NASA satellite data animation shows cyclone Bijli's rainfall from birth to death

		VIDEO: This animation shows Cyclone Bijli's rainfall from the time it was "born " on April 13 in the Bay of Bengal as "storm 94B, " intensified into tropical depression and renamed "01B "... Click here for more information.

Before satellites, meteorologists had no way to estimate or measure how much rain tropical cyclones generated where there were no buoys with rain gauges. The satellite managed by NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA provides that "rain gauge" from space in the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite.