[ off camera ] "Everyone is familiar with rain. It literally falls in our backyard, but did you know there's actually a lot we really still don't know about rain and snowfall. NASA's getting ready to launch a new mission that's going to measure both rain and snow all around the world here to tell us a little bit more about this new mission is Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum here to tell us a little bit more about this new mission is Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. Thanks for joining us." [ Kirschbaum ] "Thanks for having me." [ off camera ] "So in a couple of hours NASA is going to launch a new satellite that's going to measure rain and snowfall all around the world. What's so special about this mission?" [ Kirschbaum ] "Well we're really excited about the GPM core observatory. The Global Precipitation Measurement mission is actually co-led by NASA and JAXA and it's going to provide the most advanced instruments we've ever had to measure everything from light rain to heavy rain and snow. But in addition to this core satellite, it's going to be the flagship for an international satellite constellation that together will give us a global picture of rain and snow everywhere in the world, every three hours." [ off camera ] "Why do we need to measure precipitation from space?" [Kirschbaum] "It's really important to measure precipitation and get a global picture of what's happening. We want important to measure precipitation and get a global picture of what’s happening. We want to know what's happening in our backyards, but it's equally as important to know where our weather is coming from or what's happening around the other side of the world. Now rain gauges can give us information of a specific point. But if you actually take all of the rain gauges in the world they only fit into two basketball courts. Radar are a little bit better. Radar gives you a broader coverage, but there are a lot of areas around the world where we have no coverage at all like over the oceans or developing countries. And so having that vantage point of space gives us a lot of power and understanding how precipitation is moving or changing and how that may be changing in a changing climate." [ off camera ] "How will GPM improve monitoring for hazards like hurricanes and floods?" [ Kirschbaum ] "Well GPM has some pretty amazing tools that can let us look three-dimensionally through storms with a dual frequency radar. And so layer-by-layer we can get a sense of what's happening in the clouds and what's happening with the precipitation. The other satellite instrument is sort of like an X-ray whereas the radar is like a CAT Scan. And together these two instruments can diagnose what's happening. So if you look at Hurricane Katrina for example, you see these big red spikes which are hot towers, these huge convective towers. And so having this information from a three dimensional perspective gives us critical clues into understanding how a storm is intensifying and where it might be moving. And so for weather forecasters and hurricane modelers, they use that information to get a sense of where to make evacuations and how to better understand the dynamics of these storms." [ off camera ] "Why is it important to study rain and snowfall in a changing climate?" [ Kirschbaum ] "Well knowing where, when and how much it's raining or snowing is so important for everything for understanding extreme events like floods. If you look at floods we need to know. You know everywhere in the world there's a flood at least once a day. And so floods and their counterpart landslides are caused by extreme precipitation. On the flip side looking at drought. And the most important thing is to look at how our weather is changing every day and how that changes in a changing climate. So we need to look from day to day scale all the way to what's happening far into the future." [ off camera ] "Where can we learn more?" [Kirschbaum] "You can learn more at NASA.GOV/GPM where we have a whole host of animations and visualizations that tell us about this exciting mission coming up." [ off camera ] "Thanks so much for joining us." [Kirschbaum] "Thanks for having me."