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Water is fundamental to life on Earth, affecting the behavior of the weather, climate, energy and ecological systems as water moves through the Earth’s water cycle as vapor, liquid and ice. Precipitation, a key component of the water cycle, is difficult to measure since rain and snow vary greatly in both space and time.

Obtaining reliable ground-based measurements of rain and snow often presents a formidable challenge due to large gaps between reliable instruments over land and, particularly, over the oceans. From the vantage point of space, satellites provide more frequent and accurate observations and measurements of rain and snow around the globe. This allows key insights into when, where and how much it rains or snows globally, supplying vital information to unravel the complex roles water plays in Earth systems.

In order to gain further insights into the relationships between the components of the Earth’s water cycle, we need to know not only how much rain falls at the surface but also the distribution of rain, snow, and other forms of precipitation within the atmosphere above the surface. This allows us to characterize precipitation processes that are vital to understanding the links and the transfer of energy (heat) between the Earth’s surface and atmosphere.

NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) provide advanced information on rain and snow characteristics and detailed three-dimensional knowledge of precipitation structure within the atmosphere, which help scientists study and understand Earth's water cycle, weather and climate.

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MODIS imagery of the snowstorm in Jan. 2022
The Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Storms ( IMPACTS ) mission, now in its second year, is flying aircraft into snowstorms in order to improve meteorological models and our ability to use satellite data to predict how much snow will fall and where. NASA and its partners have several satellites that measure precipitation from space, such as the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission that observes rain and snow around most of the world every three hours. “But satellites can’t tell us a lot about the particles – the actual snowflakes ­– and
Average Precipitation Daytime vs. Nighttime
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Maps showing the Average Precipitation Rate in Lake Victoria, Africa - Day vs. Night
Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and an economic and food security lifeline for roughly 30 million people living near its shores in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. But it also takes lives. Cyclical, daily weather patterns around the lake create violent nighttime thunderstorms that kill roughly 3,000 to 5,000 fishermen per year. “This is definitely one of the stormiest places on Earth,” said Wim Thiery, a climate scientist at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel who has studied Lake Victoria for several years. “Almost every night, you see these intense thunderstorms and sometimes even water
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Observing the Intertropical Convergence Zone with IMERG
The intertropical convergence zone or “ITCZ” roughly forms a band that circumnavigates the Earth near the Equator where the northeast trade winds in the Northern Hemisphere converge with the southeast trade winds in the Southern Hemisphere. Sailors have often referred to it as the “doldrums” due to its generally light winds. Yet, the ITCZ is an important part of the global circulation as it forms the ascending branch of the Hadley circulation. This is ultimately driven by incoming solar radiation, which peaks near the Equator. This warms the air and the ocean, causing warm buoyant air to rise...
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Top 5 GPM Research Highlights
GPM celebrates its fifth anniversary since launching from Tanegashima Island, Japan on February 27, 2014. This milestone not only marks the launch but also the many scientific research accomplishments that GPM has made in advancing our understanding of precipitation, from light rain to intense thunderstorms, to further our understanding of the water cycle. Here are five of GPM’s most significant research accomplishments and their contributions to weather and climate science in its first five years in space: Snowfall and Cold Season Precipitation An image of GPM’s DPR concept of dual-frequency...
GPM Gets Flake-y
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