Dalia Kirschbaum

Freshwater seems abundant, but when accounting for all the water on Earth, it's in limited supply. Just three percent of the water on our planet is freshwater. A majority of this water, about two percent of the world total, is contained in glaciers and ice sheets or stored below ground. The remaining one percent is found in lakes, rivers and wetland areas or transported through the atmosphere in the form of water vapor, clouds and precipitation. Rain and snowfall replenish freshwater sources, making it vital to know when, where and how much water is falling at any given time. Using NASA's...

GPM is designed to advance scientific understanding of the Earth's water and energy cycle but also provides near real-time data for a wide array of societal applications. As a science mission with integrated application goals, the GPM mission has five scientific objectives: Advancing Precipitation Measurement from Space GPM advances precipitation measurement capability from space using a combination of active and passive remote-sensing techniques. These measurements are used to calibrate, unify and improve global precipitation measurements by a constellation of research and operational...

Malaria outbreaks after the 2010 floods in Pakistan , E. coli and colliform from raw sewage in Mississippi flood waters , and cholera spread by heavy rains in Cameroon, West Africa are among the many health hazards associated with flood disasters and torrential rains. In developing regions with limited clean water infrastructure and health resources that are stretched thin, any advanced warning can make a huge difference in the health community’s response to help people in need. Flooding in Gonaives Haiti before and after the 2004 tropical storm Jeanne Using satellite data to forecast disease...

Soil moisture content is a measure of the amount of water in the soil. Knowing how much water is held in the soil is useful for many applications, including improving agricultural productivity, assessing drought and flood conditions, and even estimating groundwater supplies. NASA has teamed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) to develop a global soil moisture map fashioned for FAS by integrating soil moisture observations from the Earth Observing System Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) instrument into the USDA FAS soil moisture...

Visit the Land Data Assimilation Systems homepage Rain and snowfall are key components of land surface models, including the Land Data Assimilation Systems (LDAS), which integrate satellite and ground-based observational data to generate estimates of soil moisture, soil temperature, evapotranspiration and runoff. Scientists use this and other models to study surface features and how they change due to manmade and natural conditions such as urbanization and erosion. The Global LDAS (GLDAS) uses TRMM precipitation data in numerous investigations into how water and energy cycle through natural...

Researchers need accurate and timely rainfall information to better understand and model where and when severe floods, frequent landslides and devastating droughts may occur. GPM's global rainfall data will help to better prepare and respond to a wide range of natural disasters. This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11091 Landslides are one of the most pervasive hazards in the world, resulting in more fatalities and economic damage than is generally recognized. They have caused more than 11,500 fatalities in 70 countries from 2007-2010 , and in the...

In July 2010, monsoon rains put one fifth of Pakistan under water. In December 2010 and January 2011, Tropical Cyclone Tasha and a wet year combined to drown Queensland, Australia. And in the United States this May, flooding on the Mississippi River has displaced thousands of people. Over months or a few short hours, extreme rain can interact with the right combination of topography, land use and climate to trigger deadly and costly floods. Submerged houses in Louisiana due to extreme flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina To better understand and predict floods scientists have developed...

Stormfront approaching the city of Bangalore, India Source: Manish Bansal Constantly scanning the Earth’s surface, the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) allows scientists to both track tropical cyclones and forecast their progression. Used by NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (NHC), the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), and tropical cyclone centers in Japan, India, Australia and other countries, detailed microwave information provides data on the location, pattern and intensity of rainfall. Tropical Cyclone Eunice in the South Indian Ocean on January 28, 2015. GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) found...