A Week in the Life of Rain
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- Visualizations by:
- Brian Monroe,
- Alex Kekesi, and
- Horace Mitchell
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- Written by:
- Ryan Fitzgibbons
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- Edited by:
- Ryan Fitzgibbons and
- Mike Velle
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- Scientific consulting by:
- Dalia B Kirschbaum,
- Gail Skofronick Jackson, and
- George Huffman
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- Produced by:
- Ryan Fitzgibbons
- View full credits
A video highlighting several precipitation events that occurred between August 4 and August 11, 2014, using the IMERG dataset.
For complete transcript, click here.
Rain, snow, hail, ice, and every slushy mix in between make up the precipitation that touches everyone on our planet. But not all places rain equally. Precipitation falls differently in different parts of the world, as you see in NASA's new video that captures every shower, every snow storm and every hurricane from August 4 to August 14, 2014.
The GPM Core Observatory, co-led by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), was launched on Feb 27, 2014, and provides advanced instruments that can see rain and falling snow all the way through the atmosphere. This Core Observatory serves as the reference standard to unite preciptiation observations from a dozen satellites, which together produce the most detailed world-wide view of everything from light rain to heavy rain and, for the first time, falling snow.
Scientists merged data from 12 precipitation satellites into a single seamless map called the Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), or IMERG. Every 30 minutes, IMERG generates a new global map with a resolution of 10 kilometers by 10 km (6.2 miles by 6.2 mi), about the size of a small suburb. These comprehensive maps allow scientists to observe changes in precipitation patterns across 87 percent of the globe and through time.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Animator
- Brian Monroe (USRA) [Lead]
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Visualizers
- Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.) [Lead]
- Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
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Writers
- Ryan Fitzgibbons (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) [Lead]
- Ellen T. Gray (NASA/HQ)
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Editor
- Ryan Fitzgibbons (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) [Lead]
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Sound editor
- Mike Velle (KBRwyle) [Lead]
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Scientists
- Dalia B Kirschbaum (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
- Gail Skofronick Jackson (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
- George Huffman (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
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Producer
- Ryan Fitzgibbons (KBR Wyle Services, LLC) [Lead]
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Videographers
- Rob Andreoli (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.) [Lead]
- John Caldwell (Advocates in Manpower Management, Inc.)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Tapes
This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:-
RainDay
(ID: 2015020)
Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 4:00AM
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ID: 11826 Produced Video
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ID: 4283 Visualization
Painting the World with Water
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ID: 4284 Visualization
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Read moreAn animation showing global precipitation accumulating from 8/4/2014 through 8/10/2014. The very large accumulation near Japan is Typhoon Halong. This accumulation is calculated from the IMERG precipitation dataset.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. || The global IMERG precipitation dataset provides rainfall rates for the entire world every thirty minutes. Using this dataset, it is possible to calculate the amount of accumulated rainfall for any region over a period of time. This animation shows the accumulation of rainfall across the globe for a week in August, 2014. In addition to the dramatic accumulation near Japan due to Typhoon Halong and the track of Hurricane Bertha off the eastern coast of the United States, it is also possible to see a rare August storm over the North Sea near Europe, the origins of Hurricane Gonzalo on the western coast of Africa, and a deep tropical depression that produced floods across northern India. ||
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Read moreAnimation of Precipitation Rates in the South Pacific. Notice the consistent frontal bands as they travel eastward across the southern Pacific Ocean. || NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission has produced its first global map of rainfall and snowfall. The GPM Core Observatory launched one year ago on Feb. 27, 2014 as a collaboration between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and acts as the standard to unify precipitation measurements from a network of 12 satellites. The result is NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM data product, called IMERG, which combines data from all 12 satellites into a single, seamless map. The map covers more of the globe than any previous precipitation data set and is updated every half hour, allowing scientists to see how rain and snow storms move around nearly the entire planet. As scientists work to understand all the elements of Earth's climate and weather systems, and how they could change in the future, GPM provides a major step forward in providing the scientific community comprehensive and consistent measurements of precipitation. ||
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Read moreAnimation showing the precipitation left by Hurricane Bertha as it churned off the United States East Coast. It then weakens from Hurricane status. However, despite it's loss of Hurricane strength, the remaining storm proceeds to march across the Atlantic eventually drenching the United Kingdom. || NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission has produced its first global map of rainfall and snowfall. The GPM Core Observatory launched one year ago on Feb. 27, 2014 as a collaboration between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and acts as the standard to unify precipitation measurements from a network of 12 satellites. The result is NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM data product, called IMERG, which combines data from all 12 satellites into a single, seamless map. The map covers more of the globe than any previous precipitation data set and is updated every half hour, allowing scientists to see how rain and snow storms move around nearly the entire planet. As scientists work to understand all the elements of Earth's climate and weather systems, and how they could change in the future, GPM provides a major step forward in providing the scientific community comprehensive and consistent measurements of precipitation. ||
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IMERG Precipitation Rates from Cyclone Halong
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ID: 4296 Visualization
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ID: 4298 Visualization
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ID: 4299 Visualization
IMERG Accumulated Precipitation Across India's Ghats Mountains
Read moreAnimation showing accumulated precipitation over India. Notice the extremely high amounts of accumulated rain over the Ghats Mountains. These heavy rains led to major landslides along this mountain range. || NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission has produced its first global map of rainfall and snowfall. The GPM Core Observatory launched one year ago on Feb. 27, 2014 as a collaboration between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and acts as the standard to unify precipitation measurements from a network of 12 satellites. The result is NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM data product, called IMERG, which combines data from all 12 satellites into a single, seamless map. The map covers more of the globe than any previous precipitation data set and is updated every half hour, allowing scientists to see how rain and snow storms move around nearly the entire planet. As scientists work to understand all the elements of Earth's climate and weather systems, and how they could change in the future, GPM provides a major step forward in providing the scientific community comprehensive and consistent measurements of precipitation. ||
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ID: 4300 Visualization
IMERG Accumulated Precipitation Rates from Cylone Halong
Read moreAnimation showing accumulated rainfall from Cyclone Halong as it bears down on Japan. || NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission has produced its first global map of rainfall and snowfall. The GPM Core Observatory launched one year ago on Feb. 27, 2014 as a collaboration between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and acts as the standard to unify precipitation measurements from a network of 12 satellites. The result is NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM data product, called IMERG, which combines data from all 12 satellites into a single, seamless map. The map covers more of the globe than any previous precipitation data set and is updated every half hour, allowing scientists to see how rain and snow storms move around nearly the entire planet. As scientists work to understand all the elements of Earth's climate and weather systems, and how they could change in the future, GPM provides a major step forward in providing the scientific community comprehensive and consistent measurements of precipitation. ||
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