1
00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:02,670
 One of the storms washed out roads. 

2
00:00:02,690 --> 00:00:06,030
We had to clear a mudslide. Get out the pick and shovels.

3
00:00:06,050 --> 00:00:09,000
We were fording a river with water up to our knees 

4
00:00:09,020 --> 00:00:10,630
as we were heading out to the sites. 

5
00:00:10,650 --> 00:00:13,090
So it was pretty intense.

6
00:00:13,110 --> 00:00:15,900
I am a graduate student at the University of Washington 

7
00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,450
and I’ve been working with the folks at NASA 

8
00:00:19,470 --> 00:00:20,870
in the Olympic National Park 

9
00:00:20,890 --> 00:00:24,700
to validate the GPM satellite observations. 

10
00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,990
The GPM satellite has the amazing advantage 

11
00:00:28,010 --> 00:00:30,270
that it can measure precipitation everywhere. 

12
00:00:30,290 --> 00:00:34,910
But we need to know if the satellite measurements are accurate or not.

13
00:00:34,930 --> 00:00:39,000
So we have this ground network of instruments set up. 

14
00:00:39,020 --> 00:00:41,180
At all the sites we have rain gauges 

15
00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:42,720
so we know how much rain there is. 

16
00:00:42,740 --> 00:00:47,660
We have disdrometers, which measure the individual raindrops themselves

17
00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:51,210
and tell us about the properties of the rainfall.

18
00:00:51,230 --> 00:00:53,030
The weather here is very unique

19
00:00:53,050 --> 00:00:55,070
we have all these different types of precipitation 

20
00:00:55,090 --> 00:00:56,400
occurring in the same spot. 

21
00:00:56,420 --> 00:01:00,480
You have this light uniform rain, you have this heavy isolated intense rain,

22
00:01:00,500 --> 00:01:01,450
you have snow. 

23
00:01:01,470 --> 00:01:07,860
The goal of the ground instrumentation is to measure the changes in precipitation.

24
00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:09,890
It’s constantly damp out here. 

25
00:01:09,910 --> 00:01:13,250
We’re measuring the rain but then the rain is falling on to our instruments.

26
00:01:13,270 --> 00:01:17,290
We have a lot of electronics and the water likes to try and drip into them. 

27
00:01:17,310 --> 00:01:21,700
So we’ve had a lot of fun trying to keep things dry.

28
00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:25,780
The challenge really is just to keep everything running as this weather 

29
00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:28,210
just continues to come one storm after another.

30
00:01:28,230 --> 00:01:31,630
It’s hard to get a break but it keeps it exciting. 

31
00:01:31,650 --> 00:01:34,370
The more I learn the more I appreciate 

32
00:01:34,390 --> 00:01:37,850
how intricate the details of what goes on in these storms. 

33
00:01:37,870 --> 00:01:43,950