Deadly Southern Asia Flooding Rainfall Measured By NASA's IMERG

Deadly Southern Asia Flooding Rainfall Measured By NASA's IMERG

Deaths of over 250 people have resulted from extremely heavy monsoon rainfall in parts of northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal. The death toll from flooding and landslides is expected to continue increasing. Heavy monsoon rainfall is normal in southern Asia this time of year but precipitation totals this year are higher than expected. Recent heavy rainfall is also causing the Brahmaputra and Ganges Rivers rivers to continue rising.

Deadly Southern Asia Flooding Rainfall Measured By NASA's IMERG

This rainfall analysis over southern Asia was created using IMERG real time data covering the period from August 10-16, 2017. Total rainfall IMERG estimates of over 300 mm (11.8 inches) were calculated for just that seven day period in an area from southwestern Nepal through northern Bangladesh. IMERG estimates also indicated that the most extreme rainfall totals of greater than 1000 mm (39.4 inches) fell over northern Bangladesh.

The Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM or IMERG is used to estimate precipitation from a combination of passive microwave sensors, including GPM's GMI microwave sensor and geostationary IR (infrared) data. IMERG real-time data are generated by NASA's Precipitation Processing System every half hour and are normally available within six hours.

Images and caption by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC)