Videos

In the Amazon Rainforest, few animals are as dangerous to humans as mosquitos that transmit malaria. The tropical disease can bring on severe fever, headaches and chills and is particularly severe for children and the elderly and can cause complications for pregnant women. In rainforest-covered Peru the number of malaria cases has spiked such that, in the past five years, it has had on average the second highest rate in the South American continent. In 2014 and 2015 there were 65,000 reported cases in the country.
Containing malaria outbreaks is challenging because it is difficult to figure...

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory captured these images of Hurricane Harvey at 11:45 UTC and 21:25 UTC on the 27th of August nearly two days after the storm made landfall as it was meandering slowly southeast at just 2 mph (~4 kph) near Victoria, Texas west of Houston.

The image shows rain rates derived from GPM's GMI microwave imager (outer swath) and dual-frequency precipitation radar or DPR (inner swath) overlaid on enhanced visible/infrared data from the GOES-East satellite.

Harvey's cyclonic circulation is still quite evident in the visible/infrared clouds, but...

North America experiences a yearly monsoon weather system in late summer as moisture comes up from the west coast of Mexico and enters the southwestern U.S. The seasonal weather pattern brings both much of the region's precipitation but can also pose a threat in the form of flash flooding. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission gathers data from these storms in order to better understand the precipitation processes happening within, which can help better forecast the breaks and surges in the monsoon. 

NASA researchers now can use a combination of satellite observations to re-create multi-dimensional pictures of hurricanes and other major storms in order to study complex atmospheric interactions. In this video, they applied those techniques to Hurricane Matthew. When it occurred in the fall of 2016, Matthew was the first Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in almost ten years. Its torrential rains and winds caused significant damage and loss of life as it coursed through the Caribbean and up along the southern U.S. coast. 

Music: "Buoys," Donn Wilkerson, Killer Tracks; "Late Night Drive," Donn...

At the time of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory overpass (April 1, 2017, 0550 UTC), the storm's center of low pressure was south of Long Island. At the mid-levels of the atmosphere, the circulation was centered over northeast Pennsylvania. This led to a classic overrunning, warm conveyor setup, which happened when the counterclockwise low level flow drew in cold air out of the north/northeast (hence "Nor'easter") from Canada. Higher up, warm and moist air from further south was lifted over this cold air and resulted in precipitation in the form of snow at the surface...

This visualization combines precipitation data from the Global Precipitation Measurement mission and water vapor data from the Goddard Earth Observing System Model.  These datasets show the extreme rainfall that occurred in California during the first three weeks of February 2017 and the atmospheric rivers that transported the rain to the area.

Visualizer: Horace Mitchell (lead)

For more information or to download this public domain video, go to https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4555#74675

NASA scientists can measure the size and shape distribution of snow particles, layer by layer, in a storm. The Global Precipitation Measurement mission is an international satellite project that provides next-generation observations of rain and snow worldwide every three hours.

After more than four years of drought, Californians may wonder where the current rain is coming from. Using satellites, NASA scientists have a unique view of the sources of precipitation, and how it reaches the western United States.

Rain is often carried by narrow tendrils of moisture called atmospheric rivers that occur all over the world, shown here in white. The atmospheric rivers that affect the western United States are known as the Pineapple Express because they transport water vapor from as far south as Hawaii to California. When the moisture reaches land, it is forced up over the...

Combining multiple datasets on a single visualization can often illustrate natural processes even better than a single dataset can.  This visualization shows assimilated surface winds from MERRA (the Modern Era Retrospective Reanalysis of the Atmosphere) over the IMERG global precipitation data set for October 2014.  It was created for a forthcoming Science On a Sphere program about the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission.  Notice how the changing winds shape the areas of active precipitation, particularly over the ocean where there are no land features to affect the precipitation...

Visualization depicting Typhoon Maysak in the Southwest Pacific region as observed by the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Satellite on March 30, 2015.  GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) precipitation rates are displayed first, then a slicing place moves across the volume to display precipitation rates throughout the structure of the storm.  Shades of green to red represent liquid precipitation extending down to the ground.

The storm later intensified to a category 5-equivalent super typhoon with 150-mph sustained winds.

The GPM Core Observatory carries two instruments that show the...