Weather

Earth’s climate is changing. The accumulation of greenhouse gases has affected the oceans and ice systems as well as the atmosphere, which in turn impacts the water cycle. To predict future changes in weather and climate and estimate environmental variables, scientists use sophisticated computer models. These models rely on available global data to describe the conditions that exist today to project how conditions may change in the future. GPM’s Weather, Climate, and Land Surface Modeling Applications area promotes the use of precipitation measurements from GPM satellites to help model future behavior of precipitation patterns and climate. 

Hurricane Ida IMERG Totals
All eyes were on Hurricane Ida as it made landfall in Louisiana on Aug. 29, 2021, but many people were taken by surprise by the power of Hurricane Ida's remnants when they reached Virginia during the day on Sept.1 and New York City late at night on Sept. 1 into early morning on Sept. 2. The below animation shows the precipitation that fell during the entire lifecycle of Ida from before landfall in Louisiana through the impacts on New York City. Download this video (right-click -> "Save As") This animation uses data from the near real-time version of NASA's IMERG algorithm, a data product that
IMERG Precipitation Anomalies
Climate change impacts all of us in various ways. Changes in soil moisture have a pronounced effect on agricultural production, which in turn impacts the food we grow to eat. Changes in precipitation patterns are leading to increases in drought in certain regions and causing flooding in others. All of these impacts are influenced by interactions among processes within the Earth system involving the atmosphere, ocean, land, ice, and life. These natural interactions, combined with human influences such as the release of greenhouse gases, serve to drive the climate system resulting in distinct
GOES Model of Earth's Climate
Climate researchers around the world are taking advantage of NASA satellite observations to help inform, improve, and enhance climate models. NASA data helps to predict the future of Earth's climate and improve the predictive capability of models. This gives decision-makers the tools they need to make better decisions on how we live, including understand the changing impacts of hurricanes and improving predictions of fire seasons. But how exactly does NASA data support climate modeling activities, and how does the data improve these models? We’re here to explain the inner workings of how NASA
GPM Overpass of Tropical Cyclone Fred on August 16, 2021.
Tropical Storm Fred, the 6th named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, began as a westward moving disturbance in the central Atlantic east of the Lesser Antilles. The system passed through the southern Leeward Islands during the early morning hours of August 10 but still lacked a well-defined center of circulation. Despite significant thunderstorm activity within the system, it wasn’t until late that evening, when the system was passing just south of Puerto Rico, that the National Hurricane Center (NHC) identified a well-defined circulation and upgraded the system to Tropical Storm
IMERG precipitation over China for July 17 to 28, 2021
During July 17 to 28, 2021, several storm systems brought heavy rain to parts of China and surrounding countries, while a nine-month-long drought persists in an adjacent part of China. NASA's multi-satellite precipitation algorithm has been monitoring this rainfall in near real-time, and the estimates are distributed to weather-forecasting agencies and disaster-monitoring organizations. This algorithm is called IMERG , the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM. GPM is the NASA / JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement mission , which launched its Core Observatory satellite in 2014. Two
IMERG analysis of monsoon rainfall in India, July 2021
After a relatively quiet period of below normal activity that began in the latter part of June and extended into the first half of July, and which resulted in rainfall deficits over much of India, the South Asian monsoon surged to life last week, bringing heavy rains, widespread flooding and landslides. Among the hardest hit areas was the western state of Maharashtra, which extends from the central west coast of India inland. A key geographical feature along the west coast of India is the Western Ghats. This coastal mountain range runs roughly north-south for about 1000 miles along the west
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Climate change impacts all of us in various ways. Changes in soil moisture have a pronounced effect on agricultural production, which in turn impacts the food we grow to eat, and changes in precipitation patterns are leading to increases in drought in certain regions and causing flooding in others. All of which are influenced by interactions among components of Earth involving the atmosphere, ocean, land, ice, and life. These factors combine with long-term changes forced largely by human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases, drive the climate system and result in distinct
IMERG Precipitation Totals from Eastern Australia, March 16 - 23, 2021
During the week ending on March 23, 2021, two locations in Australia experienced unusually high rainfall totals. According to news reports a persistent system brought flooding rains to Australia's east coast from Brisbane to Sydney and points further south. The preliminary estimate from NASA's multi-satellite global precipitation analysis is that more than 24 inches fell just off the coast of Australia in 7 days with accumulations in coastal areas exceeding 16 inches. Near the Strzelecki Desert in central Australia, a storm system brought 8 inches of precipitation during the same 7-day period. Most of the rain fell during a 3-day period (0000 UTC on 20 March to 2359 UTC on 22 March).
IMERG Sees Winter Storms Impact the Southern U.S.
In mid-February 2021, large areas of the Continental United States experienced extreme cold temperatures as a result of a strong Arctic high pressure system. The cold temperatures were accompanied by several pulses of precipitation over the Southeast US through the mid-Atlantic, as well as the Pacific Northwest. The combination of cold temperatures and precipitation resulted in widespread power outages to millions of people in Texas, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Oregon, among other states.
IMERG Rainfall Total from Week of Jan 25 2021
NASA combined data from multiple satellites to estimate the rainfall from an "atmospheric river" event over the U.S. West Coast in near real-time at half-hourly intervals from January 25 - 29, 2021. Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow corridors of water vapor that can lead to heavy precipitation when they encounter land. This animation shows estimated rainfall rates in blue and yellow shading and total rainfall accumulations in green shading, from NASA's IMERG algorithm, overlaid on shades of white and gray from NOAA infrared satellite data which shows cloudiness. On January 25, 2021, a low