Instagram: Why Do Raindrop Sizes Matter In Storms?

Complete transcript available. || Not all raindrops are created equal. The size of falling raindrops depends on several factors, including where the cloud producing the drops is located on the globe and where the drops originate in the cloud. For the first time, scientists have three-dimensional snapshots of raindrops and snowflakes around the world from space, thanks to the joint NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. With the new global data on raindrop and snowflake sizes this mission provides, scientists can improve rainfall estimates from satellite data and in numerical weather forecast models, helping us better understand and prepare for extreme weather events.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube Channel. || This is a conceptual animation showing how the size and distribution of raindrops varies within a storm. The animation travels from the top to the bottom of a storm. Blues and greens represent small raindrops that are 0.5-3mm in size. Yellows, oranges, and reds represent larger raindrops that are 4-6mm in size. A storm with a higher ratio of yellows, oranges, and reds will contain more water than a storm with a higher ratio of blues and greens. Credit: NASA s GPM satellite is measuring the size and distribution of raindrops globally. || A GIF optimized for posting on Twitter.With GPM’s three-dimensional snapshots of drop size distribution, scientists can gain insight into the structure of a storm and how it will behave. || A GIF optimized for posting on Twitter.In the mid-latitudes, raindrops can originate from snowflakes, allowing them to melt into bigger raindrops compared to the tropics.

An animation depicting the build-up of precipitation data on a flat map from the Global Precipitation Measurement constellation of satellites, resulting in the IMERG global precipitation data set.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. || The ten currently-flying satellites in the Global Precipitation Measurement Constellation provide unprecedented information about the rain and snow across the entire Earth. This visualization shows the constellation in action, taking precipitation measurements underneath the satellite orbits. As time progresses and the Earth s preciptation becomes clearer, from the constant rainfall patterns along the Equator to the storm fronts in the mid-latitudes. The dynamic nature of the precipitation is revealed as time speeds up and the satellite data swaths merge into a continuous visualization of changing rain and snowfall. Finally, the video fades into an visualization of IMERG, the newly available data set of global precipitation every thirty minutes that is derived from this satellite data.This is a newer version of the animation and uses a modified version of the Liquid Precipitation Rate colorbar. This newer colorbar improves the display of higher rain rates. || The colorbar for liquid precipitation (rain). || The colorbar for frozen precipitation (snow).

Various beauty passes of the GPM Core spacecraft. || A variety of animated beauty passes of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core spacecraft. || The GPM Core satellite cruises over a hurricane.