Hurricane simulation. This screenshot is from the award-winning simulation 'Towers in the Tempest', produced by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio in 2007. Here, air spirals inwards (white line) into the central low pressure region (the hurricane's eye, L). As air nears the eye, it rises rapidly until forced outward at the barrier formed by the warm tropopause at an altitude of 15 kilometres. The entire simulation shows the formation of a phenomenon known as a 'hot tower' that conveys energy rapidly to higher levels within the hurricane, intensifying its strength. The simulation was based on observations of Hurricane Bonnie using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRRM) spacecraft.