Applications

Thursday, September 13, 2018

Overview

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission has several cross-cutting application areas which contribute to and enhance our understanding of weather forecasting, disasters, ecology, health, water and agriculture and energy. Using advanced space-borne instruments, GPM measures light rain to heavy rain and falling snow, producing a near-global view of precipitation every 30 minutes. Through improved measurements of rain and snow, precipitation data from the GPM mission is used by a diverse range of applications and user communities at local to global scales to inform decision making and policy that directly benefits society.

Sections

What are Applications?

“Applications” refers to the use of mission data products in decision-making activities for societal benefit. Mission Applications take a satellite's data products and expands them into areas where they can help inform policy or decisions.

Learn more about Applied Sciences at NASA

Who's Using GPM Data?

Learn about the different people and organizations that are using GPM and other NASA Earth data to help improve life around the world.

View Articles

GPM Mentorship Program

NASA’s GPM applications team and University of Coimbra’s Earth and Space Science Center (CITEUC Portugal) have collaborated to host the GPM Mentorship Program for several years.

The program supports users from established and underrepresented user communities to provide a tailored hands-on learning experience in using GPM data for applications. It provides participants with training and tools to use state-of-the-art GPM satellite-based precipitation estimates, and helps them apply GPM data to support real-world problems and benefit their communities.

Learn more about each GPM Mentorship Program session: 2024, 2023, 2022

GPM Data for Decision Making

Are you using GPM satellite precipitation data in your work, or would you like to? Share your story with our team, or ask us any questions you may have using our contact form.

We also encourage you to get involved in GPM applications by attending an applications event or accessing the free and publicly available data in the data section of this site.

Dalia Kirschbaum (NASA GSFC), GPM Mission Associate Deputy Project Scientist for Applications
Andrea Portier (NASA GSFC / SSAI), GPM Applications and Outreach Coordinator
Dorian Janney (NASA GSFC / ADNET), GPM Outreach Specialist
Jacob Reed (NASA GSFC / Telophase), GPM Web Developer

GPM Applications Posters (.zip / .pdf)
GPM Applications & Data Access One Pagers (.pdf)
Highlights

Applications Featured Resources

Satellite Data Gives Context to Reports of Significant Rain in the Sahara Desert

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Most people live in places where it rains much more often than it does in the Sahara Desert. For this reason, it can be challenging to make sense of news reports of major storms in the Sahara. NASA satellite data and rainfall statistics can give the needed context. Below is a discussion of three news stories about rainfall in or near the Sahara Desert during August and September 2024. These news stories described storm runoff, infrastructure damage, and the rain's impact on the ecosystems at the edge of the desert. Areas with significant impacts are shown in green in Figure 1. Figure 1. A map

Screenshot of IMERG rain rates on October 29, 2024

Thursday, November 7, 2024

During the 10-day period from Oct. 26 through Nov. 4, 2024, parts of central-eastern and southern Spain saw unusually heavy flooding that resulted in heavy infrastructure damage and over 200 fatalities, according to the Associated Press. In this animation, NASA’s IMERG multi-satellite data product shows estimated rain rates (blue/yellow shading) and accumulations (green/purple shading) from the flooding rainfall. Cloudiness is also shown in white/gray shading, from geosynchronous infrared satellite observations. Download video (right-click -> "Save As") The flooding was caused by heavy

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

For the third consecutive year, NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement Mission applications team and University of Coimbra’s Earth and Space Science Center (CITEUC Portugal) collaborated to host the GPM Mentorship Program. The 2024 initiative built on previous years' successes, supporting new users from established and underrepresented user communities and providing a tailored hands-on learning experience in using GPM data for applications. It gave participants an overview of state-of-the-art GPM satellite-based precipitation estimates and provided users with examples of applying GPM data to

