WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:06.473 --> 00:00:06.806 Yeah. 2 00:00:06.806 --> 00:00:09.576 It's really it's a it's a really important thing to remember that 3 00:00:09.576 --> 00:00:12.812 NASA studies all the planets, including our home planet of Earth. 4 00:00:12.812 --> 00:00:16.149 It's it's not only does that help us look and understand 5 00:00:16.282 --> 00:00:20.053 other planets, the signatures of life, but the data that we collect 6 00:00:20.086 --> 00:00:23.656 help us understand vegetation, help us understand storms, 7 00:00:23.656 --> 00:00:24.991 help us understand fires. 8 00:00:24.991 --> 00:00:28.395 Those data that we collect about our home planet are incredibly valuable 9 00:00:28.395 --> 00:00:31.464 in tracking change and helping our communities manage 10 00:00:31.664 --> 00:00:34.768 all of the kinds of different hazards that they're facing. 11 00:00:39.172 --> 00:00:39.472 Yeah. 12 00:00:39.472 --> 00:00:42.542 You know, our satellites, we have a fleet of about 20 13 00:00:42.542 --> 00:00:44.644 that tracked different parameters of Earth. 14 00:00:44.644 --> 00:00:48.281 They tell us about everything from surface temperature, how green 15 00:00:48.281 --> 00:00:51.785 the vegetation is, how much water we have under the Earth's surface. 16 00:00:51.785 --> 00:00:54.487 And those have helped us see lots of changes. 17 00:00:54.487 --> 00:00:56.222 We see that the world is getting warmer. 18 00:00:56.222 --> 00:00:58.792 We see changes in growing season length. 19 00:00:58.792 --> 00:01:00.860 We see changes in ice and sea level. 20 00:01:01.428 --> 00:01:03.897 And those long records, those those satellites 21 00:01:03.897 --> 00:01:07.967 that have now been built up over literally decades, that's really helped 22 00:01:07.967 --> 00:01:11.371 us understand how the planet operates as this beautiful, complex system, 23 00:01:11.538 --> 00:01:15.341 but also how that system is changing due to human influences 24 00:01:20.046 --> 00:01:20.213 Yeah. 25 00:01:20.246 --> 00:01:22.849 And the Northwest, we've been tracking record breaking heat. 26 00:01:22.849 --> 00:01:26.252 You guys remember these these horrible heat waves that we've seen 27 00:01:26.786 --> 00:01:28.922 over the past couple of years in major cities 28 00:01:29.089 --> 00:01:31.591 that can be devastating and communities that aren't prepared well. 29 00:01:31.591 --> 00:01:34.461 We don't have the infrastructure built up to handle that kind of heat. 30 00:01:34.761 --> 00:01:37.430 So we're expecting to see, unfortunately, more heat in the future. 31 00:01:37.564 --> 00:01:40.600 That can also lead to extremes like fires. 32 00:01:40.600 --> 00:01:43.736 And so satellite data are really critical in helping us understand 33 00:01:43.736 --> 00:01:45.305 patterns of surface temperature, 34 00:01:45.305 --> 00:01:47.974 patterns of fires, even the smoke that's transported downwind 35 00:01:47.974 --> 00:01:51.845 so that our communities can be better prepared for those kinds of challenges 36 00:01:51.845 --> 00:01:52.879 in the future. 37 00:01:57.450 --> 00:01:57.951 Yeah. 38 00:01:58.351 --> 00:02:02.388 And the Southwest, we know the major challenges are water resources, 39 00:02:02.388 --> 00:02:05.725 that we're getting drier and we're trending in the wrong direction there. 40 00:02:06.326 --> 00:02:09.462 And that can lead to horrible consequences like fires, even compound 41 00:02:09.462 --> 00:02:12.565 disasters like landslides after fires that we've seen in some communities. 42 00:02:12.866 --> 00:02:16.503 So satellite data are really critical in helping us understand the big picture 43 00:02:16.769 --> 00:02:17.804 of those challenges. 44 00:02:17.804 --> 00:02:20.840 They can help us measure water literally below the ground 45 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:24.511 and in the soil and in deeper in groundwater reservoirs. 46 00:02:24.744 --> 00:02:27.447 They can also help us track the conditions that lead to fires, 47 00:02:27.614 --> 00:02:31.050 help us track fires in there as they're burning and as we, 48 00:02:31.184 --> 00:02:33.319 our communities are charting recovery satellite data 49 00:02:33.419 --> 00:02:36.823 help us there to to understand risks of things like landslides 50 00:02:36.823 --> 00:02:40.293 and more immediate dangers like those posed by smoke and air quality 51 00:02:45.665 --> 00:02:46.032 yeah. 52 00:02:46.032 --> 00:02:49.502 In the southeast, we've seen a lot of trending 53 00:02:49.502 --> 00:02:55.041 towards severe weather, severe storms we know where we're vulnerable 54 00:02:55.041 --> 00:02:59.245 in some coastal areas to effects of hurricanes, tropical storms. 55 00:02:59.245 --> 00:03:00.280 There's a lot of debate 56 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:03.149 and research going on about whether we expect those systems 57 00:03:03.149 --> 00:03:04.817 to intensify with climate change. 58 00:03:04.817 --> 00:03:07.654 Many scientists believe that we are going to see 59 00:03:08.254 --> 00:03:11.391 a trend towards more intense storms once they form. 60 00:03:11.624 --> 00:03:17.363 And we know that the rising sea levels, which have to do with ice and both water 61 00:03:17.430 --> 00:03:19.199 getting warmer and expanding 62 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:23.136 that, that makes land falling hurricanes and storms more deadly and more 63 00:03:23.136 --> 00:03:27.173 costly because the water is closer to our communities and where we all live. 64 00:03:27.373 --> 00:03:29.876 So satellite data are giving us a window into all of those things. 65 00:03:29.876 --> 00:03:32.946 They're helping us understand the processes that drive those storms. 66 00:03:32.946 --> 00:03:35.248 They're helping us track ocean temperatures 67 00:03:35.248 --> 00:03:38.484 so that we can be better prepared when we face those kinds of events. 68 00:03:43.523 --> 00:03:44.257 You're in the Northeast. 69 00:03:44.257 --> 00:03:47.460 One of the things we're most concerned about is a trend towards extreme 70 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:51.631 precipitation events, extreme storms, even winter storms coming late in the season, 71 00:03:51.631 --> 00:03:54.634 which can seem unusual and maybe counterintuitive with climate change. 72 00:03:55.335 --> 00:03:58.938 The warmer conditions that we have globally can act as a fuel 73 00:03:58.938 --> 00:04:00.640 to some of these storms. 74 00:04:00.640 --> 00:04:03.977 Those can be devastating for communities in terms of flooding, flash flooding 75 00:04:03.977 --> 00:04:06.980 when you have very intense rainfall erosion. 76 00:04:07.180 --> 00:04:11.117 So satellite data are helping us track all of those things from from the 77 00:04:11.384 --> 00:04:14.320 formation of the storm through the impacts 78 00:04:14.320 --> 00:04:17.190 of the precipitation and afterwards. 79 00:04:17.423 --> 00:04:20.159 So in the northeast, those are some of the kinds of things 80 00:04:20.159 --> 00:04:26.132 that we're looking out for yes. 81 00:04:26.132 --> 00:04:29.502 In the Midwest, we're seeing a trend towards warmer temperatures 82 00:04:29.502 --> 00:04:32.972 and also more frequent extreme rainfall. 83 00:04:33.273 --> 00:04:36.175 You guys have faced devastating floods over the past few years. 84 00:04:36.175 --> 00:04:38.177 So you remember some of these effects. 85 00:04:39.345 --> 00:04:42.248 That's incredibly important for the people living in the Midwest. 86 00:04:42.248 --> 00:04:45.752 But even more broadly, because there is such a an abundance 87 00:04:45.752 --> 00:04:48.454 of agriculture that really feeds the rest of the country and the world. 