[Reporter] NASA is unveiling a new global portrait and here
to show us what this portrait looks like
and tell us more about what it all means is Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum
from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, thanks for joining us. [Dr. Kirschbaum] Thanks for having me.
[Reporter] So this new global view is very compelling, what makes this map so special?
[Dr. Kirschbaum] Well typically what you see on TV is either a radar image from the ground
showing local rain fall or you see a satellite showing the tops of clouds.
The Global Precipitation Mission or GPM can actually see through the clouds.
and it provides a global picture with the help of a constellation
satellites, both domestic and international. What this does provides
this global picture of rain and snow every where around the world every
30 minutes. [Reporter] So can you take us on tour and show us
some of the surprising things you've seen. [Dr. Kirschbaum] Sure in just one week in August
of 2014 we saw some pretty impressive precipitation around the world.
You know the first we saw in the Pacific we see these storms lining up
and what you see here is Hurricane Iselle hitting Hawaii, the first in
22 years. Further south in the Amazon you can see this kind of popcorn convection
as well as squall lines, which is very important for feeding
largest river on Earth, the Amazon river. Even Further south you can
look at the southern oceans, these huge storm systems spiraling around
an area of really rough weather and very observations on the ground.
[Reporter] I understand that this is the first satellite to measure falling
snow. Can you show us a resent snow storm? [Dr. Kirschbaum] Sure absolutely,
I think one of the important things to know is that GPM has advance instruments
to measure everything from liquid to solid precipitation. So for example
if you look at a tropical event like Arthur, Hurricane Arthur which affected the east coast
in July of 2014, you can see heavy rain
in the reds but you also see blue's and purple's as snow
at the top. What is interesting when it's cold at the surface you can actually
see falling snow from GPM.
[Reporter] I understand there's a lot interesting activity over the oceans
last week, can you show us some of the things you saw? [Dr. Kirschbaum] Sure, It's
quite interesting actually. Super Tyhpoon Maysak was the
5th storm to occur before April 1st. So it's
pretty notable and right now it's spinning the Pacific causing some
has a potential to hit the Philippines pretty soon. You can also
see some squall lines moving across the U.S. and also
coming all the way across the Atlantic and affecting the U.K.
and other parts of Europe causing extensive damage both from wind
and flooding. [Reporter] How are forecasters and emergency managers using
this global view? [Dr. Kirschbaum] Well knowing where, when and how much it's raining and
snowing is really vital for understanding where we might have extreme events like
landslides and even floods. GPM provides real time data
to emergency responders and forecasters. This is an example of
Super Typhoon Halong and this visualizing
shows accumulations and the dark reds are
heavy rain fall. This affected Japan and caused
extensive flooding. Now GPM data will help to improve models both of our
weather today and our climate in the future. [Reporter] Tell us where can we learn
more about this mission. [Dr. Kirschbaum] Well this is a really exciting time for Earth science at
NASA since February launched 5 missions. To learn more
about this, please go to nasa.gov/earthrightnow