Friday, October 11, 2024

While the GPM Core Observatory’s instruments show exceptional detail in Milton’s rainfall structure in several overpasses throughout the week, the IMERG global multi-satellite product provides a broader overview of precipitation along Milton’s track as a continuous picture from development through landfall. Download this video (right-click -> "save as") The above animation shows IMERG precipitation rates (in blue/yellow shading) and accumulations (in green/purple shading) from Oct. 5-10, 2024. Cloudiness is shown in shades of white/gray using infrared geosynchronous satellite data. While

GPM data shows precipitation within Hurricane Milton over the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 7, 2024.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Updated Oct. 10, 2024 Click here for a visualization of IMERG precipitations and totals from Hurricane Milton. After forming in the Bay of Campeche, Hurricane Milton underwent a remarkable period of rapid intensification with its central pressure falling from 1007 mb (29.74 inches of mercury, inHg) at 11:00 a.m. EDT Oct. 5 to 897 mb (26.49 inHg) at 8:00 p.m. EDT on Oct. 7. At this time Milton became the fifth most intense hurricane in the Atlantic Basin on record in terms of central pressure, just behind Hurricane Rita (2005) on that list, and only the sixth storm in the Atlantic to have a

Map of IMERG rainfall totals from Hurricane Helene.

Friday, September 27, 2024

After tracking through the eastern Gulf of Mexico and battering much of the west coast of Florida with strong winds and storm surge, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida’s northwest coast at 11:10 pm EDT about 10 miles west-southwest of Perry, Florida, as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds reported at 140 mph by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). Hurricane Idalia, a strong Category 3 storm at the time, also made landfall in the Big Bend last year. Animation of NASA IMERG precipitation rates and totals from Hurricane Helene from Sept. 23 -

Hurricane John (Sept 2024) IMERG rainfall accumulation

Friday, September 27, 2024

[ Goto Spanish translation; Ir a la traducción al español] On Monday evening, Sept. 23, 2024, an unusual hurricane struck southern Mexico, dumping 20 inches of rainfall along the coast according to estimates from NASA's IMERG precipitation product. The following image shows these rainfall estimates: Click here for a full resolution version of this image. Observations from an international constellation of satellites were the starting point for calculating these estimates, and the data confirm that forecasters in prior days were right to warn of possible heavy rainfall. Forecasters did have

Banner for the GPM 10-in-10 webinar series featuring the GPM satellite flying over Earth.

Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Nov. 14, 2024, 8:00 p.m. ET Overview As we finish celebrating the NASA / JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission's 10 year anniversary, we'll take a look behind the scenes at how the GPM Outreach Team showcased the mission's science, technology, and applications over the years. We'll also look ahead to the exciting new plans for the future of NASA’s precipitation measurement missions! View the Resource Packet Speakers Kristen Weaver Kristen Weaver is the Deputy Coordinator for the GLOBE Observer project, which aims to extend the long-standing citizen science and science education

3D map of GPM precipitation estimates from within Hurricane Francine as it approached the Gulf Coast.

Thursday, September 12, 2024

Updated: Wednesday, September 18, 2024 Hurricane Francine made landfall on Wednesday, September 11, at 5:00 p.m. CDT on the southern coast of Louisiana, approximately 30 miles south-southwest of Morgan City. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) classified it as a Category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds estimated at 100 mph. Francine originated from a westward-moving tropical wave of low pressure, known as an African easterly wave. This wave, as is typical, emerged off the west coast of Africa before traversing the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean. These waves often serve as seedlings for

GPM Ground Validation webinar banner showing a large radar dish in front of a misty mountain during the early morning.

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Oct 10, 2024, 8:00 p.m. ET Overview It is amazing that NASA’s Earth-observing satellites can collect data from around the globe to help us better understand and protect our home planet! Have you ever wondered how we compare the data we obtain from satellites with data we collect on the ground to ensure that satellites are accurate with their measurements? Join us to learn about ground validation efforts that must be completed to ensure that our global precipitation data is accurate. You will also learn how you can contribute to the vast array of freely available NASA-sponsored data through The