88 00:04:48.721 --> 00:04:52.025 So we're tracking both the extreme rainfall events. 89 00:04:52.025 --> 00:04:56.095 We're tracking the formation those storms and very carefully monitoring agriculture 90 00:04:56.095 --> 00:04:59.132 so that we can be prepared both as those storms are happening 91 00:04:59.132 --> 00:05:02.368 and for the larger and longer term impacts of climate change 92 00:05:02.368 --> 00:05:03.670 in the Midwest. 93 00:05:07.173 --> 00:05:08.474 Yeah, it's going to be a busy year. 94 00:05:08.474 --> 00:05:10.410 We've got a lot of new satellites going up and trying 95 00:05:10.410 --> 00:05:14.280 to observe the planet in many different and new and exciting ways. 96 00:05:14.280 --> 00:05:15.481 So that's that's going to be great. 97 00:05:15.481 --> 00:05:18.785 One I'm particularly excited about is a mission called Tempo, 98 00:05:19.052 --> 00:05:20.653 which is going to measure air quality. 99 00:05:20.653 --> 00:05:22.789 It's going to be a geostationary mission, really. 100 00:05:22.789 --> 00:05:27.560 NASA's first geostationary air quality mission, and that's important. 101 00:05:27.560 --> 00:05:28.895 It's a harder measurement to make. 102 00:05:28.895 --> 00:05:32.432 It's harder to get the satellite up very, very high to be in geostationary orbit. 103 00:05:32.732 --> 00:05:36.069 But it's going to give us measurements of air pollutants hourly. 104 00:05:36.069 --> 00:05:39.672 Right now, we're lucky if we can get those measurements once a day. 105 00:05:39.872 --> 00:05:43.643 So being able to track how air pollution changes during the course of a day 106 00:05:43.676 --> 00:05:47.580 with the cycles of things like traffic or sunlight, that's going to be 107 00:05:47.580 --> 00:05:50.817 a game changer for air quality managers in terms of understanding 108 00:05:51.050 --> 00:05:54.921 and predicting episodes that can be very, very harmful to communities. 109 00:05:54.921 --> 00:05:55.922 All across our country. 110 00:06:00.493 --> 00:06:03.329 You can check us out on the Web at NASA.gov Slash Earth Day. 111 00:06:03.363 --> 00:06:05.331 If you go there, you're going to find all kinds of information 112 00:06:05.331 --> 00:06:06.833 about how we're celebrating Earth Day. 113 00:06:06.833 --> 00:06:09.736 There's virtual celebrations that everybody can join in. 114 00:06:10.770 --> 00:06:12.105 There's also a lot of resources there. 115 00:06:12.105 --> 00:06:13.573 If you poke around a little bit, 116 00:06:13.573 --> 00:06:16.075 all of our data are free and publicly accessible. 117 00:06:16.075 --> 00:06:17.043 So you can learn more about 118 00:06:17.043 --> 00:06:19.512 some of the missions we've talked about, even go and view 119 00:06:19.512 --> 00:06:23.483 some of the Earth observations that we've been discussing to you. 120 00:06:23.483 --> 00:06:25.885 So so please take the initiative. 121 00:06:25.885 --> 00:06:27.954 Go ahead and learn a bit more if you can 122 00:06:31.924 --> 00:06:32.392 yeah. 123 00:06:32.392 --> 00:06:35.728 It's important for people to know that even though you might see 124 00:06:35.728 --> 00:06:38.798 natural variability in your community, that's totally normal. 125 00:06:39.198 --> 00:06:43.436 The global trajectory of climate change, the global temperature continues to rise. 126 00:06:43.436 --> 00:06:45.571 So we're still seeing climate change continue. 127 00:06:45.571 --> 00:06:46.572 This is not ended. 128 00:06:46.572 --> 00:06:50.910 This is even if you see a late season snowstorm this is this is still a problem 129 00:06:51.144 --> 00:06:54.113 that we're very much facing across the planet. 130 00:06:55.081 --> 00:06:58.718 So it can be unusual, but it's important to note that late 131 00:06:58.718 --> 00:07:03.089 season storms are actually something we've expected with climate change. 