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Atmospheric Water Vapor during the 1997-1998 El Niño (WMS)
Water vapor is a small but significant constituent of the atmosphere, warming the planet due to the greenhouse effect and condensing to form clouds which both warm and cool the Earth in different circumstances. A key feature of global atmospheric water vapor convection is the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the low pressure region within five degrees of the equator where the trade winds converge and solar heating of the atmosphere forces the water-laden air to rise in altitude, form clouds, and then precipitate as rain in the afternoon. This visualization shows the global water vapor distribution in gray and white and the global precipitation in yellow every hour from December 20, 1997 to January 14, 1998. The afternoon thunderstorms in the tropics are seen as a flashing yellow region that moves from east to west, following the sun. This is an El Niño period, when the water to the west of South America is warmer than normal, allowing the atmosphere there to heat up and hold more water. This region feeds a high band of water vapor reaching to the southeastern United States and causes increased humidity and rainfall in that region. This data is from the Goddard Earth Modeling System, a coupled land-ocean-atmosphere model which uses earth and satellite-based observations to simulate the Earth's physical system during events such as El Niño.

This visualization shows the total precipitable water in the atmosphere, indicated by the gray to white cloud-like structures, and predicted precipitation, indicated by gold, during the 1997-1998 El Nino.    This visualization shows the total precipitable water in the atmosphere, indicated by the gray to white cloud-like structures, and predicted precipitation, indicated by gold, during the 1997-1998 El Nino.
Duration: 20.0 seconds
Available formats:
  576x360 (29.97 fps) MPEG-2   5 MB
  160x80       PNG           25 KB
  320x200     JPEG         12 KB
  80x40         PNG           7 KB
  320x240 (29.97 fps) MPEG-1   3 MB
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Legend for the water vapor animation, showing separate colorbars for the total precipitable water and the precipitation. 		   Legend for the water vapor animation, showing separate colorbars for the total precipitable water and the precipitation.

Available formats:
  320 x 180         PNG   1 KB

Animation Number:2902
Animators:Eric Sokolowsky (Lead)
 John Waldrop
 Horace Mitchell
Studio:SVS
Completed:2004-07-06
Scientist:David Adamec (NASA/GSFC)
Data Collected:1997/12/20 - 1998/01/14
Series:WMS
Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Water Vapor >> Precipitable Water
GCMD >> EARTH SCIENCE >> Climate Indicators >> Teleconnections >> El Nino Southern Oscillation
More Information on this topic available at:
http://nsipp.gsfc.nasa.gov
View Animation in Google Earth Google Earth KML file is available here.
DEPC Metadata is available here.
 
 
Please give credit for this visualization to
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio


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