| Precipitation Education

Reading a Rain Gauge

Primary Topic:

Technology

Subtopics:

Precipitation, Satellites, Data, Forecasting

Type:

Article

Audience:

Outreach, Formal, 9 - 12, 6 - 8, General

Standards:

ESS2.C, ESS2.D

Keywords:

rain gauge, measuring precipitation

Summary:

Rain gauges are the most common tool for measuring rain, but how do they actually work? What are some other ways we measure precipitation?

Body:

Reading a rain gauge is simple. We can look at the measurement marks on the side of a rain-capturing device, and find the level of water collected from a passing storm. Depending on what system is used where we live, we can read inches or millimeters and say how much rain has fallen. But the device collects a volume of liquid, doesn’t it? Why do rain gauges measure rain in millimeters or inches, which are units of length, instead of in pints or liters, which are units of volume?

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Precious Freshness

Primary Topic:

Societal Applications

Subtopics:

Earth Systems, Water & Life, Climate, Freshwater Resources

Type:

Article

Audience:

Informal, Formal, 9 - 12, 6 - 8, General

Standards:

ESS3.A, ESS3.C

Keywords:

water resources, water distribution, water conservation

Summary:

Humans need freshwater for many purposes, but it's not evenly distributed across our planet, which can create challenges for many communities.

Body:

As far as we know, all life on Earth depends on water. As humans, we need freshwater to survive. Many of us in the United States don’t spend a lot of time thinking about water. Most of the time, we aren’t worried about water unless there’s too much, as in a flood, or not enough, as in a drought. Yet this precious and essential resource isn’t distributed evenly across our planet.

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Examining Precipitation on a Globe of Blue

Primary Topic:

Water Cycle

Subtopics:

Precipitation, Weather, Technology, Satellites, Remote Sensing

Type:

Article

Audience:

Outreach, Formal, 9 - 12, 6 - 8, General

Standards:

ESS2.C

Keywords:

rain gauge, GPM instruments, GPM Microwave Imager, Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar, measuring precipitation

Summary:

Read about why we need to measure precipitation from space, instead of relying solely on ground-based measurements.

Body:

When you shake a snow globe, white flakes are suspended in the enclosed environment until they begin to fall on the miniature buildings and people. Because we are located outside that little world, we can observe the entire weather system taking place—where the biggest accumulations of flakes are occurring, and how long it takes until the storm clears. We have a similar view of our planetary globe from satellites located above the Earth and beyond our weather systems that can see where precipitation is falling.

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GPM Core Observatory LEGO Model

Image:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXxMrIpMV5c

Primary Topic:

Technology

Subtopics:

Satellites

Type:

Interactive

Audience:

Outreach, Informal, General

Standards:

ETS2.A

Keywords:

engineering, models, build

Summary:

Step by step instructions and a parts list to build your own LEGO model of the GPM Core Observatory.

Video Tour of the Precipitation Education Website

Primary Topic:

All Topics

Type:

Video

Audience:

Outreach, Informal, General

Summary:

A quick video walkthrough of the major features of the GPM Precipitation Education website, including how to browse and search for educational resources.

Description:

A quick video walkthrough of the major features of the GPM Precipitation Education website, including how to browse and search for educational resources.

STEM Careers Exploration

Image:

Primary Topic:

Technology

Subtopics:

STEM Careers, Societal Applications

Type:

Interactive

Audience:

Outreach, Informal, Formal, 9 - 12, 6 - 8

Summary:

A presentation and capture sheet to help students explore career options in STEM fields, at NASA and beyond.

Rain Gauge Design Challenge

Image:

Primary Topic:

Weather and Climate

Subtopics:

Water Cycle, Satellites, Freshwater Resources

Type:

Interactive

Audience:

Informal, Formal, 6 - 8, K - 5

Standards:

ESS3.A, ESS3.B

Keywords:

measurement, natural resources, rain gauge, design

Summary:

Use recyclable plastic bottles to build an instrument that could be used to measure rain.

Worldwide Rain Gauges Animation

Primary Topic:

Technology

Subtopics:

Precipitation, Data

Type:

Video

Audience:

Outreach, Informal, General

Standards:

ETS2.A

Keywords:

rain gauges

Summary:

A simple illustrative comparison of the number of rain gauges active worldwide.

Description:

A simple illustrative comparison of the number of rain gauges active worldwide. Taking all of the rain gauges combined would equal about the surface area of two basketball courts.

GPM: Engineering Next Generation Observations of Rain and Snow

Primary Topic:

Technology

Subtopics:

Satellites, Launch Vehicle, STEM Careers

Type:

Video

Audience:

Outreach, Informal, General

Standards:

ETS2.A, ETS2.B

Keywords:

GPM Core Observatory, Goddard Space Flight Center, engineering, testing, integration

Summary:

Overview of the engineering behind building and testing the GPM Core Observatory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Description:

For the past three years, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory has gone from components and assembly drawings to a fully functioning satellite at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The satellite has now arrived in Japan, where it will lift off in early 2014.

The journey to the launch pad has been a long and painstaking process. It began with the most basic assembly of the satellite's frame and electrical system, continued through the integration of its two science instruments, and has now culminated in the completion of a dizzying array of environmental tests to check and recheck that GPM Core Observatory will survive its new home in orbit.