132 00:07:03.089 --> 00:07:06.225 Some of the changes we see at far northern latitudes can actually affect 133 00:07:06.225 --> 00:07:09.662 the position of the jet stream that can even bring a stronger winter 134 00:07:09.662 --> 00:07:10.696 weather further south. 135 00:07:10.696 --> 00:07:13.499 That seems a little counterintuitive, but it's actually something that we've 136 00:07:13.666 --> 00:07:16.135 we've known and expected for a long time with climate change. 137 00:07:16.135 --> 00:07:18.171 So even though you're seeing these changes locally, 138 00:07:18.171 --> 00:07:20.373 that doesn't mean we're off the hook and that climate change 139 00:07:20.673 --> 00:07:21.707 isn't an issue anymore. 140 00:07:21.707 --> 00:07:23.276 Unfortunately, 141 00:07:27.213 --> 00:07:30.116 you know, it's a really important day, I think, to take stock and 142 00:07:30.149 --> 00:07:34.821 look at the world around you and to pause and understand our environment. 143 00:07:34.821 --> 00:07:37.890 This is a day when everybody is trying collectively 144 00:07:37.890 --> 00:07:41.861 to focus on their environment, think about or think about our impacts. 145 00:07:41.861 --> 00:07:44.530 And I think having that time, having that moment of reflection 146 00:07:44.831 --> 00:07:46.232 is really, really important. 147 00:07:46.232 --> 00:07:49.068 It's a time for us to reach out and make sure that what we're doing 148 00:07:49.268 --> 00:07:51.070 isn't just closed off in a lab. 149 00:07:51.070 --> 00:07:52.738 We're not just keeping the results to ourself. 150 00:07:52.738 --> 00:07:55.341 We're actually getting out there and trying to talk to communities 151 00:07:55.341 --> 00:07:57.243 and share some of the things we're learning 152 00:07:57.243 --> 00:07:58.711 so that everybody can benefit from them. 153 00:07:58.711 --> 00:07:59.612 So, you know, 154 00:07:59.612 --> 00:08:02.882 I hope everybody takes that moment to pause, that moment to learn a bit more 155 00:08:02.882 --> 00:08:06.686 and to reflect on how we affect the planet and how it affects us. 156 00:08:11.624 --> 00:08:12.758 Yeah, you know, a lot 157 00:08:12.758 --> 00:08:14.460 of people will look at that that number, 158 00:08:14.460 --> 00:08:16.762 that global temperature number and think, that's not a big deal. 159 00:08:16.762 --> 00:08:19.365 Look, the temperature varies a lot day to day. 160 00:08:19.365 --> 00:08:20.500 What does that even matter 161 00:08:20.500 --> 00:08:23.135 when you think about that, when you think about the mass of heat 162 00:08:23.135 --> 00:08:25.805 that that represents being trapped close to the earth. 163 00:08:25.805 --> 00:08:30.743 So one degree, approximately globally is a whole lot of heat. 164 00:08:30.743 --> 00:08:31.611 And we see 165 00:08:31.611 --> 00:08:35.047 that heat reverberate in many ways throughout the Earth's system right now. 166 00:08:35.214 --> 00:08:37.984 That's heating up the oceans. That affects ocean productivity. 167 00:08:37.984 --> 00:08:40.286 It affects food, it affects sea level rise. 168 00:08:41.087 --> 00:08:45.091 That temperature change is warm enough to melt ice. 169 00:08:45.091 --> 00:08:47.126 That's also contributing to sea level rise, 170 00:08:47.126 --> 00:08:49.962 contributing to change in ecosystems and water availability. 171 00:08:50.162 --> 00:08:51.898 In many parts of the world. 172 00:08:51.898 --> 00:08:55.434 We're seeing changes in growing season and changes in fire frequency 173 00:08:55.635 --> 00:08:57.570 with this amount of warming. 174 00:08:57.570 --> 00:09:01.240 So even though that can seem like a small number, 175 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:05.912 then when it's averaged over the whole planet, it represents a very big, 176 00:09:05.912 --> 00:09:10.650 very fundamental shift in the way that the planet functions as a system.