NASA reveals darkness engulfed images post cyclone Fani

Mumbai: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the US Space agency released images of affected areas in Odisha post-cyclone Fani. These images draw a comparison before and after the cyclone made landfall in the region.

Fani was one of the worst cyclones that India has seen in the past two decades and left millions without electricity for almost four days.

The images show before and after of Bhubaneshwar and Cuttack during night time.

A comparison can be evidently made as one of the images is taken on April 30th before the cyclone and the other one is taken on 5th May after the mayhem occurred. The images were shared on NASA's Twitter handle as well.

A blogpost by NASA read: "These images were made from data acquired by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite. VIIRS has a 'day-night band' that detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared, including reflected moonlight, light from fires and oil wells, lightning, and emissions from cities or other human activity."

“The Biju Patnaik International Airport suffered considerable damage to the passenger terminal, while the roof of the air traffic control tower was blown away,” it reported.

Also read: Cyclone Fani: Odisha seeks Centre's help in restoration of power, telecom

According to the agency, on May 3, NASA infrared satellite imagery measured the temperatures of the cloud tops of the thunderstorms that made up Fani.

The imagery showed warming cloud tops and significantly reduced deep convection (rising air that forms the thunderstorms that make up a tropical cyclone).

More than 35 people were killed during Cyclone Fani.