Torrential Atmospheric Rivers
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- Visualizations by:
- Horace Mitchell
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- Written by:
- Ellen T. Gray
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- Scientific consulting by:
- Duane Waliser
- View full credits
A series of atmospheric rivers delivered record amounts of rainfall to California and the American West this winter, breaking the drought that has gripped the region since 2012. The deluge is fed by long tendrils of water vapor that build up over the ocean – atmospheric rivers – that then turn into rain when they approach and pass over the coast. Rain data shown in green to red from NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission and water vapor data, in white, from the Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) show the extreme rainfall that occurred in California during February, 2017, and the atmospheric rivers that transported the rain to the area. Watch the videos to see the rain arrive.
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Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio
VIRRS Suomi NPP natural color image courtesy of NASA/Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen.
Rain Accumulation map courtesy of NASA/Hal Pierce.
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Animator
- Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
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Writer
- Ellen T. Gray (NASA/HQ) [Lead]
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Scientist
- Duane Waliser (NASA/JPL CalTech) [Lead]
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ID: 4547 Visualization
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Read moreThis visualization combines precipitation data from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals (IMERG) and water vapor data from Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS) . Together, they allow scientists to study atmospheric rivers and the heavy precipitation they bring to California.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. || atriver_00380_print.jpg (1024x576) [143.5 KB] || atriver_00380_searchweb.png (320x180) [90.6 KB] || atriver_00380_thm.png (80x40) [6.9 KB] || frames/1920x1080_16x9_30p/ (1920x1080) [32.0 KB] || atriver_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [20.6 MB] || atriver_1080p30.webm (1920x1080) [2.4 MB] || atriver_4547.key [22.8 MB] || atriver_4547.pptx [22.5 MB] ||
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