Earth  ID: 4147

Global rainfall prior to the Launch of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Satellite

Visualizations by Lori Perkins Released on February 27, 2014
The Global Precipitation Measurement, or GPM, mission will use an international constellation of satellites to study global rain, snow and ice to better understand our climate, weather, and hydrometeorological processes. We cannot understand the water and energy cycle or predict weather and climate without an accurate knowledge of the intensity and distribution of global precipitation. Measurement of various aspects of precipitation (e.g. distribution, amount, rates, and the associated heat release) represents one of the most challenging research problems in Earth science. Yet, accurate global precipitation measurements will benefit weather, climate, hydro-meteorological, and applications communities alike. The concept of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) is NASA's response to the need for accurate global precipitation measurement.
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Satellite-derived rainfall products are critical to understanding are global water cycle. In many parts of our planet, rain gauging stations are either not available or are to sparsely available to develop representative aerial samples. Here is a sample movie showing global rainfall product from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM).
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Rainfall colorbar from TRMM's 3B42RT data product
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This is the same sequence as the above entry without the colorbar overlay burned into the frame sequence.

Visualization Credits

Lori Perkins (NASA/GSFC): Lead Animator
Michelle Handleman (USRA): Producer
Scott Braun (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Dalia B Kirschbaum (NASA/GSFC): Scientist
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4147

Mission:
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission - TRMM

Data Used:
TRMM and DMSP/SSM/I and TMI/3B4XRT also referred to as: 3-hour Rainmap
1/1/14 - 2/22/14
view all stories where this data set is used
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

This item is part of this series:
Rainfall

Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
SVS >> HDTV
DLESE >> Natural hazards
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Climate Indicators
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Phenomena >> Hurricanes
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Human Dimensions >> Natural Hazards >> Meteorological Hazards
NASA Science >> Earth

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0