1 00:00:00,820 --> 00:00:21,900 [ Outtake ] 2 00:00:21,900 --> 00:00:26,170 [ Reporter ] NASA is releasing a new global portrait of rain and snow, 3 00:00:26,170 --> 00:00:30,200 and here to show us this portrait and tell us a little more about it is 4 00:00:30,200 --> 00:00:35,870 Dr. Gail Skofronick-Jackson from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. 5 00:00:35,870 --> 00:00:36,940 Thanks for joining us. 6 00:00:36,940 --> 00:00:38,120 [ Dr. Skofronick-Jackson ] Thank you. 7 00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:42,160 Typically what you might see are localized rain maps from your ground based radars, 8 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:45,040 or maybe the white cloud tops from satellites. 9 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:50,000 With the new joint NASA/Japan Global Precipitation Measurement mission, or GPM, 10 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:54,470 we're actually able to provide uniform precipitation estimates 11 00:00:54,470 --> 00:00:57,580 using a constellation of about a dozen satellites. 12 00:00:57,580 --> 00:01:01,740 With this data, which is important for science and society, 13 00:01:01,740 --> 00:01:04,900 we are able to see rain and snow globally 14 00:01:04,900 --> 00:01:10,380 every 30 minutes at the scale of a small suburb. 15 00:01:10,380 --> 00:01:15,100 [ Reporter ] Can you take us on a tour and show us some of the surprising things you've seen? 16 00:01:15,100 --> 00:01:19,210 [ Dr. Skofronick-Jackson ] So there's been many impressive features we've seen with this data set. 17 00:01:19,210 --> 00:01:25,300 But first, I want to show you some data from March 24th, 25th, and 26th, 2015. 18 00:01:25,300 --> 00:01:29,320 There's some very severe thunderstorms in the US. 19 00:01:29,320 --> 00:01:32,650 In fact, in Moore, Oklahoma they had a tornado. 20 00:01:32,650 --> 00:01:35,380 So that's some really interesting data. 21 00:01:35,380 --> 00:01:40,480 We also have, looking at the Amazon, you can see these very small, intense features 22 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,620 that kind of pop up and then disappear, 23 00:01:43,620 --> 00:01:47,660 as well as these large features that persist a little bit longer. 24 00:01:47,660 --> 00:01:51,700 These systems provide rain that drain into the Amazon River, 25 00:01:51,700 --> 00:01:53,880 the largest river in the world. 26 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,940 Finally, moving south, you can see these huge systems spiraling 27 00:01:57,940 --> 00:02:03,120 in the southern ocean, an area of the world where we just don't have good ground data, 28 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:06,330 and we need to be able to measure this data from space to see it. 29 00:02:06,330 --> 00:02:11,260 [ Reporter ] I understand this is the first satellite designed specifically to measure falling snow. 30 00:02:11,260 --> 00:02:13,340 Tell us a little bit about that and why that's important. 31 00:02:13,340 --> 00:02:17,530 [ Dr. Skofronick-Jackson ] Right, so GPM, the core observatory, was specifically designed 32 00:02:17,530 --> 00:02:21,580 to measure falling snow, but it was also designed to see three dimensionally 33 00:02:21,580 --> 00:02:25,690 within the clouds. So we look at Hurricane Arthur from July 2014, 34 00:02:25,690 --> 00:02:29,880 you can see in the greens to reds, the liquid precipitation near the ocean surface, 35 00:02:29,880 --> 00:02:36,940 But high up in the cloud, you can see in blues to purple, frozen precipitation. 36 00:02:36,940 --> 00:02:42,120 All hurricanes have ice in the tops of their clouds, but if it happens to be cold enough 37 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:46,180 at the Earth's surface, we can see falling snow with this satellite. 38 00:02:46,180 --> 00:02:51,220 In this particular animation, you can see, from February 2015, 39 00:02:51,220 --> 00:02:54,240 you can see the rain-snow transition line. 40 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:58,310 And so it's really important to measure all these different types of precipitation 41 00:02:58,310 --> 00:03:02,480 because they contribute to Earth's water resources. 42 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:06,510 [ Reporter ] How will forecasters and emergency managers use these maps? 43 00:03:06,510 --> 00:03:09,540 [ Dr. Skofronick-Jackson ] Yeah, water is essential for all life on Earth, 44 00:03:09,540 --> 00:03:12,570 so knowing where, when, and how much it rains or snows is very important 45 00:03:12,570 --> 00:03:17,750 to help us predict where floods might occur, where droughts might occur, 46 00:03:17,750 --> 00:03:21,790 landslides, or where the hurricanes might be impacting our coastlines. 47 00:03:21,790 --> 00:03:26,820 So GPM provides this data in near real time, so that emergency responders 48 00:03:26,820 --> 00:03:31,940 can get early access to it and to be able to predict or 49 00:03:31,940 --> 00:03:34,960 make decisions about disaster warnings. 50 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:41,090 And finally, with the GPM data, one of the best uses of it to be able to improve 51 00:03:41,090 --> 00:03:43,010 our weather forecasts and our climate change models 52 00:03:43,010 --> 00:03:46,040 for our everyday lives and our long term future. 53 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:50,140 [ Reporter ] I understand there was a lot of interesting activity 54 00:03:50,140 --> 00:03:53,260 that happened over the oceans just last week. 55 00:03:53,260 --> 00:03:55,330 Can you tell us a little bit about that? 56 00:03:55,330 --> 00:03:59,340 [ Dr. Skofronick-Jackson ] So, actually, last week there was Typhoon Maysak 57 00:03:59,340 --> 00:04:03,350 which we were able to see, we don't have visualizations of it yet 58 00:04:03,350 --> 00:04:08,510 because it's so new, but we're able to capture events like that in three dimensions 59 00:04:08,510 --> 00:04:10,520 to provide this additional information. 60 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,680 [ Reporter ] And where can we learn more about this mission? 61 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,710 [ Dr. Skofronick-Jackson ] Oh, it's been such an exciting year for NASA 62 00:04:17,710 --> 00:04:21,760 We've had 5 Earth science satellites measuring everything from soil moisture 63 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:26,940 to the carbon in the atmosphere. And you can get more information at 64 00:04:26,940 --> 00:04:30,120 NASA.gov/earthrightnow 65 00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:37.477 [Reporter] Ok, thanks so much for joining us.