The Stunning Imagery of Super Typhoon Haima (Lawin)

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Super Typhoon Haima, known as "Lawin" in the Philippines, rapidly intensified to the equivalent of Category 5 strength by Tuesday U.S. time.

(MORE: Forecast | Hurricane Central)

As with most typhoons of this extreme intensity, Haima provided spectacular views from space. Haima dominated the Eastern Hemisphere satellite image from the Himawari-8 satellite on Tuesday.

Now let's zoom in on that image, with an overlay showing nighttime lights of Luzon, Philippines. The most concentrated cluster of city lights is the Philippine capital of Manila. 

For a loop of the image above, you can thank Dan Lindsey, a NOAA/NESDIS atmospheric scientist at CIRA/Colorado State University for this Himawari-8 loop from Monday through Tuesday.

Maximum sustained winds in Haima increased from 85 mph late Sunday morning to 160 mph by Tuesday morning U.S. time. 

(MORE: Typhoon Alley, Where the Most Intense Tropical Cyclones Most Frequently Happen)

Microwave satellite imagery can give us a clearer look at a tropical cyclone's inner core of convection, particularly when high-level cirrus canopies (known as the central dense overcast) hides the inner core structure.

In fact, microwave imagery can pick up on so-called eyewall replacement cycles (ERCs), the process by which intense tropical cyclones form a second outer eyewall, which then contracts toward the center and chokes off the old, inner eyewall. 

The following isn't a satellite image, but instead shows the wind field of Haima. The strongest winds in a typhoon or hurricane are found in the eyewall, immediately surrounding the center of circulation. This shows up white in this wind field analysis from Tuesday.

Air sinks in a tropical cyclone's eye, compensating for the intense rising motion of the eyewall. As air sinks, it dries. If this sinking in the eye is strong enough, you may see patches of sun in the eye. 

You can see this drier air when examining satellite imagery designed to show moisture, not just from clouds, in the atmosphere.

(INTERACTIVE: Wundermap Forecast Path)

Let's end with a closer visible view of Haima's eye, first, in a visible satellite image again from the Himawari-8 satellite. 

And, again, thanks to Dan Lindsey from NOAA/NESDIS, check out this incredible rapid scan visible loop of Haima. Notice the low cloud "swirls" within the eye, as well as structure of the convective bands.

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