images and footage of the disaster that are no less stirring for their familiarity.

A new video from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center showing the storm from its point of view belongs in an entirely different category -- and yet its coolly technical re-creation of the devastation is no less powerful.

The clip uses NASA satellite imagery to show how the space agency deploys its satellites and technology to track massive storms. As a soothing, masculine voice narrates in the background, the viewer sees colorful, aesthetically pleasing images of rising sea temperatures as the storm approaches and passes; dramatic before-and-after shots of the neighborhoods around Lake Pontchartrain; and the powerful thunderstorms, called "hot towers," that helped whip Katrina up to Category 5 fury, all in 3-D.

If we had to give it a Movie Minute-style review, we'd say it was like a mini, scientifically-accurate "Inception," minus Leonardo DiCaprio, plus more-terrible, real-world devastation, all scored with a curiously chosen ambient music as the background track.

But, of course, that gets the whole tone wrong. Watch it here for yourself:

Filed under: Nation, Science, Surge Desk

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