Ocean 
Le typhon Nida, mai 2004
Typhoon is the name given to tropical cyclones in South-East Asia (hurricanes in North Atlantic). Typhoon Nida struck Philippines on May 18, 2004 with winds over 150 km/h, and made considerable damages all over the archipelago, including casualties. Later on, Nida brought heavy rains over Japan. The Philippines get struck by around 20 storms and typhoons annually; indeed, not long after Nida, another tropical storm was spotted forming east of the islands.
Nida typhoon seen by Envisat: left, Meris instrument on May 18 (ocean color), right, RA2 (altimeter) with significant wave height (up) and wind speed modulus (bottom) on May 17. Note that those two quantities are averaged, and may also not have been measured right over the strongest features; thus they are not as high as can be expected in a tropical cyclone. (Credits Esa, Cnes/CLS)
(see also Jason-1 <link fileadmin images actualites image_du_mois download>wave heights and <link fileadmin images actualites image_du_mois download>wind speed, Credits Cnes/CLS).
Further information :
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Image of the month, June 2004 : Nida : altimetric view of a typhoon.
