Kadena Island is a small island in the Western Pacific, south of Japan, and today its feeling the affects of Typhoon Melor as the storm continues to move toward it.

Kadena Air Base, a United States Air Force base is located in the towns of Kadena and Chatan and the city of Okinawa, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.

Melor has already started to weaken because of upper level winds battering the storm, but as of 11 a.m. EDT on October 6, Melor had maximum sustained winds near 110 knots (126 mph). It was located 165 miles east-southeast of Okinawa, Japan, near 25.2 North and 130.6 East. It was moving north-northwest near 17 mph. Tropical storm-force winds extend as far out as 175 miles form the center, and hurricane-force winds extend as far as 95 miles from the center.

Data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), an instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Typhoon Melor at 1:30 p.m. local time October 6. AIRS infrared images show the temperature of the cloud tops or the surface of the Earth in cloud-free regions. The lowest temperatures are associated with high, cold cloud tops that make up the top area of Typhoon Melor. Those temperatures are as cold as or colder than 220 degrees Kelvin or minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit (F). Surrounding thunderstorms are not as high and not as cold at around 240 degrees Kelvin, or minus 27F.

The infrared signal of the AIRS instrument does not penetrate through clouds. Where there are no clouds the AIRS instrument reads the infrared signal from the ocean and land surfaces, revealing warmer temperatures. Those are important for forecasters to know as well, because it takes ocean surface water temperatures of at least 80 degrees Fahrenheit to power a storm. The waters in Melor’s path are near that threshold. AIRS data is also used to create an accurate 3-D map of atmospheric temperature, water vapor and clouds and all of those factors also help forecasters gauge what’s going to happen with the